Family Matters

"This feeling really is strange!"

Sitting on the Cloud bed, Wu Ming ran his hand over the Dustless Robe. It felt warm in winter and cool in summer, perfectly comfortable.

He glanced outside. "Compared to last time, the flow of time seems to have changed too... Is that normal, or did it only change after I joined?"

"But since I'm already here under the pretense of cultivating in seclusion, I might as well make it official!"

Wu Ming immediately closed his eyes. In an instant, a soft glow spread across his face. True Qi surged through every limb and bone, every acupoint in his body. He returned to his original state, and in a flash, he had achieved an Innate body.

"My spiritual breakthrough is done. Bringing my body along will be simple enough... After all, I've been stuck at this stage for a long time!"

Wu Ming smiled. A screen appeared in his Sea of Consciousness:

[Reincarnator Number: Gengshen 69]

[Name: Wu Ming]

[Cultivation: Body Refinement Realm Sixfold, Innate]

[Equipment: Black Gold Ring, Dustless Robe]

[Title: Main God Apostle]

"Ah... I can't go without the Black Gold Ring. As for the rest, I can only bring this robe out for now..."

Wu Ming looked down at the robe he was wearing, a wry smile on his face. "A mid-grade magic artifact cost me sixty minor merits. That brings me down to just one hundred and ten. With taxes like these, any Reincarnator trying to resell things would take a huge loss!"

After a moment's thought, he put on a long robe over it, concealing the Dustless Robe, and then walked out with an air of calm.

"Young Master Ming!"

Two poised, sensible young women bowed at once. Who knew how long they had been waiting?

"What time is it?"

Wu Ming squinted against the glaring sunlight.

"It's been a night and half a day since you went into seclusion, Young Master. There's less than half an hour until noon!"

The maid answered carefully, a hint of confusion in her beautiful eyes.

To them, their young master seemed different after just one night. His skin had grown more delicate, like the finest porcelain, and his dark eyes seemed unfathomable.

"Good. Tell the cooks to prepare a meal. I'm ready to eat!"

Wu Ming raised a hand.

Under the sunlight, his palm was flawless, fair and smooth. Even the old calluses and dead skin had disappeared completely.

When martial arts reached the Innate stage and the body returned to its original state, this was only natural.

Lunch was soon served: three meat dishes, three vegetable dishes, and a basin of soup, all delicious-looking and fragrant. Wu Ming tucked in, eating heartily.

The former wastrel had demanded seven or eight dishes at every meal. Wu Ming naturally wouldn't waste food like that. But now that he was focused on martial arts, the generous portions were just right.

"Young Master Ming!"

Steward Wu entered. Seeing Wu Ming devour his food without a hint of bad manners, he couldn't help but admire him.

Ever since the incident last time, this young master had become far more astute. His martial talent had earned endless praise from Instructor Feng, and he had made great strides in conduct and social graces as well. Steward Wu's loyalty to him had deepened as a result.

After all, following a master like this meant there might be a future.

In times like these, servants born into the household, whose families had served the Wu family for generations, had their fates bound up with their masters'. When one prospered, all prospered; when one fell, all fell.

"What happened?"

Wu Ming saw Steward Wu's anxious expression and immediately sensed that something was up.

It had to be said that though the man was vicious toward outsiders, he was a decent lackey. After the Lin Qi incident, he had healed from his injuries and returned to work, handling everything impeccably. He had also rendered outstanding service during this year's autumn harvest.

There had to be a reason he looked like this now.

"There's been a murder case in Qingshi Village. The main culprit is a member of a collateral branch of the Wu family, and there's a scandal involved..."

Steward Wu's face flushed, then paled, as he explained.

"What does that have to do with me—"

Wu Ming stopped halfway through. It really did have something to do with him!

This was the Great Zhou. He had learned that he was in a township in Yunping County, Chu Feng Commandery. The township governed three villages, and the Wu family's fortified village stood at its heart. They owned two thousand mu of land, making them a genuine colossus.

Under Zhou law, the county seat had an Inspector's Office responsible for dealing with bandits and thieves. The townships also had Township Inspectors, whose names were entered on the official rolls.

The Wu family had considerable influence even in Yunping County. They were local gentry and landed magnates. By unwritten custom, though the Township Inspector was nominally attached to the Inspector's Office, the Wu family was the one expected to appoint someone to the post.

Wu Ming remembered that the former wastrel had been utterly indifferent to such matters. He seemed to have casually handed the position to the martial arts instructor who served before Feng Han. That instructor had later been killed by Lin Qi's sword. His family had naturally received all sorts of compensation, including a few mu of land, but the Township Inspector's post had been taken back. Wu Ming hadn't yet decided whom to give it to.

Now that this had happened, the Township Inspector naturally had to get involved.

And that was without even considering the fact that a collateral branch of the Wu family was involved.

In ancient times like these, Wu Ming was the Wu family's patriarch. Even when something happened within the clan, he had to open the ancestral hall and deal with it under the family rules himself.

In the Great Zhou, the county's control over the villages is weak to begin with. Everything depends on clan rule. That's why they insist on "benevolence and filial piety"—killing people with ritual and law...

Wu Ming felt a chill at the thought.

What did two thousand mu of land amount to? The whole of Yunping County had only three hundred thousand mu of farmland, so the Wu family held nearly one percent of it.

With such a foundation, unless they were hit by an exceptionally severe drought or flood, they could count on a steady annual income of several thousand taels of silver, rain or shine. They barely had to lift a finger to manage it. It was the vital foundation on which a family could rise!

Wu Qing and Wu Ming had no close relatives, only a few distant collateral branches. What made them capable of protecting such a fortune?

He rapped his knuckles against his head, and the answer came back to him. The Wu family had once been no more than a small landowning household with a hundred mu.

But after Wu Qing rose to prominence and even entered the Dao Academy, she gained exemption from taxes. Many people entrusted their land to her, and that was how the family's holdings had grown to two thousand mu.

In fact, if they hadn't been newly risen gentry, and if the former wastrel hadn't been such a spendthrift, they might have reached three thousand mu!

Damn... I had no idea Big Sister Wu Qing was so formidable! Her standing is almost equivalent to that of a Juren...

Wu Ming thought it over, then said to Steward Wu, "Good timing... There are still some loose ends in the Qingshi Village accounts, aren't there? Get a few people together. We'll go take a look!"

Before, he had been keeping a low profile for the Main God Hall's mission. Now that he had completed it, Wu Ming had nothing much to do.

"As you command!"

Steward Wu hurried off to gather people. Wu Ming watched him go, and for some reason, a sudden unease passed through him.

"I feel strangely unsettled. Could this be a martial artist's sudden impulse? Ridiculous... What could possibly happen to me in the Great Zhou World?"

Despite his words, Wu Ming's gaze grew somber. "Someone! Fetch Master Feng Han. He's coming with me!"

An Innate Martial Artist had consolidated True Qi within his body and returned from the acquired state to the Innate. Common worldly ailments rarely troubled such a person, and he certainly wouldn't feel a sudden pang of unease without reason.

Wu Ming watched a servant hurry off to deliver the message. Once his mood settled, he gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Honestly... I'm such a coward when it comes to dying!"

"It's done!"

Seeing seven riders burst out of the fortified village, the man who had been keeping watch outside the Wu family's walls let his eyes flash. He secretly released a gray sparrow.

The sparrow was utterly inconspicuous. It flapped through the air, then came to rest on a man's shoulder.

"Daoist Qingping, has that Wu Family Scion really come out?"

A man beside him glanced at the gray sparrow perched on the Daoist's shoulder, his eyes lighting up.

They were the two men who had been waiting outside the Wu family's fortified village!

"Of course! The man I set in place had seen the Wu Family Scion before. He's meticulous and could never mistake him!"

A ghostly fire seemed to burn in Daoist Qingping's eyes. "Steward Yu, now we follow the plan!"

"Good! I wish you every success, Daoist!"

Steward Yu clasped his hands and smiled, placing his complete confidence in the Daoist.

"Qingshi Village!"

Wu Ming had no idea what was happening. With Steward Wu, Feng Han, and four sturdy household servants, he rode straight to Qingshi Village.

"Here comes Young Master Wu!"

Several village elders were waiting at the entrance. Their faces were full of deference.

They had no choice. Half the village were the Wu family's tenant farmers. How could they hold their heads high?

"Where is he? I'll go see for myself!"

Wu Ming dismounted and headed straight for a tiled house on the eastern side of the village.

The courtyard was small, paved with polished blue bricks. It had bright windows and even a little threshing ground. By village standards, it was practically a mansion.

The Wu family's main line consists of only Wu Qing and Wu Ming. The rest are distant collateral branches scattered throughout the villages and hamlets within ten li. I've heard there were even ugly quarrels over land at first, and Wu Qing never thought much of them...

If they had been true members of the inner circle, they would have moved into the fortified village long ago.

After all, a fortified village had everything prepared: granaries, storehouses, mills, a blacksmith's shop, livestock sheds, even a physician. It was practically a miniature kingdom, and its security was the rarest treasure of all. It could almost rival the county seat.

But now, apart from Wu Ming and Wu Qing, most of its residents were household-born servants, retainers, and the most loyal tenant farmers. That told its own story.

"Still... even if they're distant collateral kin, something like this could tarnish my family's reputation..."

Wu Ming frowned and went to inspect the main room.

"The crime scene is right there. We haven't dared touch anything!"

An elder spoke respectfully as he lifted the curtain. Wu Ming glanced inside and saw two bodies, an old man and a young one, hastily covered with mats. A pool of black blood stained the ground.

The old man looked vaguely familiar. From his memories, he seemed to have been some distant uncle. He had once schemed to get his hands on the family's hundred mu of good farmland. Even now, seeing him filled Wu Ming with disgust.

But this wasn't the time to dwell on it.

Wu Ming's ears twitched. Faint voices drifted in from outside. "I heard the father-in-law was caught fooling around with his daughter-in-law by his own son, and it turned into a bloodbath..."

"Ah... two lives, just like that! I've seen that Madam Dong. Those vixen's eyes and that face full of peach-blossom charm—she really was a calamity!"

"It's a disgrace to the family to produce such a sinner... The worst part is, the young man took his own life in the end. At least he had a little conscience..."

No matter what their relationship was, this incident would affect the Wu family. Wu Ming's expression darkened at once.

"Disaster! Madam Dong's hanged herself!"

Just then, another old woman cried out in panic, turning Wu Ming's face even darker.