Chapter 12 Father and Son

"The murderer is Ji Ning?" Beishan Baiwei asked anxiously. "Father, what are you saying? What murderer? What do you mean?"

"Can't you guess yet?" Beishan Heihu looked at his son.

This was the son on whom he placed his greatest hopes, and he had always spared no effort in cultivating him. If he hadn't placed such hopes, he would have let Beishan Baiwei become a wastrel, letting him live a carefree and ignorant life. But precisely because he had hopes, he was strict and demanding.

"Father means?" Beishan Baiwei wasn't stupid. He frowned. "Brother Ji Ning didn't want Tianbao Mountain to know back then, so he must have been doing something shady. He went to kill some enemy with a background? Dong Qi, Yu Tong, Shui Yi... of those three, only Dong Qi had some background. Did he kill Dong Qi? But Dong Qi only had a Primal Daoist behind him, not worth you making such a fuss."

Beishan Heihu nodded. "Not Dong Qi. He went to kill Yu Tong."

"Yu Tong? Just a nobody." Beishan Baiwei shook his head.

"But Yu Tong's master, 'Crescent Moon True Man', was also present at the time, so he must have obstructed Ji Ning and was caught in the crossfire, killed by Ji Ning." Beishan Heihu looked at his son. "And this Crescent Moon True Man was a retired cultivator from one of our Anchan Beishan clan's cultivator armies, the 'Dark Army'."

"What!" Beishan Baiwei's face changed instantly. He certainly knew that the Beishan clan had some secret and powerful cultivator armies.

Every feudal lord would have some cultivator armies.

The Grand Xia Dynasty knew this too, but just how many secret armies the feudal lords had, how many cultivators each army had, and how many powerful beings were hidden... that was a secret.

"A retired cultivator from the Dark Army?" Beishan Baiwei murmured. "Able to retire? He must have served for a very, very long time... then he must have many old comrades. Such retired cultivators who survive are usually the army's untouchable scale."

"Right, the untouchable scale!" Beishan Heihu said in a low voice. "They fought for our Beishan clan, suffered countless casualties, and very few survived to retire. If a retired old cultivator is killed... it naturally enrages the many cultivators in the army! They absolutely will not allow this to happen. If it does, they will find out who the murderer is and avenge their old comrade!"

"This is the untouchable scale of a cultivator army. Touch it, and you die!" Beishan Heihu's eyes were solemn.

This was an unspoken rule of the army.

They would not allow their old comrades to suffer!

Absolutely not!

"Ji Ning and his people were very thorough." Beishan Heihu said. "The Dark Army's intelligence branch began investigating. They searched the memories of many mortals on Crescent Moon Mountain, and even found the blood robe that 'Crescent Moon True Man' had worn back then, but it had been thrown deep into the geomagnetic field."

"But because three people died at the time—Crescent Moon, his disciple Yu Tong, and his daughter Yue Wei—the Dark Army's intelligence branch also began investigating Yu Tong and Yue Wei..."

"Soon they found out that someone had recently obtained information about Yu Tong from Tianbao Mountain."

Beishan Heihu looked at his son. "The Dark Army followed that clue and traced it to my Beishan Heihu's mansion! So I learned of this matter."

"Then what do we do?" Beishan Baiwei asked worriedly.

"The Dark Army is currently following several clues..." Beishan Heihu said. "But if 'Shui Yi' and 'Dong Qi' also die one after another, then the Dark Army will likely conclude that the murderer is most likely the person who bought the information on the three from Tianbao Mountain."

Beishan Baiwei said urgently, "Then I'll immediately find Brother Ji Ning and tell him to hold off on killing Shui Yi and Dong Qi for now?"

"It's useless."

Beishan Heihu shook his head. "The other clues will likely be ruled out by the Dark Army soon, and then they'll come to my mansion to inquire about this matter."

"Then what's to be done?" Beishan Baiwei was worried.

"Two options." Beishan Heihu said.

Beishan Baiwei looked at his father.

"First, abandon Ji Ning." Beishan Heihu said. "That way, we won't have any trouble."

"No." Beishan Baiwei shook his head.

Beishan Heihu saw this and laughed. "Haha, worthy of being my son. Right, don't easily abandon your friends and brothers. If you do... you won't make true friends and brothers either! If you want others to risk their lives for you, you must truly give your all."

Beishan Baiwei was stunned.

"Then there's only the second option." Beishan Heihu said. "Directly admit that you led the operation."

"Me?" Beishan Baiwei was taken aback.

"Right. Directly admit to the Dark Army that you did it. You sent people to investigate the intelligence, then led people to kill Yu Tong! But you were obstructed by Crescent Moon True Man... so you killed him too!" Beishan Heihu said directly. "You didn't know Crescent Moon True Man was a retired cultivator. As the saying goes, ignorance is not a crime. The Dark Army can't force blame on you... As a direct descendant of our Beishan clan, with hopes of becoming the Marquis of Anchan in the future, an unintentional mistake like killing a Crescent Moon True Man is a minor matter."

"If you take the blame, it's a minor matter. Because no matter what, the Dark Army is still an army raised by our Beishan clan. For a direct descendant of our Beishan clan to make an unintentional mistake, those cultivators in the Dark Army wouldn't dare make a fuss."

"But if someone else takes the blame, it's almost certain death."

Beishan Heihu looked at his son. "However, if we do this, some old-timers in the Dark Army will probably come to dislike you."

"Just dislike? A retired Wanxiang True Man... at most one or two Sanxian who were truly close to him would care. Those who truly dislike me will probably be very few." Beishan Baiwei shook his head. "Anyway, I can't get in touch with the Dark Army now. And I can see that Brother Ji Ning is the kind of person who will go through fire and water for his brothers. I'll take this matter on!"

"Very well."

North Mountain Black Tiger nodded. 'As for how Yu Tong, Shui Yi, and Dong Qi offended you, I will also fabricate a good reason.'

'I entrust everything to you, Father,' North Mountain Baiwei said respectfully.

'Remember!' North Mountain Black Tiger looked at his son and said in a low voice. 'You did well in being devoted to your brother. But you must remember... you must let Ji Ning know what you did for him.'

'Let him know?' North Mountain Baiwei was startled.

'Yes, let him know the sacrifices you made for him,' North Mountain Black Tiger said calmly. 'If you pay a great price and he doesn't know at all, isn't it wasted? If he accidentally discovers the truth, he will naturally be grateful to you.'

North Mountain Baiwei frowned. 'That's too contrived, isn't it?'

'Contrived?' North Mountain Black Tiger glanced at his son. 'Just let him discover the truth by accident. After all, you truly took on trouble for him... Remember, when dealing with close friends and brothers, though you must be sincere, you also need to add a bit of strategy. That is the way to employ people!'

'Think it over yourself.'

North Mountain Black Tiger frowned as he looked at his son. This son was very intelligent, and he had high hopes for him. But his son was also greatly influenced by his mother, sometimes being too sincere with others. Although this helped him make good friends, such a personality made it hard to truly lead a faction.

'Let's go.' North Mountain Black Tiger left directly with the triangular-eyed old man.

The courtyard's previously tense atmosphere instantly relaxed. The beautiful maidservant who had been singing nearby suddenly came to her senses. 'What happened? What just happened?'

She had heard nothing, seen nothing, and even lost a piece of memory.

She only vaguely remembered that the prefect 'North Mountain Black Tiger' had appeared. When she came to again, she saw Prefect North Mountain Black Tiger leaving.

'Strategy? The way to employ people?' North Mountain Baiwei frowned. 'Father, you use schemes with everyone... that's why Mother left you. You are you, and I am I.'

His father wanted to groom him into another North Mountain Black Tiger.

But he was North Mountain Baiwei.

The unique North Mountain Baiwei!

'I wonder how Ji Ning is doing now,' North Mountain Baiwei worried.

…

After more than half a month of flying, Ji Ning and his group arrived at Yanghe Bay in Anchan Commandery.

Yanghe Bay was about the same size as Yanshan.

'Shui Yi's tribe is really weak.' A boat drifted on the Yang River, which was two hundred zhang wide. The Yang River was a great river over a million li long, cutting through nearly half of Anchan Commandery.

Mu Zishuo sighed. 'They don't even have a Great Xia city!'

'It is very weak,' Ji Ning nodded.

The Ji clan had a Great Xia city, Ten Thousand Swords City. Having at least one Great Xia city was necessary to be considered a true native major power.

But Shui Yi's tribe, the Shui clan, was truly very weak.

Before Shui Yi, their tribe was just an ordinary clan. Later, Shui Yi became a servant of the super-tribe 'Dong clan,' was nurtured within the Dong clan, gradually advanced, became a Zifu Disciple, and even followed Young Master Dong Qi for a long time. Naturally, he gave back to his own tribe, the Shui clan.

With Shui Yi's help, the Shui clan gradually grew stronger and built a city, though not a Great Xia city—it was a self-built city similar to the Ji clan's Western Prefecture City.

The Shui clan also relied on another tribal power.

Because the Shui clan had Shui Yi in the Dong clan, no one provoked them. The Shui clan grew like this, and now even had a mid-stage Zifu cultivator guarding them.

'Senior apprentice-brother, how do you plan to lure Shui Yi out and make him leave the Dong clan?' Mu Zishuo smiled at Ji Ning.

'Too easy,' Ji Ning shook his head. 'His tribe, the Shui clan, is too weak. The entire tribe has only one Zifu cultivator guarding it. I have many ways to throw the Shui clan into chaos and panic, forcing Shui Yi to rush back!'

Indeed, there were many methods.

The Shui clan was too weak. As soon as they encountered a major problem, they would surely send word to Shui Yi for help.

'Master, kill them, cause a big slaughter, and it'll be chaotic!' Qingqing cried out.

Ji Ning shook his head. 'No need.'

Just as when he killed Jiang He of the Riverside Tribe, he did not implicate Jiang He's son.

Ji Ning would not implicate the other members of the Shui clan either.

As for the Shui clan declining after Shui Yi's death, Ji Ning would only watch calmly.

As a cultivator with a strong Dao-heart, Ji Ning had full confidence in himself. He would not do anything that violated his Dao-heart... If he had killed Jiang He's child back then, it would have affected his Dao-heart beliefs and greatly impacted his path of cultivation.

'Not kill? Then how do you make them chaotic?' Qingqing muttered.

'It'll be quick. You stay here. I'll go and be back in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.' A sword-light appeared under Ji Ning's feet, and he shot into the sky, flying toward the Shui clan's base, Yishui City, thousands of li away.