The "Shrike" Lao Household and Butcher's Heart

The Bloodline-Inherited Spirit Artifact, the Crimson Plume Feather Fan, was likewise a treasure left behind from the days when the "Peacock" Kong Household was still a Ninth-Grade True Spirit Lineage.

At the height of the Kong Household's power, seven Foundation Establishment cultivators who had awakened the Crimson Peacock Feather Bloodline Divine Ability used a special method at the time of their deaths to give their crimson peacock feathers physical form and leave them behind. The feathers were then refined into this Second Tier Spirit Artifact, the Crimson Plume Feather Fan.

Because it had been refined from feathers formed from the Bloodline Divine Abilities of the household's elders, any cultivator among their descendants who awakened the same Bloodline Divine Ability could refine it with their blood and inherit it. This allowed them to use the Second Tier Spirit Artifact across tiers while still in the First Tier Qi Refinement Realm, hence the name "Bloodline-Inherited Spirit Artifact."

Even so, a cultivator of the Qi Refinement Realm who refined a Bloodline-Inherited Spirit Artifact could only use it a few times before the strain became too great to continue, and they had to rest and recover.

But that was already enough to give a cultivator of the Qi Refinement Realm the strength to fight across tiers for a short time. During the Kong Household's hundreds of years of wandering, the Second Tier Feather Boat was one reason they had managed to flee all the way from the Central Domain to the Vermilion Bird Domain in the Southern Domain without being wiped out, and the Bloodline-Inherited Spirit Artifact was another important reason.

After all, the Second Tier Feather Boat only allowed the Kong Household to flee when necessary, while the Bloodline-Inherited Spirit Artifact let them fight desperately to break open a path to escape when there was nowhere left to run.

Naturally, before the Kong Household fell from its status as a Ninth-Grade True Spirit Lineage, it had possessed not one but three Bloodline-Inherited Spirit Artifacts. Besides the Crimson Plume Feather Fan, there had also been a Blue Plume Feather Fan and a Green Plume Feather Fan.

The Green Plume Feather Fan was even higher in grade, refined from nine Second Tier green peacock feathers, and was more powerful.

But just like the Feather Boats that had been lost or destroyed, the other two fans, the Blue Plume Feather Fan and the Green Plume Feather Fan, had both been lost during the Kong Household's flight, when they wandered from place to place and could scarcely be sure of surviving the day.

Now, the Crimson Plume Feather Fan was the only Bloodline-Inherited Spirit Artifact the Kong Household had left. Eldest Uncle Kong Yushuo had refined it with his blood and held it, making him the household's strongest fighter after the patriarch.

Awooo! Awooo...

The Kong Household had successfully retreated beyond the range of the Lang Household's defensive formation, but the Second Tier "Bronze-Iron Wolf Demon" formed from the formation's copper and iron light did not stop. Instead, it turned to attack the cultivator groups assaulting Wolf Fang Mountain from other directions.

As the wolf's howls rang out one after another, shaking hearts and minds, the Second Tier Bronze-Iron Wolf Demon formed a wolf's maw and lunged down, or formed wolf claws and ripped down, or formed a wolf's tail and smashed down.

The cultivator groups surrounding and attacking the Lang Household's ancestral lands on Wolf Fang Mountain did not all have a Bloodline-Inherited Spirit Artifact as a trump card like the Kong Household. Most had, at best, First Tier combat strength and were utterly unable to resist the Second Tier Bronze-Iron Wolf Demon's attacks.

For a time, screams, desperate roars, and angry curses from those fleeing rang out all around Wolf Fang Mountain.

The groups besieging Wolf Fang Mountain were on the verge of having their morale and ranks shattered outright by the Second Tier Bronze-Iron Wolf Demon.

Seeing this, the Kong Household members could not help frowning slightly. Third Aunt Kong Yuyin shook her head and said, "The Lang Household's defensive formation is unexpectedly powerful. If the people who organized this siege haven't prepared another move, I'm afraid the siege will end in failure."

"It's just that our Kong Household has already formed a blood feud with the Lang Household. If this siege fails, we'll have to be much more careful in our dealings outside the pass from now on."

Eldest Uncle Kong Yushuo had swallowed several pills to restore his Law Power and Qi and Blood, and some color had returned to his pale face. Hearing her, he shook his head and said, "What happens next depends on whether the 'Shrike' Lao Household has made any preparations."

The siege of the "Gray Wolf" Lang Household's ancestral lands on Wolf Fang Mountain by the various households and forces was the way the tide was turning, but naturally, it still needed organizers.

The "Shrike" Lao Household was one of those organizers, and the force primarily responsible for contacting the "Peacock" Kong Household and inviting them to join the siege.

The "Shrike" Lao Household was also one of the servant cultivator households of the True Spirit Lineage, the Du Household, in Cuckoo County. Its patriarch was likewise at the Foundation Establishment Realm.

But the "Shrike" Lao Household's Bloodline Divine Ability was somewhat unusual. It was called Butcher's Heart, and it made the Lao Household's cultivators enjoy killing, excel at killing, and grow stronger the more they killed. Thus, although both were servant cultivator households with Foundation Establishment cultivators, and the Kong Household even had treasures passed down from their ancestors, they might well be no match for the "Shrike" Lao Household.

Moreover, because of the Butcher's Heart Bloodline Divine Ability, the "Shrike" Lao Household's reputation in the mountains south of Demon-Suppressing Pass was no better than the "Gray Wolf" Lang Household's. Their love of killing and robbing the various forces had likewise earned them a thoroughly infamous name.

When Kong Wenxuan first went out beyond the pass with Eldest Uncle and the others after arriving at Demon-Suppressing Pass, cultivators from the "Shrike" Lao Household had been among the tails following them, which offered a glimpse of what they were like.

Thus, a feast of slaughter like the siege of the "Gray Wolf" Lang Household's ancestral lands naturally could not take place without the "Shrike" Lao Household's participation. They had even taken the initiative to organize it.

But now that the siege, this feast of slaughter, was visibly running into trouble and about to fall apart, the most anxious people should have been organizers like the "Shrike" Lao Household.

Sure enough, not long afterward, a cultivator from the "Shrike" Lao Household hurried over in gray-white feather robes. He paid his respects to Eldest Uncle Kong Yushuo and said, "Fellow Daoist Kong, please set up a Second Tier illusion formation to hold back the Second Tier Bronze-Iron Wolf Demon formed by the Lang Household's defensive formation."

Eldest Uncle Kong Yushuo did not refuse. Instead, he asked directly, "And what benefit will our Kong Household receive?"

The Lao Household cultivator who had come seeking aid was evidently prepared. He replied on the spot, "As promised before, the dark iron vein in Wolf Fang Mountain's main peak will still go to your Kong Household."

"Besides that, four forces organized this campaign against the Lang Household's ancestral lands, including our Lao Household. As long as you can hold back the Second Tier Bronze-Iron Wolf Demon for a short while, your Kong Household can count as the fifth organizer. When the time comes, your Kong Household may take one-fifth of the Lang Household's treasury, as well as the various resources and treasures in Wolf Fang Mountain!"

Eldest Uncle Kong Yushuo's eyes flickered, but he still did not agree immediately. Instead, he said, "The strength of our Kong Household's illusion formation lies mainly in its illusions. It isn't suited to attack or defense, so it can't hold back the Second Tier Bronze-Iron Wolf Demon for very long."

The "Shrike" Lao Household cultivator said confidently, "That's fine. You only need to hold it back for a quarter of an hour. By then, we four organizers will have our own way to break through the Lang Household's defensive formation."

"Good!" This time, Eldest Uncle Kong Yushuo nodded in agreement. "Our Kong Household can set up an illusion formation to hold back the Second Tier Bronze-Iron Wolf Demon for a quarter of an hour, but only for that long. If you still haven't broken through the Lang Household's defensive formation by then, or if anything unexpected happens along the way, our Kong Household will withdraw at any time."

"No problem!" The "Shrike" Lao Household cultivator nodded and agreed at once, but added, "However, as long as nothing unexpected happens along the way, your Kong Household must hold out for at least a quarter of an hour. Otherwise, if you withdraw early, don't blame our households for fighting your Kong Household until one side is dead!"

Eldest Uncle agreed on the spot. The two sides signed a contract then and there, before each went into action.