26: Start harvesting

Snow drifted over the Chu Family's main courtyard.

Even amidst the swirling snow, within the entire border of Heyu Town, the ice pillar standing between heaven and earth asserted its presence with a strong sense of existence.

Chu Jingyu watched the ice pillar with a solemn expression. Such a grand spectacle occurring in Heyu Town could not possibly be unknown to the 'big shots' in the county, and their failure to stop it undoubtedly signified their tacit approval.

Having once lived in a Noble Family, Chu Jingyu understood that those 'big shots' intended to sacrifice the lives of all commoners in Heyu Town to bring about the birth of a Domain Rank Source Beast.

Commoners' lives were as insignificant as grass; he had witnessed much of this in his youth. However, this time, he stood on the side of the commoners.

The Golden Jade Beast quietly gnawed on a golden-veined ore on Chu Jingyu's shoulder, seemingly oblivious to the impending crisis.

Chu Jingyu patted the Golden Jade Beast's head and sighed, "Time to get to work."

Hearing this, the Golden Jade Beast tossed the rest of the ore into its mouth, chewing and swallowing it in two or three gulps.

Then, it moved to a corner of the main hall, extended a pincer, and carefully lifted a wooden board, revealing a giant, slanting hole in the room.

At this moment, the rest of the Chu family, having packed some simple luggage, appeared in the main hall.

Chu Jingyu nodded towards Chu Qinhui, then walked to the Eight Immortals table and held the stone book in his hands.

"Ancestor Chu, please forgive me, but you will need to endure some hardship for a while."

After respectfully speaking to the stone book, Chu Jingyu turned to Chu Qinhui,

"Qinhui, take them to hide underground. I have a premonition that the Liu Family's ritual is about to begin."

"Father, aren't you coming with us to hide below?"

Chu Qinhui's eyes showed surprise, and the two little ones, Chu Shengyuan and Chu Shenghan, also clutched Chu Jingyu's sleeve uneasily.

Chu Jingyu pulled his sleeve free, patted the heads of the two little ones, and looked at them with affection,

"I cannot go with you to hide underground. Grandpa's energy fluctuations are too strong and can easily be traced. Moreover, having you by my side would make it difficult for Grandpa to act. Be good and follow your parents."

The two little ones nodded, seemingly understanding yet not fully.

After comforting the two little ones, Chu Jingyu looked at Chu Qinhui, "Hurry, it will be too late soon."

Jiang Nian couldn't help but ask, "Father, what about Xiaofan..."

"Don't worry about Xiaofan. At the Medicine Heart Hall in town, he will be safer than staying with us."

Seeing Chu Jingyu's firm expression, Jiang Nian, though still worried, could only close her mouth and say nothing more at this moment.

Chu Qinhui tightly clutched the stone book, led the two children to the hole where the Golden Jade Beast had disappeared, and after a deep final look at his father, led the children inside.

Seeing them all enter the hole, Chu Jingyu opened the door of the main hall, letting the snow pour into the room. After about half an hour, the Golden Jade Beast reappeared at the mouth of the hole.

It patted the entrance of the hole twice, and a golden light swept over, causing the soil at the entrance to churn and bury the opening. Moments later, it was smooth and clean.

Seeing the Golden Jade Beast complete this, Chu Jingyu picked up a simple bundle from the table and called out to the Golden Jade Beast, "Let's go."

Chu Jingyu originally intended to go directly into the mountains, but after hesitating for two seconds, he still braved the snow to visit Fuhe Village at the foot of the mountain.

He did not go anywhere else, heading straight to the village chief's house.

"This is not a natural disaster, but a man-made one. The cold weather may become even more severe later. Perhaps the old mine cave can offer some refuge."

After finding the village chief, Chu Jingyu said no more, turning and leaving after speaking these words.

He left behind the village chief, who remained silent for a long time, and his family, who looked as if they wanted to speak but held back.

In this promotion ritual, ordinary commoners only had to face the harsh environmental disaster; if they could survive, they survived.

But for Contract Masters like Chu Jingyu, this cold was not an issue. What they would likely face was the 'hunting party' dispatched by the Liu Family.

When he was in the family before, he had only heard of such bloody promotion rituals, never expecting that decades later, he would actually have the fortune to witness and participate in such a ritual.

Of course, it would be even better if he wasn't used as a consumable in the 'ritual'.

Pondering some thoughts, Chu Jingyu walked quickly into the deep mountains. At this time, the more remote the place, the safer it would be... Ice Jade Lotuses covered the entire plaza. They were an evolved form of Ice Shard Flowers, capable of releasing cold air far less intense than Ice Shard Flowers.

The Liu Family disciples surrounded the outside of the plaza, each looking excitedly at the figure gradually taking shape within the ice pillar in the center of the plaza.

"Source Beast for blood, humans for souls. This Liu Family's Source Beast promotion ritual, why does it seem a bit abnormal to me?"

At this moment, a sudden voice emerged, making the atmosphere in the air somewhat strange.

The Liu Family Head, standing beside the ice pillar, looked beyond the plaza at Tang Cheng, who was riding a Green Scale Spirit Tiger. He looked at this newly appointed town chief.

"Town Chief, you are also from a Noble Family. You should understand the intentions of our Liu Family. To obstruct us at this time would be an irreconcilable enmity."

Tang Cheng looked at the soul ice crystals drifting from various parts of the town in the sky, his eyes filled with killing intent,

"If it were a normal evolution ritual, fine. But this is a blood sacrifice ritual that extends the butcher's knife to fellow clansmen. How dare you begin it?"

Green patterns appeared on Tang Cheng's body, and a phantom of a jade-green great snake quietly emerged behind him. The aura emanating from the great snake felt even fiercer than that of the Green Scale Spirit Tiger he rode.

"How dare we? Our Liu Family has been planning this for a millennium. Even if you are a Tang family member, you won't stop us.

Qianshan, Fuyu, Minghu, Gengyuan, all of you, go together and take him down."

As soon as his voice fell, four figures rushed out from the outer edge of the plaza, attacking Tang Cheng along with their accompanying Source Beasts.

Tang Cheng fought in a chaotic battle with the four Liu Family Contract Masters, who were also Spirit Rank. The Liu Family Head nodded with satisfaction as he watched Tang Cheng gradually fall into a disadvantage.

Then he stroked the ice pillar with both hands, feeling the increasingly powerful aura within it, and revealed a look of expectant joy.

"Ding."

At a certain moment, a strange sound came from the ice pillar, and then a deep blue light spread outwards from the ice pillar's center.

The blue light formed an ice ring. Wherever it passed, the ground instantly froze over with a layer of frost, and buildings were coated with a layer of ice.

The target of the blue ice ring was clearly not just the Liu Family. It steadily and unhurriedly continued to cover the entire Heyu Town and the villages in the mountains outside Heyu Town.

Wherever it passed, it froze the landscape into a world of ice crystals.

The ice ring swept past a family huddled together, shivering from the wind and snow in their house. The people, who had still been making some sounds, were covered in a layer of rhomboid ice crystals after the ice ring passed, their movements and expressions forever frozen in that moment.

However, this ice ring seemed to have no special effect on Contract Masters who possessed energy within their bodies, simply passing through them.

The Liu Family Head stroked the ice pillar with both hands, then turned and issued a second command, "Liu Family children, heed my order! The hunt can begin."

These words were the signal. More than half of the Liu Family disciples surrounding the plaza instantly vanished, and various ice-elemental Source Beasts appeared beside them.

"The Liu Family has nurtured Heyu Town for nearly a millennium. The time for harvest has come."

Under these environmental conditions, the Liu Family members and their Source Beasts seemed to gain a boost, their aura appearing even more terrifying than usual.

All wild Contract Masters residing in towns and mountains would be sought out and hunted down one by one.