Black Mountain Gang's Chun Hou

A few days later, a piece of news swept through the city like wildfire.

Hundreds of miles outside the city, at Hanging Cliff Mountain, three Red Spider Matriarchs had gathered for reasons unknown. Each was a beast of several centuries, with skin as thick and tough as a demon from hell, and their combat power was actually comparable to that of a Martial Master!

Martial Master realm!

The path of a martial artist is divided into three stages: the Three Passes, followed by External Force, Internal Force, and Transformation Force. Above that are the Martial Practitioners—First Step, Second Step, and Third Step—and only then does one reach the level of a Martial Master!

Every bottleneck and every breakthrough acts as a barrier for the vast majority of martial artists; those who can push past the limits of the human body to reach this level are one in ten thousand.

The combat power of a beast at the Martial Master level is even greater than that; never mind heavy cavalrymen, even the damage caused by the giant ballistae of the city walls is negligible.

These are no longer mere exotic beasts; calling them steel monsters would be no exaggeration!

But the terror does not end there. These Red Spider Matriarchs possess an incredibly high reproductive capacity, capable of mating a dozen times a day and birthing hundreds of male Red Spiders.

If left unchecked, the number of spiders would soon swell like a monstrous tidal wave, rolling toward Black Lion City. Under such devastation, not a single living soul would remain.

This is an uncontrollable catastrophe!

As expected, at noon, an official government notice exploded through the city like a bombshell!

The gist was simple: Disaster is at the door, and every man must serve!

Each household is to keep one male, while all other able-bodied young men are to be conscripted into the army to crusade against the Matriarchs! It is a fight to the death!

Anyone who refuses will be executed on the spot!

It is currently the rainy season, and the Matriarchs are in their vulnerable reproductive period; it is the perfect time to exterminate them.

The government, fully aware of the urgency, acted with great speed, organizing the draft that very same day.

At the Shen household, Chen Han and the family sat huddled together in silence, the atmosphere so stifling it was hard to breathe.

Chen Han's lips were pressed tight, his gaze deep and focused, his mind lost in thought.

Finally, Shen Wuren spoke: "Little Chen, I leave the family to you. As a father, I have nothing more to say."

"If I return from this, there will be twenty taels of silver. If I don't... there will be fifty."

Shen Wuren seemed to have aged ten years overnight; his temples were greying, and his once-vibrant eyes were now filled with a hollow stillness. The man who used to train with such vigor, the man who would never back down from a fight, was gone.

At this moment, he was nothing more than an aging uncle, worried for his descendants and squeezing out the last bit of value he had left.

"Father!"

Shen Wan'er, Shen Yue, and Lu were already sobbing uncontrollably, gasping for air.

Today might well be their final farewell.

Chen Han did not speak, nor would he ever dream of refusing.

He was now the pillar of this family; as long as he did not fall, this family could continue to survive.

Before leaving, Shen Wuren pulled Chen Han aside, his eyes filled with entreaty. "Little Chen, I had poor judgment in the past and gave you a hard time. I apologize... Wan'er is in poor health, and Yue'er is still so young..."

Chen Han naturally understood what he meant. In these chaotic times, abandoning one's family for personal gain was not an uncommon occurrence.

Shen Wuren was clearly worried about that very thing.

"Father, there is no need for such nonsense. I, Chen Han, am not that kind of man."

Chen Han interrupted him directly: "Rest assured. As long as I have a bite to eat, I will never let them go hungry."

Shen Wuren was stunned for a moment, then a radiant smile broke across his face. "Good, good, good. Little Chen, take care of yourself, and take care of them all..."

Shen Wuren left. The three women bid him farewell through their tears, hoping for a reunion in the future. Chen Han remained silent, his lips pressed together, watching that slightly hunched back disappear into the street, a complex surge of emotions rising within him.

He was a man of few words; when his mood was heavy or his emotions turbulent, he simply stayed silent.

The meaning behind his words was all in his gaze—no flowery promises, yet worth more than a thousand words. This was the greatest assurance he could give to put Shen Wuren's mind at ease before he marched to war.

······

Time flew by, and half a month passed.

Chen Han and Shen Wan'er continued their life of grueling daily labor, yet the fact that they could still eat their fill made them the envy of their neighbors.

This was largely thanks to the foundation Shen Wuren had built in his earlier years.

Brother Wang, who lived across the way, hadn't been able to put food on the table for days, forced to survive on rice husks.

A few days ago, he had sold his daughter to a wealthy family as a maid for five pecks of rice, at least ensuring she wouldn't starve to death with them.

His wife would often stand in the nearby dark alleys, intentionally opening her collar and batting her eyes at passersby, not even sparing Chen Han, their neighbor.

It was said that for a dozen copper coins, one could go inside and spend time with her.

Business in the inner city had also been affected like never before, though the overall order had not yet collapsed as completely as it had in the outer city.

For most, the Red Spider incident was a matter of life and death. Only a small number of high-ranking elites, who controlled powerful martial artists, could lead their retinues through the wilderness to flee to other cities.

The Black Mountain Gang, on the other hand, had secretly sent many martial practitioners and fighters to join the army crusading against the spiders.

Their relationship with Black Lion City was one of mutual dependence; if the city fell, while they might be able to flee like the wealthy elites, they would never be able to rise again. Any attempt to resume their old trade would inevitably be crushed by the joint efforts of local government forces and regional power brokers.

Unless forced by necessity, they would never leave Black Lion City.

Troops and reinforcements had been dispatched from surrounding cities and the Xu Kingdom capital; the heavy cavalry on black steeds were tall and imposing, forming phalanxes of a hundred men each before the gates of Black Lion City, a sight that truly shocked Chen Han, who had been watching from the sidelines at the time.

As for the outer city, it had descended into complete chaos. Upon learning of the Red Spider calamity, some commoners who lacked the means to cross the wilderness began robbing, raping, and even killing in the streets!

If not for the frequent patrols from the inner city, the entire outer city would likely have already become a dead zone.

[Taiji Health Cultivation Technique (Proficient): 90/500]

That evening, after Chen Han finished the last piece of exotic beast meat and attempted to practice his martial arts, the progress bar finally stopped at ninety.

On average, one jin of meat could grind out thirty points of proficiency.

But the meat was gone; without it, he could not practice, and the remodeling of his tendons and bones would stagnate.

Chen Han had originally thought this meat would be enough for his remodeling, but this stage was incredibly draining on his vital energy and blood; a fistful of meat was usually only enough for him to practice the Taiji Health Cultivation Technique for two hours.

This was a several-fold increase in consumption compared to when he was at the Chen Family.

"Silver... sigh, this is difficult."

Chen Han pondered for a moment, but after a long while, he still couldn't think of a good way to earn silver.

It made sense; he had been short on silver for so long that if there were a way, he would have thought of it already. The last time he held a massive fortune of two hundred taels of silver, it was only after killing a man for Master Bear and losing the use of an arm to get it.

Truly, one cannot get rich without a windfall.

"Should I go find another Black Mountain Gang underling to kill?"

The moment this thought appeared, Chen Han extinguished it. He had barely managed to kill Master Bear, a Mingjin martial artist, at the cost of his own arm; if he were unlucky enough to provoke a master of the Anjin realm, he would be dead without a chance of survival.

The Taiji Health Cultivation Technique was indeed causing massive changes in his body, and his meridians and bones were moving toward the state of a normal person.

But it wasn't enough, far from it; he hadn't even reached one-tenth of his state before the injury.

Unless it was an ambush, he couldn't even defeat a Mingjin martial artist.

Thump, thump, thump.

A knock on the door rang out, and Chen Han's heart tightened violently.

The outer city was in such disarray that he had seen people hacking others to death and forcibly seizing women in the streets with his own eyes; Chen Han's family didn't even dare to step outside.

"Little Chen, it's time to pay the protection fee today."

It was the Black Mountain Gang!

Chen Han opened the door, and sure enough, a rough-looking man appeared before him.

His features were distinct, his cheekbones prominent, and his lips were flushed red, as if he had applied rouge. He toyed with a floral fan in his hand, and his every gesture carried an air of delicate femininity that made one feel uncomfortable.

His name was Hou Chun, the man sent by Black Mountain Town to replace Master Bear, the new leader of this area. Although he was not as ferocious as Master Bear, he was still a ruthless character.

His ability to strip the bone and suck the marrow was no worse than Master Bear's.

With the current state of the city, he had become even more unscrupulous, practically pushing people to their deaths.

"Master Hou, hehehe, didn't we just pay a few days ago? You are so busy with ten thousand matters, perhaps you forgot."

Chen Han laughed foolishly.

A few days ago, Hou Chun had brought a group of men to collect silver—ten whole taels! If they didn't pay, they would be ransacked.

Forced by necessity, Chen Han had almost emptied his family's savings to scrape the silver together.

Hou Chun clearly knew how to prescribe the right medicine; he collected a few hundred wen from the poor, but for those like Chen Han who were slightly better off, he calculated exactly how much to squeeze.

He wanted to drain his family dry!

Moreover, Shen Wuren had gone to join the army; the pillar of the family for decades had left just like that, and the silver was naturally dwindling.

In these past few days, let alone practicing martial arts, even the white flour Chen Han ate had been replaced by bean rice that was hard to swallow.

After his little sister Shen Yue ate a few meals of it, her throat had become somewhat hoarse, and Chen Han felt the pain in his heart as he watched.

At this moment, Master Hou ignored him entirely, bypassed Chen Han, and entered the small courtyard. A large group of burly men followed him in, and among them was actually another Mingjin martial artist!

Master Hou looked around, assessing the conditions of the house, wondering how he could squeeze it dry.

With most of the city's officials and martial artists having gone to crusade against the Red Spider, and having dispatched many of their own men, the city was currently in a three-way standoff.

There were the various martial arts schools led by the martial arts family, the Chen Family; the powerful elites in the inner city who controlled the martial arts resources; and finally, the Black Mountain Gang.

Therefore, although they were short on silver, they didn't dare to go too far—at least not to the point of blatant street robbery like those lowly commoners.

"Oh?"

At this moment, Shen Yue entered his line of sight.

"This little girl is quite fresh and lovely."

He took small steps toward the young girl and examined her, while Shen Yue ran fearfully behind Chen Han.

Hou Chun suddenly smiled and muttered, "The world is in a bad state; perhaps one day an exotic beast will enter the city. Why not let this little girl come with me as a concubine? I will ensure she is safe and sound, with plenty to eat and drink."

"Fifty taels of silver, how about it?"