Translator: Cinder Translations
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Lei Weiyue did not participate in Zhou Siyi's capture.
She only learned about the Lei family's new Mistress of the House by accident, overhearing a clan member mention it casually.
Moreover, Lei Jun had kept his marriage very low-key, with only a few clan members aware of it.
Before this, she had always believed that Zhou Siyi lived in the main residence of the house, Lei Jun's cave dwelling.
It was only after Zhou Siyi was captured by Song Wen that she realized that Zhou Siyi, like the scattered cultivators, had been brought to the Lei family by force.
Lei Weiyue did not know the Lei family's reason for capturing scattered cultivators; she only followed orders, but she did know where these cultivators were being held.
After all, a large portion of these scattered cultivators had been captured by her own team.
These cultivators were imprisoned in a dungeon built beneath a mountain.
As a result, Lei Weiyue speculated that Zhou Siyi was also being held in the dungeon.
However, after entering the Lei family residence, she did not immediately head to the dungeon but instead went to the ancestral hall where the soul lamps were kept.
When parting ways with Song Wen, he had already taken the Soul Concealment Jade from her.
Lei Weiyue realized that in order to avoid being consumed from the inside by the Shadow Gu, she had to rescue Zhou Siyi.
This also meant that she had to betray the Lei family.
To avoid being hunted down by the Lei family, she had to steal her own soul lamp.
Otherwise, whether she died at Song Wen's hands or at the Lei family's, it would all be the same. She might as well die by Song Wen's hands, without betraying the Lei family, and perhaps one day, the Lei family might seek revenge for her.
She decided to first go to the ancestral hall to retrieve her soul lamp and then rescue Zhou Siyi.
Ever since entering the Lei family residence, Lei Weiyue had been uneasy, fearing that any clan member might notice her and question why she was here.
After all, she was a captive, and should have been far away at Qingcang Mountain, not in the Lei family residence.
Although Lei Weiyue had been very cautious, carefully choosing secluded paths, she still encountered a few younger clan members along the way.
These juniors greeted her respectfully and left without raising any suspicions.
This gave Lei Weiyue a deep sense of relief and renewed hope for the success of her plan.
In order to keep the secret of the ancestor's extended life from leaking, Lei Jun had kept Lei Weiyue's capture confidential. As a result, aside from Lei Yue, Lei Jun, Lei Da, Lei Hu, and Lei He, no other Lei family members knew she had been captured.
After taking a long detour, Lei Weiyue finally arrived at the Lei family ancestral hall.
The ancestral hall was a stone building constructed against the mountain, located in a remote area, rarely visited on ordinary days.
The elder in charge of guarding the ancestral hall was named Lei Yuanzhong, a cultivator at the early stage of Golden Core. Due to his limited lifespan, he had been assigned to this idle position.
Although Lei Yuanzhong's cultivation was not as high as Lei Weiyue's, his seniority in the family was much higher.
When he saw Lei Weiyue enter the hall, he greeted her with a smile.
"Weiyue, what brings you to the ancestral hall today?"
Lei Yuanzhong's reaction eased the anxiety Lei Weiyue had been feeling.
"Greetings, Uncle Lei." Lei Weiyue smiled and greeted him. "I came today to check on my soul lamp."
"Check the soul lamp? What's there to check?" Lei Yuanzhong asked, confused. "Why is everyone coming to check their soul lamps recently?"
"Has anyone else come to check their soul lamps?" Lei Weiyue asked.
"Three days ago, the family head sent someone to take your soul lamp, along with Lei Da's and Lei Hu's. They were returned later," Lei Yuanzhong replied.
"Oh, so that's what the clan elder meant." Lei Weiyue half-truthfully said, "Three days ago, Lei Da, Lei Hu, and I went out to capture a suspect. We were trapped in a dangerous place, but the family head used the soul lamp to locate us and rescue us."
Lei Yuanzhong, not knowing the full details, did not suspect anything and nodded in agreement.
"Since you three are safe now, why do you still need to check your soul lamp?" he asked.
Lei Weiyue explained, "The family head used my soul lamp many times for the soul-searching technique. He was concerned that the spiritual aura in the lamp might have been damaged, so he asked me to check it. If the soul lamp is damaged, I need to leave a new one."
Lei Yuanzhong responded, "I see. But you don't need to check it. When the soul lamp was returned, I already inspected it, and everything is fine."
Lei Weiyue said, "I'm still troubled, Uncle Lei. Could you please have someone bring the soul lamp to me? Since I'm already here, I would feel more at ease checking it with my own eyes."
"Alright."
Lei Yuanzhong agreed to Lei Weiyue's request and turned to a Qi Condensation stage clan member standing nearby, giving an instruction.
The man accepted the order and turned to enter the side hall on the left of the ancestral hall.
Not long after, the Qi Condensation stage cultivator emerged holding a soul lamp.
Lei Yuanzhong took the soul lamp from him and, after scanning it briefly, spoke to Lei Weiyue.
"Weiyue, there's no problem with the soul lamp."
Lei Weiyue took two steps forward, approaching Lei Yuanzhong.
She extended her right hand and spoke.
"Let me take a look."
Lei Yuanzhong, who trusted Lei Weiyue completely, casually handed the soul lamp over to her extended hand.
Suddenly, Lei Weiyue's expression turned cold and fierce. Her palm quickly flipped, slamming into Lei Yuanzhong's chest from a close distance.
The strike was fast, ruthless, and vicious.
Lei Yuanzhong was utterly stunned. He had no time to react and was struck in the chest by her palm.
He was sent flying, as though struck by lightning, crashing into the wall behind him before finally stopping, collapsing to the ground.
Blood mixed with pieces of internal organs spilled from his mouth.
He looked up at Lei Weiyue, confusion and anger in his eyes. "You... why did you do this?"
Lei Weiyue ignored him. Power surged from her body.
Her energy swept around the ancestral hall, causing over a dozen guards to collapse to the ground.
Then, this power surged towards Lei Yuanzhong.
Lei Yuanzhong felt a sharp pain in his head before losing consciousness.
Lei Weiyue did not kill anyone; everyone simply fainted.
She waved her hand, collecting the soul lamp from the ground and into her grasp.
Lei Weiyue then released more of her power, transporting the unconscious people in the hall to an empty room in the side hall.
Afterward, she turned and left the ancestral hall.
"Bang!"
A soft sound followed by the stone door of the ancestral hall slamming shut behind her.
With the soul lamp in hand, Lei Weiyue felt invigorated. She searched for a secluded path and made her way to the entrance of the dungeon.
The entrance of the dungeon was located at the foot of a large mountain, a cavern with an arch-shaped opening.
The entrance was protected by a formation.
There were twenty guards stationed in front of the cave, and the leader was a male cultivator at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.
Lei Weiyue exhaled a breath of foul air, her face expressionless as she walked toward the entrance of the dungeon.
After the experience at the ancestral hall, Lei Weiyue was more confident. The entire Lei family barely knew that she had been captured by Song Wen.
Over the past year, she had often sent captured scattered cultivators to the dungeon and had become quite familiar with the guards.
The leading male cultivator saw Lei Weiyue arriving and greeted her with a smile.
"Senior Weiyue, the mission to capture scattered cultivators has been halted. What brings you to the dungeon today?"
"I'm here on the family head's orders to check on the status of those scattered cultivators," Lei Weiyue lied without changing her expression.
(End of the Chapter)
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