Primordial Shen Family? Ancient Clan of the Starry Sky?

Primordial Shen Family? Ancient Clan of the Starry Sky?

[You looked at Third Sister's haggard face, frail body, and lifeless eyes.]

[An inexplicable fire surged up within you.]

[Everyone present merely felt a gust of wind sweep past.]

[With your current cultivation, these mortals could not see your movements at all.]

["Crack, crack..."]

[The sounds of breaking bones rang out one after another.]

[Every one of Landlord Zhang's thugs who had just beaten Chen Yun and your niece had their arms and legs broken!]

["Aaaah! My hand! My leg!!"]

[You deliberately left them each one leg and one arm.]

[Death was too cheap for these villains who ran rampant through the countryside. You wanted them to taste, for the rest of their lives, what it felt like to be one of society's suffering lowest-class people.]

[Not a single villager around them pitied these injured men. The fact that they did not loudly cheer was already quite civilized.]

[The County Magistrate knew perfectly well what had happened, yet he very cooperatively rebuked the officers.]

["What is wrong with you people? Be more careful when arresting them! How did you break their arms and legs? How are they supposed to be conscripted now?"]

[As above, so below. Since the leader was so skilled at reading the room, those beneath him were the same.]

["We are sorry, County Magistrate! It was our mistake! These people cannot be conscripted anymore, so send them to the Beggar Gang instead!"]

[The County Magistrate waved a hand.]

["A good suggestion. We'll do that."]

[You took Third Sister's rough hand, then looked at your niece beside her.]

["How did things become like this? Where did my brother-in-law go?"]

[Chen Yun pulled you along to the home where she and her daughter now lived.]

[A thatched hut at the end of Fire Prosperity Village.]

[It leaked wind and rain. At first glance, one might even mistake it for a cowshed.]

["After your brother-in-law was taken away, Jia'er and I depended on each other for survival.

Five years ago, Landlord Zhang from the county town took a fancy to Jia'er and wanted to marry her as his wife.

He was already over sixty. He beat and cursed his wives and concubines all day long. How could I let Jia'er jump into that pit of fire?

When I refused, he arranged for people to harass the two of us every other day.

I did some handicrafts to earn money for the household, and he had people smash my stall, even demanding that we compensate him..."]

[When they spoke of such painful matters, mother and daughter could not help shedding tears.]

[In short, under Landlord Zhang's repeated persecution, Chen Yun and Shen Jia's lives became harder and harder.]

[Until they could no longer sustain themselves and had no choice but to sell Shen Qingshan's family courtyard for a pittance.]

[Mother and daughter wanted to get far away from the county town, so they came to Fire Prosperity Village to settle down.]

[Unexpectedly, that disgusting Landlord Zhang still refused to let them go.]

[When mother and daughter wanted to farm, he forcibly bought the land in Fire Prosperity Village and turned the entire village into his tenants.]

[Most of the grain they grew every year had to be handed over to that old landlord. The grain left for the villagers themselves was not enough to eat.]

[But so long as they could not pay the rent in grain, that old landlord would seize everything in their homes to offset the rent and even have them beaten.]

[That was why Chen Yun and her daughter had ended up with nothing but this thatched hut.]

[The County Magistrate had been listening from the side as well.]

[He was drenched in sweat.]

[You turned to look at him.]

["County Magistrate Chen, we are practically kin. Look at the place under your rule—see how bitterly the common people live. Does it have nothing to do with you?"]

[County Magistrate Chen wiped away his cold sweat.]

["Hero, you do not know this. Landlord Zhang has connections in the Capital City. One of his elder sisters is Prince De's concubine, which is why he dares to run wild here."]

["A concubine? Hah! Anyone who did not know better would think she was the prince's consort!"]

["Yes... A concubine truly has no status in the Prince's Mansion, but it is still the Prince's Mansion, isn't it? Let alone ordinary people—even I, the County Magistrate, have to show him some respect whenever I see him."]

[You used The Only True Prophet on the Scene to check County Magistrate Chen's identity.]

[He was a good person.]

[But even good people sought to preserve themselves in troubled times.]

[Still, knowing that he was a good person was enough.]

[That way, when Landlord Zhang's entire family was wiped out tomorrow by some unknown Martial Artist of the demonic path passing through, this County Magistrate who was so skilled at reading the room probably would not investigate too deeply.]

["County Magistrate Chen, go attend to your business."]

[The County Magistrate left.]

[You now wanted to focus on finding out exactly what had happened to Shen Qingshan.]

[Chen Yun recalled the events of ten years ago.]

[Just as the County Magistrate had said, two powerful Martial Artists had come to the Shen Family, flying through the air and astonishing all the people in the city.]

[And their target was unexpectedly Shen Qingshan, a Junior Banner Officer of the county Monster Slaying Division.]

["My husband did not know them, but those two old men said they were Elders of the Shen Family and had come to take my husband home."]

["Take my brother-in-law home? So he abandoned his wife and daughter and left with them?"]

["Fourth Brother, do not speak of your brother-in-law like that. Two strangers suddenly told him that he actually came from a Primordial aristocratic family with a heritage stretching back tens of thousands of years. Qingshan did not believe it at the time either.

And even if it were true, he did not want to leave us.

But those two Elders were extremely firm in their attitude. They insisted on taking him away.

They also said it was an immense opportunity. If he could seize it, then even with Martial Dao aptitude as weak as his, he might one day surpass the Spirit Condensation Realm and become some kind of Martial Dao king..."]

[Your heart stirred as you listened.]

Why did such a heaven-sent opportunity not fall onto my head?

Why was I not some great family's lost pearl in the vast sea?

[You were very curious—how did this so-called Primordial Shen Family determine that Shen Qingshan was one of their own?]

[Chen Yun said it was through the Cultivation Method.]

[Anyone capable of cultivating the Zhengyang Art was a member of the Shen Family.]

[Outsiders could not cultivate the Shen Family's inherited Cultivation Method.]

[You froze for a moment.]

[Because you could cultivate it too!]

What kind of bug was this?

"Eh? Then could I..."

[With the successful experience of intercepting Old Liu.]

[Chen Yi suddenly felt that in the next simulation, intercepting Shen Qingshan might also be a good idea.]

[It would not affect the real Shen Qingshan anyway.]

[Once he figured out exactly what this opportunity was, there would be no need to intercept it in later simulations. He might even be able to point Shen Qingshan toward a clear path—whether he should go or not.]

[In any case, Shen Qingshan had no choice.]

[The Primordial Shen Family had to take him away.]

[Shen Qingshan wanted to bring his wife and daughter with him, but he was told that his current status in the Shen Family was too low for him to bring family members from outside the domain.]

[If he truly wanted to bring his wife and daughter into the domain, the only possibility was to improve his standing in the Shen Family.]

["Outside the domain? Inside the domain?"]

["They said the Shen Family does not live on this land of the Five Domains, but in the sky, within the Star Domain!"]

["They live on the stars?"]

Was the Shen Family really that incredible?

[You could only lament that you had arrived too late.]

Next time, I must get there one step ahead!

[When the tide surged upon the Qiantang River, only today did I learn that I am Shen Qingshan!]

[Chen Yun did not know any more than that.]

[That day, the two Elders of the Shen Family had not spoken much with Shen Qingshan.]

[You gave Chen Yun a large sum of money and told her to take Shen Jia back to the county town to buy another courtyard. They were not to live in this ruined village hut anymore.]

[Chen Yun was startled.]

["Fourth Brother! So much money? Third Sister cannot take it. You earned all of this through your own hard work..."]

["It was not hard work. It was all ill-gotten wealth—I merely returned it to the hands of the common people."]