"Since that girl from the Chu Family doesn't know whether she's dead or alive, send someone to let her reunite with her family below."
After laughing, Zhu Chaofeng casually waved a hand.
She was merely a woman. If she had fled, the Zhu Family could not be bothered to pursue her. She could not stir up much trouble.
But since she had not gone far and was still outside tarnishing the Zhu Family's reputation, then the Zhu Family could not simply ignore it.
"Indeed. That girl from the Chu Family pulled this stunt, and now everyone at North Sea Market is saying that our Zhu Family acts ruthlessly and tyrannically, leaving no room for mercy."
Zhu Chengan gently shook his head. "That girl is rather pretty, and Fourth Brother likes her quite a bit. If the Chu Family had known what was good for them, our two families might not have been unable to become in-laws."
"Oh? Fourth Brother truly likes her? Then capture her alive. Let Fourth Brother play with her for a few days, then send her on her way once he gets tired of her. Just tell Fourth Brother to be careful not to grow real feelings for her. After all, we did kill her entire family."
Zhu Chaofeng casually waved his hand. He had always spoiled his fourth son greatly.
Naturally, his favorite son was his most outstanding fifth son, Zhu Chengzong.
But his fifth son was far away at the Radiant Extreme Sect, and he only saw him once every two or three years. Therefore, the one he doted on most at home was his fourth son, Zhu Chengzu.
At that moment, a servant suddenly came in from outside to report that more news had arrived from North Sea Market.
Zhu Chengan took the message, and his expression immediately darkened.
"Eldest, what is it?"
Zhu Chengan snorted coldly. "Father, someone who doesn't know whether he's dead or alive actually accepted that Chu Family girl's task. He wants to wipe out our Zhu Family to the last man. I don't know who gave him the dog guts to do it!"
Zhu Chaofeng remained exceedingly calm. "There are many people in this world who don't know whether they're dead or alive. But remember, never underestimate any opponent.
"First, send someone to investigate and see what background and identity he has before making a decision."
"Father, is there any need to be so overly cautious? Maybe he's just some lout from elsewhere who doesn't know the Zhu Family's prestige, which is why he dared to do this."
Zhu Chaofeng snorted coldly. "Put away that arrogant mindset of yours! You must know that a cautious sailor can sail for ten thousand years.
"If a moment's carelessness causes our Zhu Family to fall into eternal damnation, you won't even have a chance to regret it then!
"You must know that some disciples of great sects roam the jianghu, shouting every day about upholding justice and righting wrongs. They love meddling in others' business most of all.
"How many forces have they destroyed to raise their own reputations?
"Go probe his background first. If he truly comes from a great sect, then invoke the Radiant Extreme Sect to reason things out, offer gifts, and respectfully send him away.
"If he has no background and is purely some muddleheaded fool who likes meddling in others' business, it won't be too late to kill him then!"
"Father, you are still the steady and prudent one. Your son was rash." Zhu Chengan hurriedly admitted his mistake.
Zhu Chaofeng lightly patted Zhu Chengan's shoulder and sighed. "Eldest, you are not young anymore. Sooner or later, this family will be handed over to you. With you being so arrogant, how can I be at ease handing the Zhu Family to you?"
"Father, you are still in the prime of life. Perhaps you can advance even further on the martial path. This family still needs you to painstakingly manage it," Zhu Chengan hurriedly said.
Zhu Chaofeng sighed. "The martial path is difficult. It was already a stroke of immense fortune for your father to cultivate to the Qi Forging Realm in this lifetime.
"What was our Zhu Family's background in Lone Mountain City back then? We were merely lowly butchers who slaughtered pigs and sold meat. Whenever we saw anyone from the Chu Family, we had to kneel, kowtow, and call them master.
"Your father was unwilling to live out his life like that, so I stole your grandfather's money and joined the army.
"It so happened that the Red Lotus Sect rebellion broke out in Qinzhou then. I followed General Yuwen and fought several victorious battles, only then managing to save up a little family foundation.
"Afterward, General Yuwen broke through Yanglin City, where the Red Lotus Sect headquarters was located, and gave the order to massacre the city. For three days, the blades were not sheathed.
"Your father looted a cultivation method and a Muscle-Transforming Marrow-Washing Pill from a noble clan's treasury. Only then was I reborn and remade, my aptitude reshaped, allowing me to attain this level of cultivation.
"However, the aptitude gained through pills had more or less reached its limit at the Blood-Shifting Realm.
"The reason I could enter the Qi Forging Realm in this life was entirely because Fifth Brother brought back a Radiant Extreme Qi-Congealing Pill when he returned last time."
Thinking of the past, a trace of reminiscence appeared on Zhu Chaofeng's face. "General Yuwen was truly a good man.
"Break one city, slaughter one city. Every soldier who followed General Yuwen got rich.
"Especially after Yanglin City was breached. General Yuwen considered how hard us common soldiers had fought alongside him, so he even captured those Red Lotus female soldiers and had everyone line up.
"Your father reacted too slowly then and could only stand at the very end of the line.
"Still, even though I was at the end, I will never forget that taste for the rest of my life. So moist."
Zhu Chaofeng shook his head and lightly patted Zhu Chengan's shoulder.
"Eldest, you must safeguard the foundation your father spent the first half of his life fighting tooth and nail to build.
"Remember, you must be cautious and careful in all things from now on. Never be arrogant or negligent."
"Rest assured, Father. There absolutely will not be a next time. I'll arrange for people to investigate that fellow's background right away."
Zhu Chengan cupped his hands and took his leave. Once outside, he immediately summoned three retainers and sent them to North Sea Market to investigate the situation.
At its roots, the Zhu Family was really still an upstart family.
Apart from Zhu Chaofeng, its core clansmen consisted of his five sons.
Thus, the Zhu Family kept quite a few retainers and thugs to handle matters for them.
The three Meridian-Unblocking Realm retainers rode straight down the mountain, preparing to investigate at North Sea Market exactly who had accepted Chu Hongshang's task.
The mountain road was rugged. With three horses traveling side by side, they nearly blocked the already narrow path completely, leaving only a passage barely wide enough for one person.
The travelers and merchant caravans along the way all pressed themselves tightly against the mountain wall to avoid them.
Though they cursed the others' tyranny inwardly, they dared to be angry but did not dare to speak.
Everyone in Lone Mountain City knew that they were retainers of the Zhu Family. In the Lone Mountain City of today, who dared offend the Zhu Family?
The three retainers grinned smugly. They had joined the Zhu Family early on and could be considered the family's confidants.
Now that the Zhu Family dominated Lone Mountain City, they too had finally risen to prominence.
At that moment, the three discovered that while everyone else was cautiously getting out of the way, a jianghu man dressed in black and wearing a conical hat stood ramrod-straight in the middle of the mountain road.
"Are you blind? Get the hell out of the way!"
The leading retainer shouted a curse. Seeing that the other party still did not move aside, he flew into a rage and directly urged his horse into a collision.
The next instant, the cry of a blade leaving its sheath echoed across the mountain road.
He did not even see when the other party had drawn his blade before his vision was engulfed by a brilliant, dazzling blaze of saber light.
This was the first time in his life he had seen such a fast blade, and it was also the last.
With one slash, both man and horse were cleaved directly into two halves!
Human blood and entrails mixed with horse blood and entrails, creating a scene of extreme gore and horror.
"A Qi Forging Realm expert!"
The remaining two retainers' expressions abruptly changed. They immediately turned their horses around and fled.
The violent inner force within Chen Yuan's acupoints suddenly erupted. Drops of water gathered into the force of raging billows.
With that powerful burst of force behind him, Chen Yuan leaped forward, moving even faster than the horses.
Two slashes descended through the air. In an instant, the two Zhu Family retainers' heads fell to the ground, while their horses continued galloping wildly down the mountain road with the headless corpses still on their backs.
The travelers and merchants on the surrounding mountain road were terrified senseless. They huddled against the mountain wall, not daring to move at all.
"If anyone is returning to Lone Mountain City, help me deliver a message to the Zhu Family: the man who will kill their whole family and wipe out their entire household has arrived."
After Chen Yuan spoke, he strode directly along the mountain road and entered Lone Mountain City.
Inside the Zhu Family residence.
Zhu Chengan rubbed his brow lightly, feeling vaguely unsettled.
But he did not pay it much mind, assuming only that his father's rebuke had put him in a poor mood.
Zhu Chengan was not young anymore. He now handled eighty percent of the Zhu Family's affairs, and the retainers and servants alike practically treated him as the family head.
Normally, he possessed considerable authority within the Zhu Family. Yet today, he had been reprimanded by his father, leaving him quite displeased.
He was just some fellow who did not know the height of heaven or the depth of earth. Sending someone to kill him would do. Why make it so troublesome?
Although he had followed Zhu Chaofeng's instructions, he still felt that the older his father got in the jianghu, the smaller his guts became, insisting on making a simple matter complicated.
At that moment, a servant suddenly ran in frantically.
"Eldest Young Master, disaster! Li Sheng and the others were killed on the road! That man even said he would wipe out our Zhu Family to the last man!"
Zhu Chengan's expression changed. He fiercely smashed the teacup at hand onto the floor.
"His dog guts reach the heavens! Does he truly think our Zhu Family is made of clay!?"
"Oh? Who angered you so badly, Eldest Brother?"
A young man around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, dressed in silver brocade robes and holding a gold-and-jade folding fan, stepped into the room and asked in surprise. He bore a fifty-percent resemblance to Zhu Chengan, yet was even more handsome.
He was the Zhu Family's fourth son, Zhu Chengzu, whom Zhu Chaofeng currently favored most.
"Someone killed our Zhu Family's retainers and wants to wipe out our Zhu Family to the last man. Do you think I should be angry?"
As he spoke, Zhu Chengan told Zhu Chengzu about how someone had accepted Chu Hongshang's task and wanted to wipe out the Zhu Family.
"That little bitch hasn't fled yet? Or is it that Eldest Brother dotes on me and knows I can't bear to let that little bitch die just like that? Hehehe."
Zhu Chengzu chuckled twice. "He's merely some brat who does not know the height of heaven or the depth of earth. Why should you get angry, Eldest Brother? Leave him to me.
"Didn't he come to Lone Mountain City? Then I'll make sure he comes but never returns!
"I'll first take some men and deal with him, then personally go to North Sea Market and capture that little bitch from the Chu Family."
Since his younger brother wanted to act personally, Zhu Chengan did not stop him.
The Zhu Family's Five Tigers included no spoiled playboys. The brothers had all begun diligently practicing martial arts from childhood, while also leaving the city to challenge various forces in actual combat.
Though Zhu Chengzu looked like a pampered young master, he simply enjoyed pleasure. His own strength was not weak; he had already reached the peak of the Blood-Shifting Realm.
"Fine, then take more men. Oh, and to be safe, bring Uncle Zhou as well. That man could kill Li Sheng and the other three, so his strength should not be weak," Zhu Chengan instructed.
Uncle Zhou possessed Qi Forging Realm cultivation. To be precise, he was not a Zhu Family retainer, but an Attendant.
Zhu Chengan was fairly cautious this time, but he overlooked one thing: Chen Yuan's strength.
Quite a few people had witnessed Chen Yuan killing the Zhu Family retainers.
No one knew whether they had failed to recognize that Chen Yuan was in the Qi Forging Realm, or whether they deliberately kept silent out of loathing for the Zhu Family's tyranny.
This led Zhu Chengan to subconsciously assume that the person who killed the Zhu Family retainers had some skill, but had not reached the Qi Forging Realm.
Had he known the other party was in the Qi Forging Realm, he absolutely would not have allowed Zhu Chengzu to go as well.
Before you continue