Chapter 63: Chapter 62 Continuation of Green Bamboo (Congratulations to clan leader Yusheng for his promotion!)_1 Chapter 63: Chapter 62 Continuation of Green Bamboo (Congratulations to clan leader Yusheng for his promotion!)_1 Southern Wilderness Cultivation Realm.
The stream babbled, and the trees were lush and verdant.
Boom!
A piece of bluestone suddenly moved aside, revealing a cellar beneath.
Fang Xi cautiously peeked out, holding the Gold Dragon Sword in one hand and a talisman in the other.
Seeing that everything outside was as usual, with little change from when he had left, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
“Finally, back here again.”
He took a deep breath, intoxicated by the spiritual energy of the Southern Wilderness Cultivation Realm.
“It would only be me… If it were another Fourth-Step Martial Teacher, even if they could successfully break through amidst the encirclement of Tri-element City’s experts and army, they would likely be surrounded and killed.”
“Luckily, I got everything I wanted.”
“Breaking through to the Real Gang Martial Saint, in terms of the Immortal Path, is equivalent to a Body Refining third-layer cultivator, comparable to a great master in the late stages of Qi Refining!”
“Even if the chaos near the Green Bamboo Mountain Market hasn’t ended, I’m now well enough to protect myself.”
Fang Xi had originally fled the Green Bamboo Mountain Market because he feared the chaos.
Now, however, he felt a little eager to try, after all, chaos makes the best ladder.
“No, I still need to be careful.”
“Now, the most urgent thing is to find people and understand the recent situation!”
Fang Xi looked at the sky, identified a direction, and swiftly moved away employing his movement technique.
…
Yue Country.
Jiahe City.
This was the closest mortal city to Green Bamboo Mountain.
Within the city’s finest restaurant—Heavenly Immortal Building.
The Heavenly Immortal Building stood in the heart of the city, where land was worth its weight in gold, and the building was constructed with exquisite taste.
Especially the top floor, which was always reserved for distinguished guests only.
As for who these distinguished guests were, even the servers in the building might not be clear.
“Grandpa, it’s said that even the city lord has to treat the master behind Heavenly Immortal Building with respect. I wonder who that person is?”
In a private room on the floor below the top, which had its door open, a well-dressed girl whose demeanor embodied grace and nobility curiously inquired to her grandpa sitting beside her.
“Hehe, you’ve asked the right person…” The old man chuckled and stroked his beard, then after repeated pleas from the girl, finally lowered his voice, “The one who can make our lord mayor bow and scrape could naturally only be those high Immortals…”
“Actually an Immortal teacher?” The girl’s eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, her gaze darting about as she looked left and right, seemingly searching for the entrance to the upper floor.
Regrettably, the entrance to the highest floor did not seem to be located here.
Just then, with the sound of footsteps, a young man in green came to this level, looking left and right.
Then, as if he had identified the direction, he approached a wooden wall.
On the wall hung a painting of ancient ladies.
“It’s here…”
Fang Xi muttered to himself and walked in.
Pop!
A flash of light appeared, and he disappeared into it, vanishing from sight.
Fang Xi, who had studied “Beginning of Array Taoist,” naturally recognized that this was just a minor prohibition, meant to block mortals, completely ineffective against cultivators.
“Grandpa…”
Watching his disappearing back, the girl tugged at her grandpa next to her.
The old man also seemed a bit stunned, not realizing he had spilled his drink on himself, and after quite a while, he turned to his granddaughter and said, “Yunyun, you’re in luck, that green-clothed young man is probably a high Immortal master…”
“An Immortal teacher…”
The girl, upon hearing this, couldn’t hide the envy in her eyes!
…
Behind the prohibition was a wooden staircase.
Ascending step by step, Fang Xi reached the highest floor of the Heavenly Immortal Building.
The place was elegantly and intricately furnished, each item perhaps undefinable by mortal standards, and the view was extremely expansive, overlooking the entirety of Jiahe City.
However, there were very few seats available, and at the moment only a handful of people were sitting.
“Hehe… Sir, I am Ge Hongdan, honored to be the owner of Heavenly Immortal Building!”
A fat man dressed like an ordinary merchant greeted with a genial smile, “Our building is open to all Immortal Cultivators, Sir can stay and enjoy as you please, and all mundane items are free of charge.”
“How generous of you, Sir!”
Fang Xi returned the gesture with clasped hands.
Ge Hongdan laughed heartily, “I always enjoy making friends… To be frank, I also have the support of the Eighth Prince of Yue Country. I don’t know where you come from, Sir, but would you be willing to become a patron in the secular world? As long as you’re willing to come to the prince’s estate, I cannot promise Spirit Stones, but everything else from gold and silver jewels to beauties and mansions, from fine horses to antiques… you would have them all!”
“Thank you for your kind intentions, Ge Sir, but I am still relatively young and want to continue striving on the Taoist Path,” Fang Xi politely declined, and then assured, “When I am old or disheartened in the future, I will surely come to visit, and I hope you will take me in then.”
“Haha, certainly, certainly.” Ge Hongdan did not insist, as he had seen many young cultivators like this, each with their own pride and high aspirations. His real targets were the aged cultivators past the age of sixty who had lost hope in Foundation Establishment.
Aged cultivators with no hope for Foundation Establishment building a family in the secular world or extending their lineage would best achieve wealth and rank by seeking the protection of the powerful.
‘Good, just as the rumors suggest, they’re all weaklings.’
After scanning the room, Fang Xi noticed that aside from Ge Hongdan who had mid-Qi Refining stage abilities, most of the other guests were around the early Qi Refining stage.
In other words, he could take on everyone here by himself, which was very safe, and he felt at ease.
After pondering for a while, he found a spot near the window to sit down and began to enjoy the view outside.
Meanwhile, cultivators on this floor were either drinking Spirit Wine from a gourd, indulging in gastronomy, or chatting away about various subjects.
Fang Xi waited for nearly half an hour until he overheard some newcomers in the next seat discussing the information he was seeking:
“Alas… another corpse was refined near Jiahe City, I teamed up with Old Song to slay it, but he accidentally got struck by corpse poison… Now we need to buy a Spiritual Pill to detoxify him, after calculations, we still lost half a Spirit Stone, damn these corpse refining practices!”
A youth in the third level of Qi Refining took a sip of wine, full of resentment, “Even though the Situ Family has fallen, they are still causing harm!”
“Sir, please go on.”
Fang Xi’s interest was piqued and he made his way over.
“You’re too kind, Sir. I’m Chen Mo, may I know what you would like to inquire about?” The youth became somewhat nervous upon seeing Fang Xi approach.
After all, he was only at the third level of Qi Refining, and his friend there had even lower cultivation, at the second level of Qi Refining. They couldn’t help but tense up.
Cultivators mingling in the secular world typically behave like this, cautious and timid due to their low cultivation levels.
“I have been immersed in secluded cultivation for the past two years, I happened to overhear your mention of the Situ Family’s downfall, could you tell me what happened?”
Fang Xi carelessly sat down and began to inquire.
“So that’s what happened.”
Chen Mo’s expression relaxed, “The Situ Family and Red Leaf Valley engaged in numerous acts of injustice and were exterminated on the order of the Mysterious Heaven Sect… That was just two years ago.”
“Oh? Do you know the specifics? Which forces were involved?” Fang Xi continued to ask.
Chen Mo appeared somewhat surprised, but since the information was public, no one cared, “The ones who took action were the Qi Family of Bai Qiao, the Xu Family of Green Leaf, the Heaven Talisman Shen Family, the Long Family of Yellow Wind, and also the Song Family… The extermination of Red Leaf Valley and the siege of the Green Bamboo Mountain Market went smoothly until they attacked the Situ Family’s main base, Blackwater Pool. That’s when they suffered heavy casualties!”
“What kind of heavy casualties?” Fang Xi showed an interested expression.
“Alas… The Situ Family was known for being strong and tyrannical, but we later found out that they were actually part of the Demon Path, and their ancestor was the infamous Demon Cultivator from a neighboring country known as ‘Situ Nine’, who was skilled in the Corpse Refining Skills… And the spiritual vein at Blackwater Pool is not abundant, it’s also poisonous and miasmic. The only thing worth mentioning is that there is a Yin Vein suitable for nurturing corpses… Choosing this place as the family’s location was truly a calculated move!”
“On that day, the army of Cultivators attacked the Situ Family, and the Situ Family fought back with coffins, with a thousand coffins emerging from their gates. Countless buried ancestors rose from their coffins, causing a river of blood among the Cultivators’ ranks… Tsk, it is said that the Situ Family had a family rule: all Cultivators in the family must be buried in the corpse nurturing land after death to become the foundation of the family. The emergence this time really gave the attacking Cultivators a fright. It is said that there were five or six Flying Rigidity at the Foundation Establishment stage, and the one leading them had even reached the later stages of Foundation Establishment!”
“However, the Mysterious Heaven Sect dispatched Cultivators to lead the battle, and in the end, the family Cultivators set up the ‘Heavenly Fire God Flame Array’. After attacking for several months, they barely managed to break through the Situ Family’s defenses, but the most elite part of the Situ Family had already fled. They turned into Demon Cultivators and caused harm to the area… The Cultivating Immortal Families that attacked, who were at the Foundation Establishment stage, also suffered heavy losses. The Qi Family of Bai Qiao lost a Foundation Establishment-era ancestor, the Heaven Talisman Shen Family’s Foundation Establishment Cultivators were wiped out, reduced to a Qi Refining Family, and later were exterminated by the survivors of the Situ Family. The losses were indeed severe…”
“On the other hand, Blackwater Pool, the location of the Situ Family, though there are still a few remaining Qi Refining-level corpse refiners lurking and it was plundered once more, has become, recently, a favorite place for Individual Cultivators from Yue Country to explore adventurous…”
Having said all this at once, Chen Mo felt his mouth dry and couldn’t help but take a sip of tea.
“Such complications!”
Fang Xi listened and was a bit shocked as well.
He didn’t expect the Situ Family’s desperate struggle and counterattack to be so decisive and bloody!
‘However, the Situ Family didn’t die out completely, and some family members escaped, right? I wonder if Situ Qingqing is among them? But even if she is, she’s probably turned into a Demon Cultivator by now…’
Fang Xi had a feeling that there was something wrong with the last battle. It was likely a ploy by the Mysterious Heaven Sect, causing both sides to suffer losses and ultimately profiting as the third party.
However, there were many clever people in the Cultivation World, and while everyone could see what was going on, they could not speak of it.
Who would dare to, when the Mysterious Heaven Sect had Core Formation-era ancestors!
“What became of the Green Bamboo Mountain Market afterward?” Fang Xi thought for a moment and asked the question he was most concerned about.
“I am clear on that.”
Ge Hongdan came over and said with a smile, “Originally controlled by the Situ Family, the Green Bamboo Mountain Market was later breached by the Long Family’s ancestor… But then, the Long Family suffered heavy losses in the subsequent attack on Blackwater Pool and had to cede most of their interests. The market passed through many hands and experienced a period of chaos, full of Cultivation-robbers murdering and looting, with most goods being counterfeit… As a result, most nearby Cultivators left.”
“Later, several Qi Refining Great Perfection Individual Cultivators couldn’t stand it anymore and formed an alliance, the ‘Bamboo Association,’ and took over the management of the market. After a few clean-ups and clamping down on cultivation-robbers, the market was somewhat stabilized, but the improvement was limited. They could only ensure there was no fighting within the market; outside, they wouldn’t intervene… However, this turned it into a rare place for disposing of stolen goods within Yue Country’s Cultivation Realm, and it did gain some notoriety.”
“A black market within the Cultivation Realm?” Fang Xi murmured to himself, having figured it all out.