I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

Hiding in the shadows, Lin Che looked down at the battlefield below, which had suddenly reversed course and was now fraught with danger, and a chill ran through his heart.

As he had guessed, it was just as he had predicted.

The news of a second-tier top-grade spiritual creature appearing in the Silent Forest was actually a carefully designed and deliberately spread lure by the Chen family!

"They remain still until the very moment they strike, and then their attack is truly astounding... This Chen family has been hiding their true intentions well, and their methods are incredibly ruthless!"

The Chen family lay low for over a decade, feigning weakness to the outside world, but secretly making countless preparations.

Now that their true intentions have been revealed, they clearly plan to use this opportunity to severely damage or even swallow up other competitors, thus establishing the Chen family's dominance over Chuyang City!

What convinced Lin Che even more was that the Chen and Zhao families seemed completely unconcerned about the Zhou, Li, and Sun families' on-the-spot appeal for help, and even seemed to be giving it a perfunctory attitude.

This was by no means negligence, but rather naked confidence—confidence that even if the enemy's reinforcements arrived, it wouldn't change the outcome.

Furthermore, considering the clear dominance of the Chen family in this area, with the Zhao family willingly serving as vassals...

The answer is obvious!

"The Chen family patriarch, Chen Dai... has truly succeeded in forming his core!"

Lin Che's pupils contracted slightly.

This deduction gave him an instant and clear prediction of the future situation in Chuyang City.

A Golden Core cultivator is enough to break the balance of power that has been maintained here for decades and has absolute say.

"The landscape of Chuyang City is about to undergo a complete transformation."

A sense of urgency rose in Lin Che's heart.

He no longer focuses on the larger-scale conflicts that are about to erupt or have already erupted below.

Under the cover of Absolute Concealment, he silently made his way to the core area of ​​the Shadowmoon Wolf pack—below Moonlight Rock.

Although the wolf pack tightened its defenses and remained wary of the humans on the periphery, they were completely unaware of Lin Che.

Lin Che was like a real ghost, passing through the gaps between the wolves, some lying down and some standing.

They passed over the simple mound of earth in their nest.

We went straight to the very center of the camp, beneath that huge, shimmering moonstone.

Here, he found his target.

At the base of Moonlight Rock, in a shady spot, grows a strange shrub that is no more than three feet tall.

The shrub has gnarled branches that are dark silver in color, and its leaves are narrow and silvery-gray, with a surface that seems to be covered with a layer of very fine moonlight powder, reflecting light slightly.

At the top of the bush, there was only one lone fruit.

The fruit was about the size of an infant's fist, and its shape somewhat resembled a miniature, closed wolf's eye.

It is pure and flawless silver-white, with mysterious patterns naturally formed on its surface, resembling flowing clouds or rippling water.

At this moment, the fruit is emitting a soft and steady glow, and a pure and cool spiritual energy, which contains a powerful moon-chilling force, is slowly rising and falling with the light.

The Shadowmoon Wolf King was lying prostrate beside this bush.

Its size is much larger than that of a typical Shadowmoon Wolf, with a shoulder height of nearly ten feet.

Its fur is not dark gray, but a deep, almost black color, except for the back and the tip of its tail, which are tinged with a cold, silvery white.

Its head was more majestic than that of an ordinary wolf, with a faint crescent-shaped silver stripe on its forehead.

At this moment, its eyes were closed, its huge body rose and fell slightly with its breath, and it exuded a dense, almost tangible, pale yellow demonic power.

This demonic power did not dissipate, but rather, as if it were alive, it wrapped around and poured into the shrub, especially the silvery-white fruit at its top.

Clearly, it is using its pure demonic power to accelerate its final ripening!

"Foundation Establishment complete... As expected, this guy's plans are the same as mine!"

Lin Che saw through the Shadow Moon Wolf King's cultivation level and intentions at a glance.

This wolf king was clearly also on the verge of breaking through.

He was waiting for the Moon Essence Crystal Fruit to fully mature, hoping to use the pure lunar essence and abundant spiritual power within it to break through to the Golden Core realm!

The battle outside was deafening, but the wolf king seemed oblivious to it.

His entire focus was on ripening the spiritual fruit and preparing for his own breakthrough.

For them, the sacrifice of their tribe may also be to buy time for their breakthrough.

"Unfortunately, your luck... seems a bit off," Lin Che murmured indifferently to himself.

He reduced his own presence to almost zero, quietly lurking on the edge of the shadow cast by the moonstone, waiting for the moment when the fruit would ripen.

……

The battles outside were rapidly drawing to a close.

Faced with the combined forces of the Chen and Zhao families, who were well-rested and had a clear advantage in numbers and morale, the already exhausted and wounded triad alliance found it extremely difficult to resist.

The first to succumb was the Li family, who were the weakest in terms of strength and more skilled in making talismans.

After losing several clansmen and seeing no hope of breaking through, Elder Li Mu sighed, stopped his clansmen from fighting to the death, and chose to lay down his magical artifact, signaling his surrender.

Following closely behind, the Zhou brothers, Zhou Wantong and Zhou Wanhai, assessed the situation and acted accordingly.

Seeing that although the Chen family cultivators launched fierce attacks, they did not kill those who gave up resistance or lost their fighting ability, they quickly judged that the other party might have other plans and that it was not a simple massacre.

Rather than letting our clansmen die in vain, we should endure for now and wait for the arrival of our clan leader and his true reinforcements. Perhaps there will still be a chance to turn the tide.

As a result, the Zhou family also gave up resistance.

Sun Zhiheng, the bravest and most direct among them, saw that the Zhou and Li families had stopped fighting as the casualties among his clansmen increased.

Although he was filled with resentment and unwillingness, in order to preserve the bloodline of the Sun family, he could only roar and order his clansmen to stop.

They glared angrily at the cultivators from the Chen and Zhao families.

Seeing that the three cultivators had given up resisting, Chen Mingfei waved his hand to signal them to stop attacking.

He ordered his men to quickly separate and guard them, and did not immediately carry out the massacre.

……

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!"

A sharp, rapid sound of something tearing through the air grew louder as it approached from different directions of Chuyang City. Several streaks of sword light and escape light of various colors pierced the sky.

Carrying undisguised anxiety and anger, they sped towards the depths of the silent forest!

It was after receiving the urgent request for assistance that the three family heads of Zhou, Li, and Sun personally led almost their entire elite fighting force!

They were anxious, knowing that a situation that would prompt their elite troops to send out a distress signal of that level must be extremely critical.

Therefore, they responded extremely quickly, rushing to the scene almost immediately after receiving the message.

Along the way, the rogue cultivators and small family cultivators in the forest below, who had not yet gone deep or were searching on the outskirts, felt the spiritual pressure rushing past their heads.

One powerful aura after another swept past without any attempt to conceal it.

They all paled in horror, stopped what they were doing, and stared in disbelief into the depths of the southern forest.

"Something terrible has happened!"

"With so many Foundation Establishment cultivators... the landscape of Chuyang City is about to change!"

"Hurry, we can't stay here any longer!"

Panic and speculation spread like a plague among the lower-level cultivators.

Almost simultaneously, the reinforcements led by the three clan patriarchs arrived at the edge of the already blood-stained and grimly silent clearing.

Zhou Wanfu, the head of the Zhou family, immediately spotted Zhou Wantong and the others who were being held captive and looked disheveled.

There were also the corpses of Zhou family members lying on the ground.

Anger ignited instantly in his eyes.

His gaze, sharp as a blade, shot towards Chen Mingfei and Zhao Wenxuan; his voice was hoarse from suppressing his anger.

"Chen Mingfei! Zhao Wenxuan! What exactly do you Chen and Zhao families intend to do? Do you really think we three families are made of clay? Are you planning to start a major war?!"

The Li family patriarch's brows were furrowed, his usual smiling face gone, and he said in a deep voice:

"Clan Chief Chen, Clan Chief Zhao, you owe the Li family an explanation for what happened today!"

The Sun family patriarch was an even more burly and imposing middle-aged man than Sun Zhiheng, like an iron tower. His eyes were wide open, and a long, black spear in his hand hummed as he roared:

"Release my Sun family members! Otherwise, this will be a fight to the death!"

With the arrival of reinforcements from all three families, the number of Foundation Establishment cultivators suddenly surpassed that of the Chen and Zhao families present, seemingly regaining the upper hand in terms of momentum.

However, they were met with angry questions from the three clan leaders and a growing sense of encirclement.

Chen Mingfei merely flicked non-existent dust off his sleeves, a sneer playing on his lips.

"Start a war? Launch a major war?"

He slowly shook his head, as if he had heard something extremely ridiculous, and even let out a low "pfft" laugh.

"You... dare to even discuss the word 'war' with my Chen family?"

These extremely contemptuous words ignited the anger in Zhou Wanfu and his companions, who were about to lash out.

next moment!

An indescribable, vast, and majestic pressure descended from the sky without warning!

It was as if the entire sky had suddenly collapsed, pressing heavily on the hearts and shoulders of everyone present!

"Thump!" "Uh!"

The weaker Qi Refining cultivators were directly overwhelmed by this pressure, their knees buckled, and they knelt on the ground, their faces pale and struggling to breathe.

Even the clan leaders and elders who were at the Foundation Establishment stage felt their souls tremble.

The flow of spiritual energy within his body instantly became sluggish, as if it were being tightly gripped by an invisible hand.

A tremendous fear, stemming from the disparity in their levels of existence, involuntarily arose from the depths of my heart!

Everyone looked up in shock, only to realize that a figure had been quietly floating in the air about a hundred feet above their heads!

He was an elderly man dressed in a simple gray robe, with white hair and beard, a gaunt face, and slightly closed eyes, as if he were dozing.

He had no spiritual light shining around him, yet he naturally became the center of this world.

That oppressive aura that made everyone's souls tremble originated from him!

"Golden Core... the pressure of a Golden Core?!" Zhou Wanfu exclaimed in shock, his eyes filled with disbelief and horror.

The Li and Sun family patriarchs also had drastic changes in expression, their lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.

All doubts, all anger, all confidence crumbled instantly in the face of this absolute power disparity.

"Welcome back, Ancestor, from seclusion!"

Chen Mingfei bowed first, his voice respectful and loud.

"Welcome, Master Chen!"

All the cultivators from the Chen and Zhao families bowed in unison, their voices unified and filled with fervor and awe.

Now, the truth has come to light.

The three clan leaders and the reinforcements looked ashen-faced.

Now I finally understand why the Chen and Zhao families dared to be so fearless, why they set up this trap, and why they disregarded the arrival of their reinforcements.

The Chen family patriarch, Chen Dai, actually... quietly and successfully formed his core!

A living Golden Core cultivator stood right above them!

From this moment on, the sky over Chuyang City has completely changed color!

Chen Dai, who was suspended in the air, slowly opened his eyes at this moment.

He merely glanced indifferently at the silent crowd below, and no one dared to meet his gaze.

Then he spoke.

The sound wasn't particularly loud, yet it carried clearly to every corner within a radius of hundreds of miles:

"I, Chen Dai, hereby formally embark on the path of the Golden Elixir."

"From this day forward, my Chen family shall be the territory of Chuyang City..."

He paused slightly, his tone calm yet carrying an unquestionable absolute authority, as he announced the arrival of a new era:

"...The only Golden Core family!"

The words fell like a boulder thrown into a calm lake.

Not only could all the cultivators in the open space below hear it clearly.

Even all the cultivators and mortals in the distant forest, in Chuyang City, and even in the wider area, seemed to hear this majestic declaration.