Chapter 35: Yunfeng Prefecture
“Young Master, you should have killed him,” Fu said to Zhou Donghuang as he entered the cabin.
“Are you worried that… leaving a witness will alert the Li family of the prefecture capital that I have killed Li Pingyun and Li Yan?”
Zhou Donghuang, who was about to start practicing, shook his head with a smile at Fu’s statement.
“Yes,” Fu admitted. He continued in a voice full of dread, “Young Master, the Li family of the prefecture capital is a preeminent family after all… it is said that they have two level-four adepts.”
Fu’s voice became glum as he spoke.
“Fu,” Zhou Donghuang said nonchalantly, “remember this… if I was afraid of the Li family, I would not have maimed that man from the Li family that day at Yunxuan Restaurant, and I would not have killed Li Pingyun and Li Yan today.”
So what if the Li family was a preeminent family?
If they riled him enough, he had no compunction about wiping them off the face of the planet!
“Anger a lord, and thousands will die” was a well-known proverb in the country.
There was a similar proverb that was known throughout the universe: “Anger a supreme lord, and millions die.”
Zhou Donghuang had been a supreme lord in his previous life.
Moreover, he had been one of the most powerful supreme lords and had been within touching distance of the Deity’s Tribulation stage.
…
The rest of the journey over the next few days was smooth and uneventful.
After four days of traveling and resting, Fu drove the carriage drawn by the ferghana horse into the prefecture capital as dusk fell. It was the eighth day of the first month of the year 1228 in the Ziyun Era.
Qingshan town was located in Yunfeng prefecture, and now they entered the prefecture capital of Yunfeng prefecture. Yunfeng prefecture was an inferior-level prefecture.
Within the country of Yunyang, there was only one imperial city under the direct control of the Imperial Court, and it was the largest city in the country of Yunyang.
The imperial city of the country of Yunyang controlled the entire country.
The country of Yunyang was further divided into nine kingdoms which were located around the imperial city like stars gathered around the moon.
Each kingdom was controlled by a king. Each kingdom controlled by a king contained many prefectures which likewise surrounded the royal city. The royal city was the city directly controlled by the king’s household.
Prefectures were classified as superior-level, intermediate-level, or inferior-level prefectures. The closest prefectures to the royal city were superior-level prefectures, those a little further away were intermediate-level prefectures, and those at the border regions of the prefecture were almost all inferior-level prefectures.
The closer a place was to the heart of the kingdom, the more prosperous and busier it was.
Therefore, an inferior-level prefecture would not be as prosperous as an intermediate-level prefecture, and likewise for an intermediate-level prefecture compared to a superior-level prefecture.
The prefecture that Qingshan town was located in was only an inferior-level prefecture situated near the border of a kingdom in the country of Yunyang. It was considered extremely remote.
Previously, as far as Zhou Donghuang could remember, the furthest he had ever been was the area around Qingshan town. He had never been to the prefecture capital of this inferior-level prefecture.
This was the first time he was visiting the prefecture capital of Yunfeng prefecture.
Even the prefecture capital of an inferior-level prefecture is so busy and prosperous… an intermediate-level prefecture and a superior-level prefecture, and even the royal city and the imperial city must be far more prosperous.
Although night had fallen, Zhou Donghuang was still able to see the unceasing flow of traffic through the open curtains. Vendors hawked their wares all over, creating a constant cacophony. It was much busier than Qingshan town.
“Fu, find an inn for us to stay the night,” Zhou Donghuang instructed Fu.
“Yes, Young Master.”
At Fu’s reply, Zhou Donghuang began muttering to himself as he sat in the cabin, “My level of practice is almost at the level of level-two of Qi-gathering… tonight, I’ll take this opportunity to breakthrough!”
That night in the inn that Fu had found to rest in, Zhou Donghuang smoothly broke through to level-two of Qi-gathering. This implied that he could exert a force equal to the strength of two bulls using only his qi.
Now, if he encountered someone with a similar ability to the ninth elder of the Li family Li Yan… Zhou Donghuang could kill him with a single blow even without using any techniques!
Zhou Donghuang’s eyes gleamed.
Zhou Donghuang did not resume practicing, but instead leaned on the window with the shutters open, watching the stars in the night sky.
Fifteen minutes passed before Zhou Donghuang emerged from his reverie with a sigh.
Without realizing it, I’ve been back for almost a month.
The day Zhou Donghuang returned was the twelfth day of the twelfth month of the year 1227 in the Ziyun Era.
Now, it was already the ninth day of the first month of the Ziyun Era.
Chen Dandan should now be in the preeminent Hong family of the prefecture capital of Yunfeng prefecture.
Thinking of that ungrateful and shameless girl, he could not help having a cold gleam in his eye even though he had a thousand years’ worth of memories and experiences.
That day in the receiving chamber of the Magnolia Guild, he was so furious that he had wanted to kill Chen Dandan there to stand up for his mother.
However, his mother had stopped him.
Later, he realized that it was a blessing in disguise…
There were times when death came as a release.
He intended to toy with Chen Dandan slowly and make her live out the remainder of her life in unmatched pain and regret.
That was the only way he could purge his hatred of her.
That fourth elder of the Lin family, Lin Tonghong misappropriated the formula for the blood-staunching elixir that I gave my mother to present to the Lin family… I’ll have to make a trip to the Lin family while I’m here.
Another cold gleam flashed across Zhou Donghuang’s eyes.
Those three lesser families… if the matter with them is not resolved, there is no way Yunxuan Restaurant can open for business.
Looking at the time, those three rich fellows should already have returned to their families.
…
This night proved to be a sleepless night for the three elite lesser families of the prefecture capital—the Lu, Ma, and Fang Families.
That same afternoon, three carriages had arrived at the main entrances of the Lu, Ma, and Fang family residences, and when the occupants of the carriages emerged, the three families were furious.
The first young master, Lu Yuan of the Lu family, the first young master, Ma Jin of the Ma family, and the third young master, Fang Tianyi of the Fang family were whole and healthy when they had left their families, but one leg had been maimed upon their return.
A maimed arm would greatly affect an adept. A maimed leg meant that he would be as good as an invalid for the rest of his life.
Because the patriarchs of the three lesser families had ordered an embargo on this news, no one other than the people of the three elite lesser families knew about this.
It was deep into the night, but the lights still blazed brightly in the receiving chamber of the Lu family.
Three middle-aged men stood together with terrible expressions on their faces. These three people were the patriarchs of the three elite lesser families of the prefecture capital—the Lu, Ma, and Fang families.
They were gathered because their sons had been maimed.
“Brother Qinghu, Brother Tianba… what do you think of this matter?”
The patriarch of the Fang family, Fang Jishan, was a tall and well-built middle-aged man. He had a dignified forehead and came across as forceful, even without being angry. He spoke with a voice like thunder, and his voice echoed around the whole receiving chamber.
“Could a youth of only sixteen or seventeen years really have the ability to kill Lu Gang?”
The patriarch of the Ma family, Ma Tianba, was small and robustly built, with a sparkling pair of eyes like bronze gongs. But his voice was small and shrill. Looking at him and hearing his voice gave anyone observing him a strange feeling.
“No one would believe it if they did not see it with their own eyes… but our three sons all reported the same thing, so it should be true.”
The patriarch of the Lu family, Lu Qinghu, was as skinny as a bamboo pole and looked as though a gust of wind might blow him away. Just by looking at him, no one could possibly guess that he had the highest level of ability among the three of them.
“Brother Qinghu, our three families are in the same boat… what do you think we should do next?” Fang Jishan murmured.
“What else can we do? Naturally, we should send a level-three adept, or one of us three should go personally to Qingshan town, kill that Zhou Donghuang and his entire household and avenge our sons!”
“Revenge has to be taken… however, there’s something strange about that Zhou Donghuang. How could someone known in Qingshan town to be a martial invalid suddenly be able to kill a level-two adept so easily? Moreover, what about him made Zhao San give him Yunxuan Restaurant?” Lu Qinghu had a flash of insight and continued, “I just feel that there is some secret about him. Therefore, as for my suggestion… let’s move slowly and scope him out thoroughly before we plan our next move.”
“It’s strange indeed.” Fang Jishan nodded.
“Excellent! We’ll scope him out, and if we can’t find out more, we’ll go directly to Qingshan town and kill him and all those who are with him,” Ma Tianba said vengefully.
Although he had several sons, his eldest son, Ma Jin had the most talent among them, having attained grade-two of Qi-gathering at twenty-two years of age.
Now that he had been maimed by Zhou Donghuang, it would be difficult for him to accomplish anything significant.
Comments