Chapter 174 - 150: Informed

Chapter 174: Chapter 150: Informed

"Excellent."

A pleased expression appeared on Ma Rong’s face. He reached out, took the items, and stored them away before asking, "Did anything happen?"

Ma An didn’t dare to hide anything and recounted the events from beginning to end.

When he mentioned that Li Changsheng’s mother was nearly killed by a Loose Cultivator using mortals for his practice, Ma Rong’s face couldn’t help but twitch. Upon learning that she was unharmed after their intervention, he heaved a long sigh of relief.

Ma An, who had been watching him intently, immediately grew anxious.

After finishing his account of killing the Loose Cultivator, he hesitated for a moment before quietly explaining how they had brought Li Changsheng’s younger sister into the Cyan Yang Sect.

Ma Rong’s expression froze. He glanced at the busy Jin Fang and the others, then grabbed Ma An’s shoulder and leaped several times, arriving at a secluded spot.

After scanning his surroundings, he barked in a low voice, "Who told you to bring Junior Brother Li’s little sister into the sect! If anything happens to her, are you going to answer to him, or am I?"

Ma An’s face turned deathly pale with fright. He trembled, too scared to speak.

Looking at him, Ma Rong wished he could just slap him dead. After taking a long moment to calm himself, he suppressed his rage and demanded, "Where did you put her?"

"The Outer Sect Courtyard?"

Hearing this, Ma An didn’t dare to play dumb any longer. He quickly waved his hands. "No, no! How could we dare to place Miss Li in the Outer Courtyard?"

"My uncle sent her to Zhenyi to be taught."

"With Zhenyi?" Ma Rong confirmed.

Ma An nodded repeatedly.

"Phew..."

Ma Rong couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Ma Zhenyi was his niece. Although she had a bit of a temper, she was smart and acted with propriety. Having Li Changsheng’s younger sister with her put him much more at ease.

Ma Rong turned to look at the apprehensive Ma An and snorted coldly. "If you ever dare to act on your own again, I’ll cripple you all." The tone of his voice made it clear he wasn’t joking.

Ma An’s legs went weak, and he nearly fell to the ground.

"Alright, head back to my courtyard for now."

Steward Ma waved his hand in annoyance, told him the location of his courtyard, and then activated the Magical Artifact in his hand, transforming into a streak of green light that shot toward the sky.

After he left, Ma An could no longer support himself and collapsed onto the ground with a thud. He wailed, "Uncle, you nearly got me killed!" After composing himself for a good while, he got up and walked toward Ma Rong’s courtyard.

「Ten Thousand Snake Lake Island, the central courtyard atop the mountain.」

Li Changsheng, who was staring at the green snake’s transformation, suddenly looked up at the sky.

A streak of green light could be seen flying rapidly from the horizon.

A faint smile appeared on Li Changsheng’s face as he stood up and walked into the courtyard.

Soon, the green light landed in the courtyard. As the spiritual light faded, Ma Rong’s figure appeared.

Li Changsheng cupped his hands and smiled. "Greetings, Senior Brother."

"Junior Brother, there’s no need to be so polite with me."

Ma Rong waved his hand, then smiled. "I’ve come this time with good news for you."

"Oh?"

Li Changsheng was taken aback for a moment. As if he’d thought of something, a look of pleasant surprise crossed his face, but it was quickly followed by apprehension. "Is it about my family?"

Ma Rong smiled and nodded, flipping his hand to produce two letters and handing them to him. "Don’t worry, all is well with your family."

As soon as he said this, all of Li Changsheng’s apprehension vanished. He took the two letters and eagerly opened them.

"To my dear son."

"..."

Li Changsheng read the letter word by word, his expression constantly changing.

A moment later, Li Changsheng carefully put away the letters and looked up to see Ma Rong smiling sheepishly at him.

"Junior Brother Li, I..."

Li Changsheng raised a hand to stop him from speaking further and led him inside.

After they were seated, Li Changsheng’s gaze drifted as he murmured softly, "Mother’s health is poor and she’s needed to rest even more since giving birth to Pang’Er. Father also needs to look after the tavern, leaving him with no spare time."

"And I was worried the servants wouldn’t take good enough care of her, so I often stayed by her side."

He held out his hand to indicate her size and chuckled. "I remember when Pang’Er was just born... my, she was so tiny. Her skin was all wrinkly. She was really quite ugly."

"When she got a little older, she loved to run around after me. In the dead of winter, her face would be bright red from the cold, snot running from her nose. I’d tell her to go back inside, but she’d refuse. She was so stubborn."

"But she was only headstrong with me. When she saw her second brother, Changfu, she’d hide in my arms like a little quail."

"At the time, I thought Changfu was bullying her, so I beat him up a few times. It was only later that I realized she was just a little brat who was brave at home but a coward outside!"

"With me and Mother, she could be so stubborn and willful, but as soon as she was outside, she was timid as a little mouse."

Li Changsheng sighed. "To think that a little girl who’d cry her eyes out at the sound of thunder and rain, who’d burrow into my arms trembling like a fawn, now dares to follow a stranger to pursue cultivation all by herself."

"Sigh... She’s really grown up."

As Ma Rong listened to his slow recollection, his heart was in turmoil.

Li Changsheng hadn’t uttered a single word of blame, but the implication couldn’t be clearer.

He had raised this sister since she was a child. They were as close as could be, and she had a timid and gentle nature.

’What kind of people are in the Cyan Yang Sect? If something were to happen...’

When he stopped speaking, Ma Rong quickly said, "Junior Brother, rest assured. Your sister is with my niece now. With her looking after her, there will absolutely be no mistakes."

Li Changsheng asked doubtfully, "Her cultivation level?"

"Well..."

Steward Ma hesitated for a moment, then said with a sheepish smile, "Qi Cultivation Perfection. She’s currently preparing to advance to the Vein Condensation Realm."

There was nothing to be done. Although his family had a long history, it was ultimately a small one, with him as its only Nascent Soul Cultivator.

Li Changsheng nodded lightly, then stood and cupped his hands. "I must ask Senior Brother’s clansmen to take good care of Pang’Er. In the future, I, Changsheng, will be sure to repay you handsomely."

"Junior Brother, rest assured! My niece is the most meticulous person. With her there, your sister will be absolutely fine..." Ma Rong hurriedly stood up to guarantee it.

Thinking for a moment, he went on to tell him about how he had secured a Spirit Field for Dong Xing’s descendants, as well as the matter concerning Yan Shaoyuan and Hao Yuegui’s Spirit Fields.

Li Changsheng was in no mood to hear any of this and just gave a couple of perfunctory replies.

Seeing this, Ma Rong also knew it wasn’t the right time to discuss such things. Remembering he still had matters with the Loose Cultivators to attend to, he took his leave.

Li Changsheng watched him leave before returning to the third floor of the wooden house.

He gazed at Xiaobai on the soft couch.

[First-Order High-Grade: 88%]

’Still a ways to go...’

Li Changsheng flipped his hand over, took out a Sound Transmission Jade, spoke a few words into it, and then put it away.

In just a short while, a powerful pressure emanated from outside.

Li Changsheng turned and went downstairs. Upon reaching the first floor, he saw a burly man with a thick beard sitting lazily in a chair.

He cupped his hands. "Senior Brother, this junior brother has a favor to ask."

"Hm?"

Hearing this, Tan Hu’s expression immediately turned serious. He said grimly, "Junior Brother, tell me. What happened?"

Li Changsheng didn’t hide anything. He explained how Ma Rong had brought the letters from his family and how his sister had been brought into the sect.

After listening, Tan Hu furrowed his brow. He thought for a moment and asked, "What are your thoughts, Junior Brother? Do you want to bring her to the Ring Mountain Spiritual Land, or...?"

Li Changsheng was also hesitant. It would be good to have her by his side, but the Ring Mountain Spiritual Land was not a safe place either.

Seeing his indecision, Tan Hu shook his head. "How about this: I’ll write a letter to Wu Yong. With his protection, your sister will certainly be fine."

"Steward Wu... would that be...?" Li Changsheng hesitated.

Tan Hu laughed. "Rest assured, Junior Brother. Setting aside everything else, with his Late-Meridian Condensation cultivation, if he can’t even protect a single Qi Cultivator, then he might as well give up on cultivation altogether."

Li Changsheng breathed a sigh of relief, cupped his hands, and smiled. "Then I’ll have to trouble you, Senior Brother."

"It’s no trouble."

Tan Hu waved his hand and said, "If you’re really that worried, then just work hard to raise your cultivation level. When the time comes, you can just bring her to your side to look after her."

With that, he stood up.

"Things are still busy with the Loose Cultivators, so I’ll head back first."

Li Changsheng didn’t stand on ceremony. "I’ll see you out, Senior Brother."

After seeing him off, Li Changsheng closed his eyes and focused his mind, mentally contacting Xiaohai and ordering it to enter the mountains to hunt Spirit Beasts.

"Sigh..."

Li Changsheng rubbed his temples with a headache. He glanced at the still-molting green snake, then turned and returned to the third floor to immerse himself in his cultivation.

「Elsewhere.」

After returning home with a grim face, Ma Rong directly sealed Ma An’s Spirit Veins, walked to the corner of the room, and picked up a wooden stick as thick as his arm.

The next moment, blood-curdling screams echoed outside the courtyard.

Only after beating Ma An half to death did Ma Rong wave his hand to unseal his Spirit Veins, allowing him to circulate his cultivation technique and heal.

If not for the scarcity of cultivators in his clan, he would have loved to kill them with a single palm strike.

He had just returned when Tan Hu went over. The meaning behind it was self-evident.

"Damn it!"

Ma Rong shot Ma An a vicious glare.

With a surge of Spiritual Power, the wooden stick in his palm instantly disintegrated into splinters, which flew onto Ma An, making him tremble in fear.

"When you get back, I want you to beat Ma Wen exactly how I just beat you. Understand?" Ma Rong said with a dark face.

"Yes, yes, I understand, Grand-uncle." Ma An nodded repeatedly, afraid that if he spoke too slowly, he would receive another savage beating.

"Useless trash!"

Ma Rong kicked Ma An in the chest, then flicked his sleeve, turned, and left the small courtyard.

Ma An opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of congealed blood. The meridians that had been sluggish when circulating Spiritual Power now flowed smoothly.

A miserable smile appeared on his face as he sat cross-legged and circulated his cultivation technique to heal.

Ma Rong returned to the Spirit Field Hall with a grim expression.

Tan Hu glanced at him but said nothing.

Jin Fang and Ke Jing looked curiously at the two men who had gone one after another to Ten Thousand Snakes Island.

’It must be related to Li Changsheng!’

The same thought surfaced in both their minds. Seeing the look on Ma Rong’s face, could they have had a falling out?

With everyone lost in their own thoughts, the atmosphere suddenly became strange.

Time passed quickly.

Night fell. The clear moonlight scattered freely, illuminating the small island in the middle of the lake as if it were daytime.

「In a courtyard atop the mountain.」

Li Changsheng felt another new connection form in his mind. A faint smile appeared on his face as he focused his gaze.

[Target: Green Snake]

[Race: Spiritual Python]

[First-Order Mid-Grade: 35%]

[Innate Magic: Water Arrow]

[Status: Hungry.]

Li Changsheng stared at the Innate Magic column, and a stream of information flowed into his mind.

[Water Arrow: Consume Spiritual Qi to condense one or more water arrows.]

’That’s it...?’

Li Changsheng shook his head, speechless, and stared at its Innate Magic.

[Magic Amplification: Feed it venom and elemental Spirit Water to give its Water Arrow various effects.]

This time, the amplification method given by the Golden Finger was very general, but that also meant there were diverse ways to enhance it.

’It’s acceptable.’

Various Spiritual Objects flashed through Li Changsheng’s mind, and with a slight thought, the green snake shot out of the small courtyard, heading straight for the deep pool not far away.

Li Changsheng glanced around before returning to the wooden house.

The days passed one by one.

Hundreds of Loose Cultivators successively entered the unranked Spiritual Lands that had yet to be developed.

They built houses and reclaimed the Spiritual Land with a frenzy.

While the Spirit Farmers had times to rest, these cultivators didn’t stop unless they collapsed from exhaustion. After recovering, they would get right back to work.

The Spiritual Land, originally covered in weeds and shrubs, slowly began to expand outward under their development.