Free Web NovelChapter 9: The Harvest of War
The Harvest of War
[Ding! Family Mission: Destroy the Blackwood Family completed!]
[Congratulations, Host! You have obtained the Heaven-Grade Pill: Divine Titan Tempering Pill!]
[Congratulations, Host! You have obtained the Earth-Grade Cultivation Technique: Four Seasons Hidden Spring Scripture!]
Looking at the rewards before him, Victor couldn’t help but feel pleased.
The golden notifications floated silently before his eyes, visible only to him.
The Eternal Legacy System had once again rewarded him generously.
Yet the true value wasn’t merely the cultivation technique or the pill.
These rewards also signified one thing—
The Blackwood Family, which had dared to come to the Salvatore Family’s doorstep and humiliate them, had been completely wiped out.
Not weakened.
Not crippled.
Destroyed.
From this day forward, the Blackwood Family would become nothing more than a memory whispered about in Aurelia City’s taverns.
A warning.
A lesson.
A reminder of what happened to those who betrayed the Salvatore Family.
Outside the hall, the smell of blood still lingered heavily in the air.
The estate had become unnaturally quiet.
Only the distant sounds of Salvatore Family disciples organizing spoils could occasionally be heard.
Victor slowly closed the system panel.
The next step was naturally to inventory the Blackwood Family’s assets.
Building a powerful family was never easy.
Strength alone was insufficient.
Cultivation consumed resources.
Families consumed resources.
People consumed resources.
Food.
Clothing.
Weapons.
Armor.
Cultivation resources.
Spirit medicines.
Rare ores.
Ancient inheritances.
Every single thing required wealth.
And the larger a family became, the more terrifying that expenditure grew.
Even a powerful Astral Manifestation Realm cultivator couldn’t conjure resources from thin air.
The rapid development of a family required enormous amounts of wealth to support it.
Under Victor’s instructions, the members of the Salvatore Family began carrying out chest after chest filled with blood-stained gold, silver, jewels, property deeds, and land contracts.
Some disciples wore expressions of disbelief.
Others couldn’t stop smiling.
Many had never seen so much wealth gathered in one place.
Several enormous warehouses hidden beneath the Blackwood Family estate had also been discovered.
The amount of accumulated resources was staggering.
All of it would be transported back to the Salvatore Family.
As Victor observed the scene, a faint smile appeared on his face.
This was only the beginning.
The Blackwood Family was merely an appetizer.
The true feast had yet to begin.
"Pa... Patriarch Victor..."
A trembling voice suddenly sounded beside him.
Victor slowly turned.
Standing several meters away were the former Guardians of the Blackwood Family.
More than a dozen cultivators.
Each one looked terrified.
Their clothes were stained with blood.
Their faces were pale.
Many couldn’t even meet Victor’s eyes.
"Patriarch Victor..."
One man swallowed nervously.
"Now that the Blackwood Family has been destroyed..."
"Can we leave?"
His voice shook uncontrollably.
Another quickly stepped forward.
"The Blackwood Family was a bunch of heartless bastards!"
"They received the Salvatore Family’s kindness and still chose to betray you!"
"They were nothing but animals!"
A third man hurriedly joined in.
"I personally cut off the Fourth Elder’s head just now!"
"Bah!"
"I must have been blind to join the Blackwood Family in the first place."
The speaker was a burly cultivator at the Sixth Layer of the Celestial Gate Realm.
Ordinarily, such a man could dominate an entire region.
Yet now his legs trembled so violently that he could barely remain standing.
It wasn’t because he lacked courage.
The problem was that Victor stood before him.
A man dressed in flowing black robes embroidered with golden dragons.
Long black hair.
Golden eyes.
A face so handsome it seemed carved by the gods themselves.
He looked like a celestial immortal who had descended into the mortal world.
Yet everyone present knew the truth.
Behind that divine appearance lurked a terrifying god of slaughter.
A man who had erased an entire family with a few casual commands.
The burly cultivator was terrified that one wrong sentence might cost him his life.
"The Blackwood Family Guardians..."
Victor slowly examined them.
Like a king observing insects beneath his feet.
These people had already been scared out of their wits.
"Nux."
Victor called calmly.
At that moment, Nux was busy overseeing the counting of the Blackwood Family’s assets.
After his breakthrough, his aura had become noticeably sharper.
Hearing Victor call him, he immediately jogged over.
"Uncle, what’s the matter?"
Victor studied him carefully.
Not only had Nux broken through into the Arcane Meridian Realm—
His cultivation had advanced three additional layers.
He now stood firmly within the Third Layer of the Arcane Meridian Realm.
The growth speed was astonishing.
Even Victor couldn’t help but marvel.
"As expected."
"The Abyssal Bodhi Slaughter Physique grows most rapidly through slaughter."
Victor nodded in satisfaction.
Then he pointed toward the Blackwood Family Guardians.
"Nux."
"How do you think these people should be dealt with?"
Nux paused.
His brows slowly furrowed.
He understood immediately.
This wasn’t a simple question.
Victor wasn’t asking for advice.
He was testing him.
The lives of more than a dozen cultivators rested entirely upon his answer.
The surrounding Guardians instantly felt bitterness well up inside them.
Many were veteran Arcane Meridian Realm and Celestial Gate Realm experts.
Men who had spent decades cultivating.
Yet now their lives were being decided by an eighteen-year-old youth.
"Young Master Nux, please spare us!"
"As long as you spare my life, I’ll gladly become a dog of the Salvatore Family!"
"That’s right!"
"We’ll all become the Salvatore Family’s dogs!"
"Please spare us!" freeωebnovēl.c૦m
For the sake of survival, they completely abandoned their dignity.
Pride.
Honor.
Self-respect.
None of it mattered before death.
If necessary, they would have gladly licked Nux’s boots.
Yet as he listened to their desperate pleas, Nux’s expression only grew colder.
His red eyes revealed undisguised contempt.
"Not just anyone..."
His voice was calm.
"...is qualified to become a dog of the Salvatore Family."
The words instantly silenced everyone.
Nothing about him resembled an eighteen-year-old youth.
Instead, he seemed frighteningly mature.
Frighteningly calm.
"Uncle."
Nux spoke slowly.
"These people were Guardians of the Blackwood Family."
"Whether openly or secretly, they must have participated in actions against the Salvatore Family."
Victor nodded silently.
Nux continued.
"Furthermore, they possess no loyalty whatsoever."
"They were willing to abandon their former masters just to save themselves."
His gaze swept across the kneeling men.
Each one lowered their head.
None dared argue.
Because everything Nux said was true.
"And if even one of them is merely pretending?"
"If everything they’re doing is simply enduring humiliation while waiting for revenge?"
"Then they would become hidden thorns buried within the Salvatore Family."
His voice remained steady.
Like someone calmly discussing the weather.
The surrounding disciples looked at Nux differently.
Many were surprised.
Others were impressed.
Victor’s smile deepened.
Nux had changed.
Not merely in cultivation.
His mentality had matured as well.
Nux finished speaking.
Victor nodded approvingly.
"Then your conclusion is?"
Nux looked up.
At that moment, Victor’s earlier words echoed through his mind.
Mercy is reserved only for our own people.
A flash of understanding appeared in his eyes.
"Mercy..."
He spoke calmly.
"...is reserved only for our own people."
"Good."
Victor smiled.
"As expected of a son of the Salvatore Family."
The Blackwood Family Guardians immediately sensed danger.
Several quicker-witted individuals instantly gathered their spiritual power into their legs.
They turned and fled.
Unfortunately— freewebnovёl.ƈom
They had barely taken half a step.
Whoosh—
An autumn breeze drifted through the hall.
Gentle.
Quiet.
Almost beautiful.
It carried a faint chill.
Within their vision, countless golden autumn leaves appeared.
The leaves drifted silently toward the earth.
The scene seemed peaceful.
Yet every cultivator present felt their scalp turn numb.
Then the horrifying transformation began.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The fleeing Guardians suddenly began to wither.
Their skin shriveled.
Their muscles collapsed.
Their hair turned snow-white.
Their life force drained away.
It was as though decades passed in an instant.
Like autumn arriving upon all living things.
Like nature itself announcing the end of life.
They remained frozen in their running postures.
Unable to move another step.
Within moments, they had become dried corpses drained of all vitality.
The remaining Guardians inside the hall met the same fate.
One after another.
Bodies collapsed to the ground.
Silent.
Dead.
From beginning to end—
Victor never moved.
Not even once.
Only an autumn wind had passed through the hall.
Yet that autumn wind had slaughtered all living things.
The Salvatore Family disciples stared in awe.
Many swallowed nervously.
Even Nux felt a chill.
Victor himself looked at the scene thoughtfully.
"This Earth-Grade technique truly is powerful."
Looking at the corpses scattered throughout the hall, Victor couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.
The Eternal Legacy System immediately displayed additional information.
[Autumn Sovereign Heavenfall Scripture]
[When autumn descends, all creation mourns.]
[Autumn winds howl, slaughtering all living things.]
[The vitality of heaven and earth withers and declines like falling leaves.]
[Those touched by the Autumn Sovereign’s authority experience the inevitable fate of decay.]
[Although classified as an Earth-Grade cultivation technique, its power rivals a Low Heaven-Grade cultivation art.]
[Rumored to be a fragment of a Saint-Grade cultivation technique.]
"A fragment of a Saint-Grade cultivation technique..."
Victor narrowed his eyes.
Saint Grade.
Even in his previous life’s countless novels, such a level represented something extraordinary.
Far beyond ordinary cultivators.
Far beyond ordinary families.
He recalled another cultivation technique he had just obtained.
The Four Seasons Hidden Spring Scripture.
A cultivation art whose very name seemed to stand opposite autumn.
Spring and autumn.
Life and decline.
Growth and death.
Could it be...
That these two techniques were connected somehow?
