Qin Feng walked over to the side of the spiritual well to have a look into it. Apart from the clear well water, all he saw was the reflection of a young handsome youth. There was nothing else to be seen. He adjusted his collar using his reflection as a guide before returning his gaze to his father. He planned to ask another question about the Heaven Swallowing Toad.
As a newbie cultivator, he was extremely fascinated by all knowledge about the world of cultivation. However, as soon as his gaze landed on his father, he was stunned. That was because his father looked extremely unhappy.
“What happened, Dad? Did that Heaven Swallowing Toad get away?” Qin Feng asked.
As he thought about it, that spiritual well went into the ground and if that Heaven Swallowing Toad managed to squirm into a tiny hole with its minuscule body, it would be able to avoid the Jade-eyed Spirit Snake that was chasing it.
Qin Long’s features were contorted into an ugly expression, he took a deep breath and responded softly, “That little creature managed to escape. However, it was not because the Jade-eyed Spirit Snake didn’t catch up with it. It’s because it couldn’t continue the chase.”
“Why is that?” Qin Feng asked curiously.
“It couldn’t because the Heaven Swallowing Toad escaped to the surface. That area is an important place that belongs to the Huang family in the North.”
Qin Long smiled bitterly as he continued, “I would have never guessed that this spiritual well is actually an underground water passage that connects to the Huang family Sword Cleansing Pool.”
“Huh?” Qin Feng was shocked, “The Huang family’s Sword Cleansing Pool?” His expression looked a little odd as he never expected that outcome.
The Huang family in the north of the city were a vassal of the Taiyi Golden Grotto Sect. Even though the Taiyi Golden Grotto Sect was a sword cultivator sect, the Huang family did not rely on their sword cultivation method to keep a foothold in Kun City.
The Huang family relied on their skill of sword making to survive. Of course, their inherited technique of sword making was nothing special, and rarely had any choice goods to present.
According to rumors, the grand elder of the Huang family who was the most skilled in sword making had previously constructed a spiritual flying sword of exceptional quality almost 20 years ago. He gifted it to the Taiyi Golden Grotto Sect and even received gifts in appreciation.
He did not know if this was true but according to his father, it was because of the extraordinary flying sword that made the renowned Taiyi Golden Grotto Sect see the Huang family differently.
From then onwards, the Huang family’s grand elder has never crafted another spiritual flying sword. Many people have been wondering if it was just a one-off stroke of luck that he was able to craft that amazing sword.
After all, everyone in the Qin family said so. After hearing this all his life, even Qin Feng agreed with the sentiment.
The Huang family controlled a small scale refined iron mine in the mountains North of the city. Each year they could craft about a hundred magic swords and a few other magic tools. Their family had opened a shop in Tieling County City to sell the spiritual tool made by the family in exchange for cultivation resources. They were completely different from the Qin family who primarily focused on farming spiritual land.
During normal times, the two families would taunt and sneer at the other. The Qin family would sneer at the fact that the Huang family played with metal while the Huang family would mock the Qin family for being gardeners. The two families have never seen eye-to-eye and it was rare for them not to argue if they bumped into the other family.
However, the Qin and Huang families have always quarreled but never fought physically. It was not because they never wanted to but because they were too similar in strength. If they fought, both families would suffer losses and family members would die. It was not worth it.
Yet, the families have fought bitterly in the past. 120 years ago, the few outstanding children of the Qin family that they had spent precious effort nurturing had encountered harm and died. This resulted in the family only having one Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator to protect them for a very long time. The Huang family took advantage of this and attacked, nearly wiping out the entire Qin family.
Qin Guanpao later advanced into the Foundation Establishment Stage in the sect and had a Shadow Panther. With his powerful spiritual beast by his side, he got a couple of his good friends from his sect to help and with that, he was able to withstand the Huang family’s attacks.
In the beginning, if not for Qin Guanpao receiving news of this attack and managing to return in time, the entire Qin family might have been completely vanquished. Their family spiritual lands spreading across 300 acres would have also become the Huang family’s foundation to prosperity.
As for the Qin family, similarly, if the Huang family were in a weak position, they would never give up the chance to kick the Huang family while they were down. It was not merely the Huang family who were coveting the Qin family’s 300 acres of spiritual land. Likewise, the Qin family also coveted the refined iron ore vein of the Huang family.
Kun City had limited resources, if they wanted to expand, they had to come up with a way to defeat their rivals. However, when their power was too similar, both families had to be extremely restrained. Apart from a few accomplished Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators within both families, they also had a couple of trump cards that might achieve spiritual awakening and start cultivating at any time.
Hence, whenever they bumped into each other normally, both families would practice self-restraint and only argue with their words and not their fists. Unless one of the families had gained a great advantage over the other, there would be no point in fighting. There would be a bloodbath on both sides and a third party might take advantage of their weakened state.
This third party would be the other cultivator family in Kun City, the Wang family in the West.
The Wang family was a vassal to the small sect—the Hidden Mist sect. They could not compare to either the Huang or Qin families, hence they normally played the part of a mediator and helped the two families resolve their issues.
Of course, they secretly hoped that these two families would fight to the death, killing each other until there was no one left. This would mean that the Wang family would win the spoils and be the only family to dominate the city.
The Sword Cleansing Pool was located within the Huang family’s most important Sword Crafting Valley. It could be considered the Huang family’s base location. There were numerous Huang family cultivators who lived and cultivated there, as well as crafting their magic swords in the area.
QIn Long could not let anyone discover the tracks of his Jade-eyed Spirit Snake. After all, everyone in the Huang family knew that it was his spiritual beast. If someone saw it, they would definitely think that he had deliberately trespassed into the Huang family’s strategic land to spy on their secrets. If that happened, it would create a huge problem.
This was the reason that as soon as he saw the scene outside the water clearly, he immediately got his Jade-eyed Spirit Snake to dive back into the water and return to him. As Qin Feng watched the spiritual snake lift its long body out of the spiritual well before coming to lay next to Qin Long, he could not hold back and asked, “Dad, now that we failed to catch that Heaven Swallowing Toad. What will we do when it returns to eat the spiritual fruits?”
“There’s no problem,” Qin Long condensed true essence in his hand and pointed towards the spiritual well sharply. Above the spiritual well, a couple of inscriptions appeared carved into it and after that, he retrieved a snake scale from his Jade-eyed Spirit Snake.
Qin Long cast a spell and inlaid the snake scale in between the inscription and in an instant, a gust of powerful vicious aura emanated strongly around them. Qin Long smiled and said, “I have cast a spell on this snake scale, it can now emanate the aura of my Jade-eyed Spirit Snake. If the Heaven Swallowing Toad is an intelligent creature, it will not dare to appear.”
“That’s great,” Qin Feng said as he excitedly watched his father cast the spell. At that moment, he felt extremely impatient. It was a shame that as he was only a second level Qi Refinement Stage cultivator. Apart from being able to summon a tiger and dragon illusion, he could only cast a few simple spells like Wind Control, Fire Control, Agility, and Lightness spells. To attain his father’s level seemed like a long way to go.
After Qin Long had placed the Jade-eyed Spirit Snake scale along the well, he retrieved a bottle of ointment that exuded a refreshing fragrance. He then gently applied a layer onto his spiritual snake’s back where he took the scale from.
This was a spiritual medicine that regenerates living flesh and bone that has been passed down in the Beastmaster Sect. This type of medicinal ointment coupled with the Jade-eyed Spirit Snake’s great recovery ability meant that in a mere couple of days, it would be able to regenerate a new scale.
With a wave of his hand, he returned the spiritual snake to his Spiritual Beast Bag and walked out of the orchard with his son.
“How did it go? Did you manage to catch that spiritual toad?” The father-son duo turned around and was immediately cornered by Fifth Elder who questioned them right away.
“No,” Qin Long shook his head, “That little rascal got away.”
“Huh?” Fifth Elder looked a little disappointed, “With your cultivation level, you still did not manage to catch it. In the future, how many more spiritual fruits is it going to destroy?”
“Fifth Uncle, you need not worry. I have cast a spell on the spiritual well with a scale of my Jade-eyed Spirit Snake. Until the aura of the snake’s scale disappears completely, that spiritual toad will not dare to return.”
Qin Long saw that Fifth Elder appeared quite despondent and rushed to console him, “Furthermore, I have already discovered that spiritual toad’s hiding spot, and my Jade-eyed Spirit has memorized its aura. In the future, all we need to do is head there once we’ve got a solution.
“Fifth Uncle you can relax. Even if I can’t catch it, I promise that the spiritual toad will no longer dare to step foot in the spiritual fruit orchard.”
“Oh, that would be great,” once Fifth Elder heard those words, he slowly started to relax. In the midst of the crowd expressing their thanks, the father and son duo said their goodbyes to Fifth Elder and returned to their family residence.
“Feng’er, you can head back on your own. I need to speak to the family patriarch about something.” Qin Long reminded him, “Remember, none can hear of the news about that secret underground water passage connected to the Huang family Sword Cleansing Pool. If the news got out, there would be trouble up ahead.”
“Dad, you can relax, I understand.” Qin Feng nodded his head in acknowledgement.
If the Huang family knew about this matter, there would definitely be suspicions and accusations. As they relied on crafting spiritual tools and magic swords, they would have no method to sneak over. However, as the Qin family owned spiritual beasts, a water-type spiritual beast could use the underground water passage to sneak into the Sword Crafting Valley and attack. This type of loss was not something that they could afford.
Qin Feng felt that his father was reporting this news to the family patriarch in order to prepare a back-up plan. If they did end up battling with the Huang family in the future, they could use the underground water passage to gain the upper hand and beat the Huang family thoroughly without sparing a single soul there.