194: Chapter 194 Using a borrowed knife to kill the Wang family

Zhenhuang Pass.

Qin Ce's first target was not anywhere else, but right here.

This was originally his territory and property in name.

At the Fengling City commendation meeting, the most generous of the five special rights was a pass leading to the North, from the city walls to the garrison camps, from warehouses to checkpoints, all assigned under his name.

At that time, everyone thought the Wang Family had gone mad, handing over such a massive gold mine to a commoner.

But Qin Ce had never considered Zhenhuang Pass his own property.

It wasn't that he didn't want to, but that he couldn't.

He was a lone man, without influence or a team; no one could help him manage these things.

After the Federation's administrative system withdrew, he could only let the townspeople elect elders from within for self-governance.

This so-called self-governance—one didn't even need to think to know how much shadiness was involved.

On the Wang Family's turf, after the Federation forces withdrew, which power would step in to fill the void?

There was no need to guess.

A month ago, when Qin Ce thoroughly investigated the northern logistics smuggling network, he was shocked to find that Zhenhuang Pass had become the most rampant core of the smuggling network.

Moreover, the smuggled goods were all closely related to people's livelihoods—unidentified fierce beast eggs, cheap medicines, daily necessities, upgrade resources for Pet Beasts, old battle armor, and second-hand weapons.

For the people constantly threatened by fierce beasts, these things were entirely about their survival.

At this moment, Qin Ce finally knew why the Wang Family was so generous as to give him an import-export pass.

Because once he truly accumulated power and actually took over Zhenhuang Pass, he would face two choices—deal with the smuggling port of Zhenhuang Pass, or not.

If he didn't deal with it, the Wang Family would use the smuggling at Zhenhuang Pass as an excuse to launch administrative and legal strikes directly against Qin Ce.

For a "hero" who made his fortune through smuggling, under the Federation's legal framework, all achievements would be tarnished, and all honors would become stains.

If he did deal with it, he would be touching the interests of the people.

Those cheap medicines, second-hand equipment, and unidentified fierce beast eggs were what countless people at the bottom relied on for survival.

If Qin Ce banned them and the Wang Family stirred up public opinion, then no matter how great Qin Ce's achievements were in killing the Raven King and saving all of Fengling City, his reputation among the people would instantly turn negative.

No matter the choice, he was blocked on both sides.

Unless Qin Ce never made a choice and never actually took over.

But if he didn't actually take over, he would never have a foundation and could not form a power base.

So, from the moment he accepted this privilege, he had been calculated to death by the Wang Family.

After understanding this, Qin Ce no longer regarded Zhenhuang Pass as his property.

It was a time bomb, a landmine the Wang Family had buried under his feet.

Without clearing the Wang Family out of this region, Zhenhuang Pass would never be Qin Ce's Zhenhuang Pass.

But clearing the Wang Family out of here—how could that be easy?

If he were to completely uproot the Wang Family's strongholds, personnel, and organizational system, it would actually fail to get rid of them.

Because the more of the Wang Family's personnel he cleared, the greater the force the Wang Family would project here.

Qin Ce only had twenty-four people; he had no energy to fight the Wang Family.

So, was it impossible to clear the Wang Family's influence in Zhenhuang Pass?

Of course not.

If Heaven wishes to destroy someone, it first makes them mad.

To get the Wang Family purged from Zhenhuang Pass, he first had to let the Wang Family be sufficiently mad there.

So mad that except for the Wang Family's smuggling teams, no others—whether the smuggling teams of the other four families in Fengling City or those of powerful nobles from surrounding cities—could pass through Zhenhuang Pass.

Only then could he incite the hatred of all families against the Wang Family, using the strength of all these forces to drive the Wang Family out.

So at this time, Qin Ce was not going to attack the Wang Family's smuggling system, but rather help the Wang Family destroy the smuggling systems of the other families.

Choking off the smuggling routes of other forces one by one, letting all the fury burn toward the Wang Family's head.

Combined with the Wang Family's recent obvious moves to control the northern region—land grabs, stationing troops, blockading light pillar locations, and expelling other forces—the timing, location, and people were all in place for Qin Ce to push this operation forward.

At this moment, on a dangerous cliff leading from Zhenhuang Pass to Beimang Mountain, Qin Ce and his twenty-four subordinates had been lying in ambush for an entire night.

This dangerous cliff was the most hidden smuggling route of Zhenhuang Pass.

On both sides were bottomless canyons, with only a narrow stone path in the middle that could only fit one person at a time.

The narrowest part of the road was less than half a meter wide, with a bottomless abyss right beside it.

If an ordinary person walked this path, their legs would go weak just from standing there.

The frequency of use for this route was extremely low, so low that it wasn't even marked on the Wang Family's intelligence network.

But the value of the goods transported was exceptionally high, high enough that each passage could bankrupt a medium-sized family if lost.

Moreover, this was a smuggling channel that belonged solely to the Zhao Family.

The Zhao Family, one of the five major forces in Fengling City, had a military background and was the actual controller of the Garrison Army.

Although their influence in the North was not as great as the Wang Family's, they were the most capable of challenging the Wang Family on this smuggling line.

Qin Ce lay behind a rock at the top of the cliff, Nine-Star Insight operating silently. The dangerous cliff section in his vision was like a transparent 3D map, with every corner, every protruding rock, and every crack clearly visible.

He was waiting.

Waiting for the Zhao Family's smuggling team to arrive.

He had intercepted news three days ago that the Zhao Family was going to use this smuggling route to bypass everyone's eyes and deliver some extremely important items. Although Qin Ce didn't know what was being sent this time.

But the fact that even he couldn't deduce it showed how precious these things were.

"They're here," Jiang Mo's voice was very low.

In Qin Ce's line of sight, at the other end of the cliff, a nine-person beast-taming squad was silently and quickly approaching the dangerous cliff.

Nine people, nine Pet Beasts, every single one at the Silver Rank.

This was already the highest-spec team in the smuggling organization's system.

Leading the way was a middle-aged man with a square face, thick eyebrows, and a scar on his left cheek. His Pet Beast was a high-grade Silver Rank Iron-Backed Azure Wolf, massive in size and steady in its gait, stepping at the very front of the team with every move, using its keen sense of smell and hearing to clear the way for the entire squad.

Behind him followed eight people, male and female, old and young, but each person's eyes were heavy and their steps were steady. Their spacing, angles, and rhythm were in perfect harmony, clearly an elite group honed through countless life-and-death situations.

When they stepped onto the dangerous cliff section, the vigilance of all nine people reached its peak.

Scarface walked in front, the Iron-Backed Azure Wolf's ears standing straight up, its nostrils constantly twitching.

A woman in the middle held a palm-sized Detection Butterfly, the light on its wings flickering slightly in the darkness, scanning for any suspicious energy fluctuations around them.

At the very back, a young man pressed both hands against the rock wall, earth-element energy spreading along the stone, sensing every tremor beneath the ground.

Heavily guarded, perfectly coordinated—the elite of the elite.

Qin Ce lay atop the cliff, watching the team gradually delve deeper into the dangerous cliff section, watching them walk across the narrowest part of the stone path, watching them enter the "optimal ambush zone" marked by Nine-Star Insight.

His finger tapped lightly on the rock.

An azure shadow shot out from the direction of the sunlight.

It didn't rush down from the cliff top, but from within the sunlight—Qin Ce had the Qingluan hover in the direction of the sun beforehand, using the blinding light to mask its form.

When the Zhao Family team looked up, they could only see a patch of blinding white light and a blurred shadow rushing out from it.

Screech—!

The cry of the Qingluan echoed back and forth in the canyon, like an invisible blade slicing into everyone's eardrums.

Its wingspan had reached twelve meters after breaking through to the Silver Rank, its silver-azure feathers glinting with a cold metallic luster in the sunlight. The speed of its dive from the heights was so fast it pulled a white sonic boom cloud in the air.

All nine people looked up at once.

"Flying Pet Beast! Silver Rank!" Scarface's voice was steady, without a hint of panic.

His Iron-Backed Azure Wolf took a step back, shielding him. The wolf's head lowered, fangs bared, a low growl emanating from its throat.

"A Silver Rank bird dares to block our path?" A young man in the middle of the team sneered and waved his hand. "Third, Fifth, bring it down."

Two Silver Rank Beast Tamers struck at the same time.

One summoned a Thunder Eagle, with an eight-meter wingspan and crackling blue arcs of electricity all over its body. With a flap of its wings, it pounced toward the Qingluan. The other summoned an Iron-Feathered Vulture, with a seven-meter wingspan and pitch-black metallic feathers covering its body, like a moving lump of iron, following closely behind the Thunder Eagle.

One lightning, one iron; one fast, one hard; a perfectly coordinated pair.

The Thunder Eagle would use speed to entangle the opponent, while the Iron-Feathered Vulture used its defense to tank damage. Once the Thunder Eagle forced the opponent into a corner, the Iron-Feathered Vulture would deliver a lethal strike with its claws.

They had used this combination countless times. Silver Rank flying fierce beasts had never lasted more than thirty seconds against them.

The Qingluan didn't even spare them a glance.

It hovered directly above the dangerous cliff, nine silver points of light scattering from its feathers like nine falling meteors, precisely landing at nine different positions along the cliff section.

Two in the East, two in the West, three in the South, and two in the North. Some were high, some were low, some were directly in front of the team, and some were directly behind.

The nine Wind Cores activated simultaneously upon landing, silver light spreading from each core, forming visible wind ripples in the air.

Wind Core: Wind Prison.

The nine Wind Cores formed a three-dimensional, irregular spherical space, enveloping the entire cliff section and the Zhao Family's nine people and nine beasts within it.

The wind direction released by each Wind Core pointed toward the center of this spherical space, but none were aimed directly at the center—each was slightly off.

Some were tilted left, some right, some up, and some down.

Nine different wind directions blew from nine different directions, colliding, intertwining, and spinning within this enclosed space.

The people standing inside the Wind Prison felt the world spinning. It wasn't dizziness; they were actually spinning.

The stone path under Scarface's feet suddenly felt like a slope in his perception.

He instinctively leaned toward the "uphill" direction, but that was actually toward the cliff edge. He suddenly realized and forcefully pulled back his center of gravity, but the Iron-Backed Azure Wolf wasn't as fast to react. Its massive body was blown two steps to the right by a gust of wind—two steps, and it stepped onto the edge of the path. Rubble crumbled from beneath its feet and fell into the bottomless abyss. The Iron-Backed Azure Wolf let out a terrified low howl, its four claws digging desperately into the rock, not daring to move again.

The woman holding the Detection Butterfly was even worse off.

The wings of the Detection Butterfly were blown up and down in the chaotic winds, its light flickering uncertainly, completely unable to lock onto any target.

She was sweating profusely with anxiety, desperately injecting energy into the Detection Butterfly, but the more she injected, the more chaotic the light on its wings became.

The young man at the very back pressed both hands against the rock wall, earth-element energy spreading along the stone.

But the wind of the Wind Prison didn't just blow people; it also blew the dust on the rock surface.

That dust was whipped up by the wind, plastering his face. With his eyes closed and his senses completely scrambled, he had no idea in which direction the ground beneath his feet was vibrating.

The Thunder Eagle and Iron-Feathered Vulture were in an even worse state.

The moment they were enveloped by the Wind Prison, the electric arcs on the Thunder Eagle's wings were blown everywhere by the wind. Several arcs struck the Iron-Feathered Vulture, which let out an angry screech, thinking the Thunder Eagle was attacking it. The lightning and iron pair immediately began infighting in the air.

Nine people and nine Pet Beasts all lost their balance at the same moment.

Scarface gripped the protruding rocks on the wall tightly, his nails sinking into the cracks, making him grimace in pain.

He shouted desperately, "Steady! Everyone stay steady! This is a domain skill! It can't last too long—"

The Qingluan did not give him the chance to finish.

An azure shadow dove down from the sunlight, the silver light at its wingtips slicing out nine Wind Blades condensed to the extreme in the air.

Those Wind Blades weren't large, only about the size of a palm, but they were condensed to the limit, their edges shimmering with silver-white light, moving so fast the naked eye couldn't catch them.

Nine Wind Blades, nine people. Not a single one missed.

Pffft. Pffft. Pffft...

Nine muffled sounds rang out almost simultaneously.

The bodies of the nine people stiffened at the same time, then fell like nine pushed-over walls, crashing to the ground. Blood gushed from the cuts on their necks, flowing along the stone path and dripping from the cliff edge into the bottomless abyss, the sound of it hitting the bottom never to be heard.

At the moment their masters died, the nine Pet Beasts simultaneously let out a shrill cry.

The Thunder Eagle flapped its wings violently and pounced toward the Qingluan, electric arcs dancing wildly on its body like a cluster of out-of-control lightning.

The Iron-Feathered Vulture followed closely behind, its iron feathers standing on end like countless flying daggers, shooting toward the Qingluan.

Beside the Qingluan, the nine Wind Cores were still operating. It lightly flapped its wings, its form flickering continuously between the nine Wind Cores—it wasn't teleportation, but it was even more eerie.

Every turn was inconceivable, every movement unpredictable.

The Thunder Eagle's electric arcs always fell behind it, and the Iron-Feathered Vulture's flying daggers always grazed past its tail feathers.

Nine turns, nine dodges—not a single attack touched its feathers.

Phoenix Dance Nine Turns.

When the Qingluan's final flicker ended, it hovered above the dangerous cliff, with the corpses of nine Pet Beasts behind it.

Qin Ce stood up from the cliff top, patting the rubble and dust off his body. He followed a hidden path down to the dangerous cliff section, walked to the nine corpses, and crouched down to begin searching them.

Jiang Mo, Lei Gang, Sun Lie, Feng Bao, and Lin Qi—the five of them followed behind him, while the others kept watch on the cliff top.

From the first body, Qin Ce pulled out a palm-sized copper box. Opening it, he found three nail-sized crystals of various colors, shimmering with the lusters of different attributes.

Star-Glow Rank materials. Three of them.

From the second body, he pulled out a beast-hide pouch. Opening it, he found a completely snow-white lingzhi mushroom, its roots intact, with faint golden veins flowing on its surface.

Peak Star-Glow Rank. Another Star-Glow Rank item.

Third body, fourth, fifth—he searched them one by one, pulling things out one after another.

By the time Qin Ce finished searching the ninth body, the rock in front of him was covered with various rare materials.

Star-Glow Rank ores, medicinal herbs, and fierce beast crystal cores—there were at least a dozen items.

But what truly made Qin Ce gasp was the contents of the largest copper box.

There were only three items inside.

But each one was individually sealed in a special container, wrapped in layers, and even had its aura suppressed by energy seals.

When Qin Ce opened the first one, his hand trembled slightly.

A Bright Moon Level healing material, perfectly intact and full of energy.

The second one, Bright Moon Level. The third, also Bright Moon Level. Three Bright Moon Level materials, and all of them were for healing.

Bright Moon Level healing materials!!!

The implications behind this were massive.

Qin Ce put the materials back into their containers one by one, resealed them, and then packed everything into a large rucksack, tying the opening tight.

"Captain, these..." Jiang Mo's voice was a bit strained.

Qin Ce handed the rucksack to Jiang Mo. "Keep them safe. We're going to sell one portion of these to the Wang Family."

Jiang Mo was stunned. "Sell them to the Wang Family?"

"Yes," Qin Ce stood up.

"Sell them to the Wang Family, and let the Zhao Family know that their things are in the Wang Family's hands!"

...