Chapter 357: Liu Wenyan's Return (2)
"If we really let them fight, the multiple character faction would stand no chance..." Old Hu shook his head, "I'm just worried that Yunji would return because of that. I'm also worried that Ping will decide to get involved as well."
Marquis Xia rubbed his chin. That was a reasonable worry. This matter actually involved someone from the Xia Family as well!
After thinking about it, he said, "Yunji...can do what he wants. The person to kill him will need to kill 10 Sunmoons to compensate. The life of someone from the Xia Family is more expensive. If Yunji really ends up dead, there is nothing I can do. I would have to bury him. But I suppose the lives of 10 Sunmoons is worth his life. The Zhou Family is filled with experts, right? They can send Zhou Polong to the battlefield. If Zhou Polong fails to return with the heads of 10 Sunmoons, Longwu will be allowed to kill Zhou Polong to affirm his dao. This would be perfect as Longwu wouldnt even need to visit the battlefield for his advancement anymore."
"..."
Old Hu was completely speechless. For this fellow, everything could be reduced to gains and losses. Including those from his own Xia Family. He must have gone mad. Just what was this damn fatty thinking?
"I suspect you're cursing me inwardly..."
"No."
Old Hu denied.
"You are definitely doing it. Hu, you are scolding me!"
"Have you reached the Sunmoon Realm, Marquis?"
"No." Old Hu exhaled in relief, "In that case, you can't prove that I'm scolding you. Since you're not a Sunmoon, how can you know if I'm scolding you or not?"
Marquis Xia glared at the old man. Well well. This fellow had learned to talk back.
He couldn't be bothered to keep arguing so he kept walking in silence. After a while, he said, "By the way, give me a list of the names of everyone who has arrived. As for the ones who have been fanning the flame, investigate everything about them."
"And there's that kid called Su Yu in the academy. He had created something called the Soul Devouring Art recently. Pay attention to him as well. Have the Martial Dragon Guards move out and do some work. We're not paying them to sit around doing nothing. Get them to arrest some cult members for execution. There has been no breaking news recently and the masses are getting bored with the news. It has been hard to get new advertising deals recently.
"We can execute these newly captured cult members on TV and use the chance to advertise the blade of the Xia Trade Company during the livestream of the execution. Remember to say that with Xia Trade Company's blade, you never have to worried about failing to cut your enemy's head off anymore."
When they were near the prefect's manor, he turned around to look at Old Hu's troubled face and said, "By the way, it is still taboo to sully the grave of the dead. Damn these people. Because of them, the experts are going to start worrying about their own graves. It would be fine if they fail to dig the grave, but if they succeed, we have to do something. You'll go dig out the Zhou Family's ancestral tomb as a response...wait. Their ancestral tomb is in Great Zhou. Forget it. Just dig the ancestral tomb of Zhou Mingren's branch. We can't touch their main ancestral tomb or Great Zhou King will probably hack me to death."
Marquis Xia yawned and lazily said, "He's already dead. And he's dead within Great Xia. I can't allow someone to dig his grave, right? Zhang Ruoling...that's my ex classmate. Damn those assholes. They have to show me some respect, right? Why would they set their sights on Zhang Ruoling? He's so pitiful."
"I understand." Old Hu replied. "Anything else?"
"Of course." Marquis Xia said, "Business has been bad recently. Finally, we have two big customers coming to spend money here. Don't stop them. After their fight, remember to send some people and measure the damage. We must charge them for every damage they cause. Make sure they pay up after the fight. If anyone dares to renege on the debt, raid their home and confiscate their possessions.
"Right, that genius kid from Great Zhou. That's Shan Tianhao's grandson, right? What stage of the Skysoar Realm is he in right now?"
"Sixth-stage."
"Sell him the Golden Dragon Pill in our warehouse. With the pill, he can open eight apertures in one day. Isn't that amazing? Sell the pill to him at the price of 50,000 merit points. He is not allowed to refuse. If he refuses to buy, ban him from entering Great Xia. If he dares to enter, break his legs. If he dares to sneak through the borders, treat him like a cultist and kill him."
"..."
Old Hu was completely speechless. This fellow had really gone mad from thinking about money. How did he come up with something like that? Opening eight apertures in one day? What the fuck? He would be lucky to open one or two in one day. And this fellow was selling that pill for 50,000 merit points?
Could that little genius refuse to buy? If that person refused, he would really have his legs broken if he dared to enter Great Xia.
Old Hu was really tired of dealing with Marquis Xia. With Marquis Xia as the acting prefect, the entire Great Xia was on the verge of turning into an unscrupulous company that would not let go of any chance to scam someone.
That was not all. Marquis Xia continued, "I almost forgot something. Zhou Mingren still owes me 398 peak Mountainsea willpower texts. I doubt he can afford it. Get the receipts and pay Zhou Polong a visit. I can't be bothered to waste my time on a broke guy like Zhou Mingren."
"Marquis!" Old Hu frowned and said, "If you want to help the multiple character faction, just be honest about it. You are clearly being prejudiced against the single character faction. There is no need to offend the Zhou Family for no reason. You might as well make your position clear or simply stop them from fighting."
"Helping the multiple character faction?" Marquis Xia rubbed his chin, "Am I helping them? But I'm not even thinking about that..."
After a while, he said in realization, "I understand now! The single character faction is simply too rich! I covet their money! No wonder. I was curious why I was being so biased. But it's simply because the multiple character faction is too poor!"
He really had a look of realization, as though he had just achieved enlightenment. Old Hu frowned. Was this fatty telling the truth? Not even he could read Marquis Xia's mind. He still had a feeling that Marquis Xia was prejudiced against the single character faction. But he had no proof.
Marquis Xia smiled, "Just do as I say. Be a good boy. A whale has arrived. Time to slay the whale. As for the Zhou Family...are you trying to say that Zhou Polong speaks for the entire Zhou Family??
"Are you kidding me? You need to at least be Zhou Potian to have that much sway. But Zhou Potian can't be bothered to get involved in this matter. I just called him not long ago. By the way, that fellow is really good at doing business. Despite his domineering name, he is actually the same type of person as me!"
Marquis Xia said, "You should learn from him. That fellow is amazing. Not long ago, he did a transaction with the divine race and bought 10,000 fire hogs to be reared. Now, you can freely buy fire hog flesh in Great Zhou. They're selling fire hog flesh like regular pork. I need to learn from him."
Old Hu's head ached. He felt like he should just leave. He couldn't stand talking to this fellow anymore.
"Marquis, I still have something to do so I'll be taking my leave."
"Fine."
Marquis Xia waved his hand. After Old Hu left, Xia Xinyi walked over and softly said, "Father, Hong Tan has entered the Human Realm. He will be back soon."
"How about Yuwen?"
"He's going to be back soon too."
"Yunji?"
"We still don't have any news about him."
Marquis Xia nodded, "Do not allow them to fight before Hong Tan is back. Get someone to keep Zhou Mingren busy for now. Right, we can get our people to collect the debt from Zhou Mingren. Keep bothering him to pay up."
"Alright."
"Deploy all the Secret Martial Dragon Guards as well. The Myriad Race Cult will not remain idle while all this is happening. They will definitely try something. Keep an eye out for them. This will be the best chance for us to clean up the cult presence in Great Xia."
"Alright."
"As for that Su Yu kid, he wants to open an auction or something like that, right? Tell Huyou to urge him on. Don't keep dragging this out. It would be even better if everything can happen at the same time. Hasn't the cult issued a bounty for him? That bounty is too low. Who would dare to kill someone in Great Xia for that little money? Get someone to increase the bounty to 5,000 merit points."
"Father, this..."
Xia Xinyi was alarmed. That was too high.
Marquis Xia smiled, "Why? I'm fishing. Isn't fishing fun? As for the identity of the bounty issuer, just get our people to pretend to be someone from Zheng Yuming's side. Even a Mountainsea like that was nearly dead from his encounter with Su Yu. Isn't it normal that Zheng Yuming would be willing to spend 5,000 merit points to get Su Yu killed?"
"..."
"If that identity is not suitable, we can use the identity of someone from the Huang Family. Huang Qifeng was nearly killed from his encounter with Su Yu as well. Using 5,000 merit points for revenge is perfectly normal."
Marquis Xia inhaled deeply and said, "Go. Pay your elder brother a visit. Tell him to come out and stop pretending to be dead. If Zhou Polong really dares to come, get your elder brother to hack him to death."
"..."
Xia Xinyi said blankly, "Big Brother Longwu is still in seclusion. Father..."
"You idiot. Why would I have a son like you? What an embarrassment. Even your nephew is smarter than you. Just do as told. You can forget about the Xia Trade Company. If Huyou fails to become the prefect in the future, he can get the Xia Trade Company. If he manages to become the prefect, I would rather dissolve the trade company than let you run it."
"Father..."
Xia Xinyi had a helpless expression. Was he really that bad? But Marquis Xia couldn't be bothered to say more. He didn't feel like talking to a fool. Big Brother Longwu was in seclusion? That brain of his...why couldn't he learn to use his brain?
"Father, it won't be good to dissolve the Xia Trade Company, right? I think Chan is a decent candidate as well..."
Xia Xinyi still didn't wish to give up. If his father thought that he wasn't suitable, there was still a granddaughter, right?
Marquis Xia stopped walking, thought for a bit, and said, "Chan...sigh. Why must everyone from the Xia Family be a simpleminded fool? You are obviously my son. She is obviously my granddaughter. Why are the both of you so similar to my elder brother instead? Did we mistake Huyou for Chan when they were babies?"
"..."
Xia Xinyi was speechless. There was no way they would mistake the babies. These people were either Mountainseas or Sunmoons. How could these people mistake their own juniors? Furthermore, the two weren't even born on the same day! They were born months apart!
...
While the father and son were busy worrying over their juniors.
Liu Wenyan spoke to his group, "We don't have a Sunmoon with us. There is no way we can contend against Sunmoons. Zhou Mingren is nothing. I'm only afraid that some Sunmoons will get involved. A lot of people are waiting for the show to unfold. Wu Yuehua..."
"Are you addressing me by my full name?"
"..."
Liu Wenyan rolled his eyes, "Yuehua, this time, we must fight it out and let them suffer somewhat. We won't be able to protect the graves of Ruoling and the others forever. We need to let them feel some pain this time. You still have a Sunmoon in your Wu Family, right? Is your mom still alive?"
"..."
Wu Yuehua's face darkened.
Liu Wenyan coughed awkwardly and said, "Don't misunderstand. I was afraid that she had gone to the Allheaven Battlefield. Can you get your mom to be our backer for a few days? I'll repay her after I become an Invincible."
"..."
The group pretended they didn't hear that.
Wu Yuehua glared at Liu Wenyan and said, "My mom is in seclusion. She has been in seclusion for many years."
"A sealed seclusion?"
"You can say so."
"Then...can you try calling her out? If not, just tell her you're getting married. Your mom might decide to leave seclusion from sheer joy that her daughter is finally getting married..."
"Cough...cough...cough..."
A bunch of coughs rang out around them. Amazing. Big Brother Liu was truly remarkable. He had remained the same even after so many years. They had thought that he would have changed after his failure all those years ago.
"Are you taking me as your wife?" Wu Yuehua looked at him with burning eyes and said, "If that's the case, I'll tell her that."
"..."
Liu Wenyan bashfully said, "At our age, it's not proper to talk about this topic..."
"I knew it! Liu! Are you still thinking about Hu Ping and Zhao Mingyue? You heartless man!"
"..."
Liu Wenyan pretended he heard nothing and kept walking like nothing had happened.
Was Little Yu seeing this? This was a woman. An obstacle on the path of cultivation. Obstacle! She was already over 70, for heaven's sake! Why was she still thinking about things from over 50 years ago?
Then again, that Old Hu was quite strong too. Why was Hu Ping not around? Old Hu could serve as a decent backer as well! As for the Zhao Family, that Silly Zhao was pretty incredible as well! He was a peak Mountainsea so he could still be somewhat useful. And he was even a deputy general of the Martial Dragon Guards! He would serve as a deterrence just standing there!
Liu Wenyan started considering contacting the other two tigresses. But with Wu Yuehua around, it would be hard for him to contact them. He sighed, troubled. He had been away for 50 years yet he still needed to face these obstacles. How terrifying.
Behind him, Wu Yuehua snorted when she saw how fast Liu Wenyan was running away. She was very dissatisfied.
But looking at that bleak back, sorrow and helplessness emerged from her heart. He was not this pitiful 50 years ago. Back then, Shan Tianhao wasn't even qualified to clean his shoes. Back then, he wouldn't even need them to protect him against the likes of Shan Tianhao.