Chapter 32: The Older One Gets in the Jianghu, the Smaller Their Courage Becomes

“Since that girl from the Chu family doesn’t know what’s good for her, send someone to send her down so the family can be reunited.”

After laughing, Zhu Chaofeng waved his hand dismissively.

She was just a woman; if she had fled, the Zhu Family wouldn’t have bothered to care. She couldn’t stir up any significant trouble.

But since she hadn’t gone far and was still outside defiling the Zhu Family’s reputation, the Zhu Family could not ignore it.

“Indeed. After that stunt by the Chu girl, everyone in the Beihai Market is saying my Zhu Family acts ruthlessly and overbearingly, leaving no room for survival.”

Zhu Chengan shook his head gently and said, “That girl is quite good-looking, and Old Fourth actually liked her. If the Chu family had been more sensible, our two families might have become in-laws.”

“Oh? Old Fourth really liked her? Then catching her alive is fine too. Toss her to Old Fourth to play with for a few days, and once he’s bored, send her on her way. Just tell Old Fourth to be careful and not develop real feelings; after all, we did kill her entire family.”

Zhu Chaofeng waved his hand dismissively; he was still very doting toward his fourth son.

His favorite son was, of course, the most outstanding fifth son, Zhu Chengzhong.

However, Old Fifth was far away at the Huangji Sect and could only be seen once every two or three years, so at home, his most favored was the fourth son, Zhu Chengzu.

At that moment, a servant from outside suddenly came to report that more news had arrived from the Beihai Market.

Zhu Chengan took the message, and his expression instantly darkened.

“Eldest, what’s wrong?”

Zhu Chengan snorted coldly and said, “Father, someone who doesn’t know death from life has actually accepted the Chu girl’s mission. They want to exterminate our entire Zhu Family! I don’t know who gave him such audacity!”

Zhu Chaofeng, however, remained quite calm. “There are many people in this world who don’t know death from life, but remember, never underestimate any opponent.”

“First, send someone to investigate and see what his background and identity are before making a decision.”

“Father, is there a need to be so cautious? It’s probably just some outsider who doesn’t know the Zhu Family’s prestige and thus dares to act this way.”

Zhu Chaofeng snorted coldly. “Put away that arrogant mindset of yours! You must know that caution allows one to sail a ship for ten thousand years.”

“If your momentary carelessness leads my Zhu Family into eternal damnation, you won’t even have the chance to regret it then!”

“You should know that some Disciples from great sects travel the Jianghu, shouting about justice every day and loving to meddle in others’ business.”

“How many forces have been destroyed by them just to boost their own reputations?”

“Go and probe the other party’s background first. If they really are from a great sect, then bring up the Huangji Sect to test the waters, offer gifts, and respectfully send them away.”

“If they have no background and are purely the kind of nonsensical, meddling fool, then it won’t be too late to kill them!”

“Father, you are indeed experienced and steady; I was being reckless,” Zhu Chengan hurriedly admitted his fault.

Zhu Chaofeng patted Zhu Chengan’s shoulder gently and sighed. “Eldest, you’re not young anymore. This family will be handed over to you sooner or later. With you being so arrogant, how can I feel at ease leaving the Zhu Family in your hands?”

“Father, you are in your prime. Perhaps you can even take another step forward in the Martial Dao. This family still needs you to painstakingly manage it,” Zhu Chengan said quickly.

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Zhu Chaofeng sighed. “The Martial Dao is difficult. For your father to be able to Cultivate to the Foundation Establishment Realm in this lifetime is already considered great luck.”

“What was our Zhu Family’s origin in Gushan City back then? We were just lowly butchers. When we saw people from the Chu family, we had to kowtow and call them ‘Master’.”

“Your father wasn’t willing to live like that for a lifetime, so I stole your grandfather’s money and joined the army.”

“It just so happened that the Red Lotus Sect rebellion occurred in Qinzhou then. I followed General Yuwen and won a few battles, which allowed me to save up a bit of capital.”

“Later, General Yuwen crushed the Red Lotus Sect’s headquarters in Yanglin City and ordered a massacre, not sheathing the blades for three days.”

“Your father scavenged a Cultivation Technique and a Muscle-Changing Bone-Marrow-Washing Pill from Medicine King Valley from a noble family’s treasury. Only then could I transform myself, reshape my Aptitude, and achieve this level of cultivation.”

“However, the Aptitude gained through a Medicinal Pill reached its limit around the Blood Moving Realm.”

“Being able to step into the Foundation Establishment Realm in this life was all thanks to the Extreme Condensation Qi Pill Old Fifth gave me when he returned last time.”

Thinking of the past, a look of reminiscence appeared on Zhu Chaofeng’s face. “General Yuwen was a good man.”

“He slaughtered every city he broke into. Any soldier who followed General Yuwen made a fortune.”

“Especially after capturing Yanglin City, General Yuwen, mindful of the hard work we common soldiers put in, captured those Red Lotus female soldiers for everyone to line up for.”

“Your father’s reaction was slow then, so I could only be at the end of the line.”

“But even though it was the end, I’ll never forget that taste as long as I live. It was truly smooth.”

Zhu Chaofeng shook his head and gently patted Zhu Chengan’s shoulder.

“Eldest, you must guard the foundation your father spent the first half of his life risking everything to build.”

“Remember to be cautious and careful in everything you do in the future. You must never be arrogant or negligent.”

“Don’t worry, Father, there will definitely not be a next time. I’ll arrange for someone to probe that fellow’s background right away.”

Zhu Chengan cupped his hands and withdrew. Upon coming out, he immediately called three retainers to go to the Beihai Market to investigate the situation.

At its core, the Zhu Family actually belonged to the nouveau riche.

Its core members, besides Zhu Chaofeng, were his five sons.

Therefore, the Zhu Family supported many retainers and thugs to do their work.

The three retainers of the Pulse Opening Realm rode straight down the mountain, intending to investigate who exactly had accepted Chu Hongshang’s mission in the Beihai Market.

The mountain road was rugged. The three horses rode side-by-side, almost completely blocking the already narrow path, barely leaving a corridor the width of one person.

Pedestrians and merchant caravans along the way all pressed themselves against the mountain wall to dodge them upon seeing this.

Though they cursed the other party’s overbearingness in their hearts, they were all angry but didn’t dare to speak out.

Everyone in Gushan City knew they were retainers of the Zhu Family. In today’s Gushan City, who would still dare to offend the Zhu Family?

The three retainers smiled triumphantly. They had joined the Zhu Family early on and were considered confidants of the Zhu Family.

Now that the Zhu Family dominated Gushan City, they had also finally made it.

Just then, the three of them noticed that while others carefully avoided them, a man of the Jianghu wearing black clothes and a bamboo hat stood straight in the middle of the mountain road.

“Are you blind? Get out of the way!”

The leading retainer shouted a curse. Seeing that the other party still hadn’t moved, he was instantly enraged and rode his horse directly toward them.

In the next moment, the sound of a blade being unsheathed instantly echoed on the mountain road.

He didn’t even see when the other party had drawn their blade before his vision was enveloped by a brilliant and dazzling blade light.

This was the first time in his life he had seen such a fast blade, and it was also the last.

With one strike, both man and horse were sliced directly into two halves!

Human blood and guts mixed with horse blood and guts; the scene was extremely bloody and terrifying.

“A Foundation Establishment Realm expert!”

The remaining two retainers’ expressions changed abruptly. They immediately turned their horses around and fled.

The turbulent Internal Energy within Chen Yuan’s Acupoints suddenly erupted—drops of water converging into a surging wave.

With the support of this powerful explosive force, Chen Yuan’s speed with a single leap was even faster than a horse.

Two blade strikes fell from the air. In an instant, the heads of those two Zhu Family retainers rolled, while the horses continued to gallop on the mountain road carrying headless corpses.

The pedestrians and Traveling Merchants on the surrounding mountain road were scared witless, huddling against the mountain wall and not daring to move a muscle.

“If anyone is returning to Gushan City, help pass a message to the Zhu Family: the person who will kill their whole family and exterminate their entire clan has arrived.”

As Chen Yuan’s voice fell, he stepped directly onto the mountain road and entered Gushan City.

Inside the Zhu Family residence.

Zhu Chengan gently rubbed his brow, feeling somewhat uneasy.

However, he didn’t pay it much mind, assuming his bad mood was just from being scolded by his father.

Zhu Chengan was no longer young. Currently, eighty percent of the Zhu Family’s affairs were managed by him, and the retainers and servants almost all treated him as the family head.

Usually, his authority in the Zhu Family was not small, so being scolded by his father today made him feel quite uncomfortable.

It was just a fellow who didn’t know the height of the heavens; just send someone to kill him. Why make it so complicated?

Although he did as Zhu Chaofeng said, he still felt that his father had become more cowardly as he aged in the Jianghu, insisting on overcomplicating simple matters.

At that moment, a servant suddenly ran in, flustered.

“First Young Master, this is bad! Li Sheng and the others were killed halfway! That person also said he would exterminate our entire Zhu Family!”

Zhu Chengan’s expression changed, and he slammed his teacup onto the ground.

“Audacious! Does he really think my Zhu Family is made of clay!?”

“Yo, who made you this angry, Big Brother?”

A young man around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, wearing silver brocade clothes and holding a gold-and-jade folding fan, entered the room and asked in surprise. He shared a fifty-percent resemblance with Zhu Chengan but was even more handsome.

He was the fourth son of the Zhu Family, Zhu Chengzu, currently Zhu Chaofeng’s most favored fourth son.

“Someone killed our Zhu Family retainers and wants to exterminate our entire family. Do you think I should be angry?”

Saying this, Zhu Chengan recounted the matter of someone accepting Chu Hongshang’s mission to exterminate the Zhu Family to Zhu Chengzu.

“That little wench hasn’t fled yet? Big Brother, you really do care for me, knowing I wouldn’t want that little wench to just die like that, hehe.”

Zhu Chengzu chuckled twice and said, “Just a kid who doesn’t know the height of the heavens. Why be angry, Big Brother? Just leave him to me.”

“Hasn’t he come to Gushan City? Then let’s make sure he never leaves!”

“I’ll take some men to deal with him first, then personally go to the Beihai Market to capture that little Chu wench.”

Since his own brother wanted to take action personally, Zhu Chengan didn’t stop him.

Among the five tigers of the zhu family, there were no playboys. The brothers had all practiced martial arts diligently since childhood and also went out of the city to find various forces for combat experience.

Don’t be fooled by Zhu Chengzu’s dandy appearance; he simply liked to enjoy himself. His own strength was not bad, already at the Peak of the Blood Moving Realm.

“Alright then, take more people with you. Also, to be safe, take Uncle Zhou along. That person could kill Li Sheng’s trio, so his strength shouldn’t be weak,” Zhu Chengan instructed.

Uncle Zhou possessed cultivation in the Foundation Establishment Realm. To be precise, he wasn’t considered a retainer of the Zhu Family, but an Enshrined Expert.

Zhu Chengan acted quite cautiously this time, but he overlooked one thing: Chen Yuan’s strength.

Quite a few people had seen Chen Yuan kill the Zhu Family retainers.

It was unknown whether they couldn’t tell Chen Yuan was in the Foundation Establishment Realm, or if they intentionally didn’t say because they loathed the Zhu Family’s overbearingness.

This led Zhu Chengan to subconsciously believe that the person who killed the Zhu Family retainers had some skill, but not to the extent of reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm.

If he had known the opponent was in the Foundation Establishment Realm, he would never have let Zhu Chengzu go.