Starting with the creation of the Immortal Clan through the compilation of the family genealogy.

Chapter 53 Setting a Trap: Luring the Enemy into the Urn

The young man flew into a rage: "You're asking for death!" Before he finished speaking, a thick, ink-black aura suddenly shot out from his sleeve, twisting in the air into a half-foot-long ghostly claw. Its nails gleamed with a bluish-black cold light, carrying a bone-corroding, putrid stench that went straight for Meng Xihong's face.

Meng Xihong remained unmoved, only raising his right hand slightly.

A warm, golden aura of righteous energy suddenly rose from his palm, and when it collided with the ghostly claw, it produced a piercing "sizzle" sound.

The dark blue ghost claw instantly melted away, and the putrid yin energy was completely cleansed by the righteous energy, leaving only a wisp of green smoke drifting into the air, which was quickly swallowed up by the spiritual mist.

"What?!" The young man's expression changed drastically, and he staggered back half a step as if he had seen his nemesis. He hurriedly raised the Hundred Soul Banner, his fingertips forming a strange hand seal, and he uttered a low shout: "Devouring Souls!"

The black mist on the banner surged even more fiercely, and more than a dozen disheveled, wronged souls roared and rushed out, each with a bluish-purple face and bared fangs, their shrieks making one's eardrums ache.

Meng Xihong snorted coldly, his righteous aura surging: "You dare to show off your mere evil arts before an expert!"

"Behold my mighty sword energy!"

The sword energy roared out, like white light piercing through the fog. Wherever it passed, the wronged souls let out mournful screams and turned into black mist and dissipated.

In an instant, the black aura on the Hundred Souls Banner faded by more than half, and the young man's hand holding the banner pole trembled: "Impossible! How could a rogue cultivator like you possess such abilities?"

Seeing this, the other two Yin Sha Sect disciples rushed to attack from the left and right. One brandished a black short blade and thrust it straight at Meng Xihong's back, while the other made a hand seal and unleashed two streams of black energy, attempting to form an encirclement.

Meng Xihong pretended not to dodge the black aura from the side, and was grazed by it. He immediately let out a muffled groan, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

While he was wiping away the blood, he quickly transmitted his voice to Yun Songzi: "Senior, cooperate with the act and leave one alive."

Before Yun Songzi could respond, Meng Yanwei spoke softly from the side, his voice clear and calm: "Father, the disciple on the left has an unstable aura, he must have just broken through not long ago. If you retreat to the hot spring, you can use the steam to conceal your disordered spiritual energy."

Meng Xihong readily agreed and quietly retreated to the hot spring.

Sure enough, amidst the misty vapor, the aura around him flickered, perfectly mimicking his "weak" state.

Yun Songzi also made his move at the opportune moment, gathering a wisp of pale blue spiritual energy at his fingertips, and "barely" parried the poisoned short blade.

The ensuing "battle" became a "tacit cooperation" between Meng Xihong and Yun Songzi.

Meng Xihong staggered to avoid the attacks, then struggled to unleash his sword energy; Yun Songzi, on the other hand, was always a step behind, always managing to block the Yin Sha Sect disciple's killing moves at the most critical moments.

Seeing that the two were "exhausted," the three disciples gradually relaxed their vigilance and their moves became increasingly arrogant.

"Senior brother, they can't hold on much longer! Just now, that rogue cultivator was bluffing." One of them shouted, and the black energy attacked even more fiercely.

A glint flashed in Meng Xihong's eyes. Taking advantage of the moment when the other party was distracted by shouting, he suddenly stepped forward and launched a powerful attack.

While seemingly aiming straight for the chest, a dark blue stone brick silently appeared in his left hand, striking the back of the disciple's neck with lightning speed. The disciple collapsed to the ground without uttering a sound.

Before the other two could react, Meng Xihong had already put the blue stone brick back into his storage bag, turned around and pounced. His mighty sword energy pierced through their black qi defense and struck their dantian. This time, he didn't hold back and his attack was clean and decisive.

After dealing with the two men, Meng Xihong was about to smear blood to disguise his injuries when Meng Yanwei handed him a small porcelain bottle first: "Father, use this. This is the bottle I used to store spiritual dew. It's been cleaned. When you put their blood in it, it won't retain any spiritual energy and will look more like real injuries."

As he spoke, he even smeared some blood on his forehead, then stood on tiptoe and dabbed some on Yun Songzi's sleeve as well. "Master, the blood on your sleeve makes you look even more composed, like someone who is protecting me and my father even with minor injuries."

Yun Songzi looked at the child before her, her eyes filled with astonishment. This child not only saw through the flaws in the battle, but also thought of such meticulous details in disguise; truly a precocious talent.

He couldn't help but laugh and said, "Yan Wei is even better at strategizing than your father."

Meng Xihong chuckled, "I'm not a bad father either. This child has been reading classics since he was little, and he's very thoughtful. I guess he inherited my good genes." Not long after, the disciple who had fainted slowly woke up.

Upon opening his eyes, he saw three people covered in blood leaning against the bluestone. Meng Xihong was "weakly" supporting himself on the ground, while Meng Yanwei was "whispering" and crying, "Father, I'm afraid... will they come again?" Meng Xihong "struggled" to speak, "Don't... don't be afraid, Father can still hold them off..."

The Yin Sha Sect disciple was so frightened that he jumped up and ran away.

Meng Xihong deliberately "struggled" to chase after him, but "stumbled" and fell down. The disciple ran even faster and disappeared into the spiritual mist in the blink of an eye.

Once the breath had completely faded away, Meng Xihong stood up straight and changed into a clean blue robe.

Yun Songzi raised an eyebrow: "Xi Hong, what were you planning to do by deliberately letting him go?"

Before Meng Xihong could speak, Meng Yanwei said first, "Master, I guess my father wants to lure the Yin Sha Sect Master here."

He walked to the hot spring, picked up a piece of rubble that had fallen during the fight, and analyzed carefully, "Those three disciples were only at the fifth or sixth level of Qi Refining; they must have been scouting. He was terrified and won't investigate our true cultivation levels. He'll just report back that we encountered two cultivators at the seventh or eighth level of Qi Refining, and after a fierce battle, they were also severely injured and exhausted."

"If the Yin Sha Sect wants to monopolize the secret realm and prevent the news from leaking out, they will definitely come after us."

He paused, his eyes growing even clearer: "Moreover, currently only we and the Yin Sha Sect know about the secret realm. If we don't eliminate them as soon as possible, once their exploration fails, they might resort to desperate measures, selling the information to other sects or secretly collecting other key fragments."

The Meng family will inevitably be in grave danger. Father's move is a strategic retreat, using their strength against them, allowing him to both conserve his energy and turn the tables.

"An ancient text says: 'Make the enemy appear weak, and make them appear strong.' We show weakness to the enemy precisely to lure them into our trap."

Yun Songzi nodded repeatedly, stroking his beard and praising, "What a brilliant 'luring the enemy into the trap' move! Yan Wei is not only precocious, but also understands the art of strategy. He applies the wisdom from the book to real combat, which is truly rare."

Meng Xihong smiled and ruffled his son's hair: "This kid, he stole everything I wanted to say."

He took out a freshly picked spirit fruit from his storage bag, broke off a small piece, liquefied it with his spiritual power, and then sprinkled some spiritual liquid on top to mix it together.
“Yan Wei is right. Let’s leave some obvious clues so they can follow them. Let’s choose a place with plenty of spiritual energy and easy to ambush them, and take them out in one go.”

"Furthermore, I think we can sprinkle some more moonflower essence here. If they understand spiritual plants, they will definitely think that we are using moonflower to heal our wounds, and will be even more convinced that our injuries are severe."

Yun Songzi looked at the father and son, his eyes filled with even greater approval.

Meng Xihong is calm and resourceful, while Meng Yanwei is precocious and insightful. Such a family background is truly worth his attention.

However, she didn't let him off the hook verbally, deliberately tearing him apart: "You're full of bad intentions. I felt something was off earlier. When you mentioned staying with the Meng family earlier, were you already planning to use my help? So you've tricked me into this?"

"Oh, senior, please don't wrong me!" Meng Xihong quickly waved his hand, a smile plastered on his face. "With your sharp eyes, how could my little tricks possibly fool you? I just didn't have the heart to say it, after all, with your strength, you don't need to rely on these tricks at all."

"Besides, the reason you're willing to play along with this is because you care about Yan Wei and don't want anything to happen to the Meng family." With this combination of moves, how could you possibly refuse? Meng Xihong thought to himself.

These words were both flattering and sincere, making Yun Songzi feel quite pleased with himself. He stroked his beard and smiled, "You little rascal, you have a sweet tongue. Alright, I'll go with your idea."

Seeing this, Meng Xihong immediately seized the opportunity and reluctantly took out a Moonflower Grass from his pocket. He used his spiritual power to refine its essence and scattered it along the way, seemingly casually but actually deliberately, creating the impression that it was a "traces left behind in a panic."

Looking at his "cunning" yet smug expression, Yun Songzi couldn't help but laugh and scold, "You left such obvious clues, as if you were afraid people wouldn't be able to find them?"

"That's the effect we wanted!" Meng Xihong chuckled. "It makes them think we're panicked, so they'll chase after us without any warning."

"We'll choose a place with plenty of spiritual energy and easy to ambush them, and make sure they never come back!"

The three chatted and laughed as they continued deeper into the secret realm. The spiritual mist slowly closed behind them, leaving only a few drops of spiritual liquid residue on the ground, which shimmered faintly in the mist, as if waiting for their prey to take the bait.

(End of this chapter)