Seven Families and One Gang, Old Tales of An-Shi (Update Complete, Please Subscribe First!)

Eyes glazed and ears warm, wine cups crisscrossed.

Shen He and the others raised their cups again and again. With the wine stirring their spirits, they talked of heaven and earth, gestured at the realm.

Li Cunxiao did not say much. He merely chimed in now and then, keeping his head down as he drank and ate, yet he still picked up quite a bit of intelligence about the various powers in Chuqiu City.

Within the Inner City, the Murong family, which controlled the county yamen, reigned supreme. Next came the Ye Family and the Xiao Family. The three formed the tripartite aristocratic powers of the Inner City.

Below the Three Great Families were the Jiang, Shen, Han, and Yang Families, to which Shen He and Jiang Qi belonged. They vaguely followed the Three Great Families' lead and were thus mockingly called the "Seven Families Alliance."

As for the Outer City, it could be considered the domain of the Flying Tiger Escort Agency. Even the Firewood Gang's influence was overshadowed by it.

The Seven Families Alliance in the Inner City, the Flying Tiger Escort Agency in the Outer City, and the Firewood Gang outside the city formed Chuqiu's tripartite balance of power.

In theory, the Seven Families Alliance was the strongest, but in truth, they were united in appearance only.

They were all great clans. Who would truly be willing to live under another's thumb?

Shen He and Jiang Qi coming to the Flying Tiger Escort Agency to study martial arts was clearly a manifestation of the four families' strategy of forming alliances and playing powers against one another.

If any one of the Jiang, Shen, Han, and Yang Families formed an alliance with the Flying Tiger Escort Agency, the Three Great Families' monopoly would change in an instant.

Unfortunately, Zhang Lishi truly looked down on these aristocratic youths. Now that Li Cunxiao had emerged out of nowhere, Shen He and Jiang Qi's chances of obtaining the true teachings had become even slimmer.

If they could not obtain martial arts, would it not be just as good to win over Master Zhang's personal disciple?

Perhaps driven by such thoughts, Shen He and Jiang Qi hinted more than once during the banquet that they had sisters at home in the bloom of youth, beautiful as flowers and long admiring outstanding heroes. Their intent to win him over was completely undisguised.

Li Cunxiao naturally fobbed them off with polite excuses. To him, the escort agency was his foundation. Having just become Zhang Lishi's disciple, getting all lovey-dovey with the aristocratic youths would clearly be a poor move.

Shen He and Jiang Qi were trying to recruit him, while Xiao Mei's attitude was ambiguous.

Though she had not extended any invitation, she repeatedly used toasts as an excuse during the banquet to deliberately or inadvertently draw closer to him.

Li Cunxiao remembered Shi Tie's warning. Alarm bells immediately rang in his heart, and he became ever more polite and distant, leaving Xiao Mei thoroughly vexed.

"Li Cunxiao is foul and hard as a stone—he's practically a rock from a latrine!"

After the gathering broke up, Xiao Mei's face darkened the moment she entered her carriage. The maid beside her instantly became alert, terrified of displeasing her mistress and being whipped to vent her anger.

The coachman cracked his whip, and the carriage slowly began to move. Inside, Xiao Mei grew angrier the more she thought about it. At last, she knitted her brows and snapped,

"We're not going home yet. Go to Ye Chengxiao's place."

She truly could not swallow this grievance!

Ever since childhood, relying on her beauty, she had made countless aristocratic youths lose their souls over her.

After cultivating her lineage's Jade Chamber Art, Xiao Mei gained an additional bewitching allure that could Bewitch All Beings. Even Shen He had been toyed with by her quite a few times back then; he had merely become numb after too many instances.

Though she had entered Zhang Lishi's school, it was more to fulfill her lineage's task—to build bridges between the escort agency and the Xiao Family.

She had not put much thought into the Tiger Demon Fist, relying only on lineage resources to barely cultivate to the Muscle Realm.

By nature, she refused to be bound by worldly conventions. She disliked fighting and killing, preferring to stir the winds and clouds beneath her pomegranate skirt, taking pleasure in it.

Thus, the Jade Chamber Art passed down by her lineage suited Xiao Mei's tastes even better, and she had cultivated it painstakingly ever since.

Yet her beauty and charm, which had never failed her, were utterly useless against Li Cunxiao.

The way he looked at her, as though he could not avoid her fast enough, was nothing like how one faced a peony of national beauty. It was more like he was avoiding some filthy thing from the night-soil bucket.

Her pride had suffered a devastating blow!

When the carriage arrived before Ye Chengxiao's residence, Xiao Mei stepped down. Disregarding her usual ladylike manners, driven by her willful nature, she barged straight inside.

The courtyard guards and servants had intended to stop her, but upon seeing that she was their master's senior sister from the same school, they shrank back timidly. In the blink of an eye, a gust of fragrance had already drifted in.

"Junior Disciple Ye."

The late-autumn night was cold with frost and heavy dew, yet Ye Chengxiao wore only an inner garment as he punched in the courtyard, his fists whistling with force.

Sweat evaporated from his heated body, occasionally mingled with the scent of wine. Clearly, the man himself was not in a very good mood.

A genius once rising to fame had, in a single day, been replaced by an even greater genius. The former Ye Chengxiao had kept away from wine and women, but now, burdened by bitterness, he finally understood what it meant to drown one's sorrows in drink only for sorrow to grow deeper.

Hearing the familiar voice, Ye Chengxiao was first delighted, but resentment and grievance soon surged up in his heart.

He knew about tonight's gathering. He should have gone as well, but he simply did not want to see Li Cunxiao's face.

As his emotions churned, even toward the senior sister he had once admired, he became impolite:

"Rather than fawning over that exceptionally gifted Li Sanlang, why have you come to my neglected little courtyard, Senior Sister? Have you come to laugh at me—ugh!"

Before he could finish, Ye Chengxiao's vision went dark, and his face was already buried in a soft, ample bosom.

As a martial artist at Blood Qi Perfection, he could feel even more deeply the faint fragrance and smooth softness of a beauty's skin.

How could a virgin like Ye Chengxiao withstand such stimulation? His tone immediately softened.

"Senior Sister."

Xiao Mei was an old fisherman who had ridden wind and waves. Seeing that her move had worked, she immediately pulled away again.

Savoring that wondrous sensation, Ye Chengxiao's heart blazed hot. He thought she was about to confess her feelings, merely too shy to say so.

He simply stepped forward of his own accord, wanting to draw the beauty into his embrace.

But Xiao Mei did not even raise her head. With only a slight turn of her body, Ye Chengxiao could not touch so much as the hem of her clothes. After several exchanges, she left him neither up nor down, like a dog desperately holding in its urge.

The pent-up gloom in Xiao Mei's heart immediately dispersed.

If she could not manipulate Li Cunxiao, could she not manipulate Ye Chengxiao, who was only at the Blood Qi Realm?

Seeing the duck at his mouth yet being unable to eat it, Ye Chengxiao's temper surged. Just as he was about to fly into a rage, Xiao Mei stopped dodging. Covering her face with one hand, she began to sob softly.

He froze at once, lowering the hand he had raised. Though anxious, he still asked as gently as he could,

"Senior Sister, what exactly is wrong?"

"At tonight's gathering of fellow disciples, that Li Cunxiao, he... he..."

"What did he do to you?!"

The moment Ye Chengxiao heard that name, countless dreadful associations flooded his mind. He immediately exploded like a lit firecracker, no longer able to think calmly.

A triumphant smile touched Xiao Mei's lips, though her tone remained resentful.

"He did not behave improperly toward me, it's only that..."

"...It's only that his expression and conduct carried much contempt for you?"

Shen He looked at Ye Chengxiao's indignant expression and was speechless. This junior brother has truly fallen beneath a pomegranate skirt—even his mind is no longer clear.

Clamping his legs around his horse's belly, he turned to look back. From Chuqiu City all the way to distant Pingqiu Mountain, the procession of carriages and horses stretched as far as the eye could see, kicking up dust along the road.

Behind the procession were not only carriages but ox carts as well. Xiao Mei, Jiang Qi, Zhang Yuelu, and the female members of the various families rode there for this Autumn Hunt.

After all, besides displaying martial strength, the Autumn Hunt was also a fine occasion for the various families to form marriage alliances.

At the head of the procession, Ye Family's Eldest Young Master Ye Rongzu, Xiao Family's Eldest Son Xiao Ji, and Chai Gang's Young Master Song Qingshan—several second-generation heirs—rode their horses and cracked their whips, high-spirited and full of vigor.

Li Cunxiao, meanwhile, stood at the center like the moon surrounded by stars.

Five days had passed since the banquet at Zui Chun Lou, and the Autumn Hunt had arrived as scheduled.

Over the past few days, Li Cunxiao had followed his routine, reading and practicing martial arts. Whether it was martial knowledge or the practice of Divine Movement Steps and the Basic Saber Technique, all had progressed steadily. Every day had been incomparably fulfilling.

Zhang Lishi was a responsible master. He bestowed a fine bow upon Li Cunxiao and arranged for him to study archery under Ge Yingyang.

Though he could not learn the other man's most closely guarded skills and could not become a divine archer capable of Hundred Paces Through Willow in a short time, Li Cunxiao could at least hit the bullseye from sixty paces away. That was enough to put on a show at the Autumn Hunt.

He did not intend to draw too much attention during this Autumn Hunt.

Or rather, a martial artist who had broken through to the Muscle Realm in less than two months had already stolen all the limelight simply by appearing here.

One only needed to look at the warmly conversing second-generation heirs around him to know that even if Li Cunxiao did not catch a single rabbit, they would not look down on him for it. On the contrary, they would breathe a sigh of relief.

"...If Brother Li could even hit every target with his archery, then we would have no reason to be here at all. We could only turn around and go home! Hahahahaha!"

Seeing Li Cunxiao's arrow miss, Xiao Ji looked as though he had witnessed something wonderfully amusing. He laughed with abandon, yet did not make anyone feel he meant offense.

Ye Rongzu and Song Qingshan beside him felt exactly the same.

"Indeed. When I first heard of Brother Li's deeds a few days ago, I was so shocked that I dropped my chopsticks. Muscle and Tendon Realm before the age of eighteen. Chief Escort Zhang truly has eyes that recognize heroes, to discover such an outstanding man as Brother Li among the common folk."

"Brother Li has achieved so much at such a young age. It truly puts the rest of us to shame. But I hear your younger brother is still young, and the continuation of the family line is also a major matter. My Song Family has quite a few sisters yet to be wed. If any should prove suitable..."

"Song Qingshan, there will naturally be young ladies from every family at the curtained banquet later. Why are you meddling here?"

"Brother Song is truly narrow-minded. Your Firewood Gang sits upon the riches of the mountain forest, yet instead of speaking of heroes of the greenwood, you keep talking of boudoir matters. It is rather dull. But speaking of which, my Ye Family's Thirteenth Lady is famed for her virtue..."

Li Cunxiao looked at the three before him trading verbal blows, mocking one another openly and in secret, and was left speechless.

He knew he was a prized prize, but he had not expected the heirs of the Ye Family, Xiao Family, and Firewood Gang to personally take the field and propose marriage.

As for the Jiang, Shen, Han, and Yang Families, as well as the other martial schools and major merchant gangs in the city, they naturally also wanted to build relations with this man from the Flying Tiger Escort Agency.

But the guards of those few families blocked the way with utter dominance, not even giving them a chance to meet him. They could only stare longingly from afar.

This showed the status of the Three Great Families and the Firewood Gang.

Thinking of this, Li Cunxiao's gaze drifted unconsciously toward the middle of the convoy. Zhang Lishi, several family heads, and numerous martial school masters were there, as was Shi Tie.

One at the front and the other at the rear—the difference in strength and status was obvious at a glance.

That is fine too. The gap in status is great enough that it saves us from people sowing discord, sparing many needless suspicions.

As he was thinking, the three second-generation heirs beside him finally argued their way to a conclusion.

The Ye Family and Xiao Family were both among the Three Great Families of the Inner City and presented a united front against the Firewood Gang. Song Qingshan could not win the war of words, so he finally stopped mentioning marriage alliances and instead said,

"Does Brother Li know that although Pingqiu Mountain is no famous mountain, it does have quite a history?"

"If it is the history of the Song Family growing rich by robbing travelers along the road, I think it would be best left unsaid, lest it soil our ears."

Xiao Ji spoke without restraint, making no attempt to conceal his contempt for the Firewood Gang.

"I have also read something of this in the County Records—Brother Song is speaking of the False Yan rebels who fled into Pingqiu Mountain back then, is he not?"

Though Ye Rongzu also looked down on the Firewood Gang, seeing Song Qingshan's face turn livid, he still stepped in to take over the conversation.

Li Cunxiao immediately became interested upon hearing this.

"False Yan rebels? Are Brother Ye and Brother Song referring to the An-Shi Rebel Army whose savage flames once towered to the heavens?"

"Brother Li is truly learned and well-informed. You must visit the Ye Family Library another day, so we can drink tea and discuss matters."

Ye Rongzu praised him as though playing the supporting role in a comic dialogue, then returned to the topic under the unfriendly gazes of the other two.

"Back then, Emperor Ming misplaced his trust in treacherous ministers, leading An Huxuan, Military Governor of the three circuits of Pinglu, Fanyang, and Hedong, to brazenly raise his troops. Wherever his blade pointed, nothing could withstand it. He seized two parts of the realm's five, with the potential to spread like a prairie fire."

"Now, we naturally know that bandits cannot amount to much, but at that time, even members of the Boling Cui Clan submitted to False Yan, hoping to gain Merit of Following the Dragon."

"Fortunately, Duke Guo's martial arts were peerless. He first recovered the Imperial Capital, then crushed the rebel An. That Traitor Shi was cunning—he surrendered, only to rebel again, and actually established False Yan anew."

"But by then, the An-Shi Rebel Army had suffered a disastrous defeat and been greatly weakened. To hold back Duke Guo, Traitor Shi was a dog driven into a corner, ready to leap over a wall."

"Not only did he attack county governments everywhere and gather Demon Meat Seeds, he even established Grave Robber Captains, who stole into tombs, dug open graves, and looted the gold, silver, and weapons buried with the dead to supply his army."

"At that time, one unit of Yeluoge under Traitor Shi was stationed in Chuqiu. Later, the Ye Family Ancestor was the first to return to righteousness and led the local militia in a punitive campaign."

"With the Inner City families joining forces, the commanding lieutenant of that Yeluoge fled to Pingqiu Mountain, where he was ultimately slain..."

Yeluoge was a Hu-language term meaning warriors or stout-hearted men. At first, they were An Huxuan's elite troops. After his death, Shi Junshan brought them under his command. Li Cunxiao had heard of all this in unofficial histories and miscellaneous records.

"Eldest Young Master Ye, stop gilding your own face. If that lieutenant truly died at the Ye Family's hands, why do the Xiao and Ye Families still follow the Murong family's lead in the Inner City?"

"You toiled to suppress the rebels and exhausted your lineage's foundation, yet gained not the slightest reward? That Yeluoge had a fortune amassed from pillaging everywhere."

Song Qingshan spoke in a strange, mocking tone, making Ye Rongzu's expression stiffen. He had clearly struck the mark, but Xiao Ji at the side refused to yield.

"Your Firewood Gang has always remained in the mountains keeping company with beasts, while our three families enjoy the prosperity of the city. That is the reward bought with our lineage's foundation!"

"Xiao Ji, I'll fuck your—"

Li Cunxiao had been about to ask more about these old secrets, especially since they involved Demon Meat Seeds and weapons hidden in tomb chambers. But seeing the three poised like needle against awl, he had no choice but to step in and smooth things over.

"You three are all outstanding men of Chuqiu. Why take every word so seriously? This little brother is of scant virtue and little ability, yet I am hoping to witness your splendid performances later."

His words scattered on the wind, and Ye Chengxiao in the distance could not hear them clearly.

From afar, he could only see Li Cunxiao laughing heartily with his enemy Ye Rongzu. Thinking again of Senior Sister Xiao's grievance from several days ago, he could not help clenching his fists.

Shen He had also suffered at Xiao Mei's hands before. Seeing Ye Chengxiao like this, he knew there was no persuading him.

"But even so, Junior Disciple Li is already in the Muscle Realm."

You are only at Blood Qi Perfection. Even if you are unhappy, what can you do?

Ye Chengxiao understood the elegant meaning behind the string song, yet he did not get angry in the slightest. Instead, he revealed a confident smile.

"Does Senior Brother take me for the sort of fool who smashes an egg against a stone?"

Shen He's heart jumped. He saw the other man's eyes suddenly transform into Tiger Eyes Golden Pupils, while the muscles across his body swelled, stretching his clothes taut—

He had broken through?!

Seeing the astonishment in Shen He's eyes, a feeling of sweetness after bitterness surged up within Ye Chengxiao.

He had obtained the Demon Seduction Method before Li Cunxiao. Although he had been overtaken midway, after reflecting painfully on his mistakes, with Xiao Mei's earnest encouragement and a bit of help from the precious medicines his parents had bought, Ye Chengxiao had lived up to his name as a genius and broken through to the Muscle Realm before the Autumn Hunt.

In this Autumn Hunt, he would absolutely not allow Li Sanlang to monopolize the glory!