Chapter 1979 - Celestial Blood Viper Spirit

Master Bian's sudden attack caught everyone by surprise. Knowledge of Liu Wuxie's allegiance to the Azure Jade Palace would have stopped him from acting so rashly. As far as he knew, he was striking an ordinary disciple assigned to tend the crops.

Liu Wuxie neither moved to defend himself nor lost his composure. The blow was almost upon him when a figure stepped between them and answered it with a palm strike.

The collision sent Master Bian flying backward, nearly pitching him headfirst into the spiritual fields.

"You strike me, Patriarch Chai? Fine! Find someone else to save your fields!" Master Bian snapped. With a sweep of his sleeve, he turned toward the exit.

"Please stay, Master Bian! Without you, our fields have no hope!" the Grand Elder pleaded. He had to put in considerable effort to bring the man here. If he walked away now, what future remained for their crops?

Chai Qian had no easy choice. Whatever happened to the immortal rice, Liu Wuxie was still a disciple of the Azure Jade Palace. If he died there, even a cure for the blackening grain would not save the Chai Clan from the sect's wrath.

The bird still circled overhead, occasionally descending to the edges of the fields in search of fallen grains.

"What are you playing at, Liu Wuxie? How does offending Master Bian help you? Let us restore our fields, and we'll pay the Azure Jade Palace every bit of tribute we owe!" Chai Shan shouted. He barely restrained the urge to teach Liu Wuxie a lesson.

Without Master Bian, the clan faced ruin. Feeding so many mouths required a reliable income, and a decade of hardship had already consumed their fortune.

Chai Qian turned to Liu Wuxie. He wanted an explanation that justified all this. If he didn't get one, he would go to the Azure Jade Palace himself and report the incident.

"Is there something you need to explain, Young Master Liu?" he asked, drawing a deep breath to keep his anger in check.

"Let's discuss it privately, Patriarch Chai," Liu Wuxie said, glancing at the others. Instead of panic, there was a faint trace of mockery on his face.

After a brief hesitation, Chai Qian took him farther into the fields. Behind them, the Grand Elder kept Master Bian from leaving.

A thatched hut stood ahead, furnished with a table and two stools. Chai Hu and Chai Shan usually rested there.

"Sit down, please," Chai Qian said. With his thoughts still in upheaval, he sat on one stool and gestured for Liu Wuxie to sit on the other.

Sitting down, Liu Wuxie turned his attention to the rough teapot and cups on the table, inspecting each in turn.

"What if I told you someone in your clan has betrayed you, Patriarch Chai? Would you believe me?" Liu Wuxie asked, putting down the cup and fixing him with a piercing gaze.

"Someone in our clan?" Chai Qian went still.

"One of the people out there is the traitor," Liu Wuxie said, looking across the spiritual fields. Chai Shan continued to hold the bottle without having poured any of its contents.

"That's enough nonsense, Young Master Liu!" Chai Qian snapped, rising abruptly. He had reached the limit of his patience with this conversation.

He had only tolerated Liu Wuxie so far because of his connection to the Azure Jade Palace. Anyone else would have received far less consideration.

"Then explain this, Patriarch Chai. Your fields have a barrier, your elders stand guard, yet the rice blackens every harvest. Haven't you wondered why? There's only one explanation. Someone tampers with it whenever harvest draws near," Liu Wuxie said, meeting his eyes with a faint smile. Chai Qian's outburst had not offended him at all.

That question had haunted Chai Qian for years. From the first failed crop onward, they had called upon numerous spiritual array grandmasters and Azure Jade Palace elders to strengthen the fields' defenses. An insect could not slip through, much less an intruder. Chai Qian even gathered the harvest himself.

"Can you prove it?" Chai Qian asked as he sat again. Surely Liu Wuxie had some grounds for making such a charge.

"We'll deal with proof shortly. I suspect the other three clans sent Master Bian here to destroy these fields. The frauds you hired before sold remedies that caused only a little damage to the soil. However, this bottle is different. Pour it out, and the Chai Clan is finished," Liu Wuxie said. He had not exaggerated to frighten Chai Qian. Every word was true.

Chai Qian's brow furrowed. He could not explain why, but he knew Liu Wuxie was right. Something mysterious in the young man's eyes gave his words a compelling weight.

"How do we stop this?" he asked urgently.

"Allow Master Bian to leave. Then send Chai Hu and Chai Shan home to rest. You should be harvesting three days from now. By then, you'll have your answers," Liu Wuxie said, offering no further explanation.

A successful harvest would give him the chance to recover the overdue tribute and finish one of his missions.

"Do you know what's in that bottle, Young Master Liu? Could it really do so much harm?" Chai Qian asked anxiously. If the rice kept blackening, responsibility for the clan's destruction would fall on him. The other elders would seek to strip him of his position as patriarch as well.

"It's the Celestial Blood Viper Spirit," Liu Wuxie answered.

"What did you just say?!" Chai Qian sprang up, fear and boundless fury flashing through his eyes.

Nothing spelled disaster for immortal rice like the Celestial Blood Viper Spirit. Once it entered the soil, a spiritual field would lie barren for millennia. No crop could grow there.

Even Liu Wuxie had not imagined that the three clans would go so far merely to secure a monopoly over the southern district's immortal rice trade.

"Do as I've told you, and I guarantee you'll have a harvest in three days. In return, honor your word and pay the tribute in full. If the rice blackens again, I'll pay the past decade's tribute myself," Liu Wuxie said. He understood why Chai Qian hesitated. An outsider had no credibility here, particularly one who was only a Profound Immortal. Asking a dignified Great Golden Immortal to follow his directions was no small demand. He had therefore staked his own wealth.

There was little more Liu Wuxie could do to secure the patriarch's trust. If Chai Qian still could not decide, he did not deserve further help. Liu Wuxie had already exerted himself considerably on the clan's behalf. The mission reward was not his sole reason. He also intended to obstruct the Heavenly Alliance's expansion.

At the rate it was growing, the alliance would soon reach Mulberry Sea City. Countless innocents had already died in its retaliation against the Azure Jade Palace for refusing to join.

He needed to act before that happened and make Mulberry Sea City an impregnable last line of defense. Once the Heavenly Alliance took the city, it would turn its attention to the Azure Jade Palace.

The day would come when Xiao Wufa and the others learned who he was. With that discovery, the dangers around him would multiply. Nothing he did now lacked purpose. Even when he appeared to be helping someone else, he was also laying the groundwork for his own survival.

The people he had nurtured in the Azure Flame Dao Hall would eventually help him build a force strong enough to oppose the Heavenly Alliance. Before any of that, however, he had to advance his cultivation. Without the strength to support them, his plans would remain nothing more than empty words.

For now, completing his missions would give him the resources he needed to grow stronger. Small as those assignments might seem beside his greater ambitions, he could not reach the latter without taking these necessary steps first. Liu Wuxie never chased a benefit without weighing what it would mean for the future. He planned beyond the moment.

Only after hearing Liu Wuxie's assurance did Chai Qian's unease finally begin to subside.

"All right. This once, I'll trust you," Chai Qian said. He was very decisive by nature. If Liu Wuxie was telling the truth, they could rescue the clan and uncover whoever had engineered its ten years of suffering.

Doubts about Master Bian had troubled him from the outset. He had simply chosen not to voice them.

"Have someone follow Master Bian secretly and look into his background. I'll remain with your clan for the next three days," Liu Wuxie said, rising to his feet. He left Chai Qian to handle the rest.

The two men emerged from the thatched hut and made their way back across the fields.

"Do I have your permission to pour it now, Patriarch?" Chai Shan asked, still holding the bottle as he waited for approval.

"Not yet," Chai Qian said, waving his hand. He then gestured for Chai Shan to surrender the bottle.

Chai Shan handed the medicine reluctantly and moved aside.

"Please accept my apology for what happened earlier, Master Bian. I hope you won't hold it against us," Chai Qian said, cupping his fists.

"Am I free to go, then?" Master Bian demanded, angrily sweeping his sleeve.

"You've taken the Azure Firmament Pearl. I hope that means you can have the medicine ready within three days. You would have my deepest gratitude," Chai Qian said, showing him the exit.

"You have my word. I'll honor our agreement. We'll meet again then," Master Bian replied, setting off toward the barrier.

"Please escort Master Bian out, Grand Elder," Chai Qian said. The Grand Elder had come forward to personally accompany their guest.

"You two have put a great deal of work into these fields. Take a few days off. Come back when we're ready to harvest," Chai Qian told the remaining elders after Master Bian had departed.

"We can't leave now, Patriarch! The immortal rice is nearly ready. What if something goes wrong while we're away?" Chai Hu protested, intent on remaining.

"Elder Chai Hu has a point. With the rice so close to ripening, this is no time to leave the fields unguarded," Chai Shan said.

"I'll assign others to stand watch, so set your minds at ease. You've worked hard throughout the past year. Go home and be with your families for a while," Chai Qian said earnestly.

The elders looked at each other in bewilderment. Whatever Liu Wuxie had said in private, their patriarch had returned from that conversation a changed man.

"If you've already arranged everything, we'll do as you ask. It's been nearly a year since I went home. I've missed my family terribly," Chai Shan said, his face brightening at the thought.

Chai Hu made another attempt to object, but Chai Qian stopped him.

"No more arguments, Elder Chai Hu. Follow my instructions," Chai Qian ordered. He asserted his authority as patriarch and dismissed them both.