18: Chapter 18 Reactions from All Parties

After sending Lin Feng away, Clan Leader Chen Xuanlin had all the Family members pack up the belongings and corpses of the fallen Family members, glanced at the Wu Family, and thought that starting today, the Chen Family would no longer be a Family that could be slaughtered at will.

Then, he led the remaining Family members to leave the Wu Family, leaving behind only the few remaining Wu Family Cultivators.

On the way, Chen Xuanyi asked, "Fifth Brother, why would that Senior Lin help us?"

Clan Leader Chen Xuanlin glanced at the crowd and found that everyone's eyes were filled with doubt, so he explained.

After a while, everyone understood. It turned out that Clan Leader Chen Xuanlin had given the news of that second-tier Spiritual Vein to Lin Feng, thus gaining Lin Feng's assistance. As for why Lin Feng was here, that was not something they could understand.

As for the Zhao Family's original purpose in coming here, it was very simple: to mediate the private decisive battle between the Chen Family and the other two families. After all, all three families were within the jurisdiction of the Zhao Family, and it was impossible for the Zhao Family to let the three families kill each other.

Otherwise, when the beast tide arrived, the Zhao Family would face the problem of insufficient manpower. After all, the main source of Qi Refining Cultivators still came from the Qi Refining families under its command.

However, after seeing the combat power displayed by the Chen Family, other thoughts naturally arose in their minds. A few years ago, the overall strength of the Chen Family was still very weak, which was obvious to all major forces in Qinghe County, yet now they could suppress and beat the Wu Family.

Even a Foundation Establishment Family could not enhance the combat power of its own Qi Refining Cultivators in such a short time. If this happened, either the Chen Family had hidden its strength, or the Chen Family had obtained certain treasures over the years—especially considering that a few years ago, the Monster Hunting Team of the Chen Family disappeared for several months and returned safely, which was enough to make people's imaginations run wild.

"Alright, if Senior Lin goes deep into the Monster Mountain Range and confirms that there are no issues, he is willing to provide a foundation establishment pill to us."

Hearing this, everyone was startled. Under the signal of Clan Leader Chen Xuanlin, everyone said no more and headed towards Qingyang Mountain.

...

Returning to the Family, Chen Changqing first held a funeral with all Family members for those who died, among whom was Chen Changqing's grandfather, Chen Xuanqi.

This time, the casualties of the Chen Family were not small. Out of twenty-three Cultivators, eight died, two from the Xuan generation died, a full six died from the Yuan generation, and the Chang generation was unexpectedly fortunate: four participated in the battle, and four returned.

However, the Wu Family suffered even more casualties, with no less than thirty Cultivators dying. Such a battle record was something the Chen Family could never have imagined before.

Because of this, the Chen Family was now famous, and every force settled in Qinghe County had to re-examine the Chen Family.

...

One of the Qi Refining families under the Zhao Family, Tianfeng Mountain, the Lin Family.

"I didn't expect the Chen Family to hide so deeply. Fortunately, we didn't listen to the Xu Family at that time, otherwise we would have offended such a formidable enemy as the Chen Family." A middle-aged man wearing a green robe sighed with emotion.

"Clan Chief, what should we do next?" said an old man with entirely white hair.

"Since we cannot be enemies with the Chen Family, we should naturally be friends with them. After all, more than a decade has passed since the beast tide, and a beast tide might not fail to appear in these years."

"Then I will send someone to ally with the Chen Family right now."

The middle-aged man nodded and handed this matter over to the old man to handle.

...

To the south of Qinghe County, a line of emerald-green peaks connected, lush and magnificent.

This was Cuiwei Mountain, where the strongest Qi Refining Family under the Zhao Family, the Han Family, was located. It was rumored that the Han Family had two Cultivators at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining Perfection and three at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining. Such combat power had to be taken seriously even by a Foundation Establishment Family, and whether they had any hidden forces was unknown.

"The Chen Family is truly incredible nowadays, actually beating the Wu Family to the point of having no power to fight back. Although the Wu Family's strength is not very strong, it can at least rank in the top fifteen among the thirty-odd Qi Refining families in Qinghe County."

"Indeed! I didn't expect that Chen Xuanyi could still take another step forward. It really caught me off guard."

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Even if that Chen Xuanyi can break through to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining Perfection, wanting to achieve Foundation Establishment is simply impossible. Don't forget why Chen Xuanyi lost his arm back then," Han Yuesheng said indifferently.

"Family Head, are you saying...?" That person stretched out a finger and pointed towards the sky.

Han Yuesheng nodded and said no more.

...

The Zhao Family.

"Huaiyi, are you saying that the kid from the Chen Family actually slew several Middle Stage Qi Refining Cultivators in succession with Early Stage Qi Refining cultivation?!" Zhao Yuanzhen asked in surprise.

"Yes, Family Head. This child is exceptionally talented. Once he grows up, he will definitely be a great hazard to our clan. Should we...?" Zhao Huaiyi made a slashing motion across his neck, and his meaning was self-evident.

"No rush. Didn't you say that Lin Feng helped the Chen Family? If we make a move now, even a fool would guess that our Zhao Family did it. Anyway, there is plenty of time. We can just wait until the beast tide arrives and take the opportunity to strike then."

"Beast tide?" Hearing this, many people in the ancestral hall of the Zhao Family showed shock on their faces.

"Family Head, is the beast tide coming again?" someone asked.

"That's not it. Only a little over ten years have passed since the beast tide. Even at the fastest, it will be another ten years."

"I see." Some people wiped away cold sweat.

...

A bustling courtyard of the Foundation Establishment Li Family.

"Dad, you don't know, the Chen Family that Aunt married into back then actually beat the Wu Family so badly that its Origin Qi suffered heavy damage. Now the outside world is going crazy with rumors." Li Qingying ran over with a smile, grabbing her father and saying.

"I know, I know." Li Chengmian said helplessly. Back then, he was quite dissatisfied with Li Chenghui, his own younger sister, marrying into the Chen Family. However, she was his biological sister after all; the better the Chen Family was, the better his sister would live. Yet, they could not go to visit Li Chenghui because the Chen Family was subordinate to the Zhao Family, so the Li Family could not cross boundaries at will.

...

On the other side, after this battle, the Wu Family directly degenerated into the very bottom tier among the Qi Refining families. Presumably, their ally, the Xu Family, was taking this opportunity to win over other families to deal with the Wu Family, attempting to carve up the Wu Family's interests.

By the time all matters were settled, it was already ten days later.

At this time, Chen Changqing also returned to his Immortal Cave, then sat cross-legged, took out the Storage Pouch of the Wu Family Cultivators, and began to tally the spoils of war.

There were a total of eight Storage Pouches, one of which belonged to an Early Stage Qi Refining Cultivator, and the other seven belonged to Middle Stage Qi Refining Cultivators. It could be said that in terms of the number of Cultivators killed, Chen Changqing ranked third in the entire battle; Chen Xuanlin was first, and Chen Xuanyi was second.

He picked up the Early Stage Qi Refining Storage Pouch and dumped all the items inside in one go. Aside from dozens of Spirit Stones and some sundries, there were no other valuable items.

"So poor!" Chen Changqing muttered, looking at the other seven Storage Pouches, counting them one by one with much anticipation.

After a while, he looked at the pile of Spirit Stones, a dozen bottles of Medicinal Pills, and several first-tier Magical Artifacts in front of him.

Among them, the Spirit Stones alone numbered over eleven hundred. As for the dozen bottles of Medicinal Pills, apart from eight bottles of valley-banning pills which were worthless, there were four bottles of first-tier Medium Grade spirit-restoring pills, each valued at thirty Spirit Stones.

Aside from these Medicinal Pills, the most valuable thing was the bottle in his hand, which contained three crystal-clear pills, each valued at fifty Spirit Stones. These Medicinal Pills were named Small Spirit Accumulation Pills, prepared specifically to allow Cultivators at the Third Layer of Qi Refining Perfection to break through the Middle Stage Qi Refining Bottleneck. For Chen Changqing, who was currently at the Third Layer of Qi Refining, these Medicinal Pills happened to be useful, though he only used one and then smoothly broke through to become a fourth-layer Qi Refining Cultivator.

As for the remaining two, one was given to Li Qingling, and the other was handed directly to the Family for the clan members to use.

...

Three months later.

Chen Changqing accompanied Chen Yuanjin to Qinghe Market.

During this period, besides cultivating in his Immortal Cave, he studied Medium Grade Talismans. The pity was that ever since his grandfather also died, he was the only Talisman Master in the entire Family, so now he could only slowly grope and explore every kind of Talisman he learned. Fortunately, Chen Xuanqi had left behind a Legacy during his lifetime. As the Family's only Talisman Master, Chen Changqing naturally had the qualification to browse all the Legacies left behind by the Family.

Therefore, at present, his Cultivation not only broke through to become a fourth-layer Qi Refining Cultivator, but he also became a first-tier Medium Grade Talisman Master, and the success rate of refining the water wall talisman reached sixty percent.