A Warning

Xu Yuan once again felt the world's deep malice toward mighty Soul Condensation experts. He couldn't see clearly—not at all. The sky above the Land of Utter Darkness was an inky, pitch-black void completely devoid of light. Combined with the drifting snow, even with the Blood Yuan Heart Calamity Art circulating through his meridians, this mighty Soul Condensation expert couldn't see the horizon several li away. To think back to when he had been in the Transcendent Realm, his senses sharp enough to perceive every minute detail in existence... *Sigh!* With a quiet sigh in his heart, Xu Yuan could nevertheless guess what the chest-binding princess beside him was looking at from the general direction of her gaze. Chi Feng. *No matter how badass you were in life, dead is dead. Having hung in the sky for so long, it was about time you fell.* Mid-thought, Xu Yuan looked at Li Qingyan to confirm: "Chi Feng fell?" Li Qingyan withdrew her gaze and nodded slightly. "Yes. This princess must go over and take a look." Xu Yuan looked at her pale face. "With your current injuries, can you handle going over there?" Ancient texts recorded that when a Saint died, their body remained incorruptible and their lingering might did not disperse for a long time. Back when he had still been a Transcendent powerhouse, the reason he had let the Barbarian King's corpse hang untouched in the sky was out of fear that the man had tampered with his own body before dying. Ten thousand years ago in the crypt, Luo Xiran and the other Saints had used their very lives as bait to plot against each other; that memory was still fresh in Xu Yuan's mind. Of course, Chi Feng had only just stepped into the Saint realm and might not possess the cunning methods of Luo Xiran and her peers. Still, one could never be too careful. His life force was already completely severed anyway, so waiting it out was the simplest path—why take needless risks? Now, although Chi Feng's corpse hanging in the sky had finally plummeted, much remained uncertain. With that in mind, Xu Yuan glanced in the direction of the city garrison and murmured, "Qingyan, if possible, you'd best have the experts in the army go first to—" Halfway through his sentence, seeing the look on Li Qingyan's face, Xu Yuan gave a soft sigh and swallowed the rest of his words. From a standpoint of pure reason, having subordinates go ahead and trigger any potential traps was the most sensible choice. But with her battlefield disposition of "Charge behind this princess!", she was almost certainly never going to agree. Then again, that was likely one of the main reasons Li Qingyan commanded such immense prestige in the army. Despite being of imperial blood, she led from the front lines on the battlefield and treated the cheap lives of lowborn mudfeet as actual lives. Under such a commander, who wouldn't fight to the death? Li Qingyan smiled faintly. "Don't worry. This princess knows what she's doing." Xu Yuan's eyes flickered. Unless absolutely necessary, he truly wouldn't take even the slightest risk. He offered another suggestion: "By the way, didn't you just say Marquis Wucheng is marching south shortly? Why not wait until the old man returns before dealing with it?" "Are you sure about that?" "Hmm?" "If we wait until Uncle Mu gets back, everything on the Barbarian King might just be confiscated by him~" Li Qingyan's slender, alluring waist swayed lightly, graceful as a butterfly. Xu Yuan licked his lips, an odd look in his eyes. "Surely not. Marquis Wucheng is renowned far and wide as the Great Yan God of War, after all. Doing something like that would be far too beneath him." Li Qingyan pondered for a moment. "Changtian, do you know what the first lesson Uncle Mu taught me as a child was?" An ominous premonition crept up on Xu Yuan. "What?" Li Qingyan caressed the Sumeru ring on her finger and imitated Mu Zhenbei's tone from back then: "'This marquis "borrowed" it fair and square through sheer ability, so why in the hell should I return it?!'" "..." Xu Yuan. *Oh no...* "Qingyan... my twenty crates of Jinqi Pills..." "Look at how stingy you are." Seeing Xu Yuan's constipated expression, Li Qingyan couldn't help but stifle a laugh, the sparkling amusement in her eyes glittering like fallen stars. "Relax. Uncle Mu is Uncle Mu, and this princess is this princess." With that, Li Qingyan leaped up and landed atop the tall courtyard wall. "Changtian, your cultivation is too weak right now. Just wait for this princess here." With those words, her figure flickered and vanished directly from Xu Yuan's sight. The courtyard was tranquil, the falling snow silent. Xu Yuan stood in the courtyard, dazed. Suddenly, a graceful figure cautiously poked her head out from the doorway. After staring at the man in the tattered blood-stained robes for several breaths, she called softly: "Young Master... have you regained your human form?" "..." The sudden voice caused Xu Yuan to give an involuntary start. It was back. Everything was back. A mere Grandmaster could now come and go like a ghost right in front of this mighty Soul Condensation expert. Composing his expression, Xu Yuan turned his gaze toward Bai Muxi. Bai Muxi had changed out of the purple silk gown from the crypt. She now wore a peach-pink plain brocade blouse over a pearl-white crepe skirt, draped in a white fur-lined brocade cloak. A broad pearl-white ribbon loosely bound her waist-length, flowing black hair, making her look like a delicate lotus washed clean by clear water. An outfit fitting for a timid, green-tea pushover. "Mm. Why have you come over?" Bai Muxi's eyes flickered. She stepped out from behind the door, her dark pupils darting around to confirm that Li Qingyan had indeed left before she softly said: "I sensed the aura of Young Master exiting seclusion, so I wanted to come check on you..." Xu Yuan gave her a deep look and chuckled without beating around the bush: "You came to have me fulfill my promise?" Her bright eyes flickered. Somewhat nervously, she nodded slightly. "Yes..." "No need to be nervous. This was always a transaction between us." Xu Yuan let out a long breath and crooked a finger. "Follow me inside." "..." Bai Muxi was silent for a moment, pursing her lips before obediently following behind him. Stepping once more into the wing room of the residence, Xu Yuan walked unceremoniously to the stone couch and sat down, while Bai Muxi stood rather uneasily in the center of the room. She felt that she might have been too impatient. Yet when they had left, some aberrant ghosts still remained within the crypt. The terrifying creatures lurking deep within—entities so monstrous they could never be matched in combat—left her completely unable to set her mind at ease. However, the young master before her seemed to have read her thoughts. His voice was calm: "With your intelligence, Muxi, you must have noticed that the factions backing Qingyan and me are friendly only on the surface. Our current cooperation is merely a compromise born of shared immediate goals." Bai Muxi's delicate body trembled slightly. Her skirts swept the floor as she dropped directly to her knees, bowing her head: "Muxi was too impatient." "Heh." Xu Yuan chuckled softly. He could tell what Bai Muxi was thinking. She wanted to use the Beifeng Army—which had come here to wipe out the Barbarians—to rescue the four hundred thousand people in the crypt. The problem was, if the Beifeng Army rescued them, would those prime talents suited for cultivating military arrays belong to the Xu family afterward, or the Li family? This was a very practical question. His thoughts churning, Xu Yuan looked up at the Grandmaster kneeling before him—a mighty Soul Condensation expert—and spoke softly: "Raise your head." Bai Muxi slowly raised her head. Her snow-jade skin was pristine and unblemished, yet tinged with unease: "Young Master..." Xu Yuan leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees with his hands clasped together, smiling without warmth: "I am very pleased that you came to me first about this matter." His father had granted him full authority to review the Prime Minister's Manor's internal intelligence reports at will, so Xu Yuan understood one thing very clearly: in this world, the production capacity of cultivator resources actually exceeded demand—all because the ruling class strictly controlled the number of cultivators to maintain stability. Of course, another factor was the sheer scarcity of people capable of cultivation. In the Great Yan Dynasty, the ratio of people who could cultivate to the total population was roughly one in several hundred, or even one in a thousand. Such a steep pyramid structure meant that the various factions generally didn't bother spending massive amounts of manpower and resources to screen and recruit disciples en masse. The crypt, however, was different. Out of three hundred and seventy thousand people in the crypt, there were seven thousand ready-made cultivators, and virtually all of those seven thousand were Seventh Rank Bone Tempering. That was an appalling number. Because most of the Source Qi in the crypt had been converted into life origin by the aberrant ghosts' black death creep, they had still managed to cultivate to the Seventh Rank in a place where resources and Source Qi were starved to the extreme. Consequently, so long as supplies were sufficient, a round of systematic training could swiftly turn them into a combat-ready force. Furthermore, according to Bai Muxi, a full quarter of the crypt's population possessed cultivation aptitude. Even if that estimate had been inflated, that was still nearly a hundred thousand reserve soldiers. And there was one more point that tempted Xu Yuan most of all: the mindset of the crypt's populace. Complete isolation from external information had fostered a near-blind theocratic worship within the crypt. Theocratic worship was regressive, yet it represented absolute loyalty. If utilized properly, their loyalty would be even more fanatical than that of the systematically brainwashed Black Scale Army! With the backing and resources of a major faction that possessed a fully closed supply loop, it might take only a few years to mold these people into an army of zealots. Now that the aberrant ghosts in the crypt were virtually eradicated, who in the world could resist such immense, nearly risk-free profits? With the chest-binding princess's character, she wouldn't deliberately interfere. But if Bai Muxi went straight to Marquis Wucheng... Faced with such a low-investment, high-return windfall, the Marquis would most likely offer a quick word of thanks for nature's bounty and then promptly devour everything in the Silent Crypt down to the bone. At that thought, the bloody gleam surging from the depths of Xu Yuan's eyes intensified, and his gaze turned a shade colder as he fixed it on Bai Muxi. He chuckled softly: "I am not an unreasonable man. If you are truly that worried about your people, I can offer you an alternative. "Do you want to hear this option?" "..." Bai Muxi shrank back, pulling her neck inward. Although the blood-robed young master before her was only at the Soul Condensation Realm, she had witnessed everything firsthand during their journey through the crypt, including the means he had used to heavily wound a Saint. His bizarre methods, his vast horizons, and intelligence sources that seemed to foresee everything... If she said she wanted to hear it... At that thought, Xiao Bai shook her head like a rattle-drum: "N-No, I don't." Seeing this, Xu Yuan gave an easy smile. He stood up, walked over to Xiao Bai with a chuckle, and reached down to pull her up, his voice exceedingly gentle yet tinged with slight reproach: "Look at you, why kneel? I told you this young master has no need for such formalities." As he pulled Bai Muxi to her feet, his narrow eyes curved with a smile: "Actually, you could listen to it. Although this young master despises betrayal, we did go through trials and tribulations together, after all." With that, he held her delicate, seemingly boneless fingers and stroked them gently for a moment: "Muxi, you know me. This young master isn't some devil. Even if you betray me, doing something like sending people to slaughter everyone in the crypt is something I would never do." "..." Bai Muxi's delicate frame trembled. Her jade legs went limp beneath her skirts, and she was about to drop to her knees again. Xu Yuan tried to hold her up, but he couldn't. The physical strength of a Grandmaster was nothing a Soul Condensation expert could rival; he stumbled, nearly pulled down to the ground along with her. Bai Muxi dropped to the ground, her fair forehead knocking against the floor with a distinct *thud*. Her voice trembled, but she spoke in a rush: "Young Master... Muxi and the crypt's people have received your grace and accepted your gifts. In this life, we shall never harbor any second thoughts!" Xu Yuan stood in place, looking down at Xiao Bai trembling like a quail beneath him. Once they reached the surface, Bai Muxi naturally had far more choices available to her, especially now that the aberrant ghosts in the crypt were virtually wiped out. He needed to keep her in line. "Sigh..." A soft sigh sounded within Xu Yuan's heart. Watching everything from inside the Blood God Stone, Luo Xiran asked, "Brat, if this woman from the crypt really betrayed you, would you truly send people to slaughter the crypt?" Xu Yuan's eyes flickered with surprise. After thinking seriously for a moment, he replied softly in his heart: "No. As I am now, I still can't bring myself to order the slaughter of innocents purely for profit." After pausing a beat, however, he added in a low voice: "But I would pass the intelligence to my father and the others." He would pass this information to Lou Ji and the other ruthless figures among the leadership of the Prime Minister's Manor. As for what that old auntie Lou Ji would do... The fate of Li Erzhu, who had always stayed by Zhou Xiaohe's side, and the fates of those innocents who had learned of Xu Yuan's identity, spoke volumes. In the end, it was a distinction without a difference. The only difference was that the order would be issued directly by Lou Ji, Zong Qingsheng, or his father. The ruthless figures in the Manor's high echelon would never tolerate betrayal, nor would they allow such immense benefits to aid their enemies. Luo Xiran was silent for a moment before her gentle voice sounded, tinged with sighing amusement: "You brat really are hypocritical." "Deceiving oneself may be shameful, but at least it offers peace of mind." Xu Yuan gave a snort of laughter and replied: "Still, with your personality, Xiran, you're not repulsed by this approach?" "Repulsed?" Luo Xiran murmured, her tone complex. "Too many things like this happened during the Great Aberrant Calamity ten thousand years ago. My naivety back then got a lot of people killed. So while I don't endorse such methods, I understand them. "Those who cannot be used, those who harbor sinister motives, those who betray—death is the best end for them." Xu Yuan detected a long history behind this older adopted sister's voice and murmured, "Sounds like reality beat you black and blue back in the day, Xiran?" "Those who wield great power should protect the weak." Luo Xiran stated it as a matter of course, before her tone shifted to helplessness: "Pity that once most people hold great power, they turn their blades against the weak instead. I didn't have the ability to change that." A flicker passed through Xu Yuan's eyes. Shaking his head slightly, he replied in his heart: "A nice sentiment, but realizing it completely is practically impossible—no, fundamentally impossible. At best, it can only be achieved relatively." Luo Xiran scoffed coldly: "Of course I know that. I don't need a brat like you to remind me." Xu Yuan sighed leisurely: "That wasn't what I meant. I have an adopted sister..." "Tsk, brat, you—" "I wasn't talking about you, don't flatter yourself." "..." Luo Xiran. Xu Yuan weighed his words carefully: "I have an adopted sister whose head works pretty much like yours did back then. Once we get back to the imperial capital, how about you shadow her for a while and teach her a thing or two?" Luo Xiran felt the brat was insulting her and answered curtly: "I don't take disciples." The image of his sister's "Dorae-Yao" traits surfaced in Xu Yuan's mind, and he replied with a mocking chuckle: "You? If you take her as your disciple, wouldn't that mess up our seniority?" "..." Luo Xiran.