The Death of an Old Friend

While the family cultivated behind closed doors,

the outside world was already roiling with conflict, war without end.

The Zhang Clan and Li Clan joined forces with fringe cultivators coveting the Zhou Clan's power, using all manner of pretexts to launch frequent probing attacks and raids against the Zhou Clan.

There were also plenty of opportunists fishing in troubled waters.

Taking advantage of the chaos, they murdered and robbed without restraint.

For a time, the region for hundreds of miles around was gripped by fear, with the faint scent of blood lingering in the air.

Fortunately, Qianji Market had Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Qinghua Sect stationed there, so it remained untouched.

Order within the market remained stable.

It stood out as especially peaceful. More and more cultivators gathered there, making it increasingly prosperous.

That day.

Inside the Pill Workshop's Alchemy Room.

"Collect!"

Qin Yuan formed the Pill Collection Incantations, and the furnace lid slowly lifted.

Six pale-yellow Yellow Bud Pills emerged from the furnace, held aloft by an invisible force before flying into a jade bottle prepared beforehand.

Chen Sheng reached out for the jade bottle and pulled out its stopper. A rich herbal pill fragrance rushed toward him.

He carefully examined the pills' color and patterns.

"The essence is contained within, and there are very few impurities. They should have Eighty Percent Efficacy. Not bad. Yuan'er, your control over the heat has become even more refined!"

He looked at his disciple with considerable satisfaction, praising him without reservation.

Several years had passed.

Qin Yuan had reached the age of twenty. He was as tall as Chen Sheng, with handsome features and a gentle expression.

He bore a sixty-percent resemblance to Qin Shuang from back then.

Having cultivated diligently without rest these past years, his cultivation had steadily reached the Qi Condensation Fifth Level.

His Alchemy Skill had also improved considerably.

Not long ago, he had barely managed to refine a mid-grade Spirit Feeding Pill, making him a Mid-grade Alchemist.

Qin Yuan revealed a modest smile.

"It is all thanks to Master's careful guidance over the years. This disciple would not dare slack off in the slightest."

Just then.

A familiar, clear call came from the rear courtyard.

"Junior Disciple Brother, come over and practice swordsmanship with me."

Upon hearing that urging voice,

Qin Yuan's heart stirred at once, and he instinctively started to move.

However,

Chen Sheng was right in front of him.

He could only stop, hesitating briefly as he looked toward his master.

Chen Sheng noticed his little gesture and could not help but laugh. He encouragingly patted Qin Yuan on the shoulder.

"Go on. Have a proper magic battle with your Senior Sister."

"Your Senior Sister has been confined to the market by me and has long since been stifled."

"Yes, Master."

Qin Yuan answered, bowed to his master, then turned and hurried toward the rear courtyard.

Chen Sheng was in a fine mood as well. He followed at a leisurely pace, leaning against a corridor pillar as he watched the "sparring match" in the courtyard with great interest.

The two fought fairly.

Tang Xichen kept to the rules, suppressing her cultivation to the Qi Condensation Fifth Level and refraining from using sword aura.

Even so, the battle was nearly one-sided, with Qin Yuan essentially taking a beating the entire time.

Although his talent in techniques was not weak,

a person's time was limited, and he had devoted more of his attention to alchemy.

Compared to Tang Xichen, who had focused wholeheartedly on sword practice and spent years undergoing dedicated training, he naturally fell far short.

Calling it a sparring match

would be more like saying Qin Yuan was desperately trying to "survive" beneath Tang Xichen's storm-like barrage.

After watching for a while,

Chen Sheng began to feel the itch to fight as well.

As Qin Yuan was defeated,

Chen Sheng strode into the field and laughed heartily.

"Chen'er, come. Your father will loosen up his old bones too!"

Tang Xichen's eyes lit up.

"Please instruct me, Father!"

Chen Sheng's magic battle ability was not poor.

Having immersed himself in the art of fire control and alchemy for many years, he used it as a foundation to cultivate two high-grade fire-element hand seals.

Fire Snake Curse and Molten Gold Finger.

He wielded both hand seals with consummate skill, their movements subtle and ever-changing.

The Fire Serpent was elusive and difficult to deal with, while the finger force melted gold and pierced the air. His attacks were upright and imposing, yet never lacking in variation...

For a time,

flames spat and sword qi crisscrossed throughout the courtyard.

The dull booms of colliding spiritual power rang out without end, leaving Qin Yuan, who watched from the side, utterly dazzled.

Father and daughter exchanged blow after blow.

In the blink of an eye, they had already fought over a hundred exchanges.

However,

when a sly smile curled Tang Xichen's lips, her spiritual power suddenly surged.

"Sword Aura!"

The instant a thin, cicada-wing-like layer of icy transparent aura covered her sword blade,

the battle took a drastic turn!

The moment that sword aura appeared, even the surrounding air seemed to freeze for an instant.

It easily tore through Chen Sheng's protective fire spiritual-energy barrier.

He could only keep dodging and retreating.

The traps Chen Sheng had laid with his fire-control techniques seemed like paper before the invincible sword aura.

Under the mounting pressure,

sweat beaded across Chen Sheng's forehead, and he found himself increasingly unable to keep up.

After two hundred exchanges,

a sword aura of extreme cunning, striking from an almost impossible angle, broke through the Fire Wall Chen Sheng had hastily formed.

It stopped three inches before his throat.

Chen Sheng was thoroughly defeated.

Helplessly withdrawing his protective spiritual power, he raised his hands in surrender and shook his head in admiration.

"Enough, enough! This girl's sword aura is truly formidable. With the little skill your father has left, I really can't beat you anymore!"

There was helplessness in his tone, but even more pride in his daughter.

Tang Xichen sheathed her sword. Her spirited face was brimming with a proud smile, and she rarely showed a touch of girlish mischief.

"My modest Sword Skill was built upon the foundation Father laid for me step by step back then. I suppose this means the student has surpassed the master."

Chen Sheng nodded with a chuckle.

"That is indeed true."

Two years later.

The inner hall remained elegantly furnished, with sandalwood incense curling through the air.

Huang Wangyou held a thin letter in her hand, yet her slender fingers trembled faintly without her realizing it.

Distracted for a moment, she failed to hold onto the teacup in her hand, and it fell to the floor.

Chen Sheng beside her remained silent as well.

Not long ago,

the two had received news—Li Huayao had been killed, while Zhang Yue and his wife had vanished.

After a long while,

Huang Wangyou spoke bitterly.

"That farewell truly became our final farewell."

That girl with bright, large eyes, who liked to stick out her tongue whenever Huang Wangyou teased her, whose thoughts were delicate and whose heart was kind.

She was dead!

Huang Wangyou and Li Huayao had played and trained together for more than ten years. Their bond had been deep, and her heart was filled with indescribable grief.

Chen Sheng's heart was likewise shaken. Memories surged like a tide. He drew a deep breath, and in the end, it became only a heavy sigh.

"Who could have imagined that the Zhou Clan could endure so much, hiding themselves so deeply?"

After the news spread back then, Yunlong Market fell into chaos.

Facing the restless Zhang and Li Clans, their joint probing and targeting, as well as the opportunistic plundering of other unaffiliated forces,

the Zhou Clan's situation could be said to have fallen from the clouds into an abyss overnight. They had no choice but to cut off their own arm to survive, contracting their defenses and abandoning most of their businesses and strongholds.

They retreated again and again. The clan's disciples suffered grievous casualties, and even the Zhou Clan head of that generation died.

The enemy's exposed "weakness" completely ignited the greed of the Zhang and Li Clans, while numbing the vigilance of every observer.

They continued to devour more territory.

In the end,

all the Zhou Clan's Direct Disciples withdrew to their ancestral land—Jade Spring Mountain. Relying on the Guardian Array, they struggled to hold on, seeming on the verge of collapse.

Thus, the stalemate lasted two years.

The two clans colluded with "traitors" within the Zhou Clan, agreeing to coordinate attacks from within and without to open the formation.

The upper echelons of the two clans were overjoyed, seeing it as the final straw that would break the camel's back.

The two clans' Ancestors personally led nearly all of their battle-ready forces to gather at the foot of Jade Spring Mountain.

At the appointed "auspicious time,"

the array light above Jade Spring Mountain flickered violently between bright and dim, and a formation fissure only several feet wide suddenly appeared before the allied forces!

Victory was right before their eyes!

However,

when they passed through the formation fissure and charged into the great formation, the chaos they had imagined did not appear.

Inside the formation was an atmosphere of grim slaughter!

Three overwhelming auras erupted.

The Zhou Clan's Ancestor had not died. Two more Zhou Clan Foundation Establishment cultivators had even appeared!

The three of them joined with the great formation and completely buried the allied forces.

Then they split into three groups, leading the Zhou Clan cultivators in a counterattack against Yunlong Market, the Zhang Clan's Cool Mountain, and the Li Clan's White Dragon Lake.

This time, the cultivators of the Zhang and Li Clans were nearly wiped out.

Li Huayao, her husband, and their children were all killed. As for Zhang Yue and his wife in Yunlong Market, their whereabouts were unknown.

At this moment, the situation suddenly became clear.

Everything had been the Zhou Clan Ancestor's scheme!

He had not succumbed to grave injuries and died.

No one knew when the Zhou Clan had gained a second Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The Foundation Establishment Pill from the previous auction

had helped the Zhou Clan gain a third Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Three Foundation Establishment cultivators had feigned weakness for years.

Using many Zhou Clan disciples as expendable pawns, they had laid this trap precisely to wipe out the Zhang and Li Clans in one stroke, seize the two clans' Spiritual Vein resources, and monopolize Yunlong Market.