17: Chapter 17 Schemes

Morning light was faint, and a sliver of golden radiance pierced through the lingering night, spilling over the upturned eaves of Phoenix Temple.

'Dong!'

'Dong!'

'Dong!'

The bell of Phoenix Temple rang on time, deep and resonant, echoing through the mountain forest and startling a flock of roosting birds.

The wooden door of the meditation room was pushed open. Little Jingxin poked his head out, rubbing his sleepy eyes, and let out a long yawn.

Before he could even finish his yawn, he was rapped on the head by the old monk beside him.

"Ouch!"

Jingxin covered his forehead and turned back with an aggrieved look, only to see the old monk holding a bamboo strip, glaring at him.

"Master, why did you hit me?"

The old monk said crossly, "I see you haven't woken up yet, so I'm helping you clear your head."

"What were you doing last night?"

Little Jingxin curled his lips, his eyes darting away. "I wasn't doing anything. It was too noisy last night. Yunfeng Mountain next door made such a huge commotion, it scared me to death."

The old monk's lips moved slightly, words caught in his throat.

How could he not know about the commotion at Yunfeng Mountain last night?

He had seen it with his own eyes: amidst the golden light that illuminated the dark forest, the white snake's mountain-like body was visible in its entirety.

Good heavens, that wasn't a snake at all; it was already undergoing Flood Dragon Transformation!

The old monk sighed inwardly.

Yunfeng Mountain had become a place of trouble; how could Phoenix Mountain stay out of it? After all, there were treasures hidden in these mountains too.

But he had not a shred of greed.

"Alright, go to morning lessons." The old monk put away the bamboo strip and didn't make things difficult for him again.

Phoenix Temple was bustling with incense, and pilgrims came in an endless stream.

Most were from Jiangcheng, but there were also many from out of town who drove for hours specifically to offer incense.

The temple provided temporary guest rooms for pilgrims who had come from afar.

Among the crowd of pilgrims, a short young man strolled leisurely through the temple.

He was dressed plainly and looked ordinary, blending into the crowd so inconspicuously that naturally, no one paid him any mind.

After wandering around the temple for a few laps, he finally arrived in front of the lush, leafy prayer tree.

It was said that this tree had a history of several hundred years, and its branches were covered with red silk prayer plaques, swaying gently in the wind like a red cloud.

The young man casually took down a prayer plaque, picked up a pen, thought for a moment, and wrote his name: Qiu Jin.

As for his wish, it was for eternal life.

After writing it, Qiu Jin hung the prayer plaque back up and looked up at the ancient tree, a frivolous smile on his face, without a shred of piety. "Buddha, oh Buddha, you must bless me with eternal life."

...

The Mysterious Investigation Bureau, the agency within the Xia Kingdom specifically responsible for investigating events related to the revival of spiritual energy.

Lu Hong was a member of the Mysterious Investigation Bureau, so his death would naturally not be easily glossed over.

What's more, he was the trusted confidant of Deputy Director Lv Haidong.

When Deputy Director Lv Haidong received news of Lu Hong's death, he nearly smashed his desk to pieces. He immediately wanted to mobilize all the personnel of the Mysterious Investigation Bureau to wash Yunfeng Mountain in blood and grind that wicked beast into dust.

But just as he was about to act, the Director of the Mysterious Investigation Bureau came to him in person.

The Director told him not to act rashly; the waters at Yunfeng Mountain were deep, and the top leader had also personally given instructions not to let the Mysterious Investigation Bureau make contact with Yunfeng Mountain.

With the top leader having issued an order, the Director of the Mysterious Investigation Bureau naturally dared not disobey.

Upon hearing this, Deputy Director Lv Haidong felt as if struck by lightning, but he did not intend to let it go at that.

However, the Director seemed to have anticipated that he would not be content and directly revoked his authority to mobilize personnel, leaving him with no one to use.

But what the Director could never have imagined was that while Deputy Director Lv Haidong had no one to use openly, in the shadows, he had long been colluding with outsiders.

The Qiu Family.

An ancient family that had continued for several thousand years, its heritage never broken.

In a bustling city, inside a prestigious private room of a high-end restaurant.

Deputy Director Lv Haidong met with the current head of the Qiu Family, Patriarch Qiu Yaozu.

"Deputy Director Lv, when can our cooperation officially begin?" Patriarch Qiu Yaozu raised his wine glass, toasting with a face full of smiles.

Deputy Director Lv Haidong took the glass, but a look of difficulty appeared on his face. "It's a bit troublesome."

Patriarch Qiu Yaozu raised an eyebrow. "Deputy Director Lv, whatever the difficulty, just say it, and my Qiu Family will do our utmost to help."

Many years ago, Deputy Director Lv Haidong had already been secretly colluding with Patriarch Qiu Yaozu.

As one of the first people to sense the signs of the revival of spiritual energy, Deputy Director Lv Haidong was convinced that the world was changing greatly and a great calamity was coming. He needed to lay plans in advance, so he privately sent people to Yunfeng Mountain to secretly build a dojo.

The reason he chose Yunfeng Mountain was because Lu Hong had seen the extraordinariness of the mountain while traveling in the south.

The mountain was filled with clouds and mist, with purple energy spiraling like a dragon amidst the verdant ancient trees. Where auspicious beasts appeared, the spiritual springs were sweet, causing time to pause and all things to flourish, fully displaying the blessings of heaven and earth.

According to Lu Hong's calculations, in just a few decades, as the revival of spiritual energy gradually reached its climax, Yunfeng Mountain would naturally be upgraded into a dojo.

But Deputy Director Lv Haidong could not wait that long; he wanted to seize the initiative.

However, as a mere Deputy Director, his power was limited. So he had Lu Hong find a way to forcibly upgrade Yunfeng Mountain into a blessed land.

While searching for ancient methods, Lu Hong happened to meet Jin Shouyi, a person with a unique fate.

He then found a sacrificial method passed down from ancient ancestors, using Jin Shouyi's fate, which was prominent in fortune, as a catalyst to set up the 'Pulling Up the Seedlings' array. By sacrificing him, he could forcibly ripen Yunfeng Mountain, causing it to prematurely become a blessed land.

Afterward, Deputy Director Lv Haidong approached the Qiu Family and offered a condition: he would send a blessed land to the Qiu Family, but in exchange, the Qiu Family must completely rely on him.

Although the Qiu Family possessed a complete ancient ancestral heritage and would surely soar once spiritual energy revived, times were different now; no matter how powerful a family was, there were eyes watching from above.

One slight misstep, and they could be uprooted.

The Qiu Family also needed a backer.

The two sides hit it off and began secret deployments.

It was just that this plan encountered no small obstacles halfway through.

Deputy Director Lv Haidong briefly explained the situation at Yunfeng Mountain.

Patriarch Qiu Yaozu's expression changed drastically after hearing this: "Now that both Jin Shouyi and Lu Hong are dead, doesn't that mean Yunfeng Mountain cannot be upgraded to a blessed land?"

Deputy Director Lv Haidong nodded, then shook his head. "Correct, and also incorrect. Jin Shouyi and Lu Hong are indeed dead, and Yunfeng Mountain cannot be upgraded to a blessed land, but, Yunfeng Mountain is currently a blessed land."

"Otherwise, where do you think that wicked beast with such terrifying strength came from? The other six Rising Beingss within the Xia Kingdom were all born in spiritual mountains and blessed lands without exception."

"Now, we only need to slay that wicked beast, and the dojo can still be built."

Patriarch Qiu Yaozu pondered for a long time, and a look of temptation gradually appeared in his eyes.

"Then how does Deputy Director Lv think we should proceed?" Patriarch Qiu Yaozu asked.

"Although I have lost the authority to mobilize personnel from the Mysterious Investigation Bureau, I can obtain a few pieces of killing weaponry."

Deputy Director Lv Haidong's expression darkened.

The so-called killing weaponry he could obtain were not some incredible magical artifacts, but thermal weapons: anti-material sniper rifles.

The power of that stuff was enough to pierce through tank armor with a single shot; it was much stronger than current magical artifacts.

As long as Patriarch Qiu Yaozu could bring people to pin down that big snake, he could wait for an opportunity from a distance and kill that wicked beast!

Patriarch Qiu Yaozu pondered for a long time, and finally nodded. "Deputy Director Lv, here's to our pleasant cooperation."

After finishing his conspiracy with Patriarch Qiu Yaozu, Deputy Director Lv Haidong left first; he needed to find a way to get those few big killing weapons out.

After seeing Deputy Director Lv Haidong off, Patriarch Qiu Yaozu was downstairs at the restaurant, the smile on his face unstoppable.

At this moment, a tall young man came to Patriarch Qiu Yaozu's side.

"Uncle."

Patriarch Qiu Yaozu saw the newcomer and asked, "How did the investigation go?"

The young man took out his phone, pulled up a photo, and handed it over. "Sixth Uncle and Qiu Qian and the others have likely already died on Yunfeng Mountain. There is at least a third-rank Rising Beings on Yunfeng Mountain."

"As I thought." Patriarch Qiu Yaozu finished looking at the photo and said in a deep voice.

Some time ago, Patriarch Qiu Yaozu had sent his sixth younger brother to Yunfeng Mountain to investigate. At that time, the Qiu Family was already cooperating with Deputy Director Lv Haidong, but Patriarch Qiu Yaozu didn't trust Deputy Director Lv Haidong very much, yet he didn't expect that the people he sent would have no news.

Yesterday, Patriarch Qiu Yaozu finally couldn't sit still, so he sent two more juniors.

"Besides that, there was an unexpected gain. My younger brother sensed the aura of a supreme treasure on Phoenix Mountain near Yunfeng Mountain; it is highly likely to be a relic of our ancient ancestors."

The young man added.

Hearing about an ancient ancestral relic, Patriarch Qiu Yaozu's eyes lit up. He pulled the young man aside and whispered, "Does anyone else know about this?"

"No." The young man shook his head.

Patriarch Qiu Yaozu looked towards the vaguely visible Phoenix Mountain in the distance, his gaze as deep as a pool.

A moment later, a smile slowly curled at the corners of his mouth.

It is not impossible to have the best of both worlds.