Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 258 Trap
Li Xiangming muttered to himself, the mole being exactly the feature Li Qian had often told him to use to identify Xu Zibu.

This renowned intelligence merchant from Zhangning Prefecture died here, right before his eyes.

"Judging from the body temperature and bloodstains, the time of death should be less than a day."

Lee Sang-in shook his head.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangming clenched his fists.

He didn't know Xu Zibu, nor did he care about Xu's life or death.

But Xu Zibu's death meant that news of the Enlightenment Spring was cut off.

Although the emergence of the Enlightenment Spring was quite abrupt, Li Xiangming himself had many doubts.

But as a businessman who makes a living by selling information, Xu Zibu had no reason to lie; he should know some of the inside story of the Enlightenment Spring.

"Was it the Faceless Man who did it?"

Li Xiangming asked in a low voice.

"I don't know!"

Li Xiangren frowned. "The fatal wound was that his heart meridian was shattered by a sword aura. The Faceless Man has never used any moves with sword aura in front of me, but he is skilled in all kinds of magic and may have similar methods."

"Sword Qi?"

Li Xiangming's expression changed, and flames immediately ignited at his fingertips, engulfing Xu Zibu's corpse completely.

"Why is this?"

Li Xiangren asked in surprise.

Li Xiangming looked anxious: "Isn't it you, brother, who is skilled in sword energy?"

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangren's expression changed slightly.

The Faceless Man chose not to go anywhere else, but instead chose to fight Xu Zibu at his burial site. This was clearly a trap.

Without bothering with pleasantries, the two of them flashed into the air and flew out of the cave entrance.

However, just as they reached the airspace above the valley, several waves of magical energy rapidly approached.

Along with it came waves of unfamiliar divine consciousness.

"court death!"

Li Xiangren snorted coldly, and the golden flying sword emitted a dazzling light.

Those divine senses that rushed over desperately were like moths to a flame, instantly melted away by the sword light.

The few divine senses that couldn't be withdrawn in time also hurriedly turned back, like startled birds.

Clearly, the owners of these divine senses were all Qi Refining cultivators.

Nevertheless, Li Xiangming summoned the Green Cloud Flying Boat and said urgently, "We should not stay here any longer!"

Li Xiangren's expression was not good. He was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, yet he had to run away in front of a Qi Refining cultivator.

But he knew that if this was a trap set by the enemy, then even if he could kill these Qi Refining cultivators, more and more enemies would keep coming.

If you want to leave then, it won't be so easy.

Li Xiangren ultimately did not refuse Li Xiangming's proposal. The two boarded the flying boat and disappeared into the horizon in the blink of an eye.
-
"What an amazing swordsman!"

No sooner had Li Xiangming and Li Xiangren left than four or five streaks of light landed in the sky above the valley, each occupying a corner and forming a delicate balance.

One of the young cultivators, dressed in a blue robe, had a look of apprehension in his eyes.

Just now, a portion of his divine consciousness was swept away by that sword light and more than half of it was lost. Such a loss would be difficult to recover without three to five months of quiet recuperation.

Although divine consciousness is not as precious as the divine soul, as an "organ" that extends from the divine soul and transcends the five senses, its role in combat is irreplaceable.

Once the divine sense is severely damaged, the impact on the cultivator is undoubtedly enormous.

Moreover, not only was his consciousness damaged, but the consciousness of everyone present was also attacked.

This shows that the sword cultivator's cultivation level far surpasses that of all of them.

"Ouyang Zhen, do you recognize that person?"

At this moment, a short, thin young man asked in a deep voice.

Ouyang Zhen glanced at him and shook his head: "His divine sense and magical power are both unfamiliar, and we've never met before, so how could I recognize him?"

"Could it be a sword cultivator from the Hengyue Sect?"

Another person asked.

"The Hengyue Sect, huh?"

Ouyang Zhen pondered. Zhangning Prefecture was a major cultivation area, and it was not lacking in sword cultivators.

The Hengyue Sect has twenty-six peaks, with six of them representing different sword-wielding lineages. It's not impossible that the opponent might be from the Hengyue Sect.

"With the Foundation Establishment stage cultivators of Hengyue Sect making their move, is it something we need to do?"

The thin young man frowned, his tone somewhat worried.

"It might not necessarily be the Hengyue Sect, otherwise why would they retreat?"

Some people shook their heads, disagreeing with this speculation.

"Regardless, this person is undoubtedly a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and one that has never been seen before."

Ouyang Zhen's eyes flashed with a serious look: "Xu Zibu has been trying to contact us for three days in a row, but he has been making all sorts of excuses to delay and has never shown up. He just wants to sell the information to more people. I hope that everyone can cooperate sincerely and not break up with each other again. If we spend more spirit stones now, we will have fewer competitors later."

"You make it sound so easy. Who picks up their spirit stones on the street?"

The skinny young man said discontentedly, "The intelligence is worth 500 spirit stones. If the five of us work together, each of us only needs to contribute 100 spirit stones. But Xu Zibu is taking advantage of the situation and charging 200 spirit stones per person, raising the price of the intelligence to 1000 spirit stones. Is this reasonable?"

"If you ask me, 1000 spirit stones would be enough to buy Xu Zibu's life."

"Why would you want the life of an information broker? To show off your wealth?"

A cultivator in a yellow robe beside him said disdainfully, his tone full of contempt.

Upon hearing this, the thin young man's face instantly darkened, and he stared intently at the other person: "Xu Chuan, don't push your luck!"

Xu Chuan chuckled, as if he had heard a joke: "You think my Xuanjian Sect would even look at the face of your Farong Cave?"

"you"

The skinny young man flew into a rage, slapped the wooden gourd at his waist, and was about to make a move.

Not to be outdone, Xu Chuan raised two fingers, and the sword box behind him made a faint sound, clearly indicating that he was also a sword cultivator.

"enough!"

Ouyang Zhen stood between the two men, his face grim: "If you two want to hand over the Enlightenment Spring to someone else, you might as well say so. We can part ways here. My Ouyang family will still have to fight for it."

Xu Chuan snorted coldly, but still withdrew his magic power.

Ouyang Zhen then looked at the thin young man: "Duan Heng, we are all water cultivators. If we find the Enlightenment Spring, it would be understandable for us to fight over it. But we haven't even seen a shadow of it yet. What's the point of you fighting over a few words?"

"Or are you confident that you can leave us and obtain the Enlightenment Spring on your own?"

Duan Heng's face was gloomy, but he eventually put down his hand that was pressing on the wooden gourd.

"Go and search the neighborhood to see if any traces have been left."

Even after the two stopped fighting, Ouyang Zhen's expression remained unpleasant.

This valley was the location Xu Zibu and his group had agreed to, but others had already arrived there first.

It seems they've been fooled by Xu Zibu again.

This guy either sold out the information or didn't show up at all.

"The residual magical power of two Foundation Establishment cultivators!"

One of them shouted, his voice tinged with surprise and nervousness.

Ouyang Zhen looked over and saw that they had rushed over because they heard the commotion of the battle.

Unexpectedly, the two cultivators engaged in the battle were Foundation Establishment cultivators. Fortunately, they arrived a little late.

"There was also a burned body."

Suddenly, Xu Chuan also flew over, his face grave.

"Corpse?"

Ouyang Zhen frowned and asked, "Who died?"

"I don't know, even the bones were burned to ashes."

Xu Chuan's voice was deep.

The two Foundation Establishment cultivators appeared at the agreed location.

Xu Zibu remained nowhere to be seen.

Another body was found at the scene.

Some unpleasant thoughts had already begun to creep into his mind.

Ouyang Zhen was clearly the same, and hurriedly followed Xu Chuan to the bottom of the tree hole.

Upon seeing the pile of ashes, it took him a long time to come to his senses. He gritted his teeth and said, "Go to Dendrobium Market immediately and find the Misty Rain Sect to find out Xu Zibu's whereabouts. Xu Zibu has been able to operate in Zhangning Prefecture for so many years, how could he have died here so easily?"

(End of this chapter)