Wang Daoxing Returns to the Mountain

Wang Jize strode out of the council hall and then flew directly towards the southeast on his sword.

The old man, with white clothes, white beard, and white hair, soared into the sky riding his flying sword. The clansmen once again had a backbone, no longer panicking, and carried on with the family's operations in an orderly manner. The family returned to peace.

The old man was like a stabilizing pillar; with him there, the clansmen had confidence.

Everyone said Wang Jize was ambushed while out and his cultivation had fallen. It seemed this was a smokescreen by the family, intended to avoid attention. Wang Jize showed no signs of his cultivation having fallen; his aura was much stronger than even the Patriarch's.

In just over a day, Wang Jize returned to Jade Spring Peak with Wang Daochang and Wang Zhide. They had traveled by sword when going, but returned by Spirit Ship; otherwise, they could have made the round trip in two hours.

Not long after their return, a heavily wounded Wang Daoxing also returned to Jade Spring Peak. Due to the gravity of the situation, the Elders and Wang Jize had no time to wait for him to heal and directly questioned Wang Daoxing about what the Patriarch had said at the time.

Wang Daoxing's account was exactly the same as Wang Daoyuan's. All the Elders breathed a sigh of relief. They unanimously decided that if Wang Zhian or Wang Shouye did not return to Jade Spring Peak within a month, Wang Daochang would be immediately declared the Patriarch Successor.

With the overall situation settled, the internal power struggles within the clan calmed down. Before Wang Zhide could even catch his breath after the Patriarch Successor issue was settled, Wang Jize dispatched him again to Qingli Market to gather detailed information about the battle at Returning Goose Valley.

Wang Zhide had been stationed at Qingli Market for many years, accumulating considerable connections over decades. He also had some deep friendships among the rogue cultivators. Rogue cultivators were a diverse group, making them ideal for gathering information.

Besides Wang Zhide, only Wang Zhian and Wang Shouye often traveled, possessing some connections among rogue cultivators, but their whereabouts were unknown. The task of mobilizing connections and gathering information was something only Wang Zhide could handle.

Wang Daoyuan was not to be idle either. Along with Wang Daoxing, he was surrounded by the Elders, who questioned him about the details and his escape experience.

Wang Daoxing, as always, was fierce. While his Seventh Uncle, Wang Shouhong, was still treating his wounds, he volunteered to describe his glorious journey of fighting his way back, possessing a demeanor akin to Guan Erye scraping bone for poison.

Wang Shouhong was an alchemist with Qi Refining Layer Nine cultivation. He could currently refine all common Tier One pills and was just a step away from becoming a Second-Tier Alchemist. He was a person who let nothing bother him, usually quiet and taciturn, with no interest in anything other than alchemy and medicine.

However, even such a person frowned at Wang Daoxing. He was probably thinking to himself: This nephew is truly a bit too reckless.

Fifteen minutes later, after his wounds were treated, Wang Daoxing was still enthusiastically recounting his glorious deeds: "As soon as I escaped from Cart Gorge, I followed Daoyuan's advice and didn't go through Golden Goose City, heading straight for our Jade Spring Peak. Less than a hundred miles out, someone blocked my path.

The guy blocking my path wasn't very strong, only Qi Refining Layer Seven, not enough to be taken down by one of my blows. It was just that the Spirit Beast he kept was quite troublesome. The two of them, one person and one beast, attacked me. It took a lot of effort to smash them both to death.

I encountered five or six waves of such people along the way, which delayed my return a bit."

After hearing his words, Wang Daoyuan felt something was amiss and asked, "Second Brother, you didn't just run back, did you?"

Wang Daoxing replied without hesitation, "Yes, what's wrong?"

Wang Daoyuan cupped his forehead with his hand: "I gave you so many escape talismans, why didn't you use them to flee for your life?"

Wang Daoxing patted the back of his head and gave an awkward yet polite laugh, "I forgot about that."

The Elders didn't know what to say; the family was unfortunate to have such an idiot.

Wang Zhiren seemed to have thought of something and laughed heartily, "If Daoxing could escape back by charging ahead like this, then it's even less of a problem for the others."

Wang Daoyuan couldn't bear to dampen his spirits, but he also feared that concealing the truth would lead the Elders to make misjudgments, so he had to speak up: "The one pursuing me was a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

"What?" Wang Daoxing exclaimed, "How did you come back alive?"

Everyone else also looked at Wang Daoyuan in surprise. "I killed him, so I came back alive."

"How is that possible?" an Elder exclaimed. The closer a cultivator was to Foundation Establishment, the more they knew the vast difference between a Foundation Establishment cultivator and a Qi Refining cultivator, a gap that filled them with despair. Now, to hear Wang Daoyuan say he killed a Foundation Establishment cultivator, their first reaction was disbelief.

It wasn't unheard of for Qi Refining cultivators to kill Foundation Establishment cultivators, but all successful cases involved geniuses at the Qi Refining Peak using powerful trump cards to kill cultivators at Foundation Establishment Layer One or Two. And those successful cultivators were all disciples of major powers.

A Qi Refining Layer Seven cultivator killing a Foundation Establishment cultivator was unprecedented. They knew their own capabilities; the Wang family didn't possess such powerful trump cards.

Even Wang Jize felt curious: "Daoyuan, tell us the detailed process of the counter-kill."

Wang Daoyuan described his experience of escaping the battlefield, being pursued by Zhang Dacheng for a thousand miles, and finally counter-killing him.

The Elders listened with their mouths agape. Wang Daoxing felt a bit ashamed: "I thought I was amazing for smashing a few enemies to death. I didn't expect Little Seven to encounter such a formidable opponent, not only retreating unharmed but also managing to counter-kill."

"Actually, it wasn't that difficult. The Foundation Establishment cultivator was just too weak; he hadn't even learned the sword control technique, didn't have Tier Two magic tools or spells, and his Spirit Beast wasn't combat-oriented. Moreover, he lacked combat experience.

Even so, I used over a hundred talismans, including one Tier Two talisman.

Based on my estimation, the enemy had been monitoring the entire battlefield and dispatched people to intercept based on the cultivator's strength and value.

I was scattering talismans liberally on the battlefield, so I must have been targeted. And the Foundation Establishment cultivator who pursued me was so poor that his storage bag was cleaner than his face; he probably pursued me for money.

Second Brother only exposed his powerful physique on the battlefield, so the people who intercepted him weren't very strong.

As for Twelfth Uncle, on the battlefield, he made a Tier One peak Demonic Beast completely unable to fight back with just the Water Dragon spell. I estimate that the one pursuing Twelfth Uncle was likely also a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

After listening, all the Elders fell silent. Wang Daoyuan, who only exposed some talismans, was pursued by a Foundation Establishment cultivator. And Wang Shouye, who exposed his extremely strong combat power, was almost certainly pursued by a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Although Wang Shouye had strong combat power and many trump cards, killing enemies across realms was never a sure thing. Wang Daoyuan could counter-kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator because that Foundation Establishment cultivator was genuinely weak. Wang Daoyuan's low cultivation meant the enemy consistently underestimated him, allowing him to seize an opportunity.

Wang Shouye, however, had exposed his combat power. The enemy would not underestimate him; no matter how strong his combat power was, it couldn't compensate for the gap in cultivation. Everyone could only pray that Wang Shouye could evade pursuit.

The younger generation, like Wang Daoyuan, had only heard that Wang Shouye had excellent talent but didn't know what Wang Shouye meant to the Wang family.

The Elders, however, all knew that Wang Shouye was the hope for the Wang family to return to its peak. His talent was only slightly inferior to the Old Ancestor's, but his conditions were much better than the Old Ancestor's.

Back then, Wang Chengzhu had started from scratch, with no cultivation techniques, no guidance, and no cultivation resources, relying solely on himself to carve out a bloody path.

Wang Shouye, on the other hand, had the cultivation techniques and cultivation experience left by Wang Chengzhu, as well as the financial support of the family. As long as he could obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill and pass the life-and-death trial of Foundation Establishment, with his talent, if there were no accidents, he could reach Foundation Establishment Layer Nine within a hundred years. Opening a Violet Mansion would be difficult, but there would be no life-threatening danger.

In those days, Wang Chengzhu himself lacked a Foundation Establishment Pill and auxiliary spiritual medicines for opening the Violet Mansion and forming a Golden Core, yet he succeeded in breaking through to Foundation Establishment, Violet Mansion, and Golden Core on the first attempt.