Translator: Cinder Translations
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After leaving Su Shan's courtyard, Song Wen did not return directly to his residence but instead headed east.
To the east of Qingping Mountain lies a valley, which is where the Su family's ancestor is in seclusion.
As for the matter of tempting Su Shan to practice demonic techniques, it was merely a momentary whim of Song Wen's. He was not concerned about the consequences or any potential impact on the Su family.
Song Wen traveled for several dozen miles and finally circled around to the eastern side of Qingping Mountain.
The valley where Su Qian, the Su family's ancestor, resided was just ten miles ahead.
According to the detection of the Sacred Gu, there were numerous visible and hidden sentries within the ten-mile range ahead. Several dozen Su family cultivators were detected by the Sacred Gu.
The valley was not large, covering about a ten-mile area.
The entire valley was enveloped by a huge array.
Infiltrating the valley seemed almost impossible.
At the same time, Song Wen was somewhat surprised.
Such a large array, if maintained for a long time, would be extremely resource-consuming.
What could be the reason for needing such a powerful array for constant protection?
Was there a significant secret hidden within the valley that they feared being discovered by outsiders?
Or was it that the Su family's ancestor was indeed on his last legs, barely hanging on, and needed the array to block vengeful enemies?
Song Wen casually found a hidden cave to hide in, instructing the Sacred Gu to circle the valley and see if it could find any weak spots to infiltrate.
The valley was too large, and Song Wen could not get too close; his spiritual sense could not cover the entire valley. He could only order the Sacred Gu to survey the valley and bring back the results.
The Sacred Gu flew around the valley but found nothing.
There were Su family cultivators guarding all around the valley, and no one had activated the array.
Just as Song Wen was about to return to his residence as the sun was setting, a large flying ship appeared from the sky.
Song Wen immediately recognized it as the Su family's flying ship, which had been parked outside Huafang Market on that day.
The flying ship hovered directly above the center of the valley.
The array barrier covering the entire valley slowly opened a gap at the top.
A person on the flying ship used a sword to fly out, holding a chain in his hand.
One end of the chain was gripped by this person, while the other end was still attached to the flying ship, with an unknown object bound to it.
This person flew through the gap in the barrier and into the valley, dragging the chain from the ship.
Gradually, a loose cultivator bound by the chain was dragged out of the flying ship.
As the person flying with the sword descended lower and lower, the chain pulled out more and more, and one loose cultivator after another, bound by chains, was dragged out of the ship, until the end of the chain appeared in view.
Song Wen noticed that there were over seventy cultivators being bound. It was not hard to guess that these cultivators were likely practicing the "Longevity Technique."
It seemed that the Su family had captured those practicing the "Longevity Technique" and brought them to this valley in the end.
But why had the Su family brought these people to the valley?
What was the connection with the Su family's nearly-departed ancestor?
...
Over the next two days, Song Wen diligently refined pills in the pill room. On the third day, he went out again under the pretense of a day off.
Early in the morning, Song Wen disguised himself as a young cultivator at the eighth layer of Qi Refining and left the Qingping Mountain region.
Traveling westward, he flew for over a hundred miles.
Several miles ahead of Song Wen appeared a low mountain range. The mountains were bare, without any vegetation.
In these low mountains were numerous large mines, and tattered commoners could be seen entering and exiting these mines.
This was the Su family's most lucrative industry and also their most important one. The Blood Crystal is a crucial spiritual ore for refining various spiritual treasures.
The Blood Crystal's accompanying Blood Essence is a third-tier spiritual material for crafting magical artifacts, worth a fortune.
Song Wen released the Sacred Gu to survey the entire mining area and found that the defenses were not very stringent.
Only the central area of the mining district had a large courtyard surrounded by protective arrays.
It made sense that the Blood Crystal couldn't be detected by spiritual sense and had to be slowly mined out of the hard rock by hand.
The Su family was not worried about someone sneaking into the mines to steal Blood Crystals. Even if a cultivator stole from the mines for a month, they would only get a few Blood Crystals and might be discovered by patrolling Su family cultivators, risking their lives.
The central courtyard was likely where the Su family members practiced cultivation and temporarily stored the Blood Crystals, hence the need for array protection.
The Sacred Gu also brought back an unexpected discovery.
On the other side of the mining area, on a high mountain, six people were hiding and secretly observing the mining area.
These six people were all at the Foundation Establishment stage: five were early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, and one was at the late-stage Foundation Establishment.
The presence of these six Foundation Establishment cultivators near the Su family's spiritual ore was clearly not a good sign.
However, the six were too far from Song Wen, and even with the help of the Sacred Gu, his spiritual sense couldn't cover that area.
This information was brought back by the Sacred Gu after receiving Song Wen's orders to survey the entire mining area and its surroundings.
The Sacred Gu's spiritual intelligence was not very high and could not understand human language, so Song Wen was unaware of what the six people were plotting.
Song Wen circled around the mining area and stealthily approached the location of the six.
At this time, the six should have completed their reconnaissance and were retreating.
The six clearly had intentions regarding the Blood Crystal mine. Song Wen was unwilling to obtain no information about them and followed them.
Just a few miles into the chase, Song Wen's peripheral vision caught sight of a bowl-sized mouse suddenly darting out from the nearby forest.
The mouse moved extremely quickly, like a flash of lightning, leaving only a blurry afterimage as it dashed through the forest toward the six people.
Song Wen's heart sank.
Earlier, his spiritual sense had detected this mouse hiding in a tree hole, but since it emitted no spiritual fluctuations, Song Wen had considered it an ordinary mountain mouse.
Unexpectedly, the mouse had the speed of an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator and was very agile in the dense forest.
Clearly, this mouse was a spiritual beast raised by a cultivator.
Song Wen realized that he had been exposed.
Since he was already exposed, he decided to stop hiding and chose to reveal himself to meet the six.
...
To avoid alerting the Su family cultivators in the mining area, the six in front had not used full speed to flee but moved cautiously through the forest.
One of the mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators appeared as a weak scholar.
The mouse, swift as the wind, darted directly into the scholar's bosom.
The scholar's face changed slightly as he stopped and whispered, "Not good, we've been discovered."
The other five looked over.
"What's wrong?"
"The Shadowless Mouse has detected that someone is following us."
The five immediately changed expressions, instinctively assuming that the follower was from the Su family.
The five were about to activate their movement techniques to escape immediately.
"Don't panic. There is only one person, and they are only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment."
Upon hearing this, the five felt slightly relieved.
"What should we do?" asked one of the plain-looking but with bright, agile eyes female cultivators.
The scholar replied, "We'll adapt as needed. The person is already here."
(End of the Chapter)
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