Translator: Cinder Translations
---
After leaving the spirit herb shop, the mustached man went straight back to his home.
Thinking about how he could now work under the Fifth Elder, his heart was filled with excitement.
"From now on, let's see if Old Second, Old Third, and Old Fifth dare to look down on me. Every time there's a family mission, they leave me behind, splitting the benefits between the three of them, without leaving even a scrap for me."
Tossing and turning with excitement, the mustached man couldn't sleep.
Meanwhile, in his courtyard, Su Wei and Su Gu had concealed their auras and hid in secret corners on the left and right of the courtyard.
After following them for nearly an entire night, Song Wen watched as a faint glow appeared on the eastern horizon.
It was almost dawn. It was time to act!
The Cold Moon Blade cut through the night sky like a shooting star, with a flash of light, it shot straight toward Su Wei on the left side of the courtyard.
Both Su Wei and Su Gu instantly sensed the danger.
Su Wei quickly formed a hand seal, and a flying sword, radiating with cold light, suddenly appeared, slashing toward the Cold Moon Blade.
Meanwhile, Su Gu extended his spiritual sense, trying to pinpoint the location of the enemy.
Suddenly, his spiritual sense detected a tiny insect, about the size of a sesame seed, but exuding the aura of a second-tier creature, rushing toward him.
"A second-tier Gu insect!"
Su Gu's eyes flashed with shock. Since when did a powerful second-tier Gu master appear near the northern market?
Despite his shock, his movements were not slow.
With a single thought, his flying sword gleamed, slicing toward the Gu insect.
The Sacred Gu didn't dare to take the flying sword head-on, so it quickly changed direction, barely dodging the slash, but was forced back by the sword.
Just as Su Gu breathed a sigh of relief, he was stunned to find that five similar Gu insects were closing in from five different directions, moving so fast that they left no time for him to react.
These five Gu insects were now less than one zhang (about 3.3 meters) away!
The first insect had only been a distraction.
Panic flashed across Su Gu's face as he hurriedly summoned a small spirit shield the size of a palm. The shield instantly expanded to the height of a person and began rotating around his body, trying to envelop him in protection.
But he was still a step too late. Before the shield could start spinning fully, two Gu insects had already reached him from unprotected angles. In an instant, they broke through his protective spiritual energy and burrowed into his body.
In mere moments, Su Gu was lifeless.
Su Wei's fight had also ended.
After he deflected the Cold Moon Blade, a sudden gust of sinister wind struck him from behind. It was the late second-tier ghost general with a red face and fiery hair.
The late second-tier ghost general, facing Su Wei who was only at the early Foundation Establishment stage, and with the element of surprise, had an overwhelming advantage. Su Wei had no chance to resist and was torn to pieces by the ghost general, his blood splattering everywhere.
Song Wen's figure suddenly appeared in the middle of the courtyard. He glanced at Su Wei's dismembered body, which had been tossed all over by the red-haired ghost general, and Su Gu's corpse, which had been half-devoured by the Sacred Gu, leaving only a thin layer of skin on the upper body.
Shaking his head, Song Wen thought, What a hassle!
He summoned his spiritual power, gathering the scattered body parts in front of him, and then used his sword to fly away with the remains suspended in his spiritual energy.
As he flew, he collected the storage rings from the two corpses.
Then, he grabbed each of their heads and began soul-searching them.
As for the mustached man, he had already been knocked unconscious by the red-haired ghost general and was wrapped in ghostly energy, following behind Song Wen.
Though the events seemed lengthy, from the Cold Moon Blade's first strike to Song Wen's departure, only about ten breaths of time had passed.
About twenty breaths after Song Wen left, the Fifth Elder arrived at the courtyard.
Seeing the blood scattered on the ground, the lingering traces of spiritual energy, and the dense aura of yin energy in the air, the Fifth Elder's face turned as dark as water.
A few days ago, the Su family's Crimson Blood Spirit Crystal Mine was ambushed by rogue cultivators. The Su family lost eight Foundation Establishment cultivators, including the Third Elder, Su Jingshu, a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. The Su family was severely weakened.
Subsequently, the Du family seized the opportunity to attack the Crimson Blood Spirit Crystal Mine, and the Su family lost two more Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Now, once again, they had mysteriously lost two more early-stage Foundation Establishment family members.
It could be said that disaster was striking the Su family one after another.
Following the lingering yin energy in the air, the Fifth Elder looked in the direction where Song Wen had fled but did not recklessly pursue.
Su Wei and Su Gu, two early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, had been killed without any chance to resist. The Fifth Elder knew even he would have difficulty achieving such a feat, meaning that the person responsible must be extremely powerful. Pursuing them blindly could very well lead him into a deadly trap.
Moments later, several more figures descended on their swords and landed beside the Fifth Elder.
"Fifth Elder, what happened?" asked a mid-stage Foundation Establishment member of the Su family.
The Fifth Elder clenched his fists, his face filled with hatred.
"About an hour ago, Su Liu came to see me, saying he had discovered traces of a second-tier alchemist. So, I sent Su Wei and Su Gu to assist him, intending to recruit the alchemist into the Su family to serve us."
"But I underestimated the cruelty and methods of that mysterious alchemist. Su Wei and Su Gu were killed, and Su Liu's whereabouts are unknown—he was probably captured."
"Fifth Elder, our family members have been killed. How can we not pursue the culprit?" someone asked indignantly.
The Fifth Elder turned his head, glaring at the person with a hostile expression.
"If you want to chase, go ahead! Do you think the culprit would dare to kill in the market without some kind of backing? To be able to kill two Foundation Establishment cultivators in such a short time—they are no ordinary person."
After this angry outburst, the Fifth Elder seemed to calm down slightly, as though venting his frustration had soothed him a bit.
"They've killed members of our Su family, and they will pay for it. But we can't blindly pursue them. We must act together to avoid being picked off one by one."
"I've already sent word to the family, and they'll be sending reinforcements to track down the culprit."
...
After flying for several dozen miles, Song Wen found a dense forest, concealed his aura, and hid within it.
After waiting for the time it takes for half a stick of incense to burn, he finally saw a seven-to-eight-meter-long airship slowly approaching.
On the airship, there were quite a few people. A quick glance showed at least six figures.
This made Song Wen feel a bit troubled.
Just before fleeing, he had soul-searched Su Gu and Su Wei.
Unfortunately, either due to bad luck or because neither of them were core members of the Su family, he didn't retrieve any memories related to the Su family's capture of cultivators who practiced the "Longevity Technique," nor did they have access to the Su family's core secrets.
From the memories he had obtained, there was little useful information.
The only useful piece of intelligence was that, so far, the Su family had captured hundreds of cultivators practicing the "Longevity Technique," most of whom were late-stage Qi Condensation rogue cultivators.
He didn't find any Yellow Essence Mushrooms in their storage rings either.
The only useful information was that the Fifth Elder of the Su family had long been stationed at the northern market. This elder was a core member of the Su family and knew most of the family's secrets.
This airship was clearly coming from the direction of the market, and the Fifth Elder was likely on board.
However, there were too many people on the airship, and it would be difficult to kill them all quickly. Moreover, the location was too close to Qingping Mountain—less than a hundred miles away. If the fight dragged on, the Su family reinforcements would arrive.
Just as Song Wen hesitated, another airship appeared, flying in from the direction of Qingping Mountain.
This instantly made Song Wen abandon any thoughts of attacking.
His gaze shifted to a small hill several dozen miles away, where there was a crack in the rocks at the foot of the hill.
The unconscious mustached man was lying in that crack.
Song Wen had originally planned to use the mustached man as bait to lure the Su family's Fifth Elder, but it seemed that plan was no longer useful.
(End of the Chapter)
---
For More Chapters & Exclusive Releases!
Join my Pa.treon at (pa treon . com / CinderTL)
Read Ahead: Up to Chapter 372 as of 14Nov24
Bonus Mass Releases
Explore More: 2 Other Stories with 1000+ Chapters, totaling over 1.16M+ Words 💥
Support Tiers: Early Access $5 | General Support $1
Your support makes all the difference 😊
Let's Stay Connected
For update notifications, reviews, or to chat, join me on Pa.treon for FREE.
Please share this story with friends and review on WebNovel and Scribblehub if you're enjoying it. Thanks!