Chapter 498: The Yu Family Ancestors

In the Shi family's cultivation chamber.

Shi Chun Jian, the head of the Shi family, was a burly, fierce-looking strongman.

"Will the Wei family, that young brat Wei Wei Qingqing, back down?"

Shi Chun Jian pondered.

In truth, if he had a choice, he would not have wanted to attack Wei Wei Qingqing, especially right outside the Beast Spirit Immortal City, after she had paid her respects to Zhangwaidiandian Hei Hei Tianlan.

It was not that he dared not,

but provoking the General Heishi direct-line Jin Dan peak cultivator was nearly an open challenge to the laws of the Beast Spirit Immortal City, risking the annihilation of the entire clan.

In the end, what did the Shi family gain from this?

Trading a third-class low-grade spiritual vein for a third-class mid-grade spiritual vein!

That was all.

Jin Dan Zhong Qi was already the limit for a vassal family, the limit allowed by the General Heishi; what use was more spiritual veins?

Alas...

"Direct-line General Heishi? Or collateral branch?"

A hint of murderous intent surfaced in Shi Chun Jian's eyes.

If they did not pick a side, the Shi family would be destroyed; blaming it on bandits or the like would result in no investigation, for ants and slaves, death was just death.

"Father, if Wei Wei Qingqing does not back down, may we capture her?"

Beside him, a bald youth at Jin Dan Chu Qi said greedily, "A Jin Dan Chu Qi furnace, and I hear she is still a virgin; if we refine her properly, who knows if our cultivation, father and son, might advance a step further."

"Nonsense!"

Shi Chun Jian scolded, "This was specifically ordered by Lord Hei Pang; how dare the Shi family lay a finger on her? Do you not fear bringing great calamity?!"

"Father, what kind of Lord is Hei Pang?"

The bald youth touched his head, spat, and said, "Just Jin Dan Zhong Qi; if a few decades had passed, he would still have to call you Brother Shi when he saw you; now he's acting so high and mighty?"

This was the truth.

Although vassal families were servants, they were servants of the direct line!

As for the collateral branch Jin Dan of the General Heishi, though they bore the General Heishi name, often their power was less than that of a trusted vassal family's Jin Dan.

"Collateral branch Jin Dan, just a petty person in power."

"Father, today is different from the past; nothing compares to the strength in one's hand."

The bald youth wiped the drool and greed from his face and said seriously, "In my view, these petty people are just using us as cannon fodder."

"If you had Jin Dan peak cultivation, why endure the General Heishi's nonsense? Just find a remote place overlooked by a Nascent Soul ancestor, establish a sect, and become a founder; would that not be delightful?"

"Is this not better than being a vassal family living in fear, where the whole clan could be wiped out at any moment?"

Shi Chun Jian hesitated, his scolding expression gradually fading.

"You make some sense."

"However, the Jin Dan restriction... sigh."

He let out a long sigh.

The General Heishi was a demonic family, not one that controlled subordinates through trust and righteousness.

If not for this, in an era where the family no longer ruled everything, many vassal family Jin Dan cultivators would surely have many thoughts and taken action.

"Haha, I knew Father you had the same thoughts!"

The bald youth felt confident and laughed, "If Wei Wei Qingqing still refuses to back down and yield the Tushan spiritual vein, then we father and son will find a moment to ambush and capture her, exterminate her clan, and tell Hei Pang we hired a powerful wandering cultivator to do it; she is dead, and we can just brush it off."

"As for the Yu family, I see they have always been cautious; even if they suspect something, they certainly will not speak out."

"Very well."

Shi Chun Jian said no more.

While the two father and son discussed matters with great excitement, a faint blood shadow poured in through the door crack, slowly moving behind the two, transforming into two scarlet palms that silently climbed upward, from the spine to the back of the head, wrapping them bit by bit.

"Watch the cleanup."

Shi Chun Jian offered a reminder.

"Haha, Father, rest assured; I have done this many times over the years..."

The bald youth laughed loudly, then suddenly froze, his mouth still open in a grin, teeth bared.

The blood palms closed.

Boom!

The heads exploded, blood foam scattered, countless gray-white bone fragments flew in all directions, and the two headless corpses fell to the ground together.

Moments later,

The storage bag vanished, the array sealed the inside and outside, and peace returned here; the sound of laughter was gone.

Hundreds of kilometers away from the Shi family, in the sky, a gentle breeze blew, and nothing was there.

"Sigh."

"Dong Xue Shou Ren Mo is indeed a psychopath; imitating his killing style makes me uncomfortable, and it is such a waste of time."

Jiang Ding sighed, "I am a kind and innocent underage boy; I still have to go to school and cultivate; doing too much of this might affect my state of mind."

"Let's just finish off the Yu family."

As for the imitation, the nano-liquid robot naturally possesses the ability to change into a thousand forms; such a trick was nothing.

His true body could also achieve this with sword qi.

Of course, it was only a facade; the internal spell structure, the method of true qi circulation, and the cultivation method were completely different things.

Flying hundreds of kilometers, he arrived at the Yu family's territory.

It sat beside a lake, with lush water-grass, herds of cattle and sheep stretching to the horizon, where the Yu clan's herders and chieftains drove their flocks to pasture—truly a fine place.

Only the spiritual vein by the lakeside was a touch lacking—merely a third-grade lower-quality one.

Jiang Ding rifled through the records of the Wei family, recalling the rise of the Yu clan's ancestor.

That man had made his start some fifteen or sixteen hundred years ago, a contemporary of the Wei family ancestor—that very book-boy.

The Yu clan ancestor had followed that generation's General Heishi clan chieftain into the Thousand-Year Wang Ting war, slaying Jin Dan cultivators from other clans in battle again and again, guarding at his master's side, his war merits illustrious.

Thus, that generation's General Heishi clan chieftain earned distinction in the Thousand-Year Wang Ting war, and after the forces he followed won, he was successfully granted a Wang Ting token and entered the Wangting Wangting Fudi.

After emerging from the Wangting Wangting Fudi, that generation's General Heishi clan chieftain—Divine Crow Master Dinghai Zhenjun's father—advanced to the Nascent Soul stage.

At that time, the General Heishi clan had two Nascent Soul cultivators at once, illustrious for a span, their territory expanding by nearly double and more.

The Yu clan ancestor—he was likely a peak Jin Dan cultivator—

Without such cultivation, it would have been nearly impossible to pile up illustrious war merits in a Thousand-Year Wang Ting war where the great clans produced strong cultivators one after another.

After the war, as reward for merit, he was granted a third-grade lower-quality spiritual vein and became a vassal family of the General Heishi clan.

"Now this is interesting."

"What would a peak Jin Dan cultivator want with a third-grade lower-quality spiritual vein?"

Jiang Ding gave a slight shake of his head: "The Yu clan ancestor must have been resented by others—worse off than a book-boy servant with no merit to his name."

An outsider-surname peak Jin Dan cultivator, with no weak aptitude or talent, in the Northern Plains—this fate was almost destined.

He probably foresaw it too, yet craved even a sliver of a chance at Nascent Soul, hoping for a miracle.

Perhaps back then that General Heishi clan chieftain swore solemn promises about something, or perhaps their bond truly ran deep and they became sworn brothers of different surnames.

So he fought with utter disregard for his life, winning for that generation's General Heishi clan chieftain a chance to enter the Wangting Wangting Fudi.

Concealing his form, he drew near the Yu clan's ancestral land.

"A third-grade peak formation, limited by the spiritual vein, can only maintain the level of third-grade mid-quality…the Yu clan ancestor back then really was a peak Jin Dan cultivator, no mistake."

Jiang Ding gave a slight nod, studied it for several days, then entered soundlessly through a weak point in the formation.

A faint, concealed sweep of divine sense passed over the surroundings.

The blood-red palm stretched out, and just as he was about to slap the Yu family's Jin Dan cultivator to death, he froze, slightly stunned.

(End of chapter)