Fang Qing steered the Fire Luoba Bowl, flying eastward in a bold and open manner.
Whenever he encountered fleeing cultivators along the way, those at the Qi Ingestion level imdiately dropped to their knees in respect. Even the few Dao Foundation cultivators who spotted the Buddhists glow of the Six-Syllable Great Radiance Mantra respectfully made way, their attitudes humble and deferential.
“Fang Family Fort… is still in Ba Commandery. Back then I was only a minor cultivator whose footsteps could not stray far from ho. I had no way to find a better place to settle them.”
Although he had decided there was no need to acknowledge them or deliberately guide the Fang family onto the immortal path, they were still the clan of this body. It did not feel right to simply watch their bloodline die out.
Fang Qing resolved to take a look.
After all, Ba Commandery had beco a frontline now. There was no telling when it might fall.
Endless warfare, displaced refugees, and thousands of li of scorched earth were all commonplace.
As he traveled, the devastation grew heavier the farther east he went. Countless starved corpses lined the roadsides.
Boiling bones for soup and trading children for food were no longer re words in books. They had beco a blood-soaked reality that struck the face head-on. The eyes of the fleeing refugees held no other emotion, only numbness.
In a world like this, surviving was already difficult enough. Numbness was perhaps the only feeling left.
Fang Family Fort.
Fang Jingchun was in his fifties or sixties, yet he looked exceptionally aged. He wore a snow-white fox-fur robe, but his body still felt chilled to the bone.
“This damned weather…”
He sat in a rattan chair, staring at his own skeletal hands, and could not help but smile bitterly.
In his younger days he had been a renowned hero of the martial world, known as “Iron Palm Subdues Three Rivers, Silver Spear Sweeps Eight Directions.” How spirited he had been then?
Yet as he grew older and his vitality declined, the internal injuries he had suffered in his youth could no longer be suppressed by his inner force.
It left him thin and frail, and on rainy days the pain beca unbearable.
“Grandfather!”
At that mont a vigorous young man burst in. It was his own grandson, Fang Yixin.
Dressed in white robes with a silver spear strapped to his back, the youth made Fang Jingchun feel, for a fleeting instant, as if he were seeing himself in his pri. A faint smile appeared on the old man’s face.
“Good grandson… what news have you gathered?”
“General Ji perished at Three-Fork Mountain. After resting for a few days, the demon soldiers are pressing south once more. Their invasion burns like wildfire, extrely urgent. Grandfather, our family must make a decision soon.”
Fang Yixin said.
“That Ji Fengchun was said to have reached Qi Ingestion and could refine pills while spitting flying swords, practically a true immortal. Yet even he died without clear cause.”
Fang Jingchun sighed, his gaze growing hazy. “Back then… our Fang family ancestor once said that immortals are no better than mortals. How true those words were.”
Fang Yixin, however, curled his lip in disagreent. “Grandson thinks differently. In this vast world of mortals, how many could resist an immortal opportunity placed right before their eyes? Besides, even you, Grandfather, had marry into the Sixi rchant Guild’s Hu family because you had your eye on their ancestor’s Qi Ingestion entry into the Dao…”
“Correct!”
Fang Jingchun narrowed his eyes, a trace of ruthless ambition finally showing. “These years have been hard on you… outsiders think the young miss of the Sixi rchant Guild married up, but in truth our family married above our station… It must have been difficult for you to humble yourself in the bedroom.”
“Without becoming immortal, one remains an ant.”
Fang Yixin continued, “Grandson read the clan history and felt a chill run down his spine… The Tianshui Luo family kept our family like livestock, feeding on our fate was bad enough, but they even perford regular blood sacrifices and consud flesh pills.”
When the Tianshui Luo family had been destroyed, although all the cultivators died, quite a few mortals had still escaped.
After Fang Family Fort was established, they captured several of them. Through secret interrogation they learned many truths.
Only then did they discover that quite a few Fang family ancestors had not died natural deaths. Instead they had been taken by the Luo family to cultivate various evil arts or even turned into blood-qi pills. It was said that doing so could improve one’s fate and make the [Ji Water] cultivation thod easier to practice.
Even now, Fang Yixin found it strange.
To immortals, mortals were little more than ants.
Under such captive breeding, how had the Fang family managed to produce an immortal ancestor at all?
Unfortunately, even Fang Jingchun did not know the answer.
He lowered his voice. “I have inquired carefully over the years. Our family’s fate is exceptionally suited to cultivating the [Ji Water] thod. The technique our ancestor left behind happens to be the [Ji Water] Observation of the Black Mausoleum Book… a Dao Foundation manual with a complete qi-gathering thod. Over the years we have been cautious and saved enough in our three secret vaults to supply at least three uses of Earth Spring Tempered Essence. The only missing piece is a Qi Ingestion cultivator to co and combine the qi, allowing us to truly form a strand of True Vital Qi… How are things on your side?”
“Grandson was just about to ntion this… The Hu family says their grand-uncle has already prepared to move the entire household westward to escape the war. If we do not speak up soon, we may miss the chance entirely.”
Fang Yixin felt a surge of anxiety.
For years his family had gone to great lengths to curry favor, sending cartload after cartload of gold, silver, jewelry, and rare curios to the Hu family while secretly probing their character and reputation... all for this one final request.
If they successfully obtained the true qi, he was certain he could step into Qi Ingestion. After all, he had secretly studied the immortal cultivation manual over and over again until he could recite it backward from mory.
“Keep calm when great matters arise. Why are you so flustered?” Fang Jingchun said. “This old man has guarded the family for a lifeti and is not even anxious on the brink of death. Even if you die of old age one day, you still have sons and grandsons. Our Fang family will enter the Dao sooner or later. Safety cos first. Who knows whether that Hu family cultivator might grow greedy and seize our True Vital Qi for himself? Actually, if the other party is willing to leave us one share, it would be fine to give them the remaining two. But I fear they might slaughter our entire family for the opportunity. That would truly be a tragedy.”
“Grandfather’s lesson is wise.”
Fang Yixin accepted the teaching with solemn respect. His father had died early at the hands of enemies, so Fang Jingchun had raised him single-handedly. Their bond ran deeper than most. “Right now, preserving our family is the priority... Since the Hu family is leaving, they will naturally need escorts, bodyguards, and grooms along the way. That Hu family cultivator has only reached Qi Ingestion and is said to possess limited cultivation. He cannot handle everything himself. This is exactly when our family can be of use. Go and tell them that we will provide the manpower and travel together!”
Fang Jingchun opened his eyes, a sharp light flashing within them.
The sight was both familiar and sohow distant to Fang Yixin.
Whenever the family faced a matter of life and death, his grandfather always looked like this before making a decisive call. Fang Family Fort had survived to this day largely thanks to his grandfather’s foresight and shrewd judgnt.
“Yes!”
Fang Yixin bowed and was about to leave when his grandfather added, “Our family is divided into three branches. Your granduncle’s branch will move elsewhere, either south or east, just not west. As for your grandaunt’s hidden branch, they will remain here. At least a few of them should survive.”
Fang Yixin’s granduncle and grandaunt were naturally the two who had accompanied Fang Jingchun back then. They served as the second and third fort masters of Fang Family Fort. In particular, the grandaunt’s branch had arranged for a son-in-law to marry in while claiming the daughter had married out. Their descendants had even changed their surnas, all to guard against any future Luo family cultivators who might co searching.
Fang Yixin agreed, took his leave from his grandfather, and returned to his own small courtyard.
Throughout his life he had remained faithful to one woman and taken only a single wife, with no concubines.
In the courtyard, two lively young boys were playing. Upon seeing him enter, they laughed and ran over, calling him father.
“Wuchen, Wujiu... Have you two been good today?”
Fang Yixin hugged the two little fellows. “You’ve gotten heavier.”
Entering the inner room, he saw a woman in a bright red jacket, her hair adorned with vermilion pins and jade ornants, ordinary-featured. It was his wife, Lady Hu.
He set the two boys down and said, “I just spoke with Grandfather. Since you are returning to your parents’ ho this ti, ntion it to your father and mother. Our family can also send so people to travel with you.”
For Lady Hu, the chance to travel together with her own parents naturally filled her with joy, and she agreed repeatedly.
After a mont’s hesitation, she added, “Your family are martial artists. Prepare more manpower. Once we reach the west, they will surely co in handy.”
“Isn’t it best to travel light and with few people when fleeing?”
Fang Yixin was montarily stunned, but his wife sneered coldly. “I once overheard my granduncle ntion that Xituo Commandery is now occupied by the Esoteric monks. They often demand capable people, and strong, vigorous n with rich blood qi are even better...”
“This.”
Fang Yixin froze. “How can that be?”
“How can it not? Northern great demons devour humans, southern lands are covered in yin corpses. Do you think there is any paradise left in the world?”
Lady Hu’s gaze held a trace of pity. “We have been husband and wife for many years. I will not pry into what you are hiding from . But we must work together first to survive this great calamity.”
“I...”
Fang Yixin felt a wave of sha. The fact that his family was secretly gathering qi and possessed an immortal cultivation thod was indeed a secret. Yet as his pillow companion for many years, it was inevitable that his wife would eventually notice his little hidden secret.
Several days later.
A caravan left Ba Commandery, heading westward.
The caravan carried not only large amounts of luggage and chests but also nurous mounted guards. Every one of them had bulging pouches at their waists, clearly holding weapons. As they traveled the roads, no one dared provoke them, and the journey remained peaceful for several days.
“Haha... Brother Fang, I have long admired you. We finally et.”
The Hu family cultivator, nad Hu Quanan, lifted the carriage curtain and greeted Fang Jingchun with a smile.
“I dare not accept such honor...”
Fang Jingchun repeatedly denied it. His family had inquired for many years. Though they had not entered the Dao, they had heard plenty about immortal matters.
Even a cultivator who had only just reached Qi Ingestion, as long as he had spells to protect his body, could render any martial grandmaster or innate expert unable to breach his defenses. Immortals and mortals were practically two different species.
In strict immortal sects and families, mortals were required to kneel before cultivators and could not walk the sa paths they did. Stepping on a cultivator’s shadow by accident was considered a grave offense punishable by imdiate execution.
“Qi Ingestion cultivators are already like this. What about Dao Foundation experts?”
“I hear Dao Foundation cultivators are suprely honored. Even Qi Ingestion cultivators must kowtow before them.”
“Although our family has thoroughly investigated this Hu Quanan’s character before letting Yixin marry into the Hu family, we still cannot be careless.”
Fang Jingchun forced himself to stay alert and chatted with Hu Quanan for a bit. Hu Quanan laughed. “I see you mortals have brought quite a few people, all skilled in martial arts. Perfect, there is sothing ahead that requires your help.”
“I wonder how this humble one may serve the immortal elder?”
Fang Jingchun felt a faint unease stirring in his heart.
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