48: Chapter 48 Joint Eradication

Yet this inconspicuous Loose Cultivator right before them had quietly figured out a large portion of the Ning Family's hidden post distribution.

The three of them were shrewd fellows, so they could naturally tell whether what Shi Yong said was true or false.

It seemed that Loose Cultivators truly had a natural advantage in intelligence gathering.

"Brother Shi Yong," Wang Yaozu said with a somewhat more solemn tone, "Why are you doing these things for the Wang Family?"

Doing this would inevitably incur considerable risks. Loose Cultivators had always cherished their lives, putting survival first and never taking meaningless risks.

This completely contradicted the code of conduct of Loose Cultivators.

Shi Yong was silent for a moment, then suddenly raised his head, his eye sockets unexpectedly turning a bit red.

"Family Head Wang, my Master is that Old Daoist Chen whose Meridians were cleared with a single palm strike by Master Chongyang.

Now, whenever he circulates his Qi every day, he feels his Meridians flowing smoothly, and he mutters about the Immortal Master's kindness even when sleeping at night.

I am a rough man with no real skills, but I know that a favor received by a trickle should be repaid with a gushing spring."

He pushed that map closer to Wang Yaozu. "These pieces of intelligence were investigated separately by a dozen Fellow Daoists in Wanshan County. We are all Loose Cultivators with nothing much to repay the Immortal Master and the Wang Family, so we can only do these trivial, insignificant matters."

Wang Yaozu was silent for a long time before reaching out to pick up that piece of rough paper, folding it solemnly and putting it into his sleeve.

"Brother Shi Yong, this map is more important than you imagine."

That very night, Shi Yong sought out those dozen Loose Cultivators one by one.

Among them were hunting Cultivators who resold Yao Beast pelts, tenant-farmer Loose Cultivators who tended spirit fields for others, down-and-out Daoists who fortune-told in the market, and handymen who worked as waiters in restaurants.

The highest among their cultivation bases was no more than the fifth layer of Qi Refining, and the lowest was only the second layer of Qi Refining.

As these people stood inside the discussion hall of Lotus Pier, they were so nervous that they dared not even breathe heavily. Yet when Wang Yaozu asked about the situation of the Ning Family's hidden posts, they spoke up one after another, piecing together the intelligence they each held into a complete map.

The Ning Family had established a total of eight hidden posts around the Wanshan region, with each post ranging from a minimum of one person to a maximum of five, totaling over thirty people.

Their hiding spots varied widely: abandoned kilns outside the city, dilapidated temples in barren mountains, rental houses in the back alleys of the market, and even one directly set up inside a grocery store right outside the Wanshan County yamen.

These hidden posts took turns rotating, communicating with each other via transmission talismans, and reporting the Wang Family's movements to the Ning Family every three days.

Not only had they thoroughly figured out the locations of the Wang Family's spirit fields, but they had also recorded the lodging spots and travel patterns of the Loose Cultivators, and had even buried bait Formation Plates nearby several of the Wang Family's remote spirit fields to attract Yao Beasts.

When the last Loose Cultivator finished speaking and withdrew, Wang Yaowu looked at the densely marked map and slammed his fist onto the table.

"Over thirty people, eight hidden posts, right under our noses! Eldest Brother, what are we waiting for? While they haven't discovered that we already know, let's uproot them overnight!"

Wang Yaowen, however, shook his head. "We cannot act rashly. These eight hidden posts have anywhere from one to five people; Cultivators of the same clan inevitably have means of communicating with each other.

If you uproot only one, the other seven will receive the news immediately and can instantly scatter into smaller units, changing locations to sneak back in. By then, we will be in the open while they are in the dark, making it even harder to uproot them."

Wang Yaowu paced back and forth anxiously. "Then what should we do? Are we just going to watch them prance around under our noses?"

Wang Yaozu did not speak, only lowering his head to look at that map.

After a long while, he suddenly spoke. "Uproot them, we must uproot all of them so that the Ning Family suffers a grievous blow. If they can do the first-day-of-the-month misdeed, I can do the fifteenth-day retaliation.

But we must absolutely not expose that it was done by the Wang Family, at least not openly on the surface.

Since we must ensure secrecy, we cannot let a single living soul escape.

This brings us to the issue of manpower. Acting simultaneously across eight hidden posts requires how many people? There are quite a few people in the clan at or above the Middle Stage of Qi Refining, but if we mobilize so many people all at once, they will inevitably become alert."

This was the truth. Including the Yao generation and the Shou generation of the Wang Family, their combat strength at or above the Middle Stage of Qi Refining totaled no more than thirty-plus people. Moreover, they still needed to leave manpower behind to hold down the fort at Lotus Pier, so the maximum number they could pull out to strike the hidden posts was no more than ten.

Ten people dividing into eight paths while ensuring not a single living soul escaped was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

Wang Yaowu became so anxious that his voice rose a few notches. "This won't do and that won't do either; are we just going to watch the Ning Family continue to destroy our Wang Family's spirit fields?"

"Family Head Wang." Shi Yong, who had been standing silently in the corner, suddenly spoke.

"We Loose Cultivators can provide manpower. On the way here, when my Master heard that the Ning Family was making trouble in Wanshan County, he told me that the Immortal Master gave him hope, so the Wang Family's enmity is his enmity. Furthermore, my Master specifically asked me to tell the Family Head a sentence."

"What sentence?" Wang Yaozu asked.

Shi Yong suddenly straightened his back, his expression solemn, repeating his Master's exact words word for word.

"With the very last bit of his remaining lifespan in this lifetime, the Immortal Master paved a road for us group of Loose Cultivators. We have nothing to repay him with, except to walk this road wider, longer, and all the way to a place where everyone can see it.

If the Wang Family ever has need in the days to come, someone among the Loose Cultivators will surely come carrying a lantern. Even if the path ahead is an abyss of ten thousand zhang, as long as this lantern is not extinguished, this promise will never be broken."

The discussion hall fell quiet for a few breaths.

Wang Yaowu's throat rolled as he turned his face away.

Wang Yaowen's hand holding the teacup stopped mid-air, remaining motionless for a long time.

Wang Yaozu slowly stood up and cupped his fists deeply toward Shi Yong.

"Thank your Master for me. And also thank those dozen Fellow Daoists who ran about for the Wang Family on my behalf."

He straightened his body, a sharp glint suddenly bursting forth in his eyes as he said word by word, "Once this matter is concluded, I invite you all to a banquet at Lotus Pier. In the future, whenever the Wang Family eats meat, we will never let our benefactors drink soup."

The night was as dark as ink.

Outside the west gate of Wanshan County, the earthen walls of the abandoned kiln rustled as dust and slag fell in the night wind.

Deep inside the kiln, five people sat huddled around an oil lamp.

The one leading them was a sturdy man with a bushy beard, whispering something into the transmission talisman in his hand.

Of the remaining four, some were wiping their blades, some were dozing off, and others were counting the Spirit Stones looted from Loose Cultivators today.

"Master Ning said, tomorrow we go to the estate east of Wanshan County. The spirit fields there are the most fertile; burning them with a fire will be enough to cause Wang Yaozu heartache for half a year."

The bearded man put away the transmission talisman, grinned, and revealed a mouthful of yellow teeth.

Suddenly, his smile stiffened.

It was too quiet outside; the chirping of insects had stopped at some unknown point.

The one wiping his blade also raised his head, his hand pressing onto the hilt of his saber as his voice tightened, "There is someone outside."

Almost simultaneously, the dilapidated wooden door of the kiln was blasted to pieces with tremendous force.

A cyan sword light broke through first, heading straight for the bearded man's throat. The bearded man reacted extremely quickly, hastily raising his short blade to parry. Blade and sword collided, sending sparks flying in all directions.

Leveraging the force of this parry, he flipped himself up. His left hand had already pinched a transmission talisman as he said with a ferocious sneer, "It's most likely the Wang Family has come! Transmit—"

His words came to an abrupt halt.

A Flying Sword shot down diagonally from the hole in the kiln roof, severing his wrist, and the transmission talisman flew out of his hand.

He shrieked as he raised his head, only to see that three masked figures had lurked atop the kiln roof at some unknown time.

The next instant, the cyan sword light had pierced through his throat taking advantage of the moment he was distracted.

The bearded man widened his eyes and fell backward.

Until his death, he never understood who exactly was making a move.