Legacy of the Spirit Stone

Chapter 74 – Return home

On the way home, Yang Lingrui learned some things from Zhao Qi.

The reason he was the only one sent for rescue was that Elder Yu and Yang Linghu, who had broken through to the Qi Condensation Third Layer, had gone to the distant northern mines.

"Is someone eyeing our family's mines again?"

"No, it's because there was some strange activity at the Zhang family's Mulberry Dew Valley. People from Clear River Town came seeking help, so Master and Senior Brother Linghu went there together."

"Mulberry Dew Valley? Strange activity?"

Hearing this, Yang Lingrui frowned.

He had been suspicious for a while now. The Zhang family's Mulberry Dew Valley had been closed off for two or three years.

For cultivators, this wasn't a big deal. As long as there was enough spiritual energy, they needed very little food to maintain their physical strength.

But what about ordinary people?

The Zhang family chose to settle in Mulberry Dew Valley because of its easily defensible terrain.

With several natural barriers and narrow paths, it was very difficult for outsiders to attack the Zhang family.

However, this also meant that the Zhang family had very little arable land, and most of their supplies had to be purchased from Clear River Town to meet their household needs.

Although the Zhang family was not as large as the current Yang family, counting the servants and slaves, there were still more than a hundred people.

After closing the valley, how were these people supposed to live?

"The mayor of Clear River Town returned yesterday and should have already met up with Master and Senior Brother," Zhao Qi said.

Yang Lingrui felt a sense of foreboding.

"This matter is probably not simple; something disastrous must have happened in that valley!" he thought.

Zhao Qi didn't dare delay for a moment, running until his legs were numb, and finally brought Yang Lingrui back to the Yang family after three days.

Yang Lingqing hurriedly took him to the ancestral hall to find Chen Yang for healing.

Under the healing light, Yang Lingrui's injuries healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"It's a pity about this Black Iron Soft Armor. It was originally bought for Elder Ancestor, but now it's in such a tattered state," Yang Lingrui said regretfully.

"Don't say that. Keeping your life is more important than anything else."

Yang Lingqing, sitting on a meditation mat nearby, said.

In her view, as long as Lingrui could return home alive, it didn't matter if all the treasures were destroyed.

"By the way, there's something important!"

Yang Lingrui took out a letter from Yang Guanfeng and handed it to Yang Lingqing.

After reading it, Yang Lingqing felt a pang in her heart, her eyes reddening: "As long as the Ancestor is well, that's the best news. But it's hard on him, being on the frontier and still worrying about us."

Then, as Yang Lingrui recovered from his injuries, he recounted his experiences to Yang Lingqing in detail.

Chen Yang, listening nearby, couldn't help but feel tense when Yang Lingrui talked about meeting with the prominent family.

"The prominent families are indeed formidable. They could see my arrangements in Yang Lingrui's sea of consciousness. Fortunately, this Su Lingyun overthought things. If he had been more straightforward and conducted a surprise inspection on the Yang family, our situation would have been dire."

Chen Yang had never encountered a force of the prominent family's level before.

Yang Lingrui's trip to the conference not only brought back these spiritual treasures but also a lot of important information related to this world.

This also gave Chen Yang a clearer understanding of this world and the scale of the Tiger-Chasing Dynasty.

This world is called the Lingyuan Realm, divided into four continents and five regions.

They are the Canglan, Liyang, Qingyue, and Youzhu continents, plus the five regions of east, south, west, north, and central.

Geographically, the four continents are located within the four regions of east, south, west, and north.

Because the borders between the continents and regions are separated by natural barriers and suspended rivers, they are named as separate continents.

The Tiger-Chasing Dynasty is located in a region in the northwest corner of the eastern region and Canglan continent.

There are five dynasties in this area, besides the previously mentioned Dark Heaven and Eastern Wasteland, there are also the western Mo Liang and the southern Yun Chu.

In addition to the dynasties, there are several major sects and prominent families with True Intent Realm cultivators in this area.

The position of Tiger-Chasing is rather awkward, surrounded by the four major dynasties.

In such a difficult situation, being able to protect itself is already quite good, but Tiger-Chasing managed to sweep away other small neighboring countries and eventually establish itself as a dynasty amidst strong enemies. The founding emperor who established the dynasty was indeed an extraordinary hero.

Looking more closely, there are eighteen cities within the dynasty, Moonwatch City being one of them.

Because it's in the heartland of the dynasty, with no threat of war, the city lord Song Kaiyang is only at the Late Core Formation stage.

In some important cities, like Qiulu City, the dynasty's hub where Gao Hui and Cheng Yi previously stayed, and the eastern border city of Wanghai City, there are Spirit Connection Realm dynasty cultivators stationed.

For the sake of stable development, sects within the dynasty generally stay away from border areas prone to conflict, forming a certain pattern.

In the central region, sect forces are generally stronger than the local city forces of the dynasty, forming relationships like that between Moonwatch City and Lone Moon Mountain.

But at the border areas, the dynasty's cities become the regional leaders, and the surrounding small sects have to follow their orders.

This seems to benefit some of the stronger sect forces, allowing them to develop peacefully within the dynasty.

However, because of the presence of the imperial capital Chongtian City and the True Intent Realm national master stationed in the center, the sects are actually encircled by the dynasty both internally and externally.

The prominent family forces are scattered throughout the dynasty, maneuvering between the dynasty and the sects.

Whether they manage to thrive by playing both sides or end up offending both and being unwelcome depends entirely on their own abilities.

Being able to integrate these complex large and small forces without causing trouble ultimately comes down to the Tiger-Chasing Dynasty having a mid-level cultivator who can hold the fort.

Under its rule, whether sects or prominent families, they can only engage in power struggles within the rules set by the dynasty.

Of course, some of the sects and prominent families that have established themselves within the dynasty also have backgrounds and connections.

For example, Lone Moon Mountain and the Su family, their main sect or family lineage is also in the northwest of Canglan continent, forming a new balance of power with the various dynasties in the region on a higher level.

This is what Yang Lingqing previously said, "The three forces have always been big ones enveloping the small ones, layer upon layer, with a complexity of interests far beyond what the current Yang family can imagine."

"The Li family is indeed struggling to protect itself, but Li Cheng is a person of good character. Even when his family was in such a state, he didn't try to coerce or entice you."

Yang Lingqing, though she had never met Li Cheng, had a very good impression of him from Yang Lingrui's account.

"I don't know if he can survive after the Li family's upheaval, but if our family gains strength in the future, we must remember to repay their kindness," Yang Lingqing said.

Then Yang Lingrui recounted the encounter on the return journey, and Yang Lingqing listened while pondering.

Regarding the mysterious organization Heaven's Secrets Pavilion, she and the Yang family, even Elder Yu, didn't have much deep understanding.

They only knew that this force held a transcendent status wherever it was, never siding with any party, only maintaining neutrality and selling various information.

The three who initially pursued Yang Lingrui had spent two hundred spirit crystals at Heaven's Secrets Pavilion to get the information that he carried spiritual treasures and spirit herbs.

"From the reaction of the wood-element cultivator upon seeing the Black Iron Soft Armor, they should only know you have two spiritual treasures, but not what they are specifically."

Yang Lingqing said, "The information about the spirit herb came from the Immortal Patrol, which is no secret. Cultivators working there would all know about it, and Heaven's Secrets Pavilion likely got the information from these people in advance."

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"Two spiritual treasures, one spirit herb, which means these three people didn't know about the large amount of spirit crystals and other spiritual treasures you had."

Yang Lingqing analyzed step by step.

Heaven's Secrets Pavilion's informants are spread throughout the dynasty, and it's said that their main pavilion is located in the central region, an unimaginably colossal entity for them now.

The Tiger-Chasing Dynasty is just a newly established small dynasty in a remote part of Canglan continent. If Heaven's Secrets Pavilion wanted, they could completely monitor the entire dynasty.

But clearly, a small dynasty like this isn't worth investing so much manpower and resources.

Heaven's Secrets Pavilion's main purpose is to sell information for profit, and they would never do something so labor-intensive and unprofitable unless someone specifically paid them a large sum to investigate.

"Thus, it seems that Heaven's Secrets Pavilion's involvement in this conference was limited to public areas, with the depth only reaching the personal level of the cultivators, not involving the internal exhibits, various pavilions, the cultivators' networks, or higher-level prominent family forces," Yang Lingqing said.

Hearing this, Yang Lingrui thought it made sense.

After all, with so many cultivators at the conference, being able to grasp the basic personal information of each cultivator was already quite impressive. To delve deeper would require several times the cost, which would be unprofitable for Heaven's Secrets Pavilion.

Therefore, the incident of being taken away by Pei Xuejian should have been noticed by Heaven's Secrets Pavilion, but what happened afterward at the Su family was likely unknown to them.

Judging by Su Lingyun's reaction to the compensation, they would also keep this matter under wraps and not publicize it.

"The most fortunate thing about this trip is that the Su family didn't suspect our family. Instead, they believed our family to be a setup by other forces. This is definitely good news for us!"

Yang Lingqing said, "With Heaven's Secrets Pavilion's attention on this matter, if other prominent families or sects want to learn about our family through Heaven's Secrets Pavilion, they will surely know you met Su Lingyun at the conference. Without knowing the details, they are very likely to assume our family is dependent on the Su family. This mutual misunderstanding can create an unguarded gap, giving our family a chance to breathe!"

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