Chapter 271: Ingestion

“I pledge my life to Your Highness!” Yu Mugao replied respectfully.

Chi Zhiyan waved his hand and answered, “There’s no need. These are minor matters. A few aristocratic families won’t be able to cause any trouble! If the sect leader hadn't wanted to avoid disturbing those Foundation Establishment cultivators, then with a single command from us, people like Li Tongya and Fei Wangbai would dutifully go to Yishan City. Now, it's just a few Qi Cultivation practitioners. How dare they refuse?”

Yu Mugao’s eyes flickered slightly as he asked humbly, “The Li family has a Sword Immortal within the sect. I’m afraid, senior, you might need to treat them leniently…”

Chi Zhiyan paused, stunned for a moment. He let out a strange laugh from his throat. Being a direct descendant of the Chi family, he naturally knew everything about the Southern Frontier. However, Chi Wei had acted unfairly in this matter, and he had always avoided discussing it. He then replied, “What Sword Immortal? The Southern Frontier is fraught with dangers; they might not even return. That doesn't hold sway with me! Things will proceed as they should!”

Yu Mugao was quite astute. Hearing this, he immediately felt emboldened. He quickly put on a mournful act, lamenting, “My lord is not afraid, but the Li family, relying on the Sword Immortal's reputation, acts domineeringly and recklessly on this lake. I have a blood relative whose mountain is still occupied by the Li family. Even that relative of mine serves as a maid and slave in their household. We are terrified and dare not speak much…”

Chi Zhiyan glanced at Yu Mugao and sneered, “My junior brother already told me. You don't need to exaggerate here. Your Yu family is an aristocratic family after all; you wouldn't be forced to such an extent by the Li family. Now listen carefully.”

Chi Zhiyan paused, then continued, “Li Chijing most likely won't return. Mu Xian is forging artifacts on Yuanwu Peak and has some reputation within the sect. Her background is much stronger than that Sword Immortal's, so there's nothing to fear. The struggles and intrigues among your aristocratic families are something the sect on the mountain never interferes with. The Li family only has some minor connection with Yuan Tuan. Unless their clan faces annihilation, Yuan Tuan won't intervene.”

Yu Mugao repeatedly assented, overjoyed in his heart. He bowed even lower, humbly peeking up. Chi Zhiyan glanced at him and said with a smile, “Whatever you do on the lake, remember this!”

Chi Zhiyan bent down. He leaned close to Yu Mugao's sturdy and powerful face. He extended one hand and lightly patted his cheek. He extended his other hand in front of Yu Mugao's eyes, showing two fingers.

“There are two people who must not die. One is Li Tongya; you can't kill him now anyway. The other, whose name you might not know, is Jiang Heqian.”

Cold sweat immediately broke out on Yu Mugao, and his legs trembled. He wished he could bury his head in the ground. Chi Zhiyan straightened up with a smile and replied, “If one of them dies, then even Mu Xian won't be able to protect you... As for Fei Wangbai's Inter-path Brocade, he's just a dead man walking, waiting for his end.”

Yu Mugao's eyes were wide and bloodshot. He stammered a trembling "Yes." Cold sweat dripped from his neck, forming a small puddle on the ground. Chi Zhiyan, ever graceful, kicked him on the shoulder and burst into laughter.

Several more people flew down from the flying boat, carried by the wind. All were dressed in the gray robes of Yuanwu Peak, part of the Azure Pool Sect. One of them, with a shifty, rat-like appearance and a face full of fawning flattery, rushed to Chi Zhiyan's feet like a dog and said respectfully, “My lord, please give your commands…”

Chi Zhiyan snorted with a laugh, stood with his hands behind his back, and replied, “The Fei family... choose that young clan leader, whatever his name is! For the Qi Cultivation families, just take away their highest-cultivated members. As for the Li family... that fellow Li Xuanfeng will do... Lixia County has already been slaughtered, so this person is no longer useful.”

“Yes! Yes!” The shifty-eyed cultivator nodded repeatedly. Chi Zhiyan looked at Yu Mugao, who was utterly stunned and struggling to compose himself, and smiled, “Cultivate diligently. Your Yu family is qualified to dine at the table. As for the Li and Fei families... they're just dogs scurrying below. If it weren't for the fact that blood sacrifice is currently prohibited in Moonlit Lake, these people would have been dealt with sooner or later…”

Yu Mugao forced a smile onto his face, but his heart was filled with extreme fear and dread. His legs twitched uncontrollably on the ground. Chi Zhiyan became even more excited at his appearance and replied, “As for your family's old ancestor, Yu Yufeng…”

Yu Mugao had a premonition in his heart. Hearing this, he quickly looked up. He saw Chi Zhiyan laugh loudly, his expression somewhat sarcastic, and simply reply, “He's been dead for a long time!”

Yu Mugao froze, then whispered, “Why... I don't understand. Which Purple Mansion power acted to cause the ancestor's demise...?”

“No harm in telling you!” Chi Zhiyan chuckled. He was naturally malicious, loving to trample and toy with geniuses and strategists. Seeing Yu Mugao's subservient expression, he felt immense satisfaction and replied, “Yu Mugao... Yu Yufeng was killed by our Azure Pool Sect in cooperation with Xiao Chuting! And your younger brother personally agreed to this!”

***

Lixia County, Xianyou Peak.

“Splash…” The old man strained, pulling a glittering jade stone from the lake. He vigorously flicked his jade fishing rod, shaking off the water's pull below, and reeled the jade stone onto the bank. Xiao Chuting narrowed his eyes and replied, “Good.”

“Chuting, the Rosy Cloud Airship has gone to Moonlit Lake.” Xiao Chuchou, sitting cross-legged nearby, murmured. His expression towards Xiao Chuting was complex. Xiao Chuting, however, seemed unconcerned, merely examining the jade stone, and asked, “Xiao Chuchou, do you hate me?”

Xiao Chuchou's extremely aged face, covered in wrinkles, twitched slightly as he replied, “There's nothing to hate. It was unavoidable. When I abandoned the family and left all those years ago, I imagine you hated me even more.”

Xiao Chuting chuckled softly, his expression tinged with nostalgia, and gently replied, “At first, I did hate you. But then, when the Azure Pool Sect specifically sent Yu Yuxie to sever Yu Yufeng's cultivation path, I suddenly realized that the one who made you make that decision back then might not have been yourself.”

Xiao Chuting's grizzled eyebrows and beard twitched, rising and falling like reflections in rippling water. He spoke quietly, a sense of loss in his demeanor, “The gloom in the Grand Void is too dense. From that moment on, I've been both startled and terrified. Through countless agonizing nights, I still have to ask myself: Xiao Chuting, are you truly yourself today, or merely a pawn of some Purple Mansion Golden Core or Mahakala Dharma Body?”

“Perhaps it would be better not to know, to spare myself this madness.”

Xiao Chuting's mouth did not open, yet his voice seemed to emanate from somewhere in the void. He said gently, “Yu Yufeng didn't believe in fate. He even used blood sacrifice to heal his hands. He truly was a genius; he actually managed to advance a few steps on that severed path, and after several decades, he was even on the verge of breaking through to the late Foundation Establishment stage.”

“And so, he died completely, with two Purple Mansion experts acting against him. With the combined power of two divine abilities, like 'Heavy Turbidity' and 'Elder of the Stream,' how could he not die? How could he not die? The Jade Truth Six-Nine Converging Void Nature prohibits cultivation, even preventing the formation of an immortal foundation. From the moment he began cultivating the 'White-Headed Court-Knocking Scripture,' he was a dead man.”

Xiao Chuchou was not surprised; having traveled far and wide, he knew little less than Xiao Chuting. His extremely aged face gave a cold smile as he replied, “Indeed... have you ever considered why you, Xiao Chuting, cultivated 'Elder of the Stream,' while I, Xiao Chuchou, cultivated 'Long Cloud Darkness'? How coincidental... how cunning! We just happen to complement each other's cultivation paths…”

Xiao Chuting nodded and slowly stood up. A fatal allure emanated from him. Snowflakes whirled up from the entire Xianyou Peak. From above came the rumbling sound of clashing waves, and faintly, the roars of serpentine dragons.

Xiao Chuchou's body withered further, the old man shrinking until he was a pile of skeletal remains. He let out a few laughs from his throat. Wisps of smoke drifted out from his body, from his eyes that had shriveled into two specks like mouse droppings, and from his dark, hollow mouth and ears. The old man said, “Xiao Xianyou... it's Xiao Xianyou. He calculated everything clearly long ago. What he cultivates is precisely the Vast Sea, precisely the Jing Dragon King! Simply marvelous, utterly marvelous!”

Xiao Chuting stood amidst the smoke above, his body suffused with spiritual light, like a deity. His expression was sorrowful and solemn, even tinged with a sacred aura.

“Brother, we have no path forward, and no path of retreat.”

“Clang—” The bell on Xianyou Peak reverberated faintly, like thunder, echoing through the mountain range. Snowflakes fell inexplicably throughout the entire mountain range, yet they were overwhelming, as if to envelop all impurity. The Xiao family members knelt one after another, lifting their heads in confusion.

“It's Foundation Establishment... An ancestor has passed away…”