Chapter 519: Secret Chamber

Chapter 519: The Secret Chamber

The Verdant Grove County.

The Green Pond Sect imposed little restraint on the division of county seats; some were large, some small. The Verdant Grove County, a tiny fief established by Yuanwu on a single word from Yu Muxian in years past, had long been under the jurisdiction of Yuanwu Peak.

Li Zhouwei arrived on horseback, taking city after city in quick succession. The garrisons crumbled at the first touch, and the cultivators stationed in the cities were all debauchees who, having hit a wall in their cultivation, lingered in this spirit-deprived foothill land to throw their weight around.

When they saw the flames rising in the south and the blood qi billowing to the sky, those with a modicum of sense fled at once. Those who could not escape knelt on the ground. Li Zhouwei rode past, and the cultivators behind him bound each of these kneeling figures one by one.

Only a handful of figures rushed frantically to the city gate, their faces contorted with rage, and began cursing the moment they opened their mouths.

This middle-aged man had a pale face and reeked of wine. It was hard to tell if he was truly loyal to these noble clans or merely foolish. His robe looked hastily donned, and the jade vial at his waist seethed with surging blood qi. He roared:

“Which fool from the Verdant Grove is this! Qing Du issued an order forbidding internecine slaughter—how dare you come here killing like this! Do you not fear the wrath of the upper clans…”

His words trailed off mid-sentence. A crimson-black glow surged from Li Zhouwei’s long halberd, and with one thrust, he pierced the man’s chest, spilling a pool of blood on the ground.

“Clip-clop…clip-clop…”

The rapid clatter of hooves rang out. His face was calm as he rode on without pausing, the middle-aged man still impaled on his halberd, already silent and lifeless. With a flick of his wrist, he flung the corpse to the ground, and the sound of cracking bones echoed out.

“You daredevil—daring to secretly refine blood qi at the Moon-Watching Lake.”

He shook off the blood. Entering the city at the foot of the immortal peak, he found dust everywhere, the streets strewn with filth and in utter disarray. Emaciated commoners lay scattered about, each kneeling on the ground; when they occasionally lifted their heads, their sparse gazes pierced him like arrows.

To be fair, the noble clans had received warnings from the Li Clan, so the commoners on their fiefs did not live too badly—at the very least, they had something to eat and a hemp robe to wear. Yet their gazes remained fiery.

After all, the people under the Li Clan’s rule lived exceptionally well.

The noble clans were all mixed settlements of immortals and mortals; even if they kept their lives, the people lived each day at the mercy of others. It was nothing like the Li Clan’s lands, where as Li Zhouwei galloped past on the road, all he saw were bowed heads and countless emaciated hands pressed to the ground in a dense, unbroken mass of prostrations.

When he reached the immortal peak of the Lu Clan, the Lu Clan’s Foundation Establishment patriarch had already come out bound, leading a crowd to kneel. The person behind him held a formation disk in their hands and spoke respectfully:

“Your humble servant greets the master clan!”

The Li Clan had moved in secret; Li Zhouwei’s contingent was not the only one. To prevent these clans from fleeing with their formation disks, spiritual artifacts, and cultivation techniques, seven contingents moved simultaneously, with Foundation Establishment cultivators suppressing the skies to ensure not a single person escaped.

The Li Clan had gone all out, treating the matter like a lion pouncing on a rabbit, but they had overestimated these noble clans. The Lu Clan, the leading and most powerful among them, had opened their formations to welcome them the moment they arrived, assuming an extremely submissive stance.

Blood still dripped from Li Zhouwei’s halberd. His expression was somewhat disappointed as he flicked his magical weapon forward, hooking the formation disk and letting it drift gently into his hand for a careful look.

“Mid-tier Foundation Establishment grade.”

After inspecting it, he pulled a talisman from his bosom and flung it into the sky, where a streak of golden light immediately rose.

The Lu Clan’s patriarch trembled, daring not to speak further. Li Zhouwei cast a single glance over the clan members behind him, then looked up at the sky. After waiting for the time it takes to burn an incense stick, more golden lights rose one after another.

“Three shichen.”

Li Zhouwei planted his halberd in the ground, counting exactly six more golden lights rising. In little more than a single night, the Verdant Grove County had fallen into the Li Clan’s hands.

The Yu Clan had grown from the ruins of the Jiang Clan, only to split apart and become the current clans of the Verdant Grove, led by the Lu Clan. Each clan’s mountain gate was dim, and they were filled with extreme terror.

Several of the clans had no Foundation Establishment cultivators at all, and Jiang Heqian, their hidden backer, had vanished. Even when they saw the faint golden light in the south, they did not know what was happening, and their attempts to gather information yielded only half-baked clues.

The Li Clan struck suddenly. Li Zhouwei, clad in armor and mounted on his horse, charged forward with his halberd, his military might reaching the nearest clan before the others realized something was wrong—by then, it was far too late to flee.

He glanced around and spoke softly:

“Seal the cultivation bases of all these Yu Clan descendants and send them back to Qing Du to await disposition.”

The Lu Clan’s patriarch’s face turned ashen at once. Hearing Li Zhouwei refer to them as Yu Clan descendants, he feared the Yu Clan’s debts would be laid at his clan’s door. He tried to speak in explanation, but the Yuting Guards who surrounded him from both sides gagged him and dragged him away.

Li Zhouwei propped his halberd on his horse. A pale light appeared in his hand, and he wiped away the bloodstains.

He and his father had long discussed the disposition of these surname-bearing Yu Clan descendants; they could never be allowed to remain in these lands. These people were deeply rooted here and had their own secret methods of nurturing blood qi.

They had also fostered numerous landowners and even most of the rogue cultivators, playing a major role in the Yu Clan’s dissolution. Their collusions ran deep, so they could not be suppressed with mere trivial measures.

“Local tyrants…then we shall relocate them.”

Though most of these people had consumed blood qi, with so many cultivators, killing them all was not an option. They must first be moved south while the tide was in their favor—once they left their native land, they would find it hard to wield any of their tricks.

……

In the sky.

Li Xijun had someone send Bai Rong back. Watching the golden glow of talismans spread across the vast Verdant Grove County in the blink of an eye, he let out a faint sigh of relief:

“It seems things were handled fairly well; no clan threw a wrench in the works.”

This was only to be expected. The Tangjin Gate to the north was too busy with its own troubles to interfere; the Fei Clan on the north bank dared not make a move. The great mountain to the west marked the boundary between the Green Pond Sect and the Golden Feather Sect, and the small temples and Daoist He on the west bank had always kept their doors closed, tending to their own affairs with no way to interfere.

They had also secured the Xiao Clan’s consent to leave the Xiao Clan’s vassal clans on the east bank untouched, and the sect had mediated the matter clearly. It would have been strange if anything had gone wrong.

After a moment’s wait, Li Chengliao arrived riding on a gust of wind, clad in a gray fur robe, with the Jiao Pan Ying—a belt with scales like fish scales—tied around his waist. Having managed the clan for many years, he was steady in his deeds. He stopped before Li Xijun and bowed in greeting:

“Greetings, Eighth Uncle. The eighteen towns and five immortal peaks of the Verdant Grove County have all fallen into our clan’s control. The seven surname-bearing Yu Clan descendant clans have all been captured and sent to Lijing.”

Li Xijun nodded and spoke softly:

“Well done. Do not let any clan slip through the cracks; detain them all first.”

After responding, he asked softly:

“Have you thought about how to dispose of them?”

Li Chengliao rode the wind forward with him and answered softly:

“Eighth Uncle, do you remember the many shamanic shrines in the Shanyue lands?”

Li Xijun nodded gently and replied:

“Naturally I do.”

With the Li Clan’s control of the entire Shanyue region, some of the Shanyue ancestral lands in the lofty mountains had come to light. These places were deeply infested with heretical shamanic shrines that often sacrificed people to their deities. There were over 100,000 shamans scattered across the lands, 99 out of 100 of whom were mortals.

As soon as the Li Clan conquered the Shanyue region, these wild-mountain shrines sent envoys offering their allegiance to the Li Clan. Those lands were barren and harsh, and strictly speaking, they lay within the territory of the Great Li Mountain Demon Cave.

The Li Clan was naturally unwilling to venture deep into those lands and risk offending the Demon Cave. Moreover, the mortals there were fanatical believers, hard to handle, and the cost of governing them far outweighed the benefits, so they only accepted their tributes.

The former lands of the vicious Huoluo, adjacent to these barren wastes, were also devoid of spiritual energy and had a ferocious populace—these were the shamanic lands Li Chengliao had referred to.

“Here is my plan…first, relocate all seven clans to Li Jing Mountain, register them one by one, then send them to fill those shamanic lands in the deep mountains of the Shanyue region.”

“The heretical shrines there have a ferocious populace; most of the Shanyue people do not even speak the easterners’ language. The lands are wild everywhere, with little spiritual energy, and no cultivator in our clan would be willing to go there…sending someone there would be more like a punishment…so these seven clans are perfect to fill those lands!”

He smiled, clearly having had this plan for a long time, and spoke respectfully:

“These seven clans are not weak; placing them there will make them wear each other down, transform the local customs, and deter those wild-mountain shrines from daring to entertain any thoughts of blood sacrifice.”

After hearing this, Li Xijun nodded slightly and replied softly:

“It is indeed a good idea, but you must send people there to supervise these seven clans—make sure to send many loyal ones to keep them under strict watch.”

He raised his sword-like eyebrows and explained:

“That place already has little spiritual energy, and these seven clans are accustomed to using blood offerings and consuming blood pills and flesh. Sending them there may make them even more ruthless…they may even collude with those wild-mountain heretical shrines to oppress the common people together.”

At his words, Li Chengliao understood at once. He bowed respectfully and replied:

“Thank you for your guidance, Eighth Uncle!”

Li Xijun chuckled softly:

“It is not guidance. When you actually act, you would have seen it too. But planning ahead prevents excessive losses…if our actions had been even two days slower, who knows how many more people would have died…”

Li Chengliao nodded and followed behind. Li Xijun rode the wind down and soon saw the towering Verdant Grove Peak. It was not the best spiritual vein by the Moon-Watching Lake, but it was the broadest and most robust—even half the size of the Xiao Clan’s Xianyou Peak.

In Dense Woods County stands a mountain with one main peak and five secondary ones; here, Li Ximing—he who boasts the highest cultivation base—acted in person. He only hoisted the gleaming Huangyuan Pass into the sky, and as its bright light spread, the cultivators in the mountains emerged to surrender.

After all, the formation on this mountain was no longer the Foundation Establishment Formation crafted by the Yu Clan, a once-prominent noble house. Ravaged by repeated chaotic battles, it had long fallen to ruin, dismantled by a group of outsiders in collusion, each snatching a small share of spiritual objects.

The current formation merely suffices for Qi Refinement, likely unable to withstand even a few strikes from that gleaming, majestic pass. Li Ximing patrolled the mountain once and found its spiritual energy and earth veins remained largely unimpaired, though regrettably, few structures were left standing.

The Yu Clan suffered countless upheavals before and after its split; every household plundered what they could and carted away all they might, leaving scarce a thing behind. Places like the medicinal garden and pill pavilion had long turned to desolate mounds.

Li Xijun alighted on the main peak, where Li Ximing—clad in a golden Taoist robe, his form shimmering with bright light—stood waiting for him.

Li Ximing’s cultivation base grew ever deeper, and his mastery of the pill path also advanced steadily. Two outsiders in the clan who practiced the pill path now worked as his assistants in his pill chamber; everyone in the clan curried favor with them, and wandering cultivators even came to beg for pills from time to time.

When he saw Li Xijun and the other man descend, he first nodded at Li Chengliao, then smiled and said:

“The Yu Clan’s several storehouses have been nearly ransacked empty—so bare that mice could run about freely. I searched them thoroughly twice before discovering a few secret chambers.”

“These secret chambers are reinforced with Foundation Establishment power; they likely require some token or bloodline to open. All these households only have Qi Refinement cultivation, so I reckon only Jiang Heqian entered them before and after the clan’s split.”

He had clearly waited specifically for Li Xijun to go see them together. When his younger brother nodded, he stepped forward with him, a look of lament on his face. He turned his head to glance at Li Xijun and sighed:

“Do you still remember An Jingming?”

Li Xijun nodded naturally and said in a gentle tone:

“Other families may not know of him, but our family has a deep impression of him. All the direct-line clansmen who have read our clan’s history know of him.”

Li Ximing sighed and drew an object from his sleeve. It was a dull-gray human head, enchanted with magic; after being stored for years, it was slightly desiccated, its eyes tightly closed, its brow bearing a stark air of death, yet a faint trace of heroism could still be discerned.

“Now we’ve seen his face!”

Li Xijun cast a slight glance at it and noticed it bore a striking resemblance to the brothers An Siming and An Siwei. Li Ximing spoke in a low voice:

“An Jingming was far too uncanny; after his death, his clansmen devoured his flesh and blood, leaving only this head behind. The Yu Clan, unable to make sense of it, preserved it with magical power and stored it in their warehouse.”

“Later, the Yu Clan suffered repeated upheavals, and swords and spears raged within the clan. Few people ventured into the warehouse afterward. When the clan split, the secret warehouse was looted, and blood was spilled everywhere.”

“Amid all the plundering, this head was ignored, left alone in a corner mixed with some mortal objects. If I hadn’t scanned the area with my spiritual sense and come specifically to look for it, I would have surely missed it.”

He tucked it away silently and spoke with a vague tone:

“Now that I have this, I’ll store it in the warehouse. I faintly recall there’s also the head of Yu Mugao… Alas… it makes one sigh—all the strife ends with the clan’s destruction and one’s head being taken by another.”

Li Xijun paused for a moment and replied:

“Tuck this away and take it back to An Zheyan; tell him to bury it properly. As for Yu Mugao’s head, find a place to bury that too… that will settle all grudges.”

His sword-like eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he spoke in a soft voice:

“Today, we can sigh so deeply upon seeing this head. I fear that in a hundred years, if our clan declines and others storm our warehouse and see these two heads, they will also sigh and say—all the old grudges end with the clan’s destruction and one’s death.”

Li Ximing swallowed his unspoken words. The two walked through the empty secret warehouse and reached its innermost part. Before Li Ximing could speak, Li Xijun had already looked up and glanced twice at the blank stone wall, then said softly:

“There really is a hidden secret chamber here.”

“I forgot about your Spiritual Eyes.”

Li Ximing muttered that line. The two studied the area for a while; Li Xijun’s eyes were indeed formidable. Though he knew little about formations, he could still discern something and said softly:

“To activate this formation, one will likely need either the direct-line bloodline of the Yu Clan or the Jade Smoke Mountain. If we try to force it open without extremely exquisite formation mastery, we will likely destroy the contents inside.”

After Li Xijun spoke those words, Li Chengliao immediately understood and replied:

“I’ve heard that when the Yu Clan fell, its direct-line members were brutally slaughtered; few are likely to have survived. I will go down at once to investigate this.”

(End of Chapter)