The Rise of a Family: Starting from Daily Intelligence - Chapter 407 (Patreon)

Chapter 407: The Biggest Winner, The Deal, Raising the Coffin

Fu Changsheng sensed that the aura of the Blood-Flame Sunhawk King within Blood-Flame Valley had grown exceedingly weak. Even so, its fourth-rank demon core had formed. If he could seize it, the Fu Clan would undoubtedly take first place in this great hunting competition among the noble families.

With that in mind, he donned his mysterious robe. The moment the tribulation dispersed, he intended to strike and snatch the fourth-rank demon core. He glanced up at the sky.

But the lightning tribulation did not dissipate. Instead, it grew more and more violent.

“This…”

Could the Blood-Flame Sunhawk King have withstood the previous bolt?

As he wondered—

Boom!

The eighth bolt finished brewing. When it fell from the ninth heaven, it was no ordinary thunder, but a “Soul-Eroding Thunder Beast” condensed from billions of bolts of lightning. Its head was like a mountain crashing down. The thunder beast plunged toward Blood-Flame Valley; with a sweep of its claws, whole swathes of cliff collapsed, and the lava surged back into sky-piercing pillars of fire.

Fu Changsheng swept the valley with his spiritual sense.

The sunhawk king’s wings were charred, its bone horns snapped, the flames in its eyes dim like a candle in the wind.

Yet deep in those eyes flashed a thick, stubborn unwillingness.

It raised its head to the thunder beast.

A desperate, feral screech tore from its throat:

“Roar!”

Its skeletal wings flared open. The nine remaining flaming pinions burst with blinding blood-light. At the same time, thirty third-rank Blood-Flame Sunhawks—previously hidden—suddenly went rigid; their demon cores ripped free of their bodies, turning into blood-colored meteors that shot into the sunhawk king!

“Chiu—!!”

After devouring its kin’s demon cores, the king’s aura climbed step by step. Its body swelled; blackened scales sloughed away, exposing the writhing flesh-veins beneath. Ash-white corpseflames sprayed from the seams of its bones, condensing behind it into a hundred-zhang phantom of a corpse king.

“Boom!”

The instant the phantom took shape—

The thunder beast arrived.

With a single contraction and release, that vast body exploded with a bang. The terrifying blast blew the corpse king phantom into a sheet of blood-light that dissipated.

But the phantom had borne most of the force.

The Blood-Flame Sunhawk King, though gravely wounded, survived.

“This…”

Fu Changsheng’s face changed.

He had never imagined the sunhawk king would spare not even its own kind.

“Chiu!”

The surviving birds in the valley beat their wings to flee. The moment they reached mid-air, their bodies exploded one after another at the king’s enraged roar. The blood-light rolled back like a river and poured into the sunhawk king.

Its withered aura rose once more.

Fu Changsheng was shaken.

Fortunately, he had not acted rashly. With the sunhawk king’s means, he would likely have met a grim end.

Even so—

If it had no other trump cards, there was no way it could withstand the next two bolts.

Just then—

His expression shifted. “Not good!”

From the southeast and west, three auras of the False Core Realm sped closer.

Though he had the mysterious robe as a safeguard, Fu Changsheng still willed himself into the Five Elements Space in the next instant. With three False Core cultivators arriving, a fierce battle was inevitable. He would watch and wait.

Not long after—

An aged figure appeared at the edge of Blood-Flame Valley. He wore a yellow robe, his face withered but his eyes bright. This was Ancestor Huang, a False Core cultivator. Gazing toward the depths of the valley, greed flickered in his eyes.

Judging by the sunhawk king’s condition, it would not survive the next bolt.

The fourth-rank demon core was as good as his.

“Jie-jie, who would’ve thought this trip to Falling Phoenix Mountain Range would yield such a prize!”

With that demon core he could exchange for one or two treasures to resist a Golden Core tribulation. In this family contest, it would also let him settle the matter with one hammer blow and take the championship.

As his mood soared, Ancestor Huang’s brows rose. He turned east.

A blue-robed, cold-featured Ancestor Wu flashed into view. His gaze cut like lightning as he swept Blood-Flame Valley—clearly here for the demon core as well. Feeling Ancestor Huang’s hostile look, Ancestor Wu sneered:

“Huang old ghost, you are quick.”

“Wu old freak, you mean to take a share too?”

“The sunhawk king’s demon core is ownerless. Why should I not come?”

The air grew taut as drawn bows.

Just then, a clear, ringing laugh drifted from above the valley. A graceful figure descended between them—Cao Xiang’er, clad in tight garb, heroic bearing bright. She too was a False Core cultivator.

“Two ancestors, in that case, we’ll see whose flower this plucks today.”

Ancestor Huang and Ancestor Wu both looked at Cao Xiang’er, a hint of wariness in their eyes. Though young, her cultivation was no weaker than theirs. She served in the World Pacification Bureau, and to have climbed to the post of Deputy Ten-Thousand-Household Officer, her methods and trump cards were surely abundant.

While the three faced off, a world-shaking roar thundered from the valley’s depths. The Blood-Flame Sunhawk King surged from the lava river; crimson feather-blades all over its body ignited, as if to burn heaven and earth to ash.

“Roar—!”

The ninth bolt was tri-colored.

No thunder beast manifested—only a single bolt fell straight down.

Boom!

Before Heavenly Might, every stratagem proved laughably thin. Struck by the lightning, the sunhawk king’s vast body crashed to the ground with a bang; its aura vanished in an instant. Yet its gaze toward the sky still brimmed with resentment and unwillingness.

All three observers jolted.

A beast’s fourth-rank tribulation was even more terrifying than a cultivator’s Golden Core tribulation.

If any one of the three were in its place, they would likely share its fate. They exchanged looks and glanced at the sky. If the sunhawk king was not truly dead, the next step into the tribulation’s range would spell disaster.

Fortunately, the thunderclouds at the horizon began to disperse—proof the sunhawk king had truly failed its tribulation.

Cold light flashed in Ancestor Huang’s eyes. He was first to cast out his treasure—the Nine Yin Soul-Locking Nails.

Nine bronze nails drew nine arcs of blood-light through the air, becoming nine scarlet-scaled blood pythons that pounced on the sunhawk’s corpse. Wherever they passed, corpse-poison thickened in the air; even the lava stained red.

“Huang old ghost, quick hands!”

Ancestor Wu would not let him have his way. He flung out the Earth-Vein Rahu Plate.

The palm-sized bronze board swelled in the sky; sixty array flags glittered like stars. The gridlines became a Nine-Bends Yellow River formation, shrouding the entire valley. His fingers tapped; flags shot forth like meteors. The ground shook; collapsed cliff faces rose as mountain peaks; lava surged back and froze into ice-lakes.

Roar!

Ancestor Huang’s blood pythons were trapped in the ice-lakes; their assault dulled.

“Courting death!”

Ancestor Huang’s face sank.

The nine Soul-Locking Nails recoiled and shot as nine streaks of blood, stabbing at Ancestor Wu.

Ancestor Wu was ready. The Earth-Vein Rahu Plate spun into a barrier.

Rumble!

Blood-light crashed against the barrier, flaring blindingly. Spiritual power shook the valley to crumbling.

While the two were locked—

Cao Xiang’er’s lips curved. She crushed a Xuantian Dragon-Suppressing Talisman.

The five-clawed golden dragon etched on the talisman became nine currents of dragon-qi thunder that speared to the heavens. Wherever they passed, the ice-lakes and the Star-Lock Imprisoning-Dragon Array tore apart. Cao Xiang’er flashed into a gold-lotus dharmic conveyance, blinked beside the sunhawk’s corpse, and drew a hand seal. The nine streams of dragon-qi thunder slammed down, blasting the remnant soul to tatters. The corpse turned to ash, leaving only a fourth-rank demon core hanging in the air, dazzling with light.

“Arrogant!”

“Don’t even think about it!!”

Ancestor Huang and Ancestor Wu’s faces changed in unison. They wheeled and attacked Cao Xiang’er.

The Nine Yin Soul-Locking Nails became nine blood pythons that lunged at her; the Earth-Vein Rahu Plate spat out a galaxy of flags to weave the Star-Lock Imprisoning-Dragon Array and trap her.

Cao Xiang’er snorted. She crushed a second Xuantian Dragon-Suppressing Talisman. Nine streams of dragon-qi thunder swept out, shattering blood pythons and array alike. She flashed again into the gold-lotus conveyance, ready to repeat the tactic—when a no-flight restriction surged up around her. Her body dropped from mid-air.

At that moment—

The Blood-Flame Sunhawk King’s true spirit in the fourth-rank demon core snapped its eyes open.

Hum!

The core flared with brilliant light and streaked away in the opposite direction from the three.

“Not good!”

All three changed color.

Once a beast reached the fourth rank, even if its body died, so long as its true spirit endured it could, like a human, seize a body and be reborn.

“We must not let it escape!”

The sunhawk king was vindictive. If it succeeded in body-seizing and later regained its strength, it would surely slaughter their three clans to the last.

In that instant—

All three abandoned their attacks and chased the fleeing core together.

But the demon core was fast.

In the blink of an eye it plunged into the Parasol Tree Forest ahead.

Right then—

A surge of spiritual power rippled in the forest. A skeletal demon vine lashed out and snared the core mid-air. Fu Changsheng flickered into view.

Cold light flashed through Ancestor Huang’s eyes.

“Courting death!”

A mere seventh-layer Purple Mansion brat daring to meddle!

He cast out his treasure at once.

Ancestor Wu, on the other hand, hesitated for a heartbeat. They had lingered at Blood-Flame Valley for so long without sensing even a trace of Fu Changsheng’s aura; his concealment was heaven-defying. Remembering that spiritual sense of his rivaling Golden Core, Ancestor Wu even wondered if Fu Changsheng had been seized by some ancient monster. His hands moved a beat slower.

“Changsheng, go first!”

Cao Xiang’er knew she could not take the core alone today.

She immediately drove a Xuantian Dragon-Suppressing Talisman to block Ancestor Huang. His face changed.

“Out of my way!”

He was about to unleash everything—

But in the Parasol Tree Forest, Fu Changsheng’s will stirred. The demon core and the skeletal demon vine vanished into thin air. At the same time, he mounted the Azure Flood Dragon and rode the wind upward, vanishing in an instant, his speed no less than a late-stage Golden Core cultivator’s escape.

Even with secret arts, they could not catch him.

Ancestor Huang’s face went grim. His gaze turned frosty on Cao Xiang’er. In his eyes, Fu Changsheng had clearly been her planted piece. With a cold snort, he turned and left. The core had fallen into another’s hands; the championship would now belong to the Cao Clan. He had to butcher more third-rank beasts to keep even second place.

“Fairy Cao, we will meet again!”

Unlike Ancestor Huang, Ancestor Wu, though regretful, dared not offend a Deputy Ten-Thousand-Household Officer of the World Pacification Bureau. With the fifth-rank Cao Clan at her back, she might become a Golden Core True Person any day.

After both left—

Cao Xiang’er looked in the direction Fu Changsheng had gone. Rather than regret, a hint of a smile touched her lips.

Back when she was late Foundation Establishment, Fu Changsheng had only just broken through to Foundation Establishment. After their one-night encounter, she had unconsciously paid him more mind. In several incidents since, he always noticed the finest details and moved a step earlier—just like this time.

Once or twice could be luck.

By now, it was clearly a latent strength.

At Fu Changsheng’s pace of growth, forming a Golden Core in the future would be no problem at all!

Leaving the Parasol Tree Forest—

Fu Changsheng rode the Azure Flood Dragon through Cloud-Dragon Gorge, found an abandoned cave-dwelling, and stepped into the Five Elements Space with a thought.

No sooner did he enter than a roar rang out.

Atop Spirit Mountain, the sunhawk king’s demon core hung locked mid-air by Qiu Niang’s spatial power. Seeing him, she beamed. “Master, you’re amazing—you even slew a Golden Core-class beast!”

Fu Changsheng eyed the core in mid-air with satisfaction.

When he saw Huang, Wu, and Cao Xiang’er arrive at the valley, a thought had sparked. He exchanged for intelligence and learned the demon core would appear in the nearby Parasol Tree Forest. Before the tribulation even dispersed, he lay in ambush there.

In the end, he had taken the core without a hitch.

“Master, what do you plan to do with this demon core?”

Huang and Wu both knew the core was in his hands. He could hide for a time, but once the contest ended he would have to show himself. By then the two might join hands to rob him. Fu Changsheng glanced at the Seven-Colored Glazed Beast slumbering in the Five-Color Pool.

The beast had already reached the peak of the third rank.

Under its seven-color divine power, he could now barely reach the False Core Realm—though not for long.

But it was enough to bluff Huang and Wu. With Cao Xiang’er, that made two versus two; they likely would not tear all decorum.

Moreover—

At False Core, he could barely wield true treasures.

A plan took shape in his mind. “Qiu Niang, seal this demon core inside a box.”

“Yes, Master.”

Fu Changsheng withdrew from the Five Elements Space. With a wave of his sleeve, a Communication Jade Slip flew to hand. He sent a spell into it, his lips moving. Less than half a cup of tea later, a graceful figure flashed into the cave—Cao Xiang’er, summoned by his message.

“Xiang’er, thanks for blocking Ancestor Huang for me back there in the Parasol Tree Forest.”

Otherwise, he might have faced a bitter fight.

Cao Xiang’er shot him a rare, playful glare. “It’s not our first time working together. Why so polite?”

She paused, then got to the point. “Changsheng, you called me here in haste—something important?”

“There is.”

Fu Changsheng held back nothing and quickly laid out his idea.

With the sunhawk king’s core in hand, the Fu Clan could secure at least ten Purple Mansion slots this time. Add the dozen-plus third-rank demon cores he held, and they could reap even more. But the Fu Clan had only so many Purple Mansion cultivators. Under Great Zhou law, those entering the Kunlun Minor World had to be of one’s own clan; the spots could no longer be transferred to other families as before. He wanted to maximize profit.

“Xiang’er, I’ll give you all my third-rank demon cores.”

There were only twenty Purple Mansion slots.

His Fu Clan would take half.

That left ten slots for the other nine families. Aside from the Huang, Wu, and Cao clans, most would likely get none at all.

Cao Xiang’er’s eyes brightened. “It’s a fine plan—but wouldn’t you be taking a loss, Changsheng?”

The Cao Clan in Wuzhou was a branch of her main house.

She felt little attachment even to the main clan, let alone this branch.

She had joined the hunt for her own chance to enter the Kunlun Minor World.

So by instinct, she stood on Fu Changsheng’s side.

Seeing this, his earlier hesitation vanished. He smiled. “Of course, I’m not giving them for free. I want you to persuade Patriarch Cao that whoever enters the Kunlun Minor World on the demon cores I provide will, aside from the portion owed to the court, hand half of their remaining harvest to me.”

Without him, they would never have that chance.

For her sake, and given Wuzhou’s tense situation—he needed to rally the families into an alliance—he settled for a fifty-fifty split. Otherwise, he’d have asked for seventy-thirty.

Cao Xiang’er nodded. “Perfectly reasonable. Don’t worry—Uncle Yuanshan will only be grateful. He won’t refuse.”

With that settled—

Fu Changsheng didn’t dally.

From a sealed box in his storage pouch he took out an image-recording pearl. Since he had won the core, handing it to Cao Xiang’er needed to be documented; this competition did not restrict the means of obtaining demon cores.

He waved his sleeve.

Seventeen boxes filled with third-rank demon cores drifted to Cao Xiang’er.

Her spiritual sense swept them. She jolted, incredulous. “Changsheng, these… you took all these yourself?”

Seventeen third-rank demon cores, several at peak third rank.

She, a堂堂 False Core, had barely gotten ten. Fu Changsheng had nearly twice her number. Even without the fourth-rank core, with him the Fu Clan would assuredly place in the top three.

Fu Changsheng grinned. “I happened to run into a nest of Blood-Scaled Crocodiles.”

Those were hard to find and peerless at escape arts. To wipe out a whole nest was rare indeed.

At that, genuine respect welled up in Cao Xiang’er.

Perhaps that fleeting night years ago hadn’t been a mistake after all.

Her gaze softened. Fu Changsheng’s heart stirred. After years of seclusion, he was in no state to resist. His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Xiang’er…”

He reached out, tentative.

She did not pull away. Joy warmed him.

A hundred years had passed since their last union.

He waved his sleeve.

The cave’s formation shield sealed tight.

For a time—

Spring filled the cave.

Only at dawn the next day did Fu Changsheng collapse to Cao Xiang’er’s soft exclamation.

This time—

He had left the seed on purpose.

He had completed the first stage of the Imperial Body cultivation.

He hoped they might again conceive twins—and this time, he would not neglect their care, to make up for what he owed Fuge’er and Qiang ge’er!

After a night of joy—

At daybreak, Cao Xiang’er was clearly a touch embarrassed.

Fu Changsheng feigned sleep. When she left, he opened his eyes.

“Not much time remains before the hunt ends.”

He planned a trip to the inner reaches of the Falling Phoenix Mountain Range. From Fu Yongshou’s message and the intelligence he had purchased, a timeless corpse king lay at Broken-Bone Cliff. Once awakened, rivers of blood would flow. He had to see for himself.

Leaving the abandoned cave—

He mounted the Azure Flood Dragon and rode the wind.

After half a day, he reached the Skywolf Woods where he’d arranged to meet Shou ge’er. The flood dragon landed; his son flashed from a hidden cave. Seeing his father, Fu Yongshou felt at ease—and full of guilt.

“Father, forgive me. I lost the clan’s two third-rank corpse puppets…”

“As long as you’re safe.”

Fu Changsheng soothed him.

The third-rank corpse puppets had been refined with the Yu Clan’s help. Now that Yongshou had advanced to third-rank puppet refiner, they could be made again. Life mattered more.

As they drew near, Fu Changsheng’s spiritual sense stirred. A faint corpse aura leaked from Yongshou.

“Shou ge’er, that corpse aura on you is…”

Before, his son had liked refining corpses; he had a faint corpse-stink, but with the Yu Clan’s special Ghost Immortal Pills to purify and mask it. Now it was not stink but corpse qi.

At that, excitement flared on Yongshou’s face. He quickly recounted everything he’d encountered in the ancient tomb.

Even so, Fu Changsheng could not rest easy. “Stretch out your hand.”

He probed and found that the fixed apertures of both upper and lower dantian had opened; beyond that, eighty-six hidden apertures had been punched through as well—only a handful short of Fu Changsheng’s own count.

In other words—

Once Yongshou condensed his Golden Core, its grade would be at least fourth-grade.

Finding nothing amiss, Fu Changsheng nodded in satisfaction. “Good. Very good. A blessing in disguise.”

Then he had Yongshou lead the way.

They reached the edge of Broken-Bone Cliff. From the west side, Fu Yongshou led him down a narrow, hidden path, constantly changing direction. After a while, they stopped before a wall of white mist.

“Father, when I came out of the tomb, I entered this mist and got lost. In the end I stumbled my way out by sheer luck.”

Fu Changsheng swept it with his spiritual sense.

The mist blocked even that.

Visibility was abysmal.

Even as a layman in formations, he knew this was a bewildering array.

“Wait.”

He flicked his sleeve. A third-rank talisman appeared—the No-Boundary Talisman he had devised. It could pierce illusion arrays under fourth rank. With a spell, the talisman’s runes lit and blossomed into a small white flower that drifted into the mist.

Yongshou watched as the tiny bloom floated in and the mist pressed aside to either side, revealing a long path.

“Father, this talisman is incredible.”

With this, they had a new trump card for future expeditions.

“Stay close.”

After breaking through to third-rank peak talisman master, Fu Changsheng had not only made the No-Boundary Talismans but also a few Years Talismans he had comprehended earlier. There were not many; these specialty talismans were troublesome to craft and required rare materials. The clan’s stores had been exhausted to make only a few.

This was his first time using the No-Boundary Talisman.

He was very pleased with the result.

Father and son walked single file.

At the end of the path, a stone wall covered in sky-scale vine came into view. Yongshou brightened, pointing to a purple blossom on a demon vine to the east. “Father, the entrance is there.”

Behind them, the guiding white flower buzzed and dissolved. The mist rolled, burying the path they had come.

Rumble.

The stone door opened.

A long stone stairway descended into the earth.

After a long walk—

An ancient tomb appeared.

Fu Changsheng’s sharp gaze fell on the coffin within. Intricate seals were carved upon it. He focused—and froze. The coffin was empty.

Yongshou blinked. “Eh? Father, you didn’t see the ancient corpse king in the coffin?”

He found it strange too.

The tomb seethed with yin wind and corpse qi.

Very sinister.

Fu Changsheng slid his index and middle fingers across his eyes and opened the Clear-Sight Divine Eyes he had not used in a long time. All these years he had regularly wiped his eyes with a spirit-art potion brewed from the pure sap of the Spirit-Eye Tree of Another World.

His lids lowered and lifted.

A green light rippled.

Looking again, he saw ten-thousand crimson threads woven into a complex sealing array inside the coffin. Under the array, corpse qi coiled—a corpse king lay there, though its face could not be seen.

At his side, Yongshou saw green light flash in his father’s eyes and felt a surge of respect.

Father’s methods were endless and ever-new. No wonder he led the Fu Clan from strength to strength.

After a moment, Fu Changsheng tucked away his hand seals and turned to his son. “Shou ge’er, wait outside the cave for now.”

Yongshou thought his father meant to open the coffin. Though curious, he obeyed. His cultivation was too low; if anything happened, his father would have to split his attention to protect him.

Once sure Yongshou had left the tomb—

Fu Changsheng stepped toward the coffin.

Since only Yongshou could see the ancient corpse king in this coffin, this was his son’s opportunity. If the coffin remained here, someone else might steal it sooner or later.

However—

The intelligence had warned:

If the coffin lid were opened, Wuzhou would run with blood.

So he would not be reckless enough to open it. Nearing the coffin, he clenched his teeth and thrust his right hand like lightning into it. With a hum, the coffin trembled; the myriad crimson threads lit with runes. A terrifying backlash burst from within.

Clearly—

The coffin did not want to be touched.

Fu Changsheng’s eyes narrowed. As the backlash was about to strike him, he moved his will. His figure flickered—and vanished together with the coffin.

Rumble!

At that moment—

The entire tomb collapsed with a thunderous crash!

Thanks for reading! This chapter was a ride—tribulation beasts, flying cores, and a father who literally steals coffins. If you’re enjoying the story, I’d be over the moon if you joined the Patreon; your support keeps these translations coming and helps me tackle longer chapters. And if you have a moment, please drop a rating or review on NovelUpdates—those little stars help new readers find this series.

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