The Gap

As the official opening of Pingyun Market drew closer, the Zhou clan's merchant caravan grew increasingly busy, constantly traveling back and forth between the two locations.

Even when moving goods in batches, Zhou Minghu remained extremely cautious. Each trip carried no more than a few Spirit Stones' worth of cargo. With over twenty clan soldiers serving as escorts, either Wang Dashi or he would personally hold the line, traveling strictly along the official roads.

Facing such an escort, let alone common mountain bandits and thieves, even Rogue Cultivators in the Spirit Awakening Realm who had established their own footholds would not dare strike.

It simply was not worth the effort.

They were not deaf to the rumors. The Zhou clan was a cultivator family, and they had even produced a county magistrate.

Setting aside whether they could even seize the goods, even if they risked their lives and succeeded, they would have nowhere to sell them. Worse, they would face the combined wrath and encirclement of a cultivator clan and government soldiers.

They were outlaws, not brainless fools. Plundering the occasional merchant wagon was one thing, but provoking the government and a cultivator clan? None dared.

Zhou Minghu sat in the carriage, his eyes closed in quiet meditation. He continuously comprehended the Wind Escape Technique, studying the insights left by Zhou Ping. In his palms, he gripped his small sword and shield.

Although Qingshui County only had three Qi Condensation cultivators on the surface, Zhou Ping feared the malice of hidden Demonic Cultivators, or the sudden emergence of someone who had luckily broken through to Qi Condensation. Thus, the moment he finished comprehending the Wind Escape Technique, he recorded every drop of his insight into a small booklet. He gave it to Zhou Minghu and his brother to cultivate, hoping to add another layer of assurance to their survival.

If not for the fact that the Wind Astral Technique required a full fifteen strands of Spiritual Qi to cast, Zhou Ping would have loved to pass that down to them as well.

"Whoosh!"

Zhou Minghu suddenly snapped his eyes open. He lifted the curtain and gazed toward a secluded thicket in the distance, where a faint figure stood concealed.

The small sword in his palm leaked a sliver of a dharma treasure's oppressive might. Outside, the clan soldiers felt an inexplicable palpitation of dread, entirely unaware of its source. The fine horse pulling the carriage was suddenly spooked. Fortunately, the disturbance was minor, and the driver swiftly soothed the beast.

"Son of a bitch, usually so docile. What's gotten into you today?"

The driver cursed, his peripheral vision casting a fearful glance toward the carriage canopy behind him. He was terrified of drawing the ire of the master within. The surrounding clan soldiers glared at him, silently blaming him for failing at the simple task of driving.

With the complete establishment of the clan soldier system and the steward system across the four villages and one town, the beneficiaries had been firmly lashed to the Zhou clan's war chariot. It was not just them, but their parents and children as well.

As long as the Zhou clan did not resort to brutal slaughter or tyranny, these commoners would never harbor treacherous thoughts. Instead, they would continuously climb within this hierarchy, striving for greater authority and standing.

"It is fine. Keep moving."

Only when the voice sounded from within the canopy did the driver finally let out a breath of relief. Daring not to slack off for another moment, he focused entirely on driving the carriage.

Zhou Minghu kept his eyes locked on the distant figure. Only when the person sensed the oppressive might of the Magical Artifact and withdrew did he finally exhale in relief.

Having escorted the goods this many times, he had naturally encountered Demonic Cultivators and Rogue Cultivators. Some were merely pushing their luck, backing off the moment they sensed the might of a Magical Artifact. Others, driven to an extreme and volatile temperament by their demonic arts, would ferociously charge the formation. Wielding fierce blades with terrifying sharpness, they would leave many clan soldiers maimed and wounded.

Yet, two fists were no match for four hands. Furthermore, Zhou Minghu would weave around the perimeter, casting the Golden Light Technique. Eventually, the exhausted Demonic Cultivator would be beaten to death by the vengeful clan soldiers.

Zhou Minghu knew his own strength was inferior to that of the Demonic Cultivator. But even a Spirit Awakening Realm Demonic Cultivator could only die a bitter death against the orderly offense and defense of the clan soldiers. It made him sigh with even deeper reverence for his father's years of enduring humiliation and bearing heavy burdens.

If his father had not lived secluded in the mountains to guard against the Wang and Sun clans, their family would likely have been encircled and slaughtered long ago.

Having cultivated to his current realm, he knew that with his aptitude, the possibility of breaking through to Qi Condensation was agonizingly slim.

He then withdrew a secret manual from his robes. It was the demonic art he had seized after killing that Demonic Cultivator.

As he gazed at the words on the cover, his eyes grew dark and deep. Ultimately, he squeezed his eyes shut and shoved it back into his robes, terrified that his heart might linger on its temptations.

Written upon that manual were several ancient, heavy characters:

Blood Flesh Alchemy Method!

Two days later, the caravan arrived at the foot of a great mountain.

This peak was far more majestic and towering than any on Baixi Mountain, rising over a hundred zhang into the sky. The lush green pines that covered its slopes swayed with the wind like ocean tides. Avians circled and sang from high above, while mountain beasts roared and cried out.

From the foot of the mountain to its waist, dwellings stood in orderly rows. Thousands of buildings intertwined, exuding a bustling aura of mortal life.

Amidst the sea of green pines, courtyards, pavilions, and towers lay half-hidden in overlapping layers, their terraces linked together. Spiritual light occasionally surged forth as clouds and mists spiraled. At the absolute summit sat a continuous expanse of palatial halls, presided over by a solitary, towering green pine.

This was, naturally, the Dao field of the Huang clan-Pingyun Mountain!

Though it was not his first time seeing it, Zhou Minghu could not help but sigh in awe. The gap between his family and the Huang clan lay not merely in the number of cultivators, but in a gulf of over a hundred years of clan heritage.

His clan possessed scarcely any Spirit Awakening Realm spiritual objects, yet the Huang clan had cultivated an entire mountain of green pines. Among them, a significant number had reached the Spirit Awakening level.

Furthermore, they had nurtured numerous Spirit Awakening-level creatures that coexisted with the green pines. There were Wind-Calling Butterflies that drew the breezes and smoothed the clouds, Big-Headed Bees that gathered nectar and pollinated the flowers, Golden-Silk Little Apes that guarded the mountain with awakened intelligence, and Gray-Eyed Giant Squirrels that picked the choicest pine nuts...

At the foot of Pingyun Mountain, a marketplace had already been established. Voices boiled over in the bustling, raucous crowd.

A chubby little figure gazing out from the distance spotted the caravan and immediately jumped up in excitement.

"Minghu Ge! Minghu Ge!"

This drew the sidelong glances of the surrounding crowd. Some naturally turned to look.

"Whose family is that?" someone asked in confusion.

"The Zhou clan. They only became a cultivator clan a few years ago. That empty storefront in the middle of the market belongs to them."

Someone scoffed. "So they're just mud-legged peasants who recently became a cultivator clan. Taking up such a large shop-are they just going to sell Spirit Rice and assorted scraps?"

"Hard to say. I see them running things quite properly. Who knows, they might actually have a few presentable items."

"Hahaha, I'd love to see what they can possibly bring out."

The Zhou clan's occupation of such a massive shop naturally provoked the dissatisfaction of some.

After all, the Zhou clan was an extremely minor cultivator clan. Their Qi Condensation cultivator was likely still at the first level, and their family foundation was pitifully thin. What could they possibly offer?

These other cultivator clans, on the other hand, had all undergone over a decade of careful management. While they might not possess first-grade spiritual objects, they naturally had a few Spirit Awakening-level items on hand.

Some cultivator clans had even exchanged for several types of Hundred Arts inheritances.

The Huang clan, for instance, not only possessed the craft of manufacturing talisman paper, but also the rare Hundred Arts inheritance of spiritual meals, not to mention a fragmented first-grade alchemy inheritance.

Now, none of these established cultivator clans had secured a good location, while the mud-legged Zhou clan occupied a prime fengshui treasure spot. Naturally, no one had a good word to say about them.

Even if it did not spark a dispute, they all wanted to see the Zhou clan make a fool of themselves.

Zhou Minghu stepped down from the carriage to find Zhou Hu already waiting respectfully with a group of people, evidently having been there for some time.

"Third Young Master, the shop has been arranged."

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