CH 132

Chapter 132 – Young Master

A clamor could be heard outside of the beast arena. Jin Wuyou furrowed his eyebrows and said coldly, “Who’s making such a racket? Didn’t I tell you all before that when I am punishing a slave, no one is to enter the beast arena?”

A slave who was rather favored by Jin Wuyou steeled their resolve and came forward. “Seventh Young Master, Emissary Ye has arrived.”

When Ye Zhaixing went to the Youyang Dao Palace, Prince Xing, also known as Zhang Keyu, had granted him the title of Ruyang Emissary. As a result, all of the clans referred to him as Emissary Ye.

“So it’s brother-in-law,” Jin Wuyou said. Although he was young, he had a clever mind. He no longer paid attention to the beast cage and walked towards the outside of the hall. “Let’s see what brother-in-law is here for this time.”

Several slaves came with him, following at a respectful distance.

“Wuyou, you’re still playing around with such dull, uninteresting things?” Ye Zhaixing said as he entered the beast arena and glanced around at the scene before averting his gaze. “Today, the Regional Lord and the Patriarch of the Xu Clan held a meeting for the Council of Elders. The Regional Lord issued an order to the Region, commanding all clans to immediately organize their troops and proceed towards the Lin’an Region seven days from now. The official document of the regional order will likely arrive soon.”

Then, he gestured at Jin Wuyou and said, “The Regional Lord specifically mentioned your name, instructing you to go as well.”

Jin Wuyou nodded and said, “Since you’ve gone through the trouble of coming here personally to notify me, I’ll be there right on time. Please give my regards to Sister Yan.”

Ye Zhaixing voiced his assent and said with a smile, “Your Sister Yan is always concerned about you. Right before I came here, she made sure to tell me that you hadn’t gone to see her in quite a number of days now.”

Jin Wuyou gave a mysterious smile and pointed to a grand hall outside of the beast arena. “Brother-in-law, I’ve been researching something fun for the past several days. Would you care to try something a little novel?”

“Hm?” Ye Zhaixing raised an eyebrow as he looked at Jin Wuyou with a gleam in his eyes. “Since when did you start to speak in riddles, little brat? Why don’t you hurry up and show me what it is?”

Jin Wuyou was the youngest son of Jin Qingzhao. He was highly intelligent, far more so than ordinary people. The Jin Clan valued him greatly, and he was widely referred to as the Seventh Young Master among the people of Ruyang Region.

But no matter how intelligent he was, he had a cruel and bloodthirsty temperament. If he was even slightly displeased with a slave or maid servant, he would torture them to death. He was young, but that only made the ordinary citizens of the Ruyang Region even more afraid of him.

… …

As the rule of the provincial government over their respective Regions became even more lenient, many clans were beginning to stir restlessly and have subversive thoughts. The Ruyang Region’s Xu Clan was just one of these clans.

Last year, Zhao Huichun of the Yecheng Region had mustered up a force consisting of several Xiantian martial artists and a sizable number of Houtian martial artists and wiped out the Gao Clan of the Gaoyang Region.

Following that, another two clans in the neighboring Regions fell at the hand of the Zhao Clan. After the incident, the Imperial Courier of Prince Xing arrived and conveyed a simple message, only stating that he would be levying a tax on them.

Under the implicit favor of You Province’s government, the Xu Clan’s growth and expansion had been unhindered in the last several years. This gave some ideas to the Regional Lord Xu Chaoyang and the Elders of the Xu Clan.

After all, the Ruyang Region now had as many as 3 Xiantian martial artists, and they had more than 10 half-step Xiantian martial artists! The Zhenhai Army had already changed its name to the Ruyang Army and expanded to a force 800 strong, gathering practically all of the elite martial artists in the entire Ruyang Region.

The Grand Elder of the Xu Clan’s Council of Elders, Xu Qinying, had received a Spirit Gathering Herb from the Youyang Dao Palace three years ago, which allowed him to break through to become a Martial Technique Xiantian and increase his lifespan by 200 years.

The Regional Lord of Ruyang Region, Xu Chaoyang, managed to rank up to a Martial Technique Xiantian two years ago by relying on his Grade 5 Dao Channels talent. This also gave him another 200 years of lifespan.

Xu Qingcheng, from the branch family of the Xu Clan, also had Grade 5 Dao Channels, and she broke through to the Martial Technique Xiantian stage through her own efforts, similarly gained 200 years of longevity. She was cultivating the qi controlling method, Shangqing Qi.

The reason why the Xu Clan was able to have so many people break through to the Xiantian stage was clearly linked to Daoist Lord Qingxin and Prince Zhang Keyu. Their favor, intentional or otherwise, couldn’t be disregarded in this matter.

Daoist Lord Qingxin was at the peak Sea of Qi stage, and the mortals’ Xiantian stage was only equivalent to the profound cultivators’ Cleansed Meridians stage. Although Daoist Lord Qingxin was poor, he gave them several Spirit Gathering Herbs, which he had brought from the Human Realm. This made it a rather simple matter for half-step Xiantian mortals to break through to the Martial Technique Xiantian stage.

Xu Chaoyang had been in contact with Zhao Huichun of the Yecheng Region, who was another Martial Technique Xiantian. Taking advantage of the timing of their offensive, Xu Chaoyang was eyeing the Guo Clan of the Lin’an Region, who still had only one Martial Technique Xiantian to this date. They likely wouldn’t be able to block the offensive of the Ruyang Region’s Xu Clan.

… …

Ye Zhaixing left the Jin Clan’s estate and got on his luxurious horse-drawn carriage. Through the window curtains, his gaze fell upon the grand hall that he was in earlier. He clearly hadn’t been able to enjoy himself to the fullest just now.

Glancing over at the bodyguards by his side, his gaze turned cold as he said, “Inform the newer bodyguards that they are not to speak of this matter to Yan’er, otherwise…”

“Understood, Young Master.”

“Yes, sir.”

The other bodyguards nearby kept silent out of fear, hurriedly nodding their heads.

Two of the bodyguards among them were from his own clan, so they referred to him more informally as sir, and not Young Master.

(TL: There are many Chinese honorific titles that don’t have English equivalents, so some of the meaning in the names is lost in translation. 姑爷 or gu’ye, which I translated as Young Master, is the term used by people from the family of his wife, Xu Yan, to refer to him, an in-law. ‘Sir’ here refers to 公子, or gongzi, which is usually used to refer to the son of a noble family.)

“Let’s go then,” Ye Zhaixing said.

The horse-drawn carriage began to move, accompanied in the front and back by around a dozen attendants. The few people closest to the carriage were newly admitted members of the Ruyang Army. Their expressions were solemn, and every word and action of theirs was filled with propriety, clearly signifying their status as elite Houtian stage martial artists.

Ye Zhaixing looked out the window at the large pavilion complex of the Jin Clan’s estate and let out a sigh.

After the migration of the Guo Clan and the extermination of the Bai Clan, the only remaining big clans in the large Ruyang Region were the Xu Clan and the Jin Clan.

The Jin Clan had always been blindly following the Xu Clan, and by relying on the growth of the Xu Clan, their development in recent years was also extremely fast. They already had the air of a large regional clan.

Meanwhile, the Ye Clan was only a small aristocratic family, so they could only be assimilated into the Xu Clan as a subservient clan. Although he had Grade 3 Dao Channels and immeasurable future prospects, the Ye Clan as he knew it didn’t exist anymore.

When he thought back to the pleasures in that grand hall just now, Ye Zhaixing couldn’t suppress a fiery desire from bubbling up within him. He was looking out the window and happened to spot a couple in plain clothes walking by. The young married woman still had a tender, beautiful complexion. He immediately told his attendants to stop the carriage.

Seeing the carriage with the symbol of the Xu Clan on it come to a stop, the citizens nearby hurriedly started to leave or get out of the way as fast as possible.

In recent years, the younger generation of the Xu Clan had become increasingly arrogant and violent, and there were countless incidents where they had preyed on the common people. They still had a powerful reign over Ruyang City, and the taxes they levied on the commoners were only becoming heavier and more oppressive over the years.

The common people suffered terribly, to the point that the bottom rung of the citizens were barely scraping by.

“Bring her onto the carriage,” Ye Zhaixing instructed.

The two bodyguards closest to him were the close attendants that had stayed by his side in the two years that he was at the Youyang Dao Palace. They were also originally from the Ye Clan, so they understood him best. Seeing Ye Zhaixing eyeing that young married woman, there was no way they wouldn’t see through his intentions.

One of the bodyguards drew his sword and brought it down between the married couple. He used the tip of the sword to point at the young and beautiful married woman and said coldly, “You, get on the carriage.”

“Ah? Lord, we lowly citizens weren’t watching where we were going and must have accidentally ended up offending you. We will leave right away.” The plain-clothed man’s expression changed greatly when he saw the bodyguard. He immediately dragged his wife and positioned her protectively behind him, then got on his knees and began to kowtow.

“Hm? What a shame,” the bodyguard, who was a peak Houtian martial artist, said with a cold scoff. He swung his sword, sending fresh blood splattering. The man clutched his arm and let out a pained howl, then fell to the ground, unable to rise again.

“If you don’t come with us right this moment, the next swing of my sword will be taking his head,” the bodyguard said to the pretty married woman, wiping the bloodstains from his sword before returning it back in its scabbard.

“I-I’ll go with you…” the woman said with a painful, forlorn gaze. She helped her husband wrap up his wound before standing up and making her way onto the carriage, her body trembling the entire way.

“Xiao Yun!” the plain-clothed man shouted. But the sudden wave of turbulent emotion caused him to cough up a mouthful of fresh blood and lose consciousness.

Ye Zhaixing examined the married woman, who was wearing plain, coarse cloth garments. She was clearly a newlywed, looking to be only around 20 years old. The youthful, girlish look about her still hadn’t fully receded from her countenance. He was unable to stop himself from reaching his hand out and tearing off the married woman’s coarse cloth garments.

… …

At the Lin’an Region’s capital city…

“The Xu Clan is too cruel!” Guo Nansu said, his expression unsightly. He finished reading the urgent report and slammed it down on the table in front of him.

“Regional Lord, the Xu Clan has 3 Xiantians. Counting Zhao Huichun, they have 4 Xiantian martial artists. Adding on the 800 elite soldiers of the Ruyang Army… how are we supposed to stand against this?” The several Elders below him were also in despair. These people were almost all at the half-step Xiantian stage, but they had been stuck at this cultivation realm for several dozens of years, unable to advance even a step further.

“It’s all because of that one brat who disappeared several years ago. I don’t know how they were able to accomplish it, but they somehow managed to form a connection with that Daoist Lord. The entire Xu Clan has been receiving the generous favor of Prince Xing, who has been repeatedly bestowing treasures upon them. But my Guo Clan has nothing of that sort!” Guo Nansu exclaimed angrily. His tone gradually returned to calmness as he continued, “It would be better to just step down now. The example of the Gaoyang Region’s Gao Clan is still vivid in my mind. Our Guo Clan cannot become the next Gao Clan!”

“This…” The Elders all looked at each other, each harboring thoughts of their own.

There were several people who looked down, avoiding the gazes of the rest as they silently plotted how they could achieve the greatest personal benefit from the massive changes about to befall the Guo Clan.

As a peak Xiantian stage transcendent, Guo Nansu could clearly see through everyone’s expressions. He couldn’t help letting out a sigh, looking dozens of years older as he stood up and left the great hall.

As soon as he left, the Elders immediately hurried back to their own residences, summoned their people, and began their secret schemes.

There were some who had a knack for insubordination and directly reached out to the Xu Clan, declaring their intent to lead their subordinates to surrender and even offer their aid within Lin’an City.

Xu Chaoyang was standing atop the city walls, looking at the several dozen people standing behind him. The ones standing at the front were the Xiantian stage Xu Qingcheng and Zhao Huichun, but the half-step Xiantian stage Xu Xiao, Xu Chen, Xu Sanhuo, and so on were also present.

Behind them were Xu Fu, Xu Qian, and Xu Ziyu, who were part of the younger generation of the Xu Clan. They had already taken up posts within the Ruyang Army, and were now each leading over a hundred of the elite, well-trained troops of the Ruyang Army.

“Brother Zhao, we’ll be setting off now then,” Xu Chaoyang said. After he broke through and became a Xiantian transcendent, his lifespan increased by 200 years, making him look much younger. At present, his appearance had returned to that of a young man. Due to the long period of time he spent in power, his every action held an indescribable dignity.

“That’s fine with me, but the Guo Clan has already sent multiple messages voicing their intent to surrender. Brother Xu, you…” Zhao Huichun said casually, glancing over at Xu Chaoyang.

Xu Chaoyang’s gaze had a steely indifference to it. “How can one mountain have two tigers? How could I possibly let the Guo Clan go? I would have to leave them the Lin’an Region, but that would only forcefully confine my Xu Clan to the Ruyang Region.”

Zhao Huichun inwardly understood his meaning and didn’t pursue the matter further.

After all, when he had exterminated the Gaoyang Region’s Gao Clan, he had done exactly what Xu Chaoyang was intending to do now.

The Guo Clan had sent Zhao Huichun generous gifts, asking him to try putting in a word for them and persuade Xu Chaoyang to show them mercy. But was it really any of Zhao Huichun’s business whether or not Xu Chaoyang actually agreed in the end?

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