Astonishing Discovery

Liang Zhaohuang and Wang Chengen waited in this side hall of the county yamen, chatting idly, but no one came to see them.

Only when noon was already half gone did a soldier from the Prefectural Guard come to deliver orders and lead them to the main hall behind the county yamen.

When they arrived, Liang Zhaohuang discovered that the place was already full of people.

Two people sat at the head of the hall, both Golden Core Zhenren. One was the commandery commandant of Luyang Commandery, and the other was the lesser appraiser.

The commandery commandant was a fifth-rank official, held by the head of the fifth-rank commandery-prospect house of Luyang Commandery, the Zhou Family of Golden Scale Light.

The lesser appraiser was likewise a fifth-rank official. It was said that Luyang Commandery's lesser appraiser was surnamed Guo and came from the Imperial Academy.

The Great Jin Immortal Dynasty had founded its state on the Nine-Rank System. The office of appraiser could be called vitally important, an important position that presided over the evaluation of the ranks of the various cultivation clans and aristocratic gates.

The office of appraiser was divided into lesser appraisers and grand appraisers.

Lesser appraisers were all Golden Core Zhenren, holding Principal Fifth Rank office, distributed among the various commandery cities of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty, and responsible for presiding over the evaluation of seventh-rank, eighth-rank, and ninth-rank county-magnate clans under each commandery.

Grand appraisers, meanwhile, were all Nascent Soul True Lords, holding Principal Second Rank office. They often resided in provincial capitals and were responsible for presiding over the evaluation of the fourth-rank, fifth-rank, and sixth-rank commandery-prospect clans of each commandery.

Generally speaking, these appraisers were either of imperial clan origin or had been cultivated by the Imperial Academy. They obeyed the imperial house, were spread throughout the nineteen provinces of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty, and were one important means by which the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty's imperial house checked the many cultivation clans.

Below the two Zhenren, five people sat on the left and right sides of the hall. They were precisely the heads of the five remaining county-magnate families of Ludong County.

The first person on the left was the county magistrate of Ludong County, Lin Changdao, head of the seventh-rank county-magnate Lin Family of Black Thorn.

When Liang Zhaohuang saw this county magistrate, he could not help being startled. The county magistrate was seriously injured; his left arm had actually been completely severed and was gone.

The night before last, Liang Zhaohuang had once guessed that the Lin Family of Black Thorn was the main target of the Commoner's Alliance, and had even thought that the Lin Family of Black Thorn had also suffered clan extermination.

Looking at it now, things were not that bad, but they were not much better either.

He remembered that in the senior's inheritance that had left behind the Five Qi Lotus Scripture, it had been mentioned that Foundation Establishment cultivators faced five barriers when advancing to the Golden Core realm. The first three barriers were the completion of cultivation in essence, qi, and spirit.

And now that Lin County Magistrate's left arm had been severed and his physical body was lacking, the "essence" barrier was fated to be impossible to perfect. This had directly cut off his hope of advancing to the Golden Core realm!

Liang Zhaohuang marveled inwardly, then continued looking at the others.

Seated below Lin County Magistrate was the county's ninth-rank registrar, Ye Junzhi, head of the ninth-rank county-magnate Ye Family of Ling Ye Talisman.

Sitting opposite Lin County Magistrate was the county's eighth-rank deputy magistrate, Zhang Junxiang, head of the eighth-rank county-magnate Zhang Family of "Medicine Dust."

Below the deputy magistrate sat Shi Shaofeng, head of the ninth-rank county-magnate Shi Family of "Diamond Sand," and Lu Shiming, head of the Lu Family of "Cloudwater." Both held the position of ninth-rank inspector.

These few, by the look of them, did not seem to have any problems.

"Wang Chengen of Little Wang Village greets Lord Appraiser! Greets Lord Commandery Commandant! Pays respects to all lords!"

While Liang Zhaohuang was observing everyone in the hall, Wang Chengen beside him had already taken the lead in saluting and paying respects.

He hurriedly followed and saluted. "Liang Zhaohuang of Liangyuan Village greets Lord Appraiser! Greets Lord Commandery Commandant! Pays respects to all lords!"

"No need for such courtesy!" The one who responded from the head of the hall was Lesser Appraiser Guo Zhenren. With a wave of his hand, an invisible force helped the two of them up.

Afterward, he looked at the two of them and said, "The commandery commandant and I have discussed matters with the several county-magnate heads of Ludong County. One month from now, we will submit a memorial to His Majesty and open Ludong County's Spirit Cauldron Secret Realm. At that time, the two of your families may enter the secret realm together and participate in the clan evaluation."

"For this evaluation, a ninth-rank county-magnate clan must turn in twenty second-tier low-grade Spirit Source Ores and two thousand first-tier high-grade Spirit Source Ores!"

"An eighth-rank county-magnate clan must turn in twenty second-tier mid-grade Spirit Source Ores and five thousand first-tier high-grade Spirit Source Ores!"

"A seventh-rank county-magnate clan must turn in twenty second-tier high-grade Spirit Source Ores and ten thousand first-tier high-grade Spirit Source Ores!"

After announcing the standards for this clan-rank evaluation, Lesser Appraiser Guo Zhenren and Commandery Commandant Zhou Zhenren did not linger. They rose one after another and left.

The remaining county-magnate families of the county city had no intention of conversing either. Not long after the two Zhenren left, they each dispersed as well.

Liang Zhaohuang did not know whether it was an illusion, but he inexplicably felt that the atmosphere among these county-magnate families seemed somewhat off.

It seemed to be too calm? Yet beneath that calm, there seemed to be many undercurrents surging!

In the blink of an eye, only Liang Zhaohuang and Wang Chengen remained in the main hall of the rear county yamen.

Clearly, this county-yamen discussion convened by the commandery commandant and lesser appraiser had nothing to do with them at all. Only the various county-magnate families had the qualifications to participate in the deliberations.

The two of their families were still humble clans at this time. Without completing the assessment and being promoted to county-magnate clans, they did not have the qualifications to participate in the county yamen's deliberations. Being summoned over to pay respects and be informed of the clan assessment was already giving them quite a bit of face.

Immediately afterward, a soldier from the Prefectural Guard came to lead the two of them out of the county yamen. The two exchanged a few more polite words about looking after each other, then parted ways, each needing to prepare for the clan evaluation one month later.

Liang Zhaohuang returned to Five Talisman Hall, continued to keep the shop closed, and began breaking open the Storage Bags obtained from the Sun Family.

Checking the harvest was secondary. What he most wanted to find were the Sun Family's records concerning the Spirit Cauldron Secret Realm.

The first Storage Bag he broke open was the one belonging to the Foundation Establishment cultivator who had protected the Sun Family's "seed" in their retreat.

It was easy to imagine that since he had protected the Sun Family's "seed" in retreating, he must have carried many of the Sun Family's important inheritances and secrets on him.

His Storage Bag was the most likely to contain records concerning the Spirit Cauldron Secret Realm.

That Foundation Establishment cultivator's Life-Bound Beast Soul was an Azure Giant Python of the wood attribute. What the other party cultivated was also wood-element magic power, and the restriction on the Storage Bag was also of the wood element.

Liang Zhaohuang released his innate spiritual art, Five Elements Restriction-Breaking Spiritual Light, and very quickly broke it open. His Spiritual Sense probed inside, and sure enough, he saw several dozen jade slips. What was recorded within them was certainly all of the Sun Family's important secrets and inheritances.

Casually taking out one jade slip, Liang Zhaohuang sent his Spiritual Sense into it to examine the information within.

At first, he did not pay it much mind, but the more he read afterward, the more shocked his expression became.

He had not expected that this very first jade slip would give him some astonishing discoveries.

According to the information recorded in the jade slip, the Sun Family had been searching all these years for the outpost ruins left behind by the Beast Taming Sect, wanting to obtain more Beast Taming Sect inheritances so as to complete their own inheritance.

After that, they found the ruins of a Beast Taming Sect stronghold in the Huaiyang Mountain Range.

However, the Beast Taming Sect had been destroyed by the Demon Race back then, and every surviving ruin of a Beast Taming Sect stronghold still held the remnants of the Demon Emperor's curse.

And to break the Demon Emperor's curse, one had to perform a blood sacrifice with the blood of the human race—and preferably the blood of human cultivators.

According to the information recorded in the jade slip, the Sun Family had already gathered enough blood for the sacrifice. They were only waiting for the night of the lunar eclipse two years later, when the Demon Emperor's curse would be at its weakest, to carry out the blood sacrifice, break the curse, and open the ruins of the Beast Taming Sect stronghold!

In an instant, Liang Zhaohuang thought of those humble families wiped out by the "Black Wind Bandits."

So there had actually been such a hidden story behind it!

And for the Sun Family to act this way, it could be said that they had already fallen to the demonic path!

Did the other county magnate families in the county town know about this? Did Luyang Commandery know about it?

What, then, was the true reason the Sun Family had been exterminated?

Liang Zhaohuang suddenly realized that a simple matter of revenge had somehow become more and more impossible for him to understand.

Heartfelt thanks to reader "Ai Zou Le Feng Ting Le" for the tip and support!

Heartfelt thanks to reader "Reader 20190628151828501" for the tip and support!

A new book is setting out on the road—asking for all your support!