Chapter 167: (This matter is set aside for now.)

In the study, Xu Jingzhe appeared somewhat panicked, whispering, "I didn't do it myself, but I watched him leave with my own eyes. His head was already severed."

Xu Ziyuan's expression eased slightly, and he nodded slowly: "If even a whisper of this leaks out, neither you nor I will have a place to be buried. Go back and get some rest. Once this matter is settled, half the resources for us father and son to advance to the Dharma Form Realm will be secured."

"Father, the soup should be drunk while it's hot..."

"It is rare that you still have such filial piety." Xu Ziyuan took a sip of the soup, and just as he was about to take a second, his face suddenly turned pale, and two streams of extremely vivid, bright red blood flowed from his nose!

He reached up to wipe it, his hand already covered in blood, and the blood flowed faster and faster, completely unstoppable.

Xu Ziyuan froze for a moment, then suddenly realized, hissing: "There is poison in the soup?!"

Xu Jingzhe slowly peeled off the skin on his face, revealing the features of Xu Jingfeng, and said: "It seems the effect of this face is quite good; you didn't even recognize it until now. After all, it was just peeled off; it would be hard for it not to look like him."

"Jingfeng? Is it you? I—I am your father!"

"From the moment you let me take over the tribute merchant caravan, you stopped being that."

"Someone come! Guards..."

Xu Jingfeng sneered, calling out for him: "Someone come."

Several guards entered the study, and Xu Ziyuan's heart went cold. These guards were either unfamiliar faces or the very ones sent to escort the caravan. At this moment, his Dao Foundation completely collapsed, his vision went black, and he fell headlong to the ground.

Xu Jingfeng bowed to one of the unfamiliar guards and asked: "What should we do now?"

The guard's features shifted, revealing Little Wei Yuan's face, and he said: "First, clear out the residence. Among the old servants your father left behind, those willing to defect should be kept for now, regardless of whether they are sincere or not. As for those who are unwilling, clear them out on the spot."

Xu Jingfeng nodded and strode out of the study.

Over the next hour, more than a dozen screams rang out from the several large mansions of the Ningxi Xu family. Then, a large cart loaded with corpses drove out the back gate, dumping the bodies casually outside the town. After a while, some brave townspeople ran over to see what had happened, only to find several former big shots among the pile of corpses.

In the Xu residence study, Little Wei Yuan stood behind the desk, admiring the calligraphy scroll "Great Virtue Carries All Things" stained with a few drops of blood.

These four characters indeed possessed a grand atmosphere and extraordinary skill.

Xu Jingfeng hurried in and bowed: "It is all done!"

Little Wei Yuan said: "I will leave some people to help you stabilize the situation. For now, movement is not as good as stillness; first, consolidate the hearts of the people and slowly reclaim power. Then, pull off two more big deals to make up for the deficits, so you can stand firm before the main family."

When it came to big deals, Xu Jingfeng's mind went blank again. Fortunately, he was now very clear about his own abilities and hurriedly asked: "How should I conduct these big deals? Please, Master, give your instructions."

Little Wei Yuan chuckled and said: "You have indeed become a bit smarter."

Little Wei Yuan picked up a jade lion paperweight and toyed with it in his hand, saying: "Hasn't your Xu family always been trading with the Shaman tribe? You must have a large stock of offerings. Gather all your inventory, buy up everything available on the market, and then organize a merchant caravan to sell it all to the Shaman Yu tribe."

"Sell to the Shaman Yu tribe?" No matter how slow Xu Jingfeng was, he knew Little Wei Yuan's stance, and he was a bit bewildered upon hearing this. But after all, he possessed destiny, and suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him: "I understand. In reality, it is selling to you!"

Little Wei Yuan nodded; it seemed that the destiny from beyond the heavens had some effect, and the Feng Shui array in the Xu residence was also quite unusual.

Fortunately, Little Wei Yuan had previously let Xu Jingfeng re-register his identity in the eyes of the Feng Shui array. The array confirmed Xu Jingfeng's identity and, in the process, also accepted the destiny from beyond the heavens. From now on, as long as Little Wei Yuan's people possessed this destiny, they would receive the array's blessing within the Xu residence, and it would be a core-level blessing at that.

"But how could I dare to take your money?"

Little Wei Yuan said: "The deficits in your family aren't real deficits; just open your father's secret vault. Your second brother should also have some savings."

Xu Jingfeng thought it over carefully and understood. This money was never recorded in the accounts, which was the source of the deficits. Now, by passing through the offerings, it would return to the Xu family's accounts, covering most of the deficit.

But the deficit was caused by Xu Ziyuan, while the compensation would be Xu Jingfeng's merit. With this in and out, Xu Jingfeng would likely be able to stand firm before the main family.

If the main family still didn't buy it and insisted on supporting someone else... Xu Jingfeng's eyes turned cold; he would make that person end up just like his brother.

Little Wei Yuan thought for a moment and added: "Try to contact the Shaman Yu tribe, say you are preparing to transport a large quantity of offerings, and ask where their temporary storage camp is so you can transport it directly to them. Collect as much intelligence on these types of camps as possible; the more, the better."

"Are you planning to collect offerings? But the offerings have all been drugged in advance, and many of them have had their consciousness affected."

"That is not something you need to know."

At this moment, two guards walked into the study, and after entering, they reverted to their original appearances: Ji Liuli and Wang Yu. Wang Yu's Dao Foundation was somewhat special—it was a Yin Eye that could see through disguises, as well as arrays and solid objects. With Wang Yu's assistance and Ji Liuli's proficiency in arrays, they found Xu Ziyuan's secret vault in no time. The entrance to the vault was actually on a piece of calligraphy hanging on the wall. The calligraphy read "Highest Good is Like Water," which was written quite poorly and was likely an early work of Xu Ziyuan. However, the mechanism to open the entrance was on the character "Water."

If an outsider who didn't know the truth came in, they certainly wouldn't have any interest in this piece of trash calligraphy, and thus would never find the secret vault.

Ji Liuli couldn't be bothered to crack it step-by-step, so she violently dismantled the Small Sumeru Array inside, and then a pile of things clattered onto the study floor.

The secret vault itself is not large, only about four feet high. Looking at that huge pile of immortal silver on the ground, I fear most of the vault was used just to store it.

Little Wei Yuan swept his spiritual sense over it and counted 800,000 taels of immortal silver, unable to help but marvel at Xu Ziyuan's methods. If he could scrape together so much silver even in the Shattered Realm, if he were given a fertile land, wouldn't he scrape together millions?

Besides the immortal silver, there were various materials and spiritual objects worth 200,000 taels, followed by two Dharma Form-level talismans. Seeing these two talismans, Xu Jingfeng felt a lingering fear; if not for the disguise and poison, Xu Ziyuan could have made Xu Jingfeng's body and soul perish by simply unleashing one of them.

More special was a water sphere containing a dozen medicinal herbs resembling ginseng, about the size of a finger, which were entirely cyan-green.

Little Wei Yuan had just finished reading the spiritual plant chapter of the Merit Hall and recognized these as Wood Spirit Ginseng, one of the Five Elements Spirit Ginseng. Wood Spirit Ginseng was a Dao Foundation-level spiritual plant and a specialty of the Shaman Domain; Little Wei Yuan had originally planned to trade for a batch to plant.

This batch of Wood Spirit Ginseng were not seeds or seedlings, but finished products over three hundred years old. It seemed these were medicinal herbs Xu Ziyuan had prepared for his own advancement to the Dharma Form Realm.

Little Wei Yuan put away the contents of the secret vault, and handed the immortal silver to Ji Liuli. Once Xu Jingfeng prepared the offering caravan, most of the immortal silver would still have to flow back to the Xu family to stabilize the situation. As long as Xu Jingfeng did not fall, Little Wei Yuan could slowly infiltrate, and all the immortal silver would eventually return.

Since there was a Feng Shui array in the Xu residence, Little Wei Yuan could not stay long, so he left the residence and returned to the realm.

After returning to the realm, Little Wei Yuan took out the various vouchers and account books seized from Xu Ziyuan's study and read them carefully, becoming more shocked the more he read.

!.

The Ningxi Xu family had built several secret vaults specifically for storing human offerings. According to the account books, there were currently over two thousand human offerings in stock, including one hundred "Upper Offerings." So-called Upper Offerings were offerings that had already forged a Dao Foundation.

Some of these Upper Offerings were captured in the Shattered Domain, some were secretly transported out from within the Pass, and others were prisoners bought from various places.

Xu Ziyuan was preparing to receive another batch of captives from water bandits and horse bandits to sell to the Shaman tribe together.

These two thousand-plus offerings were merely the inventory of the past three months; all previous ones had already been sold. According to the account books, ordinary offerings were ten taels of immortal silver each, and Upper Offerings were five hundred. If ordinary people had not reached the offering rank, then the young and strong or beautiful ones were one tael of immortal silver, and the rest were ten for one tael.

Most of the immortal silver obtained from selling the offerings was used to purchase specialties of the Shaman Yu tribe on the spot, and that batch of Wood Spirit Ginseng was one of them. The Shaman Yu tribe was rich in spiritual plants and insects, and also produced poisons and rare mineral materials. In addition to spiritual plants and herbs, the Xu family also purchased poisonous insects and some Shaman people of special tribes.

With these account books, the crimes of the Ningxi Xu family were confirmed. However, Little Wei Yuan was not a hot-headed youth and did not intend to expose the matter just like that.

Many people think they have mastered hard evidence and rashly report it to the officials, only to find that they haven't brought down the others, but have instead been sent in themselves. Such examples abound in history books; the so-called "officials protecting officials" is the reality, not an exaggeration.

After finishing the account books, Little Wei Yuan went to the medicinal garden below the peak, personally turned over a plot of land, and planted the Wood Spirit Ginseng. Each of these Wood Spirit Ginseng plants required a square zhang of land to grow. After the dozen or so spirit ginseng plants were planted, a faint fragrance faintly rose around the medicinal garden, making one feel refreshed and happy.

However, Wood Spirit Ginseng loves water, and specifically spiritual water, yet there was no suitable water source near the main peak.

Little Wei Yuan's heart stirred, and he remembered he still had a treasure. He chose a low-lying area near the main peak and placed a jade bowl down.

As soon as the jade bowl touched the soil, it sank into the ground and disappeared. Subsequently, a clear spring gushed out from the ground, continuous and endless, and the spring water carried a faint spiritual energy. From time to time, a five-colored stone would be sprayed out with the water flow, rolling and sinking to the bottom of the water.

In the blink of an eye, a small pool appeared before Little Wei Yuan, with over a dozen colored stones at the bottom. As the water level slowly rose, wisps of spiritual vitality continuously spread to the surroundings; wherever it passed, the grass and trees swayed slightly, expressing joy, and their growth rate increased greatly.

Little Wei Yuan estimated the distance, and if calculated based on the influence range of the small lake he saw in the Liao Domain camp that day, it would exactly cover the entire main peak and the entire medicinal garden. As long as he waited for the small lake to take shape, the water for the medicinal garden and the cultivators on the main peak would no longer be a concern.

The water in the lake naturally had weak spiritual energy, and even Xiaoyu and Cui Yu couldn't find any fault with drinking this water.

With this, the medicinal garden was considered formed. The next step was to ask the Senior Martial Sister to take action and replace the crude spirit-gathering array Little Wei Yuan had laid out himself.

After finishing these tasks, it was nightfall again. By convention, all the cultivators of the Primordial Palace gathered on the main peak to discuss the major events of the realm recently.

The major event in the realm these past two days was the arrival of mortals; over four thousand more arrived today, and now the human race in the entire realm exceeded eight thousand, with the number set to break ten thousand tomorrow. Little Wei Yuan gained another wisp of azure Qi during the day, and at the same time, the time to reach the middle stage of the Dao Foundation was shortened to forty-five years.

Of course, Little Wei Yuan did not tell Zhang Sheng about this time frame, otherwise, it would be easy to be "cleansed from the sect."

In the eyes of the high-level cultivators of the Primordial Palace, the eating, drinking, and excreting of mortals were trivial matters not worth mentioning. The facts were indeed so; although food was insufficient, if it was just to stave off hunger, there was too much that could be eaten in the realm, the cost being nothing more than a reduction in lifespan.

Now Little Wei Yuan held the immortal stone's miraculous "Moment of Shacha Shacha Zhongsheng," so the eight thousand mortals now, and the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands in the future, could all instantly become elite soldiers, so the high-level cultivators could accept it. With this army in hand, the old days of Ji Liuli and Bao Yun desperately suppressing the Shaman tribe's cannon fodder would no longer occur.

However, the "Moment of Shacha Shacha Zhongsheng" was short-lived, so the major event the high-level cultivators were considering was how to arm these mortals.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 168 =====