East Su Yang City, the Xu Family estate.

The Xu Family had two Innate masters in their clan. In a city like Su Yang—not too big, not too small, and located in the remote Southern Heaven region—they were truly a powerful and illustrious household.

In the Yuedong District, an entire street belonged to the Xu Family. From the inner residence to the outer courtyards, from the rockeries to the gardens, from the landscaped grounds to the training dojos, every part of it was luxurious, every part exquisite.

They employed three thousand servants, including guards and Guest retainers, along with countless maids and old crones. And then there were the numerous concubines and female family members of the inner quarters, who never stepped outside but adorned the mansion with their gentle, embroidered beauty and captivating charms.

Such prosperity, such pomp!

But when Bibo Lake erupted and Su Yang City faced imminent destruction, even a family as prominent as the Xu clan couldn’t help but fall into disarray amidst the chaos.

The most direct impact on the Xu Family was this: when the Flood Dragon soared into the sky and scattered its blood, both of the Xu Family’s Innate masters—from the Patriarch, Xu Zongliang, to the Young Master, Xu Feng—had rushed to Bibo Lake.

They first collected the ordinary Dragon Blood, but then Xu Zongliang, in his greed, tried to gather the Golden Blood.

As a result, in a single instant, he was burned to death by the Golden Blood!

The sight scared Xu Feng out of his wits. He didn’t even dare to retrieve his father’s mutilated corpse before scrambling away from Bibo Lake.

Xu Feng was also grievously injured, his arm burned half off by the Golden Blood!

Song Ciwan led Aunt Zhou eastward, following the Paper Crane Tracking Talisman until the Paper Crane stopped outside the Xu Family’s courtyard wall.

The Paper Crane flapped its wings, hovering and circling, but did not fly over the wall.

Song Ciwan focused her senses and began to understand. ’There must be a protective Array around this estate, which is why the Paper Crane can’t enter.’

She quickly led Aunt Zhou away from the Yuedong District and settled her in an empty house not far away.

Song Ciwan told Aunt Zhou to hide there. "The Xu Family estate won’t be easy to enter. You stay here and wait for my news."

Aunt Zhou was nervous, but she knew she couldn’t be a burden to Song Ciwan. She unconsciously clenched her fists at her sides and said in a rush, "Alright, alright, I’ll wait right here. I won’t wander off."

As Song Ciwan turned to leave, Aunt Zhou couldn’t help but add, "Miss Song, if my Lady Zhen is really in the Xu Family’s estate, if it’s convenient... please bring her out. But if it’s not, then that’s her fate. We shouldn’t force it..."

"The Xu Family... they’re a great household. Staying there... it’s not so bad..."

Her voice trailed off as she spoke the last sentence, her tone filled with a self-doubt she couldn’t even bring herself to believe.

Song Ciwan gave a wave of her hand without saying more, and with a flicker of her body, she quickly departed.

The Xu Family estate was, in fact, in chaos.

To what extent?

Although the tremors from Bibo Lake hadn’t destroyed the Xu Family’s buildings on a large scale, they had still caused scattered collapses.

For example, the pavilion in the garden, the waterside veranda by the inner residence’s pond, the trellises in one of the flower gardens, or even the less sturdily built servants’ quarters...

With collapsing structures came inevitable injuries. There were also the weaker individuals who had been directly shaken to death when the Dragon Maiden’s cry echoed through the city, losing their lives on the spot.

One example was a delicate concubine who had recently been in Xu Feng’s favor; she had died instantly.

Another example was Xu Feng’s wife, the lady of the house from the Yan Family.

The lady from the Yan Family was pregnant and thus considered weak. She hadn’t died, but the shock had threatened her pregnancy. Now she was bedridden, downing bowl after bowl of urgently prepared medicine to prevent a miscarriage.

Throughout the deep courtyards of the residence, servants scurried about in a panic.

The estate’s physicians were being pulled in every direction, and cries of alarm could be heard everywhere.

Even with Xu Feng’s return, and even though he temporarily concealed the news of Xu Zongliang’s death, the chaos in the Xu Family estate did not abate in the slightest. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Because Xu Feng had lost half an arm, he went straight into a secret cultivation chamber the moment he returned, with no time to manage the pandemonium in the estate.

This made the servants even more panicked. Morale wavered, and someone couldn’t help but whisper, "Lots of people have left the city. Why are we stuck in this mansion? Why don’t we escape?"

...

’Escape? Who wouldn’t want to escape?’

But the deterrent power of an Innate Clan was still present. Although a few people had slipped out, there was no mass exodus.

So, Song Ciwan crouched outside the Xu Family’s courtyard wall, carefully observing the servants slipping out from a side gate.

The side gate was guarded by a few burly old women with rudimentary martial arts skills. One of them loved to drink, and another was greedy for money. Any Xu Family servant who wanted to sneak out just needed to bring good wine or enough money to get past them.

Song Ciwan eventually set her sights on a clever-looking, handsome young servant. She overheard his conversation with one of the old women. The woman said, "Well now, if it isn’t young Yu Shu. What’s this? Aren’t you supposed to be guarding the Young Master’s study? Where are you off to? Don’t tell me you’re leaving the estate too?"

The servant named Yu Shu replied, "Granny Lai, what are you talking about? What do you mean, ’leaving the estate too’? Has anyone left today? I simply noticed we’re running low on Ink Spirit Incense in the study. I wouldn’t want to neglect the Young Master, so I’m just hurrying out to buy some more."

As he spoke, he naturally slipped a purse from his sleeve and handed it to Granny Lai.

Granny Lai accepted it with a wide grin and said hurriedly, "Good lad, you’re absolutely right. It’s just this old woman being foolish, my old eyes are dim and I get confused about everything. Heh, go on, go on! Hurry back!"

Yu Shu straightened his clothes and strode proudly out of the side gate.

After he left the gate, walked down a long alley, and reached a corner, Song Ciwan silently knocked him unconscious.

This Scholar’s Attendant actually had some martial skill. He looked delicate and handsome, but he had cultivated to the Refining Tendons Stage. For someone his age, that level of Cultivation was quite impressive among ordinary mortals.

However, Song Ciwan was no longer the same person she once was. Not only was her Cultivation higher, but her methods were also far more numerous. Dealing with a mere Refining Tendons Stage practitioner was effortless, hardly worth mentioning.

Song Ciwan found another empty house, placed Yu Shu inside, and then cast the Dream-Entering Technique, waking him within his own dream.

Dazed and confused, Yu Shu woke up.

The moment he awoke, for some unknown reason, an inexplicable joy washed over him.

"I... Where am I? Why is this place so... wonderful?"

In the haze, he seemed to hear the gurgling of a Nether Spring, surrounded by a forest of jade trees shrouded in mist.

Amidst the sparse flowers and trees, he could vaguely make out curved eaves from which the tinkling of bells could be heard.

Looking up, he heard a crane cry in the clear sky as a Yellow-robed Immortal approached, riding upon its back!

Yu Shu was dumbfounded. It never occurred to him that he was in a dream. He only felt that he had stumbled upon a fortuitous encounter and stepped straight into an Immortal Realm.

"Immortal Master!" Yu Shu dropped to his knees with a THUD. "Immortal Master, teach me! Are you here to guide this humble boy to immortality?"

The Yellow-robed Immortal, still mounted on the crane in mid-air, flicked his duster and said slowly, "You are tainted by sin. I do not teach those stained by sin."