I Stayed At Home For A Century, When I Emerged I Was Invincible Chapter 4 - Cultist Spies
Previously on I Stayed At Home For A Century, When I Emerged I Was Invincible...
Mealtime had yet to arrive. Servants brought meals on a strict schedule, always showing up in pairs precisely when the hour struck.
The butler had handpicked these servants himself, with no staff changes unless some extraordinary circumstance arose.
Through his will perception, Chu Xuan spotted that today's food bearer was a complete stranger.
Chu Xuan's will perception picked up something amiss about this servant.
Chu Xuan's brow furrowed lightly. Was someone from the Chu family scheming against him?
No motive made sense for that.
Chu Tianming showed him no favor among the Chu family's direct descendants, and none of his uncles had ever plotted against him up to now.
His fellow juniors had long since seen him booted from the ancestral residence and pushed to the sidelines.
Hence, nobody had any cause to go after him.
Even as a mighty aristocratic clan, the Chu family kept direct lineage rivalries from getting too vicious.
Chu Xuan watched the servant enter and begin arranging dishes on the table.
His will swept over the food, uncovering a handful of tiny insect eggs concealed within.
Without his recent breakthrough into the Profound Realm, he never would have spotted those eggs blended into the meal.
The eggs of the poisonous gu?
His will verified they were simply eggs from an ordinary poisonous gu—posing zero danger to a Profound Realm expert like Chu Xuan.
The culprit aimed not to slay him, but to bend him to their will!
“Thirteenth Young Master, it’s time to eat.”
Once the food was set out, the servant bowed his head and stepped back to wait.
Chu Xuan stayed lounging on his recliner. He eyed the servant and remarked, “This young master is very curious about something. Who asked you to come today?”
“Hmm?”
The servant froze in shock, lifting his gaze to Chu Xuan. “It was the order of the head butler.”
The head butler had escorted Chu Xuan to this place. As Chu Tianming’s trusted aide, he also managed the Chu family ancestral residence.
Chu Xuan resolved to test the Bewitching Technique on the servant. Someone barely at the Qi gathering stage of the Mortal Realm stood no chance against its dominating power.
Immediately, Chu Xuan focused his spiritual will and unleashed the Bewitching Technique. In moments, an unseen ripple surged into the servant’s mind.
Within a single instant, all resistance vanished from the servant as his eyes turned vacant.
“Tell me, who are you? Who asked you to come here?”
A chilling glint sparked in Chu Xuan’s eyes. Whoever commanded this servant, any foe daring to strike at him would face merciless retribution.
Chu Xuan lacked the strength for now and thus had to hold back. Yet, the moment he grew powerful enough, he’d strike down the offender without delay!
“I’m a cultist. No one asked me to come here. I just saw an opportunity to control you and gain the favor of the heretic elders. That is why I came here...”
The cultist sect stirred the wildest unrest in the Qin Kingdom, backed entirely by the Evil Imperial Court!
The Evil Imperial Court stood as a bizarre power in the southern region. Within its borders, all pursued evil arts, and scant laws restrained its denizens.
Daily, evil cultivators clashed and devoured one another there, all in ruthless bids for greater might.
Though the Evil Imperial Court boasted the fewest people among neighbors, its strength loomed immense, forever coveting surroundings like a hungry beast.
This held especially true under the iron grip of the Evil King’s lineage. The sovereign’s power defied comprehension—essential to dominating the region’s vile cultivators.
Evil cults infested the eight southern region nations. Some sprang from Evil Imperial Court infiltrators, others from heretics it secretly nurtured in each land.
Cultists lurked in shadows, masters of concealment and assassination, forming each kingdom’s direst hidden peril.
Cultists shunned the 'saint' label flaunted by some groups. They embraced their title as cultists plainly.
Cults gathered those wielding forbidden techniques. Fully aware of their wickedness, they scorned any pretense of sanctity.
Shocked to learn the servant was a cultist, Chu Xuan reeled. Had a cult set its sights on him?
No—for now, just this lone cultist targeted him.
A cultist spy had wormed into the Chu family!
Was a cult assault on the Chu family brewing?
Should the Chu family confront only a mere cult, their power would amply suffice to crush it.
Chu Xuan's true concern lay in the possibility that the Evil Imperial Court was zeroing in on the Chu family—or perhaps the whole Qin Kingdom—poised to unleash a devastating assault.
At this juncture, he absolutely could not tolerate any harm coming to the Chu family. Without their safety, how could he remain secluded at home, pushing his strength ever higher?
He had no clue how many evil cult infiltrators had wormed their way into the Chu family. Thus, he needed to alert his thrifty grandfather, Chu Tianming, to launch a full-scale purge and root out every lurking spy!
Once the questioning wrapped up, Chu Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. This scheme had been cooked up solely by this evil cult disciple acting on his own.
He had spotted a chance to seize control over Chu Xuan, a prized direct descendant of the Chu family, aiming to puppet him secretly and earn lavish praise from the cult's elders.
Yet, Chu Xuan realized that if this lone cultist saw an opening to dominate a Chu family direct bloodline, others would surely sense it too.
Should dark realm cultists truly be skulking within the Chu family ranks, it spelled big trouble if they all turned their sights on him.
To ensure his own peace and security, he must compel the Chu family to scour for and eliminate those hidden spies.
He needed to warn his thrifty grandfather, Chu Tianming.
But how exactly could he do that?
Chu Xuan refused to reveal his real power. He had zero intention of venturing even a single step beyond his courtyard. Besides, masking his strength was key to dodging enemy scrutiny.
Until his power peaked, self-preservation and survival were paramount!
As these thoughts churned, Chu Xuan's feelings surged, jolting the Bewitching Technique. Being his debut use of it, he failed to gauge his power precisely, accidentally shattering a fragment of the servant's will.
This left Chu Xuan unable to simply pass the spy to Chu Tianming right now. Doing so would expose that chunk of the spy's will had been obliterated.
Questions about Chu Xuan's prowess would arise, unmasking his hidden might. His grandfather might even suspect ulterior motives for concealing it.
A portion of the spy's spiritual will lay in ruins—an injury far too grave for someone barely at the qi-gathering stage. It could leave him a blithering idiot.
Even short of full idiocy, his thoughts would whirl in disarray, emotions spiraling wildly out of check.
To keep the severe damage to the spy's will under wraps, Chu Xuan's only choice was to slay him.
Once dead, no one could detect the prior devastation to his will.
After all, stuck at the Mortal Realm, his will would vanish utterly upon death, leaving no traces.
After Chu Xuan's slipup wrecked part of the spy's will, the man's face twisted grotesquely, as if plunged into utter mental turmoil.
Soon enough, the two food-bearing servants showed up as scheduled.
Chu Xuan swiftly freed the cultist spy and staged a fierce clash with him.
The cult spy unleashed the might of a fresh qi-gathering stage entrant, while Chu Xuan mirrored it exactly in kind.
Furthermore, he portrayed a recent breakthrough, his power slightly shy of the spy's, forcing him into desperate, flailing defense. Only this fit his infamous persona.
He was the utter disgrace of the direct lineage!
“Such impudence! How dare you attack the Thirteenth Young Master?!”
The food-delivering servant caught the clash's racket and dashed in. Spotting Chu Xuan scrambling pitifully from blows, shock gripped him.
No matter Chu Xuan's sidelined status, he remained direct Chu family blood. Servants like them dared not cross him.
For a servant to strike at direct lineage—that was a capital offense!
“A cultist?”
Seeing the servant wield a sinister evil technique, he reeled in horror.