Chapter 41
Chapter 41: News Spreading Across the City
Meng Chuan glanced at Zhao Can’s corpse before taking out a small whistle from his belt and blowing it.
As his Quintessential Energy flowed into the whistle, the whistling became ear-piercing. It spread out in all directions and could be heard for several miles. This whistle was used to gather the surrounding members of the Meng family. Only a hundred people with relatively higher status in the family clan possessed this whistle. Ordinary clansmen only had the standard-issue distress flares. They could activate the distress flare at critical moments, a signal that caused clansmen nearby to rush over and provide assistance.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! One figure after another arrived.
“Young Master Meng Chuan?” Most of the figures who arrived were experts working for the Meng family. A small number of them were members of the Meng family. The Meng family was large and powerful, so it employed many experts.
“This is the corpse of the Blood Cloud Bandits’ second-in-command, Blood Hand Zhao Can.” Meng Chuan pointed at the corpse in front of him. “There’s also a Blood Cloud Bandit’s corpse in Azure Cloud Brothel. Take care of it.”
“Yes,” everyone replied in unison.
Meng Chuan nodded and left.
At this moment, the group of gathered people started discussing.
“Brother Wang, take some men to the Azure Cloud Brothel and deal with the Blood Cloud Bandit corpse. Also, find out what Young Master Meng Chuan did in the Azure Cloud Brothel,” an elder instructed. This elder was one of the nine exterior stewards of the Meng family. He enjoyed a rather high status in the Meng family, and his family had served the Meng family for three generations. Those who were placed in important positions despite not sharing the Meng surname were naturally talented.
On the contrary, if the members of the Meng clan were mediocre, they would at best not starve to death. Their status was far inferior to that of the exterior chief steward.
“Yes.” Immediately, over ten people headed to the Azure Cloud Brothel.
“Blood Hand Zhao Can, a Seamless realm expert.” The elder looked at the corpse on the ground and exclaimed in surprise, “Young Master Meng Chuan is really becoming more powerful.”
“Young Master Meng Chuan is still at the Mortal Shedding realm. To be able to kill someone of a higher cultivation realm, he must have reached the peak of Unity. He isn’t too far from comprehending Saber Force.” The others around him exclaimed in amazement as well.
…
News of Meng Chuan killing two Blood Cloud bandits—with one of the deceased being Blood Hand Zhao Can—spread quickly. Azure Cloud Brothel was a place where people came and went, so many people paid attention to it. There were even some people who tried to follow the pursuit to watch “Meng Chuan vs. Blood Hand Zhao Can,” but they were just unable to keep up.
When Meng Chuan later blew the whistle, he had attracted many curious bystanders apart from the Meng family personnel. Many people personally saw Zhao Can’s corpse.
…
Inside a private room in another brothel.
Yun Fu’an was chatting with a friend, and there was also a beautiful courtesan waiting by his side. At this moment, the door opened, and another middle-aged man walked in with a smile.
“Brother Zhang, we’ve been waiting for you for almost an hour,” Yun Fu’an said with a smile. “You need to drink as a forfeit!”
“You all know about my tigress wife at home. There’s nothing I could do about it. I only managed to sneak out until now.” The middle-aged man smiled as he sat down. He raised his head and downed a cup of alcohol. Next to him, a beautiful courtesan immediately filled his cup. The middle-aged man excitedly continued, “There’s a big piece of news I want to share with the two of you.”
“What big news?” asked another rich-looking man casually as he embraced a courtesan.
“About two hours ago, something big happened at Azure Cloud Brothel,” the middle-aged man said. “That Meng family’s Meng Chuan went to the Azure Cloud Brothel…” As he spoke, he even glanced at Yun Fu’an.
Yun Fu’an’s eyelids twitched.
“What’s the big deal with him going to Azure Cloud Brothel?” the wealthy-looking man said with a smile. “Only half of those serving in the military manage to return alive. And most of them return with disabilities. It’s common to go to a brothel before they serve the military.”
“He didn’t go to Azure Cloud Brothel for the women, but for two men,” the middle-aged man said smugly. This stunned Yun Fu’an and the wealthy-looking man.
The middle-aged man continued, “They were two senior Blood Cloud Bandits. Meng Chuan went to the Azure Cloud Brothel and killed one bandit first. Then, he pursued another infamous bandit—Blood Hand Zhao Can.”
“Blood Hand Zhao Can?” Yun Fu’an and the wealthy-looking man were alarmed.
Zhao Can had one arm sliced off at the scene. He then immediately fled in panic. Meng Chuan chased after him for about half a kilometer and killed him,” the middle-aged man said in amazement. “He’s impressive. Really impressive.”
Yun Fu’an couldn’t help but say, “He can kill Blood Hand Zhao Can? That’s an expert at the Seamless realm. I estimate Meng Chuan to at most be at the late-stage of the Mortal Shedding realm.”
“Could he have comprehended Force?” the middle-aged man guessed.
“Impossible.” Yun Fu’an immediately said, “If he had comprehended Force, all those people at Azure Cloud Brothel would have identified it. The news would have already spread throughout the city by now if that were the case.”
“That’s right. It’s impossible for him to have comprehended Force.” The wealthy-looking man added, “He only reached the Unity realm last year. How can he be that fast? If he really did… he should be able to kill Blood Hand Zhao Can in the Azure Cloud Brothel. And in fact, since he’s adept at speed, for him to kill Zhao Can only after half a kilometer means that the difference between them isn’t too great.”
“What Brother Bai says makes sense.” Yun Fu’an nodded.
“Both your families know that Fairy Meng’s severe injuries means that she can only live for a few more years,” said the wealthy-looking man with a smile. “With him achieving the secret technique at fifteen, she will definitely try her best to groom him. With Fairy Meng’s eighty years of experience as a Godfiend and all her grooming, Meng Chuan’s Godfiend foundation must be very robust. Although he is at the late-stages of the Mortal Shedding realm, the gap between his physical body and Blood Hand Zhao Can’s is probably not that great. Him being capable of suppressing Zhao Can is clearly because he’s at a higher realm in saber arts. He should have reached the peak of the Unity realm. Perhaps he will be able to comprehend Saber Force in two to three years.”
“Comprehend Force within two or three years?” Yun Fu’an snickered. “Brother Bai, I admit that he’s a genius, but it won’t be that easy for his saber art to breakthrough. Perhaps he will only achieve Force after he’s twenty.”
“Don’t underestimate him.” The wealthy-looking man shook his head. “Our Bai family has been keeping tabs. Meng Chuan draws his saber and strikes crossbow arrows daily, doing it eight thousand times a day. It’s said that he also cultivates in other ways… He’s indeed extraordinarily diligent.”
“Yes, yes, yes. He’s diligent. But if diligence is useful, there won’t be so few Godfiends,” Yun Fu’an continued. If the engagement hadn’t been annulled, he would naturally be happy to see Meng Chuan grow stronger. However, after annulling the engagement, he hoped that Meng Chuan would become as unpromising as possible. Most people were like that. If Yun Fu’an could still compose himself under such circumstances, the Three Heroes of the Yun Family would have become the Four Heroes of the Yun family.
…
The news caused an uproar in the outside world, and the Meng family clan was in an even more agitated, ebullient mood. There were heated discussions everywhere.
At the Mirror Lake Meng Manor.
“Chuan’er, you went out to have dinner with Qiyue. When you were on the way back, you scurried off to kill two Blood Cloud Bandits?” Meng Dajiang looked at his son, not knowing what to say.
“Dad, you know that I can sense auras within half a kilometer,” said Meng Chuan. “I sensed the two bloody auras from a distance. The auras were thicker than executioners’ who specialize in beheading others at the government court. That’s why I proceeded to carry out investigations. I heard their conversations from a hundred feet away and identified the disguised Zhao Can. Two Blood Cloud Bandits already deserve death, much less Blood Hand Zhao Can.”
Meng Dajiang nodded slightly.
“Dad, don’t worry. I didn’t use Saber Force. All I used was strength slightly greater than Blood Hand Zhao Can’s. I only killed him when there was no one around,” said Meng Chuan. He could sense the surroundings of half a kilometer, so he knew very well if there was anyone else around.
“Alright.”
Meng Dajiang nodded with a smile. “Now, people are saying that your saber arts have reached the peak of the Unity realm and that you aren’t far from comprehending Saber Force. Sometime in the middle of next year, we can announce that you have achieved Saber Force. It will be considered quite natural. By the way, the government court has verified that it’s indeed Blood Hand Zhao Can. The other deceased was checked for tattoos and has been identified as a Blood Cloud Bandit.”
“The cash and treasures they have on them—as well as weapons when converted to silver— together with the Imperial Court’s bounty amounts to a total of 160,000 taels.” Meng Dajiang took out a stack of banknotes. “This is a gift from the family clan. Your spoils of war.”
“Zhao Can took out plenty of money to beg for mercy before he died,” said Meng Chuan with a smile. “Dad, you don’t have to give it to me.”
“Your spoils of war will naturally be yours. You’ve grown up, so you should deal with them yourself.” Meng Dajiang the cash over.
Meng Chuan had no choice but to accept it.
Tens of thousands of silver taels… That was equivalent to the total wealth of wealthy families like the Zhou family. Even for the Blood Cloud Bandits, that was a huge sum of money.
But to a Godfiend family like the Meng family, they thought nothing of it.
…
He returned to his room and leaned against the bed. Under the night light, Meng Chuan flipped through the thick stack of notes. Including the money he had received from Zhao Can, there was a total of 50,000 taels of silver.
Even at my age, the most I’ve ever had on me was five thousand taels of silver. Meng Chuan sighed. Although he was famous and highly valued by the family, he didn’t earn any money. The family gave him a small monthly allowance, and his father gave him some pocket money. He didn’t spend much money, and over time, he had only accumulated five thousand taels of silver after all this while. He was far inferior to many wealthy businessmen.
Yet, he had received so much in one day.
After taking a look, he casually put the money aside, and his gaze fell on the black metal piece wrapped in cotton cloth.
Compared to the banknotes, he was even more curious about the Godfiend item. However, he didn’t have many expectations. After all, it was too damaged.
This damaged piece of black metal. Meng Chuan picked up the piece of black metal, and an incomparably domineering Godfiend aura spread out from the black metal piece. This prompted Meng Chuan to take a more careful look. Although his room was only lit by the moonlight, Meng Chuan didn’t need to rely on his eyes to “look” at things. His senses penetrated every inch of the black metal piece.
As he examined it, the piece of black metal had an invisible attraction that affected him.
In an instant, he felt his consciousness being pulled into the black metal piece.