I planted the spiritual roots for my people, and they bestowed upon me a body inscribed with incense

"Oh?...What grudge do you have against the Zhang family that you would risk your life to steal something from an immortal?"

Upon hearing this, the young man remained silent for a long while, then his eyes sharpened like an eagle's. "Does the immortal know the former Grand Historian of the Imperial Court?" Li Yuan nodded upon hearing this, naturally knowing the answer.

"I am the grandson of the former Grand Historian, Grand Historian Situ, Grand Historian Situ Tongyou."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan roughly understood the grudge between the young man and the Zhang family. It seemed that the Zhang family had a great deal to do with the downfall of the previous Grand Historian.

"I keep my word. You won't die, and you can continue to pass on messages to the Li family. But you have to say whatever I tell you to say, understand?"

"As long as the Zhang family can be destroyed, I will obey the immortal's commands." The young man's eyes were firm as he spoke.

In response, Li Yuan instructed Li Chang and the others to take the boy away first. They needed to investigate the matter secretly to find out the truth. If it was true, then Situ Tongyou was quite resourceful at such a young age, managing to survive the annihilation of his entire clan.

Li Yuan then wrote a letter and asked him to deliver it to Zhou Boyuan. He needed to consult Zhou Boyuan about matters of the court, and also needed to carefully investigate the true strength of the Zhang family in the capital.

After several orders were given, the Li family members began to move quickly. The Sishui Escort Agency dispatched dozens of people, and everyone headed towards the imperial city in different directions.

After arranging everything, more than three days had passed. Li Yuan made a special trip to the Luo family to ask Luo Tong for help and also to visit Xu Qingfeng at the Xu family with Luo Tong.

After seeing that Xu Qingfeng was not at the Xu family home, the two returned home.

Three more days passed. Just as Li Yuan was cultivating, Luo Tong rushed to the Li family's courtyard. After the Li family servants informed Li Yuan, Li Yuan arrived at the courtyard at the foot of the mountain.

"Brother Li, do you know how Fellow Daoist Xu is doing now?"

Li Yuan looked puzzled upon hearing this, but quickly realized what was going on.

"Foundation Building?"

Luo Tong nodded with a serious expression.

"According to sources, Fellow Daoist Xu had already established his foundation at Shuanglong Pass. Now he has become a prince personally appointed by the Emperor of Daqing. He will probably return to Qingshan County from the capital within three days."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan's face was filled with shock.

"Fellow Daoist Luo, then what identities should we present ourselves at that time?"

Luo Tong pondered for a moment, then slowly said:

"After Fellow Daoist Xu takes office, let's take some congratulatory gifts and sound him out to see how he feels about our two families. What do you think?"

"This is the only way. However, no matter what, our two families must stand together. Otherwise, if the Xu family defeats us one by one, our two families will be in grave danger."

Luo Tong nodded and slowly said:

"That's true. Our two families are now in the same boat. I just don't know what the Sun family of Longhua Mountain is thinking now."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan smiled.

"I'm not happy about Fellow Daoist Luo. If it were before, Fellow Daoist Xu might have attacked my Li family first. But now, with the Sun family's reputation as an alchemy family and their fire vein, things are probably not going to end well."

Upon hearing this, Luo Tong smiled knowingly at him.

"It's good that Fellow Daoist Li understands. If the Xu family takes down the Sun family first, our two families will still have a chance to catch our breath for a while."

"If the three of us openly form an alliance, the Xu family will not gain any benefits, and we cannot bear the wrath of the Foundation Establishment cultivators."

The two continued their discussion until evening before Luo Tong finally left.

Just as Luo Tong had predicted, three days later, all the officials in Qingshan County came out to greet the mysterious figure. Accompanied by the sound of hooves, a magnificent first-level demon beast, the Mane Horse, appeared outside Qingshan County.

Meanwhile, all the officials in the city jogged out of the city, and the prefect personally led the first-level demon beast, the mane-maned horse.

Seeing this scene, even though Xu Qingfeng had no interest in worldly fame, a smile appeared on his face. As for the Xu family members, they all stood up straight, exuding an aura of having gained power and looking down upon the world for thousands of years.

The prefect even held a grand banquet especially for the Xu family.

Li Yuan and Luo Tong naturally received the news as well. They were also at the banquet arranged by the prefect, and their seats were only after the Xu and Sun families.

Xu Qingfeng did not appear at the banquet this time; instead, Xu Daoqian took full charge of everything. Xu Daoqian was quite polite to the two of them. Seeing that they were unsure of Xu Qingfeng's thoughts, the two of them had no intention of lingering and hurriedly returned to their respective homes.

After returning home, Li Daqiang took out two lists and handed them to Li Yuan.

"Yuan'er, these are the members of the Zhang family in the capital who are publicly known. And what that young man said should be true. Back then, Grand Historian Situ was wiped out because of the Zhang family. And Situ Tongyou did escape back then."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan nodded.

"Besides that boy, have the other two made any moves these past few days?"

Li Daqiang shook his head.

"Aside from eating, the two of them did not exhibit any unusual behavior."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan nodded.

"There are two people in the Zhang family who are at the peak of Qi Refining. One is Zhang Fan's grandfather, Zhang Xiangkun, and the other is his uncle, Zhang Xiangbing, who is also at the peak of Qi Refining."

However, the Zhang family would never dare to force the issue this time, otherwise, if they were to spread the word about the Moonstone, the Zhang family would not fare well either.

Thinking of this, Li Yuan felt much more at ease. As long as there were no Foundation Establishment cultivators in the small fishing village, the Li family was not afraid of the two Qi Refining Peak cultivators from the Zhang family. Moreover, if the two wanted to cause trouble for the Li family, they would definitely have a reason.

At this moment, Zhang Fan, from the Zhang family, bowed to the two rare cultivators at the peak of Qi Refining in the hall.

"Grandpa, Uncle, Fan'er has come back to see you."

The two men couldn't stop smiling as they looked at Zhang Fan, who had reached the eighth level of Qi Refining at only twenty years old.

"Hahaha, good grandson, you've come back to see your grandpa. Don't worry, grandpa has already taken care of this matter for you, and is just waiting for you to come back."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Fan's face lit up with joy.

"Grandpa, is that bastard child of the Situ family really in the hands of the Li family now?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiangkun nodded.

"This bastard has no idea how much trouble he will cause the Li family this time. I deliberately put the family jade pendant in the study. After that kid stole the jade pendant, I sent him to the small fishing village to gather information. Situ Tongyou has already been tainted with the aura of the jade pendant."

"When we enter the small fishing village, I will be able to find this bastard by following the scent of the jade pendant."

"And just a day ago, your father sent word that someone was inquiring about my Zhang family and the Situ family from back then? At that moment, I knew that Situ Tongyou must have told the Li family about his background, and the Li family trusted this bastard."

The Situ family has committed treason by harboring their illegitimate child. If we have a legitimate reason, the Zhang family can take action against the Li family.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Fan's face lit up with joy.

"Alright, as long as we get the Li family's Moonstone, the Moon Dew produced will definitely allow my Zhang family to gather the resources for advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage more quickly."

Then Zhang Fan slowly looked at his grandfather, Zhang Xiangkun.

"Grandpa, when should we report the crime to Li Jia'an?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xiangkun shook his head.

"Don't panic. Your father is contacting officials. Someone needs to witness that Situ Tongyou is hiding in the Li family and that he must confess that he is Situ Tongyou. We need to wait for that bastard to send back the message so that my Zhang family can pretend to take the bait."

Zhang Fan admired his shrewd grandfather even more; he never expected that this bastard of the Situ family would be used even on his deathbed.