Within the Longevity Dao Sect, there were countless established clans. Once the clans that were declining, those with unstable foundations, and those that refused to accept outsiders for the time being were excluded, there were actually very few clans willing to take in Situ Jian.
Yet anyone who wished to rise within the Longevity Dao Sect had to pass through one of these established clans. Otherwise, the moment they began to show any promise, they would face endless suppression.
Only when a clan considered you “one of their own” would it open a path for you.
The Lin family was the best choice of all.
On the one hand, the Lin family’s strength could be considered above average within the Longevity Dao Sect. With the Lin family ancestor presiding over it, the clan possessed a certain degree of influence.
On the other hand, everything the Lin family had depended on the Lin family ancestor, and the clan had no successor.
Once he had chosen the Lin family, all he needed to do was spend a little time uncovering its weaknesses. Naturally, he could then prescribe the right remedy.
Situ Jian needed a master, while Shu Xin needed a reason to leave.
Their interests aligned perfectly. There was no need to say much; a tacit understanding arose on its own.
The Lin family ancestor had truly not died unjustly.
It took Situ Jian some time to absorb all of the Lin family ancestor’s cultivation into his own body.
After all, digesting the spiritual power of an Immaculate Realm cultivator required time.
Situ Jian was only in the Dao Infant Realm. To use this power to force his way into the Cave Heaven Realm in such a short period was already remarkable.
Under normal circumstances, Situ Jian should have hurried into secluded cultivation to digest the spiritual power before anyone discovered what had happened. Yet at this moment, he neither meditated nor entered seclusion. Instead, he stood quietly where he was, as though waiting for something.
Killing the Lin family ancestor was nothing. The truly difficult part was surviving the ordeal that came next!
Before long, a powerful and overwhelming force crushed down upon the Cave Heaven belonging to the Lin family.
Situ Jian could have resisted, but instead he let his body sway and dropped to one knee. His face flushed red, while cold sweat continuously broke out across his forehead.
“Elder Gong, forgive me. This disciple would like to offer an explanation.” Situ Jian knew that the real trial had arrived.
The Lin family ancestor’s backer within the Longevity Dao Sect had come.
Gong Changshou.
He ranked third among the Nine Sons of Longevity and was the junior martial brother of Ning Weixuan.
However, Ning Weixuan’s Dao foundation had been damaged, and his third junior martial brother, Gong Changshou, had surpassed him instead.
After the Lin family ancestor had been punished by the sect and lost several spirit mountains, he had sought protection by submitting to Gong Changshou, in order to avoid trouble from Ning Weixuan after the latter emerged from seclusion.
After declaring his loyalty to Gong Changshou, the Lin family ancestor had, as was customary, handed over a strand of his soul flame to him as a token of submission.
The moment the Lin family ancestor died, the soul flame in Gong Changshou’s possession would be extinguished. Gong Changshou could then follow the connection between the soul flame and the ancestor’s soul, instantly transferring himself to the place where the Lin family ancestor had perished.
This time, the Lin family ancestor had died within the territory of the Longevity Dao Sect. How could Gong Changshou not come in person?
“You were able to guess it was me?”
The overwhelming spiritual power pressing down on Situ Jian instantly eased slightly. Seizing the opportunity, Situ Jian raised his head and looked toward the elusive cultivator.
As a peak Immaculate Realm cultivator, Gong Changshou’s strength was naturally incomparable to that of a mediocre man like the Lin family ancestor.
He was handsome and possessed an honest, amiable air. He wore a three-part smile whenever he met anyone, and among the Nine Sons of Longevity, he had always enjoyed the best reputation.
But no one capable of securing a place among the Nine Sons of Longevity was harmless.
“This disciple, Situ Jian, pays his respects to Elder Gong.” Even while enduring Gong Changshou’s omnipresent spiritual suppression, Situ Jian still followed the sect’s rules and performed a solemn bow.
“This seat’s patience is limited.” Gong Changshou wore a gentle smile on his handsome face, yet the killing intent filling the surroundings was enough to make everyone present tremble.
Situ Jian knew that if he gave even one unsatisfactory answer, this Elder of the Nine Sons of Longevity would kill him immediately.
As an absolute superior, Gong Changshou had the confidence to act as he pleased.
A Dao Infant cultivator was nothing more than an expendable life. What was more, Situ Jian had ostensibly killed his own master. Even if Gong Changshou struck him down, it would be entirely justifiable.
“Elder, please hear me out.” Situ Jian had rehearsed this moment many times in advance and had imagined the scene countless times.
But Gong Changshou was even more violent and impatient than he had expected.
This was practically a common affliction among all peak Immaculate Realm cultivators.
Their cultivation had already reached a bottleneck.
Unlike cultivators in the lower realms—Qi Refinement, Core Formation, Dao Infant, and the like—who could clearly feel their cultivation growing each time they absorbed spiritual energy and practiced diligently, cultivators who reached the Cave Heaven Realm would begin to suffer the interference of the Three Winds and Four Fires from time to time. Their cultivation could even fall instead of rising.
Once they reached the Immaculate Realm, the situation became even worse.
There were even cultivators who spent several hundred years advancing from the early Immaculate Realm to the late stage, only to see their cultivation fall back after another few centuries had passed.
At this level, ordinary effort was useless.
For an Immaculate Realm cultivator to advance further required comprehension, timing, and opportunity. It might even depend on something as absurd as stepping over a blade of grass by the roadside.
Thus, these late-stage and peak cultivators could do nothing but watch their cultivation decline little by little and their bodies grow older bit by bit, while the Great Dao they pursued in their hearts drifted farther and farther away.
Several hundred, or even a thousand, years of stagnation or decline were enough to shatter the Dao hearts of these once-gifted cultivators and make them question the meaning of their lives.
Gong Changshou was undoubtedly one of them.
Every one of the Nine Sons of Longevity was an Immaculate Realm cultivator. The reason they could constantly struggle and scheme against one another was that they had nothing else to do.
Cultivation had instead become the least important matter.
By contrast, after becoming sect master, one could draw upon the Longevity Dao Sect’s accumulation of tens of thousands of years to aid oneself in breaking through a bottleneck.
Situ Jian had originally prepared several lines of argument. But when he saw the murderous glint in Gong Changshou’s eyes, he immediately abandoned every excuse he had prepared.
Gong Changshou had already lost patience.
He did not even intend to hear Situ Jian out.
Those earlier words could no longer be used.
The more critical the moment, the clearer Situ Jian’s mind became.
He absolutely could not fall here.
There were still countless things he had to do.
“I will do better than he did.” Situ Jian immediately kowtowed to Gong Changshou. “That old bastard from the Lin family could do certain things. I will do them better than he ever could. I can also fulfill Elder Gong’s wish.”
“Oh?”
Gong Changshou’s finger twitched, as though he were barely able to restrain himself.
Situ Jian could clearly see the golden threads wrapped around Gong Changshou’s fingers beginning to tremble. He could even sense that a single strand of golden thread was hanging directly above his head.
With but a thought, that seemingly weightless thread could become the sharpest killing weapon in the world, taking his life without a sound.
“What wish could this seat possibly have?” Gong Changshou asked in return.
“Eternal life and an immortal existence beyond the mortal realm.” Situ Jian raised his head, his expression still respectful. “The Lin family ancestor is already advanced in years. He has lost his ambition, cannot adapt to the current state of the Longevity Dao Sect, and is no longer capable of assisting an elder. I was born into humble circumstances and have only been able to cultivate to this point thanks to the sect’s favor. I have also gained some understanding of the sect’s current situation. I only regret never having encountered a wise master. That is why I have taken the liberty of asking Elder Gong to accept me as his disciple.”
With that, Situ Jian performed the formal bow of a disciple to his master.
Gong Changshou did not move aside. He allowed Situ Jian to bow before him.
In the next instant, strands of golden silk shot from between Gong Changshou’s fingers. In the blink of an eye, they reached Situ Jian, piercing through his robes with ease and penetrating his extraordinary meridians.
Drops of blood bloomed across Situ Jian’s body like flowers.
“You’re not going to dodge?” Gong Changshou stopped the golden threads from moving any farther.
“Master has already accepted my bow. Since you wish to kill your disciple, this disciple would not dare evade it,” Situ Jian replied.
Whether he lived or died was now entirely up to the other man’s thoughts.
“Hahaha! Hahahaha!” Gong Changshou burst into loud laughter.
He took two steps forward and personally helped Situ Jian to his feet.
“Not bad. From now on, you are my disciple, Gong Changshou’s disciple.” The smile on Gong Changshou’s face deepened, but the killing intent surrounding him did not diminish in the slightest.
Situ Jian completely relaxed and offered no defense at all.
Before someone whose strength far surpassed his own, lowering his head at the right moment was no problem.
She often said that as long as the green hills remained, there would be no need to worry about a lack of firewood.
“Not bad. You have courage, and you have a strategy.” With what kind of discerning eye did Gong Changshou view the world? Naturally, he could see that Situ Jian was offering him no defense whatsoever. Instead, this earned a praise from him.
His killing intent was so obvious that even the disciples or attendants he had raised from childhood would probably have been trembling and kneeling for mercy by now.
But this one before him was both bold and decisive enough to be ruthless.
Ruthless toward enemies, and even more ruthless toward himself.
How could that Lin whelp, such a mediocre talent, possibly deserve to possess such a piece of jade?
Now that he had died from the backlash, it was only because he had failed to recognize people properly and had been unlucky.
Only then did Gong Changshou properly examine this audacious disciple before him. “Your natural aptitude is quite good. However, the spiritual power of that Lin whelp is still inside your body. It will probably take some time for you to fully dissolve it, won’t it?”
“Master’s insight is truly penetrating,” Situ Jian replied respectfully.
“No matter. Just spend a few days digesting it, and you will be able to reach the Grotto-Heaven Realm.” Gong Changshou laughed heartily. “To say that my disciple rose from the high stage of the Dao Infant Realm to the Grotto-Heaven Realm in such a short time would give me quite a bit of face.”
“Thank you, Master,” Situ Jian replied.
“Come. Follow your master and meet your martial uncles and aunts. From today onward, you are my fifth disciple.” Gong Changshou said it casually.
Situ Jian glanced once more at the Lin family ancestor’s corpse, which still lay on the ground without having been dealt with. He seemed somewhat uneasy.
“It is only a small matter.” Gong Changshou caught the trace of unease on Situ Jian’s face and sighed inwardly. This convenient disciple of his might be audacious beyond measure, but in the end, he still had his fears.
That was even better.
Without weaknesses, how could someone be used?
A strand of golden silk drifted from Gong Changshou’s fingertip.
In the next instant, it swallowed the Lin family ancestor’s entire corpse, leaving not even a scrap of bone behind.
“The Lin family ancestor’s lifespan had reached its end. He entered seclusion in the Grotto-Heaven and passed away, his body and soul reduced to ashes.” Gong Changshou’s voice was indifferent. “This master happened to be passing by and saw that you were filial and had been protecting the Lin family ancestor during his meditation. Thus, I made an exception and accepted you as my disciple.”
There was no one who would question such an explanation.
Nor did anyone dare question it.
With one simple sentence, he could decide how the ancestor of an entire clan had died.
The truth itself was utterly insignificant.
The supreme power that the Lin family ancestor had spent his life pursuing could so casually determine every aspect of his ending.
As for how the Lin family ancestor had died, or how Situ Jian had killed him in return, Elder Gong could not have cared less.
So what if he had died? Was he worth a second glance? He was nothing more than another tool that might prove more useful.
Although he had already agreed to accept Situ Jian as his disciple, this new master had not even asked for his name.
Situ Jian lowered his eyes.
These cultivators who stood high above the world claimed to be immortals and gods. He wondered what they would do when they faced death one day.
“Daoist Fan, these are your children, and this is their dagger as well.” Shu Xin had completely shed her earlier weakness and had instead become aggressive and overbearing. “Why is there demonic aura on this dagger?”
Fan Xiang was caught completely off guard by Shu Xin’s question.
Why was there demonic aura on it? He had no idea either.
“Wretches, where did the demonic aura on this dagger come from? Hurry up and tell me the truth!” Fan Xiang slapped his own children. “If you cannot explain this clearly, then even if I have to kill the two of you, I absolutely cannot allow you to disgrace the reputation of the Fan family.”
The twins were knocked off balance by their father’s slap and fell to the ground, their hearts filled with grievance.
“Father, this old woman is slandering us.”
“This dagger was the birthday gift you gave me back then. How could it possibly have demonic aura on it?”
“Father, kill her! Hurry and kill her!”
…
The twins began to cry and make a scene. They were not stupid. Instead, they clearly understood that there was no way for them to resolve this crisis at present. Their only option was to deal with the person who had created the crisis.
As long as this woman died, everything would be over.
“Patriarch Fan, it seems you have no way to explain this.” Shu Xin took two steps back. “My beloved Fan died because of that demonic cultivator. I never expected that the demonic aura connected to him would now be found in the hands of your children. My beloved Fan… he truly died unjustly.”
Fan Xiang was the one who felt wronged.
“There is demonic aura everywhere in the world. How can you claim that it belongs to the person you mentioned? Besides, Jia’an is my own son. Even a tiger does not eat its cubs. How could I possibly do such a thing?” Fan Xiang’s mind had already become a tangled mess. He had never expected matters to develop in this direction.
He absolutely could not allow such a major matter to be exposed.
“Shu Xin, this concerns the reputation and survival of my entire Fan family. Why don’t we sit down and discuss it calmly?” Fan Xiang had already realized that this matter could not simply be brushed aside. If the Fan family were truly found to have connections with the demonic cultivator from the Hu family, there was no guarantee that they would not become the next Hu family.
An incident of this magnitude absolutely could not be revealed.
“Patriarch Fan, what are you doing to our senior sister?”
“Senior Sister, what happened to you?”
…
The timing could not have been more coincidental.
Just as Fan Xiang was trying to placate Shu Xin and suppress the matter for the time being, Shu Xin’s junior brothers and sisters happened to return. Behind them came a large number of members of the Fan family.
It was over.
That was the thought that flashed through Fan Xiang’s mind.
Things seemed to be developing in a direction he had never anticipated.
The fact that Patriarch Fan’s twin children, unaware of Shu Xin’s true intentions, had attempted to assassinate her—only to be exposed for colluding with a spirit-possession demonic cultivator—soon spread throughout every corner of the Fan family.
Even though Fan Xiang issued a gag order and even planned to kill several people as a warning, he still could not stop the news from spreading through the entire Fan family like the wind.
Because of Fan Xiang’s behavior over the past few days, the number of people in the clan who were dissatisfied with him had already been steadily increasing. Now his own children had caused such a scandal. With Shu Xin and the others fanning the flames, suppressing the matter was practically impossible.
Shu Xin and her companions had been preparing for this for quite some time.
“Eldest Senior Sister, we chose our timing pretty well this time, didn’t we?” Yuan Dawei and the others had come before Shu Xin to claim credit.
“Very well, very well. I’ll give you all a few more spirit stones when the time comes.” Shu Xin had orchestrated this entire drama herself, and she was quite satisfied with the assistance provided by her junior brothers and sisters.
Without someone to handle the odd jobs, how could everything have proceeded so smoothly?
“Eldest Senior Sister, how did you know that the Wanquan Dao Sect would send people here?” Cao Ru asked curiously. “We had to make special inquiries and put in quite a bit of effort before we found out.”
[Of course it’s because of me. Who else could it be?] the sword spirit said proudly.
Shu Xin naturally could not say that. Instead, she put on an inscrutable expression and said, “The wise have their own ways. You still have much to learn. Why don’t you think carefully about how I found out?”
Upon hearing this, Yuan Dawei and the others stopped asking questions.
It had to be because Eldest Senior Sister was so divinely perceptive that she had calculated the Wanquan Dao Sect’s arrival in advance.
“Eldest Senior Sister, what will happen once the people from the Wanquan Dao Sect arrive?” Although Li Qinghe had merely been following Shu Xin’s instructions, he was still completely confused about the matter.
The five junior brothers and sisters all stared at Shu Xin in unison, waiting for her explanation.
“I had you investigate the whereabouts of the Wanquan Dao Sect’s disciples while also finding a way to lure them to the Fan family for one reason: to ensure that no one in the Fan family would dare act rashly,” Shu Xin explained patiently. “The six of us together amount to no more than six people. Trying to find the demonic cultivator’s external incarnation among the many members of the Fan family would be nothing but wishful thinking. But if we can take advantage of the situation and use someone else’s strength to achieve our goal, the result will naturally be different.”
“A major sect like the Wanquan Dao Sect usually possesses secret techniques for dealing with demonic cultivators,” Shu Xin continued. “That is their signature ability. Otherwise, how could they contend with so many demonic-cultivator sects?”
Of course, such secret techniques were bound to be rare.
“If I can discover that the demonic cultivator has an external incarnation, how could the Wanquan Dao Sect, with so many cultivators, fail to discover it as well?” Shu Xin smiled. “Don’t underestimate the heroes of the world and assume that I’m the only clever person in existence.”
Even if the people from the Wanquan Dao Sect used only the simplest and most direct method of elimination, they would eventually trace the matter back to the Fan family.
Therefore, Shu Xin merely needed to instruct her junior brothers and sisters to spread a few rumors and create the impression that something strange had been happening in the Fan family recently.
The disciples from the Wanquan Dao Sect responsible for investigating the demonic cultivator’s external incarnation would naturally take notice of the Fan family and be led here by them.
Shu Xin had deliberately placed demonic qi on Fan Xiang’s children. It was meant both to divert suspicion elsewhere and to muddy the waters within the Fan family.
Originally, Shu Xin had wanted to find a way to plant the demonic qi in Fan Xiang himself, but she had not expected his children to offer themselves up so readily.
Truly, Heaven was helping her.
Oh, no. This was probably the work of someone in the Fan family pushing things along.
As long as that external incarnation did not want to be captured by the Wanquan Dao Sect, it would inevitably take advantage of the chaos to make trouble.
And once that happened, Shu Xin—who was already inside the Fan family and had more or less surveyed the entire clan—would be able to identify and capture the target immediately, obtaining the Mirrorbright Divine Water she needed.
Fan Xiang was said to be ruthless. In order to rule the Fan family, he had once killed many of his opponents. That was why everyone in the Fan family maintained an outward show of respect toward him. Even though Fan Jia'an, the former heir apparent, had already died, a new heir could not be chosen without Fan Xiang’s approval.
During peaceful times, or while a clan was on the rise, having a single voice within and without was naturally the best arrangement.
But once trouble erupted and the family found itself beset by internal and external crises, Fan Xiang would discover that these fools did nothing but create endless problems and messes for him to clean up.
“Eldest Senior Sister, what should we do next?” Qi Feiyang and the others were practically itching to get started.
They wanted to help Eldest Senior Sister capture the demonic cultivator and find whatever it was she needed.
“Sometimes, remaining still is better than taking action,” Shu Xin said with a smile. “You must learn to hand the initiative over to others. All we need to do is quietly observe from the sidelines.”
Why settle for being the mantis stalking the cicada when they could be the oriole waiting behind it?
At the same time, in the Fan family’s council hall—
“Idiots! Once it is confirmed that our Fan family has colluded with a spirit-possession demonic cultivator, we will become the next Hu family. Exactly how did this news get out?” Fan Xiang shouted furiously at the assembled elders. “Do you intend to drag the Fan family into a state of utter ruin?”
“Do we really need to say who the family’s parasites are?” One elder rose to his feet and retorted without the slightest hesitation. “This whole mess was caused by those two good children of yours. If we tie them up and take them to the Wanquan Dao Sect to confess our crimes, they might be willing to spare us.”
“The Hu family colluded with demonic cultivators to deal with the Wanquan Dao Sect. We’re different. We’re reporting the matter ourselves, so naturally the circumstances aren’t the same.”
“If you hadn’t spent the family’s resources all day trying to curry favor with that woman Shu Xin, how would your children have gone after her? When all is said and done, this is entirely your fault!”
“Utterly foolish.” Fan Xiang was so furious that he nearly coughed up blood. “Do you think the Wanquan Dao Sect will bother distinguishing between these situations? They would rather kill the wrong person than let the wrong person go. The day our entire family is wiped out is not far off!”
The Fan family’s elders reacted in various ways.
Some wore disdainful expressions, clearly unconvinced by Fan Xiang’s words.
Others looked terrified, seemingly beginning to worry about the clan’s future.
But most of them simply felt that it did not matter. They could not believe that the perfectly fine Fan family would be annihilated over something like this.
When Fan Xiang had been in charge of the clan as Patriarch, he had wanted these elders to be as foolish as possible so that he could control the family more easily. Now that disaster was imminent, however, he finally understood how agonizing it was to stand alongside a group of idiots.
“I will have them bound and personally go to the Wanquan Dao Sect to plead guilty.” Fan Xiang had run out of strength. “This matter concerns the survival of our entire family. Choose several people, take half of the Fan family’s assets, convert them into spirit stones, and set out for the Wanquan Dao Sect immediately. There may still be a slim chance of survival.”
Seeing Fan Xiang act this way, even those who had initially refused to believe him began to feel uneasy.
Could something truly happen?
“Patriarch! Patriarch, we have distinguished guests!” The steward sprinted all the way into the Fan family’s council hall, his expression frantic. “People from the Wanquan Dao Sect have already arrived at our Fan family!”
“So soon?” Fan Xiang sprang to his feet. “Hurry and invite them in. No—we’ll go out and welcome them ourselves.”
Just when the house was leaking, it had to rain all night. Why had the people from the Myriad Paths Sect chosen this moment to arrive?
