Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 260 Outside Green Cloud Cave
Green Cloud Cave is located in the Luoyang Mountains in the southwest of Hao County.

This place is covered with dense forests, hiding many cultivation forces.

Nevertheless, the Luoyang Mountains are not prominent in the cultivation world of Hao County.

After all, Hao County is the headquarters of Hengyue Sect.

Here, Golden Core cultivators are the masters.

Knowing that it could not expand beyond the Luoyang Mountains, Green Cloud Cave focused on developing itself, building a large number of medicinal fields in the nearby valleys. With the unique fertile soil and climate of the Luoyang Mountains, it became a well-known base for spiritual herbs.

However, Fairy Green Cloud had a bad temper and offended many surrounding forces, so the spiritual herbs in Green Cloud Cave were not selling as well as expected.

The more than ten years of cooperation with the Li family marked the most rapid development of Green Cloud Cave, during which four disciples with the potential to reach the Foundation Establishment stage emerged.

However, the result was not ideal.

With the Li family moving south to Puxian County, the wealth of Lvyun Cave was directly cut in half.

In addition, Fairy Green Cloud had always wanted to go further and had taken over most of the sect's resources.

This has resulted in the treatment of true disciples being far worse than before.

To this day, Green Cloud Cave has not produced a second Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Returning to this familiar place, Li Xiangming felt a mix of emotions.

Green Cloud Cave didn't leave him with many pleasant memories, but in any case, it was the place where he learned about the extraordinary knowledge of the cultivation world from scratch, and it was also the place where he strengthened his resolve to seek the Dao.

Deep down, he always held a special affection for Green Cloud Cave.

The exact location of Green Cloud Cave is quite hidden, situated in a winding river valley.

At the end of the valley, a pool of clear water called Green Cloud Pool lies peacefully nestled in the embrace of the mountains.

Above Green Cloud Pool, a magnificent waterfall cascades down from the sky, like a piece of pure white silk, shimmering dazzlingly in the sunlight. Water droplets splash and mist rises, giving Green Cloud Pool a mysterious and ethereal aura.

Green Cloud Cave, on the other hand, is like a shy fairy hiding behind this crystal curtain.

On a hilltop outside the valley, Li Xiangming, disguised as an ordinary woodcutter, quietly observed the distant Green Cloud Pool.

From his perspective, there was nothing unusual around Green Cloud Pool; there were no legendary cultivators lurking there.

Everything seemed so peaceful.
However, excessive tranquility is itself a kind of abnormality.

Li Xiangming tied up the firewood at his feet, made no further moves, and left.
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"Ouyang Zhen, that person has left. Should we chase after them?"

In the depths of the valley, a short, thin cultivator held a bronze mirror. The mirror surface shimmered with a faint spiritual light, clearly reflecting Li Xiangming's receding figure.

Ouyang Zhen looked over, his brows furrowed.

Before he could speak, Xu Chuan whispered, "This person didn't enter the valley. He's most likely a local mountain dweller. Let's not alert him."

"Xu Chuan, what do you know?"

Duan Heng snorted: "If he's a spy, we could be exposed at any time."

Xu Chuan completely ignored Duan Heng and continued, "Starting yesterday, other cultivators have been appearing inexplicably near Green Cloud Cave. Before he died, Xu Zibu must have sold information about the Enlightenment Spring to others besides us."

"Furthermore, these people are very likely to have obtained complete intelligence!"

At this point, Xu Chuan gave Duan Heng a gloomy look.

If Duan Heng hadn't been so stingy, they would have already obtained the complete intelligence from Xu Zibu.

Why would they passively wait here?
Duan Heng could see through Xu Chuan's intention to exclude him. He sneered, his eyes filled with a threat: "Xu Chuan, don't forget, you're only here because of me."

He was the first to obtain information about the Enlightenment Spring.

However, he only bought a portion of it.

The reason was that Xu Zibu charged an exorbitant fee of 500 spirit stones, which he could not afford. He happened to meet Ouyang Zhen, who was also inquiring about the Enlightenment Spirit Spring, and the two agreed to jointly fund the purchase of information.

However, he did not expect that Ouyang Zhen had three other people besides himself, including Xu Chuan.

The more people there are, the more competitive it becomes.

Duan Heng was naturally dissatisfied, but there was nothing he could do, since he had already said it.

The group discussed it together and decided that each of them would contribute one hundred spirit stones to buy information about the Enlightenment Spring first.

Unexpectedly, upon meeting the five people, Xu Zibu demanded a price increase of 200 spirit stones from each of them. This naturally aroused Duan Heng's strong dissatisfaction.

On the one hand, he was reluctant to spend twice as many spirit stones.

On the other hand, he didn't want to buy the complete intelligence too early.

Because in this way, Ouyang Zhen would firmly control the leadership of this five-person gang.

He also wanted to bring in some helpers to seize control of the narrative.

Ultimately, due to Duan Heng's unreasonable demands, Xu Zibu had no choice but to cancel the deal and leave on his own.

As a result, the five missed a golden opportunity to obtain information about the Enlightenment Spring.

At the time, the five people didn't care, after all, if the deal didn't go through the first time, there would be a second and a third time.

Xu Zibu's departure does not mean he will stop selling information about the Enlightenment Spring.

The five of them also need some time to reintegrate their ideas.

No one expected that this would be their last meeting with Xu Zibu.

Upon learning of Xu Zibu's confirmed death, the other four were both angry and annoyed, with Xu Chuan being particularly dissatisfied with Duan Heng.

Duan Heng, however, did not care. He knew in his heart that there was no hope for that complete intelligence.

Now, everyone can only try to piece together clues about the Enlightenment Spring from the incomplete information he has.

He believed he had the upper hand, and seeing Xu Chuan's attitude, he showed no mercy.

Xu Chuan's face turned ashen. As a disciple of the ancient Xuanjian Sect, he always held himself in high esteem and looked down on emerging sects like the Farong Cave, and even more so on Duan Heng, who lacked a sense of propriety.

How could he tolerate being given the cold shoulder by Duan Heng?

Just as he was about to lash out, Ouyang Zhen shook his head slightly, signaling him to calm down.

Xu Chuan took a deep breath and forced himself to hold it in.

He was a smart man and immediately understood Ouyang Zhen's meaning.

The Enlightenment Spring was a priceless treasure that no one present wanted to miss.

Duan Heng is the only one who has a clue to the Enlightenment Spring.

In the nameless valley, Ouyang Zhen was willing to speak up for him.

But in front of the Green Cloud Cave gate, Ouyang Zhen would only stand on Duan Heng's side.

Seeing Xu Chuan swallowing his anger, Duan Heng couldn't help but let out a contemptuous laugh.

Ouyang Zhen didn't want to escalate the situation, so he waved his hand and said, "Regardless of whether that person is a woodcutter or not, we can't let our guard down. Duan Heng, since you discovered him, go and arrest him."

Duan Heng said "Oh" and put away the bronze mirror.

For him, catching a woodcutter was a simple matter, and there was no need to refuse.

Ouyang Zhenke is different from Xu Chuan.

Although Xu Chuan came from the Xuanjian Sect, he was ultimately only an outer disciple, and his attempts to enter the inner sect were unsuccessful.

Ouyang Zhen, on the other hand, was the direct descendant of a powerful Golden Core clan, making their statuses vastly different.

After Duan Heng left, Xu Chuan said indignantly, "Brother Ouyang, if you ask me, we should just interrogate him about the Enlightenment Spring. Why should the four of us be controlled by just one person?"

Ouyang Zhen glanced at him but didn't say anything.

Dealing with Duan Heng is easy, but what if Duan Heng refuses to submit even at the cost of his life?
Or is it possible that they deliberately provided false information?
At that time, the Enlightenment Spring will only drift further and further away from him.

Xu Chuan is intelligent, but his temperament is rather poor; when he is confused, he loses his plans.

No wonder he could never get into the inner sect of the Xuanjian Sect.

"Although this person has some value, one should not become too close to him."

In the blink of an eye, Ouyang Zhen had made up his mind.

(End of this chapter)