Chapter 371 - 246: Breakthrough in Array Dao, Huang Family’s Crisis

Chapter 371: Chapter 246: Breakthrough in Array Dao, Huang Family’s Crisis

Chu Lingyu still received her Spirit Stones, but her workload was cut in half. She only needed to receive visitors, relay messages, and complete the occasional task assigned by Lin Changheng. It was a light and carefree job.

Standing beside her, Xu Xujun gazed down at the Dao Field below, his face a picture of awe and envy.

The Spiritual Land below was exceptionally rich, and the scenery unfolded like a magnificent scroll painting. Although they had occupied the Qiu Family’s Tier Two Spiritual Land and completed their initial relocation, it still couldn’t compare to this place.

Still, it was a vast improvement over their previous miserable days of having to use Middle Grade Spirit Stones and a special Spirit Gathering Array just to simulate a Tier Two Spiritual Vein.

Xu Xujun felt a sense of satisfaction. After all, his family was truly advancing, step by step.

At the very least, they were progressing steadily and consolidating their gains.

But what in this world ever goes smoothly forever?

As an Immortal Dao Clan sails through the river of time, the smallest ripple it creates can be enough to annihilate a Foundation Establishment clan.

Alchemist Lin’s prudent path had taught the Xu Family’s upper echelon a great lesson, one worthy of emulation and study.

...

"Mr. Xu."

Lin Changheng came out of the main hall to greet him.

"Alchemist Lin, this is a truly fine place! Beautiful mountains, lovely waters, and magnificent scenery. It’s a real Treasure Land, enough to make anyone envious."

Xu Xujun sighed in admiration.

"Please, come in and have a seat."

An expression of deep agreement appeared on Lin Changheng’s face.

After the two caught up for a while, Xu Xujun began to discuss the main purpose of his visit.

The first piece of news was that the Qiu Family had been annihilated.

"To what extent?"

Lin Changheng wasn’t surprised by this and followed up with a question.

"Utter extermination. Root and stem."

Xu Xujun’s expression turned cold as he uttered those four words.

"We learned a bitter lesson from what happened with the Chen Family. Some of their remnants escaped, and they became an endless nuisance afterward. Supported by the Qiu Family, they killed many of our clan members and plundered numerous trade caravans. Hanji himself was nearly killed that one time. How could we possibly be so careless again?"

"A war between enemy clans is a fight to the death. Mercy for the enemy is cruelty to your own people. The clan has upheld this principle from start to finish throughout this war."

Lin Changheng gave a noncommittal nod. He had been worried that some of the Xu Family’s upper echelon might hesitate or show misplaced compassion, which would only come back to haunt them in the future.

Fortunately, the Xu Family had learned from their past mistakes. This time, the lesson had stuck.

"The clan’s decisions have consistently been rational and correct."

Lin Changheng praised with a smile.

"But this is an unavoidable problem for any family. This generation, with us at the helm, is still clear-headed and united, so naturally, we prosper. But what about the future? It’s impossible for every generation to be like this. That will be the time of the true test."

’Xu Xujun is impressively clear-headed, looking a hundred years into the future.’

"That’s why cultivating a pipeline of talent for the family is so important, especially the grooming of successors. Their character and ideology must be sound. Otherwise, the family will tear itself apart with internal power struggles long before any external enemies invade."

Lin Changheng remarked with emotion.

Then he suddenly asked, "I wonder... how are the Foundation Establishment preparations for the Eight Daughters of Fugui?"

A hint of satisfaction appeared in Xu Xujun’s eyes. "That girl works very hard."

But he said no more on the matter. After all, when it came to Foundation Establishment, unless one could prepare as perfectly as Lin Changheng had—maxing out both preparations and resources—or possessed exceptional Talent like a Celestial or Earth Spirit Root, success was never a certainty.

That was why Xu Xujun didn’t want to overstate things.

After chatting a bit more, Xu Xujun finally took a Storage Bag from his waist.

It was bulging.

He handed it to Lin Changheng.

"This is..."

Lin Changheng needed confirmation.

"These are some of the spoils from the Qiu Family. We picked out the items that might be useful or particularly valuable to you, Alchemist Lin, to fulfill our previous promise."

Xu Xujun chuckled. "I came on this trip precisely to make good on that promise."

Lin Changheng took the bag, and as his Divine Sense swept over it, a look of surprise immediately crossed his face.

Inside the Storage Bag, the contents were divided into two main categories.

The first category was a pile of various Spiritual Materials, Ores, and Medicinal Materials, all radiating light and suffused with Spiritual Light.

The second category was Spirit Stones, at least thirty to forty thousand of them.

In total, the value surpassed the sixty-thousand-Spirit-Stone mark.

Even Lin Changheng was astonished.

"Why so much?"

His gaze toward Xu Xujun was tinged with surprise.

’It wasn’t that a Foundation Establishment Clan couldn’t gather this many Spirit Stones, but this was supposed to be a share of the spoils after the Xu Family had already taken their cut. Furthermore, a clan’s liquid assets are limited; most of its wealth is in fixed assets. They simply wouldn’t have so many Spirit Stones lying around.’

"The Spirit Stones came from selling off some of the lower-quality external resources we seized; there wasn’t actually that much in liquid cash. But we were also shocked when we saw their reserves. After all, the Qiu Family had been following a strategy of contraction for a long time. We didn’t expect their coffers to be so full even after just sitting around and consuming resources."

"We later found out that the Qiu Family was secretly sponsoring several groups of Tribulation Cultivators. They were raiding, murdering, and plundering to funnel wealth back to the family. In fact, they had enough resources to produce another few Foundation Establishment cultivators, but we coincidentally blockaded them, so they had no opportunity to go out and trade!"

"Later, the Jiazi Secret Realm opened, and the Purple Extreme Sect strictly forbade any infighting between clans participating in the Secret Realm. That’s what gave those people the chance to leave their territory. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have dreamed of getting away."

"Thankfully, Alchemist Lin eliminated them. Otherwise, things would have been much more troublesome."

Seeing Lin Changheng’s curiosity, Xu Xujun held nothing back and laid out the whole story.

"So that’s how it is," Lin Changheng said with a nod.

"Oh, right. There are also two letters."

Xu Xujun reached into his Storage Bag again and pulled out two letters. They were from Tantai Feiyue and Xu Hanji, respectively.