Feng Xiaoyan's Shock, Quickly Summon the Ancestor

Chapter 28

Chenlan County, one of the "three prefectures and ten counties," boasted city walls over ten meters high. The city gates, spanning ten meters in width, were crowded with a constant stream of people.

Throughout the entire Xuanfeng Kingdom, this locale was considered one of the most prosperous, largely because it lay within the territory of the Qin family.

Ordinary people might not know, but the Qin family—as well as the Feng family, the royal family of the Xuanfeng Kingdom—had its roots in the Tianxing Domain, with its main branch being a cultivation family from that region.

At that moment, an extremely rare congestion had formed at the city gates, all because of the appearance of a carriage.

The carriage was adorned with intricate patterns, featured a canopy on top with golden chains hanging down, and was pulled by exquisite, noble steeds.

Those in the know could immediately recognize it as the carriage of Qin Siwen, the prefect of Chenlan County.

However, that was not the sole cause of the commotion. A greater reason was the large patches of bloodstains covering the carriage and the faint stench of decay wafting from it.

While driving with one hand, the coachman held a human head in the other—the source of the rotten smell. Although the temperature was mild, it had taken several days for the coachman to travel from Tieniu Town to Chenlan County, and by then, Qin Siwen's head had begun to rot.

"That head... It looks somewhat like the prefect's!"

"Are you crazy? How dare you speak of the prefect like that!"

Few dared to reply, for this was Qin Siwen's carriage—and Qin Siwen was regarded like a local emperor in Chenlan County.

At that moment, the coachman's eyes were bloodshot, and his hand, which held the head, trembled slightly. He hadn't closed his eyes for several days, desperate to reach Chenlan County as quickly as possible. Now, he had finally arrived.

"Ahem."

The coachman cleared his dry, hoarse throat, drawing the attention of everyone nearby.

"This is the consequence of showing disrespect to the Taoist Lord Mimeng Wangqing. If you want to protect yourselves, you'd better enshrine the Taoist Lord day and night at your homes!"

After uttering those words, the tension in the coachman visibly eased, as he believed his soul would be safe even in death. With a sudden thud, he collapsed, and Qin Siwen's head tumbled into the crowd.

Chaos erupted. Qin Siwen was dead, and onlookers scrambled to leave the scene quickly to avoid any implication. Moreover, who on earth was this Taoist Lord Mimeng Wangqing? No one had ever heard of him!

In the midst of the pandemonium, a squad of soldiers arrived to restore order. An old man dressed in magnificent clothes approached and examined the human head on the ground.

"My son! Who is so vicious as to insult you like this? Take this coachman back to the mansion—I will interrogate him myself!"

Soldiers swiftly seized the coachman and escorted him back to the mansion. Several basins of cold water were poured over him to rouse him from his stupor, and after a series of interrogations, the old man learned the full story.

"A Foundation Establishment cultivator. So it was a Foundation Establishment cultivator who took action. You shall be buried with my son!"

Having learned everything, the old man slashed the coachman's throat with a knife, ending his life.

Meanwhile, in Tieniu Town, Li Changmeng sensed something amiss.

"He died so quickly? I'll ask later exactly how he met his end."

He had used the Soul-Settling and Guiding Spell on the coachman; once the coachman died, his soul would naturally be drawn to him, allowing Li Changmeng to verify whether the instructions had been followed.

Based on Qin Siwen's dying words, Li Changmeng deduced that the other party was well aware of cultivators—and knew quite a lot about them. In fact, he guessed that the high-ranking officials of the Xuanfeng Kingdom were no strangers to the cultivation world. Being close to the Tianxing Domain, it would be strange if they weren't. What Li Changmeng still did not understand was how these officials were connected to the cultivation world and what kind of entities they were allied with.

"No matter what, Tieniu Town and those three villages are my basic territory. Unless a Core Formation cultivator comes, I won't yield an inch!"

Cultivation was essentially about one thing: contention. Now, relying on the incense power of one town and three villages, his strength surpassed that of an average Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Moreover, after killing more than a thousand people, he had a faint glimmer of understanding that suggested he was not far from attaining enlightenment. For a Foundation Establishment cultivator to break through to the Core Formation stage, attaining enlightenment was of utmost importance—and Li Changmeng was not about to back down at this moment.

Furthermore, he still had a way out. His master was now a Core Formation cultivator. As long as the Xuanfeng Kingdom didn't dare to call in a Core Formation expert to deal with a Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivator, Li Changmeng would have room to maneuver.

In the imperial palace of Feihuang City, Feng Xiaoyan looked at the secret letter from Chenlan County with disbelief.

"The Incense Path cultivator behind the Taoist Lord Mimeng Wangqing is already at the Foundation Establishment stage? How is that possible? Taoist Lord Mimeng Wangqing has only appeared a few months ago—how could he be a Foundation Establishment cultivator already?"

Feng Xiaoyan couldn't figure it out. Foundation Establishment cultivators were rare, and Incense Path cultivators differed greatly from righteous cultivators in many ways.

First, Incense Path cultivators were known for their remarkably long lifespans—often more than three times that of cultivators of the same realm—but this came at the price of a much slower cultivation speed. Righteous cultivators could easily absorb spiritual qi and convert it into spiritual power, causing their cultivation levels to rise relatively quickly. In contrast, converting the power of incense wishes into spiritual power was much slower, leading to a gradual increase in cultivation level.

For an Incense Path cultivator, it was quite normal to spend a hundred years advancing from the Qi Refining stage to the Foundation Establishment stage—even with good talent, it might take more than a decade. This was because Incense Path cultivators absorbed the power of incense and lacked the various means of obtaining spiritual qi that righteous cultivators enjoyed.

So, could this Foundation Establishment cultivator behind Taoist Lord Mimeng Wangqing have come from the Battlefield of a Hundred Battles?

Feng Xiaoyan mulled over this, speculating about Li Changmeng's origin. He could never have imagined that Li Changmeng would reach the Foundation Establishment stage in just a few months, his cultivation speed simply astonishing. Even Li Changmeng and Taoist Baiyun had assumed his rapid progress was due solely to his exceptional talent.

"No matter where he comes from, he poses too great a threat to the Xuanfeng Kingdom. Although the Xuanfeng Kingdom exists in the mortal world, it controls the vast territory of an entire country. Not only does it supply fresh blood for the family, but it also collects numerous spiritual objects each year—and there are even three small spirit stone veins. These are not things that an outsider Foundation Establishment cultivator can covet!"

Feng Xiaoyan also had not expected that the Qi Refining cultivator he once thought could be easily eliminated had transformed into a Foundation Establishment cultivator with formidable strength. Now, his only recourse was to summon the family ancestor to deal with this threat.

With that in mind, Feng Xiaoyan took out paper and pen and began recording Li Changmeng's details. After writing everything down, he folded the paper, stuffed it into a bamboo tube, and tied it to the foot of a falcon—one infused with a bit of monster beast bloodline.

"Go, and bring the ancestor here!"

He then untied the chains from the falcon. With a sharp eagle-like cry, the falcon soared into the sky.

Feng Xiaoyan's heart calmed. The ancestor of the Feng family was a Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator, only one step away from the Core Formation stage, and several elders were at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage. Even in the Tianxing Domain, where the Feng family resided, they were regarded as a relatively powerful clan. If the ancestor managed to break through to the Core Formation stage, the family could leap to become a medium-sized power and dominate the region.

After all, this was merely an Incense Path Foundation Establishment cultivator—nothing to be afraid of!