Chapter 25: Ambush

The manager, who had already harbored resentment because the booming business of Cloud Pavilion had caused his own restaurant to languish, was now publicly mocked by those cultivators. Having been dragged through the mud by the Yingxian Inn, he was consumed by a sudden rage, wishing he could rush out and smash the Cloud Pavilion storefront right then and there.

Fortunately, a shred of rationality remained in his heart, preventing him from acting on impulse, but the seed of intent to strike at Cloud Pavilion was firmly planted.

Once the Yingxian Inn closed for the night, the manager hurriedly left the market town and flew toward his family's ancestral lands.

The manager was surnamed Qin. His family was a foundation-building vassal clan of the Yuanming Sect, with their ancestral territory located three hundred miles outside the market town.

Before long, Manager Qin returned to the clan and went straight to knock on the Patriarch's door.

"Why have you returned in such a hurry tonight?" Patriarch Qin frowned, his eyes filled with irritation; after all, no one is in a good mood when interrupted during cultivation.

Manager Qin hurriedly explained how the business of his restaurant had been snatched away by Cloud Pavilion, leading to its decline, and pleaded, "Patriarch, if this continues, the Yingxian Inn will have to close its doors!"

"Bang!"

Patriarch Qin slammed the table violently and shouted angrily, "The Yingxian Inn's business was excellent in previous years. How did it turn into this under your management? And now you're actually making excuses for yourself?!"

"Patriarch..." Manager Qin trembled all over, nearly collapsing to his knees, and said tearfully, "I am not lying to you. That Cloud Pavilion truly has stolen many of Yingxian Inn's customers!"

There were no other restaurants in the market town, but the business of those establishments had not changed much due to Cloud Pavilion.

This was because most of those restaurants primarily served as inns for traveling cultivators to rest, with spiritual food being merely an add-on. They were not like the Yingxian Inn or Cloud Pavilion, which were establishments dedicated solely to dining.

"What is the background of this Cloud Pavilion?" Seeing that he did not seem to be faking, Patriarch Qin suppressed his anger and asked with a solemn expression.

The Yingxian Inn was the Qin family's primary source of income; if business worsened, it would affect the development of the entire clan!

"I heard it is a restaurant opened by the Li family from Great Banyan Island overseas."

"The Li family?" Patriarch Qin reacted immediately. "The Li family that sells Water-Refining Spirit Pills?"

Seeing Manager Qin nod, the Patriarch's expression became much more serious. The Li family had been in this territory for a year, and even though they hadn't made a grand announcement, many people knew they possessed four foundation-building cultivators.

Aside from Li Shiren and Li Shilian, who frequently traveled, outsiders were unaware of the cultivation realms of the remaining two foundation-building cultivators.

Even so, under the jurisdiction of the Yuanming Sect, the Li family's strength was among the top of the nine major vassal forces, and they were not someone the Qin family could afford to offend.

Although the Qin family had a backer, the friendship between the two sides had diminished significantly over the years. If the Li family were to cause more trouble, his goodwill toward the Qin family might be completely exhausted.

Seeing his Patriarch fall into silence, Manager Qin grew anxious, fearing he would be too afraid of the Li family's strength to act. He immediately said, "The three major families near the Li family also have intentions to take action."

"Are you referring to the Zheng, Zhang, and He families?" A sharp glint flashed in Patriarch Qin's eyes. "Have these three families sent people to contact you?"

These three families were all located to the east of the Li family, in the area of the Yuanming Sect closest to the outer seas. Because of the beast tides that erupted once every decade or so, the cultivators of these three families were powerful, but their clansmen were few.

Now that the Li family had revealed such formidable strength, how could they rest easy?

Manager Qin was shocked; he hadn't expected the Patriarch to guess this. But he failed to realize that as the head of a clan, how could one sit firmly in such a position without a sharp mind!

"Hmph!" Patriarch Qin gave a disdainful snort. "Fool! You don't even realize you're being used as a pawn!"

However, saying this did not mean he had no desire to strike at the Li family; after all, the Yingxian Inn was too important to the Qin family.

"Go and tell the cultivators of those three families that we will not participate in this matter! They can do as they please. Our relationship with the Li family is merely commercial competition; there is no need to incur a mortal enmity."

"But the spiritual food from Cloud Pavilion truly has its merits. We are inferior to them..."

Patriarch Qin's face darkened. "I will find a way to resolve this! You only need to convey my words to the cultivators of those three families!"

Hearing this, Manager Qin murmured his agreement, but his heart was filled with immense joy. As long as the Yingxian Inn's business recovered, he could continue to reap spirit stones from it!

When dawn broke and he returned to the market town, Manager Qin immediately contacted the cultivators of the three families to relay his Patriarch's words.

"Hmph!" The Zheng family cultivator sneered. "To think the Qin family is just a bunch of cowards!"

Manager Qin remained silent and simply rose to leave. So what if he was mocked a few times? It wouldn't cost him a single spirit stone.

"What should we do now?" the He family cultivator asked. "Since the Qin family is unwilling to intervene, should our three families still act?"

"Of course we act," the Zheng family cultivator said sinisterly. "And we must pin the blame on the Qin family!"

As night fell, the bustling streets of the day gradually fell into silence, but a shop located in a secluded corner of the market town quietly opened its doors.

Before long, Manager Qin, dressed in black to conceal his true identity, slipped inside.

He walked straight to a side wall covered in jade slips, used his divine sense to engrave the task he wished to perform onto one, and then took the jade slip to the elder behind the counter, asking, "I want to post this mission."

"One thousand spirit stones," the elder said, glancing casually at it before quoting a price.

Manager Qin knew the rules here. He honestly produced the spirit stones and then turned to leave.

...

On this day, Li Zhirui woke up early. After casually casting a Cleansing Spell, he hurriedly flew toward the west.

Today, he was to accompany Li Shilian, who was going to deliver materials and collect debts, and Li Shiting, who was replacing Li Shiren, to the market town.

Li Zhirui's purpose for going to the market town was to sell the large quantity of spirit pills in his possession.

Since he had taught his clansmen how to refine Jade Spirit Pills, he had stopped refining them in large quantities and had begun refining other types of spirit pills.

Although the clan also purchased these other pills, they did not accept every kind as readily as they did the Jade Spirit Pills, so Li Zhirui had to find buyers in the market town himself.

However, such a matter was too dangerous, and Li Zhirui did not dare to act alone. Therefore, when he learned that Li Shilian and Li Shiting were going to the market town today, he decided to use their reputation as a shield to protect himself.

Li Shilian and Li Shiting had no objections to this; in fact, Li Shilian even wanted to accompany Li Zhirui.

However, since Li Zhirui held secrets, he naturally could not agree and could only make excuses to brush the matter aside.

"Let's go!" Once the three were assembled, they activated the spirit boat and flew toward the market town. As soon as Li Shiting boarded, she spoke to the two and entered the cabin.

Li Shilian and Li Zhirui both knew she had a cold temperament and resisted contact with others, so they did not take it to heart.

"They've set off! There is only one foundation-building cultivator!"

The moment the spirit boat flew out from Great Banyan Island, a transmission talisman shot out. The cultivators lying in ambush along the route quickly received the news.

As for Li Zhirui, who was standing right next to Li Shilian, he had not yet qualified to be included in the report due to his cultivation level.

Unfortunately, they did not know that this time, Li Shilian was not the only foundation-building cultivator among them!

"Bang—"

When the spirit boat reached the halfway point, a pillar of water suddenly erupted from the seabed. The massive impact nearly capsized the boat. Before Li Zhirui and Li Shilian could even steady themselves, three masked cultivators in black appeared outside.