Volume 10, Chapter 662 – Substitute Sacrifices

“Big Brother, what did you just say? It concerns the life and death of our family? Who could possibly have such power?”

“Yeah, our Wenren Clan is the number one cultivation family in Changming Kingdom. Anyone who dares to oppose us would have already been reincarnated by now. What danger could there possibly be?”

“Big Brother, did you hear some news? Are you just trying to scare us?”

The three younger brothers all spoke at once.

“Is that so? Then, Fourth Brother, why did your eldest granddaughter go missing?”

Wenren Jun asked Wenren Zheng.

At those words, Wenren Zheng’s smile froze, and his expression instantly darkened. The disappearance of his eldest granddaughter was a wound he could never let go of.

“Big Brother, that was just an accident!”

Wenren Li immediately stepped in to smooth things over.

“Was it? But what if it wasn’t an accident?”

Wenren Jun smiled faintly, not revealing his stance.

“Big Brother, what exactly are you trying to say?”

Wenren Zheng took a deep breath and asked.

“Just as you said, the Wenren Clan is powerful, but for someone to take away your granddaughter right under everyone’s noses without anyone noticing… don’t you think you should consider how high their cultivation level must have been?”

Wenren Jun paused before continuing, “What’s even stranger is why, years later, your granddaughter’s treasured sword would end up in the hands of some completely unrelated cultivator.”

“Didn’t we interrogate him back then? He said he bought it from a disciple of the Immortal Alliance.”

Wenren Zheng recalled aloud.

“Exactly. And that disciple just so happened to be stationed long-term as a guard at the Kapok Valley Treasure Land.”

Wenren Jun added.

“So what?”

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Wenren Zheng frowned.

“You should know how dangerous the Kapok Valley Treasure Land is. The Immortal Alliance can only ensure that outsiders don’t enter, but they can’t actually control the interior. Every time they send people inside to search for rare treasures, they suffer heavy losses. Take the Golden Fate Blossom seeds, for example! I later heard that to reduce casualties, they started using women who had consumed Golden Fate Blossoms and Pink Bamboo Water as bait. As long as they could attract Lightning Hawks, it would reduce detours significantly.”

Wenren Jun explained calmly.

“That’s not exactly a secret.”

Wenren Zheng commented.

“But have you ever thought about where these bait women come from? Do you think they’re all the daughters and granddaughters of Immortal Alliance elders? The Kapok Valley Treasure Land is so dangerous, do you really believe they’d willingly send their own kin in as bait? Besides, it wouldn’t be hard to investigate whether they actually used their own daughters and granddaughters.”

Wenren Jun enunciated each word deliberately.

“So you mean…”

Wenren Zheng’s expression finally changed.

“Many of those bait women have unknown origins. I suspect the Immortal Alliance secretly abducted them. In fact, over the years, many women who consumed Pink Bamboo Water mysteriously disappeared, especially those whose potential was awakened by it. And your eldest granddaughter… she was one of them. And coincidentally, her weapon ended up in the Kapok Valley Treasure Land. Do you understand what this implies?”

Wenren Jun narrowed his eyes slightly.

Wenren Zheng suddenly shot up from his chair, pupils trembling. “Are you saying my granddaughter was abducted by the Immortal Alliance to be used as bait?”

“It’s only my suspicion. I don’t have solid evidence. After all, if this was the Immortal Alliance’s doing, they wouldn’t leave any traces.”

Wenren Jun supplemented calmly.

“Perhaps the Golden Fate Blossoms themselves were distributed by the Immortal Alliance specifically to cultivate bait. The so-called ‘rewards’ were nothing more than a cover for their real intentions.”

Wenren Li speculated.

“Highly likely!”

Wenren Jun’s expression turned grave.

Meanwhile, Qi Huang, who was secretly observing, widened her eyes in shock. Looking around, she found the other women equally stunned, their lips slightly parted, faces frozen with disbelief. None of them had expected such deep waters beneath the surface.

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“This Immortal Alliance keeps finding new ways to sink lower and lower.”

Qi Huang couldn’t help but curse angrily.

“Hmph!”

Cheng Hongling didn’t speak, merely letting out a cold, murderous snort.

“Fortunately, they didn’t target Junior Sister. Otherwise…”

Ruan Lingyu murmured with lingering fear, and the expressions on the other sisters’ faces also turned grim.

“These beasts! I’ll make them pay for what they did to my granddaughter!”

Wenren Zheng roared, eyes bloodshot, leaping to his feet.

“Fourth Brother, I understand how you feel. But right now, we have neither evidence nor strength. How can we confront the Immortal Alliance? Our priority must be protecting the descendants in our family who have consumed Golden Fate Blossoms, especially those whose potential was awakened by Pink Bamboo Water. The Immortal Alliance has been quietly targeting such women for years. I guarantee they’re already on some list.”

Wenren Jun warned gravely.

“Big Brother is right. We all have descendants who consumed Golden Fate Blossoms, especially those granddaughters awakened with Pink Bamboo Water. If we don’t act, it’s only a matter of time before the Immortal Alliance comes for them.”

Wenren Li quickly caught on.

“Big Brother, what should we do? Our Wenren Clan may be unrivaled in Changming Kingdom, but compared to the Immortal Alliance, we’re nothing.”

Wenren Lian also stood up anxiously.

“Now you’re panicking?”

Wenren Jun sneered lightly before continuing, “In the past, we might have had no choice but to wait for death. But now, there’s one thing we can try. You’ve seen those Honghua Sect female disciples, right? You noticed how they all carry the scent of Golden Fate Blossoms?”

“Yes, and? What does that have to do with our granddaughters?”

“Didn’t you say we were going to have them find Golden Fate Blossom seeds for us?”

Wenren Li and Wenren Lian asked in succession.

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“Sending them just to find Golden Fate Blossom seeds would be wasteful, wouldn’t it? If they die, then it’s meaningless. My goal is to make sure their deaths have value.”

A sinister glint flashed in Wenren Jun’s eyes.

“What do you mean?”

The three brothers looked utterly confused.

“Don’t you get it? The Immortal Alliance has been encouraging everyone to send their children who consumed Golden Fate Blossoms to serve as ‘bait’. So we’ll play along. We’ll send these Honghua Sect disciples instead, and we’ll claim they’re our granddaughters. When they die in the Kapok Valley Treasure Land, the Immortal Alliance will believe our actual granddaughters are dead.”

Wenren Jun sneered coldly.

“Right! Then they won’t come after our real granddaughters anymore!”

Wenren Li slapped his thigh in excitement.

“But… what if they figure it out?”

Wenren Lian hesitated.

“Impossible. Changming Kingdom is over a hundred thousand li from the Immortal Alliance headquarters. They have no idea what our granddaughters look like.”

Wenren Jun shook his head firmly.

“What if they find out afterward?”

Wenren Lian pressed.

“First, they have no reason to investigate further. All they care about are bait candidates, the identities don’t matter. Second, even if they do find out, so what? We wouldn’t have broken any Immortal Alliance rules. What can they accuse us of? Do you think they’d dare expose their own secret of abducting girls for bait? I bet most of the Immortal Alliance’s members don’t even know about it.”

Wenren Jun explained step by step.

“I think Big Brother’s plan is sound. Whether it works or not, we owe our granddaughters at least a chance to live.”

Wenren Li immediately voiced support.

“Yes. Since there’s no real risk for us, I agree.”

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Wenren Zheng also nodded.

“Fine. We’ll do as Big Brother suggests. Let’s buy them as much time as we can.”

Wenren Lian finally relented.

“Good. Then it’s settled. Aside from that doppelgänger, there are six of them in total, perfect to replace our six granddaughters. The only thing left is to make sure they cooperate.”

Wenren Jun smiled in satisfaction.

“That shouldn’t be a problem. Unless, of course, they don’t value their lives.”

Wenren Zheng’s gaze turned cold as thoughts of his dead granddaughter filled him with a need to vent his fury.

Qi Huang put away the Shadow-Retaining Mirror, then glanced around and asked, “What do you all think?”

“What a cunning old fox. No wonder he pretended to give us a choice. He’s really planning to use us as stand-ins for their granddaughters.”

Ruan Lingyu cursed angrily.

“Yeah, this old man’s talent is wasted on being a cultivator. Sending us to the Immortal Alliance as bait? He’s squeezing every last bit of value out of us.”

Yun Fei agreed bitterly.

“It doesn’t matter. As long as we can enter the Kapok Valley Treasure Land, we’ll play along for now. Treat it like a sightseeing trip if you must.”

Qi Huang reassured them.

“Junior Sister, there’s something I don’t get. Your goal is to collect more Golden Fate Blossom seeds. Now that we know the Immortal Alliance recruits ‘bait’, why don’t we just go directly? Why go under the Wenren Clan’s name and let them take advantage of us?”

Shen Yuan voiced her doubts.

“Take advantage of me? Do you think it’s that easy? If we don’t go under the Wenren Clan’s name, how else are we going to stir things up?”

A sly smile curled at the corner of Qi Huang’s lips.

That very night, Wenren Jun had servants summon Qi Huang and the others to the study.