Yu Family, Secret Forest County.

"Report to the Family Head, Elder Mu Nian said the Li Family has shown no movement, so he’s been waiting not far away, for over half a day already... So he’s thinking, wondering if we could withdraw first..."

At the head of the table, Yu Xiaogui’s face turned the color of iron, and he crumpled the letter in his hand into a ball, furious, and cursed:

"This damn fool!"

The attendant who delivered the report immediately trembled with fright, his head pressed closely to the ground, not daring to lift it. Yu Xiaogui, gnashing his teeth with hatred, said:

"I told him to follow the plan, but he’s afraid of death! He went there armed to the teeth with magic artifacts, acting recklessly and killing people on Li Family’s territory, dawdling about! Does he think that the members of the Li family are as stupid as he is?"

"It was not easy to set up the situation successfully, and now look, it’s fraught with gaping flaws. Li Yuanjiao and Li Yuanping are no fools!"

At the lower end of the table, Yu Mugao was still clad in a white robe looking suave and composed, casually fanning himself, and slowly said:

"Father, please calm your anger. Our family has been rotten to the core for a long time. How many of them are not fools? It’s normal to mess things up. If we actually succeeded, that would truly surprise me."

Yu Mugao, who had managed the family for many years, knew all too well what the members in his family were like. He had long moved from anger to disappointment, and then from disappointment to resignation, he said unperturbed:

"People commonly say that the rise of the Li Family has been swift, attributing it to the Loose Cultivator Li Mutian, who reached Foundation Establishment, to Li Chijin who became a Sword Immortal, or to the profound and steady Li Tongya—missing any one of them would be impossible."

Yu Mugao glanced at the name list on the table, finding not a single person of use, and continued:

"If you ask me, what’s truly formidable about the Li Family isn’t their Sword Dao, nor is it Li Tongya or Li Chijin, but the fact that, for three generations, there hasn’t been a single prodigal."

Yu Xiaogui sighed after hearing what his eldest son said, feeling a sense of powerlessness even as a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and replied:

"Utterly useless..."

Yu Mugao put away his pen and said:

"Not utterly useless."

"The Li Family hasn’t made a peep!"

Yu Xiaogui frowned and said in a deep voice:

"If Li Tongya really is injured, how could the Li Family let go of ’Heavenly Pure Essence’? Your plan has fallen through."

"No."

Yu Mugao chuckled lightly, stood up, and said with a smile:

"It’s precisely because Li Tongya isn’t in good condition that he let go of ’Heavenly Pure Essence’!"

"Li Tongya is cautious, not cowardly. If he truly slashed Maha and came out unscathed, he definitely wouldn’t ignore the news of a treasure like ’Heavenly Pure Essence’. I fear that once Bi Huaxuan is revived by the Li Family, Li Tongya will come with his sword in search!"

He glanced at Yu Xiaogui, who looked pensively, and said softly:

"Right in the heart of his Li Family’s territory, even if it were a trap, it would be a joke. After all, Li Tongya is a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, how would he fear to venture into his own territory?"

"Indeed."

Yu Xiaogui nodded in sudden realization, and Yu Mugao continued:

"This probe of mine was never aimed at a successful deceit, to begin with. Fools have their uses too. It seems Li Tongya is either severely injured, or not in the Li Family at all!"

"So, do we attack the Li Family now? But the Li Family is protected by the Xiao Families, and we can’t afford to offend the Zifu Immortal Clan. We can only reclaim the Huazhong and Jade Court mountains..."

Yu Xiaogui, already completely deferential to his own elder son, hurriedly spoke to ask his opinion.

"Not so. Use the old grudge from the market as a pretext to attack the Fei Clan instead."

Yu Mugao tightened his sleeves, looking somewhat majestic, and replied:

"It’s possible that Li Tongya simply hasn’t returned home yet. With the Immortal Clan backing the Li Family, at most, seizing the Huazhong and Jade Court mountains is all that can be done while they’re vulnerable. Instead, look to the north, the Fei Clan has Five Peaks and sixteen towns!"

"The Cloud Gathering Southern Sky Formation has been raised for quite some time. Fei Wangbai is either out or breaking through. Striking them might be good too!"

His lips curved upwards, and he closed his folding fan with a smile, saying confidently:

"Besides..."

"I’m inclined to believe that Fei Wangbai is almost certainly dead."

────

Lijing Town.

Li Yuanping anxiously waited in the courtyard for half a day before finally seeing his elder brother, Li Yuanjiao, descend in a disoriented state. He hurried forward to greet him, seizing Li Tongya’s arms and staring into his eyes with urgency, he said:

"Brother! What’s happened!"

Li Yuanjiao then snapped back to reality as if awakening from a dream, looking at his brother with a shocked and uneasy gaze, he answered:

"I’ve seen it, it’s definitely a trap... only..."

Li Yuanping immediately understood and quickly turned to the clan soldiers beside him, saying:

"Leave! All of you, leave!"

Dou Yi hurriedly ushered everyone out, following closely behind and tightly closing the courtyard door. The surrounding isolation formation automatically activated. Li Yuanjiao’s forehead showed a trace of sweat as he spoke in a strained voice:

"Fei Wangbai is dead!"

"Fei Wangbai... Foundation Establishment Cultivator Fei Wangbai?!"

Li Yuanping looked at him blankly for a moment, and Li Yuanjiao continued with a rapid and hoarse tone:

"A Foundation Establishment Cultivator has died silently atop his own Immortal Mountain! Fei Tongyu, in order to prevent the leak of information, had no choice but to activate the Cloud Gathering Southern Sky Formation. Inside the Fei Clan, there’s now utter chaos."

"It’s unclear whether the Yu Family knows, but now with our ancestor severely injured and Fei Wangbai dead, only the Yu Family on the lake has real Foundation Establishment fighting strength..."

His pupils dilated slightly, his grey-black eyes fixated on his younger brother as he murmured:

"The Cloud Gathering Southern Sky Formation has been activated for several months, used to trap someone inside rather than to guard against outsiders. Fei Tongyu knows there must be a spy from the Yu Family within, so he had to start the Great Formation to isolate the inside from the outside..."

Li Yuanping felt a chill down his spine as he continued in a soft voice:

"I see... with their own Foundation Establishment gone, the Fei Clan most likely wouldn’t dare to contact the Foundation Establishment Cultivators who were acquainted with Fei Wangbai... they didn’t even dare to inform our family. Fei Tongyu is afraid! No wonder I sent people to inquire three times, and the Fei Clan didn’t even give a single response!"

When Fei Wangbai was alive, he would address these Foundation Establishment Cultivators as brothers, but with Fei Wangbai’s death, these Cultivators wouldn’t bother to be cordial with clan members as insignificant as ants. They say it’s to honor past favors, but once inside the formation, whether the Fei Clan remains the Fei Clan is uncertain.

Li Yuanjiao’s mind was settled, and he said in a deep voice:

"Yu Mugao is cunning and full of schemes..."

Speaking of Yu Mugao, a deep hatred flashed in Li Yuanjiao’s eyes, the tragic state of his brother Li Yuanxiu still vivid in his memory, making him take a deep breath to calm his emotions.

"The matter with the ’Heavenly Pure Essence’ is most likely the doing of the Yu Family, just a test for our ancestor. Yu Mugao is sly and venomous; we’re already struggling to deal with him, and Fei Tongyu’s delaying tactic will certainly not fool him."

"Moreover, with Yu Muxian in our clan, the Yu Family will always have a step ahead in understanding the situation. With Fei Wangbai’s death impossible to hide, it’s possible that following this test, the Yu Family has already dispatched forces to Hanyun Peak!"

Li Yuanping paused for a moment as he suddenly recalled something and said:

"Ning Heyuan appeared on Jade Court Peak a month ago, perhaps related to Fei Wangbai’s death! But..."

He pondered for a moment before answering:

"The Cloud Gathering Southern Sky Formation has been in operation for several months, the timing doesn’t match."

Li Yuanjiao shook his head, pushing all other thoughts to the back of his mind and instructed:

"Never mind that for now, I’ll go up the mountain and consult our ancestor, you keep watch over the Fei Clan!"

With that, he hurriedly pushed open the gate and left the courtyard, soaring away on the wind. Only then did Dou Yi dare to enter the courtyard, to find Li Yuanping sitting in the primary seat, deep in thought. After several breaths, he finally said:

"Send someone to the lake, choose a small isle near the North Shore to station themselves. If there’s any change in the Fei Clan’s Great Formation, report back to me immediately."

"Yes."

Dou Yi hurried off, while Li Yuanping couldn’t help but cough twice, vision flashing with the image of Yu Mugao’s shrewd eyes, he said softly:

"Yu Mugao... truly a formidable enemy of our family..."