The Yu family’s main residence took up a whole valley—not the kind of valley that adjoined sheer precipices; the slopes were low and gentle. They could be descended by means of stone steps and winding roads. At the bottom of the valley was a small mountain river. 

This terrain was in fact somewhat similar to the Latent Cultivation Temple, only the Latent Cultivation Temple was a “place outside the world” meant for quiet cultivation. There were few traces of human workmanship. There weren’t even any streetlamps or chiming clocks. Apart from the grand instructor Luo Qingshi, there was practically no entertainment. 

The Yu family’s main residence was too magnificent. 

Here there was no low quality timber like reincarnation wood, which could latch on anywhere and grow wildly. Xi Ping could only look out through the reincarnation wood amulet Yu Chang carried. He saw that the valley actually had a road carved out for steam carriages to travel on… Tsk, how many years had steam carriages even been around? 

In the air hung a cable chain dozens of li long. Its machinery could carry small compartments from one end of the long and narrow valley to the other, with a stop every three li, where you could get off to change and rest. Servants would come aboard soundless as shadows to change the incense and refresh the food and drinks. The sound of the pipa floated out along the iron cables, and the fragrance of wine and cosmetics scattered everywhere, as if Jinping’s Lingyang River had been hung up in the sky. The compartments were all carved full of wasteful third-class inscriptions. Even if there was an accident and a compartment fell from the sky, the people inside wouldn’t be hurt. 

The Latent Cultivation Temple had only small single-story houses in the depths of the forest, while in the Yu family’s main residence, there was a full set of pavilions, terraces, and towers. In a few places halfway up the slopes, the courtyard houses could even measure up to an imperial palace for ostentation. Day had yet to break, but the valley was ablaze with light. The singing and dancing that had lasted through the night had yet to end. With a cultivator’s hearing, one could hear music and teasing laughter on the wind. 

Over several centuries of propagation, the upstart clan of Yu Family Bend had become numerous, but only the families of past clan leaders were qualified to reside in the main residence. Xi Ping glanced around. In this generation, nearly all those who had any power in the family were half-immortals—the kind that had gotten there relying on money and couldn’t draw a single talisman. Those with any skills presumably wouldn’t have stayed in the mortal world. They would all have been sent to the Sanyue Mountains or the Qilin Guard. 

The only way these half-immortals differed from mortals was that they were impervious to poison and sickness, with long-lasting youth, able to enjoy the use of open-eyed grade immortal tools and elixirs. Therefore it was said that per capita they had married more wives than you could count on one hand, and they had so many children they didn’t even recognize all of them. 

As soon as Xi Ping’s consciousness probed out of the reincarnation wood Yu Chang carried, he felt dense spiritual energy and asked Yu Chang, “Is there an array protecting the valley?” 

“Naturally. There are protective arrays of many classes here. Adding up the big and the little ones, there are over a hundred in all. It’s steadfast as a fortress,” Yu Chang said. “If your Wan had had defenses like this back then, your cities wouldn’t have so easily been trampled underfoot by Southern He. Alas, I went there myself at the time. Devastation as far as the eye could see. I felt that it was such a pity.” 

True. For a moment, Xi Ping lagged behind, thinking, Why didn’t Jinping have this kind of array formation? 

Then he heard Yu Chang add, “It’s just a little expensive. It burns over a thousand white spirits per year. Southern Wan is not so well off.” 

Xi Ping: “…” 

Too rich! 

Of the current four nations, Northern Li was barren, its land plentiful and its people scarce; Western Chu was mountainous, making transportation difficult; Southern Shu only had a sliver of territory on the mainland, the rest of it made up of little islands like donkey droppings; no one could match Great Wan for its wide-reaching waterways and extensive plains. Moon Plated Gold, all kinds of new technology, eighty percent of it had been brought forward by Great Wan. Because the people of Wan found beauty in what was graceful and unobtrusive, in the other nations, no matter what their previous style and culture, the landowning classes all took Wan style as the height of refinement. To take Western Chu as an example, while the people of Chu favored salty food, the restaurants here that charged a liang or two of silver or above per person nearly all made modified Wan cuisine. 

When the people of Wan were abroad, even if they didn’t say it outright, all upholding the legendary “Wan manners,” they secretly regarded everything around them with disdain. 

Xi Ping had absolutely never thought that one day, Great Wan, the wealthiest of nations, would be pitied as “not so well off” by a rich provincial from some backwater—and what he was saying was the truth! 

That number alone was too much even for Jinping to raise, never mind the other provinces. His san-ge’s Kaiming and Luwu, all of them throughout the whole country…even throughout the four nations, added together and including financial support for the injured and families of the dead, didn’t spend that much money in a year! 

An array formation maintained at such an exorbitant price couldn’t be for the sake of ostentation. No wealthy people were so wasteful. 

It could only be for the sake of protecting even greater wealth. 

Each year, Western Chu’s gold and silver flowed outward. The price of silver was going higher and higher, and so were the prices of commodities. The least stir in the market could make people’s hearts tremble with fear. The most extravagant creepers grew in the most barren of places. 

“There’s nothing to be done about it,” Yu Chang said. “Yu Family Bend currently has no gentle professions. If it isn’t the Moon Plated Gold factories, then it’s the medicinal herb fields. They have to work, whether they want to or not. When I was young, a family could still survive by farming, but over the last century that’s become impossible. The mountain roads are too hard to travel, and you can’t spend the spiritual stones to use downgraded immortal tools to transport Moon Plated Gold. You have to use waterpower. The hydrology of the whole county has changed. When the waste water from the factories spills, you can’t plant anything.” 

“Even Tao County is better off,” said Xi Ping. 

“It’s six of one, half a dozen of the other,” Yu Chang answered topically.

Everywhere Yu Chang passed, draped in his loose gown, the servants, offerings, and even members of the principal Yu family stepped back and saluted. 

Like some unrestrained literary celebrity, with his wide sleeves filled by the fluttering wind, he walked ahead without looking sideways. 

“Wow, that’s some pose,” Xi Ping thought sourly.

So he said provocatively, “Bringing me here amounts to open betrayal. Isn’t the brand biting you?” 

“Backlash? Naturally.” In a place without any people, Yu Chang quickly passed a hand over his arm, pulling back a bit of the camouflage spell on it. On his arm, where the burns had yet to fully heal, purple veins were popping up one after another, throbbing so that his whole arm shook along with them; it was a ghastly sight. 

Yu Chang, accustomed to this, let down his sleeve. “The backlash from the spiritual image brand has degrees, or else you wouldn’t be able to function on a day-to-day basis—for example, if the master is in danger, and you have to push him into a well and half-drown him to save his life, how does that figure? Normally, for a centuries-old offering like me, as long as I’m not committing murder and arson in the master’s house, the backlash from the brand won’t be fatal.” 

Not fatal, but his meridians would snap, his consciousness would feel as though it were burning. A life worse than death. 

But this pain that others couldn’t bear precisely suited his Way of the Heart. It was a thing he could use to temper himself. For centuries, as this spiritual image brand had torn at him, it had also pushed him to the pinnacle of the established foundation period. 

There was actually such a peculiar Way of the Heart, such a special means of cultivation. But admiration was one thing—really, this joker Yu Chang was cultivating the “way of betrayal.” He could even find loopholes in a spiritual image brand over hundreds of years, so what about a mere blood covenant? 

Xi Ping thought apprehensively: He promised to do three things for me within ten years. If I’m dead, he’ll be off the hook.

The corners of Yu Chang’s mouth were raised in a smile that seemed to be tattooed on. He was twirling a pair of jade balls in his hand to alleviate the pain in his meridians. He was also thinking: before, in the hidden realm, he had been interrupted by this Tai Sui’s incessant pestering. Now, though, he had a good opportunity to test his depths. 

No matter what, the blood covenant was still a shackle. If he really was only impressive on the outside…

So Yu Chang idly said, “If you aren’t in a rush, I can take you around. It’s almost the fifteenth day of the eighth month. Isn’t now a good time for you to act?” 

As soon as Xi Ping heard this, he knew he was up to no good. But before he could come up with an excuse, Yu Chang laughed, jumped, and landed around the middle of the mountain. 

“You have to look closely,” Yu Chang said, laughing. “The Yu family holds the largest green ore fields in the world and monopolizes thirty or forty percent of the Moon Plated Gold. They’ve stood for hundreds of years without falling. The protective arrays are no joke. There are many things I can’t see clearly, but Tai Sui’s knowledge of cultivation is naturally superior to mine, so I suppose you won’t have much of a problem, right?” 

Xi Ping: “…” 

He had shit for knowledge of cultivation! 

In Chu, day was about to break, and far away in Great Wan’s Jinping, it was already well into the morning. There was even faint movement in the Yongning Marquis Manor, where there were no early risers. 

Xi Yue wasn’t on duty today, so he had stayed the night at the Yongning Marquis Manor. 

He was halfway to being a pupil of Flying Jade Peak himself and had inherited General Zhi’s good habits—he never wasted time. The Marquis and his lady hadn’t gotten up yet, so he wasn’t in a hurry to go pay his respects; he was meditating on his own to cultivate. 

Xi Yue had just begun meditating when he suddenly heard a familiar voice in his ear: “Yue-bao’er! Help me out!” 

It was him! 

This voice was different from all the times before. It was more “real” than before. Xi Yue abruptly opened his eyes, having a momentary feeling that Xi Ping was standing right next to him. He automatically looked all around for him. 

But the room was still. There were birds chirping in the little courtyard, but no people. The look in Xi Yue’s eyes dimmed. His hand went to his neck and came up empty. Only then did he belatedly remember that reincarnation wood amulet. 

Xi Yue focused. When he picked up the reincarnation wood, his voice was already calm. “What is it?” 

“Quick, quick, quick,” said Xi Ping, “memorize these arrays for me, and I’ll treat you to Western Chu’s specialty melon seeds! You definitely can’t buy them in Great Wan!” 

You promise a reward the moment you open your mouth, but why don’t you come back and show yourself instead…? Xi Yue’s fingers tightened on the reincarnation wood. He paused. Treasuring words like gold, he said, “Fine, send them over.” 

“I can’t send over so many! If I could send them, I could memorize them myself,” Xi Ping said. “Where are you, is it safe?” 

“At home,” said Xi Yue, “safe…” 

Before he could finish, his vision suddenly blurred, and his consciousness instantly crossed vast distances. Xi Yue sucked in a breath.

Next, he arrived outside of the three realms…inside the Law Breaker Bracelet. 

Xi Ping split up the front and rear courtyards of the Cui Ji compound inside the Law Breaker Bracelet to keep from disturbing Wei Chengxiang and Zhao Qindan. He placed Xi Yue in the back garden. 

When Xi Yue had just found his footing, he saw a huge pond in front of him. The water was like a mirror, clearly reflecting the Yu family’s main residence at this moment. 

The next instant, Xi Yue’s spiritual sense gave him a warning, and he alertly stepped aside, dodging. The half-puppet fed on spiritual stones; his sense was far more acute than that of a cultivator of the same grade, and he had trained for several years alongside Pang Jian. His reactions were extremely fast. The hand reaching to pat his head came up empty. 

Xi Yue stared in disbelief at that familiar hand—utterly pampered, with only a trace of calluses from qin strings; the hand whose owner would start to complain his hand hurt from chafing after only one ke of holding a brush; the hand whose owner had shamelessly dragged him into doing his schoolwork for him countless times… Xi Yue’s eyes traveled up that hand, his breath trembling incessantly. 

“Heavens,” the young master said, catching up and holding down the top of his head, “what has Lao Pang been feeding you? You’ve shot up like a weed. Why don’t you share some with Luo-shixiong out of respect?” 

As if the one who’d vanished for five or six years without a word hadn’t been him. As if he had only stepped out to get a pot of osmanthus oil. 

How could this scoundrel be so heartless? 

Xi Yue glared fiercely at that completely unchanged face, suddenly forgetting that he could speak now. 

The next moment, his asshole former master and current big brother pressed down his head, turning him to face in the direction of the water. “Hey, stop looking at me, I’m the same as ever, nothing new. Hurry up and help me remember the positions of all those arrays in the water. It’s an absolute emergency, we can catch up later!” 

Xi Yue took a deep breath. Almost hatefully, he turned his head to glance at the dizzying array formation in the water. 

With just one glance, the young walker in the mortal world recovered his professionalism and frowned. “Where are these arrays? They’re so wasteful.” 

Xi Ping bragged shamelessly, “They belong to some people who owe me money. What about them?” 

Xi Yue focused and looked for a while, then shook his head. “I can only understand a part of them.” 

“No problem.” Xi Ping knew that he was very naturally gifted in this area. He had a practically perfect memory for arrays. “Memorize them for now, then analyze them.” 

Xi Yue ignored him, focusing all of his attention on the array formation in the water. 

Xi Ping made a few circles around him, then odiously snapped his fingers and, using the extravagant dancing halls of the Yu family’s main residence as a model, created a soft chair that a person could recline in and a small table. He considered, then snatched a pile of Western Chu specialty snacks from the Snake King’s Immortal Palace—he didn’t know which Luwu was so gluttonous; these things were all over the place inside the Snake King’s Immortal Palace. 

“Sit down to look.” Since he needed Xi Yue’s help, Xi Ping pressed him down onto the chair, then reached out and created a fan. 

Afraid that Xi Yue’s head would overheat from memorizing such an enormous array formation all at once, he put one hand on Xi Yue’s shoulder and used the other to fan him with eager attentiveness—if you couldn’t sell your wits, you had to sell your strength. 

As he fanned, looking at that calm young man’s face, Xi Ping “found comfort in his old age,” thinking, He’s much more accomplished than when he was with me…

“Hss!” 

As he was feeling gratified and unguarded, Xi Yue, staring engrossed at the arrays, suddenly attacked. Without warning, he shook Xi Ping’s hand off his shoulder, caught it, and bit it viciously. 

At the same time, he didn’t avert his gaze from the array formation! 

Xi Ping: “…” 

He didn’t dare to exert strength to get his hand back. While it was the consciousness that came here, it was made into a tangible body by the Law Breaker Bracelet. A consummate established foundation body was too hard for a half-immortal half-puppet. If he tensed his hand, he would knock out Xi Yue’s teeth. 

Even more, he didn’t dare to scold—that pestilential bastard Yu Chang didn’t stop for a breath. If you turned your eyes away for a moment, you would miss part of the array formation. He was afraid Xi Yue would be distracted. 

There was nothing else for it. Xi Ping could only inwardly curse Pang Jian: That rotten Big Dog Pang. I gave him a perfectly nice and refined little brother, and how has he raised him? 

Was Heaven’s Design Pavilion’s General Commander spreading rabies?! 

Pang Jian, on his last patrol for the morning of the Azure Dragon Towers, sneezed in the clouds above Jinping. He rubbed his nose, feeling a little perplexed. Since the new emperor had changed the laws, the factories in Jinping’s southern outskirts were no longer allowed to work night and day. The smoke and fog had both decreased considerably, so why would he be sneezing out of nowhere? 

Could it be someone cursing him behind his back? 

Just then, there was a flap in the wind. A secret letter came to Pang Jian’s hand. 

Pang Jian stopped in midair on his sword, pulled out the Barrier Dispeller Bow and stuck it behind himself. He leaned back against the bow. He saw that this was a message from the Guzhou Heaven’s Design Pavilion Branch. It said: The Luwu who infiltrated the Zhao family in Southern Shu have been exposed. There are casualties, and some whose whereabouts are unknown. Before disappearing, they notified this branch. Lingyun Mountain is likely to move soon. 

Pang Jian froze. Then his gaze fell on the words “Lingyun Mountain is likely to move soon”—Lingyun was Southern Shu’s state sect. 

This large-scale action of the Luwu’s, while it was for the sake of pursuing the remnants of the Zhao family, was after all also an infiltration of other nations. With a group of well-trained foreign cultivators sneaking in, you didn’t need to be a genius to know how vexed Lingyun would be… If this got out, Northern Li and Western Chu would certainly be on the alert as well. 

This was trouble. 

Pang Jiang quickly sent word to the Heaven’s Design Pavilion branches by the borders, ordering them to immediately overhaul the border inscriptions and arrays. Whatever their identity, without official documents, all cultivators entering the country had to be registered and followed. They must take strict precautions against foreign cultivators entering Great Wan territory to engage in unlawful actions. 

Great Wan had the Luwu. If the other countries got their own Taotie or Jiuwei¹ or something, that would be unpleasant. 

Anyway, while others wouldn’t know, the Zhao family before their betrayal had been extremely cunning. They would certainly have some understanding of the Luwu. Now that they had gone abroad, they would have to be on their guard against their movements. With an urgent assignment to deal with, Xuanyin would have rushed to complete the updated immortal tools supplied to the Luwu. Perhaps the haste had caused a hiccup. 

Communication across the South Sea was difficult. Even Zhou Ying slipped up sometimes. 

Pang Jian was just planning to write a letter to Bai Ling to ask about it when his expression suddenly chilled: Wrong! 

Zhou Ying had likely expected this situation from the day he had established the Luwu—before, though each of the four great sects had had their own schemes, on the surface they still got along. If not for the emergence of Qiu Sha, it was an ironclad rule that cultivators of a righteous and orthodox sect couldn’t cross another nation’s border without a special summons. 

Which of the great masters in Xuanyin had gotten worked up and allowed that demon to entice them into sanctioning the Luwu? 

Zhou Ying wasn’t afraid that the Luwu would be exposed. He wanted them to be exposed. If the Luwu were captured in another country, the other three sects would certainly react. It was a certainty that they would respond in kind. When malicious cultivators from other countries crossed the borders, Great Wan would have to advance its defense expenditures. The Luwu would have an even greater opportunity to expand. 

How could Zhou Ying be a righteous man acting for the nation and the people? He was clearly driving wedges and sowing discord among the four great sects.