lcionline Chapter 272 The Fate of the Bai Family, The Whereabouts of the Spirit Stones
Chapter 272 The Fate of the Bai Family, The Whereabouts of the Spirit Stones
Bai Guanshui is actually quite satisfied with his current life.
Pengjiang Market is the largest market in Wushan. It's a relaxed, lively, and safe place where you can also make money.
As the manager of the market, he was highly respected by everyone and was able to stay away from the infighting and strife within his family, enjoying this rare leisure and comfort, and retiring in peace.
Two days ago, Chu Lengyu came to the market and exchanged a spirit stone for some things from him. Bai Guanshui knew immediately upon seeing the spirit stone that it was extraordinary, containing immense spiritual power and priceless.
He dared not keep it for himself, so he immediately arranged for his trusted subordinates to carefully escort the spirit stone back to the family.
However, two days have passed in the blink of an eye, and there has been no news from the family.
A sense of worry arose in Bai Guanshui's heart.
But then he thought that his family would send someone to pick up the goods every now and then, and judging by the time, it would be soon. He might be able to find out some information from it then, which put his mind at ease.
However, life is unpredictable.
Today, an ancient soul tablet in Bai Guanshui's arms suddenly shattered without warning!
This soul tablet was privately bestowed by a family elder, and it contains a trace of the elder's mark. If he encounters any misfortune, the soul tablet will shatter.
This serves as an early warning, allowing Bai Guanshui to receive the news immediately and decide, depending on the urgency of the situation, whether to return to provide support or lead the remaining Bai family members to escape from Wushan to preserve the flame.
The moment the soul tablet shattered, Bai Guanshui's heart sank.
This means that the family is facing a crisis, and it may even be a great calamity that the elders of the family cannot withstand.
He suppressed his panic, not daring to show it in the slightest so as not to alert others, and quietly returned to his room alone. He saw that the soul tablet had been reduced to pieces and was difficult to piece back together.
Inside the room, Bai Guanshui's expression shifted between light and dark.
Returning to the rescue would be unlikely to save the situation on his own, and he might even find himself in dire straits; fleeing would allow him to preserve his family lineage, but he might also be branded with infamy.
After much hesitation, he decided to return to his family to check on the situation.
However, before leaving, Bai Guanshui did not forget to make careful arrangements for the Bai family members in the market.
After all, the journey is fraught with unknown dangers. If I am unable to return, the rest of us must also be prepared in case of unforeseen circumstances.
So he gathered some of his men and, under the guise of picking up and delivering goods, cleverly arranged for a portion of the Bai family to leave the market and go to a safe place to avoid trouble.
Watching them leave one by one, Bai Guanshui felt a little relieved. They were still in the prime of their lives, while he was old, alone, penniless, and not afraid of dying.
After making the arrangements, Bai Guanshui returned to his room and opened the entrance to the tunnel.
This tunnel was secretly built by the Bai family in their early years to prepare for unforeseen circumstances. It leads deep into the misty mountains and is extremely well hidden.
Even Bai Guanshui himself couldn't understand how his family had managed to carve out such a long and stable tunnel in the extremely hard rocks of Wushan.
There might be some secret hidden behind this, which he had no intention of inquiring about, nor dared to inquire about.
Bai Guanshui gazed solemnly at the deep passage, his mind already prepared for anything.
Before entering the tunnel, he deliberately destroyed its mechanisms to prevent anyone from tracking him down and discovering the family's secret passage.
Then, he followed the winding, dark passage step by step uphill.
When they reached a fork in the road, Bai Guanshui suddenly stopped.
To his surprise, he found a broken jade box lying on the ground.
He was very familiar with the texture and pattern of that jade box; it was the very one he had given to his subordinates two days ago to escort the spirit stones back to the family.
He hurried forward and carefully picked up the fragments, a sense of foreboding rising in his heart.
Sure enough, the jade box was still there, but the spirit stones inside had disappeared!
Bai Guanshui crushed the jade box fragments, his face filled with rage. No wonder there had been no news from the family; it turned out that it had been stolen by this traitor!
He originally thought that his subordinates had encountered an accident on the way, or that the elders were too busy to reply in time. He never expected that this person would choose to betray the Bai family!
It's a pity I misjudged people and entrusted myself to the wrong person, which resulted in the loss of such a precious spiritual stone.
Bai Guanshui was furious and dared not delay any longer, so he hurried on his way at full speed.
But when he emerged from the tunnel and returned to his ancestral home, the scene that greeted him left him speechless.
Red across the nine fields, stench filling the three rivers. Corpses piled up at the roadside, blood soaked the long walls.
Family members were scattered, and nine generations of relatives were wiped out. Blood was drunk on the bluestone, and the corpses lay unburied in the wilderness. (Note)
……
And the other side.
The Bai family traitor who secretly took the spirit stones had already arrived at a hidden cave in the back mountain.
Besides him, there were more than a dozen other people, each carrying their own collected spiritual items, surrounding a mysterious figure draped in black robes like stars around the moon.
The traitor from the Bai family presented the precious spirit stone with both hands. The spirit stone emitted a faint glow in the dim cave, its spiritual energy abundant and extremely pure, truly a rare find in the world.
A look of amazement flashed in the black-robed man's eyes. He eagerly took the spirit stone, examined it closely, and couldn't put it down.
He asked, "Where did this come from?"
"Your Excellency, this was obtained by the Bai family in Pengjiang Market, but I am not clear about its specific origin," the Bai family traitor replied hurriedly and respectfully, overjoyed.
The man in black robes stared at the spirit stone in his hand, its square shape giving him a clue.
He muttered to himself, "This item is well-shaped and has sharp edges. It is definitely not something I obtained by chance. It seems to have been carefully cut out from a single piece of ore. Hmph, the Bai family really has some tricks up their sleeves. They were able to find such a rare item so quietly."
Next, he examined the offerings presented by the others one by one, but whether it was spirit herbs, spirit pearls or other rare materials, their quality and value were far inferior to that spirit stone.
The man in black robes waved his hand gently, signaling everyone to step back and wait patiently in the cave.
He then turned and stepped into a more secluded, narrow cave.
The cave was small and dark, with only a single, flickering white candle barely illuminating a small area.
In the dim candlelight, a simple wooden table stood out conspicuously.
On the wooden platform sits a somewhat rough wooden statue, less than half a foot tall, with its face and clothing indistinct.
The man in black robes slowly knelt down in front of the wooden platform, respectfully offering all the spiritual items with both hands. He carefully placed the spirit stone in the most conspicuous position.
He prayed fervently in a low voice, asking the wooden statue for guidance.
It remained motionless, yet it absorbed all the spiritual items offered by the man in black robes, including the spirit stone, and they vanished without a trace.
The man in black robes was already used to this. He knew it was just a trivial trick by the Demon Lord, so his expression became even more humble, like a most loyal servant, quietly waiting for the Demon Lord's instructions.
Elsewhere, the person behind the scenes was examining the spirit stone in their hand, their eyes filled with both surprise and apprehension.
"There are actually spirit stones in this world, and they're even mid-grade spirit stones!"
“Low-level cultivators wouldn’t casually use such things for trading. Only cultivators above the third level, who are too lazy to carry a large number of low-grade spirit stones, would use mid-grade spirit stones instead.”
He shook his head slightly and continued his analysis: "I really underestimated this small world before. It seems that the water here is deeper than I thought. There may be third- or fourth-level cultivators, but as for fifth-level Nascent Soul cultivators, it is impossible for them to appear."
At this point, he smiled happily: "That's perfect! I was just worried that after sending a message to a few old friends, the spoils wouldn't be enough to share!"
Aside from the unexpected windfall of the spirit stones, he treated everything else as junk, not even giving it a second glance.
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Note:
Corpses littered the banks of the great harbor, blood stained the caves of the Great Wall. — Li Hua, "Lament for the Ancient Battlefield"
Digging up graves for three generations brings calamity, even exterminating nine generations of one's clan. —From *The Legend of Ji Gong*