Song Qingyun lowered his voice, his words laced with a chilling coldness.

"Once you make a move, your enemy won’t just be the Song Family, but thousands upon thousands of other families."

"Are you sure you want this to end in mutual destruction?"

He looked ready to risk it all, his aura fluctuating unstably.

Mu Yuan and Song Wanning played along, and the group once again looked ready for a fight.

The three clan leaders and their patriarchs were suddenly choked, as if a hand had seized their throats.

The Song Family was too aggressive. Not only had they failed to suppress their arrogance, but they had provoked them instead.

But the Song Family was right. If they truly made a move, it would mean tearing up the rules left behind by the ancestors.

Would the other families agree to that?

No.

They weren’t yet powerful enough to rewrite the rules themselves.

So were they just supposed to watch as they gave away what was already in their grasp?

No, they were still unwilling.

The Ning Clan Leader secretly ground his teeth, his gaze shifting to Feng Youming in the corner.

He sent a secret voice transmission: ’Senior, if you are not going to act now, when will you?’

’Are you going to just stand by and watch the Song Family rise?’

They couldn’t make a move, but this Senior was not a member of their three families. If he were to act, it would have nothing to do with them.

While they didn’t expect him to kill the members of the Song Family, as long as he could dampen their arrogance, they could pressure them into giving up fewer resources.

But Feng Youming was no fool to be used by others. He had only come out this time to probe the Song Family’s true strength and search for a weakness to exploit, not to be played for a fool.

So he merely lifted an eyelid, gave a bored yawn, and made no move.

The Ning Clan Leader saw this and instantly understood. What else was there not to understand?

Realizing he’d been played, his expression soured. But it was true that the other party had never promised to deal with the Song Family. It was he who...

’Fine, fine, fine!’

The Ning Clan Leader’s face twisted for a moment. ’Well done, He Family. How dare you collude with an outsider to trick us!’

’I’ll settle this score with them as soon as the distribution is over!’

"Ning Clan Leader, you’ve been silent this whole time. Are we to take that as a declaration of war?"

Song Qingyun hadn’t missed the silent exchange between the two and decided to add more fuel to the fire.

Upon hearing this, everyone’s faces turned as black as the bottom of a pot. But knowing they had no way out, they could only agree.

For now, their only option was to preserve their families’ strength as much as possible. Then, they would find ways to cause trouble during the transfer of power, hoping to make the Song Family’s new ventures fail as soon as possible.

Having made up their minds, the three clan leaders resigned themselves to their fate and began to discuss the details of the distribution with Song Qingyun.

First were the slots for the Secret Realms held by the top-tier families. Each would give up a portion to fill the Song Family’s quota.

Next came other resources like cities, valleys, and anything else that could be divided. Song Qingyun let nothing slip by.

He had already gone over the details countless times at home, so his demands were watertight and impossible to bluff his way around, infuriating the three clan leaders to the point of near-ascension.

Mu Yuan remained by his side, providing support. Whenever Song Qingyun overlooked a detail, she would speak up to point it out.

With her father and mother present, Song Wanning was completely at ease.

She crossed her legs, leisurely watching the people opposite her.

Feng Youming was also watching her.

For some reason, he felt there was something strange about her gaze.

It held an aggressive quality, as if it had pried into his secrets, making him very uncomfortable.

A strong premonition told him he had to be wary of this woman.

While he was lost in thought, Song Wanning suddenly smiled at him.

Feng Youming’s heart sank. He felt more and more that something was wrong.

But he quickly snorted, a flash of killing intent crossing his eyes.

’Since something feels wrong, I might as well just kill Song Wanning.’

...

By the time the negotiations ended, it was the middle of the night. The three clan leaders were utterly exhausted. Faced with Song Qingyun’s exorbitant demands, they had been forced to muster all their energy to counter him.

The discussion grew so heated they were all red in the face before they finally settled on a distribution plan.

In the end, the Song Family still suffered a small loss, but Song Qingyun chose to accept it. After all, they had secured the lion’s share, which was far more than they had anticipated.

It was best to quit while they were ahead; they could always plot for more later.

The three members of the Song Family walked out of the Ning Family’s main hall, all smiles. Their cheerful, breezy manner was a stark contrast to the others.

Many of the disciples observing from the shadows had a bad feeling, their faces frosty.

Seeing this, Song Qingyun gave a faint smile, bid farewell to everyone one by one, and left with his wife and daughter.

The sight of his dashing, carefree back made everyone grit their teeth.

"Damn it, how did the Song Family suddenly produce so many Divinity Transformation cultivators?"

"There must be a secret. I want it thoroughly investigated!"

They had all overlooked the Song Family before, treating them as just another ordinary major family. They never imagined that the Songs would so forcefully slap all three families in the face this time. It was humiliating just to think about.

The Mu Family Patriarch was filled with anxiety. "The Song Family now has four Divinity Transformation cultivators," he said sorrowfully. "They have already surpassed us. The future situation..."

"Ning Clan Leader, in the future, I’m afraid only the Ning Family will be able to stand against the Song Family."

The silver in his hair seemed to have grown whiter, and a trace of grief colored his features.

But there was a hidden meaning behind his words.

The Ning Clan Leader glanced back at him but didn’t respond.

He wouldn’t let himself be used as someone else’s weapon.

Right now, the ones who should be most worried were the Mu Family and the Sui Family.

After seeing his guests off, the mentally and physically exhausted Ning Clan Leader returned to the hall, only to find that Feng Youming had long since left.

The Ning Clan Leader’s temper flared. His already foul mood peaked, and he immediately contacted the He Family Master. Not only did he chew him out, but he also raised the taxes and rent on several of his cities.

The He Family Master was verbally torn to shreds, and he felt a surge of rage boil up inside him.

When he learned that the Song Family had successfully obtained a share of the resources and that Feng Youming hadn’t lifted a finger from start to finish, his face turned ashen. He sat on his stool, his eyebrows twitching with anger.

"What the hell are those people doing? Weren’t they the ones who said they were going to deal with the Song Family?"

The He Family Master couldn’t understand why this had happened and could only send another message to demand an explanation.

But the reply he received was "Wait and see."

The He Family Master’s composure finally broke. With a loud CRASH, he kicked over a giant vase beside him and muttered a few curses under his breath.

In the end, the Song Family reaped the benefits, while the He Family was the one whose interests were harmed!

Who the fuck could tolerate this?

At this moment, the He Family Master was already beginning to regret cooperating with those people.

But once you board a pirate ship, you can’t just get off whenever you want.

And before he could even swallow his anger, news arrived that the Song Family was now backed by four Divinity Transformation cultivators.

The He Family Master collapsed back onto his stool, his eyes trembling with shock.

’How is that possible? What on earth did the Song Family do...’

In an instant, everyone was filled with shock and curiosity about the Song Family. They all wanted to understand what kind of incredible opportunity they had stumbled upon.

The Song Family was now a target.

Song Qingyun immediately halted the transportation of Spirit Stones.

With countless eyes now on the Song Family, they couldn’t afford to make any rash moves, lest they expose the secret of the Spirit Vein.