Chapter 59

The sky over Luo Bay County looked as if a bucket of ink had been splashed over it, a dark, heavy weight pressing down.

A streak of cyan light tore through the clouds and suddenly hovered above the county town. The newcomer wore a cyan robe, his face ancient and simple—it was the Foundation Establishment elder sent by the Wan family, Wan Tianjue.

He has arrived.

How vast is the spiritual sense of a Foundation Establishment cultivator—like an invisible tide, it instantly blankets the whole of Luo Bay County.

The next second, Wan Tianjue's face darkened to the point where water could drip from it.

The Wang Family Old Residence? A expanse of charred ruins, not a single intact tile to be found, only a few tottering broken walls standing, as if silently mocking something.

The Wan family's outpost in Luo Bay County was no better—half its courtyard walls had collapsed, the interior was a mess, bloodstains everywhere, and several corpses in Wan family garb lay scattered, already stiff and cold.

Dead? Even Wan Hong, that Body Refining Ninth Layer Peak waste, is dead?

Utter disgrace!

This is nothing short of ripping the Wan family's old face off, throwing it on the ground, trampling it a hundred times with a shoe that's stepped in dog dung, then spitting on it and finally tossing it into a pigsty to smear the wall!

Wan Tianjue's aura became extremely unstable; the terrifying spiritual pressure caused the air below to twist, and some timid mortals were even frightened into fainting by it.

"Good! Good! Good!"

He laughed bitterly from extreme anger, but that laugh was colder than icy wind.

He flipped his hand, and a palm‑sized, antiquated bronze compass appeared in his palm. The compass's surface was covered with dense runes, and a slender needle at its center trembled slightly.

Wan Tianjue forced out a drop of essence blood from his fingertip, which fell onto the compass.

Hum!

The compass let out a soft chime, the blood droplet was quickly absorbed, and the central needle spun wildly before finally pointing, trembling, toward the south—the Man Yun Mountain Range.

Moreover, the tip of the needle glowed with an extremely faint, barely visible red light.

This is the Wan family's secret‑crafted Bloodline Tracking Disk; as long as the target bears the fresh blood of a Wan family direct descendant (such as Wan Hong) or carries a Wan family‑made token, even if they flee a thousand li, a faint sense of direction can still be felt.

Although faint, it is enough!

"Hmph, run? Where can you possibly run to?"

Wan Tianjue clenched his five fingers tightly, his joints cracking with explosive pops.

"How dare you destroy the Wan family's foundation, kill our stewards and helmsmen! Wang Shan, you brat, and the Wang family behind you—I will dig three feet into the earth, drag each of you out, chop you into ten thousand pieces, and annihilate body and soul!"

His voice was not loud, yet it carried the penetrating quality unique to a Foundation Establishment cultivator—bone‑chilling, as if it rang directly from the depths of one's soul.

The next instant, he moved his body, turning into a stream of light that precisely landed before the county government office of Luo Bay County.

Boom!

Like a mountain collapsing, an invisible pressure instantly enveloped the entire county office.

Inside the office, County Magistrate Liu Chang, who had been handling affairs, felt a catastrophe‑like terror wash over him; his legs went weak and he fell to his knees with a "plop," trembling all over like sifted chaff.

"This… this official Liu Chang greets… greets the exalted immortal!"

The clerks and runners in the office were even more terrified, their souls scattering; they scrambled out, kneeling en masse, not daring to lift their heads.

Wan Tianjue couldn't be bothered to look at these mortal ants; he strode straight into the hall and took the seat of the county magistrate.

Liu Chang tremblingly rose, bowed his body, and dared not take a breath.

"Where is the Wang family?" Wan Tianjue's voice held no emotion.

"Rep… replying to the exalted immortal…" Liu Chang's voice trembled, "The… the Wang family, last night at midnight, the whole clan… moved away, the direction… seems to be to the south…"

"Moved away?" Wan Tianjue raised an eyebrow, "What did they take with them?"

"Almost… almost they cleared out everything they could carry…" Liu Chang swallowed, reporting carefully, "The Wang family's spirit‑field contracts, shop deeds, and… also all the loot they had recently ransacked from the Chen family—supposedly filling several large wagons…"

"The Chen family?" Wan Tianjue seemed to recall something, "That Chen family that depends on my Wan family?"

"Yes… yes…" Liu Chang's forehead beaded with cold sweat, "The Chen family… the Chen family was also wiped out by the Wang family; its head, Chen Tianfeng, had his cultivation… abolished, and then…"

"And then what?"

"Then… they were thrown… by the Wang people… into the burial ground outside the city…"

Wan Tianjue fell silent for a moment.

A Body Refining family managed to kill the Wan family's Ninth Layer Peak outpost chief, dared to annihilate another family dependent on the Wan family, and then decisively packed up everything and fled?

This Wang Shan's boldness and methods are somewhat interesting.

"Go, fetch Chen Tianfeng back for me."

"Yes! Yes!" Liu Chang, as if pardoned, scrambled out to arrange manpower.

Efficiency was actually quite fast—within the time it takes to burn an incense stick, a few runners returned carrying a ragged thing, a foul stench already detectable from afar.

The runners' faces were ashen, obviously frightened badly.

"Exalted… exalted immortal… we found it… but…"

Wan Tianjue swept his spiritual sense over it.

Even with his Foundation Establishment cultivator's composure, he couldn't help but frown.

That was hardly a human shape anymore.

The so‑called Chen Tianfeng was now a pile of meat and bone chewed ragged by wild dogs; flesh on his face and body had been almost entirely torn away, leaving only his tattered clothes and a vague outline to identify him.

A conspicuous hole in his dantian proved Liu Chang's words true—his cultivation had indeed been crippled.

His death state was miserable to the extreme.

Not even a whole corpse remained.

Wan Tianjue looked at that heap of rotting flesh; the anger provoked by the ants surged again in his heart, yet at the same time a barely perceptible wariness quietly arose.

This Wang Shan is ruthless enough!

Abolish his cultivation, then toss him to the burial ground to feed the dogs.

This is not merely weeding out the roots; it is also killing a chicken to scare the monkeys—methods vicious, thoughts meticulous.

Moreover, they fled so decisively, without a hint of hesitation.

It seems that the Wang Family, or rather Wang Shan, is far from as simple as it appears on the surface.

Perhaps Wan Hong's death was not entirely due to that so-called Righteous Qi Talisman?

Behind the Wang Family, do they have any other reliance? Or have they encountered some fortunate chance?

Wan Tianjue's thoughts raced, but his hand movements did not stop.

He stood up and gave a few orders to the terrified Liu Chang, who was almost wetting his pants—nothing more than pacifying the locality, announcing that the Wan Family's prestige remained unchanged, and having him cooperate with any Wan Family descendants who might arrive later.

These are just formalities; he couldn't care less about the life or death of this tiny county.

His sole objective now is to capture Wang Shan and uproot the Wang Family completely!

After finishing these trivial matters, Wan Tianjue did not linger; he flickered and shot straight up into the sky.

Whoosh!

A dazzling azure sword light blazed forth; he had already taken to flight on his sword, turning into a streaming glow, and following the faint guidance of the Bloodline Tracking Disk, he sped southward toward the Man Yun Mountain Range.

How swift is the flight of a Foundation Establishment cultivator on a sword? Compared to the Wang Family's ramshackle Black Feather Boat, which could fall apart at any moment, it's like heaven and earth.

"Little brat Wang Shan, you can't escape!"

Wan Tianjue's icy voice seemed to still echo over Luo Bay County.

He had absolute confidence that at most half a day would be enough to catch up to those damned Body Refining ants!

As Wan Tianjue departed, the suffocating pressure of his Foundation Establishment aura gradually dissipated.

But the entire Luo Bay County fell into an even deeper stillness.

Doors and windows were shut tight in every household, the streets were deserted, and even the stray dogs that usually roamed about tucked their tails and hid.

The air was thick with fear and despair.

Although the Wang Family had left, an even more terrifying Wan Family had arrived.

That fleeting glimpse of Foundation Establishment aura just now, like heaven overturning and earth collapsing, completely crushed the last shred of hope in the townspeople's hearts.

They seemed to have already foreseen that what awaited Luo Bay County next would be the Wan Family's even harsher rule and exploitation.

Here, it was as if it had prematurely turned into a human purgatory.

And the architect of all this, the Wang Family, is now fleeing for their lives.

On the distant horizon, the sword light controlled by Wan Tianjue was like a death-summoning talisman, drawing ever closer.

A hint of a cruel smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

The jar is ready; all that's left is for the turtle to enter.