Soul Emperor Martial God

Chapter 60: Chapter 59: Northern Mountain Murong Family

”Uh...” Xiao Yi suddenly awoke, feeling some stiffness and pain in his body.

As he opened his eyes, he saw the Great Elder, the Second Elder, the Third Elder, and the Fourth and Sixth Elders.

”Where is this?” Xiao Yi asked, confused.

The Great Elder replied with a smile, ”The Xiao Family.”

The Third Elder said with a beaming smile, ”Yi’er, you’ve finally awakened.”

Xiao Yi’s face filled with surprise and doubt, ”How did we return to the Xiao Family? What about the people from the Murong Family?”

The Great Elder said, ”Murong Shan and a host of Murong Family Elders are dead. During the time you were in a coma, we exterminated the entire Murong Family and removed the crisis facing our Xiao Family; you can rest easy now.”

”Is it all resolved?” Xiao Yi asked with a smile, relieved, ”How long was I unconscious?”

”The entire seven days and nights,” the Second Elder said with a light laugh. ”My boy, when we carried you back, you were as cold as an ice ball. It scared us so much that we took turns using our True Qi to warm and nourish your body until we finally saw you awaken.”

The Great Elder asked in a serious tone, ”Once our battle with the Murong Family ended, we immediately went to find you. But we saw Murong Mo’s corpse while you were seriously injured and unconscious. What exactly happened?”

”Cough, cough.” Xiao Yi coughed weakly, his injuries not yet recovered.

The Third Elder asked with concern, ”Yi’er, are you ok?”

The Great Elder was startled and quickly moved to check Xiao Yi’s pulse.

Xiao Yi shook his head weakly and said, ”I’m fine. The meridians inside my body are wounded, but there are no serious issues. I just need to rest and recover for a while.”

”That’s good,” the Great Elder said. ”You are an Alchemist yourself; you understand your injuries better than anyone. We don’t need to worry about you.”

”Hmph,” the Third Elder said with an angry expression, ”Damn that Murong Family, if it weren’t for those villains, Yi’er, how could you have gotten so seriously injured? Sadly, we could not kill them all.”

Xiao Yi asked with confusion, ”Didn’t the Great Elder say that the entire Murong Family had been wiped out?”

The Great Elder explained, ”When we initially returned to the Xiao Family, each one of us had injuries, so we rested a bit before heading to the Murong Family. The Murong Family’s people were very cunning; some of their younger members had escaped in advance.”

The Third Elder said resentfully, ”By the time we got there, Murong Qianjun, Murong Jiao’er, and Murong Xuan were already gone.”

”We don’t need to bother with them anymore,” Xiao Yi shook his head. ”Those few individuals are of no threat and cannot rise to any challenge against the Xiao Family.”

”Xiao Yi,” the Great Elder suddenly called out and then fell silent.

”Hm?” Xiao Yi frowned, his spirits slightly lifted, as he keenly caught the heavy look of concern on the faces of the three elders.

Now that the Xiao Family’s crisis had passed, yet the three elders still had such grave expressions – the matter must be far from simple.

”What is it?” Xiao Yi asked in a deep voice.

The three elders looked at each other and then nodded in agreement.

The Great Elder spoke, ”There are two pieces of bad news to tell you.”

Xiao Yi nodded, sensing that the matter was serious, and said attentively, ”Please speak, Great Elder.”

”The first piece of bad news,” the Great Elder began, ”over the past few days, we kept a few Murong Family deacons alive and interrogated them. After all, where had Murong Mo been all these years? And why did he come back to Purple Cloud City and rush to confront our Xiao Family? We needed clarity on these matters.”

Xiao Yi listened intently; in fact, he had many doubts about this previously as well, but due to the urgency of the situation back then, he hadn’t contemplated it deeply.

The Great Elder looked solemnly at Xiao Yi and spoke earnestly, ”Murong Mo returned this time to dominate Purple Cloud City. However, his reason for domination was unrelated to everything within Purple Cloud City.”

”Purple Cloud Iron,” the Great Elder said before Xiao Yi could inquire, ”His goal was merely to obtain all the Purple Cloud Iron ore within the Meteorite Mountain Range. Also, when Murong Shan led his men to attack the Xiao Mansion, he was not in seclusion as claimed, but was simply not in a position to take action.”

”If we had not killed the Murong Family elders, that old fellow likely wouldn’t have shown himself at all. However, once he did appear, he pursued us relentlessly, all to silence us.”

Xiao Yi’s brow furrowed even more, and he asked, ”What exactly is going on?”

The Great Elder organized his thoughts for a moment, not answering Xiao Yi directly but looking straight at him as he asked, ”Do you know about the Northern Mountain Murong Family?”

”The Northern Mountain Murong Family?” Xiao Yi showed confusion and shook his head.

The Great Elder nodded, ”It’s not surprising you don’t know; you haven’t ventured outside of Purple Cloud City for experience. The Northern Mountain Murong Family is well-known throughout Northern Mountain County; their fame is considerable.”

”Do you know of Shengbao Trading House?” the Great Elder continued to ask.

”I do,” Xiao Yi nodded, ”That is the largest trading company in our Northern Mountain County.”

Shengbao Trading House sells various items used for Martial Artists’ cultivation, including Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, rare and exotic treasures, elixirs, alchemy materials, weapons, and more, offering everything one could need.

One of their branches was in Purple Cloud City, and Xiao Yi had visited it to buy alchemy materials.

The Great Elder nodded and said, ”Correct, every one of the one hundred and fifty cities in Northern Mountain County has a branch of Shengbao Trading House, making it the strongest trading company in our county.”

The country where the Xiao Family was located was called the Flame Martial Kingdom, a very vast realm.

The Flame Martial Kingdom was comprised of thirty-six counties with countless cities.

Northern Mountain County was one of them, owning one hundred and fifty cities.

Purple Cloud City was one among the cities of Northern Mountain County.

Purple Cloud City was already very large, but it was just a drop in the ocean of Northern Mountain County. And Northern Mountain County was just one of the counties in the Flame Martial Kingdom.

One could imagine, then, how vast Northern Mountain County was; and to what extent the Flame Martial Kingdom was vast.

But back to the matter at hand.

The Great Elder continued, ”The largest trading company in Northern Mountain County, Shengbao Trading House, belongs to the Northern Mountain Murong Family.”

Xiao Yi nodded. There was nothing surprising about this. In such a vast world, there were always some powerful families whose resources and power were immense.

But suddenly, Xiao Yi thought of a terrifying idea.

He asked in alarm, ”Great Elder, please don’t tell me that the Murong Family has a connection with this Northern Mountain Murong Family.”

The Great Elder nodded and said, ”There is a connection, but it’s not significant. The Murong Family is a branch of theirs from many years ago. However, they have been separated for many years, and there is no longer any contact between them.”

”Murong Mo, who quietly disappeared from Purple Cloud City years ago, has returned to the Northern Mountain Murong Family and even taken up the position of Outer Sect Steward.”

An Outer Sect Steward held a not-so-important position within a family. Families often used this method to attract martial artists from outside the family to serve them.

The status of an Outer Sect Steward was not as high as that of a Deacon, nor even as high as an outstanding member of a family, only slightly higher than that of an ordinary member.

The Great Elder continued, ”Murong Mo has come back this time to obtain all the Purple Cloud Iron Ore, to offer it to the Northern Mountain Murong Family in hopes of raising his status.”

”After all, Purple Cloud Iron is a material with great demand, and the Northern Mountain Murong Family, being a business-oriented family, really needs these goods.”

”However, since the Northern Mountain Murong Family is a business family, they place great emphasis on reputation and fame. The acts of Murong Mo, an Outer Sect Steward, to unjustly improve his own status, to kill members of other families for his own gain, even to the point of harming the community...”

”If word of this gets out, ruining the reputation of the Northern Mountain Murong Family and causing business damage, Murong Mo would be severely punished by the family.”

”This is why he didn’t act rashly earlier and why, when he did make his move, he aimed to silence others. He wanted to acquire all the ore veins without anyone noticing.”

”I understand,” said Xiao Yi after hearing the Great Elder’s explanation. He immediately grasped the situation.

Of course, he also understood why the expressions of the three elders had turned so grave. He said, ”You’re worried that the Northern Mountain Murong Family will cause trouble for us.”

Even though the Northern Mountain Murong Family valued their reputation and Murong Mo was only an insignificant Outer Sect Steward,

Murong Mo was still one of their own. The saying ’a tree needs its bark as a man needs his dignity’ applied; their own man being killed by outsiders could not be ignored without consequence, it would be a slap in the face.

From the moment Xiao Yi heard the name ”Northern Mountain Murong Family,” his expression became serious, but he remained calm; the Great Elder was analytically rational, while the Second and Third Elders were deep in thought.

Only the Fourth and Sixth Elders wore faces full of worry and hesitation.

Now, hearing Xiao Yi’s words, they were almost startled enough to jump.

”Heavens,” the Fourth Elder exclaimed, ”if the Northern Mountain Murong Family comes to trouble us, our Xiao Family will be wiped out without a trace left.”

”That won’t happen,” Xiao Yi and the Great Elder said, shaking their heads simultaneously.

”Smart,” the Great Elder said with a face full of admiration as he looked at Xiao Yi and chuckled, ”You tell us.”

Xiao Yi nodded and said, ”In the eyes of the colossal Northern Mountain Murong Family, our Xiao Family is just a weak ant, easily crushed with a flick of a finger. Any powerful family member they send could extinguish us.”

”But, this time the fault lies with Murong Mo; it was Murong Mo who instigated the conflict. If they were to annihilate our Xiao Family because of this, it would only affect their reputation.”

”Even though the affected reputation might only be a tiny bit, almost negligible, it is still a hundred times more important to them than our entire Xiao Family.”

Xiao Yi’s expression was self-deprecating as he said, ”Simply put, they don’t consider us at all.”

”The lives of our entire Xiao Family are not worth as much as a tiny bit of reputation to the Northern Mountain Murong Family; it’s not worth it for them to do that.”

Ironic as it was, this was the reality.

In this cruel, survival-of-the-fittest world, human life was indeed worthless in the eyes of some powerful forces.

The Xiao Family was considered one of the Three Great Families in Purple Cloud City, but within the whole Northern Mountain County, they were just an insignificant small family.

The Northern Mountain Murong Family, on the other hand, was one of the most powerful families in Northern Mountain County and had a significant name even throughout the entire Flame Martial Kingdom.

The two were not on the same level.

The Great Elder laughed and said, ”Xiao Yi, sometimes I really can’t understand how your mind can be so mature, not any less experienced than that of an old man who has lived for most of his life like me.”

”But,” the Great Elder suddenly changed his expression and said, ”You’ve overlooked one thing.”

The Great Elder spoke seriously, ”The Northern Mountain Murong Family, even though they won’t annihilate us, will definitely cause us trouble. And, if I’m not mistaken, Murong Mo must have died by your hand for some reason.”

”The Northern Mountain Murong Family will surely kill you. A life for a life so as not to damage their family’s face.”

”What?” The Third Elder became extremely anxious and said, ”Yii’er is only in the Postnatal Realm. Saying he could have killed Murong Mo, who would believe that?”

The Great Elder shook his head and said, ”Believe it or not. Xiao Yi, being the top genius of the Xiao Family, the current Young Master, future Patriarch of the Xiao Family. The Northern Mountain Murong Family will definitely take it out on him and want his life.”

”So, Xiao Yi, you must leave Purple Cloud City immediately,” said the Great Elder.

The Third Elder sighed and said, ”With the Northern Mountain Murong Family’s power, if they really want to kill someone, no matter how big the world is, where can Yii’er escape to?”

The Great Elder immediately smiled and said to Xiao Yi, ”Go to the Sky-splitting Sword Sect, the number one sect in our Northern Mountain County.”