Beginning of the Pan Family's Decline, Chaos Arises

Jiang Liu was in his small courtyard. With a thought, a deep blue light screen visible only to him appeared before his eyes.

Auxiliary System:

Name: Jiang Liu

Realm: Body Refinement (Bone Forging 136/206)

Alchemy (Entry Level 42/100)

Five Elements Fist (Perfected) (Trait: Blood Essence Generation)

Wandering Steps (Minor Accomplishment 768/800)

Seeing his Wandering Steps nearing Great Accomplishment, Jiang Liu wanted nothing more than to immerse himself in cultivation.

Whoosh!

A figure darted out of Jiang Liu's courtyard and vanished in an instant.

The figure moved unpredictably, now left, now right, now forward, now back, making it impossible to pinpoint its location.

It turned out that Jiang Liu had cultivated Wandering Steps to Great Accomplishment and couldn't contain his excitement, so he wanted to test it out.

He hadn't seen much power when he had only achieved Minor Accomplishment, but now that he had cultivated Wandering Steps to Great Accomplishment, he finally understood what Wandering Steps truly meant: to roam around you at will, while you remain unable to grasp my position.

This nimble footwork was simply the icing on the cake for combat, but it couldn't be sustained for long-distance travel.

Jiang Liu ran all the way to the Apprentice Plaza, assumed the stance of the Five Elements Fist, and began to practice.

The plaza was filled with afterimages that gradually dissipated, accompanied by bursts of tiger roars that shook the heart.

It turned out that Jiang Liu had integrated the final move of the Fierce Tiger Fist, the "Tiger's Roar in the Mountains" attack, into his Five Elements Fist. He had a sudden inspiration during his joyful cultivation today and used it.

Perhaps it was because the Fierce Tiger Fist had already been merged into the Five Elements Fist that it was used so smoothly.

Jiang Liu practiced the fist techniques several times in the Apprentice Plaza, feeling refreshed. He returned to his courtyard drenched in sweat, took a shower, and prepared to meditate and begin Bone Forging.

Now, Jiang Liu devoted a significant amount of time each day to Bone Forging.

Realm: Body Refinement (Bone Forging 140.8/206)

Alchemy (Entry Level 45/100)

Wandering Steps (Great Accomplishment 6/1500)

"At most, Bone Forging will be completed in two months," Jiang Liu thought, filled with anticipation.

While Jiang Liu was tirelessly cultivating, many unsavory things were happening among the Six Great Families of Cloud Sun City.

First, many of the Pan Family's businesses couldn't withstand the suppression from the Chen, Li, and Wang families and were forced to transfer them to the Hu and Ma families at low prices. This barely managed to resist the encroachment of the Chen, Li, and Wang families.

The Pan Family was left with only its core industries: the carriage and horse business, the herb store, the weapon pavilion, and the bank, which were the foundations of their rise. Escort agencies, restaurants, eateries, inns, pawnshops, cloth shops, general stores, gambling dens, brothels, and so on were mostly lost.

Even those that hadn't been lost were just barely surviving.

Bang!

"The Chen, Li, and Wang families are going too far! The Hu and Ma families are even more detestable! Don't they know the principle of 'when the lips are gone, the teeth are cold'? They're still kicking us when we're down?" Pan Qi slammed the table forcefully.

"Alright, Elder Qi, there's no use getting angry now. How are Yunhu and Yunlong doing these days? Is there any hope of a breakthrough?" asked a Pan Family elder from the third branch.

"Big brother has been in the secret room and hasn't come out. If he had broken through, he would have come out already," Pan Yunhu said helplessly.

Alas! The faces of the Pan Family elders were filled with helplessness.

Under these circumstances, the detestable Physician Pavilion actually said that they were out of Fifth-Rank breakthrough elixirs. If they were to transfer goods from the prefecture city, it would take at least three months.

The breakthrough elixirs that Pan Yunlong was using now were the reserves left over from before. They couldn't care less now, they had to use them first.

There are two ways to break through after becoming Ranked. One is to break through naturally, when water overflows, that is, when the essence is cultivated to the extreme, it is full and cannot be filled, and it will naturally break through. In this way, martial arts can go further.

The second is to break through with the help of elixirs. If the water is not full, then it is artificially filled, that is, the power of the elixir is used to fill the essence needed for the breakthrough. Because it is a violent breakthrough with the help of medicinal power, it will cause great damage to the meridians. How easy is it to repair the damaged meridians! Therefore, martial arts cannot go far.

Generally, unless forced by circumstances, they would not violently break through by eating elixirs. To break through by eating elixirs, they would also eat one and slowly consume the medicinal power to break through. It doesn't take a few months to use an elixir.

"I hope the Pan Family can survive this time! Otherwise, there will be no good end," the Pan Family elders thought worriedly.

At night, in the Western District, Horn Alley. This alley originally had no name, but because a gang of thugs was entrenched here, it was called Horn Alley after a long time.

A neatly arranged team walked slowly, silently. The leader carried a lantern, dressed in black, wearing a felt hat, covering most of his face. The whole team was dressed like this.

Starting from the first house at the beginning of the alley, they knocked on the door. When someone opened the door, they handed over a small bag of rice and a flyer, saying: "White Lotus Sacred Mother, savior from suffering!" Then they slowly turned and left.

The families who received the rice quickly knelt down and worshiped, shouting towards the slowly receding figure: "White Lotus Sacred Mother, savior from suffering!"

After the team had gone far away, they picked up the flyer and saw that it read: White Lotus Sacred Mother, savior from suffering, doing good and accumulating virtue, blessings will return, spread throughout the world, those who are destined gather together!