To the east and west of Zahn City were the Twin Fang Mountains, and behind Zahn City was the Wu Clan’s farm. It spanned several dozen square li and yielded enough crops to support the Wu Clan, more than ninety percent of Zahn City’s population, and still have enough to send across the Shang Kingdom.

Not only did it produce many crops, but they had a lot of livestock as well, including several hundred cows, sheep, and thousands of chickens.

Farming was an important industry no matter which kingdom you lived in. Even cultivators needed to eat. There was a rumor in the Shang Kingdom that Deva Path cultivators could go without food or water for several months at a time, but not even they could live without eating entirely.

Clans out in the countryside like the Wu Clan were responsible for providing the Shang Kingdom with much of its food supply. About two thousand metric tons worth of produce was shipped out across the kingdom yearly via traveling caravans and merchants. This large network was run by the kingdom and supported by various sects and clans.

When Wu Jian arrived with Father, Wu Taohua, Mother, Wu Meiying, and Hou Jingshu to the farm, what they found was something that made all of them sick to their stomachs. Hou Jingshu even dropped to her knees and began vomiting from the sight. He and Wu Meiying were a little better, but they still felt green. Only the adults were in better condition to handle this.

Father clenched his hands. His arms shook with barely restrained rage. Veins throbbed on his forehead as if the blood pumping through them was responding to his anger.

“Who did this?” he growled.

The entire farm was exuding purple fumes and emitting a rotting stench the likes of which Wu Jian had never smelled before. It was vaguely sufleris, but there was an additional quality that made him gag.

All around the farm were the corpses of animals who’d been grazing. Cows, pigs, sheep… it looked like they had just dropped where they stood and now their bodies were emitting the same purple fumes as the farm.

“I… don’t know, My Lord,” said the young man who had delivered the first report. He was a branch member and one whom Wu Jian remembered from the last time he visited the farms. Swallowing as though his throat was dry, he continued in a stammer. “Nothing had seemed wrong at first… we tilled the fields as usual and were about to turn in for the night when… when it got like this.”

“Who was the first to notice this?” asked Father as Mother ran over to purple area closest to the fumes. She wrapped some cloth around her nose to avoid breathing it in, though her eyes still watered as she pressed a gloved hand into the soil and turned it. Even more fumes spewed from the soil like vaporous gas shooting from a Vesper Noxious—a poisonous plant that was actually a magical beast.

“I… I was… My Lord,” the youth said.

Father nodded. “You did the right thing by bringing this to my attention so quickly. Excellent work.”

“Th-thank you, Lord Yōushì, but the farm…”

“What’s done cannot be undone. For now, we need to figure out how this happened and how to rectify it.”

The youth said nothing in the face of Father’s confident words and merely backed off. At the same time, Mother stood up after gathering several soil samples from the parts exuding purple fumes and areas that weren’t.

One of the branch members they had brought with them was carrying a toolkit. They spread out a blanket as mother walked over, sat down, and began laying out the toolkit.

What she had was not a standard toolkit but one used to analyse water, soil, and various ingredients. Mother placed each sample in a small jar, then stuck a tiny paper slip inside of each jar. She made sure to bury the slip in the soil.

The various paper slips quickly turned purple as they absorbed whatever was in the soil. Some turned darker than others. The paper inside of samples taken where the fumes were exuding from the ground turned almost completely purple, while samples further out became less purple.

Once she finished sampling the soil, Mother stood up, dusted herself off, and looked at Father.

Wu Jian had never seen such a grave expression on her face before.

“The land has definitely been poisoned. I don’t have the skills to analyse this so I can’t say much, but I can tell you this: Whatever happened here was not natural. Even barring the most bizarre of natural disasters, there’s no way for the land to become like this within such a short time.”

“I suspected as much,” Father said.

“Father,” Wu Jian began. He paused when Father looked his way, but swallowed and continued. “I think we should request aid from the Zhou Clan. They have the alchemist, Wong Jiu, under their employ now. Alchemists specialize in refining pills, but that also requires them to understand pill ingredients. He might be able to figure out what happened here.”

“It’s a good idea,” Father decided at last, turning to Wu Taohua. “Go to the Zhou Clan. Let them know what is happening and that we need their assistance.”

“Yes, husband,” Wu Taohua said before hurrying off. She didn’t take the carriage but ran. As a cultivator, she could probably reach the Zhou Clan estate in several hours.

“I cannot believe this happened. Who would do something like this?” asked Hou Jingshu in a whisper.

“It was the Ming Family.” Wu Jian and Hou Jingshu turned to look at Wu Meiying, whose eyes had glazed over. She wasn’t looking at them, the farm, or anything else. She was just gazing off into the distance with a dull gleam in her eyes. “To be more specific, it was Tian Hao. She was the one who poisoned this earth using alchemy.”

“Can alchemy do such a thing?” Wu Jian asked, shocked. He didn’t doubt Wu Meiying’s words, but he always thought alchemy was used to refine pills that aided others, not poisoned the land.

Wu Meiying nodded.

Hou Jingshu swallowed. “Can you… see what happened here?”

“Mmm. Vaguely.” Wu Meiying blinked. Her eyes went back to normal as she released an exhausted sigh. “I only got brief flashes. I saw Tian Hao and several members of the Ming and Juishi Families. Ming Shen and Juishi—excuse me, Ming Meirin were present as well.”

“So you’re also able to see things that happened in the past, too,” Wu Jian mused. He wondered if this was a result of her getting stronger, or if she gained access to more of her unique power with age. Her abilities really were too strange. She wasn’t even a proper cultivator yet, but she could see into the future and now the past.

“I already assumed the Ming Family would have something to do with this,” Father said as he turned to them and crossed his arms. “Unfortunately, we can’t accuse them of doing this without proof. Saying you saw them doing it because of your powers isn’t enough.”

“I know,” Wu Meiying said with a bitter smile.

It took several hours for Wu Taohua to arrive with Zhou Lihua, Wong Jiu, and a Zhou Clan elder in tow. Everyone made way when they stepped forth.

Wong Jiu was being carried on the elder’s back. His cultivation was not very high, and he was at an advanced age. Not even his cultivation base could keep his body in shape.

He looked at the farmland after being set down, his expression one of grief, then turned to Father, bowed his head, and apologized.

“I am… sorry. This is definitely the work of my former apprentice,” he said.

Father took a deep breath. “I am not blaming you, so there is nothing to apologize for.”

“Can you tell us how she managed to poison the entire farm?” asked Mother.

Wong Jiu sighed. “It is not through alchemy. As you know, alchemy is the act of refining pills, which only ever benefit humanity. However, it requires a deep, innate understanding of ingredients to refine pills. It is perfectly possible to use this knowledge to create powerful poisons. The poison my foolish former apprentice has created is one that combines bloodroot, moonshank, and wolfsbane. She mixes the ingredients together with an alcohol made from plums, which is what gives it this purple coloration.”

“Is it possible to reverse the effects?” asked Father.

“I can create an antidote for it. The problem is the poison has seeped into the soil. The nutrients are already dead. Even if I remove the poison, only time will be able to heal the land,” he admitted.

Father nodded but said nothing, opting to remain silent as he stared at the poisoned farm. The way he looked right now, solemn and silent, worried Wu Jian. His mother must have been worried too.

“What shall we do?” she asked, touching his arm.

“First, we will do what we can to fix the damage. After that?” He took a deep breath through his nose, held it, then breathed out through his mouth. “After that, we shall take our pound of flesh from the Ming and Juishi Families. They have decided to wage war against us, so we will make sure to end it.”

***

The Wu Clan compound was quiet. Too quiet. While there were some people who could be seen wandering from one building to the other, far less people were present than there should have been.

Several days had passed since the farm had been poisoned, and every cultivator from the Wu Clan and even some of the adults who weren’t cultivators had gone out to wage war on the Ming and Juishi Families. Right about now, they would likely be assaulting the two families within their compound.

From what Wu Jian understood, they were splitting up into two groups, one that would assault the Ming Family and another that would destroy the Juishi Family. Both families consisted of less than one hundred people. Even adding in the mercenaries Tian Hao had hired, his clan should have still held the advantage.

It was a fortunate thing for them that neither family lived in Zahn City. The compounds they owned were, like the Wu and Zhou clans, several li outside of the city limits.

Most clans preferred living like this. Living within the city meant sharing a confined space with the masses. Compounds couldn’t be expanded to accommodate for an increase in members and clans tended to prefer their privacy.

Of course, none of that mattered to Wu Jian.

Because he was the clan heir and still hadn’t turned sixteen yet, Father had forbade him from joining the fight. Wu Jian understood why his father had done this. He was still too young, too inexperienced. He would be more of a hindrance than a help.

That didn’t make him feel any better.

It made him feel worse.

“Are you feeling restless, Little Jian?”

Wu Jian looked behind him to see Mothe staring down at him with a smile. He had grown quite a bit in the past few years, but she was still taller.

Like him, she was not allowed to participate in the battle, but that was not because she was too young or too weak. Mother was at the fourth subrealm of the Hunger Realm. While that meant she lacked Wu Taohua’s strength, she could still fight if she wanted. Her strength had never lied in battle, however.

She was a healer. Always had been.

He sat on the porch of his house, just gazing at the land. Wu Meiying and Hou Jingshu were off training, but just this once, he didn’t feel like joining them. The scent of fall pervaded the air as a soft breeze caused the branches of trees to sway.

Such a peaceful seen ran in direct contrast to the turmoil plaguing his mind.

“Mother… I can’t help it.” Wu Jian turned around and looked back at the garden, the flowing streams, array of flowers, and golden-leaved trees. “Father is out there fighting right now… and I’m stuck here. I understand why, but…” he trailed off and shook his head.

Mother smiled as she sat herself beside him. “That is only natural. You want to help your father, which is good. There’s nothing wrong with feeling the way you do right now. However, it is important to remember that you’re still young and inexperienced. I hope you won’t do something foolish like charge off half-cocked to help your father. I don’t mean to be rude, but you’d be more of a hindrance than a help.”

“I know. I know. I promise, I won’t rush off to help Father,” Wu Jian sighed.

“Good boy.” Mother reached out and ruffled his hair.

Wu Jian let her. He stared out at the garden, but his mind was several li away, on the battles now happening in a place he could not reach.

I hope Father and Wu Taohua will return safe and sound.