Chapter 731 - 513: Heavy Artifact, Xining’s First Kill
The Xining Wang Family, as a Martial Emperor Clan, was like royalty in Xining—no one dared to cross them.
Except for just over a month ago, when the Wang Family provoked the Dragon Battle Martial Emperor and was beaten all the way back to their ancestral lands by him. In tens of thousands of years, no one had ever dared attack the Wang Family’s ancestral grounds. The wandering Jianghu wanderers of Xining Continent didn’t even dare to approach this place—if they flew within a hundred miles, they’d have to descend from the sky as a show of respect.
Of course, it wasn’t that the people of Xining Continent truly respected the Wang Family; it’s just that a Saint Realm powerhouse once flew over the skies near the Wang Family’s ancestral grounds and was blasted out of the sky by the Wang Family.
The Wang Family’s ancestral land: Guiyun Mountain.
As the home of the Martial Emperor Family, Guiyun Mountain was hailed as the number one Sacred Mountain in Xining Continent. The Essence Qi here was dense, Spirit Medicine grew everywhere, and even the Heaven and Earth Dao would occasionally manifest on its own—releasing the aura of the Great Dao and dropping down Dao Fragments.
This was undoubtedly a near-Daosource cultivation land—training here, a Saint Realm powerhouse could achieve twice the results with half the effort.
"Dang..."
On this day, the toll of a bell shattered Guiyun Mountain’s tranquility. Ripples spread through all of heaven and earth as the bell’s sound echoed across the mountain, startling flocks of birds into flight.
The next moment, from among the mountains, figures soared out from every Grotto Heaven Blessed Land, one Divine Que after another flickering into view among the peaks.
"Why has the warning bell been rung?"
An elder of the Wang Family, hair snow-white, shouted in a deep voice, transforming into a stream of light that shot toward the family’s Grand Hall of Deliberation.
The Wang Family possessed a great bell, only rung when a crisis plagued the clan. Once the bell sounded, it didn’t matter who you were, even if you were in closed-door seclusion—you had to emerge at once and stand by for orders.
Saint Realm powerhouses, in particular, needed to rush to the Grand Hall of Deliberation immediately at the first bell.
"Clan Leader, what’s happened?"
When all of the Wang Family’s Saint Realm powerhouses at the ancestral lands gathered in the Grand Hall, they found Clan Leader Wang Chuanxuan sitting high up, his face dark as thunder.
"Wang Jinchang, stationed in Holy City’s Jingxuan Pavilion, has been killed!"
As Wang Chuanxuan spoke, every Wang Family Saint Realm powerhouse’s eyes flashed with an icy killing intent—their rage and shock palpable. From the Profound Lady Pavilion incident until now, in barely a month, six Martial Saints from the Wang Family had already fallen one after another.
Losses like this would cause even a Martial Emperor Clan to be gravely wounded.
Yet before the Wang Family’s Saint Realm powerhouses had even digested their rage, Wang Chuanxuan continued coldly, "It’s not just Wang Jinchang. Every one of our clan’s disciples in Jingxuan Pavilion was slaughtered—and every last piece of property there has been plundered!"
The bloodthirsty killing intent roared so fiercely, it nearly blew the roof off the Grand Hall. An elder of the Wang Family thundered, "Gather our clan’s elite! No matter where he came from, all his family will be put to death by the Xining Wang Family!"
"Whoever did this—do they really think the Wang Family is just a toothless tiger now that our Imperial Soldiers are gone?"
"Enough talking! Let’s go straight to Holy City and kill our way in. If we don’t take revenge, how will the Wang Family stand in the Eastern Domain?"
The whole clan was ablaze with fury. The hot-tempered among them hadn’t even figured out who the murderer was—they just wanted to charge right to Holy City for vengeance.
"Sit down!"
Wang Chuanxuan barked in a thunderous voice, suppressing those clan elders who wanted to storm Holy City. "The clan stands at the brink of life and death! Do you think the warning bell is rung lightly? If just sending a few people could avenge us, would I ring the bell?"
At these words, every elder’s expression changed. The clan leader had actually described this as a life-or-death crisis—not the work of common criminals, but of some powerful force or person seeking revenge on the Wang Family.
"Clan Leader, just what happened?" one of the elders asked urgently.
Wang Chuanxuan’s voice was low and chilling, "The one who killed Wang Jinchang and the others is Wei Ran. He declared he has a blood feud with the Wang Family. Who among you provoked him?"
Wei Ran!
That name had shot to fame throughout the Eastern Domain in recent days. The first time he appeared in Shuiyun City, he slew three Demon Saints in a row—including two at the Great Saint Level. No one knew his origins, but it’s rumored he is an heir to the Martial Emperor’s Influence.
If an heir of a Martial Emperor’s Influence wants to trouble the Wang Family... forget that our Imperial Soldiers were taken by the Dragon Battle Martial Emperor—even if we still had them, it would be serious trouble.
This kind of person must not be provoked—if you do, it’s truly over for the Wang Family.
But if you don’t kill him, the Wang Family is done for anyway.
To say this is a matter of life and death is no exaggeration.
Instantly, all the Wang Family Saint Realm powerhouses’ faces went pale. They could bully those weaker, but when it came to those stronger, the Wang Family had never dared to provoke them. That was why they didn’t even battle Demon Fiends anymore.
"Before Shuiyun City, I had never even heard of the name Wei Ran."
The Wang Family’s Saint Realm powerhouses all shook their heads, denying that any of them had ever provoked anyone named Wei Ran.
"Could it have been Elder Wang Chuan Sect or Wang Tai who provoked him?"
Someone suddenly raised the question. The deaths of Wang Chuan Sect and Wang Tai were so sudden, the clan didn’t know who’d done it. At first, they thought it was related to Wei Fan. But thinking back, it was probably Wei Ran.
Wang Chuan Sect and Wang Tai went to kill Wei Fan but died suddenly in Shuiyun City. And Wei Ran was in Shuiyun City. Most likely it was this Wei Ran who did it. The deaths of Wang Chuan Sect and Wang Tai probably had nothing to do with Wei Fan—it was because they provoked Wei Ran.
Given the overbearing nature of the Wang Family, this seems very likely. After all, no one had heard of any ’Wei Ran’ before. If an argument broke out, Wang Chuan Sect and Wang Tai’s personalities meant they’d try to kill him right then and there.
"Who provoked him doesn’t matter anymore. That animal has already killed Wang Jinchang and the others, and will definitely come for the Wang Family. What matters now is how we respond."
"How do we respond? We kill Wei Ran, of course! Is the Wang Family supposed to just sit and wait for death? If our clan is going to die, then that so-called Martial Emperor Family’s heir will die with us! Besides, there’s no proof he’s really an Emperor’s heir."
"Whoever wants the Wang Family dead will have their blood spilled, even if we perish ourselves!"
...
It’s not that the Wang Family was full of unyielding men unafraid to die; they knew that Wei Ran wouldn’t spare them, no matter what. Since that was the case, their only choice was to kill Wei Ran first.
"I propose we open the family’s treasure vault and bring out our Heavy Artifact. The moment Wei Ran appears, we cut him down! He’s only at Dharma Cultivation—so long as we don’t give him the chance to use any Secret Techniques, this so-called Martial Emperor’s heir is nothing but a joke."
The Martial Emperor Clan’s foundation wasn’t just Imperial Soldiers. They were the strongest, yes, but without them, the family still had cards to play.
Upon the dais, Clan Leader Wang Chuanxuan nodded. "Then we bring out the family’s Heavy Artifact!"
He’d intended that from the start. In such a short time, six Saint Realm powerhouses had fallen. If they didn’t fight back, no one would ever fear the Wang Family again—no one in the clan would be safe.
Most importantly—it wasn’t as if sparing Wei Ran would mean Wei Ran would spare them.
...
[Martial Saint’s Power: 3,100 years | Daoist Level: 2,560 zhang]
[Ordinary Power: 3,490,000 years]
[Martial Saint’s Power: none]
Wei Fan spent all the Martial Saint’s Power gained from killing Wang Jinchang and also reached Xining Continent.
Xining Continent’s cultivation environment was even better than Beiding Continent’s, and it was crawling with powerful practitioners. In the intel Lu Shun’an collected, there was not only information on Wang Family powerhouses but also an overview of Xining Continent.
Besides the Wang Family, Xining Continent housed another Martial Emperor’s Influence.
In a place that had produced two Martial Emperors, the Martial Dao would naturally be far more prosperous than in a remote land like Beiding Continent. Even the Transmission Domain Gate plaza here boasted more than a dozen gates. The traffic from those coming and going was endless.
Wei Fan didn’t step into nearby Xining City, since the Wang Family’s main base wasn’t there, nor did they have any Saint Realm powerhouses stationed there.
After waiting about an hour, Wei Fan stepped onto another Transmission Domain Gate. When he emerged, he found himself in a place called Yanggu City in Xining Continent.
According to the information gathered by Lu Shun’an, the Wang Family owned a Spirit Iron Ore Vein near Yanggu City—one of their most important enterprises, with a Dharma Martial Saint stationed there long-term.
Wei Fan did not plan to storm the Wang Family’s ancestral lands directly.
In families with tens of thousands of years of history, their members are scattered everywhere, holding critical positions. If you wipe out the main base in one stroke, those stationed at other places would definitely escape.
First, clear out those on the outside, force the rest to retreat back to the ancestral land, then wipe them out in one go.
Wei Fan, slinging the Dragon-slaying Saber behind him, walked out from the Transmission Domain Gate and headed straight for the Wang Family’s mine.
The Dragon-slaying Saber was seized from Jingxuan Pavilion—a top-level Holy Soldier. With the Tiger Soul Saber unavailable, it was perfect for unleashing the Yin-Yang Chaos Saber Technique.
The Wang Family’s mine was massive, but few clan disciples were present—after all, they didn’t dig the ore themselves, instead using those who’d offended the Wang Family as laborers.
At the entrance to the mine, several Wang Family disciples with long sabers strapped to their waists patrolled and guarded, refusing to let outsiders approach this critical family site.
"Who are you? This is the Wang Family’s mine—you looking to die by coming here?"
Four patrolling Wang Family disciples spotted someone walk into the mine. One of them shouted aggressively.
"Enough talking. Who around Yanggu City doesn’t know this is the Wang Family’s mine? Anyone who shows up here is definitely up to no good—just kill him!"
A Martial King’s body shimmered into golden light, kicking up clouds of dust as he attacked without hesitation. He didn’t care who the newcomer was, nor why he was here.
"Pshh—"
Wei Fan gave a casual flick of his sleeve. Blood exploded everywhere. The charging Martial King of the Wang Family was torn limb from limb—his Primordial Spirit shattered alongside his body.
"Lao Jiu!"
"Brazen! How dare you kill a member of the Wang Family? Don’t you know we are a Martial Emperor Clan?"
"Surrender now, or it won’t just be you dying—your whole family will die with you!"
The three remaining Wang Family disciples’ eyes went bloodshot. They drew Martial King Holy Soldiers and charged. The Wang Family had ruled Xining Continent for so many years—when had they ever witnessed one of their own be slain?
"Martial Emperor Clan? Before long, the world will be down one less Martial Emperor Clan."
Wei Fan, with the Dragon-slaying Saber on his back, strolled forward. His footsteps beat out an odd rhythm, his whole presence ethereal, as if untouched by the dust of the mortal realm—a true immortal.
The three patrolling Wang Family disciples had barely run two steps before they all exploded, their bodies churned into piles of minced flesh on the ground.
[Slayed Wang Family Martial King. Gained 50,000 years of Ordinary Power]
[Ordinary Power: 3,540,000 years]
[Martial Saint’s Power: none]
Four Martial Kings—and there was actually one who triggered power harvesting.
"Enemy attack! Sound the warning bell! Activate the Grand Array!"
There were both open and hidden sentries here. Someone immediately noticed the four killed—and called out an alarm.