After escaping from Zhao Family Town, Li An didn’t stop for a moment. He ran all the way back to Tempered Moon Valley in one go.
By the time he returned, it was already the afternoon of the third day.
Only after entering the valley did he finally relax.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Li An calmed himself and closed his eyes, mentally retracing every moment of the recent disaster.
Thinking it over, reflecting—this helped him improve his instincts and reactions to danger. It was a habit he had cultivated in his past life.
Looking back on it carefully, Wang Dazhu likely hadn’t intended to harm him.
The real key was Chen Qingling.
That young girl harbored a depth of scheming that was far beyond her age.
She must have learned of Li An’s presence from Wang Dazhu, then leaked that information to Zhao Xianchuan to lure Li An into the trap.
Then, using Li An, she escaped from the Zhao estate.
Moreover, her micro-manipulations were many.
For instance, when Li An had just rescued Wang Dazhu from the Artifact Pavilion, his first instinct had been to immediately eliminate Chen Qingling.
After all, he had already retrieved the artifacts and rescued Wang Dazhu—she no longer served any purpose. Li An absolutely did not want to be burdened by a tag-along.
But at that very moment, she revealed her relationship with Wang Dazhu.
If Li An tried to kill her, Wang Dazhu would surely have intervened, forcing Li An to suppress his murderous intent.
Later, when they were about to break out of the Zhao estate, Li An instructed Wang Dazhu to stay back and wait, because he had planned to transform into Zhao Xianchuan to slip out alone. As for the two of them, he hadn’t intended to concern himself.
But Chen Qingling had insisted on following him no matter what.
At the time, Li An feared she might shout and blow his cover, so he had no choice but to bring them along and force a breakout through the Zhao estate’s main gate.
And after they made it out, she’d even shouted loudly, drawing all the attention to Li An.
Her level of calculation and manipulation was truly astonishing!
“No matter how cautious one is, it’s still difficult to predict and prepare for all unforeseen variables. Which means... life-preserving resources must always be plentiful—leave yourself enough room for error.”
In truth, if Li An hadn’t been so habitually cautious—if he hadn’t prepared and refined a large stockpile of Second-Rank talismans before setting out—he would have died this time.
No matter where or when, one must always be ready to face danger.
Unfortunately, he had burned through three Fleetwind Talismans, five Explosive Talismans, two Thunderstrike Talismans, and two Barrier-Breaking Talismans—the losses were substantial.
He then began carefully inspecting the storage pouches he had looted from the Zhao estate.
During the journey, he had already scanned them with his divine sense and destroyed more than ten items that bore special marks.
Now, opening the pouches one by one, he was greeted with a dazzling array of treasures.
…
At the same time—
In Zhao Family Town.
The fire raged for two full days and nights before it was finally brought under control.
The entire Zhao estate had been reduced to ashes. One-third of the buildings in the town were also destroyed.
Centuries of the Zhao family’s foundation were gone in an instant!
The air was filled with cries and wails.
“It’s over… it’s all over!”
Zhao Xianchuan stared at the scene before him, heart bleeding, fists clenched, teeth grinding.
The three Foundation Establishment experts and the elite Qi Refining cultivators he had led had chased Li An for miles, yet found no trace of him.
By the time they returned, Zhao Family Town was already in ruins. Their steward had been killed, and a huge amount of their core resources had been stolen.
He had lost both troops and treasure!
“Li An!!”
He wanted nothing more than to tear Li An to shreds!
“Xianchuan, what in the world happened? All this destruction just for one Li An? You’ve ruined the Zhao family’s legacy!”
Beside him, a Foundation Establishment expert spoke with a grim expression.
“The Zhao family’s foundation doesn’t matter. If it’s destroyed, it can be rebuilt…”
But Zhao Xianchuan felt a growing sense of dread, as though a catastrophe loomed and he was powerless to resist it. His heart had gone cold.
Now that Li An had escaped, how was he supposed to face the Demon Sect?
“Reporting to the Patriarch—honored guests have arrived!”
At that moment, someone came to report.
Zhao Xianchuan’s eyes instantly flickered with terror. He turned and saw two men approaching, led by Steward Liu whom he had sent out earlier.
He rushed up to greet them.
“Sirs, please… let us speak in the teahouse.”
The two men glanced at the devastation across Zhao Family Town. A chill flickered in their eyes, but they said nothing and followed Zhao Xianchuan into a teahouse.
All patrons in the teahouse were cleared out.
Zhao Xianchuan immediately dropped to his knees.
“This subordinate has failed in his task! I beg you, sirs, please punish me!”
“Speak. Explain everything!”
One of the demonic cultivators looked on coldly.
Zhao Xianchuan recounted everything in detail. “Sirs, I beg you to give me another chance. I swear I’ll capture Li An!”
“You let him get away, and now he’s vanished. You still think you can catch him? Dream on!”
The demonic cultivator slammed the table, eyes burning with fury.
Eight years!
They had waited eight long years for that black-hearted Talisman Master to resurface—only for him to slip through their fingers.
How were they supposed to report this to the branch master?
“How do you want to die?!”
The cultivator roared.
Zhao Xianchuan froze, his whole body trembling. He couldn’t even speak.
But the other demonic cultivator raised a hand and said in a deep voice, “Killing him serves no purpose.”
“I’m more curious… how exactly did Li An discover the truth?”
To prevent Li An from discovering Zhao Xianchuan’s ties to the Demon Sect, they had never passed him any demonic cultivation techniques or spells.
They had been cautious to avoid any flaws that Li An might detect.
“It must’ve been Chen Qingling. She must’ve let something slip…”
Zhao Xianchuan spoke, overwhelmed with regret.
Over the years, he had turned Mu Qingwan into a slave, tormenting her at will.
He had kept the Demon Sect’s secrets tightly sealed from the rest of the clan, yet he had let things slip in front of Mu Qingwan…
Because to him, Mu Qingwan had become nothing more than a toy and a punching bag. When he abused her, he’d often speak vicious, humiliating words just to savor her silent forbearance.
Most of those words had involved Chen Cheng—and Li An.
After all, in her life, Mu Qingwan had only loved two men: her husband Chen Cheng, and years ago, she had once had feelings for Li An.
And people naturally have a desire to speak, to vent. Zhao Xianchuan had long ceased to see Mu Qingwan as a threat, so he had let his darkest secrets slip in her presence.
Now that he thought about it, Mu Qingwan must have revealed everything to Chen Qingling.
This mother and daughter, whom he had grown completely lax around, had delivered him the most devastating blow.
“You bitch! Did you think hanging yourself would end it? I’ll dig up your head and feed it to the dogs!”
His heart was still filled with venomous hate at the thought.
“Chen Qingling…”
The demonic cultivator’s eyes narrowed. “So in the end, this girl used the black-hearted Talisman Master. She’s the real winner here…”
“Heh. And that black-hearted Talisman Master actually got played by a girl… how amusing.”
“Bring us her mother’s corpse.”
He spoke lightly.
Zhao Xianchuan immediately agreed.
“Good. This matter remains secret. Keep playing the role of Zhao family patriarch.”
“Now, fetch the body. You may go.”
At those words, Zhao Xianchuan was instantly overjoyed. He had actually survived?!
“Thank you, my lords! Thank you both! From this day on, I will devote my life to serving you!”
With that, he stood and departed.
“Senior Brother Yu Jie, what do you mean by this? You’re just letting that Zhao scum off the hook?” the other demonic cultivator asked with a frown.
“Junior Brother Zhen Sha, if Zhao Xianchuan dies now, all our efforts from the past few years will go to waste. Keeping him alive might still be useful.”
Yu Jie smiled faintly. “This time, Zhao Xianchuan tried to kill Li An with everything he had. Don’t you think Li An might come back for revenge one day?”
“If we kill Zhao Xianchuan now, wouldn’t we just be doing him a favor?”
“Also, that Chen Qingling… we need to find her. She’s a ruthless one. In my opinion, she might be more worth cultivating than Zhao Xianchuan.”
Zhen Sha nodded. “But she’ll be hard to track down…”
“Which is why we’ll use her mother Mu Qingwan’s corpse. Be patient. She’ll bite eventually.”
…
(End of Chapter)