Was That Ginseng-Cloud Tiger Truly Some Extraordinary Demon Beast?
Li Zhengjun narrowed his eyes. The Sun Household had arrived at quite a convenient time: he had only just captured their cultivators, and they had come right on their heels.
But he knew they had not discovered that Sun Xing and his companion had fallen into his hands. The Sun Household had received the information the pair had previously sent back about Gold-Bearing Mountain, which had brought them here.
"Come, let's go take a look."
The two rode the wind, and on the way, Li Zhengjun asked:
"How did the Sun Household find us? They must have come with a purpose; this can't be a chance encounter."
Li Dongping had always been meticulous in his work and had already sorted through the information on the way over. He answered at once:
"According to the confessions Sun Xing and his companion gave earlier, a Sun Household disciple happened to pass by Jade Wave Island not long ago and came face-to-face with the Devil Cultivators under Daoist Lu. I checked the relevant records just now, and it did happen. Presumably, after the Sun Household received word, an elder led a group here to first assess the Li Household's strength. Judging from the situation now, they've confirmed that our Li Household wiped out the Devil Cultivators, which is why they've come calling today."
Li Zhengjun nodded. When they reached Hanyuan Hall, he heard a deep, resonant middle-aged voice from within before he even entered.
"Fellow Daoist Li, you may not know this, but our Sun Household serves under the Ten Thousand Spirits Sect and has been ordered to guard the nearby waters, including Jade Wave Island. The island used to be deserted and remote, though, with only some Demon Beasts living there, so we never paid it much mind. Who would have thought that, after a dozen or so years, Devil Cultivators would have taken it over? Our Sun Household was about to come wipe them out, but we didn't expect you to have swept them away already."
As he spoke, he repeatedly stressed the Sun Household's authority over these waters. His tone sounded courteous, but every sentence was a reminder to Li Yuankai.
Li Zhengjun sneered and swept the hall with his Divine Sense.
The speaker was a burly, coarse-looking man with a face full of stubble. His cultivation was comparable to Li Yuankai's, both of them at the Qi Refinement Seventh Layer. Li Zhengjun thought:
They couldn't find the Devil Cultivators in eighteen years? Who would believe that? I'm afraid they only dared come calling after learning that our Household had swept them away.
He strode into the hall. When Li Yuankai saw that the household head had arrived, he hurriedly rose and gave up the seat of honor.
Li Zhengjun sat down calmly, and Li Yuankai introduced him from the side:
"Fellow Daoist Sun, this is the head of our Li Household."
The man had been sitting there perfectly at ease, but now he looked up and sized Li Zhengjun up. He saw that Li Zhengjun's Qi was steady and restrained, and that he surpassed him by more than a single measure. He had seemingly already reached Qi Refinement Great Perfection!
In an instant, his expression changed several times. He hurriedly dropped his carefree manner, rose, and cupped his hands with a smile.
"I am Sun Ming. Greetings, Household Head Li."
Li Zhengjun inclined his head slightly and said slowly:
"Fellow Daoist Sun, I hear you came to wipe out the Devil Cultivators, but... I'm afraid this handful of people isn't much to look at, is it? Or did the Sun Household take those Devil Cultivators for nothing more than clay chickens and pottery dogs, easily dealt with by a few Middle Qi Refinement disciples?"
The Sun Household had sent five people this time. Only Sun Ming was in Late Qi Refining; the rest were all in Middle Qi Refinement. Clearly, they had not come to wipe out the Devil Cultivators.
How could Sun Ming fail to hear the mockery in Li Zhengjun's words? Yet he could not let it show on his face and could only curse inwardly.
This Household Head Li is young, but his tongue certainly spares no one.
He had not come to wipe out the Devil Cultivators in the first place. He had previously received word from a Lineage disciple that the presence of a Ginseng-Cloud Tiger had been found on Gold-Bearing Mountain on Floating Return Island, so he had wanted to bring people to investigate.
Only after landing on the island had he discovered that an outside minor Lineage had wiped out the Devil Cultivators there, and that Floating Return Island had fallen under another's control.
To be safe, he had turned and come to the capital to assess the Li Household's strength, so as to avoid trouble later.
After all, since the Li Household had been able to wipe out the Devil Cultivators, it ought to have some strength. But Devil Cultivators were not easy to deal with, and since the Li Household had annihilated them all, it must have suffered considerably as well.
If this visit revealed that the Li Household and the Devil Cultivators had left each other badly battered, then the Sun Household could reap the fisherman's reward.
Sun Ming pursed his lips and smiled with a show of magnanimity.
"You jest, Household Head Li. We only came ahead to scout the way. We never expected you to take action against the Devil Cultivators, so it seems our Sun Household worried for nothing."
Just as Li Zhengjun had surmised, Sun Ming had discovered the Devil Cultivators long ago, but he had not wanted to stir up trouble. All these years, he had merely kept sending disciples to probe and scout.
Unexpectedly, this year's disciple had been careless and was discovered by the Devil Cultivators.
The Sun Household had immediately grown nervous. The Devil Cultivators had been driven into flight in all directions by the righteous path over the years and had become birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, each nursing a pent-up grudge.
If the Sun Household provoked the Devil Cultivators at a time like this, they would very likely suffer retaliation.
Thinking of this, the Sun Household had hurriedly sent out Sun Xing, the strongest scout in their Lineage, and several people had conducted investigations in succession.
But from the looks of things now, they had clearly worried too much. If an outside minor clan could wipe them out, those Devil Cultivators surely could not have been very strong.
Jade Wave Island's change of hands was already a settled matter, and it was a good thing for the Sun Household.
They had not dared deal with the Devil Cultivators, but would they not dare deal with a bunch of stinking outsiders?
As the saying went, a gentleman was willing to reason, but a petty man was hard to guard against.
People like the Li Household, who could wipe out Devil Cultivators, were most likely righteous cultivators. Since they were righteous cultivators and had put down roots here, they ought to follow the Ten Thousand Spirits Sect's rules and submit to the Sun Household's authority.
Sun Ming had originally intended to throw his weight around, but he had been rebuked the moment he arrived. Naturally, his expression was none too pleasant now.
Li Zhengjun, however, did not care. The man had gone from arrogant to deferential, showing such respect at the sight of a Peak Qi Refinement cultivator like him. The Sun Household surely had no high-level cultivator backing them.
"Fellow Daoist Sun, may I ask what brings the Sun Household to our Jade Wave Island?"
He placed heavy emphasis on "our Jade Wave Island." Sun Ming naturally heard it, but was unwilling to yield and forced a smile.
"The thing is, Household Head Li, our second young master has joined our superior sect, the Ten Thousand Spirits Sect. Thanks to his master's favor, he is now a Foundation Establishment True Disciple. Since the superior sect is a beast-taming sect, he needs a powerful Demon Beast as a spirit pet for his cultivation. That is why our Sun Household has been searching everywhere for a suitable Demon Beast all these years."
"More than a decade ago, we saw a Ginseng-Cloud Tiger in this area. The tiger was of excellent grade and exceptionally skilled at concealment. It had only just begun cultivating at the time, yet it repeatedly escaped our Sun Household's attempts to capture it. We searched for years, and recently we finally found definite traces. That beast should be on Gold-Bearing Mountain here on Jade Wave Island."
"So we came this time, firstly, to wipe out the Devil Cultivators, and secondly, to search the island again for the Ginseng-Cloud Tiger's whereabouts."
What he said was true. The Sun Household had chased the Ginseng-Cloud Tiger to Jade Wave Island back then, and that was how they had discovered traces of the Devil Cultivators.
Because they feared the Devil Cultivators, and the Ginseng-Cloud Tiger was exceptionally good at hiding, they had been forced to give up.
In the past two years, when their second young master became a Foundation Establishment True Disciple and needed a spirit pet, the Sun Household had taken up the idea again. They had begun frequently scouting Jade Wave Island, which led to their discovery by the Devil Cultivators.
Li Zhengjun nodded and thought to himself:
That is much the same as Sun Xing's confession. But the Sun Household says the tiger Demon Beast was only in Early Qi Refining more than a decade ago, while the beast has now reached Peak Qi Refinement. Its cultivation speed is truly astonishing. Could it have been nourished by the three-yang spirit object Yuankai mentioned? Or is that Ginseng-Cloud Tiger truly some extraordinary Demon Beast, which is why the Sun Household can't forget about it?
With that thought, he asked:
"Fellow Daoist Sun, I roughly understand why you've come, but how do you intend to proceed?"
Sun Ming's thoughts raced as he calculated in secret:
The Li Household is remarkably strong. It probably has six or seven Late Qi Refining cultivators, and its head is at the peak, just like our ancestor. They haven't suffered a loss of strength from wiping out the devils. As things stand, driving the Li Household away is probably unrealistic. Better to keep them placated for now, make an agreement with him about Gold-Bearing Mountain, and try to capture the tiger Demon Beast together.
If I help the Li Household get rid of the Demon Beast, I doubt Household Head Li will refuse. I can also take the opportunity to assess their strength and lay the groundwork for bringing them under our rule later.
Ginseng-Cloud Tigers were extremely rare, and Sun Ming was also afraid that the Li Household might see such a Demon Beast and harbor improper thoughts. But as soon as he remembered that his own Household had a beast-taming method that could subdue Demon Beasts, that concern vanished like smoke in the wind.
Having made his calculations, he showed an exceptionally earnest smile.
"Household Head Li, that tiger Demon Beast will remain a menace as long as it stays on Gold-Bearing Mountain. In the past, it only ate the beasts in the mountains, but tomorrow it could come down and hurt people. Our Sun Household happens to have a way to subdue it. If we can capture the creature, both our Households will benefit."
"So I was thinking, why don't we work together? We can agree on a date and go to Gold-Bearing Mountain together to subdue the tiger Demon Beast. What do you think, Household Head Li?"
Li Zhengjun saw through his calculations at a glance, and he had plans of his own:
He wants to test the Li Household, and our Li Household happens to need an opportunity to test the Sun Household too. Gold-Bearing Mountain is a good place for it. After all, the Sun Household is different from the Devil Cultivators. With the Ten Thousand Spirits Sect behind them, their Technique Methods and Law Artifacts must be considerably stronger than the Devil Cultivators'. This is a good chance to find out what they have.
He pondered briefly, then said:
"In that case, how about this? Spring has only just begun, and the weather is still turning cold after a brief spell of warmth. The Ginseng-Cloud Tiger is probably lying low as well. Why don't our two Households wait until mid-spring, when the tiger Demon Beast is active, before entering the mountains together?"
Sun Ming was delighted to hear this. He needed time to return to his Lineage and report and discuss the matter anyway, so he readily agreed:
"Then we'll do as you say, Household Head Li."
The two sides agreed on a time, and Sun Ming left with his people.
Li Zhengjun stood before the hall and watched the streaks of escaping light vanish above the capital. The smile on his face gradually faded.
"The Sun Household isn't like the Devil Cultivators. They can't be underestimated. This matter is settled for the time being, and I should return to the Yuyu Realm."