“You all did well.”

At this moment, Wang Guang’an returned to the group.

“Old Ancestor, what about the Black Water Turtle?” Wang Yanzhao asked immediately.

Wang Guang’an chuckled. “That beast found itself in a dilemma; it couldn’t win, nor could it flee. Although its shell possesses extremely strong defenses, I would have worn it down eventually. Fortunately, it knows better. It agreed to submit to our Wang Family, serving as a guardian spirit beast for two hundred years! I promised to set it free once that time is up.”

With the Wang Family now possessing five Foundation Establishment cultivators, even a second-grade high-tier Black Water Turtle wouldn’t dare to resist, no matter how unwilling it might be.

Subduing it as a spirit beast was an excellent outcome.

When Wang Longyou returned with the corpse of the six-legged crab, Wang Guang’an laughed heartily and flew down into the battlefield below.

With the second-grade demon beasts dead, the remaining first-grade demon beasts were nothing more than fish on a chopping block.

After a round of slaughter, they left behind over a hundred first-grade demon beast corpses. The remaining three hundred or so scattered in panic, fleeing into the wild.

No one pursued them. Once scattered, they were no longer a cohesive threat to Ling Lake City.

In the future, after the demon beast turmoil ended, the family could issue tasks for clan members to hunt down these stragglers. This would allow the younger generation to gain combat experience while increasing their income.

Worried that the demon beasts at Ruojun Mountain might launch another assault, the group didn’t dare to delay. They quickly collected the most valuable materials from the corpses and hurried back to Ling Lake City.

They picked up Wang Wenyan and the others, leaving only Wang Wenmei behind to guard the city, before rushing back to Ruojun Mountain.

Seeing that the demon beast forces at Ruojun Mountain were resting and regrouping, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Wang Guang’an smiled. “By eliminating one group of demon beasts today, the pressure on our Wang Family has been greatly reduced. After we recover our Spiritual Power tomorrow, Longyou and I will go reinforce Green Bull Market!”

“Old Ancestor, that’s not appropriate,” Wang Yanzhao interjected. “We still have so many second-grade demon beasts facing us here. It would be safer for you to stay behind with the Black Water Turtle! Why don’t Sixth Uncle and I go instead?”

“You are the Patriarch; how can you easily take such risks?” Wang Longyou said with a serious expression. “But it’s also not appropriate for the Old Ancestor to leave. Wenhao and I should go!”

Wang Hao chimed in, “Uncle is right. It’s better for me to go. I have the Flying Cloud Boat; even if Green Bull Market falls, escaping with our clan members won’t be a problem!”

Wang Guang’an pondered for a moment before finally nodding. “That works. Take a few Qi Refining clan members with you. That way, the other families won’t be able to complain.”

After resting for a night and recovering most of their strength, Wang Hao and Wang Longyou set off immediately.

If they arrived too late and ran head-on into the main demon beast forces, there would be nowhere to escape.

They selected several late-stage Qi Refining clan members. Since the older elders had not fully recovered from yesterday’s battle, Wang Hao chose from the newer generation, including Wang Wenyan and her husband, as well as Wang Wenzhi.

Wang Hao and Wang Longyou took turns piloting the flying boat, reaching Green Bull Market in just a day and a half without incident.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with members of the other families, they immediately sat down to meditate.

The news that Wang Hao was now a Foundation Establishment cultivator spread quickly.

Apart from Li Yaozu, who had already guessed it, everyone else was shocked.

This was especially true for Cui Yuan, the manager of the Four Seas Merchant Alliance. He had always wanted to recruit Wang Hao. During this turmoil, he had even organized a group of rogue cultivators to participate in the defense.

He had originally planned to use Foundation Establishment Pills to entice Wang Hao, but reality had given him a slap in the face. In just a few years, he now had to address Wang Hao as “Senior.”

His expression couldn’t help but become somewhat awkward.

Wang Hao didn’t have time to pay attention to him. After a brief greeting, he went to rest. He wasn’t made of iron; he needed time to recover.

In less than two days, the demon beast army led by the Kui Wood Wolf merged with the scattered beasts attacking Green Bull Market.

After some initial chaos, the Kui Wood Wolf forcefully suppressed the disorderly ranks.

It looked at Green Bull Market, standing ready for battle, a cold glint flashing in its eyes. It roared several times, commanding the army to attack the city’s defensive array.

Green Bull Market’s Sky Fire Demon Sealing Array was immediately activated.

Streaks of fire descended from the sky, continuously igniting the low-grade demon beasts. In an instant, cries of agony filled the air, and corpses littered the ground.

The Kui Wood Wolf didn’t care about casualties among the low-grade fodder. In its view, these creatures of low intelligence were no different from wild animals; no matter how many died, it wouldn’t feel any heartache.

When high-grade demon beasts launched beast tides, one purpose was precisely to cull the low-grade population to prevent ecological collapse within their territory.

If sacrificing half of these beasts could break humanity’s defensive arrays, it considered the exchange quite worthwhile.

The Sky Fire Demon Sealing Array was a third-grade low-tier formation purchased by the five families together. Its defensive power was formidable.

However, when operating at full capacity, Green Bull Market’s spirit vein couldn’t quite support the consumption.

Fortunately, there were many rogue cultivators within the market. They were organized into teams, taking turns injecting spiritual power into the array nodes to maintain its operation.

The twelve Foundation Establishment cultivators from the five major families, along with seven rogue Foundation Establishment cultivators, each led a team. Qi Refining late-stage cultivators stood before the array, personally hunting down the fiercer demon beasts to reduce the pressure on the barrier.

The siege lasted for over ten days.

The Kui Wood Wolf commanded the beast groups to charge the array several times each day, but they were always repelled.

The combined demon forces, which originally numbered over twenty thousand, had suffered over fifty percent casualties. Even the second-grade demons had lost over sixty of their number.

By the end, the low-grade demons began to feel fear.

No matter how the Kui Wood Wolf roared in fury, the lesser beasts refused to advance.

Enraged, the Kui Wood Wolf killed several demons trying to flee. But even it didn’t dare drive the beast groups to certain death anymore. That would only lead to a total collapse of its army.

“They’ve finally stopped!”

Lei Liheng, seeing the demons temporarily retreat, collapsed heavily onto a chair.

These ten days had been grueling for the cultivators of Green Bull Market.

The spirit vein needed to supply the array, so cultivator use was strictly prohibited. Not only that, but they also had to inject their own spiritual power into the array.

One couldn’t create energy from nothing. They could only consume spirit pills, refine the medicinal power, and then inject it into the formation.

Rogue cultivators were unwilling to do this at their own expense. The five major families had to use their own Spirit Stones to purchase pills for the rogue cultivators.

In just ten days, each family had spent at least fifteen thousand Spirit Stones.

But the gains were also huge.

Since the array and pills were provided by the five major families, the slain demon corpses also belonged to them. Participating rogue cultivators could only claim thirty percent.

That meant if a rogue cultivator worked hard to kill a demon, they only received a small portion of the value.

Many rogue cultivators were unhappy.

But the five major families countered: If you purchase your own spirit pills to use, then the split can become seventy-thirty. We take thirty, you get seventy.

With spirit pill prices skyrocketing, where would rogue cultivators get the Spirit Stones to purchase them? They could only accept the split.

In Green Bull Market, one could see rogue cultivators lying casually on the ground everywhere. After ten days of continuous output, their bodies were exhausted.

But this was still better than going out to fight a life-and-death battle with the demons. They understood this principle without the five major families needing to explain.

So, even knowing the lion’s share of benefits was taken by the families, they still exerted full effort. After all, their lives were more important.

“Hurry, recover your Spiritual Power and rest a bit.”

Wang Hao took out a pile of spirit fruits and distributed them. These things had a better recovery effect than standard spirit pills.

They were also very sweet, helping to soothe the mind and uplift the spirit.

At least it let everyone relax for a moment.

Everyone ate several fruits, and their morale indeed improved somewhat. They repeatedly thanked Wang Hao.

Wang Hao didn’t care about a few spirit fruits. He usually fed these to his Phantom Moon Butterfly as snacks.

“Although the demons have temporarily retreated, their main force isn’t broken,” Zhao Gaofang said grimly. “The Kui Wood Wolf and a large number of second-grade demons are still watching us like a tiger eyeing its prey. Green Bull Market is still in great danger!”

“En. Our Wang Family’s spirit pill reserves are also running low. At most, we can support another five days of fighting,” Wang Longyou calculated.

His words immediately made everyone frown.

“Only hold for five days? Once the Kui Wood Wolf attacks again, won’t we risk collapse?”

“This junior still has some spirit fruits. We should be able to hold for two more days,” Wang Hao said calmly.