Chapter 2431: Making Friends Widely

The Golden Flame Mountain Range stretches for tens of millions of miles, its peaks vying in splendor, abundant with exotic flowers and rare herbs, and waterfalls cascading from the sky.

Over 20,000 years ago, Xu Tianluo, seeing no hope of advancing to the Void Refinement stage, left the Nine Flames Sect and established his family in the Golden Flame Mountain Range. To this day, the Xu family boasts eighteen Void Refinement cultivators and over 100,000 cultivators in total, with experts as numerous as clouds.

Xu Guangyin is the head of the Xu family and possesses a late God Transformation cultivation.

Within a vast estate, there were pavilions, terraces, towers, waterside corridors, and rock gardens.

Xu Guangyin sat in a cyan hexagonal stone pavilion, holding a cyan teacup, while a tall young man in a green robe reported to him.

"All invitations have been sent out," the young man in green robes respectfully reported. "Senior Li from the Nine Flames Sect has agreed to attend."

It was the 10,000th birthday of the Xu family's patriarch, Xu Sicheng, and the Xu family had widely invited guests. As the Xu family's patron, the Nine Flames Sect had naturally also received an invitation.

Xu Guangyin nodded in satisfaction. "Pass on the order to increase patrol personnel," he said. "The patriarch's 10,000th birthday must be grand and magnificent; we cannot allow any..."

Before he could finish speaking, he frowned, took a cyan communication disk from his sleeve, and imbued it with a magical incantation. A respectful female voice suddenly rang out: "Patriarch, Senior Wang from the Wang family of Green Lotus Island is visiting."

"The Wang family of Green Lotus Island?"

Xu Guangyin was slightly startled. He had, of course, heard of the Wang family, an affiliated cultivation family of Zhenhai Palace. They had developed well in recent years, especially since True Lord Taihao had become famous in the region for slaying multiple Void Refinement stage foreign races during the great racial war.

The Xu family primarily operated inland and had no prior dealings with the Wang family.

"Please invite him to the reception hall; I will be there immediately."

Xu Guangyin gave the instruction, then put away the communication disk.

"You may leave now! I need to entertain the Wang family cultivator."

After speaking, Xu Guangyin left his residence and headed to the reception hall.

A short while later, a nine-foot-tall young man in a red robe strode in. He had broad shoulders and a thick waist, with bulging muscles and prominent veins, and a dazzling red light faintly shone from his eyes.

This was Wang Qinglong, a descendant of Wang Qingcheng, who cultivated both magic and the physical body, and was one of the Wang family's enforcement elders.

"I am Wang Qinglong. Greetings, Fellow Daoist Xu," he said courteously, cupping his fist in a salute.

"Fellow Daoist Wang, there's no need for such formality," Xu Guangyin said. "May I ask the purpose of your visit?" He asked curiously, as the Xu family had no prior dealings with the Wang family, and he was unsure of the purpose of Wang Qinglong's visit.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, it's like this," Wang Qinglong said sincerely. "A group of rogue cultivators killed some of our Wang family cultivators. I tracked them down to the Yue family at Green Goose Ridge. Since the Yue family is your marital kin, could Fellow Daoist Xu please speak to them on our behalf? Our Wang family would be immensely grateful." Killing for treasures was common in the cultivation world; if this matter hadn't involved the Xu family, Wang Qinglong would have acted long ago.

"Rogue cultivators? The Yue family?"

Xu Guangyin frowned. With Xu Sicheng's 10,000th birthday approaching, such an incident was indeed difficult to handle.

Behind the Wang family stood Zhenhai Palace, so he couldn't afford to disrespect them. However, the Yue family was the Xu family's marital kin, and simply letting them hand over the culprits would make the Xu family appear too weak and afraid of the Wang family.

"Our patriarch has long heard of Senior Xu's great reputation and instructed us to establish good relations with the Xu family," Wang Qinglong said with a smile. "Hearing about Senior Xu's 10,000th birthday, I, Wang, also wish to partake in a cup of wine. I wonder if Fellow Daoist Xu would grant me this opportunity."

"Fellow Daoist Wang, you are too kind," Xu Guangyin said courteously. "Even if you hadn't come, I would have sent someone to invite you. How about this: I will contact the Yue family to understand the full story. What is the name of the rogue cultivator you are looking for?" Since Wang Qinglong had invoked True Lord Taihao and offered goodwill by attending Xu Sicheng's grand birthday, Xu Guangyin had to show him respect.

"The Golden Toad Rogue," Wang Qinglong slowly replied. "This person possesses a fifth-tier jade-eyed golden toad. He teamed up with several rogue cultivators, killing multiple Nascent Soul cultivators from our Wang family and stealing a set of Five-Element puppet beasts and a set of spiritual treasures. They thought they were undetectable, but I still managed to track them down."

"Alright, Fellow Daoist Wang, please wait a moment; I'll be right back."

After saying this, Xu Guangyin stood up and left.

Wang Qinglong sat on the chair, waiting quietly.

More than half an hour later, Xu Guangyin returned.

He had used a large communication array to contact the Yue family and learned that the Golden Toad Rogue was one of their retainers. The Yue family head had summoned the Golden Toad Rogue to his residence and interrogated him using a treasure. The Golden Toad Rogue admitted to robbing and killing the Wang family cultivators, but claimed he didn't know they were from the Wang family at the time, as they were in plain clothes. The Yue family had decided to sacrifice a pawn to save the general, concluding that a mere retainer was not worth offending the Wang family over. They had already captured the Golden Toad Rogue and were escorting him to the Xu family.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, how did it go?" Wang Qinglong asked, his face full of anticipation.

Xu Guangyin nodded. "It is indeed true," he said. "The Yue family has already captured this person and sent him to our Xu family. May I ask how Fellow Daoist Wang intends to deal with him?" The Golden Toad Rogue would surely die, but Xu Guangyin wondered if the Wang family would widely publicize the matter. If it spread, it would affect the reputation of both the Yue family and the Xu family.

"If it was truly done by this person, extracting his soul and refining his body is unavoidable," Wang Qinglong said gratefully. "However, regarding his identity, we will not publicize it externally. Let him disappear without a trace! Many thanks for your help this time, Fellow Daoist Xu. I am one of the Wang family's enforcement elders, and in the future, if you need our Wang family's help in apprehending important criminals, we will do our utmost." Wang Qinglong was grateful, as apprehending the true culprit was sufficient. Widely publicizing that the Golden Toad Rogue was a Yue family retainer would certainly harm the Yue family's reputation and would not be good for the Xu family either.

"Alright, Fellow Daoist Wang, please stay at our Xu family and participate in our patriarch's 10,000th birthday."

Xu Guangyin said enthusiastically, then sent someone to arrange accommodation for Wang Qinglong, settling him in.

Tianshu Mountain was an outpost of Seven Sages Mountain, which was founded by seven Confucian cultivators. It currently boasted one Integration stage cultivator and numerous experts.

Numerous buildings stretched from the foot of the mountain to its summit, and faint sounds of reading aloud could be heard from them.

In a secluded courtyard, seven men and two women sat in a simple cyan bamboo building, enjoying tea and discussing the Dao.

"Brother Boyu truly lives up to his reputation as Senior Chen's disciple," a graceful young woman in a green dress with delicate features said with a smile. "At such a young age, he already possesses such profound accomplishments in poetry."

"It's a pity that Fellow Daoist Sun's master died at the hands of a ghost cultivator," Sun Boyu sighed. "Otherwise, he would surely have shone brightly in the racial war. Indeed! Speaking of which, Fellow Daoist Wang's elder, the Green Lotus Sword Master, also participated in the demon suppression. I heard from Senior Ma that the Green Lotus Sword Master contributed significantly." All the cultivators looked towards a refined young man in a green robe, who had proper features and a fair complexion.

This was Wang Liangshu, an early God Transformation stage cultivator. He had followed Wang Qingshan to develop inland and had befriended God Transformation cultivators from other forces.

"Ancestor Qingshan is indeed formidable," Wang Liangshu said with pride. "I heard from clan elders that he comprehended sword intent during the Foundation Establishment stage and performed exceptionally well in the racial war, slaying multiple Void Refinement stage foreign races. Of course, our patriarch, True Lord Taihao, is even more formidable."

The cultivators all spoke up in praise. They had all heard of Wang Changsheng and Wang Qingshan's deeds against the foreign races, but they hadn't realized Wang Qingshan had comprehended sword intent as early as the Foundation Establishment stage.

"Comprehending sword intent isn't very difficult; the challenge lies in achieving mastery," Sun Boyu said, his face full of envy. "I've heard that sword cultivators' divine abilities greatly increase after achieving mastery of sword intent."

"Achieving mastery of sword intent shouldn't be difficult for the Green Lotus Sword Master," one cultivator remarked. "Perhaps in the future, the Green Lotus Sword Master will even advance to the Integration stage."

"Indeed!" another chimed in. "The Green Lotus Sword Master comprehended sword intent during the Foundation Establishment stage; his future achievements are boundless."

The cultivators complimented him. Wang Liangshu smiled slightly, his face filled with pride.