The Flamingo Lie Household's Destruction

"Wait," Kong Yuling said, stopping the others. "The signal the Du Household sent out can be seen for hundreds of miles. Our Lineage must have seen it too."

"And when they see the summons, they'll surely gather people to come. Let's wait for them, then go take a look together."

No one objected. After all, they still didn't know what was happening at the Flamingo Lie Household, so it was safer to act with their fellow clansmen.

Half an hour later, a second-tier Feather Boat flew over from the east, from the direction of the Lineage. It was a flying Spirit Artifact refined from the bones and feathers, including the tail feathers, of a second-tier peacock spirit beast. It was also one of the treasures passed down from when the Kong Household had still been a Ninth-Grade True Spirit Lineage.

At its height, the Kong Household had possessed more than ten Feather Boats of this second-tier Spirit Artifact grade. But when the Lineage later declined and was driven from place to place, most of the Feather Boats were either destroyed or lost. Now only this one second-tier Feather Boat remained, making it one of the treasures that safeguarded the Lineage.

Had the Du Household not sent out a summons, and had the situation ahead not been unknown, the Lineage might not have been willing to send out this second-tier Feather Boat.

The Feather Boat soon flew over Kong Wenxuan and the others. Clearly, those aboard had spotted them some time ago and had come to pick them up.

After boarding, Kong Wenxuan saw seven people inside the Feather Boat. The ones in the lead were the patriarch and the third elder, Kong Changfeng.

The Kong Household now had only four cultivators of the Chang generation. Aside from the patriarch, Kong Changgeng, there was the first elder, Kong Changsen, who managed the Lineage's legacies, including its school, scripture repository, and scripture lecture hall; the second elder, Kong Changlan, who managed everyday affairs such as the Lineage's warehouse, affairs hall, and the distribution and exchange of contribution points; and the third elder, Kong Changfeng, who oversaw the Lineage's main fighting forces, including its ancestral law hall and patrol teams.

This time, not only had the patriarch, Kong Changgeng, the Lineage's only Foundation Establishment cultivator, come, but so had the third elder, Kong Changfeng, who commanded its main fighting forces. That was enough to show how seriously the Lineage took the Du Household's summons.

The five people following the patriarch and the third elder were one of the Lineage's four patrol teams. With Kong Wenxuan's team added, half the Lineage's patrol teams were present. Though they numbered only ten, they already accounted for nearly half of the Lineage's cultivators capable of fighting.

"Patriarch! Third elder!"

Kong Wenxuan and the others paid their respects to the patriarch and third elder at the head of the group.

"Mm! Yushan, Yutang, Yuling, Wenxiong, Wenxuan." Patriarch Kong Changgeng greeted them with a broad smile. "Come with us and see what's happening."

"Yes, Patriarch!"

Kong Wenxuan and the others immediately agreed.

The Feather Boat then flew toward the place where the Cuckoo True Spirit's starlight shone. Along the way, they encountered even more birds and beasts fleeing east toward Peacock Ridge, with some flamingos and other Demon Beasts mixed among them.

At the sight of these flamingos and other Demon Beasts, Patriarch Kong Changgeng took direct control of the Feather Boat. Peacock Feathers, seemingly both illusory and real, appeared above it. At the end of each feather, a dazzling eye opened, shooting beams of Soul-Bewitching Spirit Light that swept over the flamingos and Demon Beasts.

At once, the Demon Beasts, flamingos, and others struck by the Soul-Bewitching Spirit Light fell unconscious without putting up any resistance.

Ropes formed from feathers immediately flew out from the Feather Boat, bound the Demon Beasts, flamingos, and others that had been bewitched into unconsciousness, and brought them back aboard to be suppressed.

Kong Wenxuan watched the Soul-Bewitching Spirit Light shoot from the eyes on the peacock feathers, deep in thought. The Feather Boat was a second-tier Spirit Artifact, and the Soul-Bewitching Spirit Light it shot was also a second-tier spirit technique from the Peacock Soul-Bewitching Scripture.

Its power seemed far greater than that of the first-tier illusion Law Techniques in the Peacock Soul-Bewitching Scripture. Perhaps he could practice the Peacock Soul-Bewitching Scripture when he had time later and master its illusion and soul-bewitching methods.

After all, one could never have too many ways to deal with an enemy. If he ever encountered an opponent the Five Elements Divine Swords could not easily handle, these soul-bewitching methods would be useful too.

Clearing away Demon Beasts and flamingos as it went, the Feather Boat took nearly an hour to reach the place where the Du Household had sent up the starlight signal. It was also the site of the Flamingo Lie Household's ancestral grounds: a volcanic peak.

Like the Kong Household's Peacock Ridge, this volcanic peak was ancestral land allotted by the Du Household to the Flamingo Lie Household, a servant-cultivator Lineage. It was the place best suited for cultivators of the Flamingo bloodline to cultivate.

But the volcano had already erupted. Vast quantities of earthfire and magma had burst out and surged in all directions, destroying most of the ancestral grounds, cultivation spirit lands, and resource-producing spirit lands the Lie Household had established near the peak.

Many corpses could be seen burning amid the flowing earthfire and magma. Most belonged to ordinary people of the Flamingo Lie Household, while a smaller number belonged to its cultivators, flamingo spirit beasts, and others.

"The Flamingo Lie Household is finished!"

At the sight, Patriarch Kong Changgeng could not help letting out a sigh.

Like the Kong Household, the Flamingo Lie Household was a servant-cultivator Lineage of the Du Household. Seeing the Lie Household's ancestral grounds destroyed, its clansmen dead and wounded in great numbers, and almost the entire Lineage wiped out, Kong Changgeng naturally could not help feeling like a fox grieving over the death of a rabbit.

Quite a few people had already gathered near the Lie Household's ancestral grounds. Besides the Du Household's cultivators, there were cultivators from the nearby Hummingbird Feng Household, another servant-cultivator Lineage under the Du Household.

Patriarch Kong Changgeng immediately led Kong Wenxuan and the others forward to pay their respects to the Du Household cultivators. The Du Household cultivator leading them was the very man who had come to the Kong Household before, manifested a projection of the Cuckoo True Spirit Star, and received the kowtows of Kong Wenxuan and the others.

Over the past few years, Kong Wenxuan had learned that the man's name was Du Zikai. He was one of the Du Household stewards responsible for managing its servant-cultivator Lineages, and his cultivation had reached Foundation Establishment.

Less than half an hour after that, teams of cultivators from two more nearby servant-cultivator Lineages, the Sparrow Ma Household and the Swift Yan Household, arrived in response to the Du Household's summons.

Only then did Du Zikai explain to everyone why the Flamingo Lie Household's ancestral grounds had ended up like this.

The head of the Flamingo Lie Household had chosen to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage on the ancestral grounds. During the breakthrough, he had failed to suppress the demonic nature in his Flamingo bloodline and had fallen, becoming a second-tier flamingo Demon Beast. He had slaughtered most of the Flamingo Lie Household's cultivators and ordinary people and triggered the eruption of the volcano on its ancestral grounds, destroying the entire Flamingo Lineage in a single stroke.

After explaining the cause, Du Zikai took the opportunity to stress to the patriarchs and cultivators of the four servant-cultivator Lineages, "Any cultivator from an outside Lineage who wishes to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage can apply to our Du Household and make the breakthrough at the cultivation site we have specially prepared in the county city."

"If you attempt the breakthrough at the cultivation site in the county city, the power of our Du Household's Cuckoo True Spirit Star will suppress it, giving you a somewhat greater chance of subduing the demonic nature in your bloodline and breaking through successfully."

"Aren't the patriarchs of the Kong and Yan Households excellent proof of that? Didn't both of them successfully break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage at the cultivation site in the county city?"

As Du Zikai spoke, he looked at Kong Changgeng, the Kong Household's patriarch, and at the patriarch leading the Swift Yan Household's team of cultivators on the other side.

Both men nodded repeatedly and echoed Du Zikai's words. "Exactly! Exactly! It was thanks to the Du Household's help that we were able to break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage."

Du Zikai nodded in satisfaction and continued,

"If you attempt the breakthrough at the cultivation site in the county city, even if you fail and fall into becoming a Demon Beast, our Du Household can react in time to prevent a tragedy."

"That would be better than ending up like the Flamingo Lie Household, its entire Lineage destroyed by a Demon Beast created when someone failed a breakthrough and fell."

Kong Wenxuan and the cultivators of the four servant-cultivator Lineages all nodded at his words and voiced their agreement.