Chapter 523: The Fall of the Ma Family

Seeing the head of Ma Ma Hongshan in Jin Wu Ziyuan's hand, the rest of the Xiaoyao Sect members were also extremely happy.

The Ma family had betrayed the sect. If the sect had exhausted all its strength this time and still failed to kill Ma Ma Hongshan, the mastermind, allowing him to successfully escape to the Liang Kingdom, even if the Xiaoyao Sect could wipe out many of the Ma family's low-tier cultivators, it would have been a massive blow to the sect's reputation.

Although this battle failed to completely eradicate the entire Ma family, allowing Ma Fairy Qiudie and some of the Ma family's cultivators to escape, the Xiaoyao Sect had already made them pay a heavy price, which was enough to deter other cultivation families within the Wei Kingdom.

This great battle, sparked by the Ma family's rebellion and lasting several days, finally came to an end at this moment.

Hearing the battle results reported by Jin Wu Ziyuan and Chen Chen Xuanxin, Li Li Mufeng also revealed a hint of satisfaction on his face and took the initiative to praise Song Song Qingming and the others who had gone to pursue Ma Ma Hongshan.

In addition to the Ma family cultivators who were killed, the Xiaoyao Sect also captured a large flying boat from the Wu Jiuyuan Sect this time. Inside, it was loaded with many supplies the Ma family had prepared to transport to the Liang Kingdom, including many items they had just looted from the Mount Mount Tuoyun market. These spiritual items, combined with that large flying boat, were worth nearly 100,000 spirit stones.

Because Ma Ma Hongshan had already handed over many of the Ma family's precious items to Ma Fairy Qiudie in advance, although Song Song Qingming and the others later found a storage bag on him, it contained nothing but a few cultivation manuals, two magic treasures, and some spirit stones. They did not find anything of real value, which truly left the Xiaoyao Sect members feeling somewhat disappointed.

After returning to Iron Immortal Fort, Li Li Mufeng took Song Song Qingming and many Xiaoyao Sect Elders and immediately set off to return to Mount Mount Guyang, leaving the aftermath of Iron Immortal Fort to Chu Chu Fengping, who had always been good at communicating with others.

Now that the Ma family cultivators had all withdrawn from Iron Immortal Fort, there were still over a million ordinary mortals left behind, as well as a dozen vassal cultivation families in the vicinity.

Regarding mortals, the Xiaoyao Sect had always been unwilling to implicate them unnecessarily. However, having lost the protection of the Ma family, it would likely be difficult for these people to return to the carefree days they had enjoyed before.

To prevent the large number of Ma family mortals from gathering together, which would be detrimental to management, Chu Chu Fengping specifically dispatched a large sect flying boat to transport a portion of the mortals to Mount Guiyun Market and Gaoyun County in the south.

Just like the Liu family of Mount Mount Jingyuan back then, the ringleaders were all directly executed, while the remaining low-tier cultivators were sent to several mines controlled by the Xiaoyao Sect to become mine slaves. Even the Yinfeng Ridge mine in Qinghe County received quite a few such cultivators this time.

As for the dozen or so Foundation Establishment families under the Ma family, the Xiaoyao Sect dealt with them in batches according to their crimes. Those who had been of one mind with the Ma family and were prepared to rebel and flee to the Liang Kingdom were all quickly liquidated and wiped out by the Xiaoyao Sect, suffering a fate even worse than the Ma family.

According to the rules of the Xiaoyao Sect, even if these Ma family mortals were not subjected to special punishment now, if any cultivators with spiritual roots appeared among them in the future, they would have no qualifications to ascend to immortality for at least a hundred years and could only live as ordinary mortals for their entire lives.

Facing Chu Chu Fengping's interrogation, these vassal cultivation families initially claimed to be wronged and blamed each other, regardless of whether they had truly betrayed the sect with the Ma family, which immediately disrupted the rhythm of the Xiaoyao Sect's interrogation.

For the remaining fence-sitters who had not fully committed to following the Ma family to the end, the Xiaoyao Sect also understood that they were under the Ma family's command and were forced to participate in the Ma family's betrayal. For these cultivation families, Chu Chu Fengping gave them some more lenient policies at his discretion, only giving them a verbal warning and fining them a significant amount of merit points from the sect's Merit Pavilion.

Through several moles the sect had secretly planted in Iron Immortal Fort for many years, Chu Chu Fengping quickly dug out the cultivation families led by the Chen and Li families who were deliberately causing confusion, ensuring that these die-hard Ma family cultivation families received the punishment they deserved.

However, although the Xiaoyao Sect had not interfered much in the affairs of Iron Immortal Fort over the years, the Ma family had become increasingly disobedient, which had long since attracted the attention of the Xiaoyao Sect. Among the many cultivation families under Iron Immortal Fort, several had long been secretly controlled by the sect to monitor every move of the Ma family.

Through this round of purging, the remaining forces of the Ma family in the entire Iron Immortal Fort had been completely uprooted. The Xiaoyao Sect regained control of the entire Iron Immortal Fort and also controlled all the markets and mines of the Ma family near Iron Immortal Fort.

Regarding these accomplices who assisted in the rebellion, although the Xiaoyao Sect did not slaughter them all like the Ma family cultivators, the lives of these cultivation families were not much better.

Soon, the news of the Ma family's betrayal of the sect spread throughout the Wei Kingdom. The Ma family, which had been glorious for over five hundred years in the northwest of the Wei Kingdom, completely disappeared into the long river of the Wei Kingdom's history in less than half a month.

After returning to Mount Mount Guyang, Li Li Mufeng immediately rewarded the many Golden Core Elders of the Xiaoyao Sect who participated in this battle. Everyone, including Song Song Qingming, eventually received a significant reward of sect merit points.

In addition, to compensate Song Song Qingming and Lu Lu Boyang, who were accidentally injured in this battle, Li Li Mufeng generously rewarded each of them with a third-tier low-quality talisman. This truly surprised Song Song Qingming, who happily accepted the spiritual item.

This time, in the battle of Iron Immortal Fort, after Song Song Qingming killed the late-stage Foundation Establishment elder of the Ma family outside the protective formation, he not only obtained a valuable talisman treasure, the "Green Leaf Three-Star Ruler," but also found over 3,000 spirit stones and many miscellaneous spiritual items in that elder's storage bag.

Even without counting the value of that talisman treasure, the other spiritual items in that elder's storage bag alone were estimated to be worth nearly 10,000 spirit stones. These spiritual items were obtained by Song Song Qingming alone on the battlefield by killing enemy cultivators. The Xiaoyao Sect side did not say much after learning about this and directly and generously rewarded these spiritual items to Song Song Qingming.

After Li Li Mufeng finished rewarding the merits, Yao Yao Ganshu on the side asked cautiously: "Elder Song, this time because of the obstruction of the Wu Jiuyuan Sect, we failed to completely eradicate the Ma family, leaving a hidden danger for the sect. Now that we have formed a grudge with the Wu Jiuyuan Sect to the west, should we be more vigilant about Iron Immortal Fort in the future?"

Li Li Mufeng smiled and shook his head: "No matter. Ma Ma Hongshan is dead, and Wang Wang Ziheng is seriously injured. The Wu Jiuyuan Sect has lost two Golden Core combatants at once and no longer has the strength to contend with us. They dare not easily cross the Yunque Mountain Range now. Having Chu Fengping there is enough."

"The Wu Jiuyuan Sect's interference in our Wei Kingdom's affairs this time has already been noted by me. Sooner or later, we will settle this score with the Wu Jiuyuan Sect."

After the battle with the Wu Jiuyuan Sect, although Li Li Mufeng was very angry, he remained rational and did not lead Song Song Qingming and the others to rush into the territory of the Liang Kingdom to continue entangling with the Wu Jiuyuan Sect.

However, because the Wu Jiuyuan Sect interfered in the Ma family's affairs in the Wei Kingdom, the two sects had now completely broken off relations. If there is an opportunity in the future, Li Li Mufeng will certainly find a way to deal with them.

"Feng Feng Yangde is now dead at Mount Mount Tuoyun, and the loose cultivators on the mountain are leaderless. Even the formation has not been repaired yet. Should we send a suitable person to take over Mount Mount Tuoyun?"

"Do not be so anxious about this matter for now. Those loose cultivators are people accustomed to freedom. It is difficult to make them submit to the sect so quickly. Let us not interfere with the spiritual vein of Mount Mount Tuoyun for now. Send a few more second-tier formation masters over, and let those two disciples of Chen Chen Jinliang go back to take a look first," Li Li Mufeng sighed.

After staying on Mount Mount Guyang for a few days, Song Song Qingming bid farewell to the Xiaoyao Sect members and returned to Qinghe County alone.

After learning that the Xiaoyao Sect was going to attack Iron Immortal Fort, the Xiaoyao Sect immediately mobilized the power of the entire Wei Kingdom, preparing for a life-and-death battle with the Wu Jiuyuan Sect and Iron Immortal Fort. The Song family, far away in Qinghe County, also received the mobilization order issued by the sect's General Affairs Hall and began to get busy.

However, before they could mobilize their cultivators to set off, the news that Song Song Qingming and other high-tier Xiaoyao Sect cultivators had broken through Iron Immortal Fort and wiped out the Ma family soon reached Mount Mount Funiu, interrupting the busy figures of Song Song Qingyu and the others.

Seeing Song Song Qingming return to Mount Mount Funiu from afar, Song Song Qingyu and several other Song family elders immediately came up to greet him with concern.

Including Song Song Qingyu, when they received the letter sent by the Xiaoyao Sect two days ago and learned that Song Song Qingming had been injured in the battle of Iron Immortal Fort, the Song family members were also somewhat panicked.

Song Song Qingming had always been the greatest pillar of the entire Song family. If Song Song Qingming were to have any mishaps, the Song family, which had just risen not long ago, might immediately fall back down.

Seeing everyone's concern for him, Song Song Qingming also helplessly smiled and explained. This time at Iron Immortal Fort, although Song Song Qingming's natal magic treasure was seriously damaged and could no longer be used, his injuries were not serious; he only lost some essence blood in his body. Song Song Qingming just needed to cultivate patiently and nourish it for some time.

After learning about Song Song Qingming's situation, Song Song Qingyu, Huang Huang Siyuan, and the others finally felt relieved.

After returning to Mount Mount Funiu, Song Song Qingming immediately began to go into seclusion to heal his injuries. His natal magic treasure was damaged, and even the "Golden Wind" corpse puppet was not lightly injured. In this battle of Iron Immortal Fort, although Song Song Qingming gained many spiritual items and sect merit points, he also paid a price.

Just less than two months after Song Song Qingming went into seclusion to heal his injuries, Mount Mount Funiu suddenly welcomed two relatively unfamiliar guests, forcing Song Song Qingming to choose to come out of seclusion early.

"Senior Song, the two of us have an urgent matter and beg for your help. Please forgive us for any offense." Just seeing Song Song Qingming walk in, Zhang Rong and Lin Lin Yutang on the side hurriedly stood up and bowed to him.

(End of chapter)