"Alright."
Xu Mingwei responded, gathering magical power into his eyes. Instantly, his eyes seemed to burst with golden light as his pupils transformed, becoming golden eagle eyes.
Previously, although he could see the general situation, some finer details weren't quite clear but under the golden eagle eyes, everything happening on the battlefield was reflected in his vision, including the faces of those lying on the ground.
Shortly after, he discovered weapons scattered on the ground with the character "Ge" carved on their sides.
"The ones being surrounded are the Ge family?"
Everyone showed shocked expressions. They had just mentioned the Ge family, and so quickly they encountered the Ge family's people, and they were in danger.
"Third Brother, I have to say your intuition is really useful." Xu Mingyuan smiled lightly.
"There are six immortal cultivators attacking. Just one for each person." Xu Mingwei looked toward Xu Dezhao and Xu Deling, "Zhao'er, Ling'er, remember not to hold back. You must be quick, accurate, and ruthless. Their highest strength should only be the seventh layer of Qi Refining."
"Big Brother, how do you know?" Xu Mingshu asked in surprise. "At such a distance, you shouldn't be able to sense it, right?"
"Big Brother, your intuition is also that accurate?" Xu Mingshu asked again.
Xu Mingyuan shook his head with a rueful smile, "Fourth Sister, Big Brother is seriously fooling you. What realm is Big Brother? Watching them fight, he can naturally judge their realm roughly."
"I..." Xu Mingshu wanted to curse, but Xu Mingwei instantly blocked her mouth with words, saying, "I'm going first."
Xu Mingwei immediately stopped, patted his storage bag, and the Ink Flood Dragon Bow appeared in his hand. Its form seemed different from before.
Both the bow body and arrows showed a dark golden color, with much more complex patterns on them.
This was the new Ink Flood Dragon Bow that Xu Chuan had Wu Mingsheng help upgrade first.
The treasure bow's grade had already reached superior quality, still nine arrows, but all were middle-grade magical artifacts.
When the entire set of magical artifacts appeared, the pressure it emitted was already close to some fine-quality magical artifacts.
Besides this, the bow's pure force had increased again. The new Ink Flood Dragon Bow probably required a mid grandmaster stage martial artist using innate true qi to draw it to full capacity.
Even grandmaster peak cultivators couldn't draw it many times but for Xu Mingwei, it was just right.
His Innate Divine Strength didn't stop increasing his physical strength just because he took the immortal Dao. It just didn't increase as much as if he had taken the martial Dao.
Seeing this, several people immediately rushed forward at full speed.
Ten-plus li wasn't far. They could arrive in moments.
Seeing this, Xu Mingwei smiled lightly and deliberately waited for them a bit.
"Who goes there!"
Xu Mingyuan and the others rushed forward without restraint at full speed, so their auras naturally couldn't be hidden from those immortal cultivators.
An old man in dark robes with graying hair and beard suddenly furrowed his brows. He wore a Daoist topknot with a peach wood hairpin. Turning to look, he saw five people had already charged nearby.
"Who dares obstruct my Zhu family's..."
"We are the Ge family of Guangling Commandery. Please help..."
The two almost spoke simultaneously, but before their words were finished, they saw a black lightning bolt break through clouds and pierce the sky, flashing past the five people and instantly shooting through the forehead of the dark-robed old man.
Boom~
The ground let out a rumble as the dark-robed old man was directly nailed dead in a giant crater in the ground.
The sudden change left both the Zhu and Ge families without time to react before the five had already charged into the battlefield.
They saw a dark shadow suddenly fly from Xu Mingxuan's sleeve robe, and a Zhu family immortal cultivator had his heart pierced through. Before everyone could see clearly what that shadow was, they saw it drill back into his sleeve robe.
Xu Mingshu and Xu Mingyuan were more normal, directly controlling flying swords, forcibly overwhelming with seventh layer Qi Refining magical power, killing one person in seven or eight moves. However, by the time the two finished killing, Xu Dezhao had also quickly slain one person, giving him no chance to call out.
And Xu Deling was even faster, a gray rope silently bound one person, then with a sweep of her sleeve robe, two sword lights in a scissor formation struck and killed that person in one blow.
This magical artifact was indeed a pair of scissors, but two magical artifacts cleverly combined.
With one cut, its power was not inferior to middle-grade magical artifacts.
In just over a dozen breaths, all the Zhu family cultivators were completely dead.
The remaining six Ge family members all stared blankly, weapons raised in mid-air, not lowering them for a long while.
"Huh, you are... Xu Mingxuan?!"
Hearing this, Xu Mingxuan turned to look. He saw a bearded man with many wounds on his chest, tattered and bloodstained clothes, staring at him with wide eyes.
"You look somewhat familiar."
"It's me, Ge Xuanhong, your former superior officer!"
"Officer Ge." Xu Mingxuan suddenly grinned, "With your face full of beard, I almost didn't recognize you. How did you end up looking like this? I remember you were as handsome as me."
The corner of Ge Xuanhong's mouth twitched slightly, "You haven't changed much, just matured a bit."
"Of course, I'm already the father of two children."
Ge Xuanhong smiled slightly, then said to the others, "Everyone, put away your weapons. He's a brother I knew in the army."
Only then did the others relax the tense strings in their minds.
Xu Mingyuan scanned around. Among the surviving Ge family members, there were four grandmasters, one at the fifth layer of Qi Refining, and one at the sixth layer.
One of them let out a long breath, "I thought we were dead for sure this time. Who'd have thought the Zhu family would send so many people, as if they knew in advance that what we were carrying this trip was valuable."
"Are you saying there's a traitor in the clan?"
"Don't say more. May I dare ask whether you all are rogue cultivators or disciples of some family?"
Just then, a black light flew over, which was Xu Mingwei.
He beckoned with one hand, and the arrow on the ground flew back to his side, which he collected into his storage bag.
"We come from Yuehu Commandery, the Xu family!" Xu Mingwei said indifferently.
They had all concealed their realms.
Except for Xu Dezhao, the others had all cultivated the Breath Concealment Technique to great accomplishment, able to conceal three minor realms.
Xu Dezhao could only conceal two layers.
Therefore, in the eyes of the Ge family immortal cultivators, Xu Dezhao was at the fifth layer of Qi Refining, and Xu Deling at the fourth layer.
As elders, Xu Mingyuan and the others only concealed one minor realm, showing the sixth layer of Qi Refining.
Xu Mingwei displayed the realm of the seventh layer of Qi Refining.
The middle-aged immortal cultivator at the sixth layer of Qi Refining from the Ge family immediately exclaimed in surprise, "The Xu family of Yuehu Commandery, the newly rising immortal cultivation family in Yuehu Commandery after the Su family's fall."
"Oh, Fellow Daoist has heard of my Xu family?"
"I've heard a bit."
Yuehu Commandery was right next to Guangling Commandery. When two Foundation Establishment families erupted in all-out war, the immortal cultivation families of Guangling Commandery would definitely pay some attention.
He had heard the clan elders mention it before.
This Xu family seemed to develop extremely quickly, becoming a fifth-rank immortal cultivation family in less than a century from an ordinary county family.
It was rumored that the Xu family produced two geniuses, which was why they developed so rapidly.
The middle-aged Ge family cultivator observed carefully. Looking at their realms and ages, he felt they probably weren't the so-called prodigies of the Xu family.
"This is my Third Uncle, Ge Yanfeng. Everyone here is from the third branch of our Ge family." Ge Xuanhong smiled at Xu Mingxuan, then asked again, "And they are?"
"They're all my clan members. We came out to travel together this time."
Xu Mingyuan said, "We were just heading to Guangling Commandery this trip. Seeing injustice, we drew our swords to help."
Drew your swords to help by wiping them all out, right?
Ge Xuanhong grumbled inwardly, but his gratitude for their intervention was sincere. Without them, probably none of them would have survived.
Better a dead Fellow Daoist than a dead poor Daoist!
The death of the Zhu family immortal cultivators was better than their own deaths.
"I heard my third brother say your Ge family is a great clan of Guangling Commandery. Could you show us some hospitality?"
"That's only proper. Even if strangers saved our lives, we should repay them. Moreover, traveling together with you all, we'll be much safer."
Speaking, Ge Xuanhong looked at Ge Yanfeng, who nodded slightly.
The injured took pills. After Ge Yanfeng organized the deceased's belongings and collected their bodies into storage bags, the group set off for the commandery city.
Most of the dead were guards. Ge Yanfeng and the others showed no great sorrow in their eyes.
As long as one's own close relatives didn't die, most people were like this.
Just like watching others get beaten, it seems painful to watch, but exactly how painful it is, if the beating doesn't fall on oneself, it's hard to truly understand.
Seeing Xu Mingxuan again, Ge Xuanhong was quite happy.
After all, Xu Mingxuan had saved his life on the battlefield back then, and the two had even sworn brotherhood.
"Brother Xu, how did you suddenly become an immortal cultivator? I remember you were clearly a martial artist."
"It's a long story. Back then, my Xu family hadn't encountered immortal cultivators yet and didn't know I actually had talent for immortal cultivation."
"Earlier, my Third Uncle said your Xu family only became an immortal cultivation family in the last two years?"
"That's right. My Xu family barely qualifies as a fifth-rank immortal cultivation family. Brother Ge, what about your Ge family? You should be quite strong in Guangling Commandery, right?"
"Haha, I won't hide it from you. You could find this out with a little inquiry in the commandery city anyway. My Ge family in Guangling Commandery is second only to the two Foundation Establishment families. Our strength may fluctuate, but we can basically rank in the top four."
Speaking, Ge Xuanhong's eyes were full of pride.
"That strong? Then how were you still ambushed?"
"That's also a long story, related to Guangling Commandery's situation. The two Foundation Establishment families, Wei and Feng, fight each other. We Qi Refining families have no choice but to take sides. Otherwise, we'll inevitably suffer attacks from both sides. My Ge family aligned with the Wei family, while those who ambushed us are the Zhu family who aligned with the other side. How could the Zhu family's overall strength match our Ge family?”
“But we're only one branch of the Ge family's four branches. With the Feng family there, even if our Ge family is furious, we can't carry out clan extermination against the Zhu family, and vice versa. Therefore, the two major faction camps frequently clash and struggle with each other. The strength of each Qi Refining family basically fluctuates once every twenty to thirty years."
Hearing this, Xu Mingwei, Xu Mingyuan, and the others all fell into thought.
Although this situation seemed clear, it was even more complex than Yuehu Commandery.
Ge Yanfeng suddenly said, "How is Yuehu Commandery now? I heard the Su family was destroyed and the Zhou family dominates alone. It must not be easy, I imagine."
Xu Mingxuan smiled lightly, "Third Uncle Ge misunderstands."
"Third Uncle?"
Ge Xuanhong laughed heartily, "Third Uncle, Mingxuan saved my life. We swore brotherhood."
"I see."
Ge Yanfeng no longer worried about the form of address but in the eyes of those who didn't know, they'd probably think the two families were relatives.
"How is it a misunderstanding?"
"Although the Zhou family dominates, their behavior and actions are still fairly just. At least in these two years, we haven't heard of any oppression of other Qi Refining families. Each family in our Yuehu Commandery develops independently, but when encountering each other in deep mountain forests, friction is inevitable, mutually deepening grudges. If the grudges are truly too deep and difficult to mediate, they may evolve to a life-or-death situation."
"The Zhou family doesn't intervene?" Ge Yanfeng was surprised.
"Why should they intervene?" Xu Mingxuan was equally puzzled.
Ge Yanfeng sighed, "It's common for immortal cultivation families to fight over resources, but if it reaches the point of clan extermination hatred, then inevitably one family will perish. This is not good for the overall strength of the entire commandery.”
“After all, the emergence and development of immortal cultivation families takes centuries to calculate. No wonder your Yuehu Commandery ranks at the bottom among Great Wei's twenty-two commanderies. With such chaos, how can the number of immortal cultivation families compare to other commandery cities?"
Your Guangling Commandery isn't much better.
Xu Mingxuan grumbled inwardly. With such continuous killing, no wonder Qi Refining families find it hard to progress further.
If one day resources and the number of immortal cultivators can't keep up, the family will inevitably gradually weaken.
"Third Uncle Ge, have the Foundation Establishment families of your Guangling Commandery always been the Wei and Feng families?"
"It seems to have been so for the past three hundred years."
Xu Mingyuan's brows furrowed slightly. Three hundred years of Foundation Establishment families, their foundation could be far deeper than the former Su family.
Half a day later.
Several people arrived at the Ge family's clan territory.
"Huh, the Ge family isn't in the commandery city?" Xu Mingxuan asked.
Ge Xuanhong smiled, "True great Qi Refining clans naturally seek out spiritual energy nodes around the commandery city as their clan territory. How can the spiritual energy concentration there compare to what's in the commandery city? Only Qi Refining families with shallower foundations, because the spiritual energy nodes were occupied early, can only occupy a piece of territory within the commandery city.”
“However, I've heard that spiritual energy nodes aren't fixed either. Every hundred or even several hundred years, if the earth veins shift, new spiritual energy nodes may appear, or existing spiritual energy nodes may change. That's when our Guangling Commandery's killing is fiercest. To fight for a superior location rich with spiritual energy, each family brings out all their foundation."
Xu Mingxuan nodded slightly, "Understandable. Places with spiritual energy are indeed extremely important to immortal cultivators."
The Xu family also had many matters restricted by spiritual energy concentration.
"Your Xu family, as a newly promoted Qi Refining family, I imagine Yuehu Commandery's spiritual energy nodes were already beyond your family's reach, right?"
"Who says otherwise?" Xu Mingxuan went along with his meaning.
Actually, regarding this aspect, he wasn't too clear either.
Spiritual energy matters were basically handled by Xu Chuan and Xu Mingxian.
And at least currently, their Xu family residing in Dongxi was fairly good. How it would be in the future was hard to say.
Ge Xuanhong and Ge Yanfeng had them wait in the main hall while they first went to report what had happened to the family head.
Xu Mingyuan transmitted, "Big Brother, it seems the Ge family's branches each form their own faction, competing and developing independently. Probably only when facing outsiders or encountering major matters do they consult unanimously."
"This is also one direction for a family." Xu Mingwei transmitted back. "Actually, if our Xu family continues for four to five hundred years, it may also evolve to this. After all, we can't decide how descendants will think or act. Unless we can always remain alive."
"Four to five hundred years, we'd need to become Golden Core cultivators. That's too distant. Whether we can even achieve Foundation Establishment is hard to say now."
Xu Deling curiously examined the hall.
This hall clearly had a sense of ancient age.
The stone steps paved with bluestone at the entrance had been worn into depressions by the years, each worn spot seeming to record traces of Ge clan disciples' comings and goings.
On the wall facing the entrance hung a black wood plaque reading "Dunqiu Spreads Fragrance."
In the center of the floor was a carved Taiji yin-yang fish pattern, lifelike.
The gold dragon patterns on the eight coiled dragon pillars had dimmed somewhat, with visible repair marks.
The bronze bells suspended between the beams were carved with dust-avoiding incantations. When they moved without wind, they made hoarse sounds, like an old person sighing.
On the curio shelf on the east side were placed some antique porcelain, bronze three-legged small cauldrons, coral jade objects, etc.
Each had hundreds of years of history. In the mortal world, they'd be worth at least several hundred to thousands of taels, but in the eyes of immortal cultivation families, they were merely decorative playthings.
"Big Brother, the Ge family's foundation is not shallow." Xu Deling transmitted.
Xu Dezhao smiled in response, "In all of Guangling Commandery, second only to Foundation Establishment families. How shallow could their foundation be? Probably not much inferior to the Zhou family before they became a Foundation Establishment family."
"Then doesn't that mean the Ge family just lacks a Foundation Establishment expert to become a Foundation Establishment family?"
"Uh, it's not quite like that. Any family that produces a Foundation Establishment expert can become a Foundation Establishment family. The same is true for our Xu family. If Grandfather or Father, or Fifth Uncle and the others, if any one person can advance, our Xu family can have far fewer worries. Trading with other commanderies wouldn't require being so cautious."
"That's true." Xu Deling nodded slightly.
Moments later, a maid came in to serve tea, along with someone dressed as a steward.
"Distinguished guests, please wait in the hall. Lord Xuanhong and Lord Yanfeng will return shortly."
"As it should be." Xu Mingxuan said.
…
Ge family, family head's study.
"Father, the general situation of this trip is as such." Ge Xuanhong looked at an old man in black robes with gray hair and cupped his hands.
This person was the family head of the Ge family's third branch, Ge Yanhua.
He was also a late ninth layer Qi Refining immortal cultivator.
"Second Brother, if the Zhu family only had a few martial artists or low-level immortal cultivators guarding that road, that would be normal. But this time, they deployed six immortal cultivators, and one was an elder of the Zhu family at the seventh layer of Qi Refining. This matter is absolutely not coincidental. Even the Wei and Feng families couldn't be so extravagant as to have late Qi Refining immortal cultivators do such things."
Ge Yanhua sighed slightly, "This matter affects everything. We can only investigate secretly. However, that you could return safely is already a great fortune. If you had all died out there this time, the strength of our third branch would have dropped."
Ge Yanfeng smiled lightly at Ge Xuanhong, "It's thanks to Xuanhong making a good brother. It's just that the Xu family is only a newly promoted immortal cultivation family. Their intentions in coming to our Guangling Commandery are unclear. Generally, aside from Foundation Establishment families, rarely do Qi Refining families from each commandery extend their hands to other commandery cities to take resources."
"Third Uncle, whether Mingxuan and the others came to our Guangling Commandery to compete for immortal cultivation resources isn't certain yet. Don't rush to conclusions."
Ge Yanhua said indifferently, "This is proper vigilance. Even members of the same branch compete with each other for resources, let alone a brother family from another commandery with a different surname."
"This child understands." Ge Xuanhong cupped his hands and bowed.
"However, since they are your lifesavers, our Ge family can't treat them poorly. Let's go meet them. We can appropriately give some pills as gratitude."
The three immediately went to the main hall.
Ge Xuanhong also made introductions, "This is my father, and also the family head of our third branch."
Xu Mingxuan and the others all rose and cupped their hands, "Greetings to Family Head Ge."
"You all are lifesavers of my son and Third Brother. No need for courtesy. Please sit." At this moment, Ge Yanhua wore a smile, appearing quite amiable, completely different from his indifference in the study.
"Someone, bring it up."
As soon as the words fell, they saw the steward from before enter carrying a rosewood tray, coming before Ge Yanhua.
Ge Yanhua picked up a porcelain bottle and smiled, "The life-saving grace is beyond repayment. Since you're all immortal cultivators, my Ge family will present this bottle of pills as a token of gratitude."
Xu Mingyuan immediately stood, about to reach out to receive it, with a three-part smile appearing on his lips, "Family Head Ge is truly courteous. A bottle of superior-grade Qi Gathering Pills is indeed quite valuable. It seems you truly value your family disciples. However, the resources that Fellow Daoist Yanfeng and the others were carrying must not be simple either. Otherwise, you wouldn't offer such a generous gift in return."
Hearing this, Ge Yanhua's hand immediately paused, stopping in mid-air.
The smile on his face also suddenly froze but Xu Mingyuan's smile didn't diminish in the slightest.
The entire scene seemed to freeze.
Xu Mingxuan and the others all forcibly suppressed their laughter.
Even Foundation Establishment families couldn't bear to give a whole bottle of superior-grade Qi Gathering Pills as compensation, right?
After all, superior-grade pills weren't easy to refine. This required sufficiently deep pill Dao accomplishments.
Aside from their Xu family, in all of Great Wei, those who could give out bottles of superior-grade Qi Gathering Pills to clan disciples for cultivation probably didn't exceed ten on both hands.
"Second Uncle is too ruthless!"
Both Xu Dezhao and Xu Deling exchanged glances, both thinking this in their hearts.
Both Ge Xuanhong and Ge Yanfeng's mouths twitched.
What kind of people are this Xu family? Did they come to my Ge family to extort us?
I've cultivated until now and still haven't consumed Qi Gathering Pills, let alone superior-grade ones.
Qi Gathering Pills were suitable for late Qi Refining immortal cultivators. Generally, in Qi Refining families, only late Qi Refining immortal cultivators would be bestowed them.
Most of the time, they still relied on their own cultivation.
Therefore, for them, having clan territory with spiritual energy nodes was extremely important.
"Brother Xu must have misunderstood." Ge Xuanhong immediately smoothed things over. "To gather a whole bottle of superior-grade Qi Gathering Pills isn't easy for our Ge family either. You may not know, but superior-grade Qi Gathering Pills are considered rare items in the commandery city, especially in commanderies ranked lower like ours."
"That's right." Ge Yanhua also said, "I heard Yuehu Commandery's Zhou family has a pill refining grandmaster who can refine superior-grade Qi Gathering Pills, but they should rarely flow into the market, right?"
"So I misunderstood." Xu Mingyuan said in surprise, yet continued to stab at the heart, "Superior-grade Qi Nurturing Pills are also good. Most of us here can use them."
Ge Yanhua sighed slightly and retracted the hand holding the porcelain bottle.
Since when did a bottle of low-grade Qi Nurturing Pills become something one couldn't offer?!
"What's wrong, Family Head Ge?"
"This family head thought about it. Life-saving grace plus you all helping my Ge family safely escort resources back, a bottle of superior-grade Qi Nurturing Pills is indeed rather cheap. Let me think about how to repay you all more appropriately."
"Family Head Ge needn't be so courteous. Brother Xuanhong and I are sworn brothers. How could I act to seek repayment? Superior-grade Qi Nurturing Pills are sufficient."
Xu Mingxuan also emphasized superior-grade Qi Nurturing Pills, plunging another knife into Family Head Ge's chest.
Ge Xuanhong naturally understood his family's situation.
Unless they were the clan's most core disciples, they might receive superior-grade Qi Nurturing Pills for cultivation at the fifth or sixth layer of Qi Refining. The rest would be fortunate to get low-grade ones.