"This..." Lu Chen pondered briefly. "How about you let me think it over, City Lord?"
"Fine, I'll wait for your answer. If you truly don't want to, that's alright too—I'll help you file the report. But the tax rate for selling goods yourself is far higher than you imagine. The capable must work harder, so don't feel wronged."
"Understood!"
Lu Chen changed the subject. "Right, you just said, 'Step on the Sun family's head and rise to the rank of a great clan'—what exactly does that mean?"
"You brat, you've seriously never even heard of temple-breaking?"
"Temple-breaking?"
"Sit."
The two sat down on the sofa, and Yu Feng explained, "Simply put, an ordinary family only needs enough military merit and capital to rise into the ranks of the newly wealthy. But beyond that, every step is different.
"For example, advancing into a great clan."
He paused before continuing, "In a second-tier city like ours, there can be no more than four great clans.
"So when a newly wealthy family beneath them becomes strong enough and wishes to advance into a great clan, they must undergo the ritual of temple-breaking.
"In other words, they must challenge and defeat an existing great clan before taking its place."
"There's a rule like that?" Lu Chen frowned slightly. "I really don't know much about this. I'll have to make up for it later. But with my current strength, defeating a great clan should be as easy as turning over my hand. Wouldn't that count as successfully breaking a temple?"
Yu Feng laughed. "Silly boy, what does temple-breaking have to do with mortals? The key lies in the battle between the gods behind the temples!"
He gave an example. "Say your Lu Clan Temple wants to break the Zhao family's temple. Then the temple-breaking battle