Planting Slave Seals, Slaves for Generations!

"By the way, Fellow Daoist Shi."

"Now that Ye Mingyuan and Old Ghost Lin are dead, they must have left some contingency before leaving the city. If their clans wait too long without their return, they might realize something is wrong."

"If we don't go back soon, those juniors might be driven to jump over the wall like desperate dogs and flee overnight!"

At that, Shi Jian rolled over, his enormous bear body kicking up a cloud of dust.

That made sense.

When a Lineage lost its Foundation Establishment Ancestor, its first reaction wasn't to seek revenge, but to run, taking its valuables and fleeing overnight to seek refuge with another faction.

Once they ran, those spirit fields, mineral veins, and stockpiles would all go to waste.

Shi Jian immediately perked up. Those were all his! Those damned little thieves dared waste Ancestor Shi Jian's resources. They were courting death!

"Let's go."

Hongtian City, three quarters past the beginning of the Mao hour.

The city gates had just opened when the two Sun clan Qi Refining disciples on guard saw the most outrageous sight of their lives...

Their ancestor, Sun Hangchun, was riding on the back of a black bear, speeding toward them from the far end of the sky atop a pitch-black demonic cloud!

No.

He wasn't riding.

He was sitting.

Like an old farmer on his way to market, Sun Hangchun sat sideways on the bear's back, his legs dangling and swinging. His complexion was rosy, and he was full of vigor, with no trace of a man in the flickering twilight of his years.

And that black bear...

The two Qi Refining disciples' legs went weak on the spot.

The presence of a Foundation Establishment Realm Demon Beast bore down like a mountain. It didn't need to be deliberately released; its mere approach sent spirit birds and flying beasts within a hundred zhang scattering.

Even the stray dogs lying at the foot of the city wall had to tuck their tails between their legs and flee three li.

"A-Ancestor?"

"Pass down the order. Beat the drums and gather the clan."

Sun Hangchun's voice wasn't loud, but it was clear enough for everyone to hear.

He paused, then added another sentence.

"Notify the Ye and Lin clans as well. Tell them I, Sun, invite them for tea."

Shi Jian yawned lazily, baring a mouthful of gleaming white fangs.

Tea.

He liked the sound of that.

Hongtian City wasn't large. It had thirty-six main streets, eighteen wards, and a hundred and eight alleys. Its permanent population included only a little over two hundred cultivators, but more than three hundred thousand mortals.

Though the sparrow was small, it had all five organs.

The entire city was built atop a low-grade, second-tier Spirit Vein. Though its quality was ordinary, it was more than enough to support three Foundation Establishment Lineages.

Three main Spiritual Qi branches extended from this Spirit Vein, and the ancestral residences of the three Foundation Establishment Lineages stood on them. Across the three locations, they had cultivated a total of three hundred mu of spirit fields.

One hundred and twenty mu belonged to the Sun clan, while the Ye and Lin clans each had ninety of the remainder. The three Foundation Establishment Lineages lived crowded together like this, jointly guarding the Spirit Vein and forming a rudimentary immortal cultivation alliance.

Half a shichen later, in the main hall of the Sun ancestral shrine.

Shi Jian lay in the center of the hall on a hastily laid animal-hide mat. Before him were three plates of spirit fruit, two dishes of spirit rice cakes, and a pot of spirit wine.

Sun Hangchun had made thorough arrangements.

Members of the Sun clan stood in rows on either side of the hall. There were thirty-seven cultivators in all, young and old, ranging from the Qi Refining Ninth Layer to the Qi Refining First Layer. At that moment, not a crow or sparrow made a sound.

Every gaze was fixed on the Foundation Establishment bear demon.

He really was a bear.

A Foundation Establishment Realm bear demon was sprawled in front of their ancestors' memorial tablets, eating spirit rice cakes.

And he seemed to be enjoying them.

Shi Jian sensed the fear, curiosity, unease, and, in a very few gazes... greed, but he paid them no mind.

Qi Refining cultivators weren't even qualified to scratch his itch.

"They're here."

Sun Hangchun spoke in a low voice. Outside the main doors came a jumble of footsteps, mixed with arguing and sobbing.

The Ye clan had brought thirty-one people, the Lin clan twenty-six.

They were led respectively by Ye Qinghe, the acting patriarch of the Ye clan at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, and Old Woman Lin, an elder of the Lin clan at the Qi Refining Eighth Layer.

When Sun clan disciples led the two groups into the hall, the scene descended into chaos for a moment.

Ye Qinghe saw Shi Jian first, and his face went deathly pale.

Old Woman Lin, meanwhile, saw the long-absent, smug smile on Sun Hangchun's face before she noticed the mound of flesh in the very center of the hall.

"Senior Sun, may I ask about the ancestors of our two clans?"

Old Woman Lin asked somewhat guiltily, an inexplicable unease rising in her heart.

"They're dead."

Sun Hangchun picked up his teacup and blew on the tea. "They died on Mingqiu Mountain. They followed me with the intent to murder me, and Fellow Daoist Shi casually slapped them to death."

When he said "casually slapped them to death," his tone was so nonchalant that it sounded as simple as stepping on an ant.

The hall fell utterly silent.

Old Woman Lin's mouth hung open, and for a long time she couldn't close it.

Ye Qinghe's legs were trembling, visibly trembling.

Shi Jian raised his eyelids at just the right moment. That was all he did.

Ye Qinghe promptly fell to his knees.

"Ancestor Sun... S-Senior Shi!" Ye Qinghe's voice changed pitch. "Ye Mingyuan acted on his own! It had nothing whatsoever to do with my Ye clan!"

"The Ye clan is willing... willing to offer up all its spirit fields. We only beg you to spare our clansmen's lives!"

Old Woman Lin was still holding on, her lips trembling as her gaze darted back and forth between Shi Jian and the main doors, looking like a thief with a guilty conscience.

"Elder."

Shi Jian spoke, his voice buzzing through the hall:

"Sit down and talk. Don't stand. It's bad for your legs."

Old Woman Lin's legs gave way, and she fell straight to her knees.

It wasn't that she wanted to sit. The words carried a trace of oppressive pressure from a Foundation Establishment Demon Beast, and she, a Qi Refining Eighth Layer cultivator, couldn't withstand it at all.

"Fellow Daoist Shi, you decide how to deal with the Ye and Lin clans."

Those words were exquisitely chosen.

On the surface, he was showing Shi Jian respect. In truth, he was making him take the knife: the Demon Beast would bear the infamy of the killing, while he, Sun Hangchun, was merely "acting under orders."

Shi Jian sneered inwardly.

Old bastard, trying that trick on me?

Whatever. Killing them clears obstacles out of my own way anyway. Infamy?

He was a bear. What did he need a reputation for?

"What a waste it would be to kill them."

"Qi Refining cultivators are laborers too, at least. Someone has to work the spirit fields."

He looked at Ye Qinghe and Old Woman Lin, his tone as casual as if he were assigning farmwork.

"Starting today, all the spirit fields, mineral resources, and stockpiles of the Ye and Lin clans will be transferred to the Sun clan."

"All members of both clans will have Slave Seals planted in them. From now on, they and their descendants will be slaves and servants for generations, serving the Sun clan as tenant farmers and working the spirit fields..."

"If you're unwilling, heh heh~"

Shi Jian waved a bear paw and left the rest unsaid.

There was no need to say it.

Ye Qinghe kowtowed three times, then scrambled away on hands and feet.

Old Woman Lin was carried out by two Sun clan disciples. Her legs were still weak as she left, and a foul, urinous stench was especially pungent.

That afternoon, Sun Hangchun brought his clansmen to take over the Ye and Lin clans' properties, thoroughly investigate every member of both clans, and plant Slave Seals in them.

Shi Jian didn't go to watch. He didn't trust Sun Hangchun's character, but he trusted his brains. Skimming Shi Jian's share at a time like this would be the same as courting death.

He settled down at the entrance to the Spirit Vein on the mountain behind the Sun estate, feeling the Spiritual Qi rising from underground and humming with comfort. Now this was living!

The low-grade, second-tier Spirit Vein was ordinary in quality, but for a wild Demon Beast like him, it was already a cultivation environment on the level of paradise.

He had cultivated painstakingly on Mingqiu Mountain for thirty-five years, but, to exaggerate a little, he had absorbed less than he could by lying at the entrance to this Spirit Vein for one shichen.

"Worth it."

Toward evening, Sun Hangchun came to report the accounts.

"The spirit fields total three hundred mu, all of which have been added to the Sun clan's holdings..." He flipped through the account book. "The Ye clan had four hundred and twenty Spirit Stones in storage, the Lin clan had three hundred and ten, and together with the six hundred our Sun clan already possessed, that makes a total of one thousand three hundred and fifty low-grade Spirit Stones."

"Seventeen bottles of pills, thirty-two Cultivation Method Jade Slips, and several Law Artifacts."

"We obtained fifty-seven immortal slaves. The mortals of the Ye and Lin clans will also gradually be broken up and absorbed and assimilated by our Sun clan afterward..."