Rise of the Wang Clan: Starting with a Portable Farm

Chapter 165: The Si Family’s Origins

Even without Ji Shuguang’s instruction, the families would have warned their own people. Being cautious could do no harm.

In the end, the Ye family left two Foundation Establishment cultivators to guard its home, and the injured Gu Liyong stayed to recover. The other seven Foundation Establishment cultivators went with Ji Shuguang to help the Si family.

At Giant Wood Peak, flames rose into the sky.

A yellow flying boat flew from the summit and climbed into the sky.

A faster streak of green light followed it.

Si Zhijie, aboard the yellow boat, threw a small green sphere at Lei Liheng.

Lei Liheng sent his flying wheels to intercept it.

The wheels cut the sphere open with a crisp sound.

It released green mist that covered an area a hundred zhang across.

“Poison!”

Lei Liheng withdrew at once. By the time the mist dispersed, the boat was out of sight.

Lei Liheng hovered in the sky, expression cold.

His side had won, but eight Lei clansmen had been killed or wounded. Lei Xingbing, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, was badly injured. Though he survived, the damage to the foundation of his cultivation ended his prospects for further advancement.

Back on the ground, the Zhao and Cheng cultivators gathered around him. They had lost several Qi Refining clansmen, but their Foundation Establishment cultivators had only been trapped and were unhurt; the Si family had concentrated its attacks on the Leis.

No one spoke under Lei Liheng’s dark gaze. The Lei family had been the strongest of the three, but with one Foundation Establishment cultivator gravely wounded, their future standing was uncertain.

Lei Liheng hated Si Zhijie for targeting his family.

He had assumed that, with two spiritual mountains and two Foundation Establishment cultivators, the Si family would station one at each. Their head might even be at Double Dragon Mountain. Giant Wood Peak should have been easy to take, while the Wangs and Lis might suffer losses elsewhere.

Instead, his calculation had backfired.

“Si Zhijie escaped,” Lei Liheng said with a sigh. “The other Maple Leaf Market families will hear about this. Tell Fellow Daoist Wang and the others. We should return to Green Bull Market as soon as possible.”

The Lei family had brought twelve cultivators, including Lei Liheng. Six had died and two were badly wounded. Staying here would be too dangerous.

Zhao Gaofang looked around the mountain. “What about the resources? After these losses, we can’t leave with nothing.”

“Si Zhijie planned ahead. He must have taken the important things. What remains is probably hard-to-transplant medicinal plants and spirit trees. Take what you can, but I can give you only fifteen minutes. Every extra moment here is a risk.”

Lei Liheng could not help admiring Si Zhijie’s nerve. With two Foundation Establishment cultivators, he had ambushed six. The Si family had lost over ten Qi Refining cultivators, and both its Foundation Establishment cultivators were injured to some degree, but Lei Liheng’s family had suffered badly too.

Si Zhijie had achieved his goal. He had harmed several Green Bull Market cultivators and gravely injured one Foundation Establishment cultivator. He could claim credit before the Burning Heaven Sect and seek a larger share of future gains.

Zhao Gaofang nodded reluctantly and cut at a nearby spirit tree with his flying sword. A quarter of an hour was still enough time for cultivators to gather something.

The others joined him. In their frustration they were rough with the buildings and plants.

On a small hill, Wang Hao and the others rested together.

They looked uneasy and kept watching the distance for anyone following them.

They had chosen to return the way they came, through Gu family territory. Otherwise they would have to pass the Ye family, where most of Maple Leaf Market’s forces were assembled.

Yet the danger they feared came toward them.

Wang Hao’s expression changed. “Stay alert. Someone’s coming.”

His stronger divine sense detected the approach before Li Yaozu or Wang Longyou, both at the sixth Foundation Establishment layer.

The others prepared their artifacts. Li Derong took out a net-shaped artifact and tossed it overhead after infusing it with spiritual power.

The net grew more than three zhang long and covered them.

The Spirit-Concealing Net hid the spiritual energy fluctuations in the area it covered.

Soon a streak of yellow light approached from afar.

It was the Si family’s flying boat. Si Zhijie and one other Foundation Establishment cultivator were aboard with sixteen Qi Refining cultivators.

The Si family was only about two hundred years old. Si Zhijie’s father, Si Ji, had begun as a wandering cultivator. After advancing to Foundation Establishment, he helped the Burning Heaven Sect find a crucial treasure and obtained a spiritual mountain, where he founded his family.

To increase the number of Si clansmen, Si Ji took more than three hundred concubines. Even a cultivator’s body could be worn down by that, damaging his vital essence and lifespan.

But he fathered more than forty children with spiritual roots.

He then had his mortal sons marry and take many concubines too.

He also had his mortal daughters and granddaughters open brothels and attract wandering cultivators, seeking to have children by them.

Si Ji considered anyone with even a trace of his blood a Si family member. It did not matter who the father was, as long as the child bore the Si surname.

Nearly half the family’s cultivators had been born through those brothels. Si Ji required the cultivators to concentrate on cultivation and take few spouses, so they could not have produced as many children themselves.

Si Zhijie was one of the children born that way.

His dual spiritual roots helped him become family head, as did the support of many Si clansmen born in the brothels.

He was shrewd. He won Si Ji’s favor and drew many late-stage Qi Refining clansmen to his side. That allowed him to keep control of the family after Si Ji died.

But cleverness had not saved him from Lei Liheng. The fight with a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator made it clear that he could not win. When the formation broke, he abandoned some of his clansmen and escaped.

He had decided against going to the Ye family and headed toward Gu family territory instead.

He believed Ji Shuguang would already know of the fighting and would soon lead people to intercept the Green Bull Market force. Having suffered losses but achieved something, the Si family could stay out of the next clash, preserve its strength, and seize more when the war against Green Bull Market came.

He also wondered what the Gu family might have left behind. The Si family was young and lacked many resources; even things other families overlooked could be useful. If he found surviving Gu clansmen, he would kill them and let Green Bull Market take the blame.

“It looks like the Si family,” Wang Hao said as the boat approached. “Two Foundation Establishment cultivators and about a dozen Qi Refining cultivators.”