Xia Yunzhao was still shaken by the corpses covering the floor when the Fang family-head token floated upward again and began moving in one direction, as though something were attracting it.
Xia Yunzhao grabbed it and considered the matter. This was Fang family territory, so a place capable of attracting the Fang family-head token probably was not some random dangerous location.
With that in mind, he released it and followed. The token led him around the blood-soaked main hall, through the rear courtyard and side rooms, before finally entering a bedroom.
Xia Yunzhao recognized the room immediately. Judging by its furnishings, it was probably the family head’s bedroom, though he did not know whether that family head had been Fang Wenyuan or Fang Yanya.
The token flew toward one wall, where an ink painting hung depicting a person wearing an identical jade token at his waist.
The real token flew directly toward the painted one, then sank into the painting.
The seamless wall opened, revealing an underground hidden chamber, and the token emerged again and returned to Xia Yunzhao’s hand.
Xia Yunzhao finally understood. “So this is how cultivators hide secret chambers. Without this token, I could search for a hundred years and never find it.”
He covered his mouth and nose and crawled inside, where an indescribably foul smell struck him head-on.
Xia Yunzhao simply tore off a strip of cloth, tied it behind his head as a mask, and continued forward.
He passed a stone chamber that looked like a cultivation room, but the walls were covered in bloodstains and still bore fragments of human tissue. He did not want to know what the room’s owner had done there.
Farther ahead was an empty prison, its iron bars coated in a thick layer of black-red filth that carried the metallic scent of rust mixed with blood.
This was not the time to possess an active imagination, so Xia Yunzhao forcibly stopped himself from filling in the blanks and continued walking.
At the end of the passage stood another stone door.
This time he had learned his lesson. He pressed the family-head token against it, and the door silently opened to reveal a much cleaner room, an apparently ordinary study with shelves and a desk covered in papers and books.
Writing was good. Writing meant information, and Xia Yunzhao could hardly wait to find out exactly how many atrocities the Fang family had committed.
He immediately rushed to the desk and began reading carefully.
The first thing he noticed was not the contents but a signature. This was Fang Yanya’s room! That made sense. Only a family head or former family head would possess the authority to use a secret chamber like this.
Perhaps because it was his own territory and he had felt secure, Fang Yanya had left plenty behind. Xia Yunzhao searched the study and quickly uncovered a large collection of records, then skimmed through them and acquired a rather complicated expression.
How should he put it? Should he say dragons give birth to dragons, phoenixes to phoenixes, and a rat’s son knows how to dig holes, or perhaps after committing enough evil, heaven eventually collects the debt?
Using Fang Yanya’s own records and a little logical deduction, Xia Yunzhao roughly pieced together what had happened to the Fang family.
More than a hundred years ago, Fang Yanya had been a Foundation Establishment cultivator approaching the end of his lifespan with no hope of breaking through, so he came to Qingxi City in despair. There, his life reached a turning point, or perhaps the lives of many people reached one.
In Qingxi City, Fang Yanya encountered an Obsession Secret Realm, and inside that realm he found an incomplete cultivation manual, the Blood Refining Scripture. Ordinary cultivation methods guided cultivators in absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth, or at worst relied on consuming spirit items, but the Blood Refining Scripture allowed a cultivator to absorb another person’s cultivation and convert it directly into his own, making cultivation extremely fast.
It was like everyone else working hard to save money while you simply blocked the road and robbed people, so naturally your wealth accumulated faster!
The words “evil cultivation method” might as well have been written across the cover of the Blood Refining Scripture, but Fang Yanya’s lifespan was nearly exhausted, so how could he resist? He immediately discarded his original cultivation method and began practicing the new one without the slightest hesitation. It truly suited the sort of person who would pick it up.
Even when the first two layers clearly stated that only the cultivation of blood relatives could be absorbed, Fang Yanya was not discouraged. If anything, that made things more convenient for him.
He contacted every surviving member of the Fang family and brought them to Qingxi City, then raised them like pigs. Those Fang family members knew nothing of his secret and thought their ancestor’s cultivation had finally advanced and he had decided to support his descendants, so they came joyfully, accepted the resources Fang Yanya provided, and cultivated peacefully.
Whenever someone reached Foundation Establishment, however, Fang Yanya summoned them into this hidden chamber and devoured their bloodline and cultivation.
He exercised restraint and operated carefully, explaining away every missing Fang family cultivator as having entered seclusion. After all, cultivators entering seclusion for years or decades was perfectly ordinary, and many even entered seclusion and died there, so there was little reason to investigate.
No matter how cautious Fang Yanya was, however, after enough time passed people inevitably began wondering why every Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Fang family had entered seclusion. Most wondered briefly and moved on, but some who were cleverer or more ambitious began investigating the ancestor’s secrets.
Fang Wenyuan was Fang Yanya’s fourth-generation descendant and the most ambitious of them all. Nobody knew how he managed it, but he slipped into the hidden chamber Fang Yanya never allowed anyone else to enter and discovered the truth of the Blood Refining Scripture.
One could only say Fang Wenyuan was hardly normal either. After discovering the truth, he did not expose the conspiracy or run away, instead calmly continuing to play the dutiful descendant while secretly preparing a highly poisonous pill, using it to ambush Fang Yanya, and then simply accepting the entire system for himself.
Somehow, Fang Wenyuan had become acquainted with a poison pill cultivator. That cultivator was extremely strange, refining only poisons rather than ordinary pills, and at the same time he required large numbers of people for testing, mortals and cultivators alike.
Fang Wenyuan and the poison pill cultivator immediately found themselves perfectly matched: Fang Wenyuan supplied test subjects, and the poison pill cultivator supplied poison.
The Human Plagues and humanoid monsters were products of that poison pill cultivator. He had created one poison that transformed mortals into Human Plagues, while cultivators who consumed it turned into those humanoid monsters and had their combat power raised all the way to Foundation Establishment.
With help from those creatures, Fang Wenyuan successfully ambushed Fang Yanya, although several monsters and Human Plagues accidentally escaped.
Fang Wenyuan did not kill Fang Yanya, instead locking him inside the very underground prison Fang Yanya himself had built.
That was because Fang Wenyuan had discovered that directly absorbing Fang Yanya’s cultivation was more effective than draining anyone else!
So he poisoned Fang Yanya until his mind became confused, leaving only his instinct to cultivate, and intended to use his great-grandfather as a permanent blood bag. At the same time, he did not spare the rest of the Fang family, turning them into blood bags too.
But Fang Wenyuan was even greedier than Fang Yanya. He was dissatisfied with an efficiency that allowed him to drain only one person every several years or even decades, and wanted to reach the third layer of the Blood Refining Scripture as quickly as possible so he could, like the master of Liuyun Market before him, devour everyone!
Thus began his plan.
The Mist-Barrier Period happened to be approaching, and as a member of the Fang family, Fang Wenyuan naturally knew its details.
He ordered people to destroy every spirit herb around the outer Liancui Mountain capable of clearing the mind or brightening the spirit, then had the poison pill cultivator plant Ghost-Face Lantern Mushrooms throughout the area. Under their influence, this Heart-Illusion stage would become extraordinarily fierce, allowing him to drive all cultivators on Liancui Mountain into the Bloodthirsty Formation prepared in advance and devour their cultivation.
If the plan succeeded, Fang Wenyuan would enter Golden Core in one leap! After that, who would dare say no to him?
Before completing the plan, however, he needed to drain all of Fang Yanya’s cultivation and flesh so he could push himself into the third layer of the Blood Refining Scripture.
It was precisely then that Fang Yanya escaped, even taking the Fang family-head token with him.
Experience truly came with age. Fang Yanya had apparently been misleading and deceiving Fang Wenyuan all along!
Fang Yanya fled into Liancui Mountain, and Fang Wenyuan sent many people after him, but none found him. With the Heart-Illusion stage nearly upon them and the plan already underway, Fang Wenyuan had no other option but to deceive every member of the Fang family’s main branch and drain all their cultivation, forcing himself into the third layer of the Blood Refining Scripture.
Xia Yunzhao lowered the records and murmured, “Neither one of those two is worth anything. Compared with Fang Yanya, Fang Wenyuan was even colder and greedier…”
At that moment, the entire hidden chamber suddenly shook and several small stones dropped from overhead. Xia Yunzhao instinctively looked up. “What’s happening…”
The chamber shook again, almost like an earthquake, as dust rose everywhere.
Xia Yunzhao’s expression changed. “That’s Shang Shuangze’s sword qi! Why is he suddenly this angry?! No, I need to get out quickly…”
He turned in circles anxiously. “Wait. I understand the conspiracy now, but where’s the exit? How am I supposed to get out of this place?”
Xiao Qing spun around inside his robe too, but suddenly both Xiao Qing and the family-head token bounced and turned toward the same direction.
“What? Is there something…” Before he finished, the token flew again, heading toward a grand wooden chair in the corner.
“No way. There’s another hidden chamber inside the hidden chamber?” Xia Yunzhao stared, but still followed.
Amid the violent shaking, he grabbed the token and inserted it into a perfectly fitted hole beneath the chair. The chair abruptly transformed, revealing a staircase underneath.
Xia Yunzhao gritted his teeth and jumped down.
Dense spiritual energy struck him head-on so strongly that he coughed twice, then he opened his eyes and froze: spirit pearls covered the floor, with one pile against the wall reaching almost to the ceiling, and the spiritual energy escaping from them was so dense that within the confined room it nearly condensed into substance!
On the other side stood mountains of various resources! Goose-Gold Crystal Ore that sold for eight or nine thousand spirit pearls outside had been tossed here like ordinary stones, while Wind-Spirit Root, nearly priceless outside, had been casually balled into clumps…
Xia Yunzhao murmured blankly, “This has to be Fang Yanya’s private treasury. Fang Wenyuan definitely never found it, or there’s no way all this would still be here…”
The entire chamber suddenly shook violently, and the mountain of spirit pearls collapsed as countless pearls came crashing down.
Xia Yunzhao almost got buried and darted left and right to evade them. “My god… I’ve never seen Shang Shuangze this angry before… Wait, there still isn’t an exit!”
The mountain continued shaking, and Xia Yunzhao searched the entire treasury without finding so much as a mouse hole!
He gritted his teeth and looked at the half-room of spirit pearls. “I refuse to believe this! If I can’t get out at Qi Refining, then I’ll reach Foundation Establishment! Xiao Qing, guard me! If anyone interferes, smash them flat with your head!”
Xiao Qing jumped with all its strength. Okay! Leave it to me!
Xia Yunzhao wiped his face, and the anxiety in his expression, together with his emotion of an ant trapped on a hot pan, vanished almost instantly.
He forced himself calm. Do not look, do not think, do not listen.
He sat cross-legged, palms upward, and circulated his cultivation method as his mind returned inward…
Amid an environment that seemed to be turning the world upside down, Xia Yunzhao began cultivating.
*
Outside.
Fang Wenyuan had overestimated himself, challenged Shang Shuangze, and been struck by one earthshaking sword slash, dying extremely cleanly.
Perhaps he and his great-grandfather would have plenty to discuss after meeting below. Both had schemed obsessively, and both had died extremely simply. Such was the difference between human calculations and heaven’s!
After Fang Wenyuan died, the Bloodthirsty Formation collapsed and the cultivators trapped inside could move again. One could say everyone had been rescued except Xia Yunzhao.
Then, at that exact moment, a poison pill cultivator appeared from nowhere, laughed sinisterly, threw down what seemed to be a cloud of poison mist, swept up Fang Wenyuan’s corpse, and fled.
Everyone was about to chase when they discovered the cloud was not poison mist at all but spores, and the moment they touched the ground, Ghost-Face Lantern Mushrooms sprouted one after another!
The mushrooms grew rapidly and began releasing ghost faces.
These ghost faces were even more terrifying than before, and they were actually the true cause behind those humanoid monsters! If even a small amount touched someone, that person’s cultivation rapidly surged while their mind quickly disappeared, and one careless moment would transform them into one of those completely inhuman monsters!
The cultivators had escaped the tiger’s den only to enter the wolf’s lair.
Ghost faces multiplied wildly inside the hollow, and people were soon infected. Si Kongzhuo immediately concluded that the antidote must be on the poison pill cultivator and led the Si family after him!
Some cultivators followed in pursuit, while others stayed behind to help… Help with what? Naturally, demolishing the mountain. Xia Yunzhao still had not emerged from inside!
Qingmu gritted his teeth and threw away the withered Clearheart Flower in his hand, then grabbed another handful of seeds and concentrated on forcing them to grow. Of more than ten seeds, only three or four successfully sprouted, grew, and opened into swaying white flowers, whose fresh fragrance spread outward and drove away the surrounding ghost faces. “Quick! Everyone come over here!”
Wei Ling coughed twice as a faint red light flashed in her eyes, then immediately dragged her brother toward Qingmu. “These ghost faces are way too strong!”
Other cultivators rushed over as well, and one timidly said, “F-Fellow Daoist Qingmu, with your Clearheart Flowers protecting us, shouldn’t we hurry away? If we stay longer, we’ll all become those inhuman monsters!”
Qingmu looked terrible too. “Senior Shang is still tearing down the mountain. Who dares leave? Besides, Fellow Daoist Xia still hasn’t been rescued. I, Qingmu, do not abandon friends like that. If you want to go, go!”
Wei Ling kicked the cultivator out. “Anyone who wants to leave can leave alone. Everyone else stays and helps rescue him!”
The cultivator had not expected them to be so uncompromising and started to stand and argue, but he was accidentally bitten by a ghost face. His expression changed instantly, his eyes turned red, and he spun around and began tearing at the monster beside him with his teeth!
The remaining cultivators looked at one another, and one said, “Fellow Daoists, don’t be angry. We all know you came here to save us, and Fellow Daoist Xia was trapped in that Fang family chamber because of us. Of course we won’t stand by and abandon him!”
“Exactly! Without you and Fellow Daoist Xia, this old man would already have been chewed down to bones! I’d be too ashamed to run away now!”
“I want to save Fellow Daoist Xia too, but how do we do it? Can cultivators like us actually tear apart a mountain?”
At that reminder, everyone looked up. Thunderous explosions continued without pause, and in midair the white-robed sword cultivator stood before the mountain, swinging the spirit sword in his hand again and again. Spiritual energy poured outward as though it cost nothing, each strike carrying undeniable force as it slammed viciously into the mountain.
Meanwhile, countless ghost faces slipped like threads through cracks in the mountain, and nobody knew when they might reach the hidden chamber and silently drift toward Xia Yunzhao…
*
Xia Yunzhao knew nothing of any of this. He had already immersed himself completely in cultivation.
The Qi-Guiding Origin-Connecting Art circulated smoothly, and the Spirit-Transmutation Art activated.
Xia Yunzhao immediately realized he had been reckless!
The amount of spiritual power contained in the surrounding spirit pearls was far too enormous, and the Spirit-Transmutation Art behaved like a starving wolf that had seen meat, devouring mouthful after mouthful!
Xia Yunzhao felt vast spiritual power rush into his body like floodwater breaking through a dam, instantly stretching his limbs, bones, and every meridian to their limits! He felt like a wooden barrel already filled with water while someone continued forcibly pouring more inside, its walls groaning under the burden as it approached the point of bursting!
Every meridian screamed with the pain of being stretched apart, while his qi sea felt ready to split. Xia Yunzhao clenched his teeth and forced his cultivation method to circulate through sheer will, and at the very edge of collapse, his cultivation began rising at terrifying speed!
Seventh layer of Qi Refining, eighth layer, ninth layer… One major acupoint after another lit up, while the meridians connecting them were forcibly torn open and widened, then rapidly repaired under the nourishment of spiritual energy before being widened and torn again…
A painful but efficient cycle!
The spirit pearls across the floor disappeared like snow being eaten away, enormous patches vanishing one after another!
The hidden chamber shook harder and harder, and blue-green ghost faces began slipping through the cracks. Following the scent of a living person, they drifted through one wall after another and would soon enter the treasury.
Time seemed stretched to its absolute limit, every second vitally important.
Sweat formed across Xia Yunzhao’s forehead and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, not because an enemy had injured him, but because the agony in his meridians had made him unknowingly bite through his own lip.
Suddenly Xiao Qing twitched and turned toward one corner in shock, where a ghost face squeezed through the crack!
Xiao Qing bounced furiously at it, but the ghost face had no intelligence and naturally could not understand what Xiao Qing was doing, so it continued floating forward. Xiao Qing rocked left and right, looked at Xia Yunzhao, then at the ghost face, and finally seemed to grit nonexistent teeth before puffing out its belly and planting itself directly in the ghost face’s path. If you have the guts, step over my belly!
At that exact moment, spiritual energy inside the treasury suddenly surged like a gale, rattling the spirit pearls and treasures across the floor as Xia Yunzhao abruptly opened his eyes!
Divine light seemed to burn within them, and his bloodied lips moved one word at a time. “The foundation first takes form, and thus becomes the Dao Foundation.”
Both hands traced a taiji symbol simultaneously before lowering onto his knees. Violent wind erupted around him while Xia Yunzhao remained motionless, looking inward to see all twelve major acupoints across his body blazing with light, their radiance illuminating his meridians so clearly that every detail could be seen and even his internal organs seemed to lie directly before his eyes.
As his cultivation method continued circulating, the light from all twelve acupoints began converging toward his qi sea, where radiance grew like a rising sun. An internal pressure appeared, the beginning of the Dao, the dantian’s Dao Platform!
The Dao Platform emerged and gradually took form, while every trace of spiritual energy throughout his body churned and then, in an instant, transformed into spiritual power. Boom!
The completed Dao Platform descended into the qi sea!
Foundation Establishment was complete!
The divine light in Xia Yunzhao’s eyes slowly faded as his awareness returned. “It actually worked. I… Wait. What is that? A ghost face?! No. This is…”
His expression turned grave. He reached out and seized the ghost face through a layer of spiritual power, and after sensing it carefully for a moment, he immediately understood. Foundation Establishment perception was incomparably sharper than Qi Refining. “This is poison from that poison pill cultivator! Damn!”
The hidden chamber shook violently again the instant he understood!
Xia Yunzhao sprang to his feet, grabbed Xiao Qing, and stuffed it into his robes, then swept his Hundred-Compartment Pouch across the treasury and instantly emptied more than half of it. He tilted his head and listened for several breaths before slamming his palm against the mountain wall.
Outside, Shang Shuangze’s movement abruptly paused, then he gathered all his spiritual power and slashed downward!
Sword light and palm imprint struck the mountain wall simultaneously, and their resonance made the entire mountainside tremble. Huge stones rolled free as several cracks split across the wall!
More sword light descended, and at last a thick section of the mountain broke open. A white figure arrived faster than the light itself!
Xia Yunzhao brightened. “Shang Shuangze! I finally…”
Shang Shuangze dragged him into his arms. “It’s collapsing. Go!”
The entire mountain crashed down.
*
“Pfft, pfft! Cough, cough!”
“Sister! Where are you?!”
“Over here! Fellow Daoist Qingmu? Fellow Daoist Xia? Where are you?”
“Here… I’ve decided I should just run my shop in the underground market properly. Liancui Mountain is too dangerous…”
Wei Ling followed Qingmu’s voice, pulled him from beneath a rock, and laughed. “See? You’re not hurt.”
Qingmu got up dispiritedly and looked around. Most cultivators had not been injured. They might only be at Qi Refining, but dodging several falling rocks was hardly impossible.
He looked around again and his heart tightened. Had Xia Yunzhao failed to get out? Then Qingmu turned and became speechless. “You two are incredible. So many of us are standing here watching you engage in ‘private exchanges’ over there?”
Xia Yunzhao, who had been holding Shang Shuangze and talking to him, stared. “Is that even how you use ‘private exchanges’?!”
Qingmu curled his lip and limped over. “You’re fine, right? You…” Then his eyes widened. “Why do I feel like your cultivation rose again?”
“Hehe, you guessed correctly.” Xia Yunzhao did not explain further. “I found some records in the secret chamber about these ghost faces. Give me some time and I should be able to develop an antidote. Tell those cultivators that three days from now I’ll sell the antidote at Wanglai Pavilion in the city. Anyone planning to keep treasure hunting afterward can buy some in advance.”
Qingmu snorted. “Why Wanglai Pavilion and not Qingmu Pavilion? Are you that close to Wanglai Pavilion’s owner? We just survived a life-and-death crisis together, you know!”
Xia Yunzhao said, “Then next time I’ll use Qingmu Pavilion! I don’t care either way. I just need to ask Wanglai Pavilion’s owner something this time.”
Qingmu waved him away. “Fine. If you have business, hurry up. I’ll explain things here.”
Wei Ling and Wei Tu approached from behind. “We’re fine too. Need help?”
Still holding Shang Shuangze, Xia Yunzhao nodded. “That would be perfect. Please follow as quickly as you can!”
Then he and Shang Shuangze flashed away.
Wei Ling hissed. “What kind of cultivation speed is that… Two monsters!”
Xia Yunzhao pulled Shang Shuangze with him but did not head straight into the city, instead stopping after traveling several dozen li. Shang Shuangze looked at him questioningly.
Xia Yunzhao cupped his face in both hands and stared directly into his eyes. “Shang Shuangze, what happened to your ears? You can’t hear me, can you? Tell me the truth!”