Rise of the Wang Clan: Starting with a Portable Farm

Chapter 197: Tang Qingfeng

In the world of cultivation, the weak were prey to the strong. Treasures belonged to those with the strength to hold them. Wang Hao was not a man burdened by misplaced mercy.

With the Mother-Child Azure Light Sword in hand, he ventured deeper into the tunnel.

Moments later, two Qi Refining cultivators appeared ahead. Guards.

“Who are you—”

Their question died in their throats. Wang Hao’s spirit sword flashed, and two heads hit the floor before the guards could even draw their weapons.

He swept up their Storage Bags without breaking stride and continued.

After roughly a hundred zhang, the tunnel opened into a modest cavern. The walls were studded with raw Spirit Stone ore, glittering in the dim light. Seven or eight cultivators supervised hundreds of mortal laborers who were chipping away at the rock.

At the center of the cavern, a Foundation Establishment cultivator sat at a stone table. He opened his eyes, his gaze locking onto the intruder.

“Who dares trespass in the Tang Family’s mine!”

“Fellow Daoist Tang, what a temper,” Wang Hao stepped into the light, a cold smile playing on his lips. “Though I suppose illegal mining requires a certain… boldness.”

Wang Hao recognized the man immediately: Tang Qingfeng, a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator he had met once at the Qingyuan Sect.

The Tang family of the Falling Phoenix Market was known for their ruthlessness. When the Blazing Heaven Sect invaded, they had abandoned their Spirit Mountain and mortal subjects to flee, preserving their core strength. That decisiveness had allowed them to return and re-establish themselves quickly.

Tang Qingfeng’s face flashed with fear upon recognizing Wang Hao, but he masked it instantly. He stood up, clasping his hands in a polite greeting.

“Ah, Fellow Daoist Wang. Since you’ve found us, I won’t beat around the bush. My Tang family stumbled upon this vein by accident. However, our strength is limited, and our progress has been slow. If the Wang family is interested, I can speak for my clan—let us develop this mine together. A fifty-fifty split. What do you say?”

As he spoke, his left hand drifted subtly toward the Storage Bag at his waist. Inside his grip, a Tier 2 Spirit Talisman began to glow.

Wang Hao’s smile didn’t waver.

Share a Spirit Stone vein? A resource that formed the foundation of a Golden Core power?

Wang Hao had no intention of sharing. And neither did Tang Qingfeng. The offer was a stall tactic, a lie to buy time for a lethal strike.

“A Spirit Stone vein is certainly interesting,” Wang Hao said casually, lowering his guard. He sheathed his sword and unhooked the wine gourd at his waist. “I have a pot of fine Tier 2 Spirit Wine. Why don’t we sit and discuss the details?”

Tang Qingfeng’s eyes narrowed. Seeing Wang Hao stow his weapon, he thought his moment had arrived. He prepared to activate the talisman.

Thwip.

Pain exploded in his palm.

A needle, almost invisible to the naked eye, punched through his hand, obliterating flesh and bone. The talisman dropped from his ruined fingers, fluttering uselessly to the floor.

“Ah! You—!”

Tang Qingfeng roared in agony and rage. He summoned a long saber, slashing at Wang Hao with desperate fury.

The Azure Light Sword met the blade mid-air.

Clang!

The saber snapped in two.

Tang Qingfeng stared at his broken weapon, terror finally dawning on him. He remembered the rumors about Wang Hao’s monstrous strength—stories he had dismissed as exaggeration. Now, facing the reality, he realized how foolish he had been.

Wang Hao didn’t give him time to regret.

The Silver Shadow Needles flashed.

Thud.

Tang Qingfeng collapsed, a neat hole drilled through the center of his forehead.

The Qi Refining cultivators in the cavern froze. Their Elder—their strongest protector—had been killed in seconds.

Panic erupted. They turned to flee.

Wang Hao didn’t move. He simply flicked his fingers. Nine silver needles danced through the air, weaving a web of death.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

In the blink of an eye, over a dozen cultivators lay dead.

Wang Hao turned his gaze to the hundreds of mortal laborers. They dropped to their knees, weeping and begging for mercy.

His hand hovered over his sword.

Mortals lived hard lives. Mining was dangerous work. They were innocent pawns.

But they were witnesses.

In the end, Wang Hao couldn’t bring himself to slaughter them.

He sealed the cavern entrance with a massive boulder, leaving only a small ventilation shaft. The mortals couldn’t move the rock. They had food and water; they would survive for a few days until the Wang Clan secured the site. Their fate was sealed: they would mine here until they died of old age. Cruel, but necessary to protect the secret.

With Tang Qingfeng dead, there was no turning back.

The Tang family had been crippled by the war. They had only three Foundation Establishment cultivators left. Now, with one dead by Wang Hao’s hand, only two remained.

Wang Hao’s path was clear: swift, decisive extermination. He had to wipe out the Tang family before they realized what had happened and leaked the mine’s location to the Qingyuan Sect out of spite.

He fired a Sound Transmission Talisman, summoning Wang Wenzhu and the others.

When the five juniors arrived and saw the carnage, they paled.

“Fifth Brother,” Wang Wenzhu whispered, looking at the bodies. “Who are these people? Mine guards?”

“Yes. The Tang family of Falling Phoenix Market,” Wang Hao said coldly. “We are taking this mine. To do that, the Tang family must be erased. We move fast to avoid complications. Sweep the tunnels. Leave no Tang cultivator alive.”

“Yes!”

The five bowed, their expressions hardening.

Under normal circumstances, they might have questioned the morality of wiping out a clan. But Wang Hao’s order was absolute. He spoke with the authority of the family, and from childhood, they had been taught that the family’s survival came first.

The sweep took thirty minutes. The tunnels were short, and the remaining guards were quickly dispatched. Once the area was secure, Wang Hao dismantled the Tang family’s array and replaced it with his own defensive formations.

At the entrance, he turned to Wang Wenjiang.

“You three guard this spot. If the Tang family sends reinforcements, ambush them. If you can’t kill them all, retreat immediately. Your priority is to bring the news back to the family. Do not fight to the death. Understand?”

“Understood.”

Wang Hao had erased all traces of his techniques in the cavern. Unless a Golden Core cultivator used Bloodline Retrospection, no one would link this to him.

He activated the Sun-Moon Shuttle, grabbing Wang Wenzhu and the others, and shot back toward the Wang family estate.

Upon arrival at Wang Family Ridge, he immediately fired off transmission talismans, summoning the key Foundation Establishment elders to the peak.

The Peak. Council Hall.

“Speak,” Wang Yanzhao grumbled, his face sour. “Why the urgent summons? You’re a capable son, Hao, but you cause me more headaches than the rest of the clan combined.”

“This time, we’re doing something big,” Wang Hao said calmly.

He swept his hand over the table.

Clatter.

Several chunks of raw ore tumbled across the wood, glowing with spiritual light.

“This… this is raw Spirit Stone ore?” Wang Yanzhao stared, his breath hitching. He looked up at his son, eyes wide. “Where did you get this?”

“Since you recognize it, you know where it came from. The ground.”

“You found a Spirit Stone vein?” Wang Longyou stood up, his composure shattering.

He immediately cast a Soundproof Barrier around the three of them. Even though the hall was shielded, this secret was too dangerous to risk.

“Does anyone else know?” Wang Longyou demanded.

“Wenjiang, Wenzhu, and the team know,” Wang Hao replied. “And… the owners know. It belonged to the Tang family of Falling Phoenix Market.”

He explained the situation, detailing the discovery and the confrontation with Tang Qingfeng.

Wang Longyou frowned deeply. “You killed Tang Qingfeng. There’s no turning back now.”

“He tried to kill me first,” Wang Hao said with a shrug. “But even if he hadn’t… it’s a Spirit Stone vein. Since we found it, there was never any choice. We take it.”