In the study, Xu Jingzhe looked somewhat panicked as he whispered, "I didn't do it with my own hands, but I watched him die with my own eyes. His head was even cut off."
Xu Zhiyuan's complexion improved slightly, and he nodded slowly. "If the slightest whisper of this leaks out, neither of us will have a place to be buried. Go back and rest well. With this matter settled, we father and son already have half the resources needed to advance to the dharma idol realm."
"Father, drink the soup while it's hot..."
"It's rare for you to show such filial piety." Xu Zhiyuan took a sip of soup. Just as he was about to take a second, his face suddenly turned pale, and two streams of vivid, brilliant crimson blood dripped from his nostrils!
He reached up to wipe it away, only to find his hand covered in blood. Moreover, it flowed faster and faster, completely unstoppable.
Xu Zhiyuan stared blankly for a moment, then realization dawned. He rasped, "The soup is poisoned?!"
Xu Jingzhe slowly peeled away the skin on his face, revealing the visage of Xu Jingfeng. He said, "It seems this face works quite well—you didn't recognize it until now. After all, it was freshly flayed; it would be hard for it not to look convincing."
"Jingfeng? It's you? I... I am your father!"
"From the moment you had me take over the tribute convoy, you ceased to be."
"Someone come! Guards..."
Xu Jingfeng sneered and called out in his stead, "Men."
Several guards entered the study, and Xu Zhiyuan's heart went cold. These guards were either unfamiliar faces or those originally sent to escort the convoy. At that moment, his Dao Foundation completely crumbled. His vision went dark, and he pitched forward onto the ground.
Xu Jingfeng bowed to one of the unfamiliar guards and asked, "What should we do now?"
The guard's face shifted, revealing Wei Yuan's features. He said, "First, purge the residence. Among the old retainers left by your father, keep anyone willing to submit for now, whether sincere or not. Anyone still unwilling should be dealt with on the spot."
Xu Jingfeng nodded and strode out of the study.
Over the next hour, a dozen screams echoed through several large compounds of the Ningxi Xu family. Then a cart laden with corpses rolled out of the back gate and dumped the bodies haphazardly outside town. Only after a while did daring townsfolk scurry over to investigate, discovering among the heap of corpses several figures who had once been prominent men.
In the Xu residence's study, Wei Yuan stood behind the desk, admiring a calligraphy scroll reading "Vast Virtue Carries All Things," now speckled with a few droplets of blood.
The four characters carried quite an imposing aura, displaying remarkable skill.
Xu Jingfeng hurried in and bowed. "It has all been settled!"
Wei Yuan said, "I will leave some men behind to help you stabilize the situation. From here on, stillness is better than movement. Win over people's hearts first and gradually consolidate authority. Then do two big deals to cover some of the deficit, so you can stand firm before the main family."
At the mention of big deals, Xu Jingfeng's mind went blank again. Fortunately, he was well aware of his own capabilities now and hurriedly asked, "How should these big deals be done? Please instruct me, Master."
Wei Yuan chuckled. "You truly have grown a bit smarter."
Wei Yuan casually picked up a jade lion paperweight and toyed with it in his hand. "Hasn't your Xu family always traded with the Shamans? You must have a large stock of sacrifices. Gather all the inventory together, buy up everything available on the market, and then assemble a caravan to sell them all to the Wuyu Clan."
"Sell them to the Wuyu Clan?" No matter how dull Xu Jingfeng was, he still knew Wei Yuan's stance, and hearing this left him bewildered. Yet, possessing karmic luck after all, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him: "I understand! In truth, they'll be sold to you!"
Wei Yuan nodded. It seemed that having otherworldly fortune bestowed upon him did have some effect. In addition, the feng shui formation in the Xu family compound was quite extraordinary.
Fortunately, Wei Yuan had previously made Xu Jingfeng re-register his identity at the eye of the feng shui formation. The formation had confirmed Xu Jingfeng's identity and, by extension, recognized the otherworldly fortune. From then on, as long as Wei Yuan's people carried otherworldly fortune, they would receive the formation's blessing within the Xu residence—and core-level blessing at that.
"But how could I dare take your money?"
Wei Yuan said, "Your family's deficits aren't real deficits anyway. Just unseal your father's secret vault. Your second brother should have some savings as well."
Xu Jingfeng pondered carefully and understood. This money had never been put on the official ledgers, which was the source of the deficit. Now, running it through a transaction of sacrifices to return to the Xu family's ledgers would cover most of the shortfall.
Yet the deficit had been caused by Xu Zhiyuan, whereas covering it would be Xu Jingfeng's merit. With this in and out, Xu Jingfeng would most likely be able to secure his footing before the main family.
If the main family still refused to buy it and insisted on backing someone else... A cold glint flashed in Xu Jingfeng's eyes. When the time came, he would make that person end up just like his younger brother.
Wei Yuan thought for a moment and added, "Try to contact the Wuyu Clan. Say you are preparing to transport a large quantity of sacrifices, and ask where their temporary holding camps are so you can deliver them directly. Gather as much intelligence on such camps as possible—the more, the better."
"Are you planning to collect sacrifices? But the sacrifices have all been drugged beforehand; many have had their minds affected."
"That is not something you need to know."
Just then, two guards entered the study. Once inside, they reverted to their original appearances—they were Ji Liuli and Wang Yu. Wang Yu's Dao Foundation was somewhat unique: a Yin Eye that could see through disguises, formations, and solid matter.
With Wang Yu's assistance and Ji Liuli's mastery of formations, they uncovered Xu Zhiyuan's secret vault in moments. The entrance was actually on a calligraphy scroll hanging on the wall. The calligraphy read "Highest Good Resembles Water," truly not well written at all, likely an early piece of Xu Zhiyuan's work. Yet the mechanism to open the entrance lay precisely in that character for "water."
If an outsider who didn't know stepped inside, they would surely have no interest in such a shoddy piece of calligraphy and would never find the secret vault.
Ji Liuli did not bother to unravel it step by step; she simply dismantled the Mini-Sumeru Formation inside with brute force. With a loud clatter, a heap of items tumbled onto the study floor.
The vault itself was not large, only about four feet in size. Looking at the massive pile of immortal silver on the floor, more than half the vault had likely been used to store it.
Wei Yuan swept his divine sense over it and tallied eight hundred thousand liang of immortal silver, marveling inwardly at Xu Zhiyuan's methods. To fleece so much silver even in the Shattered Lands—if given a fertile, wealthy territory, wouldn't the man scrape up several million liang?
Besides the immortal silver, there were various materials and spiritual items worth two hundred thousand liang, followed by two dharma-idol-grade talismans. Seeing these two talismans, Xu Jingfeng felt a wave of lingering fear; had it not been for the disguise and poison, Xu Zhiyuan could have unleashed either talisman at will to destroy him body and soul.
What stood out was a sphere of water sealing over a dozen finger-sized medicinal herbs resembling ginseng, blue-green throughout.
Wei Yuan had just read through the spiritual plant compendium from the Hall of Merits and recognized them as Wood Spirit Ginseng from among the Five Elements Spirit Ginseng. Wood Spirit Ginseng was a Dao Foundation spiritual plant and a specialty of the Wu domain; Wei Yuan had originally intended to exchange for a batch to cultivate.
This batch was neither seeds nor seedlings, but mature plants over three hundred years old. It appeared to be the spiritual medicine Xu Zhiyuan had prepared for his own advancement to the dharma idol realm.
Wei Yuan stored away the contents of the secret vault and handed the immortal silver to Ji Liuli. Once Xu Jingfeng prepared the sacrifice caravan, most of the immortal silver would flow back to the Xu family to stabilize the situation. As long as Xu Jingfeng did not fall, Wei Yuan could gradually infiltrate, and all the immortal silver would eventually return.
Since the Xu residence had a grand feng shui formation after all, Wei Yuan could not linger, so he departed the Xu residence and returned to the realm domain.
Upon returning to the realm domain, Wei Yuan took out the various certificates and ledgers seized from Xu Zhiyuan's study and examined them carefully, growing increasingly alarmed the more he read.
The Ningxi Xu family had built several secret vaults dedicated to holding human sacrifices. According to the ledgers, the current inventory of human sacrifices numbered more than two thousand, including one hundred superior sacrifices. A so-called superior sacrifice was a sacrifice who had forged a Dao Foundation.
Some of these superior sacrifices had been captured in the Shattered Lands, some smuggled out secretly from within the pass, and others were prisoners purchased from various regions.
Xu Zhiyuan had intended to receive another batch of captives from river pirates and mounted bandits before selling them all to the Shamans.
These two thousand-odd sacrifices were merely the stock accumulated over the past three months; everything prior had already been sold. According to the records, an ordinary sacrifice fetched ten liang of immortal silver, while a superior sacrifice fetched five hundred. If an ordinary mortal did not meet the sacrifice grade, young and strong or good-looking individuals went for one liang, while the rest were counted at ten people per liang.
Most of the immortal silver earned from selling sacrifices was used to purchase Wuyu Clan specialties locally, the batch of Wood Spirit Ginseng being among them. The Wuyu Clan was rich in spiritual plants and spiritual insects, and also produced venoms and rare minerals. Beyond spiritual plants and herbs, the Xu family purchased venomous insects and Shamans of special races.
With these ledgers, the Ningxi Xu family's crimes were practically ironclad. Yet Wei Yuan was no reckless novice; he had no intention of exposing the matter just like that.
Many believed they possessed hard evidence and rashly reported to officials, only to end up imprisoned themselves while the accused went unscathed. History books were replete with such examples; that officials protected one another was the plain reality, no exaggeration.
After reviewing the ledgers, Wei Yuan went to the herb garden beneath the peak. He turned over a patch of soil with his own hands and planted the Wood Spirit Ginseng. Each of these ginseng plants required a square zhang of land to grow. Once the dozen-odd spirit ginseng plants were in the ground, a faint, refreshing fragrance drifted around the herb garden, putting one's mind and spirit at ease.
However, Wood Spirit Ginseng favored water—and specifically spiritual water—yet there was no suitable water source near the main peak.
Wei Yuan had an idea, recalling another treasure in his possession. He chose a low-lying depression nearby close to the main peak and placed down a jade bowl.
As soon as the jade bowl touched the soil, it sank underground and disappeared. Then, a clear spring welled up from the ground in an endless stream, carrying faint spiritual qi. From time to time, a five-colored stone bubbled up with the flow, tumbling down to settle at the bottom.
In the blink of an eye, a small pool appeared before Wei Yuan, with more than a dozen colored stones already resting at the bottom. As the water level slowly rose, strands of vibrant vitality continually diffused outward. Wherever it passed, the vegetation swayed gently as if rejoicing, their growth rate increasing greatly.
Wei Yuan estimated the distance. Based on the range of influence of the small lake he had seen in the Liao domain camp back then, it would just cover the entire main peak and all the herb gardens. Once the small lake took shape, water would no longer be a concern for the herb gardens or the cultivators on the main peak.
The water in the lake naturally held faint spiritual qi; drinking it, even Xiaoyu and Cui Yu would find no fault.
With this, the herb garden was finally established. The next step would be asking Eldest Senior Sister to step in and replace the crude spirit-gathering formation Wei Yuan had set up himself.
Having finished these tasks, night fell once more. As was customary, all the Palace of Grand Beginning cultivators gathered at the main peak to discuss the recent major affairs of the realm domain.
The major event within the realm domain over the past two days was the arrival of mortals. More than four thousand had arrived today alone, bringing the total human population in the domain to over eight thousand, set to surpass ten thousand tomorrow. During the day, Wei Yuan had received another wisp of azure qi, reducing the time needed to cultivate to the middle stage of the Dao Foundation to forty-five years.
Naturally, Wei Yuan did not mention this duration to Zhang Sheng, or he might easily have been purged from the sect.
In the eyes of the high cultivators of the Palace of Grand Beginning, mortals eating, drinking, and relieving themselves were trivial matters not worth mentioning. In truth, that was indeed the case; although grain was scarce, if it was merely to stave off hunger, the realm domain had far too many things to eat—the only cost was a shortened lifespan.
Now that Wei Yuan possessed the immortal stone's divine marvel, Ephemeral Multitude, the eight thousand mortals at present—and tens or hundreds of thousands in the future—could be transformed into elite troops in an instant. Thus, the high cultivators were willing to accept them. With this grand army in hand, there would be no repeat of the past where Ji Liuli and Bao Yun, two immortal foundations, had to strain themselves to suppress the Shamans' cannon fodder.
However, Ephemeral Multitude lasted only a short duration, so the major matter the high cultivators were considering was how to arm these mortals.
Chapter 167