Chapter 447: Chapter 277: Fortune and Misfortune Are of One’s Own Making (Part 2)

At this thought, his eyes lit up. He grew even more expectant of the spoils from the Black Wind Thieves.

After another careful inspection to ensure nothing was left behind in the grotto, Yang Jing transformed into a streak of Tunneling Light and vanished.

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Zhang Pan was pacing back and forth like an ant on a hot griddle, stopping every so often to glance at the perfectly calm Chi Yu and Yellow Foot.

If the two children hadn’t remained, he would have suspected Yang Jing had already abandoned them and fled on his own.

He was tempted to abandon the two children and leave with the young master and miss, but the memory of Yang Jing casually slaughtering the Black Wind Thieves’ Tribulation Cultivators on the Flying Boat made him hastily suppress the thought.

A short while later, Yang Jing’s Tunneling Light leisurely approached from the distance, landing before them.

"Daoist Master, you’ve finally returned! You were gone for so long, I was starting to think you’d run into the Black Wind Thieves."

Seeing that the approaching Tunneling Light was indeed Yang Jing, Zhang Pan finally felt a weight lift from his heart.

"Do not panic, young friend. I went out and gathered some intelligence. The Independent Cultivators who escaped have already spread the news of the Black Wind Thieves plundering the Lu Family’s Flying Boat. The Lu Family’s patriarch is furious. The Black Wind Thieves now have their hands full and won’t have the energy to spare for us," Yang Jing said calmly.

"We just need to be careful, and we’ll make it back to the Zhang Family’s ancestral lands."

Zhang Pan was overjoyed to hear this.

He had already sent a Talisman back to his ancestral lands, but with the pressure from the Wu Family, the Bishui Zhang Family couldn’t spare much manpower to escort them back.

"As long as we return to our ancestral lands safely, my Zhang Family will certainly reward you generously, Daoist Master."

Yang Jing waved his hand.

"That’s simple. The Zhang Family need only pass on the refining method for the True Spirit Flying Boat to me."

Zhang Pan’s heart sank at these words. He knew that, given his ancestor’s temperament, the True Spirit Flying Boat was valued more highly than two direct descendants. How could it possibly be offered as a reward?

He could only offer a few vague, noncommittal words. ’After all,’ he thought, ’once we’re safely back with the Bishui Zhang Family, no matter how powerful this old Daoist is, can he really stand against our ancestor, a Middle Stage Golden Core expert?’

Yang Jing’s gaze shifted to the young lady of the Zhang Family’s direct lineage. He saw a red mark on her fair face; she had clearly been slapped.

"Grandpa, this woman tried to order my brother to roast a yellow sheep for her, so I slapped her to teach her a lesson," Chi Yu said to Yang Jing, affecting an innocent expression.

The young lady’s eyebrows shot up in anger, her eyes grew wide, and she opened her mouth to shout a curse, but Zhang Pan quickly clamped a hand over it.

’We’re in the middle of nowhere,’ he thought frantically. ’This old Daoist’s power is unfathomable. If we provoke him, the three of us could be dead in an instant.’

"It is a trivial matter. Let us first return to the Zhang Family’s ancestral lands," Yang Jing said, dismissing the incident.

Since Yang Jing had already captured all the Black Wind Thieves in one fell swoop, the journey back was remarkably smooth. Though Zhang Pan and his charges remained on edge, the group of six encountered almost no danger and returned to the Zhang Family’s ancestral lands without a hitch.

As a great clan with a history spanning tens of thousands of years, the Zhang Family had seen some decline, but faint vestiges of its former glory were still visible within its ancestral lands.

The land was flat and expansive, with houses arranged in an orderly fashion. Between vast tracts of Spirit Fields, green willows formed a shady canopy.

A towering Dock Fortress stood in the center of the ancestral lands, positioned over the nexus of the Spirit Vein. Its archaic style was vastly different from most contemporary architecture.

"Daoist Master, this is the ancestral land of my Zhang Family," Zhang Pan said to Yang Jing.

He didn’t even notice the change in his own tone.

Yang Jing paid it no mind, following Zhang Pan into the Zhang Family’s ancestral lands.

Due to the pressure from the Wu Family, members of the Zhang clan patrolled the ancestral lands day and night, guarding against a surprise attack. These patrols quickly spotted Zhang Pan and the patriarch’s two direct descendants.

"Uncle Zhang, you’re back!"

"This Daoist is the benefactor who saved us. Take him and his disciples and see them settled. I’m taking the young master and miss to see the patriarch and report on everything that happened during our journey."

With that, Zhang Pan turned and left without so much as a word to Yang Jing, leaving him and his two disciples standing there.

Although the patrolling clan members were confused, they gleaned something from Zhang Pan’s tone.

"This way, Daoist Master," one of them said, his tone less than welcoming.

Yang Jing acted as if he hadn’t noticed anything amiss in their tone, calmly allowing the patrol to surround him as they escorted him to a room inside the Dock Fortress.

The three of them were shown into a single room. The door was shut behind them, and a long time passed with no one even bringing tea.

"So this is the Zhang Family’s way of showing gratitude? No wonder that even an esteemed Nascent Soul like Bai Shui True Monarch couldn’t be bothered to say a single good word about them."

Yang Jing looked at the room’s spartan furnishings with a knowing expression.

"Hmph! Master, you should have seen the way that bitch was acting, all high and mighty, trying to order me and my junior brother around like servants. I gave her a slap, and that shut her up. If that Zhang Pan wasn’t so afraid of your Power, he probably would have laid hands on us himself," Chi Yu immediately began complaining to Yang Jing in a huff, thoroughly disgusted by the young lady of the Zhang Family. If not for the sake of her master’s plans, she would have long since sent a Blood God Child to suck the woman’s Essence Blood dry.

Yellow Foot, standing beside her, nodded emphatically. Though he enjoyed cooking, he had no desire to cook for such a vile woman.

"It’s fine, it’s fine," Yang Jing said with a smile. "The more disgraceful the Zhang Family is, the fewer reservations I’ll have when I make my move against them."

’The more disgraceful they are, the more it proves they’re insignificant in the eyes of Bai Shui True Monarch. If this clan had a strict code of conduct, then out of respect for the True Monarch, there are many methods I wouldn’t be able to use.’

Suddenly, Yang Jing’s ears twitched. A surge of Magical Power enveloped Chi Yu and Yellow Foot, and with a flash, he used Earth Escape to spirit them out of the room.

Though the room had been set with numerous Restrictions, they posed no threat in Yang Jing’s eyes and were completely unable to hinder his Escape Technique.

A moment later, the young lady of the Zhang Family, the one Chi Yu had slapped, came storming over with several Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the clan.

"Third Uncle, that bitch slapped me so hard she drew blood! And that old man, the moment he opened his mouth, he demanded the legacy of our Bishui Zhang Family’s True Spirit Flying Boat! Hmph, I suspect they’re spies for the Black Wind Thieves, using this ’favor’ as an excuse to infiltrate our ancestral lands and coordinate an attack from the inside!"

Zhang Pan was also in the group. He didn’t believe for a second that the old Daoist was working for the Black Wind Thieves; the Foundation Establishment Tribulation Cultivators the old man had killed were all big names within the gang.

Even if the Black Wind Thieves were employing a ruse of self-injury to gain trust, there was no need to pay such a steep price.

’Blame yourself for wanting something the Bishui Zhang Family is unwilling to give,’ he thought viciously.

’The Bishui Zhang Family is in a precarious position right now. We can’t let this old Daoist go free and further tarnish what little reputation our family has left. It would be better to kill him quietly here in our ancestral lands and destroy the evidence.’

’Even if he is an Inner Sect Disciple of the Five Elements True Spirit Sect, the room we put him in is filled with all sorts of Restrictions. We can activate them from the outside and take his life silently. The Sect Jade Token of the Five Elements True Spirit Sect will never record any information about his killer.’

"Third Uncle, after you kill that old man, you have to leave that woman for me," the young lady of the Zhang Family said in a cloying voice. "I want to have some fun torturing her."

Zhang Kuangji, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator from the Zhang Family’s direct lineage, held up a Treasure Mirror to peer into the room, only to find it completely empty.

"What’s going on?" he demanded, turning his head.

The patrolmen who had escorted Yang Jing’s party to the room exchanged glances and cried out defensively,

"Third Young Master, we’re certain we put them in the room and locked the door before we left!"

"Maybe he used some kind of illusion to hide himself."

"Third Uncle, look! There’s something written on the wall!"

Zhang Kuangji angled the mirror and saw eight large words had been written on the wall:

"Fortune and misfortune are summoned by one’s own hand."