Ancestral Grotto, Great Root Manor

Bao Lang Chao sat in his office. He was doing administrative work when his face contorted for a second. He stopped and turned his attention to his immortal aperture.

His divine sense swooped down in Lang Chao blessed land and arrived at a small building.

It looked like a gate with an ornate roof, but it wasn't a gate, there were no doors on it. The two pillars on the side held a solid wall in between.
There were many rows of name plaques lining the front. Each of the names had a corresponding hole below the nameplate.

An old woman was kneeling before this board. Her chest was flat and her back was hunched. Her white hair was hanging in a messy bun. Her skin was wrinkled and had many age spots.

She held a shattered life tablet gu in her old hands.

"Our son, Chun'er has died." - She mourned quietly.

Bao Lang Chao's divine sense took a human shape. He observed the wall of plaques.

Only one spot was empty: Lang Chun.

He sighed and walked beside her.

He stood there for a long time silently. His gaze was indiscernible. From time to time he looked at his old second wife who was kneeling beside him then back to the board.

A few minutes later, he finally spoke up.

"I will avenge our son." - He declared.

The old woman lifted her head. Her eyes were red and swollen.

"But I want to know why..." - She said pleadingly.

"Bao Lang Chao, why did our son have to die?" - The old woman asked.

Bao Lang Chao was silent for a while before he finally answered.

"I don't know." - He admitted.

The old woman's shoulders trembled. She lowered her head and started to cry again.

Bao Lang Chao's heart ached. He wanted to console her but he didn't know what to say.

"You should go back." - He finally said with difficulty.

The old woman nodded. She stood up with the help of her cane.

Her eyes were dull and lifeless. She had no more tears to shed.

"A parent should never bury their child." - She muttered.

Bao Lang Chao nodded silently. He watched as she slowly walked away.

After a long time, he sighed.

"Chun'er..." - He said softly. But his gaze was fierce. If looks could kill, the target of his gaze would have turned to ashes.

In the next second, his divine sense rushed out of his immortal aperture and returned to his body.

He opened his eyes and took a deep breath.

This was a decades-old mystery. His second son had one day disappeared without a trace in the ancestral grotto.

Lang Chun's whereabouts could not be deduced. Bao Lang Chao knew that Lang Chun was alive someplace because of his intact life tablet gu. This made him even more suspicious at the time that this was the work of Wen clan.

Contrary to Bao Lang Chao's expectation there were no notices of ransom or blackmail. The trail has run cold.

But now Lang Chun's life table gu has shattered. This was a new clue!

Bao Lang Chao took the shattered life tablet gu in his hands, closed his eyes, and activated his killer move.

This technique imitated wisdom path. He was trying to deduce the culprit. But he did not get any results.

"Failure."

But he did not give up. He kept trying. First, he tried to deduce the culprit. But the results were all the same. Next, he tried to deduce a location.

After half a day of deduction, there was a result.

"Ancestral Grotto?" - Even he was surprised at the result.

Could it be that the culprit was hiding in plain sight? It was not impossible. Maybe the culprit was not from Wen clan, but from inside Bao clan!

Bao Lang Chao's eyes flashed with cold light. He finally had a concrete clue.

* * * * *

A gu worm flew at high speeds toward Bao Xu Lian. He reached out calmly and grabbed the gu in his hands.

This was a letter gu.

Shortly after reading its contents, his expression turned ashen.

"These idiots!"

He immediately rushed toward one of the resource points under his jurisdiction.

Thoughts were racing in his mind wildly.

"How could this happen?" - He thought anxiously.

A short while later he arrived at the Ling Zhi cavern.

"Greetings to lord immortal!"

Three mushroommen knelt on the ground where Bao Xu Lian arrived. They were frightened out of their wits.

"Where is he?" - Bao Xu Lian asked in a cold tone.

"The- the specimen has escaped his confinement and died to unknown causes. We could not determine-"

The mushroomman slave's report was suddenly interrupted as Bao Xu Lian kicked him so hard he flew through the air.

"Bullshit! What could kill him here? It's only you!" - Bao Xu Lian shouted. He was furious.

The two remaining slaves did not dare to raise their heads from the ground as they cowered in fear. Their hearts were beating like drums in their ears.

"How did he escape the formation?"

The slaves listened in trepidation. At any moment their heads could be rolling if it continued like this.

They did not understand the importance behind this 'specimen' Bao Xu Liang was so obsessed about. Why would someone want to turn a human into a mushromman?

The only explanation was that Bao Xu Lian wanted to replace them as the keepers of the Ling Zhi cave!

They could not let this happen. When he succeeds all the mushroommen would be disposed of!

At least this was their reasoning. So they tried to subtly sabotage this 'experiment' by removing some mortal gu from the formation.

"Useless trash!" - Bao Xu Lian continued to berate them. He was so furious that he was about to explode.

He waved his hand and sent the two of them flying against the wall.

One of them broke their neck and died on the spot. The other one crawled on the ground with a broken leg.

"Lord immortal, please spare us!"

"Take me to the corpse!" - He commanded as he healed the surviving slave's leg.

The variant human slave gu master led Bao Xu Lian along the winding caves toward their destination.

As they walked Bao Xu Lian unwittingly recalled some memories:

Two youths were making their way through a jungle-like thick forest.

"Xu Lian, where are we going?" - Asked the younger of the two.

"Shh, keep it down. Listen, I found an immortal inheritance near the Ling Zhi caves." - Xu Lian replied.

"That place? We shouldn't go there. It's dangerous." - The young man grabbed the robes of Xu Lian who walked before him.

"That's why I'm here. You will take the inheritance while I stand guard. Then we get out. It's simple." - He explained.

The young man was Xu Lian's younger half-brother, Lang Chun.

They reached the entrance of the Ling Zhi caves.

"Come on, this way." - Xu Lian said as he entered the cave.

Lang Chun followed behind him hesitantly.

They went deeper and deeper into the cave.

"This is far enough. You go on." - Xu Lian said as he stopped.

"But..." - Lang Chun protested.

"Don't worry. I'll be right here. Nothing will happen to you." - Xu Lian reassured him.

Lang Chun reluctantly went on.

He soon found himself in a large chamber.

In the center of the chamber was a stone platform with a sword on it.

As he approached the sword, a voice spoke to him.

"This sword is the key to the inheritance. Take it and leave this place." - The voice said.

Lang Chun hesitated for a moment before he reached for the sword.

Suddenly, the ground shook and the sword turned into chains that bound him to the platform.

"Xu Lian, help me!" - He shouted.

But Xu Lian did not rush to his help. He looked on with a satisfied smile as his half-brother struggled vainly.

"Xu Lian! What have you done? Why!?" - Lang Chun shouted.

"I have taken what is rightfully mine." - Xu Lian replied with a smug expression.

He walked closer and continued his monologue.

"I am the one who should inherit our family inheritance! I am the only one who deserves Father's care! I will become an immortal and not you!" - Xu Lian looked directly at Lang Chun as jealousy flashed in his eye.

Lang Chun's face contorted with pain as the chains tightened around him.

"You won't get away with this! The immortals will find out what you did." - Lang Chun gritted his teeth in anger.

"I won't kill you, my little brother. But leaving this cave will be a fantasy for you." - Xu Lian said as he turned and left his brother to his fate.

...

Bao Xu Lian and the mushromman slave arrived at the mangled, fungus-covered corpse that remained of Lang Chun.

Bao Xu Lian frowned. The sight reminded him of his naive approach back then. Even as a mortal, he knew that if Lang Chun were to die, his life tablet gu would shatter and that would leave a clue to his death.

So the plan he came up with was to keep Lang Chun alive as a captive.

He wanted to turn him into a mushroomman! If he was a variant human he could forget about any inheritance even if they found him. The clan would even help to conceal this shameful fact or directly get rid of him!

At least this is what he figured as a mortal.

But how could a mortal gu master change the race of another gu master just like that? This idea was destined for failure. The result was the monstrosity that lay before Bao Xu Lian's feet right now.

He felt disgusted.

But even after he ascended to rank six and became an immortal he could not resolve this problem. The reason was simple.

Every immortal was forced to take the immortal oath when they ascend, a binding agreement that forbids them to harm their clansman among other things.

So the status quo remained as Lang Chun was imprisoned in the Ling Zhi cave.

This was the main reason that Bao Xu Lian was stationed in this area, he wanted to keep an eye on the Ling Zhi cave.

The mushromman felt anxious as he stood beside the silent Bao Xu Lian. He tried easing the tense atmosphere.

"This is it master. The place where-"

He could not finish his sentence as Bao Xu Lian flicked his finger and ended him on the spot.

"So noisy, I'm thinking."

"How will I resolve this conundrum? His life tablet gu has shattered." - He walked back and forth as he racked his brain.

"How much can father deduce?" - He wondered.

He knew that he did not have much time so whatever he came up with he had to act fast.

"I should assume the worst and hope for the best." - He urged himself.

Next, he used a killer move and fungi started to grow rapidly in the vicinity. They quickly consumed both of the bodies before him.

"The hard evidence is disposed of. But my identity could still be exposed."

"Is contacting Wen clan my only option now?"

"No, only father knows of this because this is a family matter. If it gets exposed it will also hurt his reputation as the supreme elder of the clan."

"Also, the clan's development plan is still the main focus currently, so maybe I can use this to gain some time?" - An idea hatched in his mind.

This was a gamble. If Bao Lang Chao couldn't deduce that he was the culprit then his decision to trigger the mortal calamity could be chalked up to his eagerness to contribute to the clan. On the other hand, if he was exposed, this short brief of reputation would be his only shield in the clan.

Bao Lang Chao couldn't deal with him directly, but if his crimes were exposed to the clan that would be another matter.

"Yes, I must trigger the mortal calamity in advance and show good results."

* * * * *