"That’s rather interesting," commented Tang Xiu with a faint look that was both a smile and not.
"It’s not the only interesting fact, I tell you," continued Miao Wentang with a forced smile. "The Lian Family has been acting low-profile all these years—so inconspicuous that it feels abnormal. I’ve tried to send people to investigate them, and guess what results I got? Those men I sent were like stones who have drowned on the ocean floor. No news, no messages, nobody was known alive, and I can’t even see their corpses."
"So, you haven’t figured out the Lian Family’s situation either, then?" commented Tang Xiu calmly.
Miao Wentang took a deep breath and answered, "I already have since I did the investigation myself many times. I was finally sure that they are very abnormal and wicked. Members of this family have never known how come their ancestors are still able to live until today; even the oldest ones have been living for over 260 years. However, these ancestors rarely go out and are even seldom in their ancestral hall either."
"That’s indeed very bizarre and wicked; they can be described as evils." Tang Xiu nodded and said, "Nevertheless, I’ve already killed the Lians’ Patriarch, along with their two ancestors and more than 20 experts. Hence, I decided to come to Ning City to eradicate this ominous tumor."
Miao Wentang’s eyes turned wide in but a moment; a look of disbelief filling his face. Miao Fengling was tongue-tied and dumbstruck while staring silly at Tang Xiu.
The Lian Family’s Patriarch, Lian Bai... is dead?
Miao Wentang gulped down and asked with a shocked face, "Brother Tang, what exactly happened between you and the Lians? How come you have a conflict with them?"
"I had no grudge with them whatsoever before this incident." Tang Xiu shook his head and said, "But I happened to encounter a group of people from the Occult Sect a few days ago. They have a blood feud with the Lians, and I originally didn’t have the intention to meddle in the feud. However, the Lian Family’s ancestor unleashed a ghost device to devour the souls of all the killed people. And from them, I learned that this Ghost device is called Nine Fetuses of a Hundred Ghosts Streamer. Additionally, I learned that there’s a total of nine of them."
A Ghost device—one that can devour souls?
Miao Wentang was so astonished that he asked, "There are still such evil weapons in this world?"
"I never thought that it would exist before, either." Tang Xiu nodded and continued, "Only after I discovered the Nine Fetuses of a Hundred Ghosts Streamer was I finally aware that such Ghost devices still truly exist. For every streamer, if they want to fully refine it, they should need 77,490 souls to devour. Then, they need to torture these souls for many years, and eventually turn them into vengeful spirits without sentience, becoming an energy full of resentment, no less."
"So damn evil!" Miao Wentang’s heartbeat spiked up, along with his fury that was evident his face
Tang Xiu nodded and said, "I wouldn’t have given a damn care if those who were killed by the Lians were guilty people who deserved their punishment, but they even murdered ordinary people. It turns out that calamity has reached the center of the pond, and I still don’t know how many innocents have met a tragic end in their hands either. I think the people you’ve sent to investigate them should have probably met their doom like this as well!"
"Say what?" Miao Wentang was so flushed red that he abruptly got up from the sofa. His eyes flashed with killing intent as he said, "Brother Tang, now I finally understand why the Lians have so many of their ancestors still living, as well as why I always feel something is bizarre and wicked about them. Are these bastards not afraid of the retribution from karma and the Heavenly Dao?"
"The Lian Family has fallen into a diabolical demonic path," sneered Tang Xiu.
Miao Wentang inhaled deeply and said with a deep voice, "Brother Tang, had I not known about this fact, my family cannot easily have a blood feud with the Lians. But now, we must eradicate them so as to destroy those wicked Ghost devices. What are you planning next then, Brother Tang? My family will fully cooperative."
"How many cultivators does your family have, exactly?" asked Tang Xiu after pondering for a moment.
"Only I," answered Miao Wentang with a forced smile.
"You’re already a cultivator back when we first met; why would your family still only have one cultivator?" asked Tang Xiu with a puzzled face. "Why don’t you teach them the cultivation technique too?"
"It’s a custom set by our ancestors that my family must always have only one person to practice it: the patriarch of each generation," explained Miao Wentang. "Also, the main reason is the concern of infighting and internal competition for power and authority, which will ruin the fraternal brotherhood."
Tang Xiu quickly understood as he nodded and said, "Your cultivation is already high enough, and you still have much room for improvement in the future. You should break this established custom if possible since I think you have good family members—especially when you’re at the helm here. I’m sure that there won’t be big problems arising in the future."
"You told me that I’m not allowed to impart the cultivation technique to others back when you taught me the more profound technique. So..." Miao Wentang hesitantly said.
"I didn’t know the nature of your other family members before, so I naturally didn’t want a large number of cultivators to appear," said Tang Xiu. "Now I have changed my mind, yet my original intention still remains. You can impart to the members of your family who have good aptitude, but not too many of them. You must know that once you cultivate to a certain realm, you’ll need massive cultivation resources—and I don’t think your family can support much more than ten cultivators at a profound cultivation realm given the wealth possessed by your family now."
Miao Wentang’s complexion slightly changed and he fell into contemplation for a while. Then he said, "I’ll pick a few good family members and teach them cultivation technique since you say so. I can change the custom set by my ancestors, but I’ll also re-establish a new rule that the number of cultivators in my family must not exceed ten people!"
Tang Xiu nodded with approval and said again, "Alright. So, how about having a visit to the Lian Family’s place tonight?"
"You mean... hitting them directly?" asked Miao Wentang with a slightly changed expression.
"No. We should know ourselves and our own enemy better to be victorious." Tang Xiu shook his head and said, "I may have absolute confidence in myself, yet many things have gone down the pit due to some erroneous judgment in this world. Hence, we’re only going to investigate the Lian Family in the dark so as to figure out their strength before we hit them."
"You’re always so calm and steady, but it’s what makes you fearful, Brother Tang," sighed Miao Wentang. "If I had fearful strength and so many powerful men under me like you, I’m afraid I’d already had become an unscrupulous and reckless man. Anyway, I got no problem with the idea, so let’s set off to the Lian Family’s place tonight."
"One does have to be prudent when making a ship that could last for millenniums. Current society is quite peaceful and there’s only a small factor of risk and dangers involved in everything. But if you go to another place one day in the future, where cultivators are everywhere and strong people are as many as clouds, you’ll only last for a few days and will die should you not be careful," said Tang Xiu with a smile.
Miao Wentang was shaken and asked, "Where’s that place?"
"I can’t tell you since you won’t benefit by knowing it now." Tang Xiu waved his hand and said, "Just keep cultivating well! Someday when you have become much stronger and have surpassed the Nascent Soul Stage, I can tell you about that and even give you a huge opportunity."
"Alright!" Miao Wentang was shocked on the inside and he nodded with excitement.
Before dawn came, Tang Xiu took Miao Wentang and quietly left the Miao Family’s manor, leaving Xue Yu and Mo Awu’s group there. This time, they were heading out to gather intel, so he didn’t want to bring too many people.
****
The Lian Family’s land was a much bigger area than that of the Miao’s. It was not located inside Ning City, but in the northwestward area of the city near Qilian Mountain. In addition to the wide flat road on the southern side of the residence with a village there, the three other directions were densely forested land.
Amid the dim night, Tang Xiu and Miao Wentang were as though ghosts in darkness as they were silently closing in on the Lian Family’s manor. Tang Xiu didn’t even flinch as he had already seen numerous traps and guards hiding in the corner. However, Miao Wentang, who rarely saw such a situation, kept spotting the hiding figures of Lian Family’s clansmen, as well as finding various types of traps and surveillance devices.
"I truly never expected to find out about these!" In a dark, hidden corner, Miao Wentang sighed as he looked at the two-and-a-half-meter brick wall.
"What did you never expect, exactly?" asked Tang Xiu in a whisper.
"I never thought that the current defensive measures prepared by the Lian Family would be so strong," whispered Miao Wentang. "I was here several years ago, but I didn’t find anything out of ordinary. There had been no defensive measures at all. But now, when we just came closing in a few kilometers away, we had already discovered several guards and dozens of installed traps, as well as surveillance devices. I dare say that had the people who infiltrated this place tonight not been us, they likely would have long discovered who the infiltrators were."
"I too feel that the Lian Family is very particular in this sense." Tang Xiu nodded and said, "I’m suddenly regretting easily killing the Lian Family’s Head a bit now."
"All the Lian Family’s ancestors are the most inner circle of this family. All of them had once served as the Patriarch in the past. They are also the ones who know the Lians inside out. Had you tortured and squeezed out some information from him, you could’ve gotten a lot of useful intel."
"Alright, let’s go inside!"
Tang Xiu took out two Invisibility Charms. After placing one on Miao Wentang’s body, his body floated and directly flew over the electric grid on the tall wall, then quickly entered the interior of Lian Family’s manor. Miao Wentang, however, was slightly startled when he saw Tang Xiu fly up and jump over in such an ostentatious manner. He couldn’t help but inwardly shout. But then, he recalled how powerful Tang Xiu was, so he gritted his teeth and jumped over as well.
As they came inside, a dense coverage of trees and planted flowers greeted them, as well as their flowery scent that wafted with the night wind and assailed their nostrils.
"Why did you sneak inside in such an ostentatious manner, Brother Tang?" questioned Miao Wentang with a low voice after following Tang Xiu. There was a forced smile on his face, however.
Tang Xiu only gave him a faint smile in response. He didn’t explain anything to him, but instead directly headed to the other side of the woods. Even on the edge of the woods, there were two men of the Lian Family smoking there, and yet, he still waltzed in nonchalantly.
’What? Didn’t he say that he’d come here to investigate? How come he just waltzed in so casually? Is he not afraid that he’ll be discovered?’
Miao Wentang wanted to scream out loud to warn Tang Xiu, but the next scene made his eyes nearly pop out.
It was because Tang Xiu walked right to the front of the two smoking men. He even halted his pace and waved to them with a beaming smile.
It made Miao Wentang completely dumbfounded. Never once did it occur to him that he’d see such a bizarre scene. Tang Xiu obviously stopped right before those two members of Lian Family, but they seemed to be unaware about him. They seemingly couldn’t see him at all and just kept smoking and talking to each other.
"Dammit! This is beyond fantasy!"
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