Chapter 264 The Thief Cries Thief
“What’s going on? Why haven’t the spiritual root cultivators and immortals from my Nan
Kingdom appeared yet?”
“The same for Chu Kingdom. None of ours have returned!”
“Dear son, please… please be safe!”
The monarch of Bei Kingdom stared intently at the teleportation arrays, his fists clenched tightly
in mounting anxiety.
Finally, after more than half an hour, the arrays stirred once more.
A bloodied figure emerged from within, staggering weakly. It was none other than Prince
Beiyuan of Bei Kingdom.
“My son!”
Seeing Beiyuan return, grievously injured but alive, the monarch of Bei Kingdom rushed forward
with his entourage, panic and relief warring on his face.
“F-Father… I’m so glad… I thought I’d never see you again!”
Beiyuan’s voice was frail, his pale face like a sheet of paper. He had barely managed to survive
the horrors within the mountain, luck alone sparing him from certain death.
“Beiyuan, my dear nephew, where is my son Chun’er?”
The monarch of Nan Kingdom stepped forward anxiously, his expression taut with worry as he
questioned Beiyuan.
“And what of my son, Churan?”
The monarch of Chu Kingdom also hurried over, his tone urgent.
They had been waiting for what felt like an eternity, yet none of their princes, princesses, or
spiritual root cultivators had emerged from the mountain. Unease gnawed at their hearts.
“They’re dead! All of them are dead!”
Beiyuan’s face twisted in despair, his body trembling as memories of the old ancestor of Wu
devouring the spiritual root cultivators and immortals played out vividly in his mind.
“My son, what happened in there?”
The monarch of Bei Kingdom’s expression darkened as he pressed his injured son for answers.
By now, he had noticed that only Beiyuan had returned alive. None of the other spiritual root
cultivators or immortals from Bei Kingdom had come back.
Instinct told him that something terrible had transpired in Tianqing Mountain.
“Father, it was all a conspiracy! A trap set by Wu! We were all deceived by that bastard Dong
Zilong!”
Beiyuan gritted his teeth, seething with fury as he recounted the events in the mountain. After
taking a healing pill to stabilize his condition, he told his father and the others everything he had
experienced, leaving no detail omitted.
“To think Yue’s three spiritual root cultivators survived, and even a prince from Bei Kingdom
managed to return! This… this was not part of my plan…”
Dong Zilong’s face darkened as he noticed Beiyuan among the survivors. The unexpected
developments rattled him to his core.
“Your Majesty, we couldn’t locate Master Tong or the Third Prince. I fear… they might…”
As Dong Zilong stewed in his thoughts, a scattered cultivator from Wu approached hastily,
bowing respectfully as he delivered his report.
“Search! Send people into the mountain to find them! Dead or alive, I want results!”
Dong Zilong’s voice roared like thunder, his growing unease spilling over into fury.
The scattered cultivators hurriedly obeyed, quickly assembling a team to enter Tianqing
Mountain in search of the missing individuals.
On the other side, Master Li and his companions were recounting their experiences in the
mountain to Baili Xi.
“Most of the spiritual root cultivators and immortals from all the kingdoms perished at the hands
of the old ancestor of Wu,” Master Li said gravely.
“I see. That’s all I need to know,” Baili Xi replied with a faint smile.
His gaze swept over the monarchs of Nan, Bei, and Chu, their expressions growing darker with
each passing moment. Finally, his eyes landed on Dong Zilong, who stood not far away, his face
twisted in frustration.
With a cold smile, Baili Xi muttered, “Now, let’s see how you, Dong Zilong, plan to clean up this
mess.”
“The monarchs of the other three kingdoms have likely learned the truth from Prince Beiyuan.
Dong Zilong is about to face their questioning—and their wrath.”
Master Li nodded in agreement.
“It’s not just the three kingdoms. Yue has a stake in this too,” Baili Xi added, his tone sharp.
“Your Majesty is absolutely correct,” Master Li replied, suddenly understanding the full picture.
“Should we send people into the mountain to recover the bodies of our spiritual root cultivators?”
“Of course. We must retrieve them,” Baili Xi instructed firmly.
“Inform the accompanying immortals from Yue. Give them a brief explanation of the situation
and allow them to search the mountain themselves.”
“As you command, Your Majesty,” Master Li replied, bowing deeply.
Li Qing carried out the orders, informing the accompanying elders and immortals from the
Canglan Ye clan, Wangyue Lin clan, Chuanyin Lu clan, and others about the fate of their
spiritual root cultivators within the mountain.
Upon learning the grim news, the faces of the clan elders turned ashen. Without hesitation, they
mobilized their forces to search the mountain.
The monarchs of Nan, Bei, and Chu Kingdoms, along with their own elders and immortals, also
sent their forces racing into the mountain to uncover the truth.
As time passed, one after another, the bodies of spiritual root cultivators and immortals were
carried out of Tianqing Mountain.
Each and every corpse was mutilated beyond recognition, savaged as if by a beast.
The wails of mourning echoed incessantly across the mountain’s perimeter, a haunting
symphony of grief.
In Yue, the elders of the Canglan Ye clan, Wangyue Lin clan, and Chuanyin Lu clan broke into
anguished cries when they saw the mangled bodies of Ye Xiaolin, Lu Shanglin, Lu Shangsheng,
Lin Yifeng, and other spiritual root cultivators from their clans.
The monarch of Nan Kingdom collapsed to his knees upon seeing the horrifyingly disfigured
corpse of his son, Nangong Chun. His lifeless face still bore an expression of despair and terror,
and the monarch’s tears flowed uncontrollably.
The monarch of Chu Kingdom fell onto the body of his son, Churan, wailing bitterly, casting
aside any pretense of royal dignity.
The monarch of Bei Kingdom, too, wept silently as he stood before the remains of his other
sons and daughters, their lives stolen in the most gruesome fashion.
As more and more bodies were brought out, the cries of grief grew louder, saturating the
atmosphere with an unbearable heaviness.
“My son, Changfei! Where is my son, Changfei?”
Xia Shangyun, the monarch of Xia Kingdom, arrived at the scene, his heart heavy with
foreboding. Searching desperately for his son among the returning bodies, he eventually came
upon Changfei’s mangled corpse, barely recognizable.
His vision darkened, and he collapsed, unconscious on the spot.
In Wu, the elders of the Yun, Zhang, and Li clans found the disfigured corpses of Yun Yueru,
Zhang Tianli, and Li Hanhai. The sight struck them like a bolt from the blue, leaving them frozen
in shock.
“Your Majesty… we’ve found the bodies of Master Tong and the Third Prince,” a scattered
cultivator from Wu reported, trembling as he approached Dong Zilong.
At the mention of his son and Master Tong, Dong Zilong swayed, nearly collapsing to the
ground. But he steadied himself, suppressing his grief with great effort.
“Take me to them!” he commanded, his voice shaking.
Following the scattered cultivator, Dong Zilong came upon the mangled corpses of Master Tong
and his entourage. Among them was the body of his son, Dong Jian, mutilated beyond
recognition.
What shocked him further was the sight of Dong Zhang and his other sons and daughters, all
lying dead, their bodies savaged by the same horrific fate.
“What… what is the meaning of this?”
Dong Zilong’s face twisted with anguish as he clutched at the nearest scattered cultivator’s
collar. His voice was ragged as he demanded, “Why are my other sons and daughters dead?
Wasn’t Dong Jian the only one sent into the mountain? Why are they here?”
“Y-Your Majesty, I… I don’t know!” the cultivator stammered, his voice quaking with fear. “When
we entered the mountain to search, we found all the princes and princesses already dead. It
was a shock to us as well!”
“What about that old monster? Where is he?” Dong Zilong roared.
“D-dead, Your Majesty. His corpse remains in the mountain. We didn’t bring it out,” the cultivator
replied shakily.
“Damn it! Damn it all!”
Dong Zilong shoved the cultivator aside, his grief overwhelming him as he stared at the
mangled remains of his children. Tears streamed down his face, despite his unyielding will.
Why had it come to this? Why had everything gone so horribly wrong?
His carefully crafted plan had crumbled into chaos. Nothing was as it should have been.
“It’s them!” Dong Zilong suddenly roared, his mind alighting on the three spiritual root cultivators
of Yue’s Yun Cang Yun clan who had escaped with Master Tong’s mountain-leaving token.
“It has to be them! They must know something!”
Consumed by rage and despair, Dong Zilong turned abruptly and stormed toward Yun
Yanshuang and her nieces.
“Was it you? Was it you?!”
“My sons and daughters—did your Yun Cang Yun clan kill them?!”
His voice was a thunderous roar as he advanced on the trio, his eyes blazing with fury. He
raised his hand to strike.
But before he could act, Baili Xi and the scattered cultivators of Yue stepped in, placing
themselves between Dong Zilong and the Yun trio.
“Brother Zilong, aren’t you being a bit presumptuous?” Baili Xi said coldly. “All the spiritual root
cultivators from every kingdom have met with this tragic fate. Shouldn’t you, of all people,
provide a reasonable explanation first?”