Chapter 100

As Su Qingfeng recounted how Su Quan had failed to enter the gate and was instead driven away by Chen Xun, the beautifully dressed woman laughed so hard that her body shook like a flower branch. She patted the long table and asked, "You’re not joking, are you? Fourth Brother has been cultivating for years; how could he be so upset by a half-grown kid that he’s ready to explode with anger?"

"If I had suggested you go and see the commotion, you wouldn’t have gone," Su Qingfeng smiled, "and now you suspect I’m just teasing you."

"I, a minor offering in the Qianhuan Sect, how could I dare to meddle in the affairs of your Su family?" the beautifully dressed woman smiled sweetly.

Su Qingfeng felt an immense sense of satisfaction. There was no need to hide the conflict with Su Quan from his concubine Jiang Bingyun. He smiled and said, "Fourth Brother won’t be able to swallow this humiliation for a while. If you see him in a couple of days, you’ll know whether I’m telling the truth or not."

"Daddy didn’t lie at all; Uncle Four was indeed driven away in humiliation," Qingxuan thought of the scene in Tongluo Alley and couldn’t help but laugh.

"Then was it really him who did it?" Jiang Bingyun asked.

"It’s hard to say," Su Qingfeng replied, "it should have been him, but looking at his face, I can’t be sure."

"You can’t be sure either?" Jiang Bingyun asked in surprise.

Although cultivation of the divine soul begins at the late True Yang stage, how could it be compared to the power of a mid-stage Rebirth Realm cultivator?

Unless Chen Xun had extraordinary talent, he wouldn’t have been able to remain calm in front of two mid-stage Rebirth Realm cultivators like Qingfeng and Su Quan.

Hearing Su Qingfeng’s words, Jiang Bingyun became truly interested in this mysterious young man who had been taken in by the Black Python for four years.

"Unless we use the soul-searching torture," Su Qingfeng said, "but for such a minor matter, it’s not worth the Law Enforcement Bureau using such a method. Fourth Brother can only leave in humiliation. Besides, those blue-robed disciples must have some guilt, and they wouldn’t dare to continue confronting Chen Xun. Using the soul-searching torture might not be in Fourth Brother’s favor..."

"Then this kid is really not simple. When he grows up, he’ll be quite formidable, won’t he?" Jiang Bingyun believed Su Qingfeng wasn’t just teasing her and playfully teased Qingxuan, "Qingfeng, didn’t you say you wanted to find a golden turtle for Qingxuan? You’d better keep an eye on Chen Xun, or some other family might snatch him away."

"Auntie, you’re teasing Qingxuan again," Qingxuan blushed and pouted, "Qingxuan will serve Daddy and Auntie for life; I’ve never thought about getting married."

Hearing Jiang Bingyun’s words, Su Qingfeng’s heart stirred.

Qingxuan, noticing her adoptive father’s solemn expression, quickly changed the subject, "After a year, Chen Xun’s cultivation doesn’t seem to have improved much. Is it because he couldn’t enter the academy and didn’t practice correctly?"

Jiang Bingyun glanced at Qingxuan, thinking that this little girl was quite picky. But it wasn’t her fault; Qingxuan had a good chance of entering the Rebirth Realm. Who would want to marry a True Yang Realm cultivator?

When Su Qingfeng heard Qingxuan mention Chen Xun’s cultivation, he recalled that when he saw Chen Xun on North Mountain in Python Tooth Ridge two years ago, Chen Xun was only at the fifth layer of the True Yang stage. He quickly advanced to the seventh layer of the Blood Change stage, showing excellent cultivation potential. However, he had been stuck at the seventh layer for a year without any progress, possibly encountering a bottleneck.

Su Qingfeng knew that Bingyun wasn’t just joking about Qingxuan’s marriage.

Although he and Su Quan hadn’t openly confronted each other, the conflict between them was irreconcilable.

This not only involved who would ultimately control the Suwu Marshal’s Mansion, but also who would inherit the few magical artifacts after their father’s passing.

If he could obtain those artifacts, his chances of advancing to the Heavenly Yuan stage would greatly increase, and he wouldn’t give them up just out of brotherly affection.

Although he and Jiang Ling both had mid-stage Rebirth Realm cultivation, and nearly ten Rebirth Realm cultivators openly or secretly pledged allegiance to him, along with capable subordinates like Ge Yi, in terms of cunning, Chen Xun was truly worth cultivating.

Even if Chen Xun had no hope of advancing to the Rebirth Realm, Su Qingfeng knew that bringing him under his wing would be as effective as having a Rebirth Realm cultivator.

Thinking about this, Su Qingfeng asked Jiang Bingyun, "Bingyun, you don’t have any direct disciples in the Qianhuan Sect. If it really comes to it, could you take Chen Xun as a disciple?"

"I’m not like Su Tang, that crazy girl. Why would I take in a male disciple? I don’t want others to gossip," Jiang Bingyun’s face turned slightly red, and she shook her head, rejecting Su Qingfeng’s suggestion, "My few rudimentary skills, if Qingxuan is interested, I can teach her!"

Jiang Bingyun continued, "You said Fourth Brother might not let this go. You need to be careful with that kid. Don’t let Fourth Brother find an excuse to kill him..."

"If Fourth Brother had such resolve, I wouldn’t have been competing with him for all these years," Su Qingfeng said, thinking for a moment, and then said to Ge Yi, who was standing in the courtyard, "See if there’s any suitable position in the Guest Scholar Hall. Let that kid go out for two or three years. It’s better than staying in Canglan City. Once Su Tang comes out of seclusion and the Ancestor agrees to her recruiting subordinates, everything will be easier..."

******

Chen Xun kicked the playful Aqing to the side, and had Zhao Tu and Cai’er clean up the messy courtyard. He then invited Gu Jianfeng, Zuo Qiu, and Gu Feng to the study.

"Was it really you who did it?" Gu Feng, being young, was still excited from the grand ceremony and couldn’t help but ask as soon as he entered the room, his face flushed.

Chen Xun laughed heartily, neither confirming nor denying.

Gu Jianfeng pulled Gu Feng, knowing that some things should be left unsaid.

Gu Jianfeng and Zuo Qiu had come to discuss other matters with Chen Xun, but they didn’t expect to encounter this situation.

Whether Chen Xun had indeed ambushed Chen Chuan outside the city, it was better to leave it unsaid. Gu Jianfeng and Zuo Qiu sat down in the study and brought up the matter of the nine clans jointly managing Tianma Lake.

Gu Chen had returned to North Mountain over a month ago, and the decision to divide the area around Tianma Lake among the nine clans had been made.

The Black Mountain Clan was willing to give up, and the other eight clans, led by the Zuo Ji Clan, were willing to take over, so the matter was settled.

Previously, the Suwu Marshal’s Mansion had entrusted the Gui Xi Clan to build a fort on the southern slope of Tianma Lake, serving as a gathering point for the resources from North Mountain and the Lake Marsh Wilderness, to be transported to Canglan City.

The North Mountain clans were extremely weak, with over forty clans and only a hundred thousand people, none of whom had reached the Rebirth Realm. Even with the vast territory of North Mountain and the Lake Marsh Wilderness, the resources they could obtain were limited due to the lack of manpower.

The Black Mountain Clan, with five thousand clan members, was considered a large clan in North Mountain, but they could only refine a hundred low-grade spirit pills from the herbs they collected each year.

In the past year, hundreds of independent cultivators had flooded into the Tianma Lake fort, and the treasure trove of North Mountain and the Lake Marsh Wilderness had truly been opened.

In just one year, they had hunted dozens of savage beasts, and the amount of spirit herbs and rare medicines was beyond imagination.

Back then, the Black Mountain and Shan Tong Clans had united to attack the Black Python for a month over a giant wolf’s corpse, almost leading to a clan war. Thinking about it now, they felt ashamed.

As the entry point to North Mountain and the Lake Marsh Wilderness, the Tianma Lake fort had become strategically important. The influx of merchants had made the fort suddenly prosperous.

Including the nine clans and hundreds of independent cultivators, the population in the Tianma Lake fort had reached nearly ten thousand.

The benefits involved were ten times greater than previously thought, and with more independent cultivators and merchants flooding in, the area around Tianma Lake had the potential to become a medium-sized city.

The resources produced by the nine clans didn’t need to be transported all the way to Canglan City; they were snapped up as soon as they