The Lingquan Mountain at the center of Xingyue City was a sacred land yearned for by countless rogue cultivators. Those who could reside on Lingquan Mountain were all either wealthy or noble.
One day, thick smoke suddenly billowed from Lingquan Mountain, and pillars of fire shot up into the sky.
"Mom, look! There's a fire over there!"
"Nonsense, Lingquan Mountain is full of cultivators. How could it catch fire with their abilities?"
"Then why is there such a big fire?"
"Perhaps it's from alchemy, artifact refining, or practicing some self-immolating cultivation technique."
The sudden blaze on Lingquan Mountain attracted the attention of all the city's residents.
At first, everyone thought it was the cultivators performing some extraordinary divine ability again. All were calmly watching, their words filled with longing for such great powers.
However, cultivators with higher cultivation levels noticed something was wrong. There was no trace of living beings within the flames, and all the houses in the Lin family manor were on fire.
"This is bad! Everyone, quickly put out the fire!"
When a cultivator sensed something amiss, they shouted and bravely charged into the raging inferno.
With the first leading, soon there was a second, a third...
All the cultivators rushed into the Lin family manor to fight the fire. Even the mortals were deeply moved and joined the firefighting efforts.
An old man, without even putting down a bundle of firewood he was carrying, rushed into the inferno.
At this critical moment, the residents of Xingyue City displayed a remarkably high moral standard.
However, it was a bit strange that these firefighters, after entering the inferno, didn't seem to cast many water-elemental spells.
They all appeared to be solely interested in rummaging through chests and cabinets.
After a rogue cultivator rushed into the inferno, greed flashed in their eyes.
"Pah! It serves these family cultivators right to die!"
In such a large manor, even a small portion of its contents would be enough for him to spend a considerable time.
At this moment, more than eighty to ninety percent of those who rushed into the inferno were there to loot.
These large families usually dropped a feather that was thicker than a rogue cultivator's waist.
It was just that this time, it disappointed many cultivators. The vast Lin family manor had been thoroughly searched, leaving not even a single feather behind.
The extermination of the Lin family in Xingyue City overnight was a great shock to the cultivators of Xingyue City.
The Lin family possessed four Foundation Establishment realm powerhouses and dozens, even hundreds, of Qi Refining cultivators, making them a significant force in Xingyue City.
Everyone began to speculate who could have acted to slaughter the entire Lin family silently.
Xiao Fei, the instigator of all this, did not rush to leave Xingyue City. Instead, he temporarily stayed in an inn within the city.
He was still counting the wealth he had plundered from the manor into his spatial dimension.
In the Lin family's treasury, he found over 100,000 spirit stones. He took out 60,000 and directly threw them into the spatial dimension's land.
As he had predicted, the time flow within the dimension increased from 14 times to 20 times.
Furthermore, the spiritual energy concentration within the dimension also increased significantly.
However, when he invested another 10,000 spirit stones, he found that the time did not reach 21 times; it barely changed.
"What's going on?"
Xiao Fei used a precise clepsydra to repeatedly compare and calculate. He discovered that the current time flow was 20.1 times.
This meant that it now required 100,000 spirit stones to increase the time flow by another point.
Xiao Fei could do nothing about this for the moment. He had only 30,000 spirit stones left from the plundered wealth, so he decided to keep them for emergencies.
This time, he had found a large amount of wealth from the deceased cultivators of the Lin family, along with other miscellaneous spiritual items. These unused items should still be able to sell for tens of thousands of spirit stones.
Additionally, he obtained three storage bags, each with only a zhang of space.
Storage bags were considered rare items in the cultivation world, containing spatial formations and being refined from special materials.
A storage bag with a zhang of space like these would cost at least 10,000 spirit stones.
The entire Lin family, including the four Foundation Establishment cultivators, had a total estimated asset of around 200,000 spirit stones.
Xiao Fei's divine sense entered the spatial dimension, and he piled the looted miscellaneous items together as much as possible to avoid wasting space.
The Spirit Nurturing Tea he had moved into the dimension had come alive, its branches and leaves appearing much more vigorous.
In the center of the dimension, he had dug a small water pit, three feet square. A five-colored lotus was planted in the center of the pit, growing charmingly.
The water in the small pit, which was originally just ordinary spring water poured in by Xiao Fei, had now transformed into spiritual spring water.
Xiao Fei surveyed his wealth within the dimension and then left the dimension with satisfaction.
He waited another two days in Xingyue City.
Many of the Lin family's descendants had joined various major sects, the most outstanding among them being an inner disciple of the Scarlet Sun Sect.
Upon learning of their family's annihilation, these Lin family descendants all returned to Xingyue City.
Although they were a step late, they still wanted to understand what had happened.
However, the Lin family manor had been burned so thoroughly by Xiao Fei that neither poisons nor mummified corpses were left behind.
Furthermore, after the rogue cultivators who had rushed to "help" with the fire had looted the place, only ashes and scattered footprints remained at the scene.
These Lin family disciples investigated but found nothing, so they had to give up for the time being.
Tonight, many surviving Lin family disciples gathered in a small courtyard, grief-stricken. While weeping and holding each other, they were all filled with righteous indignation, vowing to find the true culprit and avenge their clansmen.
Just then, the courtyard was suddenly enveloped by a black mist, and countless blood threads extended from the mist, crawling towards them.
"Ah!"
"What is this ghastly thing?"
Some tried to cut the blood threads with their swords, but found that the substance seemed to have no substance. Swords cut through the blood threads, yet the threads remained as they were.
Those touched by the blood threads quickly turned into dried corpses.
Fighting was prohibited among cultivators in Xingyue City, and cultivators were constantly patrolling the city.
If any cultivator violated the rules and fought without authorization, they would be fined or killed on the spot for minor offenses, or patiently dissuaded for more serious ones.
At this moment, a small courtyard in the city was suddenly shrouded in black mist, exuding a ghostly aura, with violent spiritual energy fluctuations.
This anomaly had long alerted the patrolling cultivators responsible for public security, and a team of patrolling cultivators immediately arrived outside the courtyard.
"Captain, this person is openly fighting in broad daylight, disregarding Xingyue City's rules. They should be executed!"
A newly joined member of the patrol team drew out his magic artifact, wanting to perform well in front of the captain.
Just as the newcomer was about to charge out, he did not receive the captain's praise and approval, but was instead kicked to the ground by the captain.
"You damn fool, how many times have I told you to enforce the law civilly and persuade with virtue? Do you want to get me killed!"
The patrol captain was annoyed. How could he have recruited such a stupid newcomer with no discernment?
The aura emanating from the courtyard was that of a Foundation Establishment powerhouse. Their group, with the highest cultivation being only the tenth level of Qi Refining, was rushing in to their deaths!
"Our patrol team must enforce the law civilly. For first-time offenders, persuasion and education are the primary methods; patience is key!"
After reprimanding him a few more times, the captain then addressed the mist-shrouded courtyard in a calm tone.
"Senior inside, let's discuss this amicably. Please do not harm the harmony, nor accidentally injure other residents."
As long as the matter did not escalate too much, the Foundation Establishment powerhouses in the city would not bother to show themselves.
The patrol members did not want to risk their lives for a few dozen spirit stones a month, so they could only patiently persuade and make a show of it.
Xiao Lan dealt with these Qi Refining realm stragglers very quickly. In the time it took for a cup of tea to brew, the black mist dissipated, and she returned to the Soul Nurturing Pearl.
Xiao Fei patted down all the corpses, then set them ablaze. Only then did he walk out of the courtyard wearing a human skin mask.
Seeing the row of patrolling cultivators standing in front of him, Xiao Fei stepped forward and slipped a handful of spirit stones into the captain's hand.
"My apologies, I was momentarily agitated just now. I have now repented. Thank you for your hard work. Please accept these spirit stones for drinks."
Since the people were already dead, cooperating with Xingyue City and giving them a way to save face was very necessary, as regulations still needed to be maintained by everyone.
"Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. It is best that Senior stopped in time."
The two resolved the matter with a few words, rendering it invisible. As for the burning corpses in the courtyard, who cared?
The patrolling members accepted the spirit stones and understood Xiao Fei's intention. They actively maintained order, preventing anyone from approaching the burning courtyard until everything within it had turned to ash.
As Xiao Fei departed, he couldn't help but sigh, noting that the civil cultivation of the Xingyue City patrol team had improved significantly.
He recalled that when he was a mere rogue cultivator, he and Zhu Yu had only confronted each other for a moment before the patrol team fined them a sum of spirit stones and almost drew their swords to kill them on the spot.
Xiao Fei had thoroughly cut off the Lin family's roots. Even if a few stragglers remained who had not returned, their numbers should be small.
After dealing with various loose ends, he left Xingyue City and headed towards the Cuihua Mountain Range.