Wang Hao, seasoned in the art of deception, spun yet another lie without batting an eye.

“Old Wang, I forgot to mention something. During the last extermination campaign against the demonic cultivators, Li Yaozu and I stumbled upon a hidden lair. We found three Foundation Establishment Pills inside. The Li family claimed two, and I took the third, along with that Hidden Spirit Boat.”

It was a perfect half-truth. He gambled that Wang Yanzhao, out of pride and propriety, would never lower himself to verify the story with Li Yaozu.

“But won’t the other clansmen have objections if they find out?” Yanzhao asked, his brow furrowed with concern for internal unity.

“Do we even have other clansmen ready for Foundation Establishment right now?” Wang Hao countered. “If we do, let them exchange for it. The condition remains the same: whether they succeed or fail, they must repay the Spirit Stones. If one person can’t pay it back, their entire immediate family will share the debt!”

Internally, Wang Hao chuckled. He wished there were more candidates to worry about. Unfortunately, the family’s ‘baby boom’ policy from years ago hadn’t yielded results yet. The oldest children from that generation were barely ten, muddling through the second or third layer of Qi Refining. The next wave of Foundation Establishment experts was still decades away.

Far to the south of the Qingyuan Sect lay the domain of the Burning Heaven Sect.

Unlike the rugged frontier of the Qingyuan territory, the Burning Heaven Sect controlled the heartland—fertile, safe, and free from the constant threat of high-level demon beasts. The connection to the Severed Origin Mountains was minimal, meaning no beast tides to cull their numbers.

However, safety bred stagnation. With four Golden Core cultivators to feed and no beasts to hunt for cores and materials, the Burning Heaven Sect was starving for resources. Expanding south meant facing the boundless, treacherous ocean. Expanding north meant war with the Qingyuan Sect.

They chose war.

As the main sect mobilized, the call to arms rippled out to their vassal families.

At Double Dragon Mountain, the Ye Family was stirring. With a four-hundred-year history, three Foundation Establishment elders, and over a hundred Qi Refining disciples, they were a mirror image of the Wang family’s former strength.

Inside the Ye family’s grand council hall, the atmosphere was tense.

Ye Jingshan, the patriarch and master of the house, sat not at the head of the table, but to the side, his posture deferential. The seat of honor was occupied by a middle-aged man in crimson robes—Elder Ji of the Burning Heaven Sect. The oppressive aura rolling off him marked him clearly as a Late Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Several late-arriving elders scurried in, bowing apologetically before taking their seats. Only then did Elder Ji deign to speak.

“The Burning Heaven Sect marches north to crush the Qingyuan Sect,” he announced, his voice smooth but commanding. “Naturally, you are expected to serve. However, the Old Ancestor is benevolent. He knows your limitations. You will not be cannon fodder on the main front.”

He leaned forward, a shark-like grin spreading across his face. “Your target is the Green Bull Market. Specifically, the Five Families.”

A murmur ran through the room.

“These five families are minor powers,” Elder Ji continued. “Together, they field barely a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators, with only two in the late stages. You have the strength to crush them. The Sect claims nothing from this venture. Your orders are simply to exterminate them. Their Spirit Mountains, their vaults, their women, their legacies—everything you seize is yours to keep.”

If you want the horse to run, you must let it graze.

The Burning Heaven Sect considered the scraps of the Green Bull Market beneath their notice. But for the vassal families gathered here, this was a feast of unprecedented proportions.

Xu Minglang, patriarch of the North Mountain Xu Family, leaned forward, greed practically dripping from his eyes. His family lands bordered the south of the Green Bull Market. For decades, he had watched the market’s prosperity with envy, held back only by the peace treaties of the major sects. Now, the leash was off.

“Elder Ji,” Xu Minglang said, eager to prove his worth. “According to my intelligence, the hardest nut to crack is the Lei family. They are artifact smiths, armed to the teeth with high-grade equipment. Their patriarch, Lei Liheng, is at the Ninth Layer of Foundation Establishment. They are the undisputed muscle of the market.”

He held up a second finger. “The second threat is the Wang family. They are alchemists. They possess at least three Tier 2 masters. Their strongest fighter, Wang Guang’an, is also at the Ninth Layer. Though rumor has it he was crippled by old injuries, he’s been active recently, suggesting a recovery. They also have four Foundation Establishment experts, but two are essentially non-combatants—soft alchemists with little battle experience.”

“And finally, the Li family,” Xu Minglang finished. “Talisman masters. No late-stage experts, but don’t underestimate them. They can drown you in a sea of Tier 2 talismans if given the chance.”

Ye Jingshan, the host, frowned as he listened. “If that is accurate, the Five Families are not much weaker than our coalition. If we attack them one by one, they will simply turtle up behind their formations. We might win, but we’ll bleed for it.”

“Agreed,” the head of the Fengcheng He family chimed in. “A pyrrhic victory is no victory at all.”

“Then we combine our forces,” Xu Minglang suggested with a laugh. “We form a single massive army and steamroll them one by one!”

“Foolish,” a grey-robed man interrupted. This was Gu Lizhan of the Lingshui Gu family. “If we crush one family with overwhelming force, the other four will panic. If they adopt a ‘brave man cuts off his wrist’ strategy—abandoning their lands to hole up in a single fortress—we will never dig them out.”

Xu Minglang threw up his hands. “Split up, we bleed. Group up, they turtle. What do you suggest, Brother Gu?”

Gu Lizhan smiled thinly. “We compromise. Two families team up to attack one target. This gives us overwhelming numerical superiority on each front without alerting the entire region instantly. Even if the remaining two families realize what’s happening and link up, they won’t have the strength to stop three simultaneous victories.”

“Excellent,” Elder Ji nodded from the head seat, clearly pleased. “This strategy is sound. Your six families already overpower them. Once you devour the Lei, Wang, and Li families, the remaining two will be helpless fish in a dried-up pond.”

“Which three do we hit first?” Xu Minglang asked, licking his lips.

“If you want safety, hit the weak ones,” Gu Lizhan said coolly. “If you want wealth… we hit the Lei, Wang, and Li families first.”

“Why?”

“Brother Xu already explained it,” Gu Lizhan said, glancing around the room. “These three hold the legacies: Alchemy, Artifacts, Talismans. Furthermore, they are the wealthiest. They’ve likely heard rumors of the war and are hoarding supplies right now. If we strike immediately, those hoards become our war chest. If we wait, they will consume those resources defending themselves—or worse, pack them up and flee.”

“Makes sense,” He Junyi of the He family muttered, his eyes gleaming. “My family spent ten thousand Spirit Stones just for a Tier 1 alchemy heritage. The Wang family has a Tier 2 legacy… We must have it.”

“It is decided,” Elder Ji declared, waving his hand. “Organize your forces. I want the Green Bull vassals pinned down so they cannot reinforce the Qingyuan Sect.”

The meeting dissolved into a heated argument over the spoils. Everyone wanted the alchemy and artifact legacies. The talisman legacy was a distant third. The fight for the right to attack the Wang and Lei families nearly turned physical.

Finally, Elder Ji intervened.

” The Xu and He families will attack the Wangs. The Ye and Gu families will take the Leis. The remaining two families will handle the Lis.”

With the targets set, the vassals turned their eyes to Elder Ji, hands out. They knew the Burning Heaven Sect couldn’t spare manpower, but supplies were a different story.

“I support you,” Elder Ji said cautiously, eyeing the greedy faces. “But for a resource allocation of this magnitude, I must petition the Golden Core Patriarch. Prepare your troops and spies. Once the Sect declares the start of the war, we strike together.”

With that, Elder Ji flew off, eager to report his success in rallying the cannon fodder.