Chaos Erupts

Ludong County covered over a hundred li. Within the city, four main streets formed the character for a well, dividing the entire county seat into nine wards and four markets.

The Liang Family's Five Talisman Hall was located in the East Market, one of the four markets.

It was now the third day after the Black Wind Bandits' attack on the Liang Family. Night had fallen, the bright moon had risen in the east, and Five Talisman Hall's doors were tightly shut. Only Liang Zhaohuang was there; the rest of the clan's younger members had all been summoned back to the family.

Knowing full well that Zhu Yuqing was about to attack the Sun Family, and that Ludong County would likely fall into turmoil soon, the Liang Family naturally would not leave their disciples in the county seat, lest they suffer like fish in a moat when the city gate caught fire.

Originally, according to the clan chief's intentions, Liang Zhaohuang was not supposed to come to the county seat either. As for the Sun Family matter, they could simply report it directly to the commandery city; at worst, they could seek out the Crimson Cauldron Wang Family.

Though the Liang Family was a humble family and not within the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty's system, they did have backing.

However, Liang Zhaohuang had not agreed. The Liang Family was merely a humble family, outside the nine ranks, while the Sun Family was an eighth-rank county magnate. One was within the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty's system and protected by it; the other was outside the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty's system and subject to suppression.

If the Liang Family wanted to accuse the Sun Family, there was no way they could succeed, not to mention they had no clear evidence!

If they claimed the Black Wind Bandits were Sun Family men, the Sun Family had far too many excuses to shirk it off, and might even turn around and accuse the Liang Family instead.

As for backing, if the Liang Family had backing, how could the Sun Family, as an eighth-rank county magnate, possibly not have backing of their own?

Even now, the Liang Family had not figured out the situation within Ludong County, nor did they know anything about the forces, backgrounds, grudges, and entanglements behind the six county magnate families!

Let alone the relationships in the commandery, the province, or even the Immortal Dynasty.

Would the Liang Family's so-called backing, the Crimson Cauldron Wang Family, truly be willing to stand up for the Liang Family and offend the Sun Family—or even the connections behind the Sun Family?

No one could be certain!

For all they knew, if the Liang Family came knocking, the other side might sell them out instead, trading them away for benefits.

After all, the Liang Family's relationship with the Crimson Cauldron Wang Family ultimately came down to the connection of a "concubine."

As for the Liang Family sending out clan disciples over the years to follow the Wang Family in battles at the border, making sacrifices?

In the eyes of the Wang Family, perhaps they even thought that was only natural—or even considered it a form of care shown to the Liang Family.

As the saying went, "lean on a mountain and the mountain may collapse; lean on water and the water may flow away." If the Liang Family wanted to truly establish themselves, in the end, they still had to rely on themselves.

Therefore, after some discussion, Liang Zhaohuang still decided to make a trip to the county seat and see how the situation developed.

Until the final moment, it was better not to place their hopes in others.

As for safety, Liang Zhaohuang had the innate spiritual art, Five Elements Restriction-Breaking Spiritual Light, and he had also brought several second-rank spiritual talismans accumulated by the family over the past hundred years. He was confident that escaping with his life would not be a problem.

At this moment, the bright moon had risen in the east. Liang Zhaohuang sat inside Five Talisman Hall, holding a jade slip in his hand. His Spiritual Sense probed into it as he read carefully.

This was precisely the cultivation "log" jade slip of that Black Wind Bandits Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The contents inside were likewise extremely jumbled and lacked any system. For these three days, Liang Zhaohuang had spent most of his time sorting through the contents, trying to find something useful.

At the very least, he wanted to gain a little more understanding of the Sun Family.

"Can't these cultivators categorize their cultivation 'logs'? Writing a stroke in the east and a line in the west like this—aren't they afraid of messing it up and forgetting important information?"

"Mm, this entry is complaining about the terrible environment of the Huaiyang Mountain Range again. The Sun Family seems to be searching for something in the Huaiyang Mountain Range?"

Liang Zhaohuang thought of another jade slip in the Black Wind Bandits Foundation Establishment cultivator's Storage Bag, which recorded a map of the Huaiyang Mountain Range.

"Heh, and the next entry is complaining again about the backlash and impact from the Life-Bound Beast Soul, the Black Tiger Soul!"

Speaking of which, Liang Zhaohuang had not gained nothing from studying this "log" jade slip over the past three days.

At the very least, he had already learned from it that the Sun Family's Hundred Beasts Canon and their beast-taming cultivation inheritance came from the remnant inheritance of the Beast Taming Sect from seven thousand years ago.

However, the inheritance the Sun Family obtained should have been severely incomplete, to the point that it did not even contain a method for breaking through to Foundation Establishment.

But there had been capable figures among the Sun Family's ancestors. From this fragmented Beast Taming Sect inheritance, they had actually opened up another path and created the method of the Life-Bound Beast Soul, successfully using the power of the Life-Bound Beast Soul to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Only, this Life-Bound Beast Soul method was clearly still imperfect, and often caused a certain degree of backlash and impact against Sun Family cultivators.

"Unfortunately, this 'log' jade slip doesn't contain the specific method for the Life-Bound Beast Soul."

Liang Zhaohuang was rather interested in this method.

Of course, what Liang Zhaohuang wanted to find even more was information related to the Sun Family's internal affairs, but unfortunately, he had not gained much.

Boom!

Just then, a sudden rumbling explosion came from the southwest corner of the county seat. Liang Zhaohuang even had the illusion that the ground beneath his feet was shaking!

He abruptly raised his head and looked over. The moon was high in the sky, and under the moonlight, crimson light shot up like fire from the southwest corner of the county seat.

"That's Hundred Longevity Ward! The location of the Sun Family's base, Beast Soul Mountain!"

"Has Zhu Yuqing and the others made their move?"

Liang Zhaohuang immediately understood—the opportunity he had been waiting for had arrived!

Buzz!

As soon as the tremor began, the county seat reacted extremely quickly. A dark yellow radiance emerged from the center of the county seat, from Jin Guan Ward among the nine wards, and rapidly expanded, covering the entire city.

"The county seat's protective grand array has been activated!"

Liang Zhaohuang's footsteps suddenly stopped. He looked at the dark yellow light barrier shrouding the sky, his expression uncertain.

This was what he feared most. There was no Golden Core True Person stationed in the county seat; the strongest were only Foundation Establishment cultivators. Although Liang Zhaohuang's strength could not be considered powerful, he was still confident he could flee from others of the same realm.

However, once the city-protecting grand array in the county seat was activated, anyone who dared cause chaos in the city would immediately become a turtle trapped in a jar, unable to escape even if they wanted to!

"I wonder what kind of plan Zhu Yuqing has..."

Before the thought had even settled in Liang Zhaohuang's mind, he suddenly saw the dark-yellow light barrier that had been expanding toward the four corners of the county city and enveloping it give a violent shudder. Then, instead of expanding any farther, it began to shrink, drawing back toward the county office in Jin Guan Ward!

"This is... an inside traitor?"

That was Liang Zhaohuang's first reaction.

Then, before he could think any further, booming explosions rang out one after another, coming from all over the county city, near and far.

"Fine Grain Ward!" "Medicine Fragrance Ward!" "Spirit Leaf Ward!" "Water Cloud Ward!" "Golden Sand Ward!" "Jin Guan Ward!"

"And adding the earlier Hundred Longevity Ward, does that mean all six county magnate families in the county city, as well as the county office, have come under attack?"

Liang Zhaohuang's expression changed drastically. He realized things seemed even more troublesome than he had expected, and he began to regret coming to the county city to get mixed up in this.

"Is Zhu Yuqing trying to attack the Sun Family, or is he trying to attack the county city?"

"Could he really be planning to rebel?"

Liang Zhaohuang's heart was uneasy. He hurriedly activated Five Talisman Hall's formation to its fullest and set it running at full power.

Although it was only a set of first-tier formations and could not stop a Foundation Establishment cultivator at all, it was still better than nothing.

All around, every shop throughout the East Market had also been startled into action by now. Formations were activated one after another, and figure after figure hid within them, cautiously peering outside to check the situation across the county city.