The Zhao Family Submits, Growing Medicinal Herbs!
Inside the ancestral shrine of the Zhao Residence.
Zhao Zhen and a group of lineage elders stood on both sides.
The atmosphere was heavy and desolate; someone wanted to speak, but it felt as though their throat was stuck, unable to make a sound. No one spoke, and they just stood there quietly for a long time...
Some elders had gloomy expressions, while others had tears in their eyes...
Following their gazes.
Seventeen- or eighteen-year-old Zhao Tian was lying coldly on the ground at this moment...
His eyeballs had been gouged out and his limbs had been hacked off...
His abdomen had been slashed open, and his internal organs were nowhere to be found...
Half of his tongue had been severed and made into a necklace, hanging around his neck...
His seven orifices had been filled with molten lead, and he had been suffocated to death...
Such a tragic state made people's hearts leap with fright.
"..."
"Uncles, elder ancestors, the old ancestor is dead, and Xiaotian is dead too..."
"We clenched our teeth and held on for three years, but the Zhao Household can no longer afford it. The clansmen have had a hard time these past few years, and they are bullied from time to time."
"We can barely keep up with basic food and clothing either..."
"So..."
"I plan to move the entire lineage outside the town and defect to the Qin Family... You are all lineage elders, and I want to hear your opinions, uncles..."
The hoarse voice was like withered grass in the wind.
Zhao Zhen was only a little over thirty years old, yet more than half of his hair had turned white, his entire body emanating an air of twilight.
After a long silence--
Finally, someone stepped forward and patted Zhao Zhen on the shoulder.
Being family, everything was understood without words. This was a kind of trust, an unconditional trust toward blood ties...
With the first came the second and the third...
The Zhao lineage elders did not say another word.
Yet it was as if they had spoken a thousand words. This trust was also a responsibility to shoulder the future of the lineage!
A few days later.
Seventy or eighty people, top and bottom of the Zhao Household, mighty and majestic, migrated toward the foot of Muxuan Mountain...
Zhao Zhen went alone to meet Qin Lu.
Climbing along the mountain path.
Zhao Zhen looked at the increasingly prosperous Qin Family, inevitably feeling some emotional sighs. Only a few years had passed, and the Qin Family had already established itself independently...
While his Zhao Household had plummeted...
In the main hall--
Zhao Zhen finally saw Qin Lu.
He remembered that their last meeting was six years ago, when the Qin-Zhao Clan was married off...
Only that last time, they were guests, the lofty aristocratic clans, whereas now, they were humble stray dogs begging for food.
Recalling the past--
At that time, Qin Lu had just stepped into the first stage of True Martial, and later when attacking the Han Family, he was barely at the second stage of True Martial.
Yet seeing him today, it was already a world of difference...
Zhao Zhen discovered that he could no longer see through Qin Lu's realm.
This kind of Qi--
He had once only felt it from the old ancestor. In other words, Qin Lu's cultivation had at least reached above the fourth stage of True Martial!
Calculating the time, only seven years had passed.
A fourth-stage True Martial expert at twenty-seven-Zhao Zhen had never witnessed such talent before.
At the same time--
He also felt fortunate for his own choice.
If Qin Lu possessed fourth-stage cultivation, it would be sufficient to shelter his Zhao Household and secure peace for a region...
Yet equally.
The strength of both sides had also pulled open a huge chasm, akin to a natural moat...
"Qin..."
Zhao Zhen just opened his mouth, wanting to pull for some familiarity, when Qin Lu gestured for him to stop.
Following that--
Qin Lu stated bluntly: "Brother Zhao, let's dispense with the polite pleasantries."
"You and I manage household affairs as the pillars of our respective lineages, so I can understand your thought of scheming for the benefit of the lineage."
"Even though you and I are connected by marriage, it is ultimately a matter of profit above all."
"How to choose-that entirely depends on you..."
"Although I, Qin Lu, can protect you and even cede a plot of land for the Zhao Household to rest and recuperate, but... on what grounds?"
"On the grounds of your Zhao Household's face? Or perhaps the Qin-Zhao Clan has given you the backbone?"
Hearing this--
Zhao Zhen smiled bitterly.
Right, on what grounds?
Migrating the entire lineage to defect-would they necessarily receive good treatment? Not necessarily.
Qin Lu's cultivation was profound nowadays, and the Qin Family monopolized a mountain all to themselves. The statuses of both sides were fundamentally unequal, so he naturally lacked the qualifications to negotiate terms...
What remained was nothing more than submission.
Defection and submission might seem similar, but their underlying meanings were diametrically opposed.
Submission, to put it bluntly, meant becoming slaves with the entire lineage!
"Household Head, Zhao understands."
"I, Zhao Zhen, representing the eighty-seven people of the Zhao Household from top to bottom, starting today, voluntarily become the vassal lineage of the Qin Family, to be driven by them!"
"In addition, the cultivation methods, books, and wealth inherited within the lineage shall all belong to the superior clan."
"Using the entirety of our lineage in exchange for a chance at our lineage's continuation..."
"I still hope the Household Head will grant permission!"
With that finished--
Zhao Zhen bowed his head, presenting the cultivation methods of his Zhao Household with both hands...
This was the fundamental basis upon which the Zhao Household established itself!
Hearing the satisfactory reply.
Qin Lu raised the corner of his mouth and helped Zhao Zhen up.
"What are you saying."
"From now on we are all family, and when the Zhao Household is in trouble, how could I not help?"
"The open land in East Village is ample, so I shall grant it to your Zhao Household as a place to settle down. As for those inherited items, you can send them up the mountain later."
Speaking of this--
Qin Lu seemed to remember something else and said:
"Right."
"I heard that the Zhao Household is adept at searching mountains and exploring treasures, and proficient in cultivating medicinal herbs..."
"Why don't Brother Zhao dispatch a few veteran herb farmers up the mountain in a few days? This Muxuan Mountain of mine happens to lack a patch of land for raising medicine."
"You also know that my Qin Family has a massive demand for refining medicine..."
After listening to Qin Lu's account--
Zhao Zhen opened his mouth, words reaching his lips, yet he could not refuse in the slightest.
Since resistance was impossible, he naturally had no choice but to lower his head and assent.
"I obey the Household Head's command."
A moment later--
Once the discussions were settled.
Zhao Zhen retraced his steps and went down the mountain, silent the entire journey with the long road as his companion.
How could he not know the price of submission...
It was simply that circumstances were stronger than people.
Qin Lu's rate of rise was too fast, already far exceeding his expectations. Today, if he dared to utter a single "no" word,
he probably wouldn't even be able to walk out of this Muxuan Mountain!
His Zhao Household had only him left as the sole martial artist; he could not die, and he did not dare to die.
If he died, then the Zhao Household would truly perish completely!
Just like the Han Family-when the tree fell the monkeys scattered, and wanting to gather them into a lineage again would be as difficult as ascending to heaven...
Rather than being like this--
It was better to submit to the Qin Family. At least the lineage was preserved, the heritage was protected, and he even had the backing of the Qin Family.
His Zhao Household might not fail to take things a step further!
As for the Qin Family--
Given Qin Lu's rate of rise, he would inevitably not be trapped in this tiny patch of land in the future.
Bayi was bound to change its skies...
A few days later-Muxuan Mountain.
On the southern side of the mountain waist, tea trees were planted, forming a tea plantation.
As for the eastern side, well-field systems were cleared.
Several elderly Zhao clansmen meticulously farmed the fields, burying fallen leaves from time to time to keep them moist and thereby accelerate decay and decomposition...
This kind of field preparation was meant to transform them into humus.
Simulating the environment of deep mountains and old forests, and using this as a foundation to serve as a hotbed for numerous medicinal herbs, especially herbs of the ginseng variety.
From then on, they only needed to plant in batches.
Ten years later--
The first batch of ten-year-old medicine would be harvested, and every year thereafter another crop, repeating in an endless cycle.
Although the yield was not large, its virtue lay in longevity.
And the Zhao Household.
Having fallen to this state, how was it not also constrained by the development of the medicine fields?
Because medicine fields needed to be carved out among the mountains.
The Wei Family had occupied the wilderness, using that as bait to lure and kill Zhao Tian...
Time and fate-in the end, they were restricted by others and played the wedding dress for someone else...