The Secrets of the Chu Family Revealed

The back of the beast was wide and flat, about as big as the main hall of the Chu Qin Sect. Sitting on it, protected by a small formation, felt as comfortable as being on solid ground.

While controlling the beast, Chu Youyan used a voice transmission technique to explain to Qi Xiu the real reasons behind the Chu family's decision to protect the Chu Qin Sect's legacy and move it to South Xijiang.

To start from the beginning, Chu Zhen, the ancestor of the Chu family from the Qi Yun Sect, was indeed the master of Qin Lie'er, the founding ancestor of the Chu Qin Sect. However, due to the custom of honoring one's predecessors, many facts were concealed by the Chu Qin sect.

Qin Lie'er had been a man of fiery temper, leading him to make many enemies among the Golden Core cultivators of the Qi Yun Sect. Because of this, he couldn't stay in the Qi Yun Sect and was forced to leave. Basically expelled.

That's what led him to establish his own sect, the Chu Qin Sect.

Qin Lier never mentioned this in the Chu Qin Sect; instead, he always emphasized his Qi Yun Sect origins.

After being expelled, he sought out Chu Zhen, expressing his desire to establish a sect.

The Da Zhou Academy's Clans' Rules and Regulations for establishing a sect weren't exactly difficult but weren't simple either. The Clans' Rules and Regulations require that anyone wishing to establish a sect must contribute by pioneering new lands.

And because this current cultivation world was a new world discovered and opened up by the Da Zhou Academy, the border areas were filled with wild ancient beasts and high-level spirit beasts.

Cultivators must seize a certain amount of land suitable for cultivation—depending on their level of cultivation—to qualify for establishing their own sects.

For a cultivator at the Golden Core stage to establish a sect, he must fight in these dangerous areas, and the land he pioneered couldn't be small.

It's quite common for cultivators to lose their lives in the process.

Chu Zhen helped Qin Lie'er secure opportunities for such pioneering efforts, and he also helped him find many assistants. In the end, he even secured Chu Qin Mountain for him, a place far from the wilderness.

That wasn't an easy thing to accomplish, even for him, a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

Even within the Chu family in Qi Yun Sect, there were no Golden Core cultivators capable of establishing a sect themselves, showing the huge effort Chu Zhen put into helping him.

After Qin Lie'er, the second leader, Qin Dezhao, was notorious for being a bully, relying on the protection of his hot-tempered Golden Core ancestor, who favored him.

Once the ancestor passed away, Qin Dezhao, being only a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, realized he couldn't act arrogantly anymore. So he used the wealth left by Qin Lie'er to form alliances with wandering cultivators, making them elders in the sect to maintain his power, and he continued to bully the weak, becoming infamous in the surrounding cultivation world.

During an auction, Qin Dezhao got furious when a Qi Condensation cultivator named Han outbid him on something he really wanted. In his rage, Qin Dezhao secretly followed Han out of the marketplace, intending to teach him a lesson. Unfortunately, he never returned alive. His body was later found in a secluded area, stripped of his belongings.

Birds of a feather flock together. Those elders whom Qin Dezhao had paid generously took the opportunity to install a young outsider as a puppet sect leader. This was the third-generation sect leader, Qi. 

They used Sect Leader Qi's authority to eliminate the protection of Qin family cultivators and plundered the Chu Qin sect until there was nothing to plundered, and they dispersed, leaving the sect completely ruined and fallen.

Chu Zhen was fully aware of all these events. He had already helped Qin Lie'er so much, fulfilling his duties as a master. Once Qin Lie'er established his own sect, their master-disciple relationship naturally came to an end. And the disgraceful actions of Qin Dezhao erased any remaining respect or sympathy for the sect.

That's why the three sects had dared to confidently swallow Chu Qin Sect; they knew there would be absolutely no one to come to aid them.

As for Chu Qin Sect, both the Qin family and the farmer Sect Leader Qi Sect Leader had avoided discussing their embarrassing history, keeping it buried deep. Young cultivators like Qi Xiu had been completely ignorant of the truth.

The Chu family's sudden decision to intervene again was because, as Chu Youyan had said in the Sect Hall, another ancestor, Chu Hongshang, an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, had pioneered a large territory in South Xinjiang and formally established a sect there. 

The area was desolate and wild and in urgent need of population, cultivators, and affiliated sects to enrich it. Chu Hongshang had asked for Chu Zhen's support, and naturally, Chu Zhen provided strong backing.

This led Chu Zhen to recall the imminent extinction of the Chu Qin Sect. Nearing two thousand years and approaching the limit of Nascent Soul cultivators, Chu Zhen had become increasingly nostalgic, prompting Chu Youyan to visit Chu Qin Mountain and safeguarding the sect's continuity.

As for Qin Siyian, Chu Youyan, fearing that intervening in this matter would lack proper justification, forcibly brought him from the Huang Hou An family to Chu Qin Mountain.

"I'm telling you all this so you understand that our Chu family has done more than enough for your Chu Qin Sect! This time, as you head to South Xinjiang, even though the Chu family there has promised protection, don't assume you have any special relationship with us. Thinking otherwise will only lead to your demise, understand?" Chu Youyan stared at Qi Xiu, emphasizing each word.

Qi Xiu hastily agreed, his head still spinning from what Chu Youyan had just told him. Everything he had thought he knew about Chu Qin Sect since he was a child was turned upside down. It was shocking to learn that the place to which he felt so deeply connected had such a disgraceful and ugly past.

Now, the destruction of the Chu Qin sect, in his view, didn't seem so unacceptable after all.

Chu Youyan then started explaining the situation in South Xinjiang, keeping it brief since he hadn't been there himself.

In general, the Chu family's territory in South Xinjiang bordered the southernmost part of the Qi Yun Sect to the north. To the east was the territory of another powerful sect, the Beast Taming Sect. To the west was another major sect with Nascent Soul cultivators. To the south lay a vast, uninhabitable region known as the Death Swamp. Beyond the Death Swamp to the south was the territory of the mysterious sect, the White Mountain Sect.

From Chu Qin Mountain to South Xinjiang, if the new head of the Qin family decided to follow the Chu Qin Sect there, the journey would take about seven months on the road. 

As for Qi Xiu and the others, Chu Youyan would first take them to a contact point where cultivators from the Chu family of South Xinjiang would meet them. From there, the Chu family of South Xinjiang would arrange their transportation.

Once explaining all this, Chu Youyan closed his eyes to rest and stopped talking. Qi Xiu and Zhang Shishi exchanged glances, but with Chu Youyan present, they didn't dare to act recklessly and instead they sat quietly and started to cultivate.

After flying for half a day, a vast lake surrounded by mountains came into view. The beast began gracefully circling the mirror-like surface of the lake, gradually descending lower and lower.

Chu Youyan stood up and shouted a few harsh words. The beast let out a mournful cry, its snake-like head showing a reluctant look resembling a human's. In spite of its apparent unwillingness, the beast had no choice but to dove headfirst towards the lake.

Qi Xiu and the others watched anxiously as the lake drew closer, their hearts pounding in their throats. Qin Wei Yu, a younger disciple, and a 14-year-old disciple named Gu Ji screamed in fear, while the rest fought to restrain their own terror with pale faces.

Finally, the beast collided with the lake surface. Qi Xiu shut his eyes tightly, expecting the shock of hitting water, but he felt nothing. When he opened his eyes, the beast was flying through a valley, under a clear sky and white clouds, with no sign of water anywhere. 

The large lake they had seen moments ago turned out to be an illusion!

 "Look!" Chu Youyan pointed to where a huge shuttle-shaped object — hundreds of zhangs long and over seventy zhangs wide — was hovering in midair. 

There were many cultivators riding various-shaped flying items, controlling different types of magical beasts as they orderly entered the shuttle one by one. 

"That's a third-level flying item called the Wood Driving Wind Shuttle!" Chu Youyan loudly said. "This is what you'll be taking to South Xinjiang!"

TL: (1 zhang = 10 feet)