Chapter 22: Strife

In the pitch-black cave, a Wu family cultivator was limping and walking slowly forward in the cave. After walking for a few dozen zhang, he passed a cave full of monster beast bones, but a faint blue light suddenly came from the front. He thought he had found the exit and hurriedly quickened his pace.

"This is a Water Spirit Fruit. Haha, I really didn't expect that there would be a Water Spirit Fruit Tree in this place. This time I have made a fortune."

Wu Ziyuan looked at the Water Spirit Fruit Tree emitting dazzling blue flashes in front of him with an excited look, without noticing at all that a figure was slowly approaching him not far away in the darkness.

"Who is it!"

"Fellow Daoist Wu, it's me. I am Du Yucheng of the Du family. Keep your voice down. This place seems to be in a monster beast's nest."

A figure slowly appeared in the darkness, his face full of panic. It was a Du family cultivator.

"So it's Brother Du. You scared me."

Wu Ziyuan saw that the injuries on Du Yucheng were not much better than his, and he was also in a mess, with a large piece of silt on his face, which looked a bit funny.

Yesterday in the woods, he had also seen this person. He was about the same age as him, about thirty years old, and could be considered a young cultivator of this generation. His cultivation was only at the fifth layer of Qi Refining, and he was not valued in the eyes of the Du family cultivators, far less than his status in the Wu family.

In Wu Ziyuan's eyes, Du Yucheng's ability was average, and his cultivation was not as good as his, so he slowly let down his guard in his heart and put away the flying sword in his hand.

Speaking of which, these two people and Song Qingming were indeed unlucky. When the three were collecting monster beast materials by the water pool, because they were relatively close to the center of the water pool, they couldn't react in time and were all rolled into its cave by the whirlpool created by the Black-Feathered Python.

Among the three, Song Qingming fell closer to the cave entrance and quickly found the exit. But these two, because the place where they fell was too far from the cave entrance, stumbled and walked in the wrong direction, coming to the Black-Feathered Python's nest here. Seeing this Water Spirit Fruit Tree could be considered a coincidence.

"Fellow Daoist Wu, this really looks like a Water Spirit Fruit Tree. It's just a pity that these few Water Spirit Fruits on the tree will take at least a hundred years to mature. Picking them now won't sell for a single spirit stone. They are of no use to us. It's a pity." Du Yucheng said and sighed with some regret.

Wu Ziyuan heard this, rolled his eyes, and then said: "Brother Du, this is not the case. Although this Water Spirit Fruit is useless to us now, this fruit tree is a second-tier spirit fruit tree and is worth a lot. As long as we can live and go back, report this matter to the family, we will definitely be able to get a lot of rewards. Don't you think so?"

After Wu Ziyuan finished speaking, a smile appeared on his face, as if he had imagined the scene where he had made a contribution again and received family rewards like last time. As long as he informs the family of the news of this Water Spirit Fruit Tree after going out, the patriarch will definitely look at him highly again, and he will also be able to obtain more cultivation resources in the family.

Du Yucheng heard this, opened his mouth, thought for a while, and then nodded as if he had suddenly realized, gently patted his head and said: "Brother Wu is right. Why didn't I think of this just now? Brother Wu is still the one with a smart brain."

Wu Ziyuan saw that Du Yucheng did not object and continued: "It's just that this place is extremely dangerous. I don't know what kind of monster beast rolled us into here just now, but its magic powers must not be small. We should think of a way to escape first."

"After I was rolled in, I have been nearby. There are cave dwellings everywhere in this cave, and I haven't found a way out. Brother Du, your brain is smart. Where do you think we should go?" Du Yucheng said with an honest look.

Wu Ziyuan thought for a while and said again: "When I was rolled into the whirlpool, I seemed to see another person being rolled in with us. Little Brother Du, have you seen this person?"

Du Yucheng thought for a while, and suddenly shouted loudly:

"Right, Brother Wu, I just found a corpse in a cave in front. It seems to be your clansman. I don't know if he was rolled into the cave with us."

"Which one of my family is it? Do you know? Take me to see it quickly." Wu Ziyuan asked nervously.

"I was startled by that corpse just now and didn't walk close to look carefully. It was just that he was dressed like Brother Wu, so he should be your clansman. Don't worry, the corpse is in a cave not far ahead. I will take you there now."

Du Yucheng led Wu Ziyuan to walk a few dozen steps deeper into the cave and circled into a cave. Sure enough, a corpse appeared not far ahead. Du Yucheng ran forward and took a look, shouting loudly: "Brother Wu, this person seems to be your patriarch."

"Patriarch... how could this be?" Wu Ziyuan was a bit flustered and ran over following him.

Wu Ziyuan ran to Du Yucheng's side and took a look. The person lying on the ground was a corpse with only the upper half left. He took a step forward and looked carefully, only to find that it was wrong. This person was wearing the silver magic robe unique to Liu family cultivators. Just as he was about to turn back to question Du Yucheng, he didn't want a bright cyan dagger to have already penetrated his chest from his back at this time.

"Du Yucheng, you, you... why do you want to do this?"

Du Yucheng changed his honest demeanor just now and showed a sinister smile.

"Humph, this Water Spirit Fruit Tree, you actually thought about informing the family. What can the Wu family give you? Throwing a few dozen spirit stones to dismiss you like a dog? Do you idiot know the true value of this Water Spirit Fruit Tree?"

"If I inform the Xiaoyao Sect directly of the news of this Water Spirit Fruit Tree, joining the Xiaoyao Sect will definitely be no problem. Maybe I can exchange for a Foundation Establishment pill immediately. How can a short-sighted person like you deserve to share this with me?"

"Fellow Daoist Du, don't kill me. I am willing to take a blood oath. After going out, I will never reveal today's matter. I will pretend that I have never been here." Wu Ziyuan begged bitterly with a look of horror.

"Brother Wu, don't you understand yet? As long as you are alive, you are a threat to me. I never like being threatened." Du Pingtao sneered, a look of ruthlessness appeared on his face, and he kicked Wu Ziyuan to the ground again.

"Du Yucheng, do you really want to be so vicious? If you kill me, aren't you afraid that my Wu family will know about this in the future?"

"Vicious? Haha, isn't the immortal cultivation world always like this? Even if you are surnamed Du, I will still take action today. As long as I can reach Foundation Establishment, whether it is the Wu family or the Du family, I can step on them under my feet. Hahahaha..."

Wu Ziyuan struggled on the ground in despair, seemingly wanting to stand up. Just as he was about to stand up, a cold light crossed his throat, and Wu Ziyuan's body fell down unwillingly, without any movement.

"An idiot like you can cultivate faster than me. Heaven is really unfair."

After Du Yucheng was rolled into the cave, he happened to fall here. He discovered this Liu family elder's corpse at once, secretly took away the storage bag on the Liu family elder, and stumbled to the Water Spirit Fruit Tree before Wu Ziyuan.

After seeing that Water Spirit Fruit Tree, he was shocked and secretly planned to go directly to the Xiaoyao Sect after leaving here to exchange this Water Spirit Fruit Tree for what he wanted.

Just when he wanted to leave this place first, he didn't want to hear Wu Ziyuan's footsteps coming here, so he could only hide in the dark depths of the cave first.

Seeing that only Wu Ziyuan came, and he happened to discover the Water Spirit Fruit Tree, Du Yucheng had the intention to kill. He originally wanted to borrow the dim light in the cave to slowly approach and ambush Wu Ziyuan, but he didn't want Wu Ziyuan's cultivation to be higher than his, and he discovered him before he approached.

Du Yucheng's injuries were actually not serious. The embarrassed look just now was also deliberately pretended. Although Wu Ziyuan's injuries were heavier than his at that time, he did not act rashly and directly, but chose to deal with him falsely. His cultivation was not high, only at the fifth layer of Qi Refining. Facing Wu Ziyuan at the sixth layer of Qi Refining, even if it was a sneak attack, it was indeed difficult to have the certainty of winning.

After lowering Wu Ziyuan's guard, he thought of this method and killed him here.

When he just walked into this cave, Du Yucheng pretended to lead the way and walked in front, using the Liu family elder's corpse to make Wu Ziyuan mistakenly think that his own patriarch had lost his mind, and then Du Yucheng ambushed him from behind and finished him off with a knife.

Du Yucheng looked at the corpse on the ground, sneered a few times, confirmed that Wu Ziyuan had no breath, took the storage bag on his body, and disappeared into the dark cave.

After a stick of incense time,

A black giant python four or five zhang large flew back from the distance toward the water pool. After circling the water pool a few times, the giant python let out a few huge roars at the pile of monster beast bones on the shore, and then plunged into the water, splashing a burst of water.

Fortunately, the Black-Feathered Python had always cared about the Water Spirit Fruit Tree in the cave and did not chase and kill the crowd all the time. It only chased for more than ten miles before turning back to the water pool. Most people, including Liu Tianlong, escaped from death. Only a few unlucky Liu family cultivators were swallowed into the belly by the Black-Feathered Python.

This battle can be described as a heavy loss for the Liu family. Patriarch Liu Tianlong was seriously injured, and two late-stage Qi Refining elders died in the monster beast's cave in order to cover Liu Tianlong's escape. After the Black-Feathered Python went ashore, it did not care about the cultivators of the other families and kept chasing behind the Liu family. Along the way, the Liu family lost several mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators.

The losses of the other three families were fine, only one cultivator from each family was rolled into the water pool and their life or death was unknown.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 23 =====