The next morning, Wu Han met Wu Zhen at the clan treasury.
Standing guard was none other than the Second Elder himself. Known for his neutrality, it was only natural that he also held one of the keys to the clan's hard-earned wealth.
"I hope you find what you need, Young Master," the Second Elder said, bowing respectfully to Wu Han.
Respect for a boy who had endured abuse at the hands of a power-hungry woman, stood against injustice, and emerged victorious.
"Thank you for all your help, Second Elder. If it wasn't for your fair judgment, I would be dead," Wu Han replied, bowing in return.
The plan was going smoothly because the Second Elder was a man of principle, one who judged by evidence, not emotion.
Even back during his first trial, he had been among the few who disagreed with condemning Wu Han as Wu Yaoshi's killer.
But a man of principle is still a weak man, one who tries to float on the sea of indulgence, clinging to
He controlled only what he could, because he was afraid to let go and face the true waves.
Wu Han respected him, yet also thought the Second Elder a fool.
Understanding how people think was how one truly wins, and principled men were the easiest to understand.
They always acted with their path in mind, but that also narrowed their world.
To him, they looked like moles hiding underground, afraid of what the true world above might do to them.
Inside the clan treasury were rows upon rows of shelves seeping with elemental power.
Rare herbs, pills, weapons, and armor filled the place.
When clan members gathered treasures, they could either keep them or exchange them with the clan for favor or spirit stones.
"It's been ages since you came here, remember?" Wu Zhen reminisced.
As a member of the elders' lineage, he had first gained access to the treasury when he awakened his Qi, allowed to select a single item to hone his skills.
"Yes, Grandfather. I almost killed myself back then too," Wu Han said with a hollow laugh as the memory surfaced—young Wu Han nearly dying when a falling sword had almost split him in half.
"Haha! Sure you did!" Wu Zhen laughed proudly as they walked deeper inside, until they reached the altar guarded by stone sculptures, the character Wu carved deep into a massive stone slab.
"Wu Zhen greets the ancestors."
"Wu Han greets the ancestors."
Wu Zhen drew his jade sword and placed it on the altar.
The stone began to move, activating the ancient formations and arrays passed down through generations.
The vault opened, revealing piles upon piles of spirit stones inside.
'Almost thousands of them!' Wu Han was astonished by the amount.
By measuring the Qi density and comparing it to the stone volume, he roughly calculated the total and realized it was nearly double what he had anticipated.
"It seems Wu Wei was even more foolish than I thought…" Wu Zhen muttered, half disappointed, half insulted by Wu Wei's incompetence.
The job of a clan leader isn't just to keep the clan functioning, but also to invest their spirit stones to strengthen the clan's power.
The fact that most of them were just sitting here collecting dust meant Wu Wei was too afraid to act.
It's no wonder the clan rotted away.
Wealth stored without being used does not grow.
Even a clan with trillions of spirit stones will lose to a clan that spends one to progress.
"Here, with this amount, you should be able to break into the 6th stage and easily prepare for the 7th." Wu Zhen picked up around six stones and handed them to Wu Han.
"Grandfather…" Wu Han's eyes widened.
This amount was equivalent to winning the clan championship three years in a row.
Only an unrivaled genius would receive such a reward, and even then, after long preparation and rigorous training.
"You may have a great master, but the fact remains—you're already eighteen. We need to advance as much as we can while time still favors us."
Wu Zhen placed a hand on Wu Han's shoulder, his face filled with both expectation and concern.
It might be too late for him to start training properly, but better now than never.
He was prepared to spend the clan's entire fortune to give them all a chance at a comeback.
"Yes, Grandfather." Wu Han bowed greatly.
"It feels like a dream, being here with you. How I wish your father and mother could have lived to see this day…" Wu Zhen's face showed a trace of sadness as he thought back on the past.
Wu Han's parents were killed in an assassination attempt, and, even more insulting, they were just innocent, caught in the crossfire.
The assassin's real target had been Wu Yaoshi, to break the arranged marriage, but it was Wu Han's bloodline that paid the price.
Still, fortune had shifted.
"Let's also get some herbs for you to bring to your master," Wu Zhen said as he turned around.
Both walked out of the secret vault, and Wu Han began his plan.
"Grandfather, may I hold the jade sword? I feel like it hides a secret." Wu Han asked curiously.
"Sharp eyes! Indeed, our sword is rumored to be a Foundation Establishment realm weapon. But alas, none have ever awakened it. Maybe you will be the first since our great ancestor."
Wu Zhen was delighted to see his grandson could sense the hidden secret within the sword.
This was the same blade their founder had left behind. Within it lay many secrets, one of which was the key to the clan's secret vault, as they had just witnessed.
But this was as far as he will play along.
A secret is useless when all the resources are already laid before him!
With a single thought from Wu Han, his storage ring activated.
Wu Wei and Ming rushed out, charging straight at Wu Zhen and catching him by surprise.
In that instant of confusion, Wu Han thrust his sword.
Stab!
The blade pierced Wu Zhen's unguarded heart.
Wu Zhen's Qi dropped, his life force flowing away.
With his heart exposed, his body became nothing more than an open valve.
"Why!?" Wu Zhen was hurt, confused, looking at his grandson's face with pain.
All his life he had dedicated himself to their prosperity, and now they had already gained the clan leader's position, so the question burned.
"WHY!?" The old man demanded the truth.
He tried to conjure Qi, but without a working heart, the flow interrupted and blood spurted from the gaping wound.
He was dying. And worst of all, confused—the sudden betrayal seemed to come from nowhere.
"We were this close to controlling the clan, why did you do this!?"
Wu Han didn't answer.
He extended his hand and tore the soul straight out of Wu Zhen's body. The clan leader screamed in agony as his life and his dreams were ripped away, stripped from his flesh and leaving nothing behind.
And in that moment between life and death, he finally saw it, the reason his grandson did this.
Because from the very beginning, this man was never his grandson!
It isn't you… This old fool. I was too blinded by potential. It's all my fault, everyone.
In the end, his soul smiled before it was absorbed, knowing his grandson hadn't betrayed them.
But he still had to make peace with himself, knowing he had doomed their clan for eternity.
He was played, with no chance to fight back against it.
"Why did I do this? Because we are weak," Wu Han said coldly.
"If your clan were as strong as the Luo Clan, I might have spared you."
He did not need Wu Zhen, nor the Wu Clan itself.
He only wanted the hard-earned wealth they had hoarded for thousands of years, without bearing any responsibility for the clan.
The plan from the beginning had been to gain access to the treasury and then find a way to finish off both Wu Zhen and Wu Wei.
That was why either Wu Zhen or Wu Wei had to die first, so their body could be used to safely kill the other.
If Wu Wei had survived instead, he would have used Haoyu to deceive and kill him.
In the end, it made no difference.
The outcome was always the same.
He would kill them both and turn them into pawns.
The existence of Wu Wei and Wu Zhen were the obstacles blocking him from his goal: everything of worth in their clan.
But now that both were gone, it was time for him to finally harvest.
From all the spirit stones to the pills, weapons, and herbs the Wu Clan had collected for years.
Does he have to do this? No.
Can he wait and cultivate slowly? Yes.
Can he work with the Wu Clan and grow together? Also, yes.
But why bother when he can take all their possessions and find a better place to train?
He does this because he wants to grow as fast as possible, and the Wu Clan is the easiest target, with little risk and many rewards.
How could he turn away from an opportunity like this?
Wu Han revived Wu Zhen as a true undead like Ming instead of a puppet.
He removed all Wu Zhen's memories, leaving only fighting skill, so he doesn't have to live with eternal pain.
Now under his control were Wu Zhen at the seventh stage and Ming at the fifth stage as undead, each retaining a degree of autonomy, and Wu Wei at the seventh stage as a puppet who moved only at his command.
"Consider this kindness from me." Wu Han then created a magic circle with a dark, ominous aura before branding it onto three of his minions.
When the circle touched them, a dark mist spread as their bodies were enhanced, with one spell engraved into them.
Rank 2 magic, Bloody Curse.
A spell with a simple effect: not only does it enhance capability, but it also makes one turn uncontrollably angry and target anyone in sight.
But it comes with one condition, it can't be used on the undead.
So why did he put the spell on them?
The Second Elder, seeing the gate slowly open, was anticipating what Wu Han would bring out. Having seen his talent with his own eyes, he was ready to introduce his grandson to Wu Han so they might become partners in the future.
But what rushed out were three shadows that bit him on the neck.
The spell spread into the Second Elder. His eyes went wide, veins bulging across his neck.
"AH—!" he screamed, then bolted in another direction, striking down anyone in sight.
The three minions followed. They moved through the clan like a tide, biting one after another, spreading the curse without pause.
Two became six. Six became twelve.
The spiral continued, multiplying into countless Wu Clan members.
When one turned into a mindless killing monster, many others died as victims.
A son was the first to see his mother. She reached out to him.
He drove the spear through her chest and kept pushing until the shaft split her back.
Her hands clutched the wood.
"Dear… why?" she whispered.
Then she fell silent.
Across the yard, a husband raised his blade to stop the chaos.
"What's happening!?"
His wife came up behind him with a kitchen knife. One clean stab to the kidney.
He turned, stunned. She didn't stop, hacking at his collarbone, then his throat.
"Greetings, Second Elder!"
The Second Elder crashed through a line of juniors, fists breaking bone, eyes wide and blind.
Three shadows moved through the clan, biting throats, spreading the curse like fire on dry grass.
Disciples clawed each other.
Elders cracked skulls.
Servants tripped and were trampled.
Screams stacked on screams.
Blood ran down the steps.
Amid a river of corpses, Wu Han walked out calmly, pleased with a plan flawlessly executed.
"Hmp~ Hmp~"
Inside his storage ring lay heaps of spirit stones and mountains of resources.
The gate guards rushed back in, attempting to contain the chaos, only to be cursed by Wu Zhen and Wu Wei. The two returned to Wu Han's side, adding more blood to the already flowing river.
Wu Han recalled them into his spirit ring and cast an illusion, vanishing from sight.
Then he walked out and closed the clan gate behind him.
By the time outsiders arrived, the Wu Clan had no survivors.
Or more precisely—
no witnesses.
HAHAHAHAHA!!