Who Wouldn't Call Him Master?

Wuling County.

The inner city.

Upstairs in a building outside the Canal Gang's headquarters.

"My lord, are we just going to let Lin Chu kill them?"

Jin Chuan, a lesser flag officer, stood beside Zhu Xiuwen, unable to bear it as the sounds of fighting within the headquarters gradually faded.

From beginning to end, he had watched Lin Chu infiltrate the Canal Gang, ambush and kill its leader, who had undergone Blood Exchange six times, then kill its deputy leader, who had undergone it five times.

Afterward, like a tiger among sheep, Lin Chu had killed the gang's martial masters who had undergone Blood Exchange three times or more, one by one. He had devoured their Qi and Blood and cultivation, completing his seventh Blood Exchange.

"Just dogs biting dogs."

Zhu Xiuwen stood with a hand on his saber, his expression calm:

"Over the past two years, the Canal Gang and the Firewood Gang have relied on the power of the Han and Ye Households of Yin Mountain Prefecture. They seem to have forgotten that this realm belongs to Great Qin, not to any one sect or faction."

"The Han and Ye Households also made a halfhearted effort to hunt down Jiang Yunhe, allowing him to escape time and again. Otherwise, how could things have come to this today?"

Having let Lin Chu live this long, he naturally had to make the fullest use of him.

A martial master who had undergone seven Blood Exchanges would not be difficult to capture.

"My lord, will Jiang Yunhe really come?"

Jin Chuan nodded slightly, somewhat puzzled:

"If he left Yin Mountain Prefecture long ago, wouldn't all these days of waiting be wasted?"

Even if someone cultivating the Wedding Robe Divine Art wanted even more to devour others who cultivated it, he couldn't be foolish enough to come here.

How cautious had Jiang Yunhe been over the past six months and more?

His ability to escape the Brocade-Clad Guard's pursuit and encirclement time and again showed both his strength and how cautious he was.

He couldn't knowingly head for a mountain where a tiger lurked.

"If Jiang Yunhe has his eye on Lin Chu, he'll have to find a chance to strike. Otherwise, once Lin Chu completes his eighth Blood Exchange, he'll be able to sense him."

"Then, even if he doesn't want to reveal himself, he won't be able to avoid it. He may even find himself hunted by Lin Chu."

Zhu Xiuwen shook his head slightly:

"But whether he comes or not no longer matters."

"The pacification commissioner has nearly finished dealing with the Five Dragons Cult. He'll come to Qingzhou within a month at most."

The best outcome would still be to capture Jiang Yunhe without troubling the pacification commissioner to intervene.

Over the past three months and more, he had gone out alone many times, traveling through Yin Mountain Prefecture's counties on several occasions, yet Jiang Yunhe had never attacked him.

Had Lan Ci not been certain, and had he not also believed that Jiang Yunhe was lurking in the shadows, waiting for a chance to act, he would not have tried to draw him out. Tonight might be when Jiang Yunhe was most likely to appear.

The higher Lin Chu's cultivation, the greater the danger he posed to Jiang Yunhe.

If he still did not appear, Zhu Xiuwen could only bear the blame for failing in his duties.

"The pacification commissioner is coming?"

Jin Chuan's spirits lifted as he thought of that man's iron-fisted methods-and of the lord who had saved him from a cultivator of the Wedding Robe Divine Art.

No wonder the hundred-household officer had said it no longer mattered whether Jiang Yunhe came.

Once a Great Grandmaster made a move, Jiang Yunhe would naturally have nowhere to hide.

Such abilities truly stirred his longing.

"You're about to complete your seventh Blood Exchange too. In a few days, you can take the title of chief flag officer."

Zhu Xiuwen glanced at him.

The boy had good talent, but he was far too green.

"Thank you, my lord!"

Jin Chuan saluted excitedly.

A chief flag officer's standing in Wuling County was second only to that of the two hundred-household officers.

By the time Lin Chu left, Jiang Yunhe still had not made a move.

"Go back. I'll follow Lin Chu."

Zhu Xiuwen frowned and secretly followed him.

The fish market.

With money, things were easy to arrange.

Xu Fan had bought a single-courtyard house in the fish market and properly changed his registration and household status. He was no longer a lowly household in the bottom three ranks.

Instead, he was listed among the middle three ranks: artisan, farming, and merchant households. His was a farming household.

He was now a man with a house and land of his own.

Xu Fan still spent his time on Peach Blossom Spring Lake, though he came to the fish market more often than before.

And every time he came, he brought a treasure fish.

This time was no exception.

His awning boat had barely reached the shore when the petty official who collected the fees hurried over, a fawning smile on his face.

"Master Xu, your fishing skills really are extraordinary. You bring one in every time."

Looking at Xu Fan's youthful face, he couldn't help feeling a little dazed.

He remembered how, a little over half a year ago, Xu Fan had been nothing more than one of the fish market's lowest fishermen, with a fishy smell that never left him.

Now, who saw Xu Fan without calling him "Master Xu"?

Half a month ago, the Canal Gang's upper ranks had been wiped out. Not one expert who had undergone Blood Exchange three times or more had survived, shaking the major forces of Wuling County.

One of the fish market's supervisors had also vanished without explanation.

The Canal Gang's grip on the fish market had weakened, and it had sent only a martial master who had undergone Blood Exchange once to serve as supervisor.

Now, the strongest person in the fish market was the fisherman before him. Even the man in charge and the supervisor had to call him "Master Xu" when they saw him.

"Just luck."

Xu Fan smiled, tossed him three large copper coins, and carried a Single-Horned Pomfret into the fish market.

"Master Xu, you've brought another treasure fish?"

Li He, the man in charge, rose and personally took the Single-Horned Pomfret to the scales, acting quite familiar with him.

He knew that the Han Household in Yin Mountain Prefecture's capital intended to reorganize the Canal Gang and personally put its own descendants in charge of Peach Blossom Spring Lake, this cornucopia.

He also knew that the Han Household in the prefectural capital was powerful, and that this generation had produced a genius on the Hidden Dragon Ranking who had become a True Disciple of the Clearwater Sect.

The Household was now at the height of its fame.

But none of that had much to do with him.

No matter how the Han Household's descendants viewed Xu Fan in the future, whether they treated him as before or suppressed him, it was not something a Qi and Blood martial artist could concern himself with.

The Han Household was too far away for now, while he had to deal with Xu Fan often. Naturally, he couldn't be foolish enough to offend him.

"I was lucky enough to catch another."

Xu Fan smiled and nodded.

Li He rolled his eyes at that. It really was luck-luck every single time.

"Four jin and two liang. That's forty-two taels. After deducting half, you get twenty-one."

He deftly took out the silver and handed it over.

"Thank you."

Xu Fan accepted it and, without so much as looking at it, turned and headed for the Rosy Cloud Tavern.

Since the Canal Gang's upper ranks had been wiped out half a month ago, its control over the fish market had weakened, and its cut had dropped back to what it had originally been.

It was winter, when fish were hard to catch and the lake's strange beasts were fiercer.

The reduction had also allowed all the fishermen to breathe a sigh of relief.

He bought a roast chicken and two jin of cooked beef to take away from the tavern, then carried a jar of warmed yellow wine back to his newly purchased courtyard.

Seven or eight people were kneeling before the courtyard gate.

Judging by their clothes and appearances, they were all fishermen he had seen a few times, and all were shivering on the ground from the cold.

Among them was Old Man Xu, whom he knew somewhat better. A boy of thirteen or fourteen knelt beside him.

Xu Fan frowned and passed through without a word, opening the courtyard gate.

Over the past half month, many fishermen had knelt before his gate, hoping he would take on a few disciples.

There had been more before. Those here now were the ones who persisted in coming to kneel every day.

"Master Xu, please take my Gensheng as your disciple!"

"Master Xu, the martial masters in town have said my Yudan has a talent for martial arts. Please take him in!"

"Master Xu, please take him in. Let him work like an ox or a horse for you, or even serve you tea and water, so long as he can stay by your side."

"Brother Xu, I..."

As the others spoke one after another, Old Man Xu raised his head, his eyes full of longing.

But before he could finish, Xu Fan had already entered the courtyard.

"You should all go back."

"Brother Xu said he won't take any disciples."

Old Man Kong came out of the courtyard. After speaking, he looked at Old Man Xu and sighed:

"Old Xu, you too. You can't force this."

Back when Brother Xu's parents had died in the lake, he had fished there all alone, yet no one had offered him a helping hand.

Since everyone had been struggling and couldn't offer that hand, why do this now?

"I..."

Old Man Xu stammered, then finally sighed. He struggled to his feet and left dejectedly with his grandson.

The grandson supporting the old man was furious. He had knelt for half a month already, so what gave Xu Fan the right to refuse him as a disciple?

"Grandpa, if he can become a martial master, so can I. I'll make him regret it!"