Vast Family Business

Yan Nu thrust his long spear straight forward, stabbing right into Mr. One-Eye.

However, the spearhead passed right through, feeling as though it had only pierced the air.

Even when Yan Nu channeled his true qi, he could only unleash force, and that could not harm a plague ghost.

Mr. One-Eye glanced at Yan Nu, then saw the bronze contract in Yan Nu's hand, and let out a cold snort.

"This is a brute, let's go." Mr. One-Eye said, and along with the four monsters, he soared into the air, passing straight through the wall and drifting out of the house.

Yan Nu hurriedly chased out of the house, but Mr. One-Eye and his associates had already flown far away, nowhere to be found.

"Dammit!"

Yan Nu couldn't find a trace of that plague ghost anywhere, so with no other choice, he had to return to the room.

The moment he stepped through the door, he found Shen Leling also looking at him with a speechless expression.

He asked with incomprehension, "Why didn't you guys stop him? That ghost was about to suck a person to death."

"Plague ghosts act in accordance with the Heavenly Dao. What just happened is just like people eating a meal—it is part of Heavenly Principle. If cultivators harm him, they will suffer heavenly punishment," Feng Junyou spread his hands and said.

Shen Leling added, "You haven't contracted the plague, so he won't touch you. Plague ghosts only feed on people who have contracted the illness."

Yan Nu looked at the long spear in his hand: "But I can't touch him either."

Feng Junyou waved his hand: "Dealing with a plague ghost is very simple. Look, you're holding a bronze contract, and he got scared away, terrified that you're a brute who would ignore heavenly punishment and destroy him..."

"Actually, ordinary people wanting to avoid being fed on by plague ghosts only need to offer regular incense and faith."

"Worship the plague god and plague ghosts properly, then eat and drink your fill, and general plagues are still quite easy to endure. If you can't endure it, you just see a doctor and take medicine."

"At the end of the day, having money means no problem."

"The problem is that I don't have money." Yan Nu scratched the bridge of his nose and looked outside at the plague-stricken starving refugees.

Plagues were rampant across the entire city, yet the poor could only endure. Even if they survived it, because they had never offered incense and faith, they would suffer predation by some plague ghost or another.

As he spoke, his gaze swept into the distance, a hundred zhang away, across a stretch of luxurious mansions.

One of those buildings was tall and magnificent, occupying vast grounds with an imposing style. There was also a terrace piercing the Han dynasty skies, surrounded by flowing streams, pure and elegant.

Yan Nu asked, "Which household is the Zhang family?"

"They are all the Zhang family. Their clan members are numerous, and with many disciples, the place they live in naturally has to be large," Feng Junyou said.

Yan Nu said eagerly, "The Zhang family should be very wealthy, right?"

Shen Leling rolled her eyes: "Nonsense! You've been poor for too long, you don't know what the rich and noble are like..."

As she spoke, she looked towards Huang Banyun: "You're also a scholar, right?"

Huang Banyun pressed his lips together and said, "Yes... Banyun's family background is humble, belonging to a Ninth-Rank Humble Family."

"How many mu of farmland does your family have?" Shen Leling asked again.

Huang Banyun answered honestly, "A thousand mu of lean fields."

"How much?" Yan Nu looked over in shock.

When he and Grandpa were farming in Tea Mountain Fort, they only had ten mu of fields, and furthermore the fields belonged to the Zhang family, requiring them to pay heavy rent.

After Grandpa left, Yan Nu didn't even have fields to farm, spending his days doing menial labor like drawing water, splitting firewood, forging iron, and repairing houses.

Huang Banyun actually managed a thousand mu of fields and called his family background poor?

"Aren't you from a humble family?" Yan Nu re-examined Huang Banyun; he didn't look like a rich person at all.

Huang Banyun felt somewhat ashamed: "This humble one is indeed from a humble family."

Shen Leling smiled and said, "Humble families still have 'gates' after all. The lowest of the low social status is still a 'status' nonetheless."

"Under his name, he has boundenly also taken in some tenant farmers to cultivate the land... But his family is indeed doing poorly to only have a thousand mu."

An aura of someone who had never seen the world enveloped Yan Nu: "Is a thousand mu still not good?"

Shen Leling immediately explained, "The imperial court selects officials according to the nine ranks. Depending on their different ranks, scholars can obtain land grants."

"Not to mention the higher ones, among them the ninth rank alone grants a thousand mu of fields... Note that this is just land bestowed by the court, and moreover it belongs to a single person."

"The various great noble families themselves possess a great deal of fertile land. If talent continuously emerges within the clan, coupled with ceaseless land annexation, the farmland under their name increases with each passing day."

Huang Banyun cupped his fists and said, "Brother Jiang, I truly have had a humble family background since childhood, only because my father frequently provided relief to the village and collected very little rent. Later on, he killed a local magnate who oppressed the people and became a fugitive of the jianghu, and the imperial court reclaimed the thousand mu under his name."

"From the age of ten, I could only rely on five hundred mulberry trees and twenty mu of fish ponds passed down by my ancestors to survive."

"This thousand mu of lean fields now is still something newly bestowed upon me by the imperial court after I grew up and entered official service for the state."

Mulberry trees on one side and fish ponds on the other—Yan Nu was completely dazed listening to it.

Hearing about someone else's humble family background made Yan Nu realize just how modest Grandpa's wish for ten mu of fertile land, peace, joy, self-sufficiency, and contentment really was.

In the end, Yan Nu was even more astonished to hear: "You're even an official?"

Huang Banyun nodded: "Yes, Pingyuan County Scribe, responsible for transmitting documents between the prefect and various counties, probably managing a dozen or so minor clerks."

"Since you're an official, how did you run over to eliminate demons?" Yan Nu was completely bewildered.

Huang Banyun said with a trace of bashfulness: "Uh... Although I am an official, I studied martial arts day and night, only wishing to avenge my father. Two years ago I originally intended to resign from office."

"However, when the prefect learned of the situation, he spoke of filial piety as the priority, letting me leave while keeping my official post on leave, with salary and provisions paid as usual, and no need to go to work."

Yan Nu found it hard to believe, his cognition suffering a huge shock.

Even a ninth-rank scholar like Huang Banyun was like this, so what about the so-called declining Zhang family?

He lowered his head again to look outside the window, at the many sickly, starving refugees, feeling terrible all over.

"Just how much money does the Zhang family have?" His eyes turned slightly red.

Feng Junyou thought about it: "Sorry, I really don't know. Anyway, fifty years ago, my family had 150,000 mu of fertile land and over a hundred shops. Our two family backgrounds should be about the same, right?"

"Too little..." Shen Leling shook her head hurriedly: "The Zhang family has annexed many villages over the years. Tea Mountain Fort alone has 50,000 mu of fertile land and 800 mu of mulberry groves, and the Zhang family has eight such manorial fortified manors."

"That doesn't even count their properties inside the city... Coupled with the Migration of the Elite to the South by first-rate noble clans, leaving behind a void... Although the Zhang family has declined in the official arena, their wealth has grown immensely."

"Hmm, when I was masquerading as Instructor Ma, I once heard Zhang Xu say that the Zhang family has hoarded enough food inside the city to hold out for three years without coming out, along with countless medicinal materials, livestock, weapons, and armor."

"These are just what I know of; exactly how much more there is, I don't know."

"Anyway, noble families are all immensely wealthy. No matter how much the Zhang family has declined, they still have five hundred years of family business."

Yan Nu slammed his long spear against the ground: "We'll scatter this five hundred years of family business!"

At noon, Huang Banyun and Yan Nu first arrived at the East City Training Ground.

Soldiers were being recruited here. Some people knew their martial arts were crude and honestly lined up in a place to report for duty.

There were also some wandering knights gathered under a platform, their eyes fixed tightly on the stage.

A youth in armor stood tall upon the platform, blood dripping from his double fists.

His eyes were half-open and half-closed, as if he were dozing off.

Martial artists continuously leaped onto the stage, throwing sabers, spears, swords, and halberds at him, but not a single one could withstand a single punch.

Some went limp on the spot, unable to stand, and were carried off by soldiers. Others were struck by a surge of unyielding force and sent flying straight off the platform.

He was simply defeating opponents in changing styles, making Yan Nu watch with relish.

Huang Banyun walked over and said in a low voice: "I've asked around clearly. He is a young talent of the Zhang family's younger generation, at the Second Stage Body Tempering at nineteen years old, having cultivated nearly thirty years of true qi. He is a first-rate expert."

"Wandering knights who come to enlist, as long as they can take a punch from him without being defeated, can become military officers instead of starting from the bottom as foot soldiers."

"The longer they last, the higher their military rank."

Yan Nu asked, "Oh, a Zhang family member? Then should I beat him to death right now?"

At this moment, the bronze contract in his bosom slightly poked out Feng Junyou's mouth: "Better not. Our purpose is to destroy the Zhang family. We have to first gather all the Zhang family's collateral clan members scattered across the various fortified manors before we can wipe them all out in one net."

They had already agreed upon a plan.

Starting with the recruitment, they would first approach Zhang Feng, the clan member in charge of military power for the Zhang family.

Then Yan Nu would find an opportunity to secretly beat him to death, and Shen Leling would occupy his body, attempting to take control of the Zhang family's army.

After all, wanting to destroy the Zhang family required more than just Yan Nu being formidable; especially since neither Shen Leling nor Feng Junyou were suitable to make reckless, forceful moves, lest they incur too much karmic debt.

Therefore, they had to pursue wiping them out in one fell swoop with quick resolution.

"Hmm, basically let them heavily employ me, right? Then to what degree should I fight this person?" Yan Nu furrowed his brows slightly.

Huang Banyun smiled: "Just fight to a draw, my strength happens to be about the same as his... Brother, I'll go up first and set an example for you."

Saying this, Huang Banyun leaped onto the platform.

No matter what, he was still a first-rate expert, so the moment he entered the arena, with merely a single stance, the opponent opened his eyes.

"Finally someone decent has come." That so-called Zhang family talent immediately engaged in battle with Huang Banyun.

The two of them fought fiercely on the platform, so hard to call that all sorts of exquisite moves left people mesmerized.

The many wandering knights and martial artists watching below couldn't help but cheer.

This was a duel between two first-rate experts, and without weapons, exchanging blows bare-handed—that tested the application of true qi even more.

"Good!" Yan Nu was also mesmerized, feeling that the fight looked really good!

After about half a quarter of an hour, Huang Banyun actively stopped, cupping his fists and saying, "Good martial arts, but there's no need to keep fighting, my martial arts are all in my spear."

The armored youth also smiled slightly: "My kung fu is all in my sword... You are very good, would you be willing to become a guest retainer for my Zhang family and enlist to serve the country?"

"If I weren't willing to serve the country, why would I have come here?" Huang Banyun smiled.

At this moment, a man in black luxurious robes walked over slowly. He was none other than Zhang Feng, the number two figure of the Zhang family apart from the family head.

Clapping his hands, he smiled and said, "Good, my Zhang family has gained another fierce warrior."

Huang Banyun leaped down, stated his name, exchanged pleasantries with Zhang Feng, presenting a scene of complete harmony.

The armored youth stood on the arena, seemingly invigorated from finally having warmed up, and swept his gaze across the entire scene: "Who else is willing to come up and fight a battle?"

The bronze contract vibrated slightly, indicating: Act according to the plan.

Yan Nu immediately shouted, "Me!"

"Oh?" The armored youth looked at Yan Nu with anticipation. To dare to come up right after Huang Banyun, he must certainly be extraordinary!

Yan Nu walked onto the stage with a blank, dull expression.

Seeing him stand motionless for a long time, the armored youth raised an eyebrow and said, "Quite polite, then I won't be polite."

With that, he made the first move, slapping out with a palm.

Yan Nu raised his hand to block, but who would have thought the opponent's move was a feint? With a flash of movement arts, he arrived behind Yan Nu!

"So wooden... Is this it?" The armored youth was extremely disappointed, not expecting Yan Nu's opening to be so huge and his skills to be ridiculously amateurish.

Without further ado, a move of soft cotton palm struck right between Yan Nu's shoulder blades.

Yan Nu was instantly struck, and in a split second felt a surge of frigid true qi pouring into his body!

Then... there was no then.

This stream of frigid true qi was instantly flattened by 46,170 years of cultivation power...

Even with his qi vortex spinning, it automatically counter-shocks 'a small stream' of true qi back out, which surged into the armored youth's body.

"What!"

"Puh-ack!" That youth stared wide-eyed, blood spurting from his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears.

His complexion instantly turned pale white as he looked at Yan Nu in disbelief, then collapsed limply to the ground with a thud.

Only until this moment did Yan Nu turn around...

Yet he could only look in astonishment as the man died.