While the Wen residence was still embroiled in endless disputes, Hou Niao had already completed his task. He met several people at the inn-the branch of the Wen Household that had been the first to withdraw-and thus fulfilled his promise.
They were distant relatives from a country town, a branch expelled decades earlier for some wrongdoing. Yet, unexpectedly, they had learned shame and then found courage, actually raising two more cultivators. No one knew how far they could go, but giving Yu Xing's gift to them could be considered returning it to its rightful owners.
There were no thanks, nor any earnest expectations. He was merely a worker delivering a gift; all he needed to do was place the right things in the right hands.
He turned and drifted away, leaving behind a legend: if a cultivator in the Lineage reached Profound Connection, opening the Treasure Gourd would bring a surprise. For now, the Treasure Gourd could not be opened, which served as a sort of incentive.
At last, he had completed the task Yu Zheng had entrusted to him. Somehow, delivering gifts felt more exhausting than killing people. Human hearts were treacherous and impossible to fathom, especially in a Lineage less than a century old. They lacked the rules and institutions the Dugu Household had passed down over centuries, constructing their entire Lineage structure solely on the principle that when one man attained the Dao, even his chickens and dogs ascended to heaven. One could imagine the foundations.
Strictly speaking, the Wen Clan possessed only the rudiments of a Xiuzhen Lineage. With a few more Upper Cultivators like Wen Jinglai and a few more centuries of perseverance, perhaps the Wen Household really could have become a local Xiuzhen Lineage. But now, that dream appeared shattered.
He rode slowly, his