Niu Family Village

Between the Ming and Jing peaks, a winding path barely wide enough for two or three people served as the sole passage connecting Baixi Village to the outside world.

Because of this secluded trail, Baixi Village had long remained untouched by external strife. If the Li clan patriarch had simply sealed their own path back then, barring the refugees from entering the mountains, the tragedy that later befell the Li Family Village might never have occurred.

But there were no "ifs" in this world.

At this moment, a line of men gripping weapons and wearing straw raincoats trudged through the pass hand in hand. Raindrops slid off their woven cloaks, mingling with the dense mountain mist.

These were the men of Baixi Village. The rustic farmers glanced around, their eyes filled with a mixture of curiosity and awe.

Even though the mountain walls flanked them closely, their surroundings appeared hazy and indistinct, as if shrouded by an invisible veil. They instinctively felt that if they let go and strayed from the group, they would wander blindly and never find their way out.

"How truly miraculous. If the Zhou family wasn't leading the way, I fear we wouldn't even be able to walk our own mountain path," a man sighed, peering into the mist.

"Of course. These are the methods of immortals, after all," another said in admiration. "I wish my family could produce an immortal master too. Look at Old Man Chen. Not only did he form a marriage alliance with the Zhou family and rise to the heavens with them, but his own children turned out to be immortal masters. What absolute dog luck."

Someone whispered mysteriously, "Let me tell you, when Old Man Chen came down the mountain a few days ago, I caught a glimpse of him from afar. He looked decades younger, and his back wasn't even hunched anymore. I heard he's planning to sire another child."

"Another child? He's past sixty. Can his old bones even handle it?" a sturdy man beside him exclaimed.

The gossiper waved his hand. "Who knows? Maybe the older he gets, the stronger he becomes. He even boasted that his bloodline is superb, and that his next child will definitely be an immortal master too."

"Pfft, Old Man Chen is spouting nonsense. Having immortal destiny is entirely up to fate. What does good blood have to do with it? Even if his blood is good, could it possibly compare to the Zhou family's?" an eavesdropping villager scoffed.

His words brought a brief silence over the group. A man from the Qian family muttered darkly, "Say, do you think the Zhou family's blood really is that good?"

"Zhou Erlang is an immortal master, and his eldest child is one too. Rumor has it that his second child also has the gift."

An honest-looking farmer slapped his thigh in realization. "Good heavens, now that you mention it, it's true. I heard someone saw his second child using immortal arts, though I don't know if it's real."

A companion roughly yanked his sleeve. "Shut your damn mouth! Do you have a death wish?"

The honest farmer snapped to his senses. His face paled in shock, and he dared not utter another word. None of them noticed a nearby figure whose ears twitched, casting a sidelong glance at their huddle.

At the front of the procession, Zhou Minghu formed hand seals. The concealment effects of the great formation slowly parted before him. Only by mastering this specific technique could one pass through the boundary barrier unharmed; otherwise, even a Qi Condensation cultivator would wander lost within the mist.

Zhou Changhe followed closely behind, studying a map as he walked and calculating silently in his heart.

Once they exited this mountain path, the nearest settlement lay just half a li ahead. It was called Niu Family Village. Before the great famine, it boasted three to four hundred residents. He did not know how many survived today.

However, Zhou Changhe had already dispatched scouts, so he knew perfectly well that the wealthy landowners of Niu Family Village were still alive and thriving.

This militia of two hundred men had only been issued a single meal of dry rations upon leaving Baixi Village. Their strategy was set: they would seize grain from the local gentry to supply their forces and appease the refugees, sustaining their campaign through plunder.

He trusted that these wealthy landowners would not be blind to the circumstances.

There were certain matters the imperial court found inconvenient to dirty their hands with. The local immortal clans harbored no such reservations.

If the imperial court wished to pacify the entirety of Nanyang Prefecture, the required wealth and materials would be a staggering sum. The sheer volume of grain needed for disaster relief was incalculable.

But was Nanyang Prefecture truly devoid of grain?

No. It was simply hoarded in the storehouses of wealthy landowners and aristocratic families. The local government could not openly seize it, for they represented the authority of the imperial court.

Furthermore, the great famine had birthed countless twisted and evil entities, complicating matters entirely.

Thus, the imperial court decreed that the immortal clans should pacify the disaster themselves, even promising them dominion over whatever territories they reclaimed. In this way, the imperial court could restore Nanyang Prefecture's vitality in an extremely short time without expending a single soldier. Why wouldn't they?

As for the immortal clans growing too powerful, the imperial court hardly cared. Many clans would occupy territories only to find themselves utterly incapable of defending them. When suppressing those evil entities, a single misstep could cause a Qi Condensation cultivator to perish, instantly plunging their clan into decline.

Countless immortal clans just like the Zhou family had been completely swallowed by the tides of history the moment evil beasts and horrors emerged within their borders.

Yet this was not even the greatest threat to an immortal clan. Their true crisis was always succession.

Why, prior to the Zhou family's rise, was the Pingyun Huang Clan the only immortal clan in Qingshui County? It was not that the county had never birthed other immortal lineages. It was simply that those families had failed to produce capable heirs. Once their Qi Condensation cultivators perished, they lost their status entirely.

Only the Pingyun Huang Clan possessed the immense fortune to produce several Qi Condensation cultivators in an unbroken lineage, allowing them to stand tall for over a century.

And once a clan lost its immortal status, the territories they had seized would naturally revert back to the imperial court.

In essence, the local immortal clans bore all the infamy and bloodshed, while the imperial court reaped every reward.

Did the local immortal clans fail to see through this scheme? Of course not. But how many families could ever resist such temptation?

Before long, the procession exited the mountain path and arrived at a dilapidated settlement. The houses were crumbled and ruined. Scattered bones and corpses littered the ground, all bearing the grim marks of gnawing teeth.

From within the shadowed ruins, hidden eyes peered out, warily sizing up the armed men.

Meanwhile, Zhou Minghu learned from his subordinates about the loose-lipped gossip among the militiamen. His eyes narrowed slightly, a cold light flickering in their depths.

They could have gossiped about anything, yet they chose to murmur about the Zhou family's bloodline.

In such matters, the speaker might be careless, but a listener would take it to heart.

Though he did not know if his family truly possessed some hidden treasure, if certain powerful figures caught wind of these rumors, mere speculation could bring a lethal disaster upon their heads.

After all, those apex experts cared nothing for truth or falsehood. So long as a sliver of possibility existed, they would strike without mercy.

The mighty procession marched through the ruined homes and halted before a sprawling manor. Even amid the desolation of the great famine, this estate appeared exceptionally grand. However, its front steps were heavily stained with blood, and several wind-dried corpses hung from a wooden scaffold to the side, serving as a grisly warning.

Zhou Changhe sneered coldly. "This Squire Niu certainly puts on airs. Hanging corpses to establish authority, refusing to let even the dead rest in peace."

Zhou Shi patted a man beside him, signaling him to step forward and knock on the gates.

But before the man could take more than a few steps, a sudden clamor erupted from within. The heavy main gates burst open, and dozens of fierce, burly guards rushed out.

"Where are you wild-"

The leader of the guards was about to shout curses when he abruptly registered the massive crowd standing outside. Over a hundred men armed with hoes and pitchforks stood shoulder to shoulder, backed by forty or fifty neatly attired warriors gripping sharp blades and glaring menacingly.

They looked for all the world like a ferocious bandit army come down from the mountains to raid grain. The guard captain swallowed hard, steeling his nerve. "May I ask which mountain stronghold you heroes hail from? If you have come for grain, our Niu family is willing to offer fifty dan with both hands."

Zhou Changhe cupped his hands and smiled warmly. "We are the Zhou family of Baixi Village. By the decree of the imperial court, we have come specifically to provide disaster relief and save the common people."

88.181.249.5

ns88.181.249.5da2