Chapter 156: Descendants of the Ten Shamans in the Deep Mountains

Fang Han thoroughly searched Luo Yu's residence, but failed to find anything of value.

He quietly returned home and resumed his secluded cultivation.

By day, he read, practiced martial arts, and cultivated.

By night, he tempered his martial will through relentless slaughter.

Before long, another month had passed.

At this point, the martial artists of Tianmu City had fallen into a state of universal panic.

The reason was simple. Fang Han never showed mercy. Every time he struck, he left no survivors. Rumors gradually spread throughout the city that a powerful and utterly deranged martial artist had secretly arrived, one who delighted in brutally torturing and killing low-level martial artists for amusement.

Even Fang Han received a warning from the Fang Family. Between the lines, they repeatedly urged him to move back to the family estate, reasoning that the family's guards could at least provide stronger protection.

Fang Han merely smiled and ignored it.

Over the course of the past month, he had completely consolidated his Blood Qi realm cultivation. He was only one final step away from breaking through into the Inner Force realm.

It was then that he suddenly heard unexpected news.

The Wang Family had relocated in its entirety.

The Wang Family Patriarch, Wang Quan, had fled with the direct lineage, disappearing without anyone knowing where they had gone.

The Wang Family had been one of the unquestioned giants of Tianmu City. Yet now, they had abandoned their immense fortune and territories without the slightest hesitation.

In an instant, countless businesses and territories became ownerless.

Numerous factions and noble families launched a frenzied struggle to seize them. The entire city was plunged into a storm of bloodshed.

"I haven't even made my move yet, and he already fled?"

After hearing the news, Fang Han wore an odd expression.

At the same time, he found it difficult to believe.

After all, he had never openly targeted the Wang Family.

Yet their defensive preparations had reached such an extreme.

That very night, under the cover of darkness, Fang Han personally infiltrated the Wang Family estate.

As far as the eye could see, the place truly stood empty.

Not a single soul remained.

He was now almost certain that Wang Quan possessed some sort of ability similar to foreseeing the future.

His bizarre actions could no longer be explained by mere caution.

"No matter. A monk may flee, but his temple cannot."

"So long as he remains within this martial world, we'll settle this debt sooner or later."

"And Luo Jinghai as well. A Martial Grandmaster bullying a mere Body Tempering martial artist..."

"Hmph."

The grand feast left behind by the Wang Family's collapse brought no benefit to the Fang Family.

They chose not to participate in the savage struggle over the abandoned territories, instead focusing solely on holding onto the lands they already possessed.

Although their standing among the city's great families remained mediocre, this decision spared them from suffering devastating casualties and falling into immediate decline.

This was the wisdom of Patriarch Fang Dian.

Unfortunately, even the wisest plans could not overcome fate.

Fang Dian ultimately failed to survive past his eighty-first birthday.

Filled with worry over the future of the Fang Family, he quietly passed away.

With the family's sole Astral Qi realm expert gone, the Fang Family immediately became prey in the eyes of others.

Even outside Fang Han's villa, suspicious figures began appearing with increasing frequency, secretly watching from the shadows.

The Fang Family was thrown into turmoil.

Without their pillar of support, everyone held different opinions, and endless arguments erupted.

Some proposed following the Wang Family's example by leaving Tianmu City altogether, believing it would be enough to live out the rest of their lives in modest comfort elsewhere.

Others suggested spending an enormous sum to hire another Astral Qi realm martial artist as the family's elder, using his strength to intimidate would-be enemies.

Just as everyone found themselves unable to reach a decision, Fang Han's younger brother, Fang Lie, displayed wisdom and foresight far beyond his years.

"The more we retreat now, the more we show the outside world that we're weak."

"This battle must be fought."

"And not only fought. We must strike hard."

"Anyone who dares reach a hand toward the Fang Family must have that hand cut off without mercy."

"Right now, all the major families are busy fighting over the Wang Family's territories. Those who still have time to target us won't be particularly powerful."

"We can absolutely deal with them."

Leading from the front, Fang Lie personally killed every martial artist who came to provoke them.

Only then did the outside world's greedy ambitions temporarily subside.

The rest of the Fang Family finally breathed sighs of relief.

Only Fang Lie let out a long sigh.

"We can stop them for a while, but not forever."

"If our family cannot produce another Astral Qi realm expert, we simply won't be able to protect such a large foundation."

"We should gradually let go of some of our peripheral businesses and shrink our sphere of influence."

"Life is going to become much harder from now on."

"Astral Qi realm."

Fang Han actually cared very little about the Fang Family's internal disputes.

After all, the identity and origins of this physical body had been woven entirely from the Xuanhuang Qi of Heaven and Earth.

Still, he had no intention of watching the Fang Family collapse.

Otherwise, he would lose even the most basic peaceful environment needed for cultivation.

Thus, he secretly paid a visit to every family and faction coveting the Fang Family.

After delivering a series of bloody warnings, life indeed became much more peaceful.

The Fang Family remained utterly baffled.

Only Fang Lie vaguely sensed that something unusual had happened.

Yet he could not determine the identity of the mysterious expert secretly helping them.

He simply assumed it was one of Fang Dian's hidden arrangements before his death.

Meanwhile, having brushed off his sleeves after the matter was settled, Fang Han once again immersed himself wholeheartedly in cultivation.

"'There is the Kingdom of Shuguo, descendants of Zhuanxu. They feed upon millet and command four birds: tiger, leopard, bear, and Xiong. There is also a black beast resembling a bear, called Lielie.'"

During breaks between martial practice and meditation, Fang Han browsed through the ancient texts he had collected and made an unexpected discovery.

"This world possesses no formal historical records."

"But fragments of its distant past can still be glimpsed through these ancient myths."

"Unlike Great Qian. Although official historians exist there, everything before the founding of the dynasty has been completely erased."

"Ordinary people have no means of uncovering it."

Within these ancient texts, Fang Han even found a brief introduction to the legendary Ten Shamans of antiquity.

Only a single sentence.

"Within the Great Wilderness stands Spirit Mountain. The Ten Shamans, Wu Xian, Wu Ji, Wu Pan, Wu Peng, Wu Gu, Wu Zhen, Wu Li, Wu Di, Wu Xie, and Wu Luo, ascend and descend from this place, where the myriad medicinal herbs are found."

Fang Han's gaze slowly swept across the names of the Ten Shamans.

"The Verdant Wood Invocation is the inheritance of Wu Peng."

"Their histories seem remarkably similar."

"Even the secret arts of the Shaman Clan can still be used here..."

One coincidence after another forced Fang Han to begin questioning whether this martial world and Great Qian, though seemingly unrelated, had in fact shared a common past.

"If that's true..."

"Then what exactly caused things to become what they are today?"

After further investigation, Fang Han discovered that in several isolated mountain villages hidden deep within the Martial World, the worship of the Ten Shamans still endured.

Immediately, the thought of personally investigating arose in his mind.

"I've already broken through to the Inner Force realm."

"A tiny place like Tianmu City can no longer satisfy me."

"This is the perfect opportunity to travel and temper myself."

Alone in this world, Fang Han had always lived without restraint, following only his own heart.

He left behind nothing more than a brief note on the table.

That very day, he departed without hesitation.

After half a month of arduous travel, he arrived deep within an unnamed mountain in the southern wilderness.

The villagers living there still survived in an almost primitive manner, clearing fields by fire and cultivating the land with the simplest of tools.

Yet from these seemingly primitive natives, Fang Han keenly sensed an aura that felt extraordinarily familiar.

"This is the place."

"The faith of the Ten Shamans."

He quietly circulated the Verdant Wood Invocation and discovered that the vitality of heaven and earth here was far more active than elsewhere.

Although it could not compare to the Great Qian world, where vitality surged like a raging torrent, it was still more than twice as abundant as in Tianmu City.

The village was ancient and extraordinarily isolated.

The villagers instinctively regarded outsiders with intense hostility.

They could not even communicate verbally with people from the outside world.

However, the moment Fang Han activated the Verdant Wood Invocation, every single villager went completely mad.

Their eyes were filled with both boundless terror and overwhelming excitement.

One after another, they dropped to their knees before him and frantically kowtowed.

Together they shouted ancient, obscure syllables in unison.

Yet Fang Han could not understand a single word they were saying.

The ancient settlement was so isolated that not a single person understood the common language of the outside world.

Thus, Fang Han simply stayed there.

After spending more than half a month among them, he gradually mastered their language.

The Language of the Shamans.

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[T/L Note: Please note that "Wu" and "Shaman" are synonymous in this story and may be used interchangeably depending on the context.]