Chapter 33: Avenging Along the Way
The Hidden Immortal Pavilion stronghold that Lin Yi spoke of was located in a valley a hundred miles south of Hengshui City.
It wasn't far away, so the two of them flew there directly with their magic tools.
The valley had a fog illusion array set up. They entered an underground palace, with corridors whose walls were inlaid with countless night-pearls.
"A Spirit Gathering Array, a small-scale spirit ground? Brother Lin's investment is quite substantial." Lan Chang'an looked around and praised.
Before entering the underground palace, he had scanned it with his spiritual sense and detected no ambushes.
"Hahaha, a few years ago I was fortunate to discover this underground spring, which allowed me to cultivate this spirit ground. Of course, the cultivation effects here are definitely not as good as a first-grade spiritual vein." Lin Yi laughed heartily, his eyes flickering as he spoke.
Fortunate to discover?
Lan Chang'an smiled without saying anything, unless one was extremely lucky, how could a deeply buried underground spring be easily discovered?
"Indeed, I can't deceive Brother Lan."
Lin Yi sighed, revealing the truth, "This underground spring was something I learned about from a wandering cultivator I killed. To make cultivation easier, I simply built my stronghold here."
Inside the underground palace, there were quite a few stone halls. Along the way, they encountered two mundane martial experts.
"Pavilion Master."
As they reached a stone hall, there was someone guarding the entrance - a wandering cultivator at the second layer of Qi-Refining.
Lin Yi nodded, leading Lan Chang'an into the stone hall.
A pungent smell of medicinal herbs and charcoal wafted over.
Lan Chang'an focused his gaze to see a pill furnace deep inside the stone hall, with some spirit wood charcoal burning beneath it. In front of the pill furnace sat a disheveled and unkempt man with legs broken at the knees, controlling the fire under the furnace.
"Pavilion Master Lin." The disheveled man turned his head, extremely respectful with a flattering expression.
"Fellow Daoist Lan... you're here too?" Seeing Lan Chang'an, the disheveled man paused, then revealed an ingratiating smile.
"Xia Felen?" Lan Chang'an was startled, barely recognizing the man's identity from that emaciated face.
"Correct, it's Xia Felen." Lin Yi smiled, affirming it.
"Fellow Daoist Lan must be very curious how he ended up here."
"Two months ago, this person was beaten a hundred times and expelled from the Jin Yun Valley. After leaving the sect, the wandering cultivators he had previously swindled with inferior pills and poisonous pills gathered to take revenge, beating him severely. In the end, it was only due to my kindness that I rescued him and provided him with a stable job..." Lin Yi explained the circumstances.
During the narration, Xia Felen secretly cast pleading glances towards Lan Chang'an.
Lan Chang'an glanced at his broken legs, cleanly severed at the knees, appearing overly neat. His cultivation had dropped to the second layer of Qi-Refining, and there also seemed to be a talisman array placed on him.
Lan Chang'an pondered but did not plead for Xia Felen.
Ten years ago at the Immortal Gathering Building's rendezvous...
Xia Felen, as an apprentice alchemist, arrogantly looked down on the three of them due to his status, even insulting Lan Chang'an. He had even tried to sell them inferior pills.
Who could have imagined that today he would be captured in Lin Yi's secret chamber, reduced to a mere pill refining tool?
"Brother Xia, just work diligently. As long as you refine pills for me for twenty years to repay the debt of saving your life, I'll let you return to reunite with your wife and daughter at that time." Lin Yi laughed heartily, his heart gratified.
After leaving the Alchemy Stone Hall.
Lan Chang'an sold a batch of talismans to Lin Yi. Previously, Lin Yi mainly purchased basic talismans and first-rank talismans. This time, he also bought a small quantity of mid-grade talismans.
Lan Chang'an once again declined Lin Yi's invitation to become a deputy pavilion master.
He then rode a magical tool and left the stronghold of the Hidden Immortal Pavilion.
...
Half a month later, Lan Chang'an was riding a spirit horse along the official road.
In the distance, a long convoy of horse carriages appeared.
Lan Chang'an didn't think much of it, preparing to pass by, until he sensed mana fluctuations from multiple sources.
Cultivators?
After some thought, Lan Chang'an rode his horse into a nearby mountain forest. Soon after, a caravan of at least a hundred people passed by. Most in the caravan were mortals, but at least twenty or so people emitted fluctuations of spiritual energy.
"Ah! Zheng Wugong!"
On a tall spirit horse sat a burly dark-skinned man with a centipede-like scar on his cheek, nearly extending to his neck. This was the last remaining ninth layer of Qi-Refining elder of the Zheng family.
Lan Chang'an had an impression of him because twelve years ago, Zheng Wugong had led a team to intercept and kill their batch of immortal seedlings. In that battle years ago, only six spirit seedlings survived out of the original ten.
Lan Chang'an activated his Evergreen Technique, concealing his aura like withered wood. Even the ninth layer of Qi-Refining Zheng Wugong could not detect his probing.
"Is Zheng Wugong leading his family to migrate?" Recalling the conflict between the two families three years ago, the Zheng family of Bamboo Leaf Mountain had submitted to the Maple Leaf Huang Family.
Now, with Zheng Wugong leading his family members to leave, it was clear he did not wish to remain subordinate, intending to seek development elsewhere and continue the Zheng family's cultivation lineage.
If they continued relying on the Huang family, the Zheng family's fate would be to be eventually absorbed.
Lan Chang'an, having come from a cultivation lineage in his previous life, understood these families' emphasis on bloodline inheritance.
As the caravan gone far away...
Lan Chang'an was about to continue on his way.
At that moment, two more spirit horses appeared on the official road, a man and woman walking leisurely, occasionally looking around to check if there were any pursuers behind them.
"A smooth journey this time, with no action from the Mu and Huang families. Considering the Zhou family's face, perhaps they truly let us go." One of them, a round-faced man in the sixth layer of Qi-Refining, remarked.
"It's a pity little Yan's grudge was not avenged. Going like this, who knows when in our lifetimes we'll have a chance for revenge." The ugly woman beside him, in the fifth layer of Qi-Refining, spoke with a reluctant expression.
"Revenge? How many times have you mentioned it? Lan Chang'an has been hiding in the Mu family, how would you get a chance?" The round-faced man said impatiently.
He also wanted to help his sister Zheng Feng avenge their brother, but he never expected Lan Chang'an to be so elusive, having not emerged in nearly ten years.
"You think Lan Chang'an has been avoiding your revenge all these years?" A voice sounded, one-third surprised and one-third amused.
"Who's there?!" Zheng Feng and Zheng Dong were startled.
They saw a white-robed youth riding a spirit horse and casually emerging from the mountain forest.
"Lan Chang'an?!" The ugly woman Zheng Feng's eyes widened, first stunned, then her eyes narrowed as a cruel smile appeared.
"Instead of taking the road to heaven, you actually came knocking on our door?" Zheng Feng rubbed her eyes, her fleshy face trembling, almost doubting if she was hallucinating.
In her dreams, she had encountered Lan Chang'an more than once or twice.
"What smell is that?" Zheng Dong's nose twitched, sensing something amiss as his body suddenly felt weak and limp, his breathing difficult.
"Not good, poison..." Brown spots appeared on their faces as their bodies swayed unsteadily.
"You little thief! You actually poisoned us—" Glaring at the upwind Lan Chang'an with resentful unwillingness, Zheng Feng struggled to retrieve an antidote pill from her storage bag.
Shhhh! Shhhh!
The middle-grade magical weapon flying shuttle flashed like cold lightning, two blood flowers blooming over a foot away in midair.
Before the corrosive Marrow Corroding Powder could fully take effect, Lan Chang'an struck swiftly, severing their heads.
He went forward and took their storage bags.
Lan Chang'an rode the spirit horse, affixed a wind speed talisman, and sped away with the wind.
Zheng Wugong on the other side was a mile or two away, so Lan Chang'an was not worried about being pursued.
...
A while later...
Sensing something amiss, Zheng Wugong maneuvered his greatsword, slicing through the air as he flew over.
Seeing the rotting corpses on the ground, Zheng Wugong's expression turned ugly as he vigilantly scanned the surroundings.
"This is... Marrow Corroding Powder?" After carefully inspecting the bodies, Zheng Wugong couldn't help exclaiming.
He knew Zheng Yuanhua had possessed this virulent poison.
Zheng Yuanhua had died mysteriously during the operation with Ge Yi, and they later suspected he was killed by the evil cultivator Liang Shaotian. Because at that juncture, the ancestors of both families were at the frontline mine region.
The Mu family only had a ninth layer of Qi-Refining cultivator at home, incapable of threatening Zheng Yuanhua's life.
Zheng Wugong's expression fluctuated, unable to find any leads in the short term.
He did not dare linger, leading his people to migrate with trepidation, fearing the Mu or Huang family would not let this branch of their family go.
...
"Just this meager gain?" Half an hour later, Lan Chang'an had sorted through the spoils in the storage bags.
These two mid Qi-Refining cultivators only provided less than a hundred spirit stones, three low-grade magic weapons, and a pitiful amount of other resources such as pills.
As for those three low-grade magic weapons, he would have to find another opportunity to fence them.
Lan Chang'an had decided on revenge upon seeing the two alone, and that neither had advanced to the late Qi-Refining stage, making it easy for him to kill them.
Moreover, even if the declining Zheng Family later deduced he was the killer, they lacked the ability for vengeance after migrating.
...
More than ten days later...
Lan Chang'an returned to the Feiyue Manor and inquired about the Zheng family's situation.
The Zheng Family branch had indeed migrated away. Reportedly, for a safe migration, Zheng Wugong personally went to the Beast Taming Zhou family to plead for help.
The two families had previously intermarried, and the Zhou family did not wish to see the Huang family's power grow, so they spoke up to allow the two families to migrate without pursuit from the other side.
Back in his courtyard residence...
Lan Chang'an took out a spirit pet pouch and opened the talisman seal on its opening.
Squeak!
A huge brownish-yellow rat demon jumped out of the spirit pet pouch.
It was none other than the Earth Burrowing Rat.
"I've raised you for three years and you still haven't advanced to the late stage. If you don't break through soon, I'll sell you off to the mines." Lan Chang'an threatened, taking a two-hundred-year-old spirit fruit from his storage bag and tossing it to the Earth Burrowing Rat.
"Squeak squeak..." The Earth Drill Rat's eyes lit up as it ravenously devoured the spirit fruit.
Since the precious medicinal ingredients in his possession were not easy to sell, he might as well feed them to his spirit pet, even if it was a bit of a waste.
Lan Chang'an waved his hand, signaling the Earth Burrowing Rat to drill down into the basement below the room.
Two years ago, he had formed a spirit pet contract with the Earth Burrowing Rat, no longer needing to rely on a beast taming talisman.
The spirit pet pouch was something he had purchased from a family member at the September Building.
Since the Beast Taming Zhou family was the local hegemon, some spirit pets or spirit pet pouches circulated relatively more in the vicinity.
(End of chapter)