Chapter 5: Breaking the Manor

Gathered together in one place, the assembled heroes were in high spirits. Though most of them cultivated in different corners of Jing and Xiang and rarely met face-to-face, they were all rogue cultivators, and that alone gave them a natural sense of kinship. They caught up on recent events and exchanged news and rumors; it was a lively scene. Liu Xiaolou, unfamiliar with most, kept quiet. Still young, he didn’t want to butt in. He simply listened. This was his first time at a Hero’s Gathering, and it truly opened his eyes. The strange and wild cultivation stories he overheard were nothing short of thrilling. After some time, the topic shifted, and the crowd began airing their grievances about the Zhang clan of Jinping Mountain. Rogue cultivators had long been bullied by the so-called righteous sects, and many here had personal bones to pick with the Zhangs. Some had their spirit stones confiscated after a lucky win, others were forced to return spirit materials they’d obtained through clever schemes, and still others had their hard-won spirit pills stolen back by force under the guise of "justice."It was as if the Zhang Clan refused to let rogue cultivators survive. Anger and indignation swept through the crowd. Liu Xiaolou, listening, felt the same way.  By the time dawn approached, all eyes turned toward the Zhang Clan’s manor in the valley, awaiting Boss Wang’s command. Most of the manor’s lights had dimmed, but the courtyard at the center still glowed brightly. It was the ancestral hall of Zhang Xianbai, once a prominent cultivator in southern Xiang. Everything appeared normal. Clearly, the Zhang clan had no inkling of the storm about to hit. After a short while, a sheet adorned with twin streamers suddenly soared up through the valley and It burst into flames against the night sky with a loud whoomph, lighting up the surrounding mountains in a brilliant flash. The Hero’s Post! Dai Shenggao stood tall and shouted, "Gentlemen, follow me into the stronghold!" With that, he sprang into the air and leapt off the cliff. The gathered men charged after him, each using their own methods. Some swinging down vines, others leaping from rock to rock. They quickly dropped to the bottom of the cliff. Liu Xiaolou followed as well, gripping the vine he’d prepared in advance. The cliff was over ten zhang tall, but he reached the bottom in no time. Right now, his mind was clear, focused entirely on one thing: the Zhang Clan Manor ahead. How much he could take, all depends on him. From all directions in the surrounding forest, more than a hundred figures burst out at once, racing toward the Zhang manor in the valley below. Some were swift and nimble, some moved like thunder, others glided like startled birds, and a few charged like tigers coming down the mountain. One Hero's Post had drawn together half the warriors of western and southern Xiang. As he ran, Liu Xiaolou pulled a black scarf from his robe and wrapped it around his face, then lowered his bamboo hat. With a burst of strength, he quickened his pace. But no matter how fast he moved, he was still a young man who had just left his master’s tutelage. He was no match for the seasoned fighters of Wulong Mountain. These veterans were masked too, some with straw hats, others with soft caps, even their topknots hidden; they were racing madly toward the manor like men possessed. They had gone hungry in these mountains for too long. If they didn’t take their chance now, when would they? Such a disturbance didn’t go unnoticed. Inside the manor, the Zhang Clan was already on alert. Though Zhang Xianbai had passed, the clan still had no shortage of skilled cultivators. If it weren’t for Boss Wang gathering warriors from all sides with the Hero’s Post, few would have dared to tug the tiger’s whiskers. A gong rang out from within the manor. A shout followed: “Who do these petty thieves think they are? Do you have a death wish?” Suddenly, vines began bursting out from the ground all around the manor walls. Thick green tendrils twisted around each other and climbed fast, forming a wall of living plants.  One foot, three feet, five feet tall and rising. At the same time, some vines bloomed and bore fruit, which then exploded, launching sharp seed-arrows through the air like meteors. The manor had activated its defensive formation; it was a formation that drained a lot of energy but delivered effective protection. They had to stop it from fully forming. If not, breaking through later would be many times harder. Charging in front, Dai Shenggao struck first. Beams of light shot from his hands, lighting up small fires along the growing vine wall. It helped a little, but not much. The others followed with shields, hammers, sabers, and axes, trying to block the incoming barrage of arrows. But the arrows fired by the formation were too powerful; some even burst into meteoric flames. Defensive techniques shattered on impact, barely doing any real good. Liu Xiaolou, still low in cultivation, had fallen to the rear. He drew his sect’s Three-Mystery Sword and twirled it overhead in a dazzling whirl of blade patterns. It was more for reassurance than real defense. Fortunately, arrows were still few and far between, and with so many fighters ahead of him, none were aimed his way. If one of those explosive arrows had hit him, there’d be no surviving it. Meanwhile, cultivators from Mengdong River, Pai Sect, Yunshan Gang, and even local champions from southern Xiang surged in from all directions. Flames of every color bloomed along the vine-wall. Magical items whirling and weaving through the night sky. Cries rang out in waves: “Brothers, charge!” “Get inside and take what you can!” “Jinping Manor is the wealthiest place in southern Xiang. Its storerooms are stacked with hundreds of spirit stones…” “And they’ve got Foundation Establishment pills from the Dongyang Sect!” “For real?” “Whoever grabs it first, it’s theirs. Boss Wang isn’t taking a cut...” “Damn formation…” “Ahh, I’m hit! Somebody help me up!” “Bastard! You hit me, damn it...” “I’m with the Sect of Disciples....” “Shut up, wanker! Stop hollering!” The Pai Sect had numbers on their side, with plenty of skilled fighters among them too. Two peak-tier cultivators at the tenth level of Qi Refinement were leading the charge. They were the first to reach the vine wall from the eastern side, but the wall had already grown over ten feet high. When they tried to leap over it, they were shot down midair by the increasingly dense volley of arrows. Screams and wails echoed through the night. Suddenly, a blinding radiance lit up the entire valley. So bright it turned night into day. Liu Xiaolou flinched and shut his eyes on instinct, slowing his pace. A few heartbeats later, a thunderous boom hit his ears, shaking him so hard he nearly fall. It took another moment for things to settle down. When he opened his eyes again, the world was pitch black. Blacker than before. He couldn’t see a thing, not even his own hand. But the shouting only grew more chaotic. “The formation’s down! The formation’s broken!” “Boss Wang’s got some serious skills...” “Kill! The Zhangs hoarded Jinping Mountain and left the rest of us to starve. We're taking back what’s ours...” “Rush the ancestral hall! Open the coffins and grab the burial treasures....” “You think coffins are easy to open, wanker? Go for the main vault.” “Shut it. You’re the real wanker here....” “Where’s the vault? Who knows where the vault is?!” “Quit yelling and follow me...” “Tough resistance here. Need backup now!” The ones who rushed in first faced the most danger, but they also stood to gain the most. Hanging back was safer, but they might leave empty-handed. Risk and reward, everyone had to make their own call. Liu Xiaolou was still dazed from the blast that broke the formation. By the time he came to his senses, it was too late to choose. He was already in the rear. Still, he gritted his teeth and followed the noise into the manor. Fires had broken out inside. By their glow, Liu Xiaolou found the breach: a gap nearly twenty feet wide. On both sides, the ruined vine wall was still squirming, trying to heal itself. But a coating of violet-white flames clung to the opening, burning away any new growth as soon as it appeared. Such techniques were beyond Liu Xiaolou’s comprehension. Only Boss Wang could have pulled off something this destructive. And this was the very reason he’d dared to widely send out the Hero’s Post in the first place. Flames lit up the entire manor. Shadows darted across the courtyards. Magical items clashed, spells blasted through the air, buildings collapsed. Noises came from every direction, loud enough to make your head spin.