Big Data Cultivation

Chapter 248: Chapter 248: Yuan Guangmi Family

The group consisted of about fifteen or sixteen individuals, including eight martial artists, two at high-rank, two at intermediate level, and four at entry-level; the rest were all martial artists.

It was quite apparent that among this group, the high-end combat strength was skewed, with an equal number of martial masters and martial artists, including as many as two high-rank martial masters.

The Tian Family blocked the newcomers but also recognized their identity—it was the Mi Family from Yuanguang Prefecture.

The Mi Family rose to prominence through their trading business, and although the number of direct relatives was fewer compared to the Tian Family, they had many small clans and forces as vassals because of their merchant activities, which gave them significantly greater strength and connections than the Tian Family.

The visitors were polite, first asking if the severed head was that of the Soul Capture Spike, before expressing their desire to meet with the person in charge.

Feng Jun met with them and stated explicitly, “My time is quite limited, so if you have important business, just speak directly.”

The representative from the Mi Family, a high-rank martial master, was forthright, expressing a wish to take the head and body of Soul Capture Spike and asking Mr. Feng to name his price.

Feng Jun was displeased upon hearing this, his expression darkened, “Until now, I still have not figured out what the Soul Capture Spike’s surname is… Could it be Mi?”

Upon hearing these words, Master Mi could only respond vaguely, “The Mi Family has a grudge against Soul Capture Spike. If you have knowledgeable people by your side, you might wish to inquire about it.”

Given his attitude, it seemed that the Mi Family had some private grudges with Soul Capture Spike that were inconvenient to speak of.

But Feng Jun was not one to indulge such behavior. He made his position very clear, “I don’t have spare time to waste on matters unrelated to me. If you want to speak, speak. If not… Old Lang!”

Lang Zhen had been injured the day before yesterday, and although he had not been hit in a vital area, he was still not at his best, “What are your instructions, Divine Doctor?”

“Fetch one hundred silver yuans,” Feng Jun ordered indifferently, “Consider it travel expenses for our friends here.”

This type of gesture was quite popular in ancient Huaxia—not just in official circles, but among the jianghu folk as well. When passing warriors found themselves short on funds, they could seek “emergency aid from the jianghu” from local residents.

For a local to maintain their reputation, they indeed had to offer some support, giving more to those with greater fame and less to those with less renown.

This plane had a similar custom—when traveling abroad, it was common to encounter unexpected situations.

However, unlike in the Earth Realm, here the “emergency aid from the jianghu” placed great emphasis on strength; those with little fame who wished to freeload would merely be volunteering to work at the Black Mine Mountain.

So the money Feng Jun offered did carry some meaning, but strictly speaking, it really wasn’t “emergency aid from the jianghu”; he was using it to signify rejection—if I’ve made you come here for nothing, here, take this money for your round trip.

One hundred silver yuans was not a small sum, even though there were eight martial artists among them; how much could they possibly spend traveling to and from Yuanguang Prefecture?

Lang Zhen showed no hesitation and quickly brought out the silver yuans, twenty in each pouch, a total of five pouches, which he placed on the table.

The high-rank martial master from the Mi Family sighed and shook his head as he looked at the five pouches of silver yuans on the table, then let out a helpless, bitter laugh, “Mr. Feng, you’ve misunderstood. My Mi Family really has no other choice… It’s an embarrassing matter I can’t speak of.”

“I didn’t say I wanted you to speak,” Feng Jun spoke earnestly, “and I have no interest in hearing about it… My point is, you can take the silver yuans and leave.”

The martial artist from the Mi Family understood the logic well—they approached on their own initiative without explaining themselves; should he have to inquire?

As expected of someone who could slay the Soul Capture Spike, he was truly overwhelmingly strong.

The attitude was certainly not friendly, but offering silver yuans indicated no intent to make enemies.

With a bow, the Mi Family martial artist said, “Mr. Feng, I heard that the second master of the Yu Family is here; may I have him vouch for me?”

“That’s for you to decide,” Feng Jun replied, picking up his teacup, leisurely sipping tea, “After you leave my courtyard, you’re free to go wherever you wish… Just remember to take the silver yuans with you.”

The Mi Family originally did not want to accept the silver yuans—it wasn’t about the amount, but the connotation was somewhat insulting. You conduct yourself with propriety, but does my Mi Family not have status and reputation? Are we so petty?

However, for some reason, faced with Feng Jun’s nonchalant demeanor, they really didn’t dare to outright refuse.

So with another bow, he said, “It seems Mr. Feng still has some misunderstandings about the Mi Family… May I go see the second master of the Yu Family?”

Feng Jun, holding his teacup aloft, looked at him coldly from the side, “Whether you look for Yu Zhengqing or not, what does that have to do with me?”

Seeing this, the martial artist from the Mi Family didn’t say another word, quickly picked up the silver yuans, stood up, bowed, and took his leave, inwardly lamenting that they had been too hasty and had not investigated this Mr. Feng thoroughly enough.

It wasn’t until he had left the courtyard and the cold wind blew against him that he realized his back was soaked with sweat…

Not long after Feng Jun sent the visitors off, Yu Zhengqing requested an audience.

The Yu Family ran a Trading Company, and the Mi Family were merchants; the two families competed yet cooperated, and they were acquaintances anyway.

Yu Zhengqing was aware of the grudges between the Mi Family and Soul Capture Spike, but he was currently busy looking for people to construct buildings—a mile and a half away from the courtyard, outside Feng Jun’s vigilant area.

Indeed, the Yu Family also planned to have people reside here permanently; as for the reason… was one needed?

“If I have to find a reason, it’s as simple as this—what’s so strange about a trading company having several lodgings?”

Yu Zhengqing was reluctant to advocate for the Mi Family until they came to him to request his help, and only then did he seek out Feng Jun.

The affair between the Mi Family and the Soul Capture Spike was indeed somewhat… tricky.

The whole incident started when the elderly patriarch of the Mi Family’s concubine took a lover. Someone from the Mi Family went to catch them in the act, only to be injured by the adulterer.

After injuring the person, the adulterer arrogantly declared, “I’m from Wonderful Hand Pavilion. If you’ve got a problem with that, come find me there.”

On the same day, the Mi Family drowned the concubine and aggressively searched for the adulterer… Not only did he commit adultery, but he also dared to assault someone?

When the adulterer heard that the girl had been drowned, in a fit of rage, he gathered a few companions and killed several members of the Mi Family. To his surprise, he ultimately fell into the Mi Family’s trap and was completely annihilated.

Once the hatred had spread, it escalated quickly. The Mi Family sought revenge against the adulterer’s clan—”Our young men cannot die in vain, besides, the patriarch died of anger.”

As a result, the Soul Capture Spike intervened, killing three martial masters from the Mi Family and issuing a warning, “As someone from the prestigious Wonderful Hand Pavilion, what’s playing with your concubine? If there’s a next time, I’ll go after your Mi Family’s precious daughter!”

In truth, the Mi Family, being traders, had various connections, and they inquired, what did Wonderful Hand Pavilion mean by this? Your man seduces another’s woman, and that’s somehow justified?

The findings from their inquiries confirmed that it was purely the personal action of Soul Capture Spike—many in Wonderful Hand Pavilion knew he had a strong aversion to unequal marriages due to his past experiences.

He didn’t even know the adulterer but killed for his sake.

This matter was a great insult to the Mi Family—four young men dead, over ten injured, and even the old patriarch died of anger.

However, they couldn’t afford to provoke Soul Capture Spike. Even if they were willing to exhaust their fortunes to have someone kill him, the difficulty was great due to his elusive whereabouts, and besides, how would Wonderful Hand Pavilion react?

The Mi Family had no choice but to begrudgingly accept the situation for the time being and wait for an opportunity.

After hearing that Soul Capture Spike had been killed, they rushed over during the night, hoping to buy his head to bring back for the patriarch and the deceased young men’s memorial.

As for the ire of Wonderful Hand Pavilion, they didn’t care—not their kill.

Besides, regarding the previous matter, Wonderful Hand Pavilion still owes the Mi Family an explanation—shouldn’t the seducer of another’s family member be killed?

After hearing the whole story, Feng Jun was somewhat caught between laughter and tears. He understood why the Mi Family held that attitude—such a matter was indeed embarrassing to speak of, and it was difficult to believe due to the suppression of the news.

Being reasonable, since the other party genuinely had a cause, he therefore said, “Well then, tell them this, I intend to hang the head for ten days. After ten days, they can take away both the corpse and the head.”

After all, they had already waited so many years, what’s ten days more?

Upon hearing this, the Mi Family sent another representative to express their gratitude and offered to pay one hundred taels of gold.

One hundred taels of gold for a dead body was quite expensive, even for the corpse of an Innate Expert.

However, the Mi Family had no choice. They wished to spend less, but Feng Junguang had casually given out one hundred silver yuan, his generosity evident. They couldn’t lose face, could they?

But Feng Jun refused the one hundred taels of gold, stating, “I haven’t stooped so low as to earn money from the dead. After all, this person provoked me, you wouldn’t need to pay for me to kill him.”

“As for fairness, the Mi Family doesn’t want to take advantage either,” they said. “Since that’s the case, Mr. Feng, what can we assist you with?”

Feng Jun pondered carefully before he realized that in this realm, apart from Cultivation Techniques… he wasn’t really lacking anything?

Of course, he didn’t have many Cultivation Techniques or Natural Treasures at his disposal, but he had enough for the short term. He lacked Spirit Stones, but it was only temporarily inconvenient to mine them. He could quietly proceed once things settled down.

After some thought, he inquired indifferently, “Can you provide me with information on Gu Maoyuan’s movements?”

This put the Mi Family in a difficult position. They heard that Mr. Feng intended to deal with the Yangshan Gu Family and even disclosed information that he had captured someone from Wonderful Hand Pavilion—a member of the Gu Family.

But the Yangshan Gu Family was not easy to provoke. The clan had an Innate Expert stationed there year-round and maintained relatively friendly relations with many major forces.

It’s not significant for a clan to occasionally have an Innate among them. What is fearsome is a clan that continuously produces Innates over hundreds of years—other major forces must consider the future, not just the present.

In the end, it was a High-Rank Martial Master from the Mi Family who spoke up. “Gathering information is no big deal, but given that he’s a mainstay of the Gu Family, it may take time to locate any clues. We ask for Mr. Feng’s understanding… Do you have any other orders?”

“It doesn’t matter if you can’t find out,” Feng Jun didn’t really expect them to accomplish anything—it was merely a favor. Whether they recognized it or not, it was irrelevant.

Yet the Mi Family did not like being in debt to anyone. After discussing, they approached Feng Jun again, “If you want to deal with the Gu Family, you can start with their businesses.”

(Update to here, calling for March’s base monthly votes.)