Yuling River Market

"Father... Father."

Wang Weiyang called out cautiously.

Wang Xiong rubbed his temples, his mood at its absolute worst.

Although Wang Lie's talent was poor, he was still a cultivator at the Second Level of Qi Gathering. To ordinary people, he was like a dimensional strike.

Normally, he could also share a lot of family business with Wang Xiong.

But now, he was missing, his fate unknown.

"Uncle might just be imprisoned by the Yang Family, it's not necessarily..."

"Hmph!"

Wang Xiong snorted coldly. "Have you ever met Yang Guanfeng?"

"Uh... your son has not."

"Hehehe, that guy is a wolf that eats people without spitting out the bones! If you fall into his hands, how could there be any way to survive!"

Wang Xiong's eyes flashed with ferocity, clearly having dealt with Yang Guanfeng before.

Upon hearing this, Wang Weiyang became a little timid. "Then what should we do now? Won't the Yang Family come to our door to demand an explanation?"

Hearing his son speak such amateurish words, Wang Xiong felt a surge of disappointment.

How could the Yang Family come to demand an explanation? Wouldn't that just give them an opportunity to frame them?

Now that three days had passed with no news, it was clear that the Yang Family had killed your people and acted as if nothing had happened. And the Wang Family couldn't show any displeasure, they couldn't even ask about it.

"Sigh... the Yang Family won't come. We've been defeated by them this time."

Wang Xiong sighed helplessly. "Until your brother returns home to visit, you are not to leave White Stone Town. Just cultivate diligently at home, understand?"

"I understand, Father. I know."

After Wang Weiyang left, a hint of exhaustion appeared on Wang Xiong's face.

He was not like Yang Guanfeng, who had a powerful and reliable Elder Yu assisting him.

The Wang Family's current standing was all built by him alone.

Now that another key figure was lost, how could he not feel agitated and distressed?

However, after a moment of lamentation, a trace of relief appeared on his face.

Fortunately, both of his sons possessed cultivation aptitude.

His younger son was even favored by a sect and secretly taken up the mountain to cultivate, his future was incredibly bright.

"If our strength is inferior, we must endure and yield for now."

As the Patriarch, Wang Xiong certainly did not lack composure and patience.

Four days after Wang Lie's death, the Yang Family opened their fourth shop in White Stone Town.

To everyone's surprise, the Wang Family Patriarch, Wang Xiong, personally attended the opening ceremony. He seemed to have found a kindred spirit in the old cultivator from the Yang Family, and they conversed with great pleasure.

To outsiders, it appeared that the Wang Family had reached some form of cooperation with the Yang Family.

But the true reason behind it was known only to them.

Little Pine Mountain, Yang Family Courtyard.

The Yang Family's scale had now expanded several times compared to when they were in Willow Leaf Town.

As a transit hub between the two towns, in addition to their existing shop businesses, the Yang Family had opened up thousands of acres of land, and also established a restaurant and an inn for traveling merchant caravans to eat and rest.

With this series of operations, their daily revenue increased by forty percent, and their lives became even more prosperous than before.

While managing agriculture and commerce, Yang Xiaolei, under Yang Guanfeng's instruction, also began training the clan soldiers.

In the future, the Yang Family's influence, scale, and population would only grow larger. At that time, it would be impossible for all disturbances to be resolved by clan cultivators.

Cultivators were the highest combat power of the family. Unless it was a major crisis that threatened the family's survival, they should not easily intervene.

Yang Guanfeng informed Elder Yu about Wang Lie's trespassing into the forbidden area.

Elder Yu had no objections to his handling of the matter, but regarding Chen Yang, he was somewhat unsure.

"It's also almost time for the Yuling River market to open. I'll take a trip there, find a Formation Master, and rearrange the formation for the Qi Gathering Mid-stage forbidden area. I'll also inquire about this stone," Elder Yu said.

Yang Guanfeng nodded. "That would be good."

Then, the two began to sort through the forbidden area's treasure vault.

Since following Yang Guanfeng, Elder Yu had traveled to the immortal market at Yuling River once every year.

This was to purchase resources needed for cultivation, and at the same time, to sell some items to obtain spirit crystals to pay the dynasty's taxes.

After a thorough inventory, the Yang Family now had a total of seventeen spirit crystals, twenty-three talismans of the Qi Gathering level, eight healing pills of the Qi Gathering level, one damaged spirit artifact, and then various miscellaneous materials.

These were things that Yang Guanfeng and Elder Yu had accumulated bit by bit over the years of working outside.

Compared to other families, the Yang Family's greatest asset was Elder Yu's existence.

He was a former sect cultivator, experienced and knowledgeable, and still remembered some of the cultivation techniques and spells from his previous sect.

Otherwise, with the Yang Family's financial resources, they couldn't afford a cultivation technique that could cultivate to the Core Formation Realm even if they sold everything they owned.

Hiring a Formation Master would cost at least twenty spirit crystals.

The two of them calculated and gathered a pile of items, estimating they could sell them for around fifteen spirit crystals.

"As for the remaining money, Elder Yu, you can spend it as you see fit."

"Patriarch, rest assured, we won't let our family lose money."

Elder Yu tied the package around his waist and set off for Yuling River that same day.

After three days of travel, he saw the familiar river and sighed, "Old friend, we meet again."

He remembered how he had drunk his fill from this very river in the past, and every time he came here, he felt a sense of emotion.

Continuing west from Yuling River led to Wangyue City.

It was the only city in the vicinity, governing eight towns including Willow Leaf Town and White Stone Town.

Wangyue City wasn't particularly large, and its City Lord was a cultivator at the Late Qi Gathering stage.

At the same time, he was also the owner behind the Yuling River market.

The Yuling River market was located on a small island in the middle of the river. It opened once every quarter, and cultivators from all over the Wangyue City area would come here to trade and buy.

If you had the ability, you could choose to cross the river by foot, or you could take a boat.

Elder Yu, at his age, naturally chose to take a boat.

"Elder Yu, you've arrived as well."

He was a regular customer here, and as soon as he boarded the boat, someone recognized him.

The person greeting him was a cultivator from the Nanshan Li Family, named Li Cheng.

The Li Family was significantly larger than the Yang Family, with a Patriarch at the Qi Gathering Perfection stage. Conservatively, they had at least ten cultivators in their family.

"Young Master Li, long time no see." Elder Yu returned the greeting politely.

Although they were at the same cultivation level, Sixth Level of Qi Gathering, the other party was much younger, and it was a sure thing that he would break through to the later stage in the future.

"It has indeed been a long time. I heard your Yang Family has also moved out of the town?"

The Yang Family had already relocated for over three months, and the surrounding powers were all aware of it; it wasn't a secret.

"Yes."

Elder Yu nodded. "It's also thanks to our ancestors' blessings. We have a young one in the family with decent talent who luckily broke through to Qi Gathering."

"So that's how it is. Then it's understandable you had to move. Otherwise, the taxes would be too high to bear, much like our Li Family's situation back then."

Li Cheng nodded, then asked, "Then, Elder Yu, what brings you here this time?"

Facing Li Cheng's probing, Elder Yu didn't deliberately hide anything.

"After relocating, we had some issues with our formations, so I was thinking of hiring a Formation Master to rearrange them."

"Oh? You're here for formations too? Then we can travel together."

Further inquiries revealed that Li Cheng was also here because his family had recently opened a new courtyard and needed someone to set up a protective formation for the Late Qi Gathering stage.