Chapter 226: Ambush
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
In Dongyi County, on a secluded mountain path, a caravan continued its way.
The caravan was luxurious. All the riders were riding white horses and were clad in white robes. They were all looking energetic.
If this was in the wild, such a luxurious caravan would be a prime target for all the mountain thieves and robbers.
However, their journey was peaceful.
They owed the peace to the little flag above the carriage. The flag had the print of three small clouds.
Any thieves with exposure would know that this was the flag for the Xu Family, the symbol of power!
Although the Xu Family was not the top three families in Dongyi County, it had to surely be in the top ten. The family was led by a spiritual array master who had many connections.
Of course, the most important fact was that the eldest daughter of the Xu Family was married to the Qin Family, and was the first lady of the Qin Family!
Because of this, even the families who rank in front of the Xu Family would still have to respect them.
"Haha... I thought that the journey would be dangerous. Now, it looks like a harmless field trip..."
On a white horse, a young man clad in silk robes smiled with pride.
His face was pale and his eye sockets were deep. He had eye circles, and it was evident that he had abused alcohol and had frequented brothels, which harmed his body.
"Eh... Third Brother, this is an emergency! Otherwise, Aunt would surely not have to trouble our Grandmaster to help out!"
A young man beside him who was slightly older continued. "However, as long as our Grandmaster is personally seeing to this, those people will not be able to cause trouble! The Qin Family is ultimately ours!"
"You're right, First Master!"
The others agreed.
Under the wings of protection from the spiritual array master, the Xu Family have never encountered any true danger. This proud and self-entitled mindset of theirs was not something that could be changed overnight.
Looking at one of the carriages, Third Brother felt relieved.
In the Xu Family, the Grandmaster has always been the pillar of support.
"Since our Grandmaster, the Xu Family have already taken control of a district within 10 years. We are among the top ten families in the county. If we are successful in taking over the Qin Family, we can become the most powerful family in Dongyi County. Even the Sand Region can no longer have any control over us!"
As he looked into the setting sun, his heart was filled with pride.
Suddenly, as the Third Brother squinted his eyes, he could see a black dot on the peak of the mountain east of them.
The black dot soon disappeared from the peak of the mountain as though it had jumped down. Quickly, it rushed towards them and became a silhouette. In a moment, flames broke out.
"It's an ambush!"
Against the 9 fiery dragons, the Third Master could only shout. In an instant, he was in flames.
"Roar!"
As the fiery dragons roared, they spit out burning flames which swept across the entire caravan before leaping towards the carriage in the middle.
"Hmph! What audacity!"
Within the carriage, a weak voice was heard and with it the feeling of helplessness.
"Mountains, rise!"
In the carriage, spiritual inscriptions glittered and quickly exploded, transforming into a small array. The array covered the disciples of the Xu Family and protected them.
"A spiritual array from the carriage? Haha... Wind Dragon, come out!"
The black figure laughed, and another 9 green dragons appeared, which slowly combined with the fiery dragons.
The flames would become stronger in the wind!
In a moment, the spiritual array which was cast abruptly was destroyed. Many disciples and elders of the Xu Family... were dead before they knew it. They became dried corpses or even worse, left without a corpse.
"Whoosh!"
The carriage broke apart, revealing an old figure with grey hair. The old person appeared lost.
"Whoosh!"
Amidst the wind and fiery dragons, a figure of a person appeared as though a god had descended onto earth. As he leapt out, he struck a fist.
"Rumble!"
Behind him, three spiritual meridians condensed and the fist landed on the old person at full strength.
"Chi!"
A spiritual inscription on the old person's clothing glittered, forming a translucent armour which was extremely strong. However, the old person still shook after receiving the punch, and his face turned red. He spat out a small mouthful of blood and quickly retreated. "You are... A Wu Zong at the Meridian Opening Stage! Why would such a highly skilled person like you ambush without a sound and assassinate an old man like me?"
"You have blocked the way of too many people!"
It was Fang Yuan.
After convincing the Qin Siblings to put some form of control over them, he had to help them to the best of his abilities to push them to the position of power.
Although the decision of who would be the heir would only be made at the Qin Family gathering, he would not wait until then to take down his enemy.
It would only be logical to take down those that would oppose you before the decision-making day!
Elder Xu was the biggest threat to him.
Firstly, he was the strongest supporter of Lady Xu and would surely stick by her no matter what.
Secondly, if a spiritual array master was given time to prepare, he would be able to capture everyone who would go for the Qin Family gathering! Even Fang Yuan would not want to pit himself against a spiritual array master within his meticulously-planned array.
Therefore, this was the best chance!
It was a golden opportunity for a spiritual array master to walk out of his highly protected nest.
Right now, without time given for him to prepare, he could only use the magical weapons which he brought along to defend himself. This was the best chance for the Meridian Opening Wu Zong to strike!
"Giant Eagle Metal Body!"
"First Refining Stage Golden Body!"
As Fang Yuan exclaimed, a golden glow appeared around his body. With the Sixth Elemental Strength, he was like a destructive dragon to the survivors of the Xu Family.
"Don't harm our Grandmaster!"
Seeing how he could tear apart the Grandmaster's defence like cotton, one of the members of the Xu Family exclaimed and rushed to the back of Fang Yuan, striking him with his fists.
"Weng!"
As the fist landed on Fang Yuan's back, a loud sound akin to a gong was heard.
"Ants, scram and get lost!"
As he casually flicked his hands, the Wu Zong behind him was in shock and flew back uncontrollably. He suffered many fractures in his ribs and his blood spurted across the air as he flew. His internal organs and bones became a bloodied mess.
"Are you... sent by the Qin Siblings?"
Seeing Fang Yuan unharmed with the protection of the spiritual armour, Elder Xu retreated continuously as though he was truly afraid.
If he was given time to prepare, he would not be afraid of even a Wu Zong in the Elemental Opening Realm.
However, the only thing he was lacking now was time!
He was quickly overcome in a matter of seconds!
In front of a Wu Zong who ambushed him, his weakness was revealed!
"I can give you 2 times of what they offered! No... Three times!"
With another fist, Elder Xu spat out another mouthful of blood. As his last defensive equipment was destroyed, he crawled on the floor with embarrassment. With all his strength, he continued to exclaim. "I help others cast spiritual arrays and I have loads of wealth and connections. Let me go and you will gain my friendship and valuable treasures. Compared to all I have, what can the Qin Siblings offer you?"
"You can never match up to what they can offer me..."
Fang Yuan went up and sighed. "They can give me the entire Qin Family. Can you?"
"The entire Qin Family? You..."
As his pupils contracted, Elder Xu could see a white finger approaching him.
This finger was white and long, as though it was carved from the finest white jade. It was perfect-looking, but now, it was reaching towards his forehead!
"Chi!"
As Elder Xu's head exploded, his Zu Qiao was shattered as he fell straight to the ground without a breath.
This influential and powerful spiritual array master could do nothing to defend himself under an ambush and had now become a corpse.
"Eh? He didn't even resist!"
As his spiritual will trembled, Fang Yuan took a few steps backwards and casually picked up a disciple of the Xu Family and threw him forward.
"Ah!"
The disciple let out a cry and was struck by a dark glow which emitted from Elder Xu. The skin on his forehead was peeled off, revealing a black coloured ghost face which seemed to have a life of its own.
Sweeping him with his spiritual will, the black ghost recorded everything from his mind and appeared enraged.
"Chi!"
It was extremely quick. In a matter of seconds, it disappeared completely, and it took a while before Fang Yuan knew what had just happened.
"The imprint of death? This should be the doing of an even stronger spiritual knight. This spiritual knight must have made is such that the print would be activated upon the death of Elder Xu and it would target the closest living person..."
If he were to be imprinted with the imprint, it would be an enemy that wouldn't rest until his death.
Fortunately, Fang Yuan was a Wu Zong and also a dream master. He was adept with distractions and illusionary spells. In that instant, he could detect that something was wrong and could quickly find a scapegoat to take his place. With a little spiritual technique, he had resulted in the imprint landing on the Xu Family's own disciple.
"Kacha!"
After confirming, Fang Yuan casually broke the unfortunate scapegoat's neck and started to sweep the area to kill off any survivors and loot from them.
The most important was, of course, Elder Xu, since he was wealthy. The next would be the hidden Wu Zong in the Xu Family.
'However... that black ghost face seems familiar...'
After thinking for a while, the image of Qing Gui's face appeared in Fang Yuan's mind.
'Venerable Qing Gui? No! It doesn't seem so, but it seems likely that these two ghosts are related. Could both of these originate from evil dream masters?'
After looting all of them, Fang Yuan burnt down the entire area.
"The Xu Family's reinforcements are settled. Next up would be to clean up the Qin Family!"
...
The 13th day and the weather in Dongyi County was cooling.
The atmosphere in the Qin Family's mansion was a weird one.
Everyone was rushing here and there to finish the final preparations for the gathering.
In the backyard, the atmosphere was tense.
"It has been a while and Grandmaster is not here yet. I am worried!"
Lady Xu held the meditation beads in her hands and looked down. "Xu Fu, wait at the city gates. If they are not here by noon, follow the path which they would take and find them!"
"Yes My Lady!"
Xu Fu was the man the black. This time, he had no more hesitation and agreed loudly.
"Reporting! My Lady, bad news!"
At this point in time, a housekeeper ran over frantically. He clumsily tripped over the doorstep and broke his front tooth as his mouth started to bleed. It was a funny sight to behold, but his message seemed extremely important. "There are traces of a fight between spiritual knights outside the city. After an investigation, it is confirmed to be the Xu Family's caravan! I'm afraid... it's a bad thing!"
"What?"
Lady Xu stood up and her mind went black, as she struggled to maintain her balance.