Flying to Immortal Ascension Island
In the end, Xi Shanbao did not thrust his sword. Looking at the stunned Xi Yunshu, he sighed softly. "We were close when we were children, after all, so I'll let you die knowing why, little sister Yunshu.
"Yunshu, you should have been a good-for-nothing like your three brothers. Now that your cultivation has advanced by leaps and bounds, you've become the only obstacle standing between my second brother, Xi Shanhu, and the position of future head of the Xi Household.
"My second brother has already been adopted by your eldest uncle, Xi Xingang. As long as you die, whether in terms of clan standing or cultivation and strength, my second brother will be the most rightful choice for the next head of the Xi Household.
"That's right. On this trip to contact the Mi Household for help, I was the one who tipped off Lü Moran and told her our itinerary.
"I just didn't expect that damned Shi Xiu Deming to want to capture me as well as you.
"If you want to blame someone, blame my second brother Xi Shanhu, because he planned and arranged everything.
"Don't worry, Yunshu. We're both members of the Xi Household. I won't let you die in pain."
As he spoke, Xi Shanbao struck Xi Yunshu with his palm, knocking her unconscious.
Xi Shanbao drove his sword through Xi Yunshu's heart and kicked her corpse into the sea. Then he turned and thrust his sword at Tang Yuan. "Tang Yuan, killing you was only a matter of time!"
Looking at the blade stabbing toward him, Tang Yuan's lips twitched. *Damn it, I can only use the Mystic Spoon to hide in the Demon Realm for now.
But will I still be able to lie low and get by in the Xi Household afterward?
When Xi Shanbao's sword was only half an inch from Tang Yuan's face, Tang Yuan was just about to flee to the Demon Realm when he suddenly felt the Mystic Spoon hanging around his neck stir.
Clang!
A pair of enormous black claws reached out of the Mystic Spoon and gripped Xi Shanbao's sword tightly.
"Time Reversal." A woman's voice came from the Mystic Spoon.
Tang Yuan felt a slight ripple in the space and time around him. For a moment, everything in space and time stood still...
"Look, my second brother has come to meet us!"
A dazzling light flashed, and Xi Shanbao's words reached Tang Yuan's ears.
Seeing Xi Shanbao pointing toward the bow, Tang Yuan frowned for a moment. *Huh? What's going on?
*Time flowed backward?
Whatever. I'll play along with Xi Shanbao and finish this act first.
Tang Yuan turned to look ahead while forming a hand seal and activating the protective state of the Wall God Robe he wore.
"You?!"
Sure enough, Xi Yunshu's startled cry came from behind him. Tang Yuan turned around, and a Body-Confining Talisman was indeed stuck to him, but it had no effect on him.
Tang Yuan played along, looking at Xi Shanbao with a stunned expression.
Once again, Xi Shanbao did not thrust his sword. He said, "We were close when we were children, after all, so I'll let you die knowing why, little sister Yunshu.
"..."
"Don't worry, Yunshu. We're both members of the Xi Household. I won't let you die in pain."
Before Xi Shanbao could strike Xi Yunshu with his palm, Tang Yuan spoke. "Blah, blah, blah.
"Xi Shanbao, are you done talking?
"Don't you know villains die because they talk too much?"
At the same time, Tang Yuan slapped a Nether Ice Talisman toward Xi Shanbao.
"You... You were hit by a Body-Confining Talisman. Why can you still talk?!
"Ah..." Xi Shanbao turned in surprise, but before he could get a clear look at Tang Yuan, the Nether Ice Talisman had already struck him.
Body-Confining Talismans were low-grade talismans that could only catch Meridian Opening Stage cultivators off guard and immobilize them. Anyone with a little Qi Refining Stage cultivation could completely avoid the attack, even by using the simplest Golden Light Shield.
Tang Yuan had bought the Nether Ice Talisman at Mystic Dipper Market for fifty Spirit Stones apiece. Cultivators below the Middle Stage of Qi Refinement found it hard to dodge.
Tang Yuan also had several high-grade explosive talismans, but he had refrained from using them for fear of accidentally injuring Xi Yunshu.
Tang Yuan looked at the immobilized Xi Shanbao, then sent a ray of spiritual light toward Xi Yunshu, allowing her to speak.
"Young Miss Xi, I've saved your life again.
"How should we deal with your cousin Xi Shanbao?" Tang Yuan drew his sword.
"Spare his life for now. When we return to Emerald Creek Island, let my father, the household head, deal with him." Having once again survived a calamity, Xi Yunshu struggled to control her grief and indignation.
"Young miss, you're still too young." Tang Yuan shook his head and killed Xi Shanbao with a single thrust.
"Didn't I say not to kill Xi Shanbao yet, and to let my father deal with him when we got back?" Xi Yunshu frowned.
Tang Yuan smiled. "Would your father spare Xi Shanbao once we got back?"
"Of course not. Xi Shanbao betrayed the Lineage and even tried to kill me. No matter what, my father would still kill him."
"Exactly. He was going to die anyway. Once we got back, your father might even have tortured him, so I might as well have given him a quick death." Tang Yuan sat down. "Besides, if we brought Xi Shanbao back alive, whether to kill him or not would be a thorny problem for your father as household head."
"Why?" Xi Yunshu looked puzzled.
Tang Yuan snorted softly and continued, "Xi Shanbao just tried to kill the two of us, but only the three of us know about it. What if he flatly denies it once we're back on Emerald Creek Island?
"Don't bring up the Heart-Questioning Formation. What if Xi Shanbao refuses to admit he tried to harm us and kills himself in full view of everyone to prove his innocence?
"Of course, as household head, your father could kill Xi Shanbao outright without listening to any explanations. But if he did that, what would the other members of the Xi Household think?
"Besides, even if Xi Shanbao admitted everything, Xi Youde and Xi Shanhu have now grown too powerful to control. If your father openly breaks with them, it might cause a major upheaval in the Xi Household.
"So, if Xi Shanbao returned to Emerald Creek Island alive, your father would be caught between a rock and a hard place: he could neither kill him nor let him live.
"If he killed him, it could easily cause turmoil in the Lineage.
"If he didn't, what would become of your father's authority as household head?
"By killing Xi Shanbao now, I'm helping your father. Just have him tell everyone that Lü Moran or someone from another hostile Lineage killed Xi Shanbao.
"That way, with Xi Shanbao returning to Emerald Creek Island dead, your father has room to advance or retreat. He can use Xi Shanbao's death to unite the Xi Household against a common enemy and lull Xi Shanhu into complacency. At the same time, your father can slowly dismantle Xi Shanhu's power and network of connections in secret.
"Once a Lineage grows large, not every member is of one mind. Everyone is just looking out for their own interests."
Xi Yunshu pondered for a few breaths and nodded. "We'll do as you say.
"By the way, Brother Tang, could you completely undo the Body-Confining Talisman on me?"
"No. I think I understand now: I can't completely trust the people of the Xi Household. Besides, I'm at Qi Refining First Layer, and you're at Qi Refining Second Layer. I can't beat you, so what if you try to kill me?" Tang Yuan shook his head.
"You've saved my life twice. How could I, Xi Yunshu, kill you?
"Besides, don't you understand how I feel about you?"
"Understand my ass! You can argue until the sky falls and shout yourself hoarse, but I won't completely undo the Body-Confining Talisman until we're almost at Emerald Creek Island."
"You...
"I was so scared just now I nearly wet myself. I need to pee!"
"Hold it!"
"I can't hold it!"
"If you can't hold it, wet your pants. You can use the Clothes-Cleaning Technique once the Body-Confining Talisman is undone anyway..."
"Ew, that's disgusting...
"I haven't eaten for seven days and seven nights. I'm hungry!"
"It's fine. You'll look prettier if you get a little thinner from hunger."
"You..."
Amid the vast sea, Tang Yuan and Xi Yunshu bickered and quarreled aboard the spirit boat as they sped toward Emerald Creek Island...
After they returned to the Xi Household, Xi Xingang, the household head, learned the truth and immediately made two announcements:
First, Xi Shanbao had been killed by the hostile Su Household and was to be given an elaborate burial.
Second, in recognition of Tang Yuan risking his life to save Xi Yunshu twice and recovering Xi Shanbao's corpse, as well as his earlier contributions to alchemy, he was specially appointed grand guest elder of the Xi Household and granted exclusive use of Ten Thousand Snakes Island.
After several days of receiving visitors who filled his courtyard and congratulatory gifts worth hundreds of Spirit Stones, Tang Yuan once again hung a "In seclusion, do not disturb" sign on his door and studied his little black spoon alone in his residence.
After more than a month of study, Tang Yuan discovered that although he could no longer draw the little black spoon into his sea of consciousness, he could still use the Mystic Spoon to travel to the Demon Realm.
Meanwhile, the enormous black claws that had reached out of the blackness and saved him never appeared again. Instead, an unfathomable mass of black, mysterious smoke had appeared in the blackness.
Since he could learn nothing more, Tang Yuan stopped investigating and wore the Mystic Spoon around his neck. He continued cultivating in the two realms at his usual pace, refining pills, tempering Qi, and taking pills. Every year, from the eighth month through the eleventh, he went to Golden Shell Island to catch Red Spirit Eels and sell them in the Demon Realm...
Time flew like a shuttle. On the third day of the first month of the year 4029 of the New Immortal Calendar in the Human Realm, Tang Yuan, still at Qi Refining First Layer, boarded a flying boat in a blue Daoist robe and flew northeast toward Immortal Ascension Island...