Contempt

"That mountain brother, shall we head to Dawan Village? He's only at the third level of Qi Induction. I doubt he'd dare go against us. We could make him send a few more mortals out to investigate when we get there. That'd be pretty good."

Seeing that Shen Chongshan had been silent for a long time, Shen Rongguang asked.

Shen Chongshan didn't respond.

He stared at the map, his brows slightly furrowed, as if lost in thought.

"No."

To Shen Rongguang's surprise, Shen Chongshan rejected his suggestion.

His gaze grew especially deep.

He reached out and pointed toward a spot on the map near Dawan Village.

"We're going here."

There,

the area marked Wu Family Market was displayed.

"Wu Family Market?"

"Brother Shan, isn't that outside the Shen Clan's territory? Why not go to Dawan Village?"

Shen Rongguang glanced at the map,

then looked up, his expression somewhat bewildered.

"Brother Rongguang, if I remember correctly, Shen Changchuan is the clan head's thirty-ninth son."

Just then, Shen Cunrui, the weakest of the five, who had been huddled silently in a corner, spoke up timidly.

"The clan head's son?"

"I've never heard of him. And if he's ended up in a godforsaken place like this, he must be nothing more than an ordinary concubine-born son, right?"

"Brother Rongguang is right. Shen Changchuan's mother was just a mortal maidservant. He was born by accident, and her status at the Shen Family Estate was very low."

"He's always been cautious, though, and never made enemies with anyone. He rarely even went out, usually staying at home. I hear he's obsessed with old travelogues and other miscellaneous books. He isn't strong, either—only at the third level of Qi Induction. He's utterly inconspicuous at the Shen Family Estate, to the point that many people don't even know the clan head has a son like him."

Shen Cunrui thought for a moment and spoke in a soft voice.

He seemed to know something about Shen Changchuan.

But clearly,

Shen Rongguang didn't care.

"Ha! So he's just a maidservant's bastard. No wonder he ended up in a dump like this."

At that,

disdain showed on Shen Rongguang's face.

He had every right to look down on him.

Although Shen Rongguang came from a branch of the Shen Clan, his lineage was a distant one.

Still, he was a legitimate son of that remote branch.

As for his status,

he naturally felt superior.

After all, maidservant-born children held the lowest status in a great clan. They were the sort who couldn't even be acknowledged openly.

Take his own family, for example.

His mother was a cultivator from another small cultivation clan, his father's properly wedded wife.

So the children she bore were the legitimate sons and daughters of their branch, and held the highest status in their household.

At the same time,

his father had more than one woman. Some were mortal women from royal families, great aristocratic households, or cultivation clans, who had become his father's concubines for one reason or another.

The children those concubines bore were illegitimate sons and daughters.

Shen Rongguang naturally outranked them. Regardless of age, they had to bow when they saw him.

Their ranks were clearly defined.

But below those illegitimate sons and daughters were others of even lower status:

maidservant-born children.

As the name suggested, they were the offspring of maids and servants.

They were usually bastards born to mortal maidservants with no backing whatsoever, who had been lucky enough to catch their master's favor.

Their status

was no different from that of servants and slaves.

For instance,

if the main wife of a household treated her husband's concubine-born children too harshly, beating and cursing them at every turn, outsiders might gossip that she was jealous and lacked the grace and dignity expected of a proper wife.

But if the children were maidservant-born, she could punish and beat them outright. Even breaking their limbs over some minor mistake wouldn't make anyone think it strange.

That was the status of a maidservant-born child.

If Shen Rongguang was in a bad mood at home and casually beat one to death,

his father would at most scold him a few times. He wouldn't even punish him.

In the eyes of most household heads, maidservant-born children hardly even counted as their own.

So after learning Shen Changchuan's status,

it was only natural that Shen Rongguang would look down on him, confident in his own standing.

"Heh, so what if he was lucky enough to be born into the clan head's main line? He's still nothing but a maidservant's bastard."

"And even if he is maidservant-born, he's still the clan head's son. If he'd known how to use that connection, and made good use of his bloodline, he wouldn't still be at the third level of Qi Induction, exiled to some remote backwater."

Shen Rongguang left the rest unsaid.

But his face

was unmistakably smug.

"Brother Shan, he's the clan head's son. Why don't we go to Dawan Village and pay him a visit, see what kind of bearing one of the clan's young masters has?"

Shen Rongguang looked toward Shen Chongguang in the center and spoke with interest.

His tone was ill-intentioned, especially when he said "young master." Listen closely, and the mockery was plain.

After Shen Rongguang finished speaking,

the young man called Shen Zhifei and another Shen Clan member also looked intrigued, turning their gazes toward Shen Chongshan.

Only Shen Cunrui seemed timid and hesitant,

his head lowered as he wondered what to say.

"If we find that thing on this trip, it'll be a great achievement. Don't invite unnecessary complications."

Shen Chongshan gave Shen Rongguang a long look, shook his head, and spoke gravely.

"The mission comes first. We don't have time to go fooling around."

"Don't go looking for trouble."

Knowing Shen Rongguang's nature,

Shen Chongshan added this, emphasizing the word "trouble."

"All right, Brother Shan. I'll do as you say."

Hearing the unspoken warning in Shen Chongshan's words,

Shen Rongguang could only agree reluctantly.

For now, he pushed his little schemes aside.

Shen Changchuan, in Dawan Village, naturally knew nothing of what had happened in the nameless mountain cave.

And at that moment,

he had no attention to spare for anything else.

Because

he was facing a major crisis.

The Crocodile Demon in the river had come ashore and attacked the village!

The sky was a dull gray,

and rain poured in torrents with no sign of letting up.

Water gathered into streams across the ground, washing over the earth. Now and then, mountain leeches could be seen writhing in the water.

Shen Changchuan wore a heavy rain cape and a bamboo hat. His boots splashed through the water, kicking up yellow-brown sprays as he hurried to the scene in just a few strides.

At a corner on the edge of the village,

half of a low, humble house had collapsed.

Han Qinhu was leading people inside to search, bringing out the mangled remains.

In the surrounding houses,

many people stuck their heads out to stare at the half-collapsed building, pointing and whispering,

their faces full of worry.