Because Cai Di wasn't Chen Xiao's Tribulation Disciple, Chen Xiao couldn't contact him directly through the Thunder Virtue Heavenly Book. He could only pass messages through Ao Xie and Shadow.
Ao Xie was the Crown Prince of the Crystal Dragon Palace and a cultivation fanatic, while Shadow was a demon spirit born from the shadow of an ancient corpse, with a mind as pure as a blank sheet of paper. How could either of them compare with Cai Di, a seasoned old hand who had spent hundreds of years navigating the Immortal World?
After receiving the message, Cai Di's eyes shifted ever so slightly, and he quickly began to devise a plan.
Though Ao Xie's Heaven-Concealing Talisman was far more advanced than Cai Di and the others', the three of them now understood that while the Nangong Family might be weak on the surface, they had secretly set up some extremely sophisticated arrays. Some of the places where their family elders cultivated in seclusion were especially well protected. Any one of them would be unable to break in within a short time.
So, with no other choice, the three gradually began working together.
Ao Xie and Shadow couldn't see through it, but how could Cai Di fail to understand Chen Xiao's intentions?
Relying on the power of their Heaven-Concealing Talismans, the three carefully made their way through the Nangong Family, investigating as they went. The more Cai Di saw, the more shaken he became.
"Th-this... How is this possible?"
After the three joined forces and slaughtered sixteen Body Integration Realm elders of the Nangong Family, Cai Di finally realized something was wrong.
"How could a little Nangong Family possess so many sophisticated methods? Is this... a Heavenly Mystery Spirit Stone?"
Every location where a Body Integration Realm expert of the Nangong Family resided was equipped with a massive array that gathered most of the spiritual energy within a hundred miles. In other words, half the spiritual energy in Moon-Gazing City had been seized by the Nangong Family.
And they had done it without a sound. If Cai Di hadn't come here himself this time and seen these arrays, he would never have believed the Nangong Family could pull off something so grand.
Though he had seen some of the Nangong Family's hidden reserves at Mingyu Mountain, his opinion of them hadn't changed. He still thought of them as nothing more than country landowners with unusually big ambitions and a lot of nerve.
But now, after seeing these extremely sophisticated arrays, he was completely stunned. One or two wouldn't have been anything special, but there were more than a dozen—and they were only for Body Integration Realm cultivators to use while cultivating. Wasn't that extravagantly wasteful?
The foundations of these arrays were clearly Heavenly Mystery Spirit Stones, spiritual stones of a higher grade than Heavenly Mystery Stones.
In a backwater place like Moon-Gazing City, Heavenly Mystery Spirit Stones were practically the stuff of legend. Even Chen Fengyang had never seen one. Yet the Nangong Family had used them to set up more than a dozen highly sophisticated Spirit-Gathering Arrays, quietly drawing most of the spiritual energy in the area around Moon-Gazing City to this place.
Unlike Heavenly Mystery Stones, which came in supreme, high, middle, and low grades, Heavenly Mystery Spirit Stones had only one grade. One Heavenly Mystery Spirit Stone could be exchanged for ten thousand supreme-grade Heavenly Mystery Stones in the Immortal World!
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
Seeing Cai Di's startled expression, Ao Xie furrowed his two pale silver brows. They were only a few arrays and a handful of Heavenly Mystery Spirit Stones. Was there really any need to be so surprised?
"As Young Master said, the Nangong Family really is hiding its strength," Cai Di said, shaking his head.
"They're just a few low-grade Spirit-Gathering Arrays. That doesn't prove anything, does it?"
Shadow raised an eyebrow. He wasn't using a Heaven-Concealing Talisman to hide himself; his natural ability was even stronger than the talisman's, so he had no need for one.
"What would you know?" Cai Di said with a frown. "You were born into privilege, so of course a few Heavenly Mystery Spirit Stones and a few arrays mean nothing to you. But don't forget, this is Moon-Gazing City—a backwater town in Glazed Heaven. Heavenly Mystery Spirit Stones are a legend here, and not even the City Lord's Mansion has arrays like these!"
Shadow and Ao Xie froze. They had seen plenty, but their experience was nowhere near Cai Di's. Ao Xie had been born in the Crystal Palace and had seen every kind of treasure, while Shadow seemed to have inherited some knowledge from the fallen corpse.
After Cai Di pointed it out, the two understood at once.
Just then, Chen Xiao sent a message.
"Cai Di, what do you think we should do?"
Shadow relayed Chen Xiao's message to Cai Di and left the decision to him. Clearly, the three had reached an understanding, with Cai Di in the lead.
Cai Di furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before saying, "Ao Xie, go to the Nangong Family's treasury and attack the array protecting it. Make as much noise as you can!"
Ao Xie nodded. With a wave of his hand, he broke the Spirit-Gathering Array before them and took several dozen Heavenly Mystery Spirit Stones from it. Then the Heaven-Concealing Talisman within him activated, and he vanished in an instant.
"This Ao Xie isn't so dumb after all."
A faint smile appeared on Cai Di's face.
"What should we do?" Cai Di asked, glancing at the outsiders growing bolder by the minute in the Nangong Mansion. A smile spread across his face.
Clearly, they too had discovered that the Nangong Family was no ordinary clan.
Originally, these important sites of the Nangong Family had all been protected by arrays and guarded by cultivators. Once activated, the arrays made it impossible for even Tribulation Transcendence Realm cultivators to see through them. The strongest people who had come here, however, were only at the Body Integration Realm.
But now, Nangong Wenyang had simply waved his hand and transferred most of the guards stationed at the Nangong Family elsewhere, leaving several important sites of the family poorly defended. More importantly, the family's hidden Body Integration Realm elders had already been silently dealt with by the three of them. Who was left to control these extremely powerful arrays?
The longer Chen Xiao kept them occupied at Heavenly Abode, the worse things became for the Nangong Family.
At this moment, the entire Nangong Family was in utter chaos. The servants and maids who had no idea what was happening saw shadowy figures flickering across the sky and trembled with fear. Quite a few, though, summoned their courage and shouted furiously at the cultivators.
The cultivators had originally only come to take a look on their masters' orders, but the Nangong Mansion had given them one surprise after another.
Spirit-Gathering Arrays, Heavenly Mystery Spirit Stones—could a little Nangong Family really possess such things?
So the cultivators grew bolder and bolder. What was more, they had encountered no resistance since arriving, and everything had gone unusually smoothly. They immediately understood that someone was targeting the Nangong Family.
But by now, neither the family's guardians nor its elders or patriarch had shown themselves. It was hard not to let their imaginations run wild.
As for the fifty-odd guards Nangong Wenyang had taken to Heavenly Abode, they had long since been forgotten. A family capable of using Heavenly Mystery Spirit Stones to build high-grade Spirit-Gathering Arrays couldn't possibly rely on just a few people for protection.
Boom!
Just then, a tremendous crash rang out, and the entire Nangong Mansion shuddered.
"A Mahayana Realm expert!"
Someone immediately recognized the source of the crash.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Another series of violent blows followed, and the Nangong Mansion shook as if the earth itself were moving.
The cultivators exchanged glances, then shot into the air and flew toward the source of the noise.
"It's the Nangong Family's treasury!"
Someone shouted the next moment, and every eye instantly burned with greed.
The Nangong Family possessed Heavenly Mystery Spirit Stones. How many other treasures might be in their treasury?
By now, in these people's eyes, the Nangong Family had become a fat lamb for the slaughter. The forces behind them also possessed Heavenly Mystery Spirit Stones, but the ones sent out to run errands like them still used ordinary Heavenly Mystery Stones for cultivation.
Finally, I'd like to thank this book's first disciple, Han Tian, for the support.