The snow on Hanyun Peak never melted year-round, falling upon the upturned eaves of the ancestral hall. The dim yellow candlelight flickered, and for the first time since he had begun his cultivation, Fei Tongyu felt cold—so cold that he shivered upon the floor.
The corpse of his grandfather, Fei Wangbai, lay in the coffin before him. A Foundation Establishment cultivator's flesh did not rot and looked just as it had in life, merely somewhat pale, his eyes tightly closed as though in deep slumber.
Fei Tongyu still could not believe that his grandfather had died like this. It was all too unreal, so sudden that he felt as if it were a dream.
That day, when the news had arrived of Li Tongya slaying the Maha with his sword, the smile on Fei Wangbai's face had instantly vanished. His eldest son, Fei Yihe, had left for Nanjiang, so he could only grasp the hand of his eldest direct grandson, Fei Tongyu, and say in a grave voice:
"Yu Yufeng is likely dead, almost certainly killed by Li Chijing. The Li family's edge is far too sharp right now; this is no good sign."
Fei Yihe's departure had been far too abrupt, completely disrupting Fei Wangbai's plans, leaving him with no choice but to train Fei Tongyu from scratch. Fortunately, Fei Tongyu was diligent and hardworking, so there had still been time.
Yet as the two were speaking, the door had been pushed gently open. A white-clothed man with a veil over his face stepped inside from outside. Fei Wangbai's expression changed slightly, and he asked:
"Who might you be, sir?"
Without a word, the white-clothed sword cultivator looked between the two of them, locked onto Fei Wangbai, and drew his sword to thrust.
At the time, though the Fei family's Cloud-Gathering Southern Sky Array had not been running at full power, it was by no means an open door. Yet this man moved like a ghost, his swordsmanship ethereal and otherworldly, possessing the cultivation of the Foundation Establishment peak.
Fei Wangbai was merely at the early Foundation Establishment stage, and both his cultivation method and spear technique fell far short. In dozens of exchanges, his magical artifact was severed. He managed only to flee to the foot of the mountain, tumbling and dodging for a short while, before a single flash of sword-light claimed his head.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator possessed vigorous vitality, so Fei Wangbai did not die immediately. He picked up his head with his hands and set it back upon his neck, but sword qi surged fiercely from the wound. After trying twice in succession, he finally dropped his head and collapsed.
Lying in the snow, the head still shed tears, crying out loudly:
"It hurts to death!"
Fei Wangbai had lived an elegant life, always minding his appearance and insisting on propriety in all things. Yet under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he had been beheaded without a shred of dignity. The garments that had never once been dirtied were soaked crimson by the blood gushing from his neck, and his corpse fell awkwardly to the ground.
The wind and snow picked up suddenly. A corner of his brocade robes fluttered in the gale, only to be quickly buried by the heavy snow. The Fei family members felt as if struck by a bolt from the blue, staring in disbelief at the sword cultivator in the sky.
Some of the Fei clan shivered; some wept hysterically; some mounted magical artifacts to charge forward in attack. But the white-robed sword cultivator merely stood on empty air, neutralizing dozens of spells with a single swing of his sword, and said softly:
"Listen well, all of you! For the next eighty years, no one is permitted to cultivate the Long Brocade Heart-Inquiring Mantra to achieve Foundation Establishment. If anyone forms the Byway Brocade, their fate shall be as his."
His tone was calm, as though he had crushed an ant, devoid of any smugness.
Then he rode the wind away. The ancient Cloud-Gathering Southern Sky Array that the Fei family had relied upon for generations seemed like paper before him, so docile that it looked as if the sword cultivator were its true master.
The Long Brocade Heart-Inquiring Mantra was the core technique of the Fei family's main line. It was through this method that Fei Wangbai had forged his immortal foundation, which was none other than the Byway Brocade. Those words were meant to sever the cultivation path of the Fei family's entire main branch.
Fei Tongyu broke down in tears, and the entire Fei family descended into chaos. By the time Fei Tongyu looked up again, the Cloud-Gathering Southern Sky Array had already been brought to full power by Fei Tongxiao. At that moment, the fastest cultivator had merely reached the mountaintop, and not a single one had flown away.
His gaze focused once more on the pitch-black coffin before him. Fei Tongyu murmured:
"Father went to Nanjiang... Grandfather... I am only at the peak of Embryonic Breathing... What am I supposed to do..."
Fei Tongyu knelt quietly on the floor, watching the incense flicker on the table. Within the coffin, Fei Wangbai's head and torso remained separated, barely concealed beneath a strip of white cloth.
"They won't join..."
Fei Tongyu closed his eyes in agony. The sword qi left behind by the sword cultivator kept bursting from Fei Wangbai's neck, shattering more than a dozen coffins, leaving no choice but to bury him with his head and body parted.
Fei Tongyu wept with his head lowered. Behind him, Fei Tongxiao wore jade armor, his expression composed. The boyish innocence had vanished from his face overnight, replaced by a mature worry and unease.
Hardship could completely transform a person. The light in Fei Tongxiao's eyes had dimmed considerably, but it had grown resolute and focused. Staring at the ancestral tablet above, he said heavily:
"Brother! We cannot go on like this!"
"And what solution do you have?!"
Fei Tongyu cast him a bitter glance and sneered, "Notify the Li family?! I would rather trust those other Foundation Establishment cultivators than those starving wolves of the Li family!"
Fei Tongxiao fell silent. Only after a long while did he say, "Yu Mugao will make a move sooner or later."
"So what if he does?!"
Fei Tongyu whipped his head around, snarling, "Not a single person in my Fei family fears death! Let him come!"
Fei Tongxiao shook his head and whispered, "Brother... stop letting your emotions run wild! No matter how much hatred you hold... we must survive. Only by staying alive is there any future, whether for vengeance... or..."
"Those Foundation Establishment cultivators are elusive and unpredictable, entering secluded cultivation for years on end. Our clan has kept the array activated for months now, and all of Lake Wangyue knows it, yet not one has come knocking... Only the Li family sent people several times. Right now, there is only the Li family!"
Fei Tongyu slumped powerlessly to the ground. After a long silence, he mumbled in a muffled voice:
"Notify the Li family..."
***
Milin Commandery.
After these years of purges and reorganizations by Yu Mugao, the common people's lives had improved considerably. Most of the Yu family's profligate wastrels had lost their heads; even three of Yu Mugao's own concubine-born sons had been executed.
Yu Mugao slaughtered his own kin and divided their lands, greatly slowing the process of land annexation by the Yu clan's branches. His prestige among the common folk reached its peak, making troop conscription go very smoothly at present.
"These mortals..."
Watching the faces gazing up at him with veneration, Yu Mugao felt complex emotions stirring in his heart, not knowing what to think for a moment. Beside him, Yu Xiaogui snorted and said:
"What use are mortals? They are nothing more than helping hands. A single spell can settle whatever they can do. Things have spiraled completely out of hand in the Fei family's territory; a few Qi Refinement cultivators are all it takes to handle it."
Jolted back by his words, Yu Mugao's eyes regained their calm and venomous glint. He said in a low voice:
"Maintaining order in the occupied towns still requires these mortals... With just a tiny sliver of petty gain, they will form their own hierarchy and manage everything down to the smallest detail. No spell works better than these people!"
Flying on the wind, Yu Xiaogui sneered at his words and replied:
"Good that you understand! So long as you don't put the cart before the horse and end up like the Li family!"
"The Li family's heavy reliance on outsiders is playing with fire. It is different from us."
Yu Mugao shook his head, while Yu Xiaogui turned his face away, as if the words 'heavy reliance on outsiders' had touched upon a humiliating memory. Leading a crowd of guest elders and Yu family members, the two flew on in silence until Hanyun Peak emerged before their eyes.
The luminous white Cloud-Gathering Southern Sky Array came into view, its intricate formation patterns surfacing in the air. Yu Xiaogui looked at it quietly, a look of emotion crossing his face, and murmured:
"This array has stood on Hanyun Peak since my grandfather's time, buried beneath the dirt, until that Fei Tianxuan got lucky and established the Fei family on the spot..."
Yu Mugao stood with his hands clasped behind his back and said gently, "Back then, the Jiang family was the only one on the entire southeastern shore, was it not?"
These words immediately made Yu Xiaogui turn his head to look at him. His eldest son had governed the clan for many years, so it was hardly surprising that he knew this. Yu Xiaogui gazed toward Hanyun Peak and said:
"Indeed."
Seeing the Yu family members landing one after another before the Cloud-Gathering Southern Sky Array, Yu Xiaogui said softly:
"Before my grandfather killed his brother and murdered his mother, even I was a member of the Jiang family."
Chapter 315