"For Foundation Establishment Cultivators like us, the proper path is to focus on improving our cultivation. The elders will naturally handle important family matters."

Dong Xiji looked at Sima Peng. The upcoming shareholder meeting for the Seven Nations Ticket Shop also concerned the interests of his Dragon Taming Dong Family, and he truly didn’t want the ambitious but incompetent Sima Peng to stir up any more trouble.

"Our generation should learn from Yang Jing. Although he holds great power, he has always placed his cultivation first. This is the true mindset a Cultivator ought to maintain."

He had recently learned that Yang Jing’s cultivation had already advanced to Second Layer Foundation Establishment. With Yang Jing’s current power and status, he surely wouldn’t lack the Miracle Elixirs needed to advance his cultivation. However, to reach Second Layer Foundation Establishment this quickly, his daily training must have been absolutely grueling.

Things might have been fine if Dong Xiji hadn’t mentioned Yang Jing. The moment he did, however, Sima Peng felt an inexplicable rage surge through him.

He barely maintained his composure.

"Tonight, let’s only discuss pleasantries, not cultivation. Drink! Everyone, drink up!"

With that, he raised his cup and downed it in a single gulp, as if trying to wash the frustration from his heart down into his gut with the Spirit Wine.

The others all raised their cups to drink with Sima Peng. Only Dong Xiji remained seated, not touching the cup before him.

"Brother Dong, why aren’t you drinking? Is this Spirit Wine not to your liking?"

Sima Peng looked displeased.

"Brother Sima, I have never been one to drink," Dong Xiji said.

Sima Peng’s expression darkened. He beckoned the maid who had been serving Dong Xiji back to his side.

"It must be this woman’s ugliness that has ruined Brother Dong’s mood for drinking."

As soon as he finished speaking, a look of terror spread across the maid’s face.

But before the maid could even beg for mercy, Sima Peng had already snapped her neck with a clean, decisive twist.

The maid possessed a shallow Cultivation and didn’t die immediately from the broken neck. She collapsed to the floor, convulsing, her limpid eyes still filled with terror and a desperate hope that someone might save her.

A moment later, the maid breathed her last.

Seeing Sima Peng’s actions, the other Noble Sons present either frowned or paled. Executing a maid was nothing to them, but Sima Peng was clearly using her life to force Dong Xiji to drink.

’How foolish of Sima Peng to pressure a direct heir of the Dong Family this way.’

"Zi Mei, you go and serve Brother Dong."

Another beautiful maid, trembling with fear, walked over to Dong Xiji. A sweet fragrance trailed her as she knelt, her eyes brimming with tears, and held up a cup to offer him the Spirit Wine.

Dong Xiji still refused to drink.

This maid, too, had her neck snapped while shaking her head in terror and begging for her life. She collapsed to the floor, another corpse.

Before long, five corpses lay on the floor.

Though they knew they would die, the maids dared not defy Sima Peng’s orders in the slightest.

Dong Xiji remained perfectly composed, elegantly enjoying the Spiritual Food on the table. His expression never flickered. Until the banquet was over, he never touched that cup of Spirit Wine.

The banquet broke up on a sour note. Dong Xiji left with the Noble Sons he knew.

"That man has a malevolent air about him. We shouldn’t associate with him in the future," he said to the other Noble Sons.

Sima Peng sat on the main seat, his face dark, the floor around him littered with corpses.

Having just recently captured many fresh Tripod Furnaces, he felt not the slightest pity for these maids, who had already been used for Absorption and Replenishment until they were little more than empty shells with little value remaining. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

What angered him was Dong Xiji. And Yang Jing.

Seeing him in this state, Li Xishan thought, ’He doesn’t look like someone capable of accomplishing anything.’ He was already starting to regret getting involved so deeply.

"Have you still not found any evidence of Yang Jing extorting the trading companies and accepting Spirit Stones?"

Sima Peng fixed his eyes on Li Xishan.

’Li Xishan despaired. Because of Yang Jing’s plot, he and the Taichang Trading Company had exposed the trading houses that worked with Tribulation Cultivators. Their relationship with the trading houses of the Northern Domain’s Seven Kingdoms was already extremely tense. In just a few days, how could they possibly find any leverage?’

’Besides, who in a position of power didn’t take the opportunity to enrich themselves? Extorting trading houses for Spirit Stones was commonplace. Even a behemoth like his Celestial Treasure Tower sometimes had to pay out Spirit Stones for the sake of stability.’

’What good would that kind of leverage be, anyway?’

’Not to mention, Yang Jing was an anomaly among Cultivators—truly incorruptible. He never extorted the trading houses, and he even returned the Spirit Stones from any gifts he received.’

’Since Yang Jing took control of the Seven Nations Ticket Shop, our two Great Trading Houses, the Celestial Treasure Tower and the Taichang Trading Company, have only managed to gift him one true treasure: a wisp of Profound Plain True Fire.’

’Although the Profound Plain True Fire was precious, trying to use it to bring down Yang Jing would be utterly laughable. It would also offend numerous Noble Families and the Northern Army Governor’s Mansion. The Celestial Treasure Tower came to the Northern Domain to do business, not to make enemies.’

Li Xishan forced himself to explain, but the look Sima Peng gave him grew increasingly cold.

"Am I, Sima Peng, a noble son of the Sima Family, really unable to deal with a mere Foundation Establishment Cultivator from a backwater hole like the Western Continent?!"

Sima Peng’s neatly bound hair came undone, spilling over his shoulders. He kicked the table in front of him, sending it flying and splattering food and drinks all over the floor.

’The more he tried to deal with Yang Jing, the more powerless he felt. It was as if making an enemy of Yang Jing was the same as making an enemy of every power in the Northern Domain’s Seven Kingdoms. Apart from a handful of Noble Sons hoping to curry favor with him, he was utterly isolated and without support.’

Li Xishan glanced at Sima Peng with a hint of pity.

’Yang Jing creates value, while Sima Peng is here to snatch it. The difference between them is night and day. Anyone who isn’t completely short-sighted knows which side to stand on.’

At this thought, Li Xishan sighed. ’And aren’t I just as short-sighted?’

"Tomorrow, at the Seven Nations Ticket Shop shareholder meeting, you will stand up and make an accusation. Say that Yang Jing extorted the Profound Plain True Fire from our Celestial Treasure Tower, and that after we gave it to him, his greed was insatiable, and he demanded another two hundred thousand Spirit Stones," Sima Peng ordered Li Xishan.

"I can’t do that, Young Master!"

Li Xishan’s face turned deathly pale. The shareholder meeting would be attended by Nascent Soul True Monarchs. How could he, a mere Golden Core Cultivator, dare to spout such slander and frame a True Disciple of the Five Elements True Spirit Sect?

"Hmph. Li Xishan, from the day you started cultivating, my Celestial Treasure Tower has fed you and clothed you. It gave you the status you enjoy today, allowing you to live in comfort and privilege. Now that it comes down to it, are you telling me you’re not willing to die for my Celestial Treasure Tower?!"

Sima Peng strode in front of Li Xishan, glaring at him viciously.

Just as the atmosphere in the room dropped to a freezing point, a guard at the Foundation Establishment Realm hurried in.

"Young Master Sima, bad news! The Demon Suppression Army from the Northern Army Governor’s Mansion has arrested Young Master Yan, Yan Xiangzhi!"

Yan Xiangzhi was one of the Noble Sons who had stayed behind to practice the Mingfei Joyful Method with Sima Peng.

"How is that possible? The Yan Family is a major Noble Family in the Profound Pure Sect. How could the Demon Suppression Army dare to lay a hand on him?"