Chapter 17
JANUARY 10, 2022 TRRAVENLEAVE A COMMENT
It turned out that there were five or six Xu Clan members who flew in on their magic tools. When they descended and landed on the ground, they were endlessly discussing with one another. Xu Zifeng also stood to the side, listening to the people talking.
There was a woman in a green dress with a look of indignation on her face, “Senior Xu, it’s clear that our Xu Family found that Immortal Cave too! It’s just because his Tian Family had a greater number of people he dared to forcibly take it and drive us all away!”
Another young man in a scholarly garment also said, “It is his Tian Family who is too domineering. If it weren’t for me and the others exploring the path there, how dare he be that way?!”
The remaining people also echoed their agreements.
“We were unwilling to take it lying down and argued a few words, but unexpectedly that fellow surnamed Tian went as far as to hurt people. He truly stomped our face into the ground!” The woman in the green dress was truly furious. She pulled the arm of the tall and sturdy man beside her, her voice becoming higher, “Senior Xu, please look, Big Brother1 Chengwu’s arm was cut this way. It’s really going too far in bullying others!”
Xu Zifeng took a glance at Xu Chengwu, and sure enough, his arm was severely slashed deep enough to see bone. If three points more force was used, one would fear that it would’ve been cut off altogether.
The young man in the scholarly garment saluted respectfully, “We please request that Senior Xu come forward for us and fight against the arrogance of the Tian Family!”
Xu Zifeng pondered for a moment, then raised his hand and shot a milky white straight into Xu Chengwu’s mouth, “Take this pill first and heal your arm.”
Xu Chengwu was also a junior of Feijiu Mountain. He naturally recognized the pill as the Muscle Growth Pill which can renew the meridians, muscles, and bones, and immediately sat to meditate. Soon, the wound on his arm healed rapidly, the deep red flesh and blood also developed immediately, and in a split second, even the broken muscles and skin were continuously connected. In just two breaths of time, the surface of his skin was already smooth, without even the least bit of a scar!
His face immediately lit up, and expressing his gratitude he said, “Many thanks to Senior Xu for giving this medicine!”
Xu Zifeng gave a nod, “Talk again about the Immortal Cave.”
The woman in the green dress had a good friendship with Xu Chengwu, so seeing that he was alright, she also felt very grateful. The anger that had just aroused also subsided as she calmed down a little bit and said, “Reporting back to Senior Xu. This morning me, Big Brother Chengwu, Big Brother Chenghan, Chengru, and others went out to explore. There are many treasures in the secret realm, so naturally, there was a bit of gain. At that time, when we were chasing a One-Horned Golden Rhinoceros, we realized that there was a surge of spiritual power ahead. We guessed that it might be extraordinary, so we left the Golden Rhinoceros and went to investigate. As expected, we found an Immortal Cave on top of a mountain wall, it was astonishing.”
She took a breath and continued, “We naturally wanted to go in to hunt for treasure, but didn’t expect dozens of people from the Tian Family to act together and arrive there. Although we were half a step earlier because they had far more people, we were beaten, and it was taken from us… Senior Xu knows the rest.”
Xu Zifeng’s face was cold and frosty, “Was Tian Tao there?”
The green-dressed woman stifled her anger, “That Tian… Senior,” She was extremely unwilling to use that address so gnashing her teeth she continued, “He was there too. Otherwise, with our cultivation bases, we wouldn’t have feared his Tian Family much.”
Xu Chengwu and his group were certainly some of the Xu Family’s most outstanding talents. There were six people altogether, each with cultivation bases between the seventh and eighth layers of Qi Refinement which was extremely remarkable. If they hadn’t met an expert of the Foundation Establishment period, they definitely wouldn’t have been met with force.
Xu Zifeng asked again, “Who was the person who injured Xu Chengwu?”
The green-dressed woman replied, “It was Tian Liang.”
When Xu Zifeng heard the name of this person, there was an immediate burst of murderous aura, “It was him?”
The woman in the green dress faced the pressure directly, and unable to guard against it in time, she took a step back. Her face turned ghastly pale, and bowing her head she said, “It was him. Originally, this guy was only on the fifth layer of Qi Refinement, but somehow he was promoted to the seventh layer, only one step behind Big Brother Chengwu.”
Xu Chengwu was the person concerned and was more qualified to speak, so he added for her, “What Chengbi said is correct. Although Tian Liang’s cultivation realm was unstable, when I tried to resist it, I was suppressed by a strong force and was unable to move a single step.”
In this way, it became clear that Tian Tao must have made a move to let Xu Chengwu be harmed by Tian Liang, who was inferior to him in all respects. If it hadn’t been for Xu Chengru, the young man in the scholarly garment, stretching out his hand to grab a hold of him, he would definitely not have been able to keep his arm. With such shallow cultivation bases, once a part of their bodies was cut off, even with a Muscle Growth Pill, it would have been no use.
This conversation was not very concealed, so all the Xu juniors that stayed behind heard it.
Xu Ziqing was inevitably somewhat disdainful that the Tian Family was so despicable.
Old Man He saw that there was righteous indignation between his brows, and was two points more sure of his temperament. He believed that Xu Ziqing was really still a little youngster, so although he acted in a reasonable manner, he still lacked in many things.
Then he remembered something, and asked, “Do you still remember Tian Liang?”
Xu Ziqing pondered over it for a moment. It sounded very familiar and then coming to think about it, he suddenly let out an ‘ah’. Wasn’t that person the son of Tian Cheng, the head of the Tian Family, and the culprit who caused the tearing of faces between the Tian and Xu’s two families when a marriage proposal was rejected?! Just listening to the conversation between Xu Zifeng and the others, it seemed that this person had become a high-level expert of Qi Refinement through some method.
Thinking of this, he inevitably showed a weak smile, “Naturally I remember him. I just hope he doesn’t remember me.”
Old Man He looked at his expression and knew why, “The Tian Family is mostly narrow-minded. The Tian Liang and Tian Cheng father and son have lost much face with the Xu Family, so they are trying their best to look for trouble with our Xu Family. You offended Tian Liang, so although Tian Cheng can’t come in because he has to operate the secret realm key, Tian Liang might not be able to be avoided.” He looked a little solemn and continued, “You must not leave my side during these few days to prevent the villain from scheming.”
Xu Ziqing couldn’t feel more grateful, “Understood. Many thanks to Steward He.”
When the two people had finished talking, Xu Zifeng over there had also finished his discussion.
All the Xu Clan members that were interested and at the fifth layer of Qi Refinement or above were ordered by Xu Zifeng to go with him to the Immortal Cave to look for treasure while the remaining people would stay and rest in the valley. If one was unafraid of danger, they could also leave to look for treasures.
There were thirty or forty Xu Clansmen who followed after Xu Zifeng. Using magical tools to soar into the sky together, they could be described as a rushing torrent of great power.
Old Man He grabbed Xu Ziqing’s arm and leapt up onto a rickety giant tobacco pipe. The muzzle of the pipe was still emitting smoke. Xu Ziqing recognized that it was the tobacco pipe that Old Man He used to smoke every day, but he hadn’t expected it to be a magic tool.
Xu Ziqing had ridden on Xu Zifeng’s flying sword, the sword light being truly quick and stable. Old Man He’s cultivation base was not bad, and since his magical tool was connected to him in both mind and spirit, it was also decent. It was also stable and secure, but in terms of speed, it was indeed a little inferior.
The brilliance of countless magical tools flowed by his side. Xu Ziqing looked around with raised eyebrows and could see many men and women with flowing clothes, each happy or excited, all very lively.
Not long after, everyone arrived in a place surrounded by mountains, with a blue lake residing in the middle, sparkling and beautiful. However, there were many people here wearing different apparel. There appeared to be some friction, but no one was willing to leave, each staying to occupy 30% of the area. When all the Xu Clansmen all landed on the ground together alongside Xu Zifeng, the dense footprints accounted for nearly half of the area.
Xu Ziqing looked up and saw that the people of the Tian Clan were guarding the front of the Immortal Cave halfway up the mountain. They were quite a distance away but were firmly holding the entrance.
Some members of Luo, Meng, and Wei’s Families also came, and many of them held taut faces, and raised heads, looking around anxiously. Presumably, they all had few people when they came here and had called for reinforcements.
The members of the Tian Clan were all clustering around a middle-aged-looking man with a beard on his lower jaw. He was wearing a colorful Buddhist robe and wore a smiling face, giving off the presence of an old god. Except, his eyes were slightly slender in shape, having a cruel and sinister look.
Xu Zifeng retrieved his sword, glared, and immediately sent surging sword qi toward the man.
The sword qi overturned several Tian Clan people, rushing through to reach the middle-aged man. The middle-aged man waved his robe sleeve to block, and although the sword qi blew his beard, he did not recoil.
This person was Tian Tao, who was just over fifty years old. He succeeded in reaching Foundation Establishment at the age of forty, and although he was still in the early period of Foundation Establishment, the years he had been in this realm were much longer than Xu Zifeng.
Tian Tao waved his sleeve again and helped up his several overturned Clansmen with a look of slight displeasure on his face.
Beside him there was a dandified youth who had just stood up, and having hardly recovered from the shock, he was quite flustered, “Senior, this Xu Zifeng is so fierce! I heard that he is a sword cultivator! This, how could this be good?!”
Tian Tao’s displeasure grew even worse and scolded, “What are you panicking about? He is just a child who only recently reached Foundation Establishment! Even if he is a sword cultivator, what can he do?!”
The dressy youth bowed and nodded again and again, “Yes, yes, the Senior is naturally more powerful than him. This young one is only incompetent, and asks the Senior to look after him just a little…”
Tian Tao snorted, “Before the array is broken I will take him down. Don’t worry about it.”
The people of the Tian Clan next to them also said one after another: “Yes, yes, many thanks to the Senior! We also please ask the Senior to take action…”
Xu Zifeng’s gaze deepened, and he sheathed his long sword. After giving everyone in the Tian Clan a little head-to-head, he turned his line of vision to the several arrays at the mouth of the cave.
There were array experts, people who could break arrays.
As cultivators, there are many different cultivation methods of various families, and among them are even those with unique techniques. Those that excel at alchemy are alchemists, those who study the way of arrays are array experts, those that excel at drawing talismans are talisman experts, those that excel at refining magical tools are refiners, and there are those who excel at hundreds of other techniques. Among them, alchemists and refiners are the rarest, while array experts are more common, but there are a few outstanding ones.
Xu Ziqing’s cultivation base was weak, so he was earnestly following closely to Old Man He’s side, watching the confrontation between the Xu and Tian Families.
When he saw several people holding iron flags and an iron plate outside the Immortal Cave doing something furtively, he couldn’t help but be full of curiosity, “What are they doing?”
Old Man He looked at him and resolved his doubts, “The iron flag is an array flag and the iron plate is an array disk. These three to five seemingly stealthy idlers are array experts carefully raised by the Tian Family. The several of them are breaking the array protecting the entrance to the Immortal Cave right now, but I don’t know how they do it.”
Xu Ziqing became all the more interested, but was also somewhat confused, “Does our Xu Family have array experts?”
Old Man He said, “Of course we do, but the Tian Family has taken the lead. Now that our Xu Family has returned, it’s hard for us to open our mouths directly. Young Master Zifeng should be waiting for the remaining three families to come. When they speak together, the Tian family won’t be able to refuse.”
As soon as his voice fell, many people really did float down from the horizon.
It was the other three families that had come to lend a helping hand!
Footnotes
1, The ‘big brother’ used in this instance is 大哥 (Dage)
T/N, The author has been switching between using ‘Family’ and ‘Clan’, so it’s a bit inconsistent this chapter. I may just start using one over the other for consistencies sake, let me know which you prefer.
I would also like to clarify that the author is using ‘Senior’ (前辈) and ‘Junior(s)’ (子弟) not specifically ‘Elder’ (老) and ‘Disciple(s)’ (弟子). I can only assume that this is because these are Families/Clans and not Sects.