Inside the Commandery Governor's residence, Qin Anbang and his wife sat facing each other with smiles, a gift box placed on the table between them.
It had just been delivered by an outer disciple of the Purple Wei Sect, who claimed to have made a special trip to bring home letters and other items for senior sister Qin Nana.
Nearly every major sect maintained its own outer sect liaison office to facilitate communication between cultivators and their families. If there were any difficulties at home in the mundane world, people could contact their immortal-cultivating kin in the sect at the first opportunity. After all, those who practiced immortality were human too, possessing the seven emotions and six desires, and they often stayed in touch with the mortal world until, centuries later, they had no worldly ties left.
Qin Nana's letter was very brief, recounting the recent situation of both the older sister and younger brother, and sending a gift for her parents and younger siblings: four strings of spiritual beads and a flask of spiritual fruit wine. The spiritual beads were jade orbs in which a mighty cultivator of the Saint Entry Realm had sealed gentle spiritual qi. Such spiritual qi could not be absorbed by ordinary people; only mighty figures of the Saint Entry Realm and above could capture and refine it into spiritual qi capable of nourishing ordinary mortals. When worn by ordinary people, the spiritual beads could ward off illness, preserve health, and prolong life—making them highly sought-after treasures among mundane the wealthy, items that were virtually priceless and impossible to find in sufficient quantity. The effect of the spiritual fruit wine was similar to that of the spiritual beads, except that one worked subtly over time while the other acted more directly.
In the letter, Qin Nana also candidly told her parents that these items had all been purchased with the gold coins given by Mi Lan, hoping her father could properly show favor to the Mi Family, since the Mi Family had acted with deep affection, and their own family could not be devoid of righteousness.
Qin Anbang and his wife shared a cup of the spiritual fruit wine and were filled with deep emotion. Although they now held overwhelming power, they had to admit that the kindness and righteousness of the Mi Family had run through almost their entire lives.
In the early morning of Yijia Town, right outside the Mi Family manor, the plump young master was dressed as usual in red and black striped attire, mounted on a tall and mighty fine steed named "Zhuifeng". Following closely behind him were two other riders: Qiuhua and the Seventh Elder, Mi Chongshan. They were officially setting off for Dongshan Prefecture to pay their respects to Qin Anbang and his wife. Because the journey to the commandery capital was quite long, the Mi Family had dispatched the Seventh Elder, Mi Chongshan, whose combat strength was relatively high, to provide full protection along the way.
The Commandery Governor's residence was located to the north of Donghai City. Setting out from Yijia Town, they needed to pass through Donghai City and Wan'an City, and then gallop for about three days along the imperial post road skirting Guju Ridge before arriving in Dongshan Prefecture. Scattered small towns and villages dotted the sides of the post road, so it was not entirely desolate wilderness.
The group of three did not linger in Donghai City, arriving in Wan'an City four days later. After taking a day to rest and adjust, they set off once again. All three were cultivators with top-tier physical constitutions, so four days of rushing about was hardly worth mentioning.
After leaving Wan'an City and galloping along the post road for half a day, towering mountain ranges loomed ahead, resembling an ancient colossal dragon lying on its side. That was Guju Ridge, the most perilous forbidden zone in Dongshan Prefecture. Spanning ten thousand miles, Guju Ridge was a paradise for the demon race. Ordinary cultivators could only wander around its outer fringes; once they ventured deep inside, even those in the Saint Entry Realm could only manage to protect themselves, and might even perish there.
According to cultivator legends, Guju Ridge did not exist several hundred thousand years ago. Later on, an ancient colossal dragon from beyond the heavens died and transformed into the rolling mountain ranges. The ordinary spiritual beasts that originally lived there were influenced by the dragon's flesh and blood, gradually opening their spiritual apertures and embarking on the demonic path. For hundreds of thousands of years, many cultivators in the world sought the dragon's treasures and inheritance by entering Guju Ridge. At first, the demons of Guju Ridge were not very powerful, and each practiced independently. They held neither goodwill nor animosity toward humans, so they lived in peaceful coexistence with humanity, allowing even low-level cultivators to enter and exit Guju Ridge safe and sound. Until one day, someone failed to find the dragon's treasure and inheritance, and flew into a rage, slaughtering the fierce beasts of Guju Ridge to take their inner cores, furs, and even flesh and blood. The demon race rose up in furious counterattack, but human cultivators were too powerful, and almost all the demons of Guju Ridge were exterminated. A surviving fraction of the demon cultivators was gradually driven out of Guju Ridge. Ten thousand years later, among the descendants of those exiled demons, a supreme great demon actually attained the Dao and became an Emperor Stage figure. That mighty being carried out a massive purge of the birthplace their ancestors had never stopped yearning for. With a single point of a finger, a human sect that had been built there for only a century was instantly reduced to ash, and every human who had ever invaded Guju Ridge was slain. Although that demon emperor never came to Guju Ridge again afterwards, people completely lost any other ideas about the place. After all, countless individuals had proven with their little lives that besides the demon race, there were no treasures or inheritance to be found in Guju Ridge.
To this day, that demon emperor has long since vanished into the long river of time, but Guju Ridge was subsequently reoccupied by the demon race. The people living outside the ridge make a living by fishing and hunting, while disciples from surrounding sects occasionally train on the outer fringes of Guju Ridge, never daring to venture deep inside again.
That evening, staying overnight at a farming family's home in Niujiao Village, Mi Lan listened to Mi Chongshan recount the legends of Guju Ridge, feeling deeply shaken. The demon emperor had perished hundreds of thousands of years ago, yet its legend still circulated in the world, striking awe into people's hearts.
"A demon emperor... Uncle Chongshan, do you think there's a Great Emperor Fertilizer?" Mi Lan asked, his eyes narrowing slightly with a look of yearning.
"What do you think? If our ancestors had possessed a Great Emperor, we would be an Imperial Clan, and we wouldn't be playing house with the Xiaoyouluo Family in Yijia Town; we'd be arm-wrestling with the five imperial clans of 'Ye, Lin, Xiao, Chu, and Han'. Do you honestly think our Mi Family is worthy of that?" Mi Chongshan said with a hint of disdain.
He cast a sideways glance at Mi Lan, who was currently resenting his ancestors for not being powerful enough, and continued, "However, I do think the Fertilizer Canon of our Mi Family is no small matter either. That ancestor who created the Fertilizer Canon was at least a super-mighty figure in the Saint King Realm, tsk tsk."
Although Mi Chongshan also envied the reputation of imperial clans, he still had a clear grasp of reality. Having an ancestor who was at least in the Saint King Realm was certainly enough to bring honor to their faces. After all, the handed-down Fertilizer Canon, the set of Fertilizer Boxing, a massive fortune, and life skills in medicinal crop cultivation had allowed this fertilizer-peddling family to dominate Donghai for who knows how many years.
The night passed without incident. Leaving a silver coin behind, the three of them set off once again.
The empire had stood in the Eastern Continent for three hundred thousand years. Although the country was prosperous and the people lived in peace, with basic food and clothing secured for all, there was no lack of individuals who disdained making a living through honest labor and instead chose to become bandits. After all, there were plenty of wealthy merchants traveling from Wan'an City to the commandery capital to do business; waylaying and robbing them once yielded far more than ordinary folks could earn through decades of hard work.
No sooner had they galloped forward a dozen miles than they ran into a gang of more than ten men holding long sabers, standing on both sides of the imperial post road. A massive boulder blocked the center of the road, with a line of large, blood-red characters scrawled across it: "Hand over your money."
The three pulled their horses to a halt. Just as Mi Lan was about to say something, Mi Chongshan reached out and interrupted him, saying, "Nephew, Uncle Chongshan will let you witness what true Fertilizer Boxing is." With that, Mi Chongshan dismounted and stood firmly on the ground.
Mi Lan gave a grand wave of his hand and shouted, "You dare block the road and rob the Young Master of the Mi Family? Let me show you all the unique arts of the Saint-level noble Mi Family."
The sixteen burly men felt a twinge of fear. A Saint-level noble family—that was a powerful clan that had produced figures in the Saint King Realm! If they truly provoked such people, dispatching a single expert casually would be enough to wipe them all out. Even their big chieftain, who hadn't come along, would have to flee overnight. They had figured that on this road, anyone above the Heavenly Vein Realm was someone they couldn't afford to provoke, but such cultivators could fly anyway and wouldn't cross paths with them. Polar Transformation and Heavenly Vein experts were the foundational backbone of various major families and generally didn't leave their homes; whenever they did travel, the momentum was massive and could be sensed from afar. Below the Polar Transformation Realm, relying on a group of Qi Control Realm thugs and a few in the Great Accomplishment Realm, they had dared to attempt a robbery. But had they kicked an iron plate today?
The bandits were beginning to lose their nerve and were just about to mutter something about keeping the green mountains green as the waters flowed on, when they saw the elderly man among the three opponents make a move.
Mi Chongshan was somewhat speechless at Mi Lan's empty boasting, but he nevertheless channeled earth-style qi into his left hand and wood-style qi into his right hand, clenching both fists tightly as he struck out.
Suddenly, eight yellowish-brown giant hands burst out from the earth beneath the feet of the eight bandits on the left. With a whoosh, the hands materialized and directly dragged all eight bandits down into the ground, leaving only their heads exposed. Meanwhile, the eight bandits on the right were bound tightly like giant rice dumplings by vines that shot out from the trees by the roadside, and were hung up in the trees with only their heads showing.