Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

There were bandits guarding the area, and they would whip anyone who disobeyed them. These were all mortal servants they had captured.

Yan Chiheng withdrew his gaze and continued walking inside.

The core area is different.

The stone houses were neatly arranged, and there were even pavilions and towers, clearly indicating that they were places where cultivators lived during the Foundation Establishment stage.

The central hall, where the spiritual light shone brightest, must be where the chieftain resided.

Before he even got close, the hall door suddenly opened.

A burly, dark-faced man stepped out; he was in the late stage of Foundation Establishment and possessed a powerful aura.

He was followed by five people, all of whom were in the early stages of Foundation Establishment.

Yan Chiheng paused in his steps.

He's been discovered? Impossible, he's concealed his presence very well.

But the next second he realized—they hadn't found him; they had just bumped into them as they were about to leave.

Coincidentally not.

Lightning erupted from Yan Chiheng's body!

boom--!

Thick bolts of lightning exploded from his body, instantly transforming into a lightning domain, with leaping lightning covering a radius of a hundred feet!

Caught off guard, the five early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators were electrocuted, their bodies smoking, and they screamed as they were sent flying backward.

The burly man with the dark face reacted quickly, instantly raising a protective aura, but he was still electrocuted and half of his body went numb.

"Lei Xiu?!" His pupils contracted, and he turned and rushed into the hall—where the control hub of the formation was located.

Although he was only at the late Foundation Establishment stage, lightning-based and sword-wielding cultivators were generally powerful, making challenging opponents of higher levels as commonplace as eating rice.

He had no confidence in fighting back, and being suddenly ambushed, he could only rely on formations to fight.

Yan Chiheng gave him no chance.

With his hands clasped together, the lightning domain suddenly contracted, and all the lightning converged into a giant hand, which grabbed the dark-faced giant!

Rumble—!

The lightning hand tightened suddenly, and the black-faced man screamed in agony as his protective aura shattered. His entire body was charred black by the lightning, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Yan Chiheng arrived too quickly, acted too decisively, and attacked with lightning speed; Yan Chiheng didn't even have time to use his magical artifact.

Yan Chiheng walked over and glanced down at it.

He's not dead yet, but he's not far from it.

He took out the Forbidden God Disc.

It was a dark gold compass, about the size of a palm, with densely engraved runes along its edges. There were seven holes in the central recess, from which a faint, eerie light emanated.

----

Half an hour later, when He An entered the core area, the battle was already over.

The yard was a mess, with deep furrows dug out by lightning, and the air still smelled of burning.

Three early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators knelt on the ground, their faces deathly pale. The other three, including the late-stage Foundation Establishment leader, lay to one side, clearly already dead.

Yan Chiheng sat on the steps, toying with the Forbidden God Disc in his hand.

The three points of light on the plate flickered slightly.

"Senior," He An walked over, "We killed dozens of Qi Refining Tribulation cultivators outside, and the rest dare not move. Those mortals... are safe for now."

Yan Chiheng nodded and looked at the three kneeling Foundation Establishment cultivators.

"I don't care what you three did in the past."

From now on, listen to me. Do whatever I tell you to do, understand?

The three nodded vigorously.

"How much Qi is there in the village?"

"Replying to...replying to senior, there are more than 1,200 people," one of them answered bravely.

Yan Chiheng stood up.

"Let's go out and take a look."

---

On the open ground outside the village, thousands of Qi Refining cultivators stood motionless.

He An stood at the very front, his Foundation Establishment aura fully unleashed. Dozens of corpses lay on the ground, all of them the ones who had tried to rush in earlier.

Yan Chiheng's gaze swept over the group of people.

Those in the Qi Refining stage are no different from ants in his eyes.

"Kneel down if you want to live."

The sound wasn't loud, but everyone could hear it clearly.

Thump thump—most people immediately knelt down.

A few who hesitated were pulled down by those around them and knelt down as well.

Yan Chiheng walked into the middle of the crowd, speaking as he went:

"From this moment on, this village belongs to me. You are forbidden from robbing ordinary people, killing, or setting fires. Anyone who commits this offense will die."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the terrified faces.

"Those who perform well will have a chance to stay; those who don't perform well—"

He didn't finish speaking, but everyone understood.

Over the next three days, Yan Chiheng and He An screened the group of cultivators.

Those with too much blood on their hands, kill them.

Those who disobey and try to run away, kill them.

Three days later, of the 1,200 Qi Refining Tribulation cultivators, less than 300 remained.

Yan Chiheng looked at the trembling survivors with a blank expression.

He touched the Forbidden God Disc at his waist.

No one dared to utter a sound.

---

But there is still one problem.

Those mortals.

The village imprisoned tens of thousands of ordinary people, young and old.

They were all captured from various places by the Jiexiu, and some of them had been trapped here for decades, living worse than cattle and horses in the hands of the Jiexiu.

Yan Chiheng stood outside the shack area, looking at the emaciated people, his brows furrowed deeply.

It cannot be placed there.

Releasing them would leak the information, alerting other robbery groups in Dingfeng Plain.

We can't ignore this.

He couldn't bear to let them continue to suffer here.

However, there are not many mortal resources in Dingfeng Plain, so he needs to take them back to the market as soon as possible to settle them properly. He can only try to find out the situation in Dingfeng Plain as quickly as possible.

Then he summoned Lin Zhao, defeated the hundreds of Foundation Establishment cultivators, and completely took control of Dingfeng Plain.

Only then can these people go home as soon as possible.

Yan Chiheng secretly resolved to resolve the issue of Dingfengyuan within three months.

"Damn it," Yan Chiheng cursed.

He summoned He An.

"Go back to Cangyun Mountain and find Lin Zhao."

Tell him to send people to deliver supplies, and it would be best if he could also send some extra manpower.

These mortals... need to be settled.

He An hesitated, "But senior, this might cause our information to leak out..."

"So what if it leaks out?" Yan Chiheng interrupted him. "We can't just ignore it."

He An looked at him and suddenly smiled.

"Yes, senior."

He turned and left, and the magical artifact emitted a burst of spiritual light that shot into the sky.

Yan Chiheng watched his retreating figure and muttered to himself:

"What are you laughing at..."

---

Cangyun Mountain, the garrison headquarters.

After hearing He An's report, Lin Zhao remained silent for a long time.

"It was my oversight."

He said in a low voice, "I should have thought of that long ago. Those cultivators who have been entrenched in Dingfeng Plain for so many years, how could they not have mortals under their command?"

He An stood below, unsure of what to say.

Over the years, the number of mortals under the command of all the cultivators in Dingfeng Plain has probably been in the hundreds of thousands.

Lin Zhao raised her head.

"Where is Old He?"

"Grandfather works in the market."

"Have him come here."

He An was taken aback: "Senior, you're sending my grandfather?"

Lin Zhao nodded.

"Have him take a batch of supplies and select two hundred reliable Qi Refining cultivators to Dingfeng Plain to help Yan Chiheng settle those mortals."

"Yes."

After he left, Lin Zhao stood alone by the window, gazing at the distant mountains.

He recalled the sect's final major examination many years ago.

He once promised a strong, ordinary woman that he would shelter more than ten of them.

The promise, "Once this matter is settled, someone will arrange for you to return home," still seems to echo in my ears.

result!

He failed to do it.

Lin Zhao withdrew her gaze and gently exhaled.

Although he knew that doing so might alert the Jie Xiu in advance, causing information to leak and preventing them from being wiped out in one fell swoop, he still did it anyway.

Let's consider this a promise we made in the past.

He remembered that she had once said that they came from Tianhao Domain.

I hope to visit Tianhaoyu sometime in the future.