Beast Taming Clan: I Have a Jade Book

Chapter 144: Chapter 145: Slander

The array collapsed with a loud bang under the rising sun, accompanied by a massive cloud of dust.

The entire scene of the mountain peak was revealed.

All the Chen Family members who accompanied Chen Haobin couldn’t help but show a look of joy.

“Earth attribute and wood attribute cultivators, seal the path with vines and earth spikes first to prevent the demon beasts from attacking!”

“Prepare the flying sword array, and capture the Ye Family cultivators with me!”

…

Chen Haobin continuously issued orders, and all the Chen Family members repeatedly made their moves.

However, the next moment, they were all dumbfounded, as the mountain before them was completely empty.

The imagined spirit beasts and cultivators did not appear at all.

“This is bad…” A bad thought appeared in Chen Haobin’s mind.

They had been worried that surveying in advance would alert their enemies, but now it seemed they had long been noticed by the Ye Family, who withdrew in advance.

“Let’s go, let’s check inside!” Chen Haobin spoke, but his voice began to tremble slightly.

When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, a huge mine appeared, with passages branching in all directions.

Every wall was dug full of pits and hollows, not looking like the work of cultivators.

Instead, it looked more like an ant nest, shocking to behold.

“Enter the mine!” Their divine sense explored the depths of the caves, but they found nothing of value; the surroundings were full of waste stone.

The spiritual ore around them had already been completely mined.

Although the remaining stones still exuded some spiritual energy, they barely reached the standard of spirit stones, at most being stones containing spiritual energy.

The interior of the mine was like a labyrinth, with countless passages intertwined like teeth; the Chen Family cultivators dispersed to explore.

When the group returned to the mouth of the cave.

Everyone looked at Chen Haobin, saying nothing.

Chen Haobin took a deep breath, his gaze cold to the extreme.

He did not expect that the Ye Family had exhausted the mine in six or seven years.

This method of exploiting spiritual ore to its limits hadn’t been seen for over a hundred years.

Normally, a family would mine for fifty or sixty years.

The spirit ore veins in the cultivation realm are almost all natural spirit gathering arrays; these arrays cannot be replicated by cultivators, they gather spiritual energy, merging it into the stones to form spirit stones.

But once you mine heavily, breaking the structure, it’s a one-time deal, and it’ll be exhausted in a few years.

Unless the Ye Family knew from the beginning that this place couldn’t be held!

But according to the information they received, cultivators entered the ore vein every half year and took away spirit stones.

Moreover, although the Ye Family’s finances weren’t good, their cultivators weren’t many and wouldn’t consume them this quickly, unless…

Chen Haobin thought of this, his expression becoming uglier, if the Ye Family had gathered all the spirit stones of the entire family to purchase that Purple Mansion Jade Liquid at Taichang Market!

That would make perfect sense.

“Let’s go, head back immediately!” Chen Haobin decided to head back right away too, he needed to report to the patriarch and other elders.

The group came quickly and left quickly.

…

Meanwhile, in a place unseen by them, a thumb-sized withered cicada lay quietly on a tree trunk.

In the next moment, it shifted slightly, revealing a tiny record jade talisman.

The withered cicada did not fly but continued lying there.

Then, in the next moment, Chen Haobin from the Chen Family’s group flew back again, looked around, and tentatively inquired.

No one responded, so he wielded his magical artifact, chopping down several trees.

Only then did he reluctantly leave.

The withered cicada waited for half a day, until dusk, before dropping from the trunk, carrying the tiny jade talisman, and flew away into the distance.

Finally, it sank into the darkness of the mountain range, disappearing from sight…

At Taihang Market, the auction had already ended.

This time six Foundation Establishment Pills were auctioned at terrifyingly high prices without any surprises.

The Purple Mansion Clan, Xu Family, and Mo Family all unsurprisingly won two Foundation Establishment Pills each.

Of the remaining two pills, one was won by the Chen Family and the other was bought by a loose cultivator at a high price.

On the contrary, none of the other three great families won any.

At this moment, behind the auction hall, Ye Xingliu was also watching everyone else.

Today was the day to allocate the spirit stones, but the atmosphere in the hall was not good; everyone looked at each other, filled with suspicion that one of the family’s loose cultivators had bought the Foundation Establishment Pill.

“I don’t care which of your family’s loose cultivators it is, the Ye Family definitely has plans for the Foundation Establishment Pill!” Ye Xingliu spoke unhesitatingly.

His eyes were full of killing intent.

“My Chen Family didn’t get it either, don’t stare at me, I suspect it’s your Ye Family!” Patriarch Chen Xuanzhou of the Chen Family replied equally unceremoniously.

Patriarch Chu Xiyu of the Chu Family stood up:

“Does my Chu Family need such a thing?”

On the contrary, the Li Family, Xu Family, and Mo Family, were leisurely sipping tea on the side.

“The results are out, take a look, this is your earnings!” At this time, Jiang Jinghe entered, handing two storage bags first to the Xu Family and Mo Family, and then gave four storage bags separately to the Four Great Foundation Establishment Clans.

Other auctions were naturally hosted by individual clans, but for a Foundation Establishment Pill auction, the sect itself would take charge.

And earnings were divided into two types: one was the spirit stones from selling treasures they consigned; the other was a ten percent commission from each auction item, as well as the entrance spirit stones of the auction hall.

Both of these were significant sums.

After all, many loose cultivators, even if they can’t buy the Foundation Establishment Pill, will attend the auction just to catch a glance at the pill.

So if they happen to come across it in the future, they won’t fail to recognize it.

And to enter the auction venue, only a few Spirit Stones are required, just three.

However, this time, the number of cultivators attending the auction reached over two thousand.

The auction items alone brought in about thirteen thousand Spirit Stones, totaling nearly twenty thousand Spirit Stones in profit, with the Ye Family receiving a share of two thousand Spirit Stones.

And auctioning other treasures brought in another five to six thousand Spirit Stones.

With the Spirit Stone profits, the expressions of the various patriarchs improved considerably.

It was at this moment that a Spirit Talisman entered the eyes of the Patriarch of the Chu Family.

The next moment, Chu Xiyu stood up, his face filled with rage.

“No one can leave today without giving an explanation; my Chu Family will resist to the end!” Chu Xiyu took out a Jade Talisman and slapped it towards the sky, and in an instant, a massive Spirit Curtain appeared.

The surface of the Spirit Curtain was utterly charred and shattered.

“This is the most important Spirit Land of my Chu Family; an ordinary loose cultivator definitely doesn’t have that kind of power!” Chu Xiyu was incredibly furious.

Even Jiang Jinghe’s face was exceptionally unsightly at this moment, as the Chu Family’s relationship with the Taiyi Sect was not weak.

Now that their Spirit Grain had been seized, it was indeed a significant event.

“Don’t look at my Li Family, we were robbed by a Tribulation Cultivator once before, and even if we were to seek revenge, it wouldn’t be against the Chu Family!” Li Muhe couldn’t help but speak up.

It was at this point that another Jade Talisman flew out, landing in front of Ye Xingliu.

“Li Muhe, come out, let’s fight to the death; my Ye Family’s Foundation Establishment were all at Lingyun Peak that day. I already said, we didn’t attack, and your ancestor also questioned us!”

“I didn’t expect today that while our Ye Family’s Foundation Establishment are here, you would seek revenge!” Ye Xingliu was burning with anger.

He once more produced a Jade Talisman.

Showing a group of cultivators menacingly approaching a Spiritual Ore Mountain of the Ye Family!

The Tier One Top-Grade Array was obliterated under the Spirit Talisman, leaving no picture behind.

But it’s enough to imagine what happened after that!

Yet Li Muhe still made those remarks.

“A misunderstanding, my Li Family doesn’t need that many Spirit Stones!” Li Muhe hadn’t expected the Ye Family to actually have a problem; had he known earlier, he wouldn’t have uttered those angry words.

Now, however, regret was useless.

All he could do was speak:

“Our Li Family also doesn’t have extra Foundation Establishments!”

“I swear by my Heart Demon, I didn’t know, nor do I have any!” The Li Family, seeing Ye Xingliu still unconvinced, spoke once more.

And with that, Ye Xingliu and Chu Xiyu no longer looked at Li Muhe.

A Heart Demon oath signifies no room for error.

So, the three of them could only turn to Chen Xuanzhou.

As for the two Purple Mansion Clans, they weren’t considered, after all, whether they would care was another matter, and without evidence, questioning wasn’t even possible.

“Chen Daoist, you also make a Heart Demon vow; otherwise, come out with Ye, and let’s settle it with a showdown, even if the Ye Family isn’t some grand clan, we won’t allow such bullying!” Ye Xingliu spoke angrily.

Holding a Magical Artifact at the ready, the hall was instantly filled with tension.

“Yes, Chen Daoist, you should make a Heart Demon vow too!” Chu Xiyu also spoke up.

Seeing him equally enraged, he also took out a Tier Two Spiritual Artifact.

Clearly ready to battle at a moment’s notice.

Chen Xuanzhou was bitterly unable to speak at this moment; the Chen Family had taken action against the Ye Family, but Chen Haobin couldn’t even handle such a small matter!

Now there was evidence; after all, the Li Family was famous for Alchemy, and the Chen Family was known for Refining Talismans.

In the realm of Tier One and Tier Two Spirit Talismans, the Array-Breaking Talisman was the most famous.

This kind of Spirit Talisman required rare materials for production, specifically using the hide of a Demon Beast that could completely pass through arrays.

Such Demon Beasts were extremely rare within the Taihang Mountain Range.

And the technique for refining talismans was rarely mastered!

Crucially, he really couldn’t make a Heart Demon vow.

Against the Chu Family, maybe, but not the Ye Family. He couldn’t possibly make a vow against only the Chu Family and not the Ye Family, as that would essentially be a declaration of war.

“Hmph, what do you two mean, the Chen Family is upright, without evidence, you two should stop slandering us!” Chen Xuanzhou didn’t want to pay attention.

There were plenty with Array-Breaking Talismans; even loose cultivators could refine them or buy them.

They were wearing Spirit-Blocking Robes, and there was no evidence.

As for making a Heart Demon vow, he had the right to refuse!

“Evidence?” Yet, Chu Xiyu once more manipulated the Spirit Curtain from earlier, revealing a charred piece of robe.

“This remnant was hidden by my Chu Family cultivators before their death, and it doesn’t resemble our Chu Family’s garb!”

“Chen Daoist, do you still want to deny it?” Chu Xiyu’s eyes shot with killing intent.

“This is slander!” Chen Xuanzhou spoke again.

“Oh, I never said it was your Chen Family’s attire, and yet you say it’s slander; so the Chen Family is confessing without being accused!”

“Today, you must give my Chu Family justice, or else you won’t leave today!” Chu Xiyu spoke angrily.

“My Ye Family also demands justice!” Ye Xingliu echoed firmly.

“Patriarch Chen, if this matter festers at Taichang Market it’s one thing, but if it reaches higher levels, the problem becomes serious!” Jiang Jinghe spoke.

As soon as he said this, Chen Xuanzhou’s expression changed drastically, he understood what Jiang Jinghe meant.

And understood the meaning behind the words of Chu Xiyu and Ye Xingliu.

They all needed Spirit Stones, needed treasures!