Spoils of War

Leaving the city went exceptionally smoothly, as if nothing had happened in Cangshan County City.

The two stepped into the woods outside the city. Qie Qiong took a deep breath. Although the battle had been brief, it had still been the first time in either of his lives that he had wiped out an entire family, and the mental pressure had been considerable.

"It's finally over, the Xiong Clan." In Qie Qiong's heart, this also counted as avenging Kang Zhixuan, the man in his heart.

"A thousand years of grudges have finally been settled today." Qie Yunzhou's voice was filled with unprecedented exhilaration. "We have you to thank for this, Qiong'er!"

Qie Yunzhou had never expected the feud between the Qie and Xiong Clans to end in his generation.

Although he had reached the Myriad Existences Realm, he still couldn't take on two people on the Xiong Clan's home turf by himself.

Even if he became Transcendent, he wouldn't get the chance. After becoming Transcendent, one wasn't allowed to interfere in the mortal world unless those two from the Xiong Clan went mad and attacked the Qie Clan, killing his family, or the three nations launched an all-out war.

But he had never expected his son to become one of the strongest at Title Rank at just eleven years old.

That was why he said they had Qie Qiong to thank.

"Still, I'm afraid the trouble that follows won't be minor. I probably can't hide my strength anymore, but that's fine. After all, the rules of the three nations allow us to wipe out the Xiong Clan. At most, the Cangyun Empire will cause trouble behind the scenes," Qie Yunzhou analyzed.

Qie Qiong smiled. "If the soldiers come, we'll block them; if the water comes, we'll dam it with earth. It's fine, Father."

As things stood, the Qie Clan had nothing to worry about as long as no Transcendent-level experts appeared.

Besides, he had a cheat. In a few years, he might be able to advance to Transcendent. Although he still wouldn't be able to reveal himself then, his strength would be there all the same.

"Let's go back, Father. Mother must be getting worried."

"Let's go!"

Without another word, the two circulated their Dou Qi and sped toward Cloud Sea Prefecture City like two bolts of lightning.

Since they weren't hiding themselves, the people ordered to keep watch from atop the city wall soon spotted them.

One of them hurried to report to Commander Li, the first person to have arrived the previous night.

"You're saying you saw two black shadows moving very fast. Are you sure it was them?" Commander Li asked for confirmation again and again.

"Yes. I'm a Meteor Knight. Even if they were Silver Moon Rank, I wouldn't have lost sight of them in the blink of an eye. They must be Title Rank experts." The man patted his chest as he assured him.

Hearing this, Commander Li visibly relaxed. "Those two have finally left. Come to think of it, we ought to thank them properly."

The two exchanged a look, then burst into laughter.

Although the two men from the Qie Clan had taken the most important part of the Xiong Clan's thousand-year wealth, what remained was still enough to fill the bellies of people like them.

While those two were still there, they hadn't even dared frame anyone, and who knew who would be the next to die?

Under the two men's top speed, they soon saw the outline of Cloud Sea Prefecture City's walls, two thousand li away.

As for their journey through the Qiyun Mountain Range, they didn't know whether they'd been lucky or unlucky, but they hadn't encountered a single demonic beast blocking their way. That left them a little disappointed.

They entered the city and soon returned to the Qie Residence.

"Greetings, Patriarch, Young Master." The guards at the gate hurriedly bowed.

Only after the two had gone some distance did the guards at the gate dare to talk.

"Strange. I didn't see the Patriarch or Young Master leave, and why are they dressed like that?"

"Who knows? Don't ask about what you shouldn't."

In the distance, the two exchanged a smile. No one would have guessed that in less than two days, the Qie Clan's thousand-year-old nemesis had been wiped out.

The Qie Clan's main hall.

Lin Wantang had stayed up all night. Although she had passed the time by doing research, she had still arrived at the main hall early that morning.

She paced anxiously around the hall.

Perhaps she heard the father and son's footsteps, because she suddenly turned around.

The hall doors swung open, and the father and son walked in, one after the other.

"Yunzhou, Qiong'er!" Lin Wantang hurried forward, her gaze sweeping over them.

When she saw that neither of them had changed at all, she let out a long breath of relief.

"Did you succeed?" Her voice carried a barely perceptible tremor.

Though their expressions had already given her the answer, she still felt more reassured hearing it from them directly.

An exhilarated smile spread across Qie Yunzhou's face. He nodded firmly. "We did! The Xiong brothers, Xiong Biao and Xiong Li, are dead. The Xiong Clan is finished."

Qie Qiong added, "Don't worry, Mother. Those two brothers from the Xiong Clan were nothing special. We dealt with them in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea."

"Good, good, good." Lin Wantang was overcome with excitement. She didn't have much hatred for the Xiong Clan, but they had tried to hurt her son.

Qie Yunzhou took out the Space Rings belonging to the two Xiong brothers and placed them on the table. "These are the personal belongings of the Xiong brothers. What's inside is probably the Xiong Clan's most precious property. Let's take inventory and see if there's anything we can use right now."

Lin Wantang's eyes passed over the Space Rings. "It looks like you've made quite a haul. The accumulated wealth of a thousand-year-old clan is no small matter, even if they only brought part of it." She knew how wealthy the Qie Clan was, so the Xiong Clan, its equal, couldn't be far behind.

"Let's open them and take a look, Father." Qie Qiong was even more eager.

After all, there was an old saying in his previous life: "Kill and burn, and a golden belt you'll earn."

He was also curious about how much wealth the Xiong Clan had accumulated over a thousand years.

Qie Yunzhou beckoned.

Wrapped in the Power of Heaven and Earth, the Space Ring that had just been placed on the table flew into Qie Yunzhou's hand.

His Dou Qi invaded it, and he refined it in an instant.

Then he carefully inspected the inside of Xiong Biao's Space Ring.

"Heh, it's quite a lot. The Xiong Clan's ancestor really was willing to spend resources back then," Qie Yunzhou said in surprise.

It was understandable, actually. For a thousand years, the Qie Clan had always passed down its line through a single heir, and each generation had been quite capable. So the Qie Clan's Transcendents hadn't left their descendants much in the way of resources in the mortal world.

The Xiong Clan was different. They had left behind more resources, enough to satisfy everyone, which was understandable.

A large quantity of items was taken out all at once and piled into a small mountain in the open space of the main hall.

The first thing they saw was a small mountain of gold coins and banknotes. The banknotes were the Cangyun Empire's official currency.

The three of them made a rough estimate, and the total already exceeded a million.

But to the Qie Clan, this was among the more ordinary spoils of war. To Qie Qiong and Qie Yunzhou, the things one could buy with gold coins were almost useless.

"We can only keep it to raise an elite cavalry force," Qie Yunzhou suggested. "Of course, we should let Wantang use some for experiments first."

After all, Lin Wantang was only a Silver Moon Mage, and gold coins could still be of some use to her.

As long as she reached the Heaven and Man Unity Realm herself, Qie Qiong and Qie Yunzhou would absolutely help her become Transcendent.

Even if she couldn't become truly Transcendent, they could first make her a False Transcendent. That would still give her a lifespan of eight hundred years.

"Next, there are some things that will be useful." As he spoke, Qie Yunzhou casually waved his hand. The Power of Heaven and Earth opened several palm-sized jade boxes.

A dense, earthy elemental energy spread out. Three crystals, each about the size of a ping-pong ball, lay quietly inside.

"Earth Vein Jade Marrow." Lin Wantang's beautiful eyes lit up. "This is the essence formed by an Earth Vein Array. It takes a hundred years to produce just one. Embedding one in another fixed array can strengthen the array's stability."

These three were the Xiong Clan's thousand-year accumulation. The others had probably already been used.

Otherwise, when using the Xiong Clan's Earth Vein Array, Qie Yunzhou wouldn't have used the Myriad Existences of Wind's mysteries to cut off its connection.

Although this was useful, it wasn't especially so. The Qie Clan wasn't a newly risen clan; over a thousand years of inheritance, it had already brought its clan-protecting array to the utmost level it could reach.

"Let's put these away for now, or see if we can exchange them with someone later," Qie Yunzhou suggested. As he spoke, he waved his hand, and a box landed in front of Qie Qiong. "This Thunder Adamantine should be just enough for you. The Thunder Adamantine the Xiong Clan mined from the lode before is probably all here."

Although the Qie Clan had occupied the Thunder Adamantine lode before, it hadn't been long, and the Thunder Lizard had absorbed some of it.

So after the Qie Clan occupied it, they hadn't managed to mine any Thunder Adamantine.

The material Lin Wantang had used to make the inner armor had come from the Xiong Clan's mine supervisor stealing from the mine. It hadn't yet been put to use.

So the lode probably wouldn't produce much for the next ten-odd years.

Qie Qiong had already given up hope, but he hadn't expected the Xiong Clan to have kept some. Perhaps it was also because the Xiong Clan was an earth-attribute clan.

Qie Qiong's eyes lit up, and he casually put the Thunder Adamantine into his Space Ring.

Although the Thunder Lizard's core had given him a chance to break through, it wasn't a metal-elemental mystery.

With this Thunder Adamantine, Qie Qiong was even more confident he could break through to the fifth stage of the Thunder's Five Transformation Technique.

The item in the final jade box made even Qie Yunzhou's eyes light up.

It was none other than the spatial-shift scroll the Xiong brothers had used to escape several years ago, when they attacked Qie Qiong.

The Xiong brothers hadn't used it when they attacked the Xiong Clan, so Qie Yunzhou had thought the Xiong Clan had run out.

He hadn't expected this unexpected windfall. It was undoubtedly the most precious item from this trip.

"Qiong'er, take this," Qie Yunzhou said, handing him the spatial-shift scroll without a moment's hesitation.

Qie Qiong hurriedly waved his hands. "You and Mother should keep it."

Qie Yunzhou and Lin Wantang exchanged a smile and shook their heads. "Qiong'er, you should keep it. Use it if you're in danger. You're the hope of our Qie Clan."

Although their operation to wipe out the Xiong Clan had gone very smoothly, there was still a small chance of retaliation.

They felt more at ease giving it to Qie Qiong.

"Alright, I'll put it away for now." Qie Qiong nodded and stored it. He understood what his parents were worried about, but as far as he was concerned, could danger move faster than his cheat?

Then came the cultivation manuals. There were six or seven books, but none seemed useful to Qie Qiong or Qie Yunzhou.

Since the Xiong Clan was a clan whose primary Dou Qi attribute was earth, its manuals focused on heavy weapons, which simply didn't suit the Qie Clan.

The most precious among them was an ancient book bound in tough beast hide: "Bear Demon Earth Mountain Technique."

It was the Xiong Clan's core Dou Qi manual. Like the Thunder's Five Transformation Technique, it held a special place in the Qie Clan. Although it wasn't as good as the Qie Clan's Thunder's Five Transformation Technique, it was still a rare, top-grade Dou Qi technique.

The Bear Demon Earth Mountain Technique had been created by the Xiong Clan's ancestor to complement the Earth Vein Array.

The Thunder's Five Transformation Technique was also a top-grade technique, but that was because it had no cultivation method for after reaching Transcendent.

"These manuals can be exchanged with other clans for resources. The family's knights can redeem them once they've made enough contributions," Qie Yunzhou suggested.

Qie Qiong and Lin Wantang both nodded indifferently. Neither had any objection to giving the family's knights this level of technique. They were confident in themselves, and cultivating a top-grade technique to its highest level wasn't easy.

Next came several second-tier alchemy items. Although none matched the ones the three of them had, they were all fine pieces that could be used to stock the Qie Clan's treasury or bestowed on meritorious family knights.

These were everything Xiong Biao had.

Qie Qiong also began inspecting Xiong Li's Space Ring.

The wealth inside was about the same as Xiong Biao's, except that it included an additional medicinal herb with a metal attribute.

Although none of the three could tell what kind of rare treasure it was, whenever Qie Qiong held it in his hand, the Myriad Existences Realm of Metal he had comprehended would stir involuntarily.

So Qie Qiong planned to wait until later, then search the Qie Clan's library again for the "Illustrated Guide to Myriad Existences" left behind by their ancestors.

Lastly, he had found a map of the Xiong Clan's holdings among the materials.

Some of the information on it wasn't in the Qie Clan's intelligence, but it was useless to the Qie Clan anyway. After all, Qie Qiong and Qie Yunzhou would both break through in a few years.

Qie Yunzhou put away all the assets and handed them to Lin Wantang.

Lin Wantang had always managed the Qie Clan's finances, and neither of them really needed things like gold coins anymore.

But Lin Wantang did need them. After all, a Silver Moon Mage still needed materials for experiments.

He looked at his wife and son, his eyes full of delight. "This haul was within our expectations. But we didn't just gain wealth and supplies; more importantly, we wiped out the Xiong Clan. There's no need to worry about the remaining small fry."

The three of them still didn't know that someone had already taken care of the entire Xiong Clan for them.

Qie Yunzhou picked up the hot tea on the table and took a sip. "The Xiong Clan's thousand years of mortal accumulation is basically all here. With these resources, the Qie Clan will be able to raise its foundations to another level."

As he spoke, he looked at Qie Qiong with shining eyes. "Especially you, Qiong'er. Once you've absorbed that inner core and the essence in the Thunder Adamantine, you should be able to cultivate the 'Thunder's Five Transformation Technique' to its highest level. Then, many Sky Realm Transcendents won't be a match for you."

Listening to Qie Yunzhou, Qie Qiong nodded firmly. "Yes, Father."

His confidence, of course, didn't come from these resources, but from his cheat. He had already decided that he wouldn't leave seclusion until he had cultivated to the point of condensing True Meaning.

Even then, he could be considered one of the more powerful Saint Rank Transcendents.

It could be said that as long as no Demigod appeared, by then Qie Qiong would be able to eat whatever he wanted.

Lin Wantang smiled at the two of them. "All right, let's discuss how to make good use of these resources."

The three sat around the table and began discussing how to make use of these resources.