By then, friction had also begun to erupt between the visiting Houtian martial artists and those who had lived in the city for years.
The chaos in Fengliu Commandery spread further.
Every day, quite a few corpses were dragged out from the corners of Fengliu Commandery.
Just then, someone arrived at the Wu Family ancestral shrine.
"Why did you suddenly summon me?" The visitor appeared without a sound and spoke to the Wu Family Patriarch, who had been anxiously waiting in the shrine.
Hearing the voice, the Wu Family Patriarch immediately turned around and cupped his hands. "My lord, I suddenly summoned you because the Wu Family is about to collapse. I beg you to act soon and put an end to the chaos in Fengliu Commandery."
The visitor remained unmoved. "The means Elder Wu left behind for you should still be enough to hold out for some time, shouldn't they?"
The Wu Family Patriarch's face turned bitter. "My lord, in order to purchase a Prenatal Pill, our lineage has already sold the means our ancestor left behind. We truly no longer have the strength to withstand the covetous gazes of so many martial artists."
As he spoke, the Wu Family Patriarch took out a storage bag.
"My lord, these are the Wu Family's remaining treasures. I beg you to help my lineage."
The visitor looked at the Wu Family Patriarch with amusement. He had not believed even half a word of what the Wu Family Patriarch had said.
The Wu Family was not foolish. How could they be stupid enough to sell even the Prenatal means Elder Wu had left behind?
With the Wu Family's wealth, they did not need to trade away their most precious treasures to gather enough spirit stones to buy a Prenatal Pill.
But seeing the Wu Family Patriarch's expression, the visitor still took the storage bag.
After sweeping it with his divine sense, the visitor smiled. "You're considerate enough."
"Rest assured. Elder Wu has always been loyal to the sect. How could I stand by and watch your lineage perish?"
"Make your preparations. The chaos in Fengliu Commandery will end within the next few days."
With that, the visitor's figure vanished without a trace.
After looking around, the Wu Family Patriarch felt relieved, yet also somewhat bitter and conflicted.
The protective means Elder Wu had left behind truly remained, but even with those Prenatal means, if the situation continued to develop as it was, the Wu Family would still be destroyed.
A few tricks would not be enough to deal with all the Houtian martial artists who had gathered.
The best choice for ensuring the family's survival was to seek aid from the sect's Prenatal martial artist whom the Jade Bone Sect had sent to take over their ancestor's duties.
But this person was ruthless and perverse, with a temperament no one could fathom.
The Wu Family Patriarch could not say whether surviving under this person's command would ultimately be a blessing or a disaster.
Yet after exhausting the family's assets without allowing any of their experts to break through to the Prenatal realm, they actually had very few choices left.
"With the family having lost its Prenatal protection, and another ruthless Prenatal expert arriving, Fengliu Commandery will be beset by trouble from now on." Thinking of how the sect's Prenatal expert had sat by and watched Fengliu Commandery descend into chaos to achieve his own goal, watching the sect's Houtian martial artists clash with outsiders, the Wu Family Patriarch felt a chill in his heart.
After leaving the Wu Family, the Jade Bone Sect's Prenatal martial artist went to the mass graveyard outside the city.
This place had originally been where the corpses of people who had died unjustly in the commandery city, yet whose relatives could not be found, were discarded.
But during this period, martial artists in Fengliu Commandery had fought one another in bloody clashes.
Many Houtian martial artists had died, and large numbers of ordinary people had also been caught in the crossfire.
There were no few cases where entire families had perished.
The mass graveyard, originally not very large, was now piled high with corpses that had yet to be buried.
Looking into the distance, white bones lay exposed in the wilderness, while corpse water flowed everywhere.
The Jade Bone Sect's Prenatal martial artist, however, showed no change in expression as he calmly walked through it.
He arrived before a gravestone, sank into it, and fled dozens of meters underground before reaching a karst cave.
Inside the cave was a pool of corpse water, with more than two hundred corpses floating atop it!
The corpse water had formed from the corpses of ordinary people above, which had decayed and flowed down to collect here. As for the more than two hundred corpses, they were all the bodies of Houtian martial artists who had died in Fengliu Commandery during this period!
After their deaths, all their corpses had been gathered by the Jade Bone Sect's guarding disciples and handed over to the sect's Prenatal martial artist, who had then brought them here.
The Jade Bone Sect's Prenatal martial artist looked at the corpse aura filling the surroundings and took a blood-red precious bead from his storage bag.
He tossed the bead into the air. The blood-red bead flew up, radiating a frightening red light that enveloped the entire cave.
Within the red light, the essence of the corpse aura, corpse water, and corpses was all drawn into and devoured by the bead. The terrifying radiance emanating from the blood-red bead grew increasingly demonic and icy.
"Excellent, excellent. With the essence of so many ordinary people and Houtian martial artists, the Blood God Bead is finally about to be refined."
"But I must also thank Elder Wu for suddenly passing away."
"Otherwise, as a Prenatal martial artist of the righteous Jade Bone Sect, it would not have been convenient for me to slaughter on a large scale and use Houtian martial artists' flesh and blood essence to refine a treasure."
"Going with the flow like this, merely letting things run their course a little, allows me to obtain so many corpses. It truly couldn't be better."
The Jade Bone Sect's Prenatal martial artist laughed, though a hint of regret showed on his face.
Compared with Houtian martial artists' corpses, using the corpse of a Prenatal martial artist would naturally have been best.
Unfortunately, Elder Wu was ultimately a sect Prenatal martial artist who had rendered great service. The sect would never permit him to refine a treasure with Elder Wu's corpse; otherwise, why would he have gone to such lengths?
That evening, the Jade Bone Sect's Prenatal martial artist appeared outside the gates of the Beginner Martial Arts Academy.
The martial artists guarding the gates immediately opened them and called out warmly, "Vice Dean Qi, you're back? How are things in the commandery city?"
Qi Lin sighed. "Not well. I just returned from there. The situation in the city has grown even more chaotic."
Hearing this, the guards also grew worried. "It's been so long, and it's still in chaos? Isn't the sect planning to deal with it?"
"Who knows? Perhaps the sect has other plans."
"In any case, we shouldn't meddle too much on the academy's side. We only need to focus on cultivating martial artists for the sect."
"You all need to be careful too."
"If someone attacks the academy, you'll be the ones we'll have to rely on."
"But don't be too rash. Staying alive is what matters most." After exchanging a few words with the guards, Qi Lin left.
Watching Qi Lin depart, several of the gate guards sighed with emotion. Vice Dean Qi was truly the gentlest of the four deans and vice deans. He even cared about them.
Meanwhile, in the separate courtyard where the academy's Houtian martial artists lived,
Zhang Wan was training his younger sister and younger brother.
As the two honed themselves, he also drummed wisdom about life into them.
Things like knowing a person's face but not their heart; always guarding against the unexpected; knowing how to seek fortune and avoid calamity; acting within one's means; knowing how to conceal one's trump cards; and always putting staying alive first, among many other lessons.
Zhang Lingshu and Zhang Yan were young and might not understand the meaning behind them, but hearing them often would have some effect.
After finishing his training with his younger sister and brother, Zhang Wan slipped into the bedroom. While secretly cultivating spirit plants with the Extreme Cultivation Method, he also drew fire talismans.
Several days later, Zhang Wan heard that the Jade Bone Sect had sent another Prenatal martial artist, who had displayed great might in the city and slaughtered the Houtian martial artists causing trouble there, pacifying the chaos in Fengliu Commandery.
This restored Fengliu Commandery to the peace it had enjoyed in the past.
He also heard that the local forces, led by the Wu Family, had wanted to hold a banquet for the newly appointed Prenatal martial artist, but had been sternly refused. In front of numerous martial artists, that Prenatal martial artist had harshly criticized the Wu Family and the other forces for their poor governance, demanding to know how they had allowed Fengliu Commandery to descend into such chaos! He ordered them to restore Fengliu Commandery's prosperity in the shortest possible time and at the fastest speed, making amends through meritorious service!
At the same time, personnel changes also took place at the Beginner Martial Arts Academy.
Vice Dean Qi was transferred away. It was said that he had been reassigned elsewhere, but no one knew exactly where.
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