The Immortal Clan begins with deductive intelligence.

Inside the main hall.

Li Shan was pacing back and forth in the hall with his hands behind his back, his cloth shoes rubbing against the blue brick floor, making a soft rustling sound.

His face was tense, with deep nasolabial folds, revealing an undisguised anxiety.

Upon seeing Xu Changqing enter, Li Shan paused, rushed forward, and disregarded all formalities, lowering his voice and speaking urgently.

"Chief Xu, this time it seems the world is truly about to change."

Xu Changqing's expression remained unchanged. He walked straight to the head seat and sat down. Without asking any questions, he picked up the teapot on the table, poured himself a cup of the already cold leftover tea, and drank it all in one gulp.

"Elder Li, please calm down."

Xu Changqing put down his teacup, the porcelain cup clinking against the table with a crisp sound.

"What important matter could have caused Elder Li to lose his composure like this?"

Seeing Xu Changqing's calm demeanor, Li Shan's burning anxiety inexplicably subsided somewhat.

He gave a wry smile, sat down in the guest seat, reached into his pocket and took out a neatly folded letter, which he then pushed in front of Xu Changqing.

"This is my good-for-nothing nephew. He was just sent out from the sect through someone."

Xu Changqing did not reach out to take it, but lowered his eyes and glanced at the envelope.

The envelope was not sealed, indicating that it had been opened and read several times.

"As you know, my nephew may not have much talent, but he's clever and willing to spend money to bribe his way in, so he managed to get a job as a runner in the 'General Affairs Hall'."

Li Shan leaned forward and spoke softly.

"A few days ago, he was delivering medicine to an inner sect senior brother who had just been withdrawn from the Demon-Slaying Dike when he overheard a few things he shouldn't have heard."

Xu Changqing looked up: "Oh?"

"miserable."

Li Shan uttered a single word, his facial muscles twitching slightly.

"The battle on the Demon-Slaying Dike is far more dangerous than what's being said in the market."

"I heard that several powerful demons appeared over there and managed to break a corner of the dam. This battle resulted in heavy losses, including the deaths of two Foundation Establishment stage deacons."

Xu Changqing's heart stirred slightly as he recalled what he had seen in the market earlier that day.

Medicine prices skyrocketed, rogue cultivators returned to their roots, and some even began robbing people in broad daylight.

So that's where the root of the problem lies.

If the front lines suffer a defeat, the rear will naturally fall into disarray.

"With the war escalating, the sect will naturally mobilize its own forces. What does it have to do with us, their affiliated families?"

Xu Changqing gently stroked the armrest with his fingers, his tone calm, trying to get more information out of Li Shan.

"If it were merely a matter of dispatching sect disciples, why would I be so alarmed?"

Li Shan took a deep breath, a hint of fear flashing in his eyes.

"That senior brother said that the sect has decided that due to the heavy casualties among the disciples, in order to stabilize the defense line and transport spiritual materials to repair the dikes, the elders' council plans to issue a 'conscription order'."

"A conscription order?"

"Exactly."

Li Shan nodded emphatically, his voice slightly hoarse.

"All affiliated families under the jurisdiction of the Qinghe Sword Sect must provide cultivators at the mid-stage of Qi Refining or above, either to go to the front line to assist in defense or to be responsible for escorting supplies."

"The decree will be issued in two to three months at the shortest."

Conscription order.

Normally, families pay annual tribute to the sect in exchange for protection.

But when the war reaches a critical juncture, the family becomes the sect's shield.

The so-called "defense assistance" is really just filling in the gaps, and the so-called "escorting supplies" is just manual labor.

If it were a Foundation Establishment clan like the Zhang family, they might be able to use their connections to secure a more stable job, or pay some spirit stones to offset the quota.

But for small, insignificant families like the Xu and Li families, the only option was to produce talented people.

Besides himself, the only other members of the Xu family above the mid-stage of Qi Refining are Xu Dayou and the old lady who has been in seclusion for many years.

The old lady was weak and her blood was failing; going there would only be sending her to her death.

Although Xu Dayou has reached the fifth level of Qi Refining, he is already old and has little experience in combat. If he were to actually go to the battlefield, he probably wouldn't be able to withstand even a wave of demons.

As for himself...

Although the Palm Thunder technique is complete, it is not sustainable. If he were to be conscripted to the front lines and face endless monsters, this technique would likely be insufficient to protect himself.

"Elder Li, is this news accurate?"

Xu Changqing, however, did not panic as Li Shan had predicted.

He gently blew away the foam on the surface of the tea, took a sip, and found it slightly astringent at first, but with a long-lasting sweet aftertaste.

For an ordinary family, this would indeed be a catastrophe.

On the battlefield, life and death are in the hands of fate, and once the family lineage is broken, it is truly gone.

But for him, this wasn't necessarily a dead end.

Farming and raising fish on Cangwu Island is peaceful, but the opportunities one can encounter are ultimately limited. At best, one might find some lost treasures or undiscovered spiritual plants.

The front lines are both a meat grinder and a treasure trove.

Cultivators have perished, storage bags are unclaimed, demonic beasts roam freely, and essence blood and demon cores are scattered everywhere.

If they survive, the harvest from this trip will be enough to compensate for decades of hard work by their family.

Moreover, now that he possesses the Heavenly Mirror, his greatest skill lies in seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune, and profiting from chaos amidst the flames.

"Absolutely true! Although my nephew is a disappointment, he would never speak carelessly about something as important as his life and death!"

Li Shan was so anxious that he kept slapping his thigh.

"Brother Xu, why aren't you worried at all? Our two families have only just started to enjoy a few good days. If he's conscripted, who will cultivate the spiritual fields? And if he doesn't come back..."

"What's the use of being in a hurry?"

Xu Changqing interrupted his rambling and stared intently at him.

"Elder Li, do you think we can run away?"

Li Shan was speechless.

run?

Where are you going?

Although the Nanzhu Great Swamp is vast, all land under heaven belongs to the king. The Qinghe Sword Sect governs the vast waters. If anyone disobeys orders, it is considered treason and will result in the execution of their entire family by the Law Enforcement Hall.

If the entire clan were to migrate, leaving this land of spiritual veins to become rootless rogue cultivators, they would likely die even faster in the depths of this great swamp teeming with demonic beasts.

"So...so we're just going to wait here?"

Li Shan looked dejected, and his once straight back was now hunched over.

"Of course we can't just wait around."

Xu Changqing stood up, walked to the entrance of the hall, and looked at the sky outside, which was gradually darkening.

"Since we can't avoid it, we have no choice but to bite the bullet and face it."

"Two or three months is a short time, but it's enough to make some preparations."

Li Shan opened his mouth, but in the end he could only sigh and nod heavily.

"So be it, so be it. Whether you stick your neck out or not, you'll get stabbed anyway."

He walked to the door, then stopped and looked back at Xu Changqing.

"Clan Chief Xu, if it really comes to that... our two families will have to..."

"Elder Li, rest assured."

Xu Changqing nodded slightly.

"As long as our two families remain on the edge of this great marshland, we will be as close as lips and teeth."

After seeing Li Shan off, Xu Da closed the courtyard gate and approached Xu Changqing with a worried expression.

"Chieftain, are we really going... to the front lines?"

The furthest Xu Dayou had ever been in his life was Qinghe Market. He had never even seen what the Demon-Slaying Embankment looked like. He had only heard that it was a meat grinder, and that if one out of ten people who went there came back, they would be considered lucky.

"To refuse would be to defy the imperial decree, a responsibility the Xu family cannot bear."

Xu Changqing patted the old man on the shoulder and comforted him:

"Don't worry, since it's a conscription, they won't send us to our deaths."