"Elder! We will reach the Ice Spirit Mountain in no time!" the young cultivator said, though his tone was uncertain. He moved forward, leading the group of their faction to the resource point they had their eyes on within the demonic cultivator territory.
"You also said the same thing yesterday. Are you sure you're not mistaking the direction?!" the elder scolded, his expression dark. He thought he should not have entrusted such an important task to this youth.
"Trust me, Elder. I already came to check it myself!" the young cultivator replied. Inside, he was confused. He should have led them to the destination two days ago, but he still couldn't find the mountain.
He carefully observed the environment. He had been around here before when he was sneaking in to confirm whether the news of the resource point was true. The environment was familiar, yet the mountain they were looking for was nowhere to be seen.
The trees, the rocky outcrops—everything seemed the same. But the landmark that should rise tall in the distance had completely vanished, as if it had never existed. A faint unease stirred in his heart.
He knew that something was definitely gone wrong.
The same situation occurred to those who pursued wealth within the northern territory. Even before the Blood Fiend Palace was completely gone, they found that the resource point they were aiming for mysteriously disappeared—the spirit mountain, the spirit lake, the spirit cave—they were all gone. They had no idea what was going on.
No one does, except those who took it.
…
"Hell yeah! We did it!" Cheers filled the entire area at the foot of Endless Wealth Peak.
All core members of the Endless Wealth Company were gathered—whether they were from the Lan or Wang Clans, or newly promoted core members who had reached Trust Level 10, they were all here—as they partied after accomplishing the great heist on the resource points in the north of the continent, more than half of them fell into their hands.
The atmosphere was filled with happiness as they thought about the share they would receive after the Administration Department finished their calculations.
They didn't know exactly how much they would gain yet, but according to rumors, they would receive at least 10 million Wealth Points!
This amount was immense—it was enough to exchange for everything available in the Endless Wealth Exchange, enough for the cultivation resources needed to reach the peak realm of this Seventh Heaven.
"Cheers!" someone shouted, standing up on the table with a raised cup.
"Cheers!" the crowd echoed, their voices shaking the place with excitement.
Hengsheng watched the scene from the top of the mountain with a smirk on his face. From the success of this sudden mission, it seemed like he and his faction were on the right path.
"Control the information, control the world…" Hengsheng murmured. It was a quote from 20th-century Earth, and it appeared to be true even in this world, as he had just proven it.
What Hengsheng and his faction did seemed like just a heist for resources if one looked at it from the surface. But what he did was actually an act of manipulating a post-war event.
This entire operation started with using the appearance of the unknown aura—the side effect of the demonic cultivator annihilation incident—as an excuse to ask the Xia Clan to put a hold on alliance movements and not allow them to roam around in enemy territory.
This was to prevent movement on his side from being seen by the alliance.
The next step was the information control phase: he secretly released news about the resource points to the alliance through various channels and methods, making the news sound reliable and trustworthy. These resource points—or those who would be told about them—weren't chosen at random but were carefully calculated and planned.
The news was for those second-tier or third-tier factions that had the potential and the will to fight another round after the war against the Blood Fiend Palace in the northern part of the continent was over.
He did this to show them where to find the resource points and treasures that would benefit them the most—enough to make them fight over it—and to control their flow of movement once they resumed activity. He did it because he wanted to prevent or ease the chaos that would erupt after the war ended.
The Xia Clan was powerful, but they were no longer strong enough to control the entire northern part of the continent as they once did, like when they were the Great Xia Dynasty. This presented a great opportunity for lesser factions to rise. They would battle the Xia Clan for the available resources in the north if they saw it as worth the risk.
The other three great dynasties wouldn't step in—if one of them did, they would have to fight the other two, since those two would not allow any one of them to gain more resources. It simply wasn't worth it for any of them.
Instead, they quietly supported the lesser-tier factions, weakening the Xia Clan's position, as none of them wanted the Xia Clan to regain its former strength too quickly.
The final step was the most direct part: the great heist!
Hengsheng took the lead.
He and the other strongest members of the Endless Wealth Company went all out, wiping out the demonic cultivators who were stationed at the resource points they had selected. After that, he seized them using system power, turning entire mountains or lakes into system items and storing them inside his Item Storage.
This process was repeated ten thousand times within only a week. More than half of the resources in the north were now collected inside his pocket!
And when those he had sent the information to resumed their movements and found that the precious resource points they had aimed for were no longer there, their will to fight over the resources in the north will be diminished or even completely lost.
The conflict over northern resources was inevitable. But this would lead to a more stable and peaceful future in the northern part of the Myriad Dynasty Continent than simply standing by and doing nothing.
Hengsheng dusted off his clothes and turned away from the cliff. His presence only made the atmosphere stiff, so he let his employees enjoy the celebration without him.
…
A figure appeared in the sky above the wasteland that used to be the main base of the Blood Fiend Palace on this continent.
He was Xia Zhenhai, the Xia Clan's Patriarch.
He gazed at the ground and the Blood Moon Altar with puzzlement. He had come to inspect this place himself after hearing the news from the Endless Wealth Company that the demonic cultivators had retreated from the continent.
He looked around. He had no idea what had happened here, but he was sure the news was a lie. This wasn't a retreat—the demonic cultivators had clearly been wiped out here.
Because of the powerful aura of complete Dao?
But by whom?
Numerous questions surge within his mind.
Then, the face of Lan Hengsheng appeared in his mind.
Why does he lie?
What did he gain from this?
That man was mysterious. Xia Zhenhai didn't know much about him—only that he possessed unknown methods to unearth the information of others as if they had been watched from the sky.
While Xia Zhenhai was in deep thought.
One by one, other figures appeared in the sky. Their expressions were the same as Xia Zhenhai's: puzzled and grim. They had come to the same conclusion—the news of a retreat was a lie.
"What do you mean by this? Why did you lie to us, Patriarch Xia?" one of them asked. They didn't understand why the Xia Clan had given false information to the others.
Xia Zhenhai felt a headache coming on. He hadn't lied—but he couldn't admit that he had also been deceived. That would make him look foolish. He stayed calm and replied smoothly.
"I didn't mean to offend you… But the senior from the Ninth Heaven asked me to…" Xia Zhenhai lied.
The others' eyes narrowed. They found it hard to believe that an expert from the Ninth Heaven would interfere in the lower heavens—it was a serious crime.
However, there was no better explanation for this wasteland, which had clearly been struck with the power of a complete Dao. Only someone who was beyond the limits of the Seventh Heaven could be capable of such a thing.
They asked no further questions. Instead, their eyes shifted toward the tall altar, and a wave of greed flickered within them.
The greatest treasure in the north wasn't found in resource points or hidden troves—it lay within the Blood Moon in the sky.
Most lesser-tier factions had no idea, but those present here knew. Their connection to the Ninth Heaven granted them access to knowledge unknown in this world.
The one who resolved the problem of the Blood Moon's appearance would claim the true prize.
The greatest treasure was—The Heavenly Merit.