Chapter 214: The Lesson of the Jiang Family

“Senior!”

An Zheyuan walked out of the house. The clan soldiers on both sides greeted him with warm smiles, and even those outside the courtyard waved at him.

An Zheyuan nodded in acknowledgment, replying with a smile. He suddenly felt as if a lifetime had passed. In his previous life, he had been greedy and tyrannical, holding absolute power in the An family. Servants would cower in his presence, and he would kill anyone who displeased him.

Later, his family was destroyed, and he sought refuge with the Li family. One day, during a demonic beast attack, he tried to curry favor with the Li family by saving a young clan soldier. That very night, the boy cheerfully knocked on his courtyard door and squeezed into his house, carrying a large basin of dumplings. He said his mother had made them as a gesture of thanks. The two chatted all night, and An Zheyuan, grimacing as he ate, asked:

“Aren’t you afraid of me?”

The young man paused, then burst into laughter, replying:

“What’s there to be afraid of?”

An Zheyuan chewed the dumplings, which tasted like dog feces to him, forced them down, and chuckled:

“Indeed, there’s nothing to be afraid of!”

And so, An Zheyuan played drinking games with the clan soldiers, laughing heartily and crying loudly together. They sat by the wall watching girls, and he took turns carrying them soaring through the sky, frightening the young men until their legs turned to jelly. An Zheyuan would roar with laughter, often to the point of tears.

Snapping back to reality, An Zheyuan saw the clan soldiers all smiling at him. He pulled out a long bench and said with a laugh:

“Alright, lads, what kind of demon or ghost stories do you want to hear today?”

The clan soldiers’ eyes lit up, and they began to clamor, each vying to speak. An Zheyuan watched them with a smile. Unexpectedly, a sound of horse hooves approached, and dust billowed up at the alley entrance. A young man in white robes reined in his horse in front of the courtyard. He dismounted, cupped his fists, and said respectfully:

“Senior! The Family Head requests your presence.”

“Centurion Tian!” someone among the clan soldiers exclaimed. Immediately, they all crouched down, half-kneeling on the ground, and said in unison: “Greetings, Centurion!”

Tian Zhongqing nodded slightly, then saw An Zheyuan, who was on the wooden bench, shake out his robes and reply:

“I understand.”

With that, he soared into the air and headed towards the mountain. Tian Zhongqing cast an envious glance. A lively group of clan soldiers surrounded him, talking over each other:

“Centurion! What level has your cultivation reached now?”

“Brother Zhongqing! Has another Qi Condensation demonic beast been devouring people?”

Tian Zhongqing waved his hand, replying:

“It’s merely the third level of Embryonic Breathing, nothing worth mentioning. As for the Family Head’s business, it’s not for me to know.”

The clan soldiers below continued to ask questions, one after another, until someone whispered:

“Brother Zhongqing! I heard that Uncle Xuanling has broken through to Qi Condensation. Is that true?”

Hearing this, Tian Zhongqing nodded slightly and smiled:

“Indeed, it is true.”

The clan soldiers immediately erupted into a buzz of discussion. Tian Zhongqing shook his head with a smile, mounted his horse, and rode out of the alley.

The stone path all the way up was spotlessly clean. An Zheyuan ascended the mountain, filled with doubt, and mused to himself:

“What could this be about? Even if it’s a Qi Condensation demonic beast that snuck into town, there’s no need to personally summon me up the mountain.”

There was hardly anyone on Lijing Mountain, only a chill wind blowing against his face. An Zheyuan murmured:

“Could it be that because I haven’t touched any of the women the Li family sent to my room these past few years, they’ve grown suspicious…?”

He shook his sleeves. A courtyard built of bluestone appeared before him, its gate ajar. An Zheyuan pushed open the heavy gate. The house was open, and two clan soldiers stood quietly outside.

An Zheyuan smacked his lips, recalling his own resplendent grand hall. Looking at the small house before him, he felt quite displeased and muttered to himself:

“An Zheyuan, you truly deserve to die.”

He stepped forward into the simply furnished room. An Zheyuan habitually lowered his head, lifted his robe, and was about to prostrate himself, when he suddenly opened his eyes wide.

The person at the head of the room was not Li Xuanxuan at all, but a middle-aged man with temples streaked with white. His eyebrows were long and gentle, and his expression was calm. He sat upright at the head, holding a white jade slip. An Zheyuan, being at the sixth level of Qi Condensation cultivation, recognized the small characters carved on the jade slip at a glance.

“The White-Haired Court-Knocking Scripture.”

An Zheyuan fell to his knees with a thud, his heart filled with both shock and fear. He bowed low and said with a tremble:

“Zheyuan… greets Senior!”

“Foundation Establishment!” An Zheyuan’s head buzzed as if it had exploded, and he swallowed hard in disbelief. He had originally been a senior who achieved Qi Condensation earlier than Li Tongya. He had watched as Li Tongya progressed from initial Qi Condensation to the fifth level, then from the fifth to the eighth level, and now, he had reached Foundation Establishment. An Zheyuan’s attitude had shifted from disdain to surprise, then from surprise to respect, from respect to fear, and finally, he knelt before him. The complexity of his emotions was immense.

“How did he reach Foundation Establishment…?”

Watching Li Tongya attain the realm he had always dreamed of, An Zheyuan bowed his head and closed his eyes, filled with both admiration and dread. It wasn’t until Li Tongya spoke, smiling:

“Brother Zheyuan, there’s no need to be so polite. Please rise.”

Only then did An Zheyuan straighten up, watching as Li Tongya set down the jade slip. He said gently:

“I heard that your ancestor was once an outer disciple of an Immortal Estate, and this ‘White-Haired Court-Knocking Scripture’ was passed down through your family. Would you be willing to elaborate?”

An Zheyuan immediately nodded, ignoring his turbulent emotions. He took a few breaths to collect his thoughts and organize his words, then replied:

“My ancestor’s surname was Jiang. He was an outer disciple of an Immortal Estate. At eighteen, he achieved Qi Condensation, meeting the minimum requirements of the Immortal Estate. He was then bestowed with this ‘White-Haired Court-Knocking Scripture’ and led Immortal Soldiers to patrol the three eastern regions of Moonlake Marsh all the way to Yuling Lake. At thirty-nine, he reached Foundation Establishment and became an Immortal General, obtaining these two inheritances and choosing his own subordinates.”

“The three eastern regions of Moonlake Marsh all the way to Yuling Lake,” Li Tongya repeated, raising an eyebrow. An Zheyuan quickly replied:

“It’s the area from the current southeast shore to part of the Mushroom Forest Plain. Back then, it all belonged to Moonlake Marsh.”

Seeing Li Tongya nod, An Zheyuan continued:

“My ancestor failed to break through to the Purple Mansion realm and subsequently passed away. The elder only had one son, who was merely at the peak of Qi Condensation. They had no choice but to support outsiders and recruit rogue cultivators to guard the territory, thus planting the seeds of future trouble…”

“Another ten years passed, and his son broke through to Foundation Establishment. However, he also had few children and grandchildren, though all possessed spiritual apertures. The cultivation method allowed for rapid Qi Condensation, but the higher one’s cultivation, the more difficult it became to produce offspring. Later, his son was killed while contending for a Purple Mansion opportunity. Several outsider cultivators refused to yield to one another, each supporting their own descendants, and signs of division began to appear.”

An Zheyuan sighed, lowering his voice:

“These outsiders, once supported, married their daughters into the family, creating rivalries. The various lineages grew increasingly estranged. In less than a century, there were even instances of direct descendants marrying into outsider families. After three more generations, very few individuals with the Jiang surname remained…”

Li Tongya rubbed the jade slip in his palm, saying nothing. An Zheyuan glanced at him and whispered:

“Therefore, there are very few outsider cultivators within the families around the lake. They are truly terrified by the lessons of the Jiang family. Our few families, who usurped the previous lineage, are even more frightened to death; we have almost no outsiders in our households…”

An Zheyuan straightened up, hesitated for a moment, and then said:

“The main family now governs the Chen, Liu, Tian, and Ren clans, all of whom produce individuals with spiritual apertures. If they are not suppressed, there might be trouble in the long run…”

Upon hearing this, Li Tongya raised an eyebrow, not having expected An Zheyuan to say such a thing. He chuckled softly and replied:

“Don’t worry, my family is not the Jiang family; we won’t encounter such problems.”

“This subordinate spoke out of turn.”

An Zheyuan lowered his head. Li Tongya looked at him and asked:

“How old are you?”

“Eighty-five.”

An Zheyuan replied, a hint of dejection in his voice:

“The cultivation method itself makes Qi Condensation difficult. To be only at the sixth level of Qi Condensation at eighty-five, I’m afraid there’s no hope for Foundation Establishment.”

Li Tongya paused, offered a quiet word of comfort, and then watched An Zheyuan depart. He picked up the jade slip in his hand, which contained ‘The White-Haired Court-Knocking Scripture,’ and murmured:

“Worldly affairs in the court… We have the River and Great Tomb Scripture in the family. There’s still a long way to go to the Purple Mansion realm, so there’s no rush.”