Song Changsheng's eyes burned with a fiery light. In the present age, the power of formations was beyond question. Take the Song Clan, for example, without such a formidable clan-protecting grand array, they would have been exterminated when the Lieyang Sect invaded.
The protective grand array was the strongest line of defense for any clan, and the greatest headache for any attacker.
If they possessed this Thunderbolt Son, breaking an array would become far simpler because this device destroyed it at the root.
With a Purple Mansion realm cultivator in the Song Clan, the first order of business would naturally be to bring the whole of Lingzhou firmly under their control. That process was sure to be far from smooth.
And that was precisely where the Thunderbolt Son would shine.
Thinking this far, Song Changsheng no longer hesitated. He strode out of the dungeon and returned to the Affairs Hall.
From a shelf at his side, he took down a palm-sized jade flying sword. Imprinting his intended message into it with his divine sense, he released it. The sword turned into a streak of flowing light and shot into the distance…
...
In the Mortal Realm – The Garrison Mansion
Song Changxuan lay in nothing but a thin shirt on a wicker lounge chair, surrounded by several voluptuous concubines in revealing attire.
Some were pounding his legs, some kneading his shoulders, while one lay in his arms, feeding him grape-like spirit fruits with her slender jade hands. Beauty surrounded him, their voices soft and coquettish, pure indulgence.
Not yet thirty, Song Changxuan had phoenix eyes, willow-leaf brows, and strikingly handsome features.
Unlike the other clan elders who held themselves to strict standards, Song Changxuan was debauched, taking nine concubines before the age of twenty. His frivolous manner had long displeased the clan's senior generation.
Back at the clan's Grand Competition, when he placed in the top three, there had even been elders urging Song Changsheng to strip him of the Foundation Establishment Pill he had earned, with many in agreement, including Song Luoyao.
But after careful thought, Song Changsheng had refused. First, Song Changxuan's talent truly was the best among the "Chang" generation aside from himself, and his cultivation had not suffered from his indulgence in women.
Secondly, though lacking in virtue, he was loyal to the clan and had rendered notable service otherwise; he wouldn't have qualified for the competition in the first place.
Unlike Song Lutong, who resented being far from the center of power while guarding the mortal realm, Song Changxuan didn't mind; in fact, he felt freer than before.
That sense of ease had only grown after Song Lutong and Xia Yunxue left. His life was now almost nightly revelry, and he was thoroughly enjoying himself.
"A truly heavenly life… living like this forever wouldn't be bad at all." Chewing a juicy spirit fruit, he narrowed his eyes in pure contentment.
"Husband~ I had someone make you a new set of clothes. Come with me to try them on?"
The woman in his arms traced circles on his chest with pale fingertips, her eyes like a pool of spring water, her voice dripping with seduction.
Well-fed and tempted, a certain heat rose in Song Changxuan's lower belly. Sweeping the woman into his arms, he was about to begin a three-hundred-round battle.
At that moment, his expression shifted. He looked back just in time to see a streak of flowing light tearing across the sky toward the Garrison Mansion.
"A message sword? Could something have happened to the clan?" Shock flashed through him. He set the woman down despite her resentful glance, waved all the concubines away, and turned to receive it.
The jade flying sword reached him, and seeing its make, Song Changxuan's surprise deepened.
After reading the message, his face changed. He quickly donned his robes and summoned all the clan members stationed in the garrison.
The garrison was small, with fewer than twenty members in total, assigned to patrol the seven cities and maintain order. Only ten were currently in the mansion.
Gone was Song Changxuan's earlier levity; his expression was now solemn.
"The clan has just sent word that the lair of that mysterious group has been uncovered. It's three thousand li from here, in White Wolf Mountain.
The Young Clan Leader has ordered me to immediately wipe out their den and rescue the mortals held there. From this moment, activate the city's protective array, patrol all the cities, maintain order, do not fail in your duty!"
The few present exchanged glances, then immediately bowed in acknowledgment. With the defensive strength of a third-rank grand array in the mortal realm, Song Changxuan's absence for a day or two would not be an issue.
After giving his orders, Song Changxuan set off for White Wolf Mountain without delay.
Just as the intelligence report had stated, the "Thunder King Hall" cultists there had been almost annihilated; only a dozen Qi Refining cultivators remained. Against Song Changxuan, they had no power to resist and were swiftly eliminated.
Following Song Changsheng's instructions, Song Changxuan began searching for resources and the method to forge the Thunderbolt Son.
But when he pushed open a massive bronze gate, the sight before him left him frozen on the spot…
When Song Changsheng received Song Changxuan's message, it was already the middle of the night. After reading the contents of the message sword, he slammed the table in anger, startling the attendant beside him.
"Young Clan Leader, what's happened?" the attendant asked cautiously. Although Song Changsheng was usually amiable, his expression at this moment was so dark it was frightening. This was the first time the attendant had seen him look like this.
Song Changsheng didn't answer, but instead stood and said, "Pass the order immediately, have the Law Enforcement Hall dispatch a squad to White Wolf Mountain at once to join up with the Sixth Elder."
"As you command."
Though he didn't know what had happened, the attendant could tell from Song Changsheng's expression that it was something major. He hurried away to relay the order.
The Law Enforcement Hall's on-duty attendant personally led a twenty-man enforcement team to White Wolf Mountain.
When they returned, it was already midday the next day. They had departed twenty-one strong, and now they brought back more than a dozen children, filthy, ragged, and covered in grime.
"Young Clan Leader, it's horrific, hundreds of thousands of people, crammed into pitch-black underground pits, packed together, lacking food and clothing, living worse than pigs or dogs.
Among them were members of the Wang and Li clans, and even quite a few of our clan. They were bled daily, treated like livestock!"
As he listened, Song Changsheng clenched his fists tight. These beasts deserved to be cut into a thousand pieces, raising mortals like cattle to harvest their blood for cultivation!
In the ancient age, when humanity was still weak, they had been kept as blood food by fierce beasts, nearly driven to extinction.
Only after countless struggles had humans risen, seizing a vast land to thrive upon.
That was why raising mortals was utterly forbidden; once discovered, it demanded extermination without mercy.
The "Thunder King Hall" had crossed the bottom line of the human race!
Sometimes, Song Changsheng couldn't help but wonder what Lingzhou had done to deserve this? First, the Blood Demon Cult, and now the Thunder King Hall!
And compared to the Blood Demon Cult, the Thunder King Hall was even more vile; they preyed directly upon mortals.
"Young Clan Leader, what should be done with the rescued mortals?"
After a moment's thought, Song Changsheng said, "Scatter them among the seven cities. Aside from those already married, every man must marry into the Song Clan, and every woman must marry a Song clansman. The next generation of married couples will follow the same rule."
Hundreds of thousands of people were no small number. By doing this, they would be fully integrated into the Song Clan. In time, their descendants would all bear the Song surname and carry half Song blood.
In less than fifty years, these descendants would become an important foundation for the clan's growth.
"And what about the children?" the attendant asked with some concern.
The more than a dozen children they had brought back all possessed spiritual roots selected by the Thunder King Hall to be trained as disciples aged between eight and twelve.
According to clan rules, cultivators of an outside surname at that age could not be fully integrated into the clan unless they later married into it.
Song Changsheng frowned, then his eyes lit up. "Put them into the Wind Whisper Hall. The clan will raise and train them, and once they're accomplished in cultivation, we'll plant them in other forces as spies."
The attendant's eyes brightened at an excellent idea.
The Song Clan had never had a large population, and building an intelligence network required many people. Most of the Wind Whisper Hall's agents had been bought in secret over the years, and their reliability and loyalty were always in question.
This was why, despite Song Luoyao's best efforts, the clan's intelligence network had never truly expanded without enough people; she was like a cook with no rice.
These children, however, would have both a debt of life and of upbringing to the Song Clan; their loyalty would be far more secure.
Once the matter of placing the people was settled, Song Changsheng finally turned to the main objective of this mission. "Did you find the method for forging the Thunderbolt Son?"
"Young Clan Leader, the Sixth Elder captured an artifact craftsman. We've extracted the forging method from him, and also recovered several completed ones. I've brought them all back, along with the earlier haul.
There's also a batch of cultivation resources worth about fifty to sixty thousand spirit stones, enough to ease the clan's immediate crisis," the attendant quickly reported.
Song Changsheng nodded in satisfaction. Song Changxuan had done well and would be credited.
"Young Clan Leader, one more thing. According to that captured craftsman, their superiors send someone down to take away the mortals every ten years. There are fewer than three years until the next pickup."
Song Changsheng's brow furrowed. "Do we know the strength of the one who comes?"
"Most likely a Purple Mansion cultivator. But the good news is that the Lingzhou outpost was newly established, and they haven't set up a communication link yet. So even if we've wiped out their base, the other side may not know."
Hearing this, a shadow flickered across Song Changsheng's face. So, within three years, the Song Clan might very well have to face the wrath of a Purple Mansion cultivator?
It wasn't that he was afraid of an average Purple Mansion cultivator; the Song Clan could still hold its own. Besides, there were still three years to prepare; by then, Song Xianming might have already succeeded in his breakthrough.
The real concern was that provoking the Thunder King Hall was a serious hidden danger.
But there was no helping it after all, the enemy had already kicked down their door. How could they not fight back?
After waving the steward away, Song Changsheng turned his gaze to the chest that had been brought in.
Opening it, he saw twenty neatly arranged purple orbs, each the size of a fist.
These were the Thunderbolt Sons, forged from the rare Thunderstone and imbued with immense lightning power.
They were not only formidable tools for breaking arrays, but also terrifying weapons against enemies. With enough of them, even a Purple Mansion cultivator would have to think twice before engaging.
Unfortunately, Thunderstone was exceedingly rare after more than a decade of operations in Lingzhou. Bai Zhisheng and his people had managed to forge only a little over thirty of them.
"I wonder how powerful they are."
Rubbing his chin, Song Changsheng picked up one of the orbs. Hearing was one thing, but seeing was believing. If they were to be used in real combat, he needed to understand them fully.
With that in mind, he traveled to a desolate wilderness and set up a second-rank, high-grade Heavenly Gang Array using formation flags and bases. This was the strongest defensive array he could currently arrange.
"I wonder how many it would take to break through this. To be safe, let's try five first."
He buried five Thunderbolt Sons in the ground, retreated to a safe distance, and triggered them with a hand seal.
Boom!
A deafening explosion shook the earth.
When the dust cleared, the Heavenly Gang Array still stood firm, though the ground around it was pocked with craters.
Rather than feeling disappointed, Song Changsheng retrieved the array base and flags. Upon inspection, he found the base covered in cracks, and the flags' spiritual glow noticeably dimmed.
"At this rate, it would take about seven or eight to destroy a Heavenly Gang Array. Which means to take down a second-rank, top-grade formation, you'd need at least a dozen or more.
"Then why did Bai Zhisheng and the others dare to attack a third-rank, low-grade formation with only a handful?" he wondered aloud.
In truth, Bai Zhisheng's group had only intended to create a breach in the formation, not destroy it entirely. Doing so would have been far too costly.
What they didn't know was that the Seven Stars Locking Mountains Grand Array was famous for its defense. Creating even a small breach would require more than a dozen Thunderbolt Sons; the few they had were nowhere near enough to shake it.
If they could hear this now, they'd probably be furious all over again.
Having confirmed the Thunderbolt Son's power, Song Changsheng immediately instructed the clan's newly promoted second-rank, low-grade artifact craftsman Song Changrong to secretly begin forging more. Such a weapon was worth stockpiling.
Three days later, Song Xianyun, who had been unconscious for a long time, finally awoke. Overjoyed, Song Changsheng hurried to visit him.
"How do you feel?" Song Changsheng asked warmly, pouring him a cup of tea.
"I'm not dead yet. This old body can still serve the clan for a few more years," Song Xianyun replied with a smile, looking in surprisingly good spirits.
From the moment he woke, he knew his condition, his lifespan had been shortened, and his very foundation had been injured. In short, he didn't have many years left.
Yet there was neither anger nor fear in him, only calm acceptance.
Surviving at all was already a blessing. What more could he ask for?
Seeing this, Song Changsheng felt a pang in his heart. This elder, who had devoted his entire life to the clan, might never live to see the day when the Song Clan returned to its former glory…
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