Chapter 148
“Later, we learned that the Xu family and Yuan family were fighting. They told me that it’s because of some…ores? Well, I didn’t get it anyway; it’s just that when they fought, peace ceased to exist in Mo Xin city. Also, I don’t think the Xu family has any benefits from this, as they told me that the master of the Xu family got injured. That’s really a pity, as they’re so nice, and they should be able to fight against those foreigners!” The aunt sounded a bit agitated.
“Thank you, aunt, for your information.”
“Well, since you are merely passing by, you should leave quickly. Changes are going to occur, since the two sides had a big fight three days ago, the Yuan family has become more and more arrogant. I think the Xu family will have no luck in this, any cultivators passing by should be aware of getting caught by the Yuan family also.”
“Getting caught?” Xu Ziyan’s eyes flashed, “aunt, what’s this about?”
The aunt looked around carefully and lowered her voice, “this is what my son saw with his own eyes. Some of the cultivators who passed by were all taken away by the Yuan family. Later, I didn’t know what benefits they gave, but those cultivators started fighting against the Xu family. Otherwise, the Xu family wouldn’t fail so quickly. That’s why you’d better be careful, as you might just lose your lives at any moment. No one wants to be dragged randomly to a life-and-death fight, so I really recommend that you leave as fast as possible.”
“Auntie, thank you for your reminder, we will definitely be careful.” Xu Ziyan smiled and comforted the aunt, then gave her a low-grade spiritual stone.
The aunt walked away with two spiritual stones happily. These were two spiritual stones. If they were replaced by silver, these would be enough for their family to survive for two years! She earned it by answering some simple questions, it’s really worth it!
“Brother Ziyan…” When Jiang Ying said so, he felt the chilled air of his back. Since it’s Xu Ziyan who decided that Jiang Ying would call him like that, he didn’t want to be called “my master’s brother”, sadly Xu Zirong didn’t seem to like this title. However, under Xu Ziyan’s suppression, he could just do it and transfer the pressure towards Jiang Ying…
Jiang Ying analyzed the pros and cons and decisively decided to continue using this title. It’s terrible to be hated by the master, but if he offended Xu Ziyan, he would be hated twice, and it would be double hatred…
_(:3∠)_, damn it, it’s hard to be a disciple nowadays! You could do something wrong so easily.
Xu Ziyan saw Jiang Ying’s reactions, and he instantly looked at Xu Zirong with threat.
Xu Zirong, “…”
“Ziyan, shall we return home now or…?”
“We won’t go back now. Now, the enemy can always get ahold of us. Let’s see for later, I and Zirong will return from the back of the mountain.”
“Alright, shall we go back to the inn now?”
Xu Ziyan thought for a while, “forget it, from what the aunt told us just now, this Yuan family is going to start a war with our family soon. At this moment, we will just attract more attention of the two families if we do.” Afterwards, he looked at Zirong.
Xu Zirong shook his head, “no one is paying attention to us, but now that the two parts’ power are similar, no one dares to come out first as neither of them wants to be ambushed. However, if we stay in the inn, it’ll be very difficult to dodge.”
“In this case…then let’s get out of the city first and we’ll find a quiet spot to wait. We will see what to do based on the situation.”
“Alright.”
After the discussion, everyone returned along the same path. When passing by the city gate, Xu Zirong frowned slightly, and with a flick of his fingertips, a drop of blood shot at a skylark in the air. The skylark fell immediately, and a middle-aged man snorted in a large courtyard in the east of the city, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
“What’s the matter?” The fact that the middle-aged man got injured was quickly reported to the patriarch of the Yuan family. An old man with grey hair quickly rushed over and asked the middle-aged man.
“My respected elder, I put a skylark out to patrol the city today, yet I saw a few strange cultivators when I was at the gate of the city. Those people’s level of cultivation is quite high, and one of them quickly discovered me, killing my skylark also.” The middle-aged man said respectfully.
“Huh? A strange cultivator? Could it be that he came to help Xu’s family?” The old man’s eyes flashed, and a sense of fierceness appeared in his eyes.
“I don’t know. My skylark only saw that there were about four of them. I wasn’t sure about their level of cultivation, but they were walking outside the city, and it’s probably because of what they’d heard here and they wanted to avoid it.”
“Hmph, whether they were passing by or not, since they were here already, it would mean that they’re looking down on my family as they have never visited the Yuan family!” The old man sneered, “tell Yuanqi to send a few men to chase them back.”
The middle-aged man looked at the old man hesitantly, and finally sighed silently and said nothing further. He didn’t agree with the old man’s actions of forcibly arresting cultivators, but he was in an inferior position in the Yuan family, and he couldn’t argue against an elder.
The middle-aged man watched silently as a sturdy big man brought four cultivators of Qi condensation to the old man. People appearing in the surrounding places of Mo Xin city were mostly casual cultivators reaching the level below building base. Yuanqi had been very familiar of doing it, yet he still kept being cautious, and he even acted with four cultivators of Qi condensation.
The grey-haired old man was very satisfied with Yuanqi’s cautious attitude. After all, the war was going to happen soon, if he let a cultivator of building base get out of the city, he might get ambushed by the Xu family, yet it wouldn’t be an issue for cultivators of Qi condensation. After all, there were only too cultivators of golden core in the Xu family, and one of those was the master who had only broken through since two years ago, it’s not possible that he’d ambush a cultivator of the Yuan family.
“Go.” The grey-haired old man waved his hand, “let the cultivators in these small places see the style of my Yuan family. It is a blessing for them to serve my Yuan family!”
Yuanqi arched his hands and left with the four cultivators.
The grey-haired old man encouraged the middle-aged man a bit more before leaving. The middle-aged man looked at the back of the grey-haired old man and couldn’t help smiling secretly. He chose the Yuan family as the place to settle down, so did he choose the wrong place?
“Someone is chasing over.” Xu Ziyan had the broadest sense of divine consciousness, and soon found the cultivator sent by the Yuan family, who was following them.
“This Yuan family is really rampant. We all acted as if we were leaving, but they still want to chase us?” Jiang Ying rubbed his chin, looking slightly surprised.
Xu Zirong sneered, “since they are willing to come, then come. We will kill them in advance then.”
Xu Ziyan didn’t say a word, but judging from his expression, he clearly agreed with Xu Zirong. He and Xu Xiao might not have a strong bonding of a father and son, but Xu Xiao did satisfy him in material terms. Even without mentioning the bonding, he’s still grateful to the Xu family, and he would naturally let no one insult the Xu family.
Yuanqi took the cultivators, chasing in the direction the few strange cultivators had left on his flying sword.
His two bushy eyebrows were very close, and now the battle with the Xu family was about to come, he felt a bit agitated in his heart now that his elder let him carry out such a mission.
As one of the disciples of the Yuan family, he also had the right of inheritance in the Yuan family. Now, everyone knew that the eldest son of the family was just a piece of trash with his spiritual roots destroyed, the young disciples of the branches all showed their aggression in replacing him.
Yuanqi was just one of them, and he also knew that the elder’s nephew was his opponent. Now that the elder sent him out to perform such a task, Yuanqi obviously knew that it was a means to remove him in the name of the Xu family.
“Humph.” Yuanqi snorted coldly and stopped flying abruptly.
The four cultivators stopped behind him and looked at Yuanqi with confusion.
“Master, what’s the matter?” Those who were able to join a mission with Yuanqi were naturally his confidants, and the man leading the group asked in a low voice.
“I’m just upset that the old thing sent us here.” Yuanqi did not hide his dissatisfaction with the grey-haired old man, and he’s cursing relentlessly.
The leading man was silent for a moment, “young master, please don’t think like that. He is the confidant of the patriarch, and it’s our old elder who gave us the order of catching casual cultivators.”
After hearing the name of the old elder, Yuanqi immediately showed a cautious look, “but that’s because he doesn’t want these casual cultivators to be used by the Xu family, so why should we look for their troubles when they’re obviously leaving?”
The leading man gave a wry smile, touched his nose and said nothing else.
Yuanqi couldn’t help complaining, “their main sect has offended the young master of the Luoyu sect, and half of the savings of our Yuan family went to waste. Now that they’re in the Mo Xin city, they might develop well again after a few decades. I don’t know what our elder is thinking – why fight with the Xu family at all? Do you really think that the Yuan family can continue living in this shitty city?”
“Maybe… the patriarch has his consideration.” The leading man whispered.
“The hell with his consideration…is it because there is something in the Xu family that’s called… uh, what is that?”
“The Stage of becoming an immortal.”
“Yes, yes, it’s the stage of becoming an immortal. I’m not sure which bastard spread it, but it’s said that if anyone without spiritual roots walked on it, he would then have spiritual roots. Hell, do you believe it? If this thing is really that powerful, can the Xu family still hide in this shitty city? If those big sects know about this treasure, they would either try to get the favor from the Xu family or just to kill them all to get the treasure. Since none of these has happened, it proved that it’s a lie.”
Yuanqi looked depressed, and he wondered where the wise and bold patriarch has been. How could he believe in such ridiculous news for his stupid son?
Besides, his stupid son had his spiritual roots destroyed, but it wasn’t that he didn’t have spiritual roots. It would be useless even if he found the stage of becoming an immortal.
Yuanqi sighed, grabbed his hair in annoyance, and squatted on the flying sword without making a sound. He didn’t announce whether he intended to return or to continue chasing.
One of the cultivators who followed him asked in a low voice, “master, are we still going to chase them?”
“Damn it, to hell with it. I’m not in the mood anymore. This is not very far from the Xu family. In case the Xu family is disturbed by a fight, we still have to be stuck here. I’m just doing it for the elder’s pleasure. I’ll just tell him later that the group of cultivators had entered the Xu family and we can’t enter it.” Yuanqi said in frustration.
The other cultivators looked at each other and they were all silent. They were all cultivators of the sect of Yuanqi, and although they didn’t have Yuan as their surname, they had been committed to Yuanqi for long. As long as Yuanqi had bad days, they would have bad days as well, so no one was going to tell the truth to the elder.
“Huh? They have stopped.” Xu Ziyan used his divine consciousness and saw that they had suddenly stopped. And they’d said something before deciding to stop, he felt somewhat puzzled.
“What did they say?” Jiang Ying asked curiously.
Xu Ziyan shook his head. He could only use his divine consciousness to observe from far, and he couldn’t get too close. After all, it would be a disaster if another cultivator of Qi condensation saw him.
After waiting for a long time, the other party was still circling there, neither leaving nor approaching.
“Did they find us?” Xu Ziyan looked at Xu Zirong suspiciously.
Xu Zirong thought for a while, and shook his head gently, “it’s unlikely.”
He made this judgment based on the opponent’s level of cultivation. Since he’s just a cultivator of Qi condensation and his divine consciousness was more inferior, and Xu Ziyan had been hiding on purpose as well, so it’s hard for them to be found.
Besides, even if some of them had some special skills and discovered their ambush ahead of time, they would either pretend to be blind, use some trick to trap them or simply retreat. What did they want if they were just circling on the same spot?
“Are they… gone?” Xu Ziyan said dubiously.
The other three couldn’t help but stare at each other. What did this Yuan family mean? Why did they stop chasing after recruiting so many people, then return without even leaving a word?
It’s really hard to figure out what they thought…
“Forget it, no matter what, let’s not care about what the Yuan family is thinking. Let’s find a spot to rest for us, and we’ll see later tonight.” Xu Ziyan said helplessly.
He couldn’t be bothered to try finding out what’s on the Yuan family’s mind, as he only wanted to know what was going on. He wasn’t even sure whether the aunt was telling him the truth, he’s only sure that the Xu and Yuan family were fighting. No matter what the reason was, he had to consider for the Xu family.
Xu Ziyan wouldn’t care about getting along peacefully or sharing resources. In the world of cultivation, a good mineral vine was as precious as those treasures or weapons for the cultivators.
He had never heard of anyone giving away treasures proactively.
Of course, if the strength of the two parties was similar, then sharing wouldn’t be a bad idea. However, the Yuan family had just been to Mo Xin city for a year and they already wanted to snatch away the mineral veins of the Xu family, then wouldn’t the city face the change of its owner after they succeeded?
So this thing was absolutely unbearable!
A short day passed quickly. When it was at night, Xu Ziyan led Jiang Ying and the others and arrived at the back mountain of the Xu’s.
The Xu family’s back mountain was adjacent to a sea of forest, and it was a good place for the Xu family’s disciples to cultivate.
Xu Ziyan had also been in and out of this forest sea for countless times, and he was naturally very familiar with that place. He walked around and found the cliff behind the mountain behind the training hall.
While looking at the towering rock wall, Xu Ziyan felt complex emotions. He thought that when he and Zirong slid down the rope for the first time, they seemed to be only twelve years old. In a blink of an eye, more than nine years had already passed. The eight-year-old Zirong was now an adult, time just flew by.
After taking Jiang Ying and the others around the cliff and along the path to the back door of Xu’s house, Xu Ziyan’s heart moved and stopped when he was about to knock.
“What’s the matter?” Xu Zirong asked.
Xu Ziyan touched his chin, “the one-acre three-quarters of land around the Moxin City are almost under the control of our Xu family. Logically, there’s no reason why the Yuan family would know that we’ve discovered the veins. After all, they’ve only been here in less than a year, it can’t be a coincidence that they know about our mineral veins too, right?”
Xu Zirong’s eyes flashed, “is there a traitor?”
“Who knows, there is nothing wrong with being careful.” Xu Ziyan shrugged, he let Jiang Ying and the others hide first, then under the cover of Mr. Little Square, he quietly climbed over the wall and entered the Xu family compound.
It’s a familiar environment but different atmosphere. As a war was coming, the courtyard of Xu family seemed very tense, there’s one cultivator guarding somewhere every few steps. It’s obvious that the Xu family was very careful about the Yuan family’s power, or they wouldn’t have mobilized so many people to defend against any ambush.
Xu Ziyan sneaked into Xu Xiao’s courtyard quietly. Since he hadn’t returned for six years, he felt a bit confused and dizzy.
“Who is that?!” With a loud cry, a golden light flashed outside the window.
Xu Ziyan was shocked, he quickly dodged sideways and whispered, “father, it’s me.”
“Ziyan?” Xu Xiao walked out of his study room, looking around with a pair of sharp eyes.
Seeing his son appearing in front of him suddenly, Xu Xiao felt like he’s dreaming. Shouldn’t Ziyan be cultivating in Liu Guang sect? How come he’s back all of a sudden?
“You!” After only a few glances, Xu Xiao’s expression changed drastically. He walked over quickly, raised his hand and grabbed Xu Ziyan’s veins.
Xu Ziyan forcibly restrained the urge to fight back, and kept telling himself that it’s his father…well, at least he’s the father of his body. Although there weren’t any emotional bonding, he’s still the legal father. There’s no reason for him to harm his son, so…he’d better just relax and not overreact. If he released his Purple Night Divine Thunder suddenly, then there would be endless troubles.
After repeating it over and over, he finally didn’t really make a move to shake Xu Xiao away. Although Xu Xiao had already reached the early stage of golden core, it wouldn’t do him any good if he started fighting Xu Ziyan.
Xu Xiao’s spiritual power wandered along the meridians in Xu Ziyan’s body, until he confirmed that there was no hidden danger in his body, then he withdrew the power.
He looked at Xu Ziyan with a look of disbelief, “are you already at the late stage of Qi condensation? How could you improve so quickly?” Before Xu Ziyan replied, his facial expression darkened, “why didn’t you resist when I grabbed your veins?”
Xu Ziyan, “…”
Xu Xiao said with a cold face, “you know that veins are the key to life for a cultivator, and you cannot let anyone touch it, not even your father! You know what, so many people betray each other for small benefits in the world of cultivation, so how could you make sure that your father wouldn’t do the same?”
Xu Ziyan, “…”
Xu Xiao continued blaming him, “even if your father does not intend to harm you, how can you be so defenseless? What if father has been controlled? Do you have any idea how many ways there are to control a person, and how can you be the master of the Xu family if you’re calculated like that?”
He said earnestly and in a convincing manner, “Ziyan, you are not little anymore, why are you still as defenseless as you were when you were a small kid? Remember, from now on, no matter if it is your father or someone else, you must not let anyone easily pinch your veins, okay?” At the end, Xu Xiao’s tone had become very sharp.
Xu Ziyan looked helpless, so he nodded silently.
Well, although Xu Xiao was not a good father, at least he was a responsible one.
It wasn’t possible to look for a kind of love like a father from Xu Xiao. Xu Ziyan also doubted whether Xu Xiao knew what love was.
After lecturing Xu Ziyan, Xu Xiao frowned, “why did you return from Liu Guang sect? What happened?”
Xu Ziyan shook his head, and only told his father that he was heading to Wuti city to attend some ceremony of his master’s friend, and he was passing by.
Xu Xiao’s heart moved, “Wuti city? They were under the attack of a bunch of monsters some time ago, right?”
Xu Ziyan suddenly realized that it had been several months since they were dragged into Fire Demon Dealm, and since this monsters’ siege was a big incident, the news was obviously spread around.
He nodded, and there’s a sense of worry under Xu Xiao’s eyes, “did you get hurt?”
“No.” Xu Ziyan shook his head.
Xu Xiao nodded, “since you’re back, how come I don’t see your brother?” He still remembered that little kid with a cold face and who liked sticking to Ziyan. Speaking of whom, he had wanted Zirong to become Ziyan’s target for training, and he ended becoming Ziyan’s assistant now.
Well, even though he didn’t like that kid a lot, and he even hated him a bit because of his mother, Zirong still carried his blood and he had to know how he’s doing.
“Zirong is outside, with two of my friends.” Ziyan answered.
