Chapter 33
Funding Specifications
Day two.
The villagers of Huashe Village felt much lighter as soon as they got up, as if the invisible carrying pole on their bodies had been gently removed.
"Did wolves break into the village last night? It was terrifying."
"I heard it too. That wolf howl would probably scare even the Flower Snake Gang to death."
"You all need to go see quickly, the Flower Snake Gang has been wiped out."
"What?"
The news spread like wildfire, and soon all the villagers of Huashe Village came out in droves, heading towards the ancestral hall.
When they arrived, all the members of the Flower Snake Gang were lined up neatly, making it impossible to tell who was who or what kind of injuries they had sustained.
"Okay, that's right!"
"Our ancestor has appeared! Quickly go and kowtow to our ancestor."
"Why are you kowtowing? Let's just sneak into the mountain stronghold and rob them of their silver!"
Upon hearing this, everyone exclaimed in their hearts, "This is a genius!"
But when they searched each room, they found that there was not a single penny left.
Duan Xuan's image as a benefactor to the people was instantly reduced to dust in the eyes of the villagers.
Yeah, Chen Er is a worthless piece of trash.
……
Soon, news of the Flower Snake Gang's demise reached the ears of gangs in various villages.
Especially the Golden Leopard Gang of Shetougou. When the gang leader, Xu Jinbao, heard the news, he slammed his powerful hand on the tiger-head wooden chair.
"That old man bullies people by taking advantage of his power, and he takes advantage of the big shots in the county town."
He threatened me, saying that if anyone dared to stop me from entering our village, they would suffer a terrible fate.
Now what? Come on in! I've opened the door wide for you, come on in!
His subordinates burst into laughter.
Although the Flower Snake Gang is a newly established gang, it has been bullying the various gangs in the surrounding villages for some time.
No one dared to offend the bigwigs in the county and openly rebel.
We could only swallow our anger and let them take advantage of us time and time again.
But Xu Jinbao's voice stopped abruptly as he laughed. The burly man's mind was as sharp as a detective's: "The Duan family has two Ming Jin masters."
I heard that Duan Xu of the Scaled Python Martial Arts School has already stepped into the Dark Force realm.
Who exactly destroyed the Flower Snake Gang?
That's so hard to guess!
"Flower Sea, Flower Sea, you actually tried to kidnap the sisters of two martial arts masters with internal energy! If you don't die, who will?"
"Give the order: the Flower Snake Gang has never been to the territory of my Golden Leopard Gang. If even one person dares to utter a word of this, they will be punished according to the gang rules!"
……
"Young Master, the Flower Snake Gang has been wiped out!" Ren Yu and another retainer witnessed Duan Xuan's indiscriminate killing. After he left, they were worried that Duan Xuan might have left traces without cleaning up properly.
The two went there in person, intending to destroy the evidence, only to find that Duan Xuan had gone too far.
If I didn't know this was the Flower Snake Gang, I would have thought it was a mass grave.
Ren Yun's calm face suddenly lit up with disbelief: "You two must have put in a lot of effort too."
Thanks for your hard work.
Go to the back and collect your reward. Old Zhou, Brother Xuan is really something..."
Ren Yu did not leave, and honestly confessed: "Young Master, we did not take any action."
Brother Duan single-handedly dealt with the two Qi Condensation experts and thirty-one henchmen from the Flower Snake Gang.
He cleaned up the mess thoroughly; he seemed quite adept at using ingenious traps, but he erased all traces of them before leaving.
"What? You mean you two didn't offer any help?"
How is that possible?
"No matter how many traps there are, we cannot allow two experts at the Condensation Realm to perish at the same time." Zhou Wei found it hard to believe this seemingly casual statement.
Ren Yu, please explain it in detail from beginning to end.
After listening, Ren Yun's face showed a mix of emotions.
Horror, surprise, disbelief, and delight.
Zhou Wei, who is over sixty years old, has an expression that is no less dramatic.
He believed that he had always been fierce and invincible in his youth.
He took the head of a gang leader from among dozens of people and then escaped unscathed.
This man, Xuan, came from a humble background and his education level was only second-tier.
However, he not only wiped out twelve remaining members of the Wolf Stronghold when he first entered the Ming Jin realm.
A month later, he took the head of a gang leader who commanded two Ming Jin martial artists.
They also wiped out all the other disciples.
What courage and strength that must take!
"If Brother Duan comes to our hall in the next few days, remember to be discreet and help him launder the money from the main gang and replace it with Qi and Blood Pills."
"And make sure it's delivered to him in a reasonable way, so that it doesn't get targeted by those old foxes in the county town," Ren Yun instructed.
"Young Master, Miss is back and wants you to attend a meeting. Old Master Zhou will also be going," a servant announced from the back door of Renhe Hall.
"Is my sister back?"
Ren Yun and Zhou Wei walked happily towards the backyard. As soon as they arrived, they saw dozens of people standing there whispering to each other.
"Young Master, we're back!"
"We were wrong to leave Renhe Hall earlier. Please forgive us, young master!"
Standing before them were the martial artists who had been taken away by other clansmen after Renhetang's defeat; some were experts in Ming Jin (manifest strength), while others were experts in An Jin (hidden strength).
Crucially, four distant relatives with relatively strong connections also returned with them.
"Please rise quickly. With your return, Renhe Hall has the confidence to turn the tide. There's no need for formalities. Ren Yun, quickly arrange for everyone to be taken away and treated well!"
"Eldest Uncle, Sixth Uncle, Third Master, Third Uncle..." Ren Yun's eyes were a little wet.
Of the clan members who had left, only one in ten returned.
However, these four individuals were among the wealthiest and most insightful among them, and even during the heyday of Renhetang, they wielded considerable influence.
"Yun'er, don't shed tears. We heard that Renhetang had fallen on hard times and has not returned since."
This is because they were consolidating their resources and connections, and the integration is now complete.
"Let's go see the young lady."
"These guys from Huangshe County have been bullying Renhetang for too long. We've returned to reclaim our former dominant position."
Let those old bastards see what the real Renhetang is like!
"Um!"
……
"Although Renhetang has recalled all its personnel, the situation in Huangshe County and the surrounding areas is not optimistic."
Ren Yun's older sister, Ren Wanqing, sat at the head of the long table.
Everyone around was an important member of the Ren family.
Judging from her appearance, she was just over thirty years old, but her temples were already gray.
She wore a simple purple butterfly dress that hugged her straight and graceful figure, and her hair was tied up with a silver hairpin without any carvings.
But it was precisely this simple attire that made her stand out and command attention.
After years of traveling, her fair complexion has lost its radiance and is now tinged with the marks of time.
Upon hearing this, Ren Yun and the others understood that Renhetang had severed ties with other direct descendants or partners of the Ren family, leaving only the people currently in Renhetang!
"Although our strength is weak, we must not lack backbone. Those Jin Yutang, Fu Man Lou, and Zhen Bao She are afraid that Ren He Tang has the strength to turn the tables."
On their return journey, they were ambushed and targeted in multiple places. Of the original four masters of internal strength and thirteen martial artists of external strength, less than half remained.
The atmosphere inside the room suddenly plummeted. In the world of martial arts, martial artists are the guarantee of a faction's survival.
However, despite gathering their forces in multiple provinces and counties, the Ren family only brought a dozen or so martial artists.
With Jin Yutang and your forces, you could easily destroy Renhetang by force!
Turning the tide is incredibly difficult!
The meeting lasted for two whole hours, until it got dark, and Ren Yun noticed that his sister, Ren Wanqing, had a bitter face.
After everyone had left, he remained seated, pondering whether or not to tell his sister about Duan Xuan.
Because Duan Xuan was just a martial artist with great potential, but in his sister's eyes, Ming Jin was just Ming Jin, and he was not capable of supporting the family business.
If I tell her, will it upset my sister?
"Brother Yun, why aren't you leaving? Is something wrong?" Ren Wanqing asked, exhausted.
"Over the years, my sister has been the one supporting the family. Seeing you so tired now makes me feel terrible."
However, there's a promising martial arts talent we're sponsoring right now. I wonder if I should mention it?
Ren Wanqing smiled calmly: "If you have good prospects, why are you afraid to speak up? Just say so."
"This person comes from a hunter family in Shetougou. He has been practicing martial arts for more than three months, but he is currently only a Ming Jin martial artist," Ren Yun said in detail.
Ren Qingwan raised her eyebrows slightly: "If you were truly a Ming Jin martial artist, you certainly wouldn't have bothered me."
This isn't like you. Finish what you're saying!
Ren Yun was pleased, as expected, her sister was still the same understanding and reasonable sister: "Don't look down on him just because he is only a Ming Jin martial artist, I think he can break through to An Jin."
Moreover, the Duan brothers accomplished many things that other martial artists could not.
He had just started working at my Renhe Hall last month, and after only a few days of shallowly progressing to the Ming Jin level, he killed a Ming Jin practitioner.
Not long ago, the bandit group led by the martial artist did something that even Old Zhou found impossible.
The Flower Snake Gang, which received royal funding from the inner city, possessed two Ming Jin martial artists.
Thirty-one fierce thugs were wiped out by Duan Xuan overnight!
Ren Wanqing's first reaction was, how could her younger brother be so frivolous? Couldn't he see the gravity of the situation?
He actually made up stories to cheer himself up!
However, when he turned his head to look to the side, and Zhou Wei, who was calmly sipping his tea and nodding deeply, Ren Wanqing's pupils suddenly contracted: "Oh?"
The villagers of Huashe Village felt much lighter as soon as they got up, as if the invisible carrying pole on their bodies had been gently removed.
"Did wolves break into the village last night? It was terrifying."
"I heard it too. That wolf howl would probably scare even the Flower Snake Gang to death."
"You all need to go see quickly, the Flower Snake Gang has been wiped out."
"What?"
The news spread like wildfire, and soon all the villagers of Huashe Village came out in droves, heading towards the ancestral hall.
When they arrived, all the members of the Flower Snake Gang were lined up neatly, making it impossible to tell who was who or what kind of injuries they had sustained.
"Okay, that's right!"
"Our ancestor has appeared! Quickly go and kowtow to our ancestor."
"Why are you kowtowing? Let's just sneak into the mountain stronghold and rob them of their silver!"
Upon hearing this, everyone exclaimed in their hearts, "This is a genius!"
But when they searched each room, they found that there was not a single penny left.
Duan Xuan's image as a benefactor to the people was instantly reduced to dust in the eyes of the villagers.
Yeah, Chen Er is a worthless piece of trash.
……
Soon, news of the Flower Snake Gang's demise reached the ears of gangs in various villages.
Especially the Golden Leopard Gang of Shetougou. When the gang leader, Xu Jinbao, heard the news, he slammed his powerful hand on the tiger-head wooden chair.
"That old man bullies people by taking advantage of his power, and he takes advantage of the big shots in the county town."
He threatened me, saying that if anyone dared to stop me from entering our village, they would suffer a terrible fate.
Now what? Come on in! I've opened the door wide for you, come on in!
His subordinates burst into laughter.
Although the Flower Snake Gang is a newly established gang, it has been bullying the various gangs in the surrounding villages for some time.
No one dared to offend the bigwigs in the county and openly rebel.
We could only swallow our anger and let them take advantage of us time and time again.
But Xu Jinbao's voice stopped abruptly as he laughed. The burly man's mind was as sharp as a detective's: "The Duan family has two Ming Jin masters."
I heard that Duan Xu of the Scaled Python Martial Arts School has already stepped into the Dark Force realm.
Who exactly destroyed the Flower Snake Gang?
That's so hard to guess!
"Flower Sea, Flower Sea, you actually tried to kidnap the sisters of two martial arts masters with internal energy! If you don't die, who will?"
"Give the order: the Flower Snake Gang has never been to the territory of my Golden Leopard Gang. If even one person dares to utter a word of this, they will be punished according to the gang rules!"
……
"Young Master, the Flower Snake Gang has been wiped out!" Ren Yu and another retainer witnessed Duan Xuan's indiscriminate killing. After he left, they were worried that Duan Xuan might have left traces without cleaning up properly.
The two went there in person, intending to destroy the evidence, only to find that Duan Xuan had gone too far.
If I didn't know this was the Flower Snake Gang, I would have thought it was a mass grave.
Ren Yun's calm face suddenly lit up with disbelief: "You two must have put in a lot of effort too."
Thanks for your hard work.
Go to the back and collect your reward. Old Zhou, Brother Xuan is really something..."
Ren Yu did not leave, and honestly confessed: "Young Master, we did not take any action."
Brother Duan single-handedly dealt with the two Qi Condensation experts and thirty-one henchmen from the Flower Snake Gang.
He cleaned up the mess thoroughly; he seemed quite adept at using ingenious traps, but he erased all traces of them before leaving.
"What? You mean you two didn't offer any help?"
How is that possible?
"No matter how many traps there are, we cannot allow two experts at the Condensation Realm to perish at the same time." Zhou Wei found it hard to believe this seemingly casual statement.
Ren Yu, please explain it in detail from beginning to end.
After listening, Ren Yun's face showed a mix of emotions.
Horror, surprise, disbelief, and delight.
Zhou Wei, who is over sixty years old, has an expression that is no less dramatic.
He believed that he had always been fierce and invincible in his youth.
He took the head of a gang leader from among dozens of people and then escaped unscathed.
This man, Xuan, came from a humble background and his education level was only second-tier.
However, he not only wiped out twelve remaining members of the Wolf Stronghold when he first entered the Ming Jin realm.
A month later, he took the head of a gang leader who commanded two Ming Jin martial artists.
They also wiped out all the other disciples.
What courage and strength that must take!
"If Brother Duan comes to our hall in the next few days, remember to be discreet and help him launder the money from the main gang and replace it with Qi and Blood Pills."
"And make sure it's delivered to him in a reasonable way, so that it doesn't get targeted by those old foxes in the county town," Ren Yun instructed.
"Young Master, Miss is back and wants you to attend a meeting. Old Master Zhou will also be going," a servant announced from the back door of Renhe Hall.
"Is my sister back?"
Ren Yun and Zhou Wei walked happily towards the backyard. As soon as they arrived, they saw dozens of people standing there whispering to each other.
"Young Master, we're back!"
"We were wrong to leave Renhe Hall earlier. Please forgive us, young master!"
Standing before them were the martial artists who had been taken away by other clansmen after Renhetang's defeat; some were experts in Ming Jin (manifest strength), while others were experts in An Jin (hidden strength).
Crucially, four distant relatives with relatively strong connections also returned with them.
"Please rise quickly. With your return, Renhe Hall has the confidence to turn the tide. There's no need for formalities. Ren Yun, quickly arrange for everyone to be taken away and treated well!"
"Eldest Uncle, Sixth Uncle, Third Master, Third Uncle..." Ren Yun's eyes were a little wet.
Of the clan members who had left, only one in ten returned.
However, these four individuals were among the wealthiest and most insightful among them, and even during the heyday of Renhetang, they wielded considerable influence.
"Yun'er, don't shed tears. We heard that Renhetang had fallen on hard times and has not returned since."
This is because they were consolidating their resources and connections, and the integration is now complete.
"Let's go see the young lady."
"These guys from Huangshe County have been bullying Renhetang for too long. We've returned to reclaim our former dominant position."
Let those old bastards see what the real Renhetang is like!
"Um!"
……
"Although Renhetang has recalled all its personnel, the situation in Huangshe County and the surrounding areas is not optimistic."
Ren Yun's older sister, Ren Wanqing, sat at the head of the long table.
Everyone around was an important member of the Ren family.
Judging from her appearance, she was just over thirty years old, but her temples were already gray.
She wore a simple purple butterfly dress that hugged her straight and graceful figure, and her hair was tied up with a silver hairpin without any carvings.
But it was precisely this simple attire that made her stand out and command attention.
After years of traveling, her fair complexion has lost its radiance and is now tinged with the marks of time.
Upon hearing this, Ren Yun and the others understood that Renhetang had severed ties with other direct descendants or partners of the Ren family, leaving only the people currently in Renhetang!
"Although our strength is weak, we must not lack backbone. Those Jin Yutang, Fu Man Lou, and Zhen Bao She are afraid that Ren He Tang has the strength to turn the tables."
On their return journey, they were ambushed and targeted in multiple places. Of the original four masters of internal strength and thirteen martial artists of external strength, less than half remained.
The atmosphere inside the room suddenly plummeted. In the world of martial arts, martial artists are the guarantee of a faction's survival.
However, despite gathering their forces in multiple provinces and counties, the Ren family only brought a dozen or so martial artists.
With Jin Yutang and your forces, you could easily destroy Renhetang by force!
Turning the tide is incredibly difficult!
The meeting lasted for two whole hours, until it got dark, and Ren Yun noticed that his sister, Ren Wanqing, had a bitter face.
After everyone had left, he remained seated, pondering whether or not to tell his sister about Duan Xuan.
Because Duan Xuan was just a martial artist with great potential, but in his sister's eyes, Ming Jin was just Ming Jin, and he was not capable of supporting the family business.
If I tell her, will it upset my sister?
"Brother Yun, why aren't you leaving? Is something wrong?" Ren Wanqing asked, exhausted.
"Over the years, my sister has been the one supporting the family. Seeing you so tired now makes me feel terrible."
However, there's a promising martial arts talent we're sponsoring right now. I wonder if I should mention it?
Ren Wanqing smiled calmly: "If you have good prospects, why are you afraid to speak up? Just say so."
"This person comes from a hunter family in Shetougou. He has been practicing martial arts for more than three months, but he is currently only a Ming Jin martial artist," Ren Yun said in detail.
Ren Qingwan raised her eyebrows slightly: "If you were truly a Ming Jin martial artist, you certainly wouldn't have bothered me."
This isn't like you. Finish what you're saying!
Ren Yun was pleased, as expected, her sister was still the same understanding and reasonable sister: "Don't look down on him just because he is only a Ming Jin martial artist, I think he can break through to An Jin."
Moreover, the Duan brothers accomplished many things that other martial artists could not.
He had just started working at my Renhe Hall last month, and after only a few days of shallowly progressing to the Ming Jin level, he killed a Ming Jin practitioner.
Not long ago, the bandit group led by the martial artist did something that even Old Zhou found impossible.
The Flower Snake Gang, which received royal funding from the inner city, possessed two Ming Jin martial artists.
Thirty-one fierce thugs were wiped out by Duan Xuan overnight!
Ren Wanqing's first reaction was, how could her younger brother be so frivolous? Couldn't he see the gravity of the situation?
He actually made up stories to cheer himself up!
However, when he turned his head to look to the side, and Zhou Wei, who was calmly sipping his tea and nodding deeply, Ren Wanqing's pupils suddenly contracted: "Oh?"