Chapter 141 The Taixi Dynasty

"Ah-Bao, gather the elite forces immediately. Keep the commotion to a minimum; we are heading into the mountains tonight to encircle and suppress them."

Sun Xuan quickly assessed the situation, made his decision, and ordered Cao Hubao to assemble the troops.

"Old Liu, what did you encounter just now? Lightning was flashing wildly in the mountains; we could feel it all the way back at the main camp," Zhao Qing interjected at this moment.

"Before setting out, this disciple learned from a woodcutter that there is a dangerous place in these mountains called Dead Man's Valley. When I went in to take a look, I found bones piled as high as mountains, and a pack of about a hundred ghostly entities gathered in the valley."

"This disciple casually cleaned them up to prevent them from continuing to plague the mortal realm."

Ling Chi said it offhandedly, as if he had merely done an insignificant chore. Zhao Qing was this close to rolling his eyes—the kid was showing off again.

"Lord Sun, this subordinate will set out first to monitor the He family in secret, lest they detect any movement," Ling Chi said, cupping his fists.

"Alright, be careful. Strike directly if necessary, and I will rush to your reinforcement shortly."

Ling Chi nodded at Zhao Qing, and with a flash of thunderous light, he vanished from the spot.

One to two thousand sturdy men quietly assembled in the camp, gags in their mouths and hooves muffled.

Silently, Ling Chi returned to Black Stone Ridge. Meanwhile, the He family members down below remained completely oblivious to the impending crisis.

With the Demon-Slayer saber gripped in his hand, he resumed his old trade.

He executed the sentries and left marks in their places, then slipped directly into the tunnel, maximizing his spiritual sense to search for He Zhixian's location.

Inside a stone chamber, exquisite carvings displayed utmost luxury. Judging by the craftsmanship, this room could not have been excavated in a short period of time.

Wisps of agarwood smoke curled and dissipated into the air. He Zhixian and a tough-looking man with triangular eyes sat facing each other, sipping tea.

"Big Brother, it's already come to this. Shouldn't you finally tell me where we're going? Hiding in this hole like rats is truly damn frustrating!"

"Don't be impatient, virtuous brother. Even I didn't expect that Weiwei Sun Xuan would actually manage to break away and come take charge personally. It seems Circuit Intendant Fu still failed to keep him detained!"

The triangular-eyed man sitting opposite him was none other than He Prefecture Governor Jiang Xianhe.

He sighed heavily in his heart. The He family's foundation of several hundred years was being destroyed in a single day, but he could blame no one.

It boiled down to choosing the wrong side; after losing the political struggle at the top, the He family had become the scapegoat.

However, he had no other choice and could only walk all the way down the dark path with the man surnamed Fu. Fortunately, he still retained a backup plan.

"Second Brother, we are going to leave the Shenzhou Dynasty and defect to the Western Mountain Dynasty on the other side of the Western Mountain Range. The reason I didn't tell you earlier was out of fear that you wouldn't be able to bear parting with it!"

He Zhixian said hypocritically. If he truly regarded Jiang Xianhe as a brother, how could he have kept him in the dark for so long? It was purely because he worried that his right-hand man might abandon him and leave.

Jiang Xianhe was dumbfounded by these words. He had originally thought the worst-case scenario would be turning into outlaws and becoming new bandits.

Never had he imagined that they were actually going to leave the dynasty. This sudden news caught him completely off guard.

Although the Western Mountain Dynasty and the Shenzhou Dynasty had not engaged in warfare for over a hundred years, they remained hostile toward each other.

The two were separated only by the thousand-li-long Western Mountain Range. South of the Northwest Circuit lay the Hexi Circuit.

And just outside Zhenxi Pass at the westernmost edge of Hexi Circuit lay the former battlefield, which was now a lawless wasteland.

Both imperial courts tacitly allowed this wasteland beyond the passes to serve as a buffer zone to minimize conflicts and let each side recuperate and build up their strength.

"There is no need to worry too much. Sooner or later, we will fight our way back. Circuit Intendant Fu hasn't completely abandoned us; otherwise, he wouldn't have helped us hold off Sun Xuan."

He Zhixian spoke in a chilling tone. If he had sufficient strength, he would even have wanted to take out Fu Qiuwen along the way and then step into his position himself.

Pity that it was only a pipe dream; what he needed most right now was to lie low and bide his time.

Jiang Xianhe did not take a single word of his eldest brother's comforting remarks to heart. His mind and heart were a tangled mess of porridge.

"Big Brother, we are still over a thousand li away from the Western Mountain Range, let alone the Western Mountain Dynasty tens of thousands of li beyond," he said to He Zhixian with a puzzled expression.

"I told you not to worry. Mount Li is a spur of the Western Mountain Range, and I definitely have my reasons for choosing this place as our fallback," He Zhixian said with a mysterious and unfathomable air.

Jiang Xianhe felt a lump block his chest, his face flushing slightly.

"A few years ago, my men discovered a dry underground riverbed below Black Stone Ridge. After months of exploration, we found that it is actually a passage running straight through the Western Mountain Range."

"Your elder brother arranged for a large number of martial slaves to repair the riverbed and leave us a retreat route. Once you exit the passage, you arrive at the wasteland on the opposite side of the Western Mountain Range."

"That is a wasteland stretching thousands of li, and further out lies the Western Mountain Dynasty," He Zhixian explained.

Jiang Xianhe heaved a long sigh in his heart. The next time he returned to the Shenzhou Dynasty, he would be an enemy of the realm.

Hiding not far away, Ling Chi listened to every word of their conversation.

His heart surged violently. The amount of information in their dialogue was so overwhelming that he struggled to absorb it all at once.

Even the *Chronicles of Mountains and Rivers* contained no record of this, yet He Zhixian knew it so thoroughly. As expected, a local overlord of several centuries could not be underestimated.

He Zhixian actually intended to take his entire family and defect to a hostile dynasty—this was undoubtedly courting death of his own accord.

He hadn't expected there to be an underground river running through the Western Mountain Range here either. He wondered if this passage had already fallen into the hands of the enemy nation?

Observing the movement patterns of the He family members from the shadows, he swept his spiritual sense to search for the underground riverbed He Zhixian had mentioned, preparing to block their escape route before dealing with anything else.

He saw He family guards pushing small carts laden with supplies toward one end of the tunnel.

At the other end, mountains of supplies had already been loaded onto horse-drawn carriages and tightly secured. Over a hundred sturdy packhorses had their eyes covered and muzzles bound, and the caravan was fully geared up and ready to go.

It was unknown how the dry riverbed had formed, but after being remodeled and repaired by the He family's martial slaves, it was now wide enough for two carriages to pass side by side.

The exteriors of the carriage bodies were embedded with fluorescent stones, bright enough to illuminate the area several yards around them.

Ling Chi slipped deep into the riverbed, waiting for the He family caravan to walk right into his trap.

He Zhixian and Jiang Xianhe arrived together. The female family members had already been arranged onto the carriages, waiting only for them.

"Set off!" He Zhixian surveyed the scene and gave the order.

The caravan of several hundred people moved out slowly. Not a soul spoke; the bitterness of leaving one's homeland was not something everyone could bear.

Yet no one dared to look back. Anyone whose face showed even a trace of reluctance had been sacrificed by He Zhixian to the Five Ghosts before they even left the main mansion.

The caravan flashed with fluorescent light, resembling a advancing dragon.

Seeing the caravan draw closer, Ling Chi suddenly materialized from the darkness.

In the span of a breath, thunder bloomed within his pupils.

In the blink of an eye, the entire riverbed was saturated with thunder. Countless lightning pythons lunged into the caravan, blasting them into a chaotic mess.

"What kind of person is this? Second Brother, quickly stop him!" He Zhixian's angry roar echoed from the carriage.

Ling Chi did not reply; he reached out and patted his waist.

*Clang!*

The Subduing Evil saber cleared its scabbard, and a murderous saber aura soared into the sky.

"Ling Chi, the thunder cultivator from He County—it's you, you little bastard!" He immediately recognized who had arrived, though he had no idea how the other party had managed to sneak in.

Hearing his eldest brother's summons, Jiang Xianhe rapidly scrambled out of the carriage, wielding a great spear as he charged straight toward Ling Chi to kill him.