The journey was uneventful.

After several days of travel, the three—Wei Tu, Kou Hongying, and Qi Feng—arrived at Tian Shuang Ridge, the home of the Xuanhou Qi Clan.

Tian Shuang Ridge spanned several hundred li. The vegetation here was lush and vibrant, the mountain paths cloaked in thick greenery. From time to time, the calls of apes echoed between the cliffs.

“A long time ago, there weren’t any ape-type spirit beasts in Tian Shuang Ridge. But after our ancestor subdued the Xuan Frost Monkey, more and more types of apes began living here…” Qi Feng followed behind Wei Tu, her face softening with nostalgia upon seeing her family’s homeland.

Two years ago, when she had been sold to the Jiu Yun Merchant Guild by her second uncle Qi Changdao to repay a debt, she had lost all hope, thinking she’d never get the chance to return home in this life.

She believed she’d never set foot on this land again.

Yet now—

She had been taken in by Wei Tu as a concubine. Relying on the power and status of this Foundation Establishment cultivator, she finally saw a chance to exact her revenge.

While Qi Feng was wrapped in her emotions, Wei Tu had already, without a word, set up several hidden traps along the former mountain pass of Tian Shuang Ridge.

—After that battle with Si Qing, he had reflected on what led to his success. From then on, before entering any dangerous place, he would always quietly lay traps.

These traps weren’t just for use against enemies. They were also his backup plan.

If he ever encountered someone too powerful to fight, the traps could slow them down and buy him time to escape.

“Let’s go. With me here, they won’t dare make things difficult for you.” After placing the talisman box back into his storage pouch, Wei Tu looked at the hesitant Qi Feng and spoke in a calm voice.

“Thank you, Senior Wei.” Hearing that, Qi Feng felt a great sense of relief. A slight blush even appeared on her cheeks.

Afterward—

Wei Tu confirmed once more with Qi Feng the topography of the Xuanhou Qi Clan’s ancestral grounds and the details of the protective formation guarding the clan. Only then did he begin moving toward the main entrance of the territory.

Most Foundation Establishment families had their own protective formations. These varied in strength, but the most powerful could even slay multiple Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The protective formation of the Xuanhou Qi Clan was called the “Three-Mountain Golden Blade Array.” It combined offensive, illusion, and defensive effects into one and was classified as a mid-grade Tier Two formation.

If not for Qi Feng, the daughter of a former clan leader who knew the weaknesses of the formation, Wei Tu wouldn’t have dared charge in even with Kou Hongying by his side.

—Clan formations were like iron walls. Without overwhelming strength, breaking through them from the outside was nearly impossible.

That’s why ninety-nine percent of Foundation Establishment clans, even if all their Foundation Establishment elders had died, still wouldn’t collapse immediately.

Their downfalls were usually due to internal strife—scattered hearts, unfilial descendants—gradually letting a once-strong foundation fall into someone else’s hands.

Qi Feng’s act of offering up the clan treasure to Wei Tu, though she had her reasons, was technically just another example of that.

Of course—

Seeking revenge for herself wasn’t something anyone could blame her for.

A short while later.

The three of them arrived at the main entrance of the Qi Clan territory.

When they were still a few hundred steps away, Wei Tu came to a halt. After a moment of thought, he pulled out a talisman token from his sleeve and sent it flying into the earthy yellow light barrier covering the Qi Clan’s territory.

With his eyesight, he could easily tell this yellow barrier was the very “Three-Mountain Golden Blade Array” that Qi Feng had mentioned.

After the talisman was sent out—

Roughly the time it took to drink a cup of tea later—

A gray-robed middle-aged man with a knife scar on his face arrived at the clan’s front gate, flanked by a number of cultivators.

“Senior Wei’s visit to our Qi Clan—may I ask what the purpose is?” The gray-robed man scanned Wei Tu a few times, and when his eyes landed on the woman dressed in a married woman’s attire behind Wei Tu—Qi Feng—his expression first showed surprise, then turned full of caution.

“That scar-faced man is my second uncle, Qi Changdao.” Qi Feng whispered in Wei Tu’s ear.

Wei Tu gave a slight nod. His gaze shifted toward Qi Changdao, and he cupped his hands as he spoke, “Clan Leader Qi, I’ve come to your esteemed clan in hopes of purchasing your clan’s ‘Cold Crystal Flower.’ I hope Clan Leader Qi will be kind enough to sell this spirit herb to me.”

“Cold Crystal Flower?” When Qi Changdao heard those three words, he cast a dark glare at Qi Feng. Of course, he now understood that Qi Feng must’ve told Wei Tu about the Cold Crystal Flower being in the clan’s possession.

He cursed inwardly—a traitor in the house is the hardest to guard against—then, after a brief moment of thought, he replied, “So Senior Wei is interested in buying the Cold Crystal Flower. Naturally, our Qi Clan is willing to sell. However… what price does Senior Wei offer for this item?”

To Qi Changdao, Wei Tu was clearly a troublesome guest. If he could send him away with just one Cold Crystal Flower, it would be a good outcome.

—Although the Cold Crystal Flower was a rare body refinement medicine with considerable value, it had been stored for several centuries, and its medicinal power had already significantly declined.

So to the Qi Clan, the flower wasn’t actually that precious anymore.

Still, in front of the clan members, Qi Changdao couldn’t appear too submissive. If he disregarded his authority as clan leader, he’d be looked down upon.

“What price does Clan Leader Qi think is fair?” Wei Tu smiled faintly, throwing the question back at Qi Changdao to let him name the price himself.

Without a Foundation Establishment cultivator to lead them, the current Xuanhou Qi Clan—even with their “turtle shell” protective formation—was already filled with internal panic.

At a time like this, the Qi Clan wouldn’t dare provoke two Foundation Establishment cultivators.

If Qi Changdao set the price too high, he’d offend Wei Tu. Too low, and his clansmen would resent him and lose respect for him.

It was a dilemma.

A calculated trap.

And in this tense moment, Kou Hongying added even more pressure on Qi Changdao.

Kou Hongying revealed her sect identity token, her face cold as she said, “Clan Leader Qi, since this is a business matter, isn’t it a bit rude not to invite me and Talisman Master Wei inside to sit down first?”

As soon as her sect token appeared, the Qi Clan cultivators all exchanged looks, unsure what to do.

The Three Great Immortal Sects were the overlords of Zheng Kingdom’s cultivation world. They held real authority over the local clans and rogue cultivators alike.

Rogue cultivators still had some freedom. If they didn’t like the big sects, they could simply retreat into the deep mountains and forests and disappear.

But clan cultivators were different…

Clan cultivators had elders above and children below. With too many ties and burdens, it was difficult for them to act recklessly without consequences.

Kou Hongying, though merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Mirror Water Pavilion, wasn’t enough to represent the sect. But to the Xuanhou Qi Clan, who lacked a Foundation Establishment cultivator of their own, they could only tremble before her, not daring to act rashly.

—Without a Foundation Establishment presence, the Qi Clan had no way to engage with the upper echelon of the Mirror Water Pavilion. They were at her mercy.

Being cut off from direct contact with the sect’s higher-ups, Kou Hongying’s authority, in theory, became limitless in the eyes of a minor clan like the Qi Clan.

This was no different from how petty officials in the mortal world bullied commoners.

Petty officials held no true office, yet common folk feared them even more than they feared actual officials.

This was precisely why Kou Hongying had volunteered to accompany Wei Tu on this trip to the Xuanhou Qi Clan.

In terms of combat strength, Kou Hongying wasn’t as strong as Wei Tu. But in status within the cultivation world, Wei Tu, as a rogue Foundation Establishment cultivator, was far below her, a sect cultivator of one of the Three Great Immortal Sects.

For ordinary powers—especially those without Foundation Establishment cultivators—facing sect cultivators was like confronting a fierce beast. They feared and yielded instinctively.

That’s why even though Qi Changdao and the others from the Qi Clan clearly sensed that Wei Tu and Kou Hongying might not be here with good intentions, they still had to weigh whether or not to open the protective formation and let the two into the ancestral grounds.

Refusing today was easy.

But afterward, if these two Foundation Establishment cultivators wanted revenge, the Qi Clan’s current strength wouldn’t be able to withstand it.

“Clan Leader Qi, have you decided what price you’re asking for that Cold Crystal Flower?” Wei Tu didn’t give Qi Changdao any room to breathe, pressing him for an answer.

After a few moments passed and Qi Changdao still said nothing, Wei Tu smiled lightly and added, “No need to be so nervous, Clan Leader Qi. Now that Qi Feng is my concubine, you and I are family. I won’t make a fuss over a small matter like this.”

The moment these words were spoken—

Qi Changdao, who had been wearing a tight frown, abruptly looked up. His eyes widened in shock as he glanced at Wei Tu. Then he immediately stepped back a few paces, casting a guarded look around at the surrounding Qi Clan cultivators.

Even if he had been a fool, he would’ve understood by now.

That whole performance earlier by Wei Tu and Kou Hongying was nothing but a setup—designed to stir internal strife within the Qi Clan, and incite the other clan members to open the protective formation for them.

The Cold Crystal Flower was just a cover. If he hesitated even a little, he would fall right into Wei Tu’s trap.

In this way—

Wei Tu had successfully shaken the foundation of his authority among the Qi Clan members.

After that, Kou Hongying had revealed her identity as a sect cultivator, shifting the pressure onto the shoulders of the clan members.

The final move—

Wei Tu publicly acknowledged Qi Feng as his concubine. This was the killing blow to Qi Changdao’s hold over the clan.

—Now that Wei Tu could be seen as extended family, Qi Changdao, whose rise to power had been questionable to begin with, no longer had the people’s support.

Moreover, Kou Hongying’s identity as a sect cultivator gave the clan members a “safe” path to side with.

Though the great sects were domineering, they were still considered righteous and held themselves to some basic standards.

“Clan Leader, please open the formation and welcome Talisman Master Wei and Fairy Kou into the clan. Our Xuanhou Qi Clan welcomes both of them to trade within our grounds.”

At this point, an elder with a horse-like face who had been standing beside Qi Changdao suddenly turned serious. He fixed his gaze on Qi Changdao and spoke in a heavy tone.

“Elder Third, you!” Qi Changdao’s face went pale with disbelief upon hearing the elder speak out.

In the Qi Clan, he had always seen this elder as one of his most trusted aides.

“Clan Leader, now that Qi Feng has brought two Foundation Establishment cultivators here, even if we avoid opening the formation today, we can’t avoid them forever.” The horse-faced elder sighed as he tried to persuade him.

Qi Changdao wavered at these words, but his fear of Qi Feng’s revenge kept him from acting.

Seeing this, the horse-faced elder continued, “The former clan leader had a deep foundation. But you’ve only been in charge for two years—your position isn’t solid yet.”

“Back then, the clan members let you become the leader because you were a ninth-layer Qi Cultivation cultivator and the brother of the former clan head. But now… Qi Feng has become the concubine of Wei Tu, a Foundation Establishment cultivator.”

“If this continues, your seat as clan leader will be hard to hold onto.”

Then the horse-faced elder paused before adding, “As for giving Qi Feng away to repay the clan’s debt—yes, you had your own selfish reasons. But if not for that opportunity, how else could she have managed to cling to someone like Wei Tu?”

“She should be thanking you!”

This reasoning finally eased Qi Changdao’s suspicions. He looked at the clan members who clearly held hostility toward him, sighed, and made up his mind.

He reached into his robes and pulled out a pale green formation plate. After injecting three waves of mana into it—

A thick green beam of light shot from the plate, striking the yellow protective barrier around the Qi Clan’s ancestral grounds.

The yellow shield trembled a few times before splitting open, revealing a wide path leading into the territory.

“Please, Senior Wei and Fairy Kou, come inside. My Xuanhou Qi Clan welcomes the two of you to conduct business within our land.” Qi Changdao put on a smile and adopted a humble attitude.

After speaking, Qi Changdao turned to Qi Feng, who stood behind Wei Tu. His face showed a fawning smile as he stepped forward and said, “Little Feng, you’ve suffered. Now that you’re following Senior Wei, good days are ahead for you.”

However—

Before he could finish the sentence—

A splash of blood appeared right before his eyes. The next thing he knew, he felt his head spin a few times in the air. When he finally hit the ground, he saw his own headless body.

“What… how?” Qi Changdao froze, unable to comprehend why he had met such an end after opening the formation.

Before he could figure it out—

Darkness swallowed his vision, and he was no more.

“Three-Mountain Golden Blade Array?” Wei Tu flicked his sleeve, using his mana to pull the pale green formation plate from Qi Changdao’s hand. After glancing at it briefly, he placed it into his storage pouch.

The “Three-Mountain Golden Blade Array” was an integrated offense-defense formation. Just because he was now inside didn’t mean he was completely safe…

On the contrary, once inside the formation, he would be even more at risk than he had been outside.

So for the sake of his own safety, Wei Tu could never let Qi Changdao live and continue controlling the protective formation of the Xuanhou Qi Clan.

As for honor and credibility…

When dealing with someone like Qi Changdao, such things were meaningless. Moreover, Wei Tu had never made any promises or guarantees to him before the formation was opened.

Forcing Qi Changdao to open the formation had always been part of his premeditated strategy.

“Qi Changdao—eating from the clan, yet betraying the clan—falsely forged debts with the Jiu Yun Merchant Guild to gain cultivation resources for himself, and even sold female cultivators from the Qi Clan…”

“Today, I, Wei Tu, execute him here. I ask that fellow Daoists understand.”

After beheading Qi Changdao, Wei Tu turned to the other Qi Clan cultivators and expressed goodwill.

—He wasn’t entirely sure whether the clan’s debt was real or fake. But he did know that no matter how desperate a family was, they shouldn’t have to sell off their own daughters to repay debts. Let alone the daughter of a clan head.

That alone was enough for Wei Tu to deem him guilty and deserving of death.

Eliminating the main culprit during clan struggles for power was not uncommon.

And with this action, Wei Tu had also righted the injustice for Qi Feng, the daughter of the previous clan head.

So, after hearing Wei Tu’s explanation, the hearts of the Qi Clan cultivators finally settled.

After all, with Wei Tu’s cultivation, wiping out the entire clan would’ve been an effortless task. He had no need to feign mercy or pretend kindness at this point.

…

Half a day later.

Wei Tu and Qi Feng arrived at the forbidden zone within the Qi Clan territory.

This forbidden zone was a stone forest spanning several miles, filled with uneven gray stone pillars. Between the pillars grew various low-grade spiritual herbs.

At the center of the stone forest stood an open space where a grand and resplendent palace had been built.

“That palace is officially the clan’s treasure vault. It stores the clan’s magical tools, spirit herbs, and other items,” Qi Feng explained as she led the way.

“But in truth… that palace is just a decoy that the old ancestor put up.”

“The true foundation of our clan isn’t inside the palace, but hidden within this stone forest.”

While speaking, Qi Feng walked up to the seventh stone pillar on the left side of the forest.

There, she injected several strands of mana into a corner of the pillar. Immediately, a faint white glow lit up—an activation of restriction magic.

Then, Qi Feng gently opened her mouth and retrieved a black pearl the size of a longan fruit from her body. She pressed it against the stone pillar.

Crack! Crack!

The base of the stone pillar split open, revealing a narrow opening only half a foot wide—just enough for one person to slip through.

Wei Tu glanced at Kou Hongying and gave her a signal, gesturing for her to watch over Qi Feng. Then he used Instant Step and slipped into the crevice.

“Daoist Qi, wait here for now. Once Uncle Wei has finished exploring, you may enter,” Kou Hongying understood the cue and temporarily sealed Qi Feng’s movement with mana.

…

Once inside the stone crack—

Wei Tu was greeted by a long, seemingly endless underground passage.

“Go,” he whispered, tapping his storage pouch and releasing several spider-shaped puppets, each about the size of a fist, to scout ahead.

These spider puppets were low-grade constructs he had picked up while buying a “Swordsman Puppet” from Yu the Puppet Master.

They weren’t suited for combat but were perfect for exploration.

“No signs of danger.” Seeing that the spider puppets had made it through unharmed and triggered no traps, Wei Tu let out a soft breath.

Following the trail left by the spider puppets, he proceeded to the end of the tunnel.

At the end, he saw a neatly built white jade platform several zhang wide.

On top of the platform lay a pale yellow jade slip and a gray meditation cushion.

“So this is the foundation treasure of the Qi Clan?” Wei Tu frowned, raising his hand to pull the jade slip into his palm and began to examine its contents carefully.

A quarter-hour passed.

Wei Tu set the jade slip down and began probing every inch of the white jade platform using his divine sense and the Geomagnetic Yuan Light, searching for hidden mechanisms.

The jade slip itself didn’t contain much information. It only recorded the alchemical method for creating a heavenly material called “Immortal Spirit Dew.”

Wei Tu suspected that this dew was the true root of the Qi Clan’s power.

Time passed slowly.

Finally, under the meditation cushion, Wei Tu discovered a hidden mechanism. He pressed it lightly.

The center of the white jade platform sank inward, revealing a wooden sculpture of a baby about the size of a fist, colored a dark green. It sat cross-legged, its eyes closed, and its hands formed a strange seal.

In the baby statue’s mouth was a finger-length pill bottle.

“That bottle… could it contain the ‘Immortal Spirit Dew’?” Wei Tu’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

In all his years in the cultivation world, this was the first time he’d seen such a strange item.

After observing it for a long while—

Wei Tu finally confirmed that the so-called “foundation treasure” of the Xuanhou Qi Clan was indeed the “Immortal Spirit Dew” secreted from the mouth of this baby statue.

However, what puzzled him was that the baby statue was neither wood nor metal. It didn’t seem like a natural spiritual object, but more like some kind of flesh-and-blood artifact created through human means.

Something akin to a “Qi Sac Pouch.”

Lifting the statue aside, Wei Tu found another jade slip beneath it—one inscribed with the same method for producing “Immortal Spirit Dew.”

This one recorded the Qi Clan ancestors’ generations of study and exploration of the baby statue.

From it, Wei Tu learned that this artifact was called the “Myriad Spirits Demon Infant,” and that it was closely connected to the Wanling Cult.

One ancestor had even speculated that this Demon Infant held secrets about how Wanling Cult Golden Core cultivators broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm.

“How did the Qi Clan get their hands on something like the Myriad Spirits Demon Infant?” Wei Tu muttered, shaking his head as he read.

The Qi Clan had founded their lineage over a thousand years ago, but they were still just a Foundation Establishment clan. They had never once produced a Golden Core cultivator.

Yet this “Myriad Spirits Demon Infant” was clearly something beyond the reach of a Foundation Establishment-level cultivator.

“If the Immortal Spirit Dew can enhance a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s power, why has the Qi Clan never produced a Golden Core cultivator?” Wei Tu suddenly realized the contradiction—and felt a mix of excitement and concern.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep