Chapter 88

Su Changyin: “Uncle Chief, please take it easy.”

Less than half an hour later, the Chief Uncle arrived at his cave entrance, wielding a large club.

“Su Changyin, you little brat, get out here!”

Hearing his uncle chief’s familiar bellow, Su Changyin’s vision went black.

We’re done!!

He rushed to the front of his cave, disregarding all decorum, and flung the door open.

The Chief Uncle’s club swung straight at him.

Su Changyin immediately turned and ran.

The Chief Uncle kicked open the door and gave chase.

The uncle and nephew chased each other for barely a moment before the nephew was caught.

Su Changyin gazed skyward and wailed: “Uncle Chief is a Golden Core cultivator, picking on me, a mere Purple Mansion!”

Ouch, my butt really got hit.

It’s swollen already.

The uncle and nephew finally stopped their chase. Su Changyin sat slumped on a stone chair, one cheek resting against it, looking utterly forlorn. Opposite him sat the Chief Uncle, calm and composed.

“Uncle, why did you come here and hit me right away?”

“You kept a Xue Chi Luo in the clan grounds and didn’t tell me a word? Should I praise you instead of beating you?” Su Chengzong shot back.

“I was just worried too many people would find out and expose it,” Su Changyin whimpered.

“Then tell me, am I one of those ‘too many people’?” the Chief Uncle asked again.

Su Changyin fell silent.

Afraid of getting beaten!

“You don’t know that everyone in Dongcheng has long suspected a Xue Chi Luo was lurking there?”

Otherwise, why wouldn’t the insect plagues dare enter Dongcheng?

Back then, when the several clan chiefs gathered, we all speculated which family had acquired a Xue Chi Luo.

We probed each other for hours but couldn’t figure out which one.

Since even we clan chiefs didn’t know, that Xue Chi Luo must either have been cultivated or acquired by someone outside our major families—or else it was raised by a disobedient heir who never told his family.

All the clan chiefs were guessing and complaining, but I, your uncle, even slapped my chest and swore it couldn’t possibly be one of our Su clan’s disobedient sons.

And then you, disobedient son, showed up.

I’d barely spoken those words five days ago, and you’ve already slapped my face with this!!

Do you think I shouldn’t beat you and just let you live?”

The Chief Uncle spoke through gritted teeth.

Su Changyin thought: I didn’t even know you clan chiefs were gathering to study this stuff.

“Tell me, how did you get that Xue Chi Luo?” Su Chengzong rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell me you stole it—our ancestors are all too proud to endure a Great Shaman from the Mu Tribe returning from the Netherworld just to knock on our door.”

That joke about knocking is wildly popular now.

“How could I have stolen it? Even if I wanted to, I never had the chance,” Su Changyin immediately retorted.

Su Chengzong heard this and just rolled his eyes again. He thought: I knew you weren’t a good person!

“If you didn’t steal it, did you trick someone into giving it to you? Have you been exploring any ancient ruins lately?” Su Chengzong asked, puzzled.

A companion spirit isn’t necessarily smart—it could be deceived.

“No, I’ll tell you the truth. Your daughter-in-law is from the Mu Tribe, right? She bore my fourth son four children. The eldest is six now and has started cultivation at the clan school.

So, she planted a batch of red ginseng.

Uh, cough cough, and then a Xue Chi Luo hatched!

“Wait, say that again—what seed did the Xue Chi Luo hatch from?” the Chief Uncle was stunned.

“Red ginseng seed.”

“How could a red ginseng seed hatch a Xue Chi Luo?” the Chief Uncle was utterly bewildered.

“It didn’t hatch from the red ginseng seed? Then from what seed did it hatch?” Su Changyin, confused, asked in return.

“I don’t know,” the Chief Uncle frowned. “Red ginseng seed? Xue Chi Luo! No wonder the sect has been ordering us to plant so many low-grade exotic spiritual plants.”

“What are low-grade exotic spiritual plants?” Su Changyin was now equally confused.

“You know most of the low-grade spiritual plants we grow in our herb gardens are local varieties, right?” the Chief Uncle asked.

“Yes, isn’t that because the sect wants us to use local plants to replace rare ones in their pill formulas, to cut costs across all pill tiers?” Su Changyin replied blankly.

“At first, I never suspected anything.

But now your granddaughter hatched a Xue Chi Luo from red ginseng seed—that doesn’t add up. Red ginseng is a local low-grade exotic spiritual plant.” The Chief Uncle connected the dots.

“What do you mean ‘doesn’t add up’?” Su Changyin didn’t understand.

“Ah, I get it now. That’s why!”

“Uncle Chief, what do you get?”

“I finally understand why, right after we established contact with the Mu Tribe and arranged the marriage alliance, they sent us so many local low-grade exotic spiritual plants and told us to plant them.

And the sect kept stressing that we must grow those low-grade exotic spiritual plants.

At first, I wondered: if they’re just local low-grade plants, why call them ‘exotic’?

The offspring of Great Shamans’ companion spirits aren’t exotic!!

Now I see—the ‘exotic’ really means ‘exotic.’ These so-called local low-grade exotic spiritual plants are actually the seeds of the Mu Tribe’s Great Shamans’ companion spirits.

These ‘exotics’ hide among ordinary low-grade spiritual plants and only hatch when exposed to descendants with special Mu Tribe bloodline.” The Chief Uncle looked enlightened.

“The Mu Tribe really plays deep games. If your granddaughter hadn’t hatched the Xue Chi Luo, I’d never have seen the truth.”

“So ultimately, this is because your granddaughter inherited a remarkable Mu Tribe bloodline,” Su Changyin concluded. “Looks like all my efforts weren’t in vain. My daughter-in-law is truly capable.”

“Wait, if I remember right, your granddaughter’s biological father isn’t your eldest son?”

“That one’s been expelled from the clan. From now on, pretend he doesn’t exist,” Su Changyin said with perfect calm.

“Wow, that harsh? Aren’t you afraid he’ll resent you?” the Chief Uncle couldn’t help laughing.

“I’ve already been generous not to resent him. I spent nearly twenty years planning to marry off my daughter-in-law. That girl is so adorable—I once thought, if my eldest refused, I’d have my second or third son step in. After all, why let the water flow to someone else’s field?

I’d still get a great daughter-in-law.

But then my eldest said he wanted her, so I fully supported his Foundation Establishment to make him worthy of her.

Later, after my second and third sons married and had children, and his wife was pregnant with their second child, he suddenly said he didn’t want her anymore. He claimed he had to go care for his first love!!

Luckily, my fourth son grew up.

Otherwise, I might’ve been tempted to kill my own son out of sheer rage.”