Beast Taming: I Have an Immortal Mansion-Chapter 61: Cause and Effect

The Nascent Soul Great Cultivator behind the Vast Collection Pavilion was none other than Gao Guangsheng, an Elder from the Qi Yun Sect’s Miscellaneous Affairs Peak. With his late-stage Nascent Soul cultivation, he had come personally to take charge and suppress the dozen or so Golden Core cultivators from the White Mountain Sects.

It turned out that while the Market City Alliance Army was pursuing the Tribulation Cultivators, the various sects of White Mountain had not been idle. They had also joined forces to attack the Shandu Wei Family.

The reason was severe: they suspected the Wei Family of stealing infants. These Golden Core cultivators had all recently discovered that infants within their territories were frequently being abducted.

Any infant worth stealing certainly possessed a Spirit Root. Every child with a Spirit Root was the foundation of their respective clans and sects—their most important asset.

Furthermore, these Golden Core Ancestors discovered that the one stealing the infants was no ordinary Cultivator, but a Golden Core himself. One of the Ancestors had even briefly clashed with this thief, only to be defeated.

Later, after conferring with one another, the White Mountain Golden Cores concluded that the ancestor of the Shandu Wei Family was the most suspicious. The infant abductions in White Mountain had started right after Wei Tong’s arrival.

Moreover, Wei Tong was a mid-stage Golden Core Cultivator with formidable combat strength, making him a prime suspect. Secondly, the Wei Family had just arrived and hadn’t established a firm footing. They knew no one, so there was nobody to speak up for them.

So, the Golden Cores decided to first try diplomacy before resorting to force. They went to his doorstep to demand an explanation.

With a dozen Golden Cores at his door, Wei Tong naturally didn’t dare to be disrespectful. But when the White Mountain Golden Cores demanded to search his mountain, Wei Tong refused.

’I’m a man of some renown, after all, and I just annihilated the Swen Family. You White Mountain People can’t just accuse me of stealing infants and expect to search my mountain. I could just as well say you stole them and are trying to frame me!’

However, Wei Tong had underestimated the ferocity of the White Mountain Cultivators. The dozen or so Golden Cores from major White Mountain Sects like the Artifact Talisman Alliance and the Lianshui Alliance returned to their sects, gathered their forces, and formed a five-thousand-strong joint army. They besieged Shandu for several days and broke through its great formation.

After severely wounding Wei Tong, they forced the Wei Family to agree to let them send men into the mountain gate to search for the stolen infants.

During this time, the Tribulation Cultivators who had sacked Black River Square took advantage of the chaos, slipping through the poorly defended White Mountain area and into the Endless Forest, much to Gao Guangsheng’s teeth-grinding fury.

Gao Guangsheng was furious with the White Mountain Golden Cores for neglecting their duties and allowing the Tribulation Cultivators who had offended him to escape. He forced these Golden Core Ancestors into the Endless Forest, forbidding them from returning until they had captured the Blood Demon Evil Cultivator.

Meanwhile, the Wei Family had lost immense face after their mountain gate was breached. Seeing that the Cultivator Clans who followed them were on the verge of becoming disloyal, Wei Tong made a ruthless move. With the White Mountain Ancestors away, he rallied his troops and unleashed a vicious attack on the Celestial Attraction Sect, a vassal of the Artifact Talisman Alliance, intending to reclaim some prestige.

But Wei Tong hadn’t expected what should have been an easy victory to turn into a tough fight. The cultivators of Celestial Attraction Mountain refused to surrender, fighting to the death. In the end, they managed to pluck a few whiskers from this river-crossing dragon, the Wei Family.

Even more awkwardly, the Artifact Talisman Alliance had now brought reinforcements to retake Celestial Attraction Mountain. The two forces, armies of several thousand cultivators, were now locked in a standoff.

After hearing all this news, Fang Qingyuan felt as if he had been cut off from the world for several years. ’How could the situation in White Mountain change so drastically in just two or three months?’

White Mountain was separated from Celestial Gate Mountain only by the Death Swamp. By beast ship, the journey was only a day or two—not too far.

A wind blowing from over there could easily become a storm by the time it reached here.

Thinking of this, Fang Qingyuan made a decision. Since he had already completed his sect missions for the year, he wouldn’t leave the Celestial Gate Mountain courtyard again. He would stay in his own small courtyard for the next half a year to avoid this turmoil.

After bidding farewell to Zhang Yuan, Fang Qingyuan took his seven Medicinal Turtles and the Golden Claw Silver Grey Flying Eagle and headed first to the Beast Cage.

The lease on the flying eagle had expired, so he had to return it first. Before doing so, however, Fang Qingyuan gave the eagle one of the Medicinal Turtles.

After watching the eagle fly away, its talons gripping the Medicinal Turtle tightly, Fang Qingyuan turned to Tian Ziyi with a smile.

"Senior Brother, please accept this Medicinal Turtle. It may not be worth many Spirit Stones, but it’s a small token from your junior brother."

Tian Ziyi’s face flushed slightly. He wasn’t one to accept gifts comfortably, but Fang Qingyuan’s offer was so sincere that he found it hard to refuse. In the end, Tian Ziyi accepted it.

However, he decided he wouldn’t use the Medicinal Turtle himself. He’d just slaughter it and divide it among the Spirit Beasts in the Beast Cage.

Seeing Tian Ziyi accept, Fang Qingyuan brought out another Medicinal Turtle and said to him:

"Then for this one, I’ll have to trouble you, Senior Brother, to give it to Lao Bai."

Lao Bai wasn’t around this time, likely away on a mission. As soon as Fang Qingyuan had gotten the seven Medicinal Turtles, he had already planned out how to distribute them.

One for the Golden Claw Silver Grey Flying Eagle, to thank it for its hard work over the past three months. Without it, who knows how many Medicinal Turtles that flock of White-headed Vultures would have stolen.

One for Tian Ziyi, to thank him for his help. Another for Lao Bai, a gift for an old friend to maintain their bond.

As for the remaining four, Fang Qingyuan decided to give one to Yinbao for it to try, and he planned to eat two himself.

He would give the last one to Jiang Kui if he ran into her, as thanks for her help in selecting his Cultivation Techniques on two occasions.

If he didn’t see her, then he’d just eat it himself.

Although eating a Medicinal Turtle could improve one’s cultivation, it was actually more suitable for refining into Elixir Pills. However, Fang Qingyuan didn’t want to take Elixir Pills, so he decided to just eat it directly to save himself the trouble of raising it.

Once he returned to his courtyard, Fang Qingyuan immediately butchered a Medicinal Turtle, added other seasonings, and stewed a large pot full of meat.

As for the most important part, the shell, he ground it into a powder and stored it in a jade bottle. He planned to take it into the Immortal Mansion Space to feed the Bee Queen and see if the little thing liked the taste.

The large pot of turtle meat lasted Fang Qingyuan for nearly a month. At every meal, he would stir-fry a few pieces, sometimes pairing it with Pig Fish and Spirit Vegetables for a unique flavor.

During that month, Fang Qingyuan saw Jiang Kui once. However, she refused to accept the Medicinal Turtle. In her view, guiding Fang Qingyuan twice was simply her responsibility as a senior sister; she had no reason to accept a gift for it.

Since Jiang Kui wouldn’t take it, Fang Qingyuan had no choice but to butcher that Medicinal Turtle as well. This way, he wouldn’t be short of turtle meat for the next two months.

Thankfully, his storage bag could keep it fresh; otherwise, Fang Qingyuan would have wasted a lot.

* * *

「Spring passed and autumn came; the seasons turned. In the blink of an eye, half a year had gone by, and the end of the year was approaching.」

Ever since returning from the Turtle Breeding Pool, Fang Qingyuan had remained in his courtyard, even temporarily halting his Spirit Fruit business.

The Wei Family’s attack on Celestial Attraction Mountain had lasted for half a year, only quieting down recently. Due to their influence, the area around Celestial Gate Mountain had also become unstable. In the past six months, two more Inner Sect Disciples of the Beast Taming Sect had died.

One had gone to White Mountain to watch the excitement and was killed. The other went out on an expedition, was ultimately trapped, and his body was never found.

Fang Qingyuan knew both of them. Although they weren’t close, after their deaths, he still gave a small contribution of Spirit Stones to their descendants.

With their deaths, the number of Inner Sect Disciples in the Southern Border Beast Taming Sect had dropped to twenty-nine.

Before the last competition, there were thirty-five Inner Sect Disciples. But with the top two promoted to Core Disciples, the bottom two demoted to Outer Disciples, and two more deaths, only twenty-nine remained.

’But it should be fine. With a new batch of Outer Disciples joining, the number of Inner Sect Disciples should recover in a few years.’

Oh, right. The disciple who took first place in the last competition, the one Lechuan had placed high hopes on, ran into a tough opponent while on a mission. He was severely injured in the fight, his foundation was damaged, and he now has no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment in this lifetime.

Although Lechuan avenged him afterward by killing the cultivator who attacked him, his injuries were incurable.

Meanwhile, Fang Qingyuan, who had been cooped up in his courtyard, had made considerable gains. First, his cultivation was progressing steadily. He was about three years away from reaching the Sixth-Layer Qi Cultivation.

Second, his Five Elements Spirit Root had also improved over the past six months. After continuously placing spirit materials into the Immortal Mansion Space, his Five Elements Spirit Root was now as follows:

Wood: twenty-seven, Earth: twenty-one, Water: sixteen, Fire: thirteen, and Metal: ten.

His Wood Spirit Root’s aptitude had finally increased by another point. After more than a year of persistently burying Spirit Wood, his efforts had finally paid off.

An aptitude of twenty-seven for his Wood Spirit Root was already quite good. He was only three points away from a Top-grade Spirit Root. Fang Qingyuan estimated that the next improvement to his Wood Spirit Root aptitude would take another year and a half.

His Earth Spirit Root had increased by two points, from nineteen to twenty-one. Correspondingly, Fang Qingyuan could clearly feel his progress accelerating when practicing the Vertical Earth Technique.

After half a year of practice, Fang Qingyuan could now use the Vertical Earth Technique to dive fifteen zhang underground. This was quite deep; an ordinary Late-stage Qi Refining Cultivator would have no hope of discovering him without special methods.

But this still hadn’t met his expectations. His goal was fifty zhang deep. He wasn’t planning on any long journeys until he reached that depth.

As for his Metal Spirit Root entering a new grade, there wasn’t much to say. Fang Qingyuan had bought some Spirit Ore, buried it along with the Spirit Wood, and after a short time, his Metal Spirit Root’s aptitude had increased by two points.

However, Fang Qingyuan didn’t pay much attention to his Metal Spirit Root. His main focus was currently on his Wood and Earth Spirit Roots.

In fact, if he weren’t practicing the Vertical Earth Technique, he wouldn’t have diverted resources and invested Spirit Stones into his Earth Spirit Root at all.

Spirit Stones had to be spent where they counted most. One of the Five Elements Spirit Roots had to be exceptionally prominent; otherwise, if all five were average, how could his cultivation speed ever be fast?

Besides all this, the Immortal Mansion Space was also bustling with activity. When Fang Qingyuan sent his Divine Sense inside, he was immediately enveloped by a swarm of bees.