As the Geng cultivators discussed amongst themselves, someone suddenly noticed a change in the formation protecting the fortress. The misty spirit light was changing from yellow to white!
"What's going on?"
"Elder! The formation is turning on!"
"What's going on?! We haven't activated the formation's offensive core!"
"It's him! He's seizing control of the formation!"
Panic broke out across the battlements. By the time they realized the truth, it was already far too late.
High above, Min Longyu guided the thirty-six formation flags with his spirit consciousness, fueling them with his spirit power. At the final moment, he pressed his hand onto an old, worn compass he often relied upon.
Staring down at the massive fortress beneath him, Min Longyu gave a quiet command: "Reverse."
In just a blink, the formation protecting the Geng family began to undergo strange changes. The glow that had shifted from yellow to white now darkened into pitch black. The once-clear sky seemed smothered beneath storm clouds. Within the fortress, several Geng cultivators sensed the danger and shot into the sky with powerful enchanted artifacts in hand.
A cold smile tugged at Min Longyu's lips. With a flick of his finger, the formation stirred.
Whoosh!
From within the black mist, a ferocious, earth-colored long spear shot forth.
Swish!
In an instant, the foremost Geng cultivator was skewered through the chest. The sheer force behind the blow hurled him backward with unstoppable momentum. He crashed through a building inside the fortress and was driven deep into the ground like a nailed stake.
The brutal scene sent a jolt through the others. All the Geng cultivators who had been charging the formation came to an instinctive halt, their faces paling as the horror of what they'd just witnessed sank in.
"Watch out!" a sharp cry rang out.
By the time they snapped back to their senses, a chilling sight awaited them. Dozens of long spears hung suspended in the sky, each one radiating the same deadly energy as the first. Terror struck like lightning, and with souls nearly leaping from their bodies, the Geng cultivators scattered in every direction, fleeing in panic.
But how fast could Qi Refinement cultivators run?
At a wave of Min Longyu's hand, the spears shot forth to reap lives.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
In that instant, the sky above the Geng family fortress became a torrential downpour of spears. Screams of agony, curses, and pleas for mercy rang endlessly.
With calm precision, Min Longyu manipulated the inverted formation, reaping Geng family lives like stalks of grain at harvest.
A hundred years ago, he had not even been born. The story of the Min family of Danxia Peak, besieged for a year until they were starved to death, had been passed down to him by the elders. It was only after his return to Danxia Peak, when he reactivated the ancient family formation, that he began to question that history.
Given the Min family's mastery of formations, if they could endure for one year, there was no reason they could not endure another. Once the major sect that supported the Min family reclaimed Tianlan Immortal City, their crisis should have resolved itself.
The true cause of the Min family's fall lay in that narrow valley once visited by Geng Lie and Geng Shuzhen. From within, they had guided the enemy to the formation's core and sabotaged its foundation.
That was originally just speculation, but the disappearance of all Min family mortals upon Min Longyu's return, with the clues subtly pointing toward the Geng family, said enough.
Of course, it was all conjecture. But now, none of it mattered.
This was nothing more than a secondary goal. The true reason for the Geng family's annihilation was that they had dared to provoke the Luo Tian Society.
"Who dares snore beside the lord's bed?" Min Longyu muttered. "You awakened the beast that is the Luo Tian Society, and still dreamed of sleeping in peace? Foolish!"
A cold laugh escaped his lips as his movements quickened and grew fierce. After the earthen spears came countless bricks and stones, rising into the air and merging into massive floating boulders. Those hiding in corners looked up at his figure in the sky, their very souls trembling with fear.
He's a devil... a devil...
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Time passed, though no one knew how long. Eventually, the fortress fell into utter silence.
"Elder Min? Elder Min!"
Min Longyu snapped out of his daze.
Behind him stood Murong Qinglian, her eyes filled with fear. "What should we do now?"
He shook his head violently and looked at the ruined remnants of the Geng family fortress, his expression dark. After years of bitter cultivation and wandering, he had long harbored a suppressed fury in his heart. Now that he had reached Foundation Establishment and tasted real battle, the bloodlust overwhelmed him. Before he realized it, he had wiped out an entire family.
"Sorry... I think I might have gone too far..."
Murong Qinglian forced a smile, though it was more strained than reassuring. The devastation wrought by a formation master of his caliber was far more terrifying than she had ever imagined. Even a formidable Foundation Establishment grand cultivator could not have slaughtered the Geng family so effortlessly. At the very least, some would've made it out alive.
Min Longyu exhaled heavily. "Go gather the resources. The formation's damage targeted cultivators, so there should still be plenty left intact."
"What about you?" she asked.
"Me?" Min Longyu straightened, his voice tinged with unease. "I'll return and confess to the president."
Before they had set out, Luo Chen had warned them clearly not to indulge in excessive slaughter. Yet now, caught up in the heat of battle, Min Longyu had annihilated the Geng family utterly. All were gone, except the mortals.
He glanced at the fleeing mortals scattering in all directions, feeling a sense of emptiness.
After he departed, Murong Qinglian quickly led her people through the ruins to scavenge resources. As Min Longyu had said, the formation's destruction relied mainly on earthen spears and falling stones, so much of the Geng family's wealth remained intact.
Storage pouches, enchanted artifacts, spirit rice stockpiles, vast mineral reserves... Even their treasury held over a hundred thousand spirit stones. It seemed that in the years since the Min family's fall, the Geng family had clearly flourished. Since they did not face any crushing pressure, they had kept accumulating wealth.
Murong Qinglian shook her head at the mountain of spirit stones now being packed into crates. Danxia Peak and Biyou Valley were practically handed over to the Geng family. It makes sense they'd accumulate such wealth. No, it's still not enough. There should be more hidden in the storage pouches of Geng Lie and Geng Shuzhen.
As she muttered to herself, a subordinate came forward and whispered something.
"There are still surviving cultivators?"
Murong Qinglian hesitated briefly, then her expression turned cold and ruthless. "Eliminate them. Leave no one alive."