Three Yang

The sun blazed fiercely before the Zhang family compound.

Zhang Jian was drenched in sweat. He stood before rows of plum blossom stakes rooted in the earth, his body moving swiftly among them, steady and nimble.

After his Heavenly Dipper internal energy broke through the bottleneck of the Nourishing Essence stage, Zhang Jian followed Zhang Yi's advice and sought out Jian Yao to learn the body-tempering method of the Three-Yang Stance.

Now that his internal cultivation method had progressed as expected, Zhang Jian was naturally willing to explore external cultivation and body tempering as well.

If he possessed the talent for it, he was naturally willing to cultivate both internally and externally.

Several broad-backed, burly estate hands stood on the high platform, watching the scene in surprise. They could all see that Zhang Jian was improving at a remarkable pace.

In less than a few days, his Three-Yang Stance had already become exceedingly stable.

Such talent and aptitude were rare even among martial artists.

In truth, this was the result of Zhang Jian deliberately concealing his abilities.

The Fire Apricot had merged into his body, transforming his meridians and tempering his physique. His constitution had been completely remade.

As the Heavenly Dipper Boy Skill circulated within him, an astonishingly scorching force surged through his meridians. Faint crimson sparks of lightning flickered within it, carrying the vast, latent power of a slumbering volcano. As the Three-Yang Stance shook his skin, muscles, and bones, that power spread through his limbs and every corner of his body, swiftly tempering and stretching his sinews and bones.

Before the Zhang family gates, things soon became lively.

At some point, rumors had begun circulating through Fengxi County that the Zhang family possessed mountains of rice and flour larger even than Twin Phoenix Mountain behind Fengxi.

In particular, carts upon carts of copper coins and silver were hauled out each time, enough to form a procession stretching for several li.

It gave the Zhang family the feeling of becoming a target for all.

These rumors enraged many members of the Zhang family.

For such rumors to spread at a time like this, someone was clearly targeting the Zhang family.

Outside Fengxi County, the tide of refugees was growing ever larger. If unrest erupted, the Zhang family's businesses would be easily affected.

After the rumors spread, several elders of the Zhang family could no longer sit still. They hurried back to the Zhang residence and asked Zhang Yi to take charge and devise a plan. They could not allow the rumors to continue raging and disrupt the Zhang family's normal operations.

"Honored uncles, there is no need to worry. I know who spread these rumors. This nephew is confident that he will try to steal a chicken only to lose a handful of rice!"

"Patriarch, with those words from you, we can rest easy!"

"Indeed! The heart of whoever spread these rumors deserves condemnation. He is utterly detestable and must not be spared lightly!"

Standing at the gate, Zhang Jian saw several elderly men already in their eighties being helped out of the main hall by a few middle-aged men.

"Third Great-Uncle, Fourth Great-Uncle, Uncle Qi, Uncle Yu!"

Seeing them, Zhang Jian greeted them with a smile.

"So it's Jian!"

The old men looked up, smiles rising on their faces.

However, Zhang Jian did not speak with these elders for long. Zhang Yi had summoned him here in order to have him handle this matter.

When Zhang Jian entered the main hall, Zhang Yi was holding a teacup and drinking tea. His expression was calm; he did not appear worried about the rumors outside in the slightest.

"Father!"

Zhang Jian gave a slight bow and spoke first.

Zhang Yi gently set down his teacup and said in a relaxed tone, "You already know about the rumors outside. I want to know what you think."

This was a test, and perhaps also a lesson.

The meaning behind it was self-evident.

Zhang Jian's heart stirred, but he merely smiled. "Father, isn't it a good thing that someone is making a show of support for our Zhang family?"

Zhang Yi's expression paused. "What are you thinking?"

Zhang Jian said calmly, "Father has spent these years expanding the Zhang family's foundation. Leaving aside the forces we have built in secret, on the surface, the Zhang family is no weaker than those prominent clans in the prefectural city. Especially now that Sixth Uncle has passed the imperial examination and become a jinshi. In other words, we truly have nothing to fear from a few petty rumors!"

"What great clan or influential family has no reserves of its own?"

"On the contrary, we can use these rumors to raise the Zhang family's influence to an even higher level!"

"Oh? How is it that I have not noticed?" Zhang Yi asked without revealing anything in his expression.

"Father is testing your son."

Zhang Jian smiled faintly.

"Now that the tide of refugees is approaching, those spreading these rumors merely wish to seize this opportunity to strike at the Zhang family. Yet the Zhang family can also use this opportunity to win over people's hearts on a grand scale and stabilize our foundation!"

"We can also spread word that the Zhang family intends to establish waterwheel workshops and watermill workshops by the river. We will be willing to take in some able-bodied refugees and provide relief through work!"

"It is not a bad idea, but how many refugees can that truly gather?" Zhang Yi shook his head.

Zhang Jian gave a crafty smile. "But we can also take this opportunity, under the banner of protecting merchant caravans and local villagers, to contribute money and manpower toward establishing a guard force. It would also serve to guard against bandits!"

At those words, Zhang Yi immediately glared at Zhang Jian and rebuked him, "You bold brat! Do you know that privately establishing such an armed guard force is a crime punishable by beheading?"

Zhang Jian argued, "Father, we are not privately recruiting troops. We are doing this to prevent refugee bandits from striking at the Zhang family's foundation. I have heard that quite a few commoners in the surrounding area have already been harassed by refugee bandits lately. Establishing such a guard force would also help ease the court's burden. Once matters are over, we can completely 'disband' it ourselves!"

A strange light flickered in Zhang Jian's eyes. The Great Qian court did not permit local powerful families to recruit private soldiers, and there were specific laws against it, but that did not mean there were no loopholes to exploit.

Whenever local conditions grew unstable and banditry became severe, local officials could temporarily draw upon the local populace to organize soldiers and suppress the bandits, or grant certain great clans the right to form guards to a limited extent.

Especially since the Zhang family had a county commandant who held military authority.

A little flexibility would not make it difficult.

Zhang Yi stroked his beard slightly and glanced at Zhang Jian. "Will it truly be 'disbanded'?"

Zhang Jian smiled. "A thousand 'truths,' ten thousand certainties!"

Zhang Yi nodded. "Then that is fine. Although this matter cannot harm us, you must still watch your safety. Some ill-intentioned people have appeared around the Zhang family lately. Those people are merely reckless and insolent, but we still need to deal with them."

As he spoke, a trace of coldness surfaced in Zhang Yi's eyes.

Zhang Jian was somewhat eager to try. His Heavenly Dipper Boy Skill had recently begun to show results, and he could not help wanting to test himself in real combat. But he quickly suppressed that stray thought.

It was not that he was being overly cautious. Instead of wasting time showing off, he would be better off going to Zhang Yi's study and properly reading a few books.

Recently, he had been investigating the origins of the unknown runes in that scroll.

He had now found a clue.

Among Zhang Yi's collected books, he had found something similar. It was called Ancient Golden Script, said to be a form of writing created by ancient gods to expound the principles of heaven and earth, handed down from antiquity.

Fortunately, Zhang Yi's collection contained some books related to Ancient Golden Script. Yet they were fragmentary and scattered, so Zhang Jian could only steel himself and piece them together on his own.