Gathered by profit, scattered by profit
The tremors, collapses, and Metal Qi bursting in all directions on Wolf Fang Mountain lasted a full half hour before finally coming to an end. The surrounding peaks and the ground grew stable once more, and the Metal Qi shooting from the broken, exposed dark iron veins began to weaken.
Only then did Eldest Uncle put away his volcanic stone treasure seal. He looked at the others and asked, "Is everyone all right?"
Kong Wenxuan, Third Aunt, Fifth Uncle, Eldest Brother, and the others all reported that they were safe. Still shaken, they looked around. Vast stretches of Wolf Fang Mountain, the Lang Household's ancestral grounds, had collapsed, leaving it in ruins. A perfectly good resource site and ancestral ground had been destroyed.
Third Aunt Kong Yuyin looked at the ruined Wolf Fang Mountain and the exposed dark iron veins and could not help saying, "The Gray Wolf Lang Household was ruthless enough. When they saw there was no hope, they chose to take the cultivators attacking the mountain down with them!"
"They would even rather destroy the resources and spiritual items on Wolf Fang Mountain than leave them for us."
As the mountains crumbled and the earth split, the dark iron veins in the various peaks of Wolf Fang Mountain had all broken open and been exposed. Much of the Metal Qi, Spiritual Qi, and other powers contained in the veins had already been lost, and they were still steadily leaking away.
Nearly half of the largest and most important resource in the Lang Household's ancestral grounds had been destroyed.
"Now isn't the time to talk about that." Seeing that everyone was safe and sound, Eldest Uncle Kong Yushuo immediately assigned tasks. "Everyone, search the surroundings at once and see if there are any enemies. If there aren't, hurry and gather the First-Tier Superior-Grade dark iron spiritual metal."
"Right, Wenxuan..." Eldest Uncle looked at Kong Wenxuan and asked, "How much First-Tier Superior-Grade dark iron spiritual metal do you need?"
"At least nine portions!" Kong Wenxuan did not stand on ceremony with Eldest Uncle and the others and answered directly.
He knew full well that something had happened to Wolf Fang Mountain, and the power in the dark iron veins was constantly leaking away. If he did not hurry and gather all the First-Tier Superior-Grade dark iron spiritual metal he needed, he might not have another chance to collect enough later.
When that time came, there was no telling how much time and effort it would take to refine the White Metal Divine Sword, the last of the Five Elements Divine Swords.
"All right!"
Third Aunt and the others all agreed and swiftly got to work. They knew why their Kong Household had joined the assault on the Lang Household's ancestral grounds, Wolf Fang Mountain.
On one hand, the Kong Household had a blood feud with the Lang Household. Unless they pulled the Lang Household up by the roots, they could not act at ease beyond the pass. On the other hand, they had set their sights on the dark iron veins in Wolf Fang Mountain and meant to seize the chance to help Kong Wenxuan gather enough material to refine the White Metal Divine Sword.
But as they searched and investigated, they soon discovered something was wrong. On the collapsed, ruined Wolf Fang Mountain, the Lang Household's ancestral grounds, they could not find a single member of the Lang Household. Apart from the bodies of the Lang Household members they had killed at the beginning, they did not find another corpse.
By the time they reached the collapsed summit and saw the ruined Lang Household ancestral hall, they still had not found another Lang Household corpse, much less a living member of the household.
Moreover, although the Lang Household ancestral hall had been destroyed, its contents had clearly been packed up. The ancestral tablets and the like had all been taken away.
This was clearly not the arrangement of people who had intended to perish together with their enemies. Rather, it looked as though they had packed everything up and withdrawn at their leisure.
Seeing this, Eldest Uncle Kong Yushuo's expression changed slightly. He immediately sent a message to the Shrike Lao Household and the others, telling them about the Lang Household ancestral hall and asking whether they had seen any other members of the Lang Household.
Shortly after he sent the message, several figures rushed up the highest peak of the collapsed Wolf Fang Mountain from different directions. They were members of the Shrike Lao Household and the other forces that had organized the operation.
The cultivators of the Shrike Lao Household greeted the Kong Household members. The people from the other forces ignored them and went straight into the collapsed Lang Household ancestral hall to investigate.
The Kong Household members did not mind. Most of the households and forces that had organized the siege of the Lang Household's ancestral grounds were wild households and forces that had put down roots and lived in the mountains beyond the pass.
Only the Shrike Lao Household was a household from Cuckoo County, and it was fairly familiar with the Kong Household. During this operation, the Kong Household had also dealt only with the Lao Household. They had not been in contact with the other households or forces and were even less familiar with them.
So naturally, they had no intention of exchanging greetings now.
Before long, the people from the various sides finished examining the collapsed Lang Household ancestral hall and confirmed that they had found nothing. They then compared what they knew and established that none of them had seen the Lang Household members break out. Their expressions immediately grew even uglier.
They had contacted one another and gathered people in order to wipe out the Lang Household completely and take Wolf Fang Mountain, its ancestral grounds, so they could make a fortune.
But now, not only had Wolf Fang Mountain been destroyed, with vast quantities of resources and spiritual items ruined and even the dark iron veins wrecked; they had also failed to kill every last member of the Lang Household.
This meant not only that the Lang Household members could take away the treasures and resources in their household treasury, greatly reducing their spoils once again. More seriously, the Lang Household had not been pulled up by the roots, and no one knew when its members might return to take revenge on them, the instigators!
The Gray Wolf Lang Household was especially well known for repaying even the slightest grievance.
One could almost imagine that once the Lang Household members who had escaped recovered, they would surely return for revenge.
The Shrike Lao Household and the Peacock Kong Household were better off. Their ancestral grounds were in Cuckoo County, after all, so unless the Lang Household dared to breach the county itself, the revenge it could take on them would be limited.
But these wild households and forces in the mountains beyond the pass were in for terrible luck. They would surely become the Lang Household's primary targets for revenge.
For a time, the people from the various households and forces that had organized the siege of the Lang Household all wore exceedingly grim expressions.
"What's wrong with your Kong Household? The Lang Household members all escaped, and you didn't even know?"
At once, some of them began making trouble for the Kong Household.
Some even said that the Kong Household's share of the dark iron veins and its one-fifth share of the resources should be revoked!
Perhaps they wanted to vent their anger and fear and shift the blame. Or perhaps, because Wolf Fang Mountain had been destroyed and the Lang Household members had fled with the treasury, their spoils were far smaller than expected, and they wanted to make up for some of their losses.
For a time, the forces that had organized the siege of the Lang Household, whether deliberately or not, all turned their spearheads toward the Kong Household. They seemed intent on finding a soft persimmon to squeeze.
Even the people from the Shrike Lao Household, who had been responsible for dealing with the Kong Household, looked at its members with ambiguous attitudes and inscrutable intent, showing no intention of trying to dissuade the others.
It looked as though the force that had gathered to launch a siege for profit was about to scatter for profit as well, and the Kong Household might even become a sacrifice.
At that moment, Eldest Uncle Kong Yushuo glanced at Kong Wenxuan.
He instantly understood what Eldest Uncle meant. Of the four divine swords that had been circling nearby, the Crimson Fire Divine Sword flickered and vanished without a trace.