Old Matters

"The Four Fiends of Heshan? It was actually them?!"

"No wonder Zhao Family Village ended up in such a miserable state. No wonder!"

"Indeed. Who would have thought those people would appear here? Fortunately, an immortal stepped in and dealt with them once and for all. From now on, there are four fewer notorious bandit cultivators in these parts!"

"Brother Ding, from the sound of it, you know them? Could you tell me a little about them?"

"Oh, so it's Brother Xu, the newcomer. Of course, no problem."

Before long,

roughly half a day passed,

and people from all six villages had arrived, gathering within Zhao Family Village.

To be honest,

when they first saw the tragic state of Zhao Family Village,

many of them felt their hearts pounding like drums.

They feared that Master Shen from Great Bay Village wanted to annex Zhao Family Village and had thus launched the attack.

But the suspicion in their hearts soon vanished.

That was because they saw the four corpses hanging in the center of Zhao Family Village, and one after another recognized their identities.

Clearly,

the disaster that had befallen Zhao Family Village was, nine times out of ten, connected to the Four Fiends of Heshan.

Only then did they let out a breath of relief.

For a time,

the square filled with voices of discussion and debate.

Those who knew of them also dug up the background of the Four Fiends of Heshan.

The Four Fiends of Heshan were a gang of infamous bandit cultivators.

Whenever the summer harvest or autumn harvest came, and merchant caravans departed Qing City to travel throughout the Border Wasteland and trade with the various small cultivation powers,

that was when they made their move.

Given their strength, they naturally did not dare provoke those merchant caravans.

So they set their sights on the groups from the villages heading to the markets to trade.

Just as after the autumn harvest,

if Shen Changchuan wanted to obtain more cultivation resources, he could only transport his share of Spirit Grain to Wu Family Market and trade it with the merchant caravans.

And the Four Fiends of Heshan targeted precisely such groups heading to nearby markets.

They lay in ambush along forest paths,

wandering around like hyenas.

The instant they discovered prey they could strike, they pounced upon it, swallowing it skin, flesh, and bone.

Unless a Qi Gathering Late-stage cultivator stood guard, or the forces of several nearby villages traveled together, once one encountered them, it was almost certainly death with no chance of survival.

These men were infamous for their savagery,

and from time to time, small cultivation lineages were robbed by them and consequently wiped out.

However, ten years ago,

during one of their raids, they accidentally killed men from Wu Family Market.

As a result, the Wu family of Wu Family Market issued a public wanted notice against them,

to the point that in recent years,

they had not dared set foot in these nearby regions, instead wandering elsewhere.

Though no one knew why the Four Fiends had returned,

one thing was certain:

Zhao Family Village had most likely been destroyed by them.

Given the Four Fiends of Heshan's vicious reputation,

it was hardly strange for them to commit such a deed.

"Though these four thieves have already been executed, I cannot say how many bandit cultivators and robbers like them remain outside."

"After you return, please strengthen your patrols and defenses. Should anything arise, you may come to Great Bay Village to find me."

After exchanging pleasantries, explaining the particulars, and building some rapport,

Shen Changchuan spoke up to remind the assembled crowd.

His words also left the cultivators from several villages deeply worried.

Never mind the Four Fiends of Heshan's purpose; one thing was certain: if they became the targets, they likely would not escape Zhao Family Village's fate either.

But there was nothing to be done. They could only strengthen their ties and support one another.

Still, several of them spoke in succession, hoping that after the autumn harvest, they could travel together when going to Wu Family Market to trade.

Shen Changchuan did not object.

Having familiar people lead the way was quite helpful.

Having come from Tiannan City thousands of miles away, he did not actually know much about the surrounding area.

Besides,

these people sent seventy percent of their harvest to him each season as "protection money."

Shen Changchuan felt that he ought to play some role, at least, to be worthy of the "protection money" they paid.

Zhao Family Village was now in desperate need of rebuilding,

and was not in any state to host guests.

Thus, after staying in the village for only half a day, the people around them took their leave one after another.

With the matter temporarily settled,

Shen Changchuan saw that the others held neither opposition nor resistance toward his taking over Zhao Family Village. Instead, they were extremely concerned about the possibility of bandit cultivators.

He nodded slightly to himself,

fairly satisfied with how matters had developed.

This way, the two mu of Spirit Fields in Zhao Family Village became his as well.

Some truths never should have been hidden away in the first place.

Displaying them openly and frankly

could instead resolve problems more effectively.

Just like this time.

To be honest,

if Shen Changchuan had sealed off all information, then silently taken over Zhao Family Village's fields,

there was no need to say that outsiders ignorant of the truth would surely have been thrown into panic.

They would have guessed whether Shen Changchuan had attacked Zhao Family Village, and whether they would be his next target.

Then rumors would have sprung up everywhere,

throwing everyone into a state of unease.

Even if he later tried to refute them, it would likely only breed even greater rumors, leading to unbearable events down the road.

Watching the cultivators depart,

Shen Changchuan turned around

and returned to the village hall.

Han Qinhu was already waiting within the hall.

"Maternal Grandfather, how did it go? Did he confess?"

At the sight of Han Qinhu, delight flashed through Shen Changchuan's eyes as he asked.

His maternal grandfather Han Qinhu had traveled north and south for many years and possessed far more life experience than Shen Changchuan.

Thus, Shen Changchuan had entrusted the interrogation of Zhao Hantao to his maternal grandfather, Han Qinhu.

Now Han Qinhu waited in the hall, holding a thick stack of records in his hands.

Clearly, he had achieved some results.

"Not bad. Perhaps because his family was wiped out, his spirit has been completely crushed. He basically answered whatever was asked. Everything is here. Take a look."

Han Qinhu nodded and replied.

Yet his expression carried a measure of unease, as though he had seen some enormous secret he should never have seen.

Shen Changchuan did not notice his reaction. He took the records and began reading through them.

"So that was how it was!"

After reading all the materials, Shen Changchuan inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

Yet his brows also knitted tightly, and he did not speak for a long while.

The worst possibility had not come to pass. The Four Fiends of Heshan had not been paid by someone to come take his life.

On the contrary,

there might even be a tremendous opportunity hidden within.

It was a long story,

directly connected to the old incident twenty years ago, when Great Bay Village changed hands.

Twenty years ago,

a collateral branch member of the Shen Family came from afar, arriving in the Border Wasteland to search for treasure.

But because he was unfamiliar with the climate,

he became trapped in Great Bay Village during an outbreak of Mountain Leeches in the Rainy Season, and there became acquainted with the Patriarch of the Hu family, then masters of Great Bay Village.

After the Rainy Season ended, the Shen Family collateral branch member understood from that experience that if he wished to enter the mountains, he needed a local person as a guide.

Otherwise, if he encountered a predicament like the Mountain Leech outbreak of the Rainy Season in the mountains, he would likely die without even a whole corpse left behind.

Thus, the Hu family at the time handed the matter to the Zhao family of Zhao Family Village.

Zhao Hantao, still young at the time,

had no choice but to become the guide for that Shen Family collateral branch member.

Later,

under Zhao Hantao's guidance,

that Shen Family collateral branch member successfully entered deep into the mountains and forests. Following the map on his person, he found a Cave Abode Ruins in a hidden spot atop a cliff.

Zhao Hantao was unable to enter that Cave Abode.

The Shen Family collateral branch member, however, used a token he carried with him to open the outer restriction gate.

Though Zhao Hantao outside did not know the specific situation within,

he could sense from outside the fluctuations of the Cave Abode's outer restrictions—a pressure fluctuation at least at the Nascent Soul level!

No one had expected that deep within the Yao Beast Mountain Forest, a place barren of human traces, there was actually a Cave Abode belonging to an Out of Body Stage true cultivator!

While excited, Zhao Hantao also keenly realized something.

Faced with such staggering wealth, that Shen Family collateral branch member might very well silence him to keep the secret!

So he fled back in advance.

Yet on the way, the Patriarch of the Hu family at the time learned of it

and summoned him to ask about the details.

In his panic, Zhao Hantao revealed the specifics. At the same time, he cleverly employed a few verbal tricks, persuading the Patriarch of the Hu family to let him go and focus his main attention on the ruins of the Nascent Soul true cultivator.

Later,

the Shen Family collateral branch member who returned from the mountains was successfully ambushed by the Hu family Patriarch, who suddenly turned hostile, and was slain by him.

Upon hearing the news, Zhao Hantao became somewhat panicked, afraid that the Patriarch of the Hu family would silence both him and the entire Zhao family.

Fortunately,

he had already secretly reported the matter to the Shen Family in advance.

To win the Shen Family's trust, he had even revealed some information about the ruins of a Nascent Soul-level true cultivator.

Sure enough, not long afterward,

an Out of Body Stage true cultivator from the Shen Family arrived and swept through everything.

The Hu family, former masters of Great Bay Village, was wiped out,

and Great Bay Village became the Shen Family's spoils of war, after which they sent people to oversee and manage it.

As for Zhao Hantao, who had played a key role,

because the matter back then involved cultivators, and no outsiders besides those involved knew the precise details, while he had concealed himself exceptionally well,

after the Shen Family collateral branch member and the Hu family Patriarch died in succession, not a single person knew that he harbored such a great secret.

Thus, he managed to muddle through and survive until now.

And all of this

continued until the birth of his son, Zhao Jingming.

Because he had only this one son, Zhao Hantao had spoiled him excessively from childhood, granting him whatever he asked for.

He had even, on one drunken occasion, told his only son Zhao Jingming the secret he had never revealed to anyone.

And this

became the root of all calamity.

Perhaps because he had grown up pampered, with everything going smoothly,

Zhao Jingming believed he possessed the bearing of an immortal, and that only his birth had limited his development.

He wanted to seek freedom and pursue a thrilling life of cultivation.

So he left home,

venturing across the world.

And the outcome afterward was plain to see.

He befriended bandits by mistake,

and leaked the great secret,

It had brought disaster that would wipe out his entire clan.

"The Cultivation World truly held danger at every step!"

"But if that was the case, hadn't I suffered an undeserved calamity?!"

Only after much thought did Shen Changchuan finally sort out the whole chain of events.

After Zhao Jingming leaked the great secret, the Four Fiends of Heshan had secretly followed close behind.

Because Zhao Jingming's life and death were under their control, Zhao Hantao did not dare make the slightest move and could only cooperate with all their actions.

And their reason for targeting Shen Changchuan was very simple.

They had visited that Cave Abode Ruins.

From their investigation outside, they could vaguely sense that its core remained intact.

When the Shen Family's branch had left back then, there must have been some trial or obstacle within that had forced them to depart.

The inheritance of that Out of Body Stage true cultivator was, in all likelihood, still inside!

But the Formation restrictions laid down by an Out of Body Stage true cultivator were far too powerful.

To enter it,

they needed the token once held by that Shen Family branch.

And they believed

that the token used by the Shen Family branch to open the outer gate had fallen into Shen Changchuan's hands.

Otherwise,

why would the son of the Patriarch of the Shen Family, one of the Immortal Cultivation Great Families, personally come to a remote backwater like Great Bay Village?

There was absolutely something fishy about this!

Even if it was not on him, it had to be somewhere in Great Bay Village, undiscovered by the Shen Family members!

Thus,

this encirclement and slaughter came to be.

Their preparations had not actually been aimed at Shen Changchuan,

but at the possible Dao guardian behind him!