From the family treasure tree to build an eternal family

Chapter 146 Array Key
In just a moment, the appearance of Lan Yunkai, the Foundation Establishment cultivator with an air of otherworldly grace, changed drastically.

His once handsome face had lost its luster, turning a dull, grayish-black color. His once bright pupils had become cloudy, and his eye sockets had sunken...

He concentrated all his spiritual power in his dantian, not daring to mobilize even a trace of it. Even so, it only slowed down the erosion of the poison.

"Ah……"

A bitter smile appeared on his lips. He never imagined that his brilliant life would end in such a way.

In his current state, unless the Xue family sends him an antidote along with powerful elixirs like the Tortoise-Year Pill to prolong his life, or a Golden Core cultivator intervenes to save him, he is certain to die.

"I don't have many years left to live, why rush to put me to death?"

Lan Yunkai had considered that the old man selling the elixirs was a fraudster, but he never expected that the second-grade elixirs were poisonous.

He estimated that his foundation at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment could last for another two or three days, which would be just enough time to settle his affairs.

He staggered out of his secluded meditation room, not daring to even use his divine sense, like an old man on his deathbed: "Someone, cough cough~~ Summon Chuan Yin here."

"who are you?"

The Lan family members looked at him in confusion, and when they recognized him, they trembled and rushed forward to help him up: "Clan...Clan leader? What happened to you...I'll go and call someone, I'll go and call someone right away."

Several members of the Lan family who were in the late stage of Qi Refining quickly arrived, led by Lan Chuanyin. He was at the peak of Qi Refining and was the next Lan family head appointed by Lan Yunkai.

Lan Chuanyin is a direct descendant of Lan Yunkai, and according to seniority, he is Lan Yunkai's "great-grandson".

Sons beget grandsons, grandsons beget great-grandsons, great-grandsons beget great-great-grandsons, and great-great-grandsons beget great-great-grandsons.

The two were separated by five generations.

"Chief, what's going on?!"

Lan Chuanyin and the others were anxious and heartbroken to see Lan Yunkai in this state.

Lan Yunkai is the pillar of the Lan family. What will happen to the Lan family if he dies?
"Our family was tricked by someone else, and I mistakenly took a poisoned pill."

"A poison pill? Is the Tortoise-Year Pill a poison pill?"

During this time, the Lan family has been busy preparing for the Turtle Year Pill, and they know that Lan Yunkai has taken the Turtle Year Pill.

"Was it the Xue family? Let's go find them and fight them to the death!"

Among the several late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, one of them shouted.

"Don't."

Lan Yunkai waved his hand: "Don't go to the Xue family, they won't acknowledge us. Things have come to this, I have at most three more days to live, I should make plans and arrange my affairs as soon as possible."

Our family has occupied Qingqiu Mountain for two thousand years; it's time to relinquish it. Don't make my situation public. Immediately gather our family's spiritual plants, talismans, and other resources, abandon Qingqiu Mountain, and develop elsewhere.

Let's go somewhere far away from Yuanli County, a place where nobody knows about the Lan family, and start developing from scratch. No rush, let's take it slow.

The path to immortality has no end; as long as you live, there is hope…

At this moment, Lan Yunkai lost all his radiance, resembling a dying old man concerned about the development of his family.

If it weren't for the Xue family's targeting, Lan Yunkai wouldn't have given up on Qingqiu Mountain so readily.

He knew that the Xue family's poison pills were just one part of the scheme, and there would definitely be other targeted actions to follow. Rather than being kicked while he was down and constantly tormented, it was better to abandon Qingqiu Mountain as soon as possible, preserve the spirit stones and other resources, and develop elsewhere.

Without the Foundation Establishment patriarch, the Lan family is like a tiger without claws or teeth. No, to be precise, they are a "fat sheep" that occupies a second-tier spiritual vein and grows countless spiritual plants!
"This is my storage pouch. The most precious item inside is a mid-grade spirit sword, along with some spirit stones, spirit plants, and talismans. Keep it safe and don't let anyone know about it."

Lan Yunkai handed over the "relics" to Lan Chuanyin, whose value was enough to arouse the covetousness of the Foundation Establishment Grand Repair.

"and this……"

He stretched out his hand, holding a round jewel the size of a fist in his palm: "Chuan Yin, this is the key to the Spirit Gathering Array of Qingqiu Mountain. Once you refine it, you can control this second-tier Spirit Gathering Array."

I don't know its value, but it must be a treasure even more precious than a Foundation Establishment Pill. If a Foundation Establishment cultivator comes to ask you to hand over this item and transfer Qingqiu Mountain to him, you can receive some spirit stones in return.

A few thousand spirit stones are fine, a few hundred spirit stones are not too little; just consider it a favor.

Qingqiu Mountain was not initially reclaimed and occupied by the Lan family, but by another Foundation Establishment family.

When that Foundation Establishment family declined, the Lan family seized the opportunity to rise and made a great deal by buying Qingqiu Mountain.

The so-called "buying" simply means spending a small amount of spirit stones to occupy the appendages on Qingqiu Mountain, such as the spirit-gathering array. Later, the Lan family will pay the mountain forest supervisor to rent the spirit stones on Qingqiu Mountain.

Otherwise, no one would pay the Forestry Bureau with spirit stones, and Qingqiu Mountain would be taken back by the imperial court.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Lan Chuanyin put away his storage pouch and array key, his mood plummeting to rock bottom.

Throughout the history of the Lan family, they experienced several ups and downs before finally seizing Qingqiu Mountain at a glorious moment. During this time, they also experienced a crisis of "no Foundation Establishment Clan Leader," but they survived it all.

However, this crisis seems to be more severe.

The pain he felt at having to give up Qingqiu Mountain, which he had occupied for two thousand years, is unimaginable.

The Lan family was like stray dogs, forced to flee this place with their tails between their legs.

"Summon all clansmen at the mid-stage of Qi Refining or above, quickly!"

Lan Chuanyin gave the instructions.

Although the Lan family does not have a Foundation Establishment successor, they have many Qi Refining stage cultivators.

Occupying Qingqiu Mountain, even clansmen with mixed spiritual roots of five elements can easily cultivate to the mid-stage of Qi Refining.

Among the clan members with the surname "Lan," there are over a hundred people in the mid-stage of Qi Refining and more than twenty people in the late-stage of Qi Refining.

Besides the cultivators from the Lan family, there are also some female cultivators who married into the Lan family, or male rogue cultivators who married into the family.

More than a hundred people quickly gathered, and many members of the Lan family were still unaware of what had happened.

"You will split into teams. The late-stage Qi Refining cultivator will lead a team of five to six mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators to harvest all the spiritual plants in the spiritual fields."

all?

"You even harvest spiritual plants that are twenty or thirty years old?" The older the spiritual plant, the better its cost-effectiveness.

"Dig! They even harvest ten-year-old spiritual plants."

Although Lan Chuanyin was heartbroken, he knew that if he didn't take these things with him, they would only benefit others.

After that, he arranged for people to dig up those precious second-tier spiritual plants and reclaim the spiritual talismans and other resources belonging to the Lan family in the market.

While the Lan family members were busy, Lan Chuanyin thought of the Xue family and felt aggrieved.

"My family spent 6,800 spirit stones to obtain a poison pill that killed the clan leader?! The Xue family has gone too far!"

"We must get an explanation!"

Although Lan Yunkai instructed him not to seek revenge against the Xue family, Lan Chuanyin was unwilling to give up.

He didn't dare to seek revenge against the Xue family; he didn't have the power. But he had to demand an explanation from the Xue family, or get the spirit stones back.

The Xue family has a renowned reputation in Yuanli County. Selling poison pills outside? If word gets out, who would dare to buy their elixirs?

Lan Chuanyin, relying on the Xue family's desire to save face, took two clansmen at the ninth level of Qi Refining and flew to Yunze Mountain.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Yunze Mountain.

In the main hall, the patriarch Xue Fanyu and Xue Weiwu stood before He Sou, whose body had long since become a corpse.

"Heh, spit!"

Xue Weiwu spat, weighing a storage pouch in his hand: "This guy actually dared to steal our Xue family's elixir, he's incredibly audacious. I wonder where he put the Tortoise-Year Pill. We've lost out by exchanging this storage pouch for our Tortoise-Year Pill."

"That's not the Turtle Longevity Pill."

Xue Fanyu spoke calmly.

How could a Qi Refining cultivator steal the second-grade elixir he refined? Impossible, unless he did it on purpose.

He Sou, nicknamed "Grey Wolf" in the Xue family, is a henchman who helps Xue Fanyu do "bad things".

Xue Fanyu had already seen through his disloyalty and used his greedy nature as a pawn, creating a loophole so that he could steal the poison pill.

Afterwards, they spread the word that a Turtle-Year Pill had been lost.

He Sou believed it, Lan Yunkai believed it, even Xue Weiwu from the Xue family believed it, not to mention the people outside.

"Not the Tortoise-Life Pill?"

Xue Weiwu was puzzled. They had gone to so much trouble to find the person and the elixir, but it turned out to be the Turtle Elixir?

"It's a second-grade poison pill, and Lan Yunkai has already taken it. If the Lan family comes looking for you later, you'll handle them."

Xue Fanyu was a master strategist.

Xue Weiwu was completely baffled and was about to ask further questions when someone delivered a message: "Report! There are three Qi Refining Level 9 cultivators outside who claim to be from the Lan family. They say we sold them poison pills and they want an explanation."

what?
Xue Weiwu stared at Xue Fanyu in astonishment, realizing he had been right. The Tortoise-Year Pill, the Poison Pill, the Lan family—what was going on?

Xue Fanyu explained a few words to him and told him to go out and deal with the Lan family.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Who dares to slander my family's reputation?"

Xue Weiwu descended from the sky, his aura as a sixth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator causing Lan Chuanyin and the others to lower their heads.

The three bowed and said, "Greetings, Foundation Establishment Senior."

"Humph!"

Xue Weiwu snorted angrily: "So you're the ones here saying my family sells poison? Explain yourselves! My family has always been honest and fair in selling elixirs, young and old. What gives you the right to demand an explanation? If you can't give me a clear answer, I'll consider it a false accusation and kill you on the spot!"

Lan Chuanyin knew the Xue family was powerful, but he didn't want to give up the more than six thousand spirit stones: "It's like this, some time ago there was a man named He Sou who said that someone from your family, known as the Gray Wolf, had a Turtle-Year Pill to sell..."

After listening to him finish speaking, Xue Weiwu said impatiently, "You bought the Tortoise-Year Pill from that person, so you consider it a purchase from our Xue family? This is utter nonsense and absurd. What evidence do you have?"

"Didn't your family issue a reward a few days ago, saying that someone stole the elixir and offering a reward of 500 spirit stones to find its whereabouts?"

"Yes, that's true. That person is dead. He did steal a elixir, but we didn't say it was a 'Turtle-Longevity Pill.' Where did you hear that from?"

Xue Weiwu's words were reasonable and well-founded.

The Xue family's bounty never mentioned the Tortoise-Year Pill.

"this!"

Lan Chuanyin's face darkened; he knew that the Lan family had been thoroughly fooled.

They were completely in the wrong. They knew that the person had a bounty on his head from the Xue family and couldn't represent the Xue family, yet they bought the elixir from him. This debt couldn't possibly be attributed to the Xue family.

This loss can only be borne by the Lan family.

"Get out of here. If I hear you talking nonsense again, don't blame me for being impolite."

Xue Weiwu waved his hand, signaling the group to leave Yunze Mountain.

Lan Chuanyin and the other two had no choice but to leave.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Inside a secret room on Yunze Mountain.

Xue Fanyu came to see the young man who claimed to be a descendant of the Tong family.

"Lan Yunkai has already taken the poison pill, and the Lan family will soon fall apart. You should tell me now how your Tong family developed the Foundation Establishment Pill."

(End of this chapter)