The Luwu’s roots in the Land of Turmoil were indeed not deep enough. A very practical reason for this was not enough money.

The Kaiming and the Luwu’s expenditures had always been very tight. The Luwu went around cheating and swindling on the black market, and, for the sake of their cover identities, had also purchased quite a few legitimate properties and businesses. Putting these two sides together, they could just make do and call the books balanced.

But expenses in the Land of Turmoil couldn’t be compared to those in other places.

When mortals went to the Land of Turmoil, it would damage their health over time, so while they couldn’t cultivate, they would still provide themselves with spiritual stones to maintain their health. Cultivators—especially open-eyed cultivators without an essence—had even more sensitive constitutions. The cost in spiritual stones for the Luwu’s operations in the Land of Turmoil was tenfold and more what it was elsewhere.

Even in Southern Wan, where the price of spiritual stones had been dropping steadily in recent years, the market price of one liang of ordinary white spirits was still nearly a thousand liang of silver. However massively profitable business in the Land of Turmoil might be, it still wasn’t enough for tenfold spiritual stone consumption, and the most remunerative snow wine business was against Zhou Ying’s taboo; they couldn’t touch it.

Furthermore evil cultivators “going it alone” were rare here. Even Wei Chengxiang, a lone wolf who had never acknowledged herself to be an evil cultivator, had been compelled to follow the local customs and join the Queen Mother of the West. The evil cultivator gangs were extremely close-knit. The situation in Wild Fox Country, where each side only did business without inquiring into each other’s background, was simply unimaginable here.

Thus far, the Luwu who had been planted there years ago could only operate around the mines, buying and selling supplies, making themselves familiar fixtures in all the mining areas.

The Territory Map melting into the veins of the earth and the Ways of the Heart of common origin making mischief had happened in a single night. It had been too sudden. No one had been prepared.

Now that the battlefield had suddenly moved to the Southern He Peninsula and the reincarnation wood had been destroyed, there were no eyes on the Three Heroes of Turmoil…

Xi Ping sighed. Given his understanding of Zhou Ying, the tone san-ge was currently taking with Northern Li was certain to be “The Luwu already have the whole of the Southern He Peninsula in their grasp, nothing has happened that I did not foresee.”

Looking at Zhou Ying, he seemed to be the sort of steady person who schemed before acting, who was always looking three steps ahead, keeping himself hidden behind the scenes…but in fact, that was completely a false front. Xi Ping had always thought that in san-ge’s bones lay a latent daredevil tendency. When others called something “reliable,” they’d have to be seventy or eighty percent sure, but with him, if “reliable” could have meant fifty percent certainty, Bai Ling would have gone to burn incense in gratitude. Had he not been born into the Zhou family, the profession of gambling addict might have been tailor-made for him.

But they had let him go, and they couldn’t haul him back. What else was there to do? He’d just have to do his best to lie and swindle, cover for him.

Xi Ping suddenly realized that, since losing the burden of one of them being an “older brother,” the “troublemaking” and “covering” roles in their relationship had been reversed.

“Not for nothing is the way of clarity the start of the three thousand paths of the Great Way. Very useful,” he thought. “If I’d known it was like this, I’d have gone for it, too.”

Xi Ping felt very conscious of the passage of time, so he “suited his image to his sentiments,” changing to a sedate posture—sitting cross-legged on his sword, he flew back to Flying Jade Peak.

That night, after being constantly on the move for several days, Wei Chengxiang’s consciousness entered the Law Breaker space in Tao County. Zhao Qindan had already prepared a batch of supplies and was waiting for her.

“The Luwu stored these in Tao County. Take them to meet the emergency for now.” Zhao Qindan filled up her empty wine pot. “If it’s not enough, I’ll think of something else. Let me know if you’re short on anything. Those are Senior Tai Sui’s orders.”

“We need the coal used by the factories. If they start fighting, they won’t care whether the Turmoilers live or die. They might have to move underground, and the ventilation machines burn coal. Also, medicine—poisonous insects and pestilence grow easily there. An epidemic is likely to break out when a large number of people are gathered together.” Wei Chengxiang chugged a mouthful of wine. Sighing, she said, “Finally I’ve warmed up.”

Curiously, Zhao Qindan said, “Is it cold enough on the Southern He Peninsula to freeze you?”

Wei Chengxiang felt cold at heart. She had grown up stumbling along after her grandfather, without a mother. She had an instinctive yearning towards adult women. The Queen Mother of the West was both powerful and gentle, reliable yet never arbitrary. All the people of the former Southern He were willing to lay down their lives for her. Wei Chengxiang had thought that if the goddess who blessed the common people in folklore and plays had had a human face, she would have looked like the Queen Mother of the West.

Wei Chengxiang had sometimes even imagined that if the Queen Mother of the West restored her nation, it would be a wonderful place. Chief Li and the others might be able to go home.

But it turned out that they didn’t travel the same path.

She didn’t explain it to Zhao Qindan, only smiled with some self-mockery, then casually changed the subject. “Why are you still saying ‘Senior Tai Sui’?”

While tailing the Queen Mother of the West, Wei Chengxiang had heard her fill of gossip concerning the shocking battle in Jinping. When it came to whatever peak’s disciple or whatever Marquis’s son, she couldn’t really tell these Jinping bighats apart, but there was one thing she had understood from people’s shocked accounts: just as she had faintly guessed, this “senior master” was no “senior” at all.

He was probably the same age as Zhao Qindan. They might even have been classmates at the Latent Cultivation Temple.

It was no wonder that brat who always talked a cartload of nonsense became unusually silent and “dignified” and kept his voice down every time he saw Zhao Qindan.

The daffodil had spent fourteen years refusing to bloom, pretending to be a bulb of garlic, to the point that he had become a garlic spirit!

Western Chu was unstable, Zhao Qindan had too much to do; she hadn’t had time to fill up on gossip, so she asked in confusion, “Oh? What should I be saying?”

Wei Chengxiang looked at her tenderly. “Come, I’ll give you the details. Don’t be angry when you hear. This Tai Sui, he’s…”

A total bastard.

Before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by a long series of coughs, as if someone had just eaten a whole feather duster and was coughing it up.

A certain man who had spent over a decade taking advantage of others entered the Law Breaker with his consciousness, still wearing a fox mask over his face.

Zhao Qindan politely greeted him: “Senior.”

Wei Chengxiang said nothing, looking with a false smile at the mask on his face, which looked like a last-ditch effort.

“Inedia pills and antidote pills from Rosy Cloud Peak.” Xi Ping tossed some pill bottles to her. “The Queen Mother of the West is skilled at poisons. The antidote pills are in case someone is accidentally infected. Just take the inedia pill, a single pill will let you not eat for a month. If the mortals really can’t get enough to eat, you can dissolve a bit in water for them to drink, but only in the event of an emergency. They can’t take it long-term, it’ll damage their organs.”

Wei Chengxiang took the medicine, but she didn’t thank him. She kept looking at him with that false smile.

Xi Ping took one look and saw that it was no good counting on her to keep silent out of respect for the favors he had done her, so he submitted himself to the situation. In front of Zhao Qindan, he looked like nothing was the matter, squarely maintaining his senior master bearing. Privately, through the reincarnation wood amulet Wei Chengxiang carried, he got straight to the point and said, “Aunt, I was wrong.”

Wei Chengxiang choked on a mouthful of wine. This garlic spirit was truly no ordinary human!

The most amazing thing was, Xi Ping’s two faces were completely different. Outwardly, he was still saying in deadly earnest, “Slow down. How many Turmoilers have you taken in over there? How many are unwilling to leave?”

Bearing dignified, tone sedate, just as if he hadn’t been the one calling her “aunt” just now!

Wei Chengxiang didn’t have his acting range. She coughed until she was red in the face.

“Don’t rush.” The young mistress who had been left in the dark patted her anxiously on the back. “We haven’t finished removing the spiritual image brands from Yu Chang’s subordinates yet. If it comes down to it, we can extort another payment from him. Heaven always leaves a way out.”

Xi Ping solemnly chimed, “Yes, that is true.”

“Ahem…” Wei Chengxiang couldn’t look at him. “I-I’ve filled up a dozen villages. The underground city previously used to shelter from disasters has been opened up. I figure it can hold some tens of thousands of people. People have been streaming in to take shelter these last few days.”

As she spoke, her voice turned gloomy. “The newcomers don’t know the ins and outs, and I’ve asked all those who were with me before. It’s about what I figured. There aren’t many who are willing to leave their native soil for the South Sea Hidden Realm, less than one in ten. Some are afraid of traveling over the ocean, some are unwilling… Actually, if this hadn’t happened, they wouldn’t have been this opposed. The Turmoilers are born deficient. They do indeed lack intellect. But they don’t lack souls. They have feelings, and they understand grief and anger.”

“If they won’t go then they won’t go.” Xi Ping’s voice cooled. “The Southern He Peninsula is their territory to begin with. With random nobodies all coming to fight over it, they ought to have a say.”

Saying so, he took something out and offered it to Wei Chengxiang. “Find this thing’s master.”

Zhao Qindan recognized it at a glance. “Yao Ziming’s disciple name token?”

“Yes. I believe he’s fallen into the hands of the Queen Mother of the West. When the name token approaches him, there will be a special reaction. When you find him, you’ll have found where the Queen Mother of the West and her people are hiding,” Xi Ping said. “It ought to be within the scope of Great Wan’s mining area.”

The Land of Turmoil was different from other places. With the veins of the earth severed, outside of the mining areas, there was practically no spiritual energy. If someone had no spiritual stone resources, you could outwait them to death. So all sides wanted to go on the offensive. Whoever first took control of the spiritual stone mines’ resources would occupy an invincible position.

Right now, the only cards Xi Ping held were the Luwu and the Turmoilers. Taking part in a competition like this would be self-destruction. Great Wan would have to be the first to “bow out.”

“An ant can’t shake a tree, and a mantis can’t stop a carriage. Fortunately, there are many kinds of insects in the world,” Xi Ping said. “In this game, we’ll be the fleas biting the wild beasts. Remember, we only have a chance because they don’t see the Turmoilers as people, so we must act in total secrecy, or else the small villages we’ve spent so many years building up will take them only a single talisman to destroy.”

In Great Wan’s southern mines, as usual, “Yao Qi” carried out his daily assignment: patrolling and inspecting the mines’ safety equipment and lighting.

The new Moon Plated Gold could save a large quantity of spiritual stones. Many of the machines in the southern mines had been changed to the New Gold. This new equipment was very easy for a cultivator to inspect. One sweep with your consciousness, and you would know at a glance whether the machine was in good condition or not. There was no need to carefully study a lot of arrays. If a cultivator who did this kind of trifling work wasn’t purposeful, their cultivation would never advance; there was absolutely no future in it.

Only someone like Yao Qi, who had no backing, would be assigned this kind of work.

Today’s “Yao Qi” dawdled even more than usual. Seeming extremely lonely, he touched practically every machine. When he met a colleague on the way, he only nodded hastily, deliberately avoiding their gaze—no one took notice; he was always like this.

From a distance, “Yao Qi” exchanged looks with “Chang Jun.”

The machines that didn’t stop for a moment spat out snow-white steam, which fell on a miner getting off work. This miner felt out of nowhere that he had something in his eyes and carelessly rubbed them. The invisible miasma had silently stuck to him.

The spiritual stone mines were under strict surveillance. When they got off work, all the miners had to go to the supervisor on duty that day to be “searched,” in order to prevent smuggling. This miner walked into the inspection array as usual. There was no reaction from the array. The frosty-faced supervising cultivator next to the array nodded at the miner, indicating that he could go. The miner respectfully bowed to the Exalted, who naturally didn’t return the salute.

When the two of them passed by each other, the mine supervisor’s nose, bearing his spiritual sense, acutely smelled the odor of sweat coming off the miner. He couldn’t resist frowning. He covered his nose and mouth with his hand.

The miasma infecting the miner floated towards him on the breeze.

A miasma that the Queen Mother of the West had personally fabricated wouldn’t necessarily have been noticed by an ascended spirit cultivator of the same grade as her, never mind the cultivators at the southern mines with their meager cultivation.

The miasma in the steam was carried all over by the miners coming and going through the spiritual stone mines and infected the cultivators. The miasma put down roots as soon as it came upon a living person. It unnoticeably extracted weak spiritual energy from their bodies, strengthening, passing quickly from person to person.

Each mining area contained scattered traveling merchants and cultivators passing information to each other. The miasma quickly spread outward from Great Wan’s mining area.

The mine envoy of Northern Li’s mining area hastily walked into the mine office. Mine envoy was the foremost position in the mine’s hierarchy. The guard at the gate gave him an orderly salute. He had come to his own domain, but he didn’t go inside, only deferentially saluted at the door. “Lord Sword Slave.”

A person answered him in the Li language from inside: “Yeah, come in.”

This was a somewhat strange female voice.

The Li language was pronounced far back in the throat, making their voices sound deeper than those of people from other places, but this person’s voice was a little unnaturally high, as if there was a reed in her throat.

The mine envoy cautiously inspected his hair and clothing, then walked in demurely.

Inside the room, there sat…a “mountain.”

The people of Northern Li lived in company with wind and snow. They were usually tall and sturdy. This mine envoy himself was a powerful and robust man with thick hair and beard, but the person sitting in the room was even taller than he was standing. The arms hanging down at her sides were as thick as the mine envoy’s thighs. The veins were exposed on hands so big that they could squeeze a person’s whole head when spread. There were innumerable sword cuts on the palms.

This “giant”’s broad shoulders had to be over three chi wide, but on them was set a normal-sized human head. Her face was covered in scars, with raised flesh around each scar, cutting her features into ribbons. On her back was a heavy sword with only its hilt exposed.

All the warmth in the surroundings had been sucked away by that sword. It was plainly the most sultry season on the Southern He Peninsula, yet inside the room it was cold enough to make you shiver.

The mine envoy only took a hasty glance, then didn’t dare to look again—that was Kunlun’s Wanshuang Sword, the chief of the world’s three famous swords, the wisest and most ancient of weapons.

With his cultivation level, his spirit was already aching from a single glimpse. If he stared at it, he might lose his mind.

After Kunlun’s founder, the Sword Ancestor, had “ascended,” Wanshuang would take no other master. Only the Sword Ancestor’s sword-bearing half-puppet could pick it up. Once the sword-bearing half-puppet had gone in their former master’s wake, Wanshuang had been forced to seal itself.

Without Wanshuang, there was always a link missing in Kunlun’s great mountain array, which the shed skin masters had to take turns making up with their essence so they could resist the frigid cold coming from the northwest. The sword cultivators of later generations came in waves, but not even the shed skin elders, the Sect Leader included, could do anything with Wanshuang. That ancient sword was exceptionally disdainful, unwilling to yield to any common fool.

Until a ruthless person appeared.

This individual blazed a new trail. Using the core array of the Sword Ancestor’s sword-bearing half-puppet as a model, she refined her own near-ascended spirit sword cultivator body into a half-puppet body. This was unheard of. It shook the whole Kunlun Sect. And she really did manage to survive. Since then, she had become the successor to Wanshuang, calling herself the Sword Slave.

Everyone in Kunlun was respectful to her on the surface. Behind her back, they all feared her—anyone this ruthless was somewhat inhuman.

The mine envoy was scared stiff every time he spoke to her. Almost holding his breath, he said, “Lord, I just saw off the representatives from Southern Wan. Just as the person from Xuanyin said, an evil cultivator’s miasma was on them. It seems that power really has changed within Xuanyin. The southern mines believe themselves to be the orthodox ones, and Zhi Xiu, who has occupied the Xuanyin Mountains, isn’t ready to deal with them. The new and the old groups are both roping us in.”

The Sword Slave didn’t so much as look up. “They’re seeking shelter.”

The mine envoy lowered his head. “Yes.”

“I came south because I wanted to have a look at this supposed two-hundred-year-old shed skin Sword of the South… Ah, before I could come across the sword, the man has given us a peace offering. It’s true that there are no sword cultivators in the south.” It took the Sword Slave some effort to talk. Her words came out one at a time. “Notify the Blind Wolf King not to mingle with them. We’re not missing these good-for-nothings’ support. Tell that ‘Porridge’ or ‘Soup’¹ or whatever his name is to scram. If the Wan can’t hold on to their mines, then let’s take them. Who’d say no to more spiritual stones?”