Big Data Cultivation

Chapter 135: Fury

The four people responsible for surveillance were paired up in two groups.

After discussing among themselves, they agreed that this extraordinary situation must be made known to the village.

Brother Liu, who lost his arm today, said that after he returned, he would ask Elder Zhao to take charge and take advantage of the night to eliminate this group.

The Zhao Family Castle had much greater numbers capable of fighting than the other side, which would make a night attack a risky choice, prone to accidental harm to one’s own people.

However, since the enemy had a martial master, choosing to attack at night wasn’t a mistake, as it would allow them to overwhelm the master with sheer numbers.

But all this was just Brother Liu’s conjecture, and whether it would be feasible or not would depend on Elder Zhao’s attitude.

The four watchers believed they couldn’t just sit idly by any longer, they had to let the people in the village know; under such brightly lit conditions, attempting a night attack… that would be a joke, wouldn’t it?

It would probably be like looking at the sun if they were to surround and attack in such bright light.

Among the four, they chose a young man with agile legs and good night vision to hurry back despite the rain.

The young man indeed had an impressive physique; in the pitch-black night, he lit a torch and made his way, stumbling and crawling, and in just over an hour, he had covered more than twenty miles.

Feng Jun and the others also saw his torch, but with such a distance between them, they couldn’t react properly.

The Zhao Family Castle was about thirty miles from where Feng Jun and his group were, yet, as the young man climbed up a small hill, he suddenly found dozens of people standing on the hill.

Among them were four or five people holding electric lanterns, with another seven or eight holding umbrellas, and the one leading was none other than Elder Zhao of the Zhao Family.

Elder Zhao was the only remaining martial master in the village, around fifty years old, squinting his eyes and coldly observing the distant lights, his thoughts inscrutable.

“Little Ba from the third family has come back,” someone with sharp eyes recognized the young man, “What is that bright thing over there?”

The light from the xenon lamp was dazzling in the night, and the air quality of this world was much better than Earth’s; if it weren’t raining, one could see it from even a hundred or eighty miles away. Standing twenty miles away, they were all incredibly shocked by the sight.

The young man wiped the sweat off his face and stammered in reply, “That is… that’s a lighting device from the Xiongfeng Escort Bureau.”

Up until now, they were still habitually referring to the other party as the Xiongfeng Escort Bureau, and Elder Zhao did not seem inclined to correct them. He felt that, given the Zhao Family Castle’s capabilities, there’s no need to be overly fearful of any escort bureau.

This wasn’t arrogance on his part; rather, he believed that such confidence needed to be cultivated through daily practice.

Nevertheless, upon hearing this, Elder Zhao frowned dissatisfiedly, “Escort Bureau? Impossible… If they had such means, from where would they have gotten a nighttime battle array? The lamp must be very bright, right?” “Extremely bright,” the young man replied with utmost respect, “Looking directly at it will make your eyes water.”

Hearing this, some of the more impatient members of the Zhao Family spoke up, “Does that mean… we can’t launch a night attack?”

The young man hesitated for a moment, but then honestly shook his head, “In our opinion, the four of us, a stealth attack would be unsuitable.”

The status of the four watchers in the Zhao Family Castle wasn’t particularly high, but as they served as scouts, they were entitled to make suggestions.

Elder Zhao pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly, “Since they are prepared, let’s not attack tonight. Keep watch… and tomorrow, we’ll go and reason with them.”

The night passed without incident, and the next morning, they received the latest news: the disabled martial artist with the severed arm was believed to be Lang Zhen, an escort master who had left the Xiongfeng Escort Bureau.

Elder Zhao had heard of the reputation of Lone Wolf; he was seven or eight years older than Lang Zhen. At the time of his achievement as a martial master, Lang Zhen had already made quite a name for himself, and had later, with only an intermediate cultivation level of a martial artist, killed a high-rank martial artist.

He knew very well that if he were to face Lone Wolf, he would definitely not come away unscathed.

After Lang Zhen’s injury and subsequent loss of cultivation level, which led to his departure from the Xiongfeng Escort Bureau, Elder Zhao had also heard about it through the grapevine. However, considering that Brother Liu, a high- rank martial warrior, was disarmed by Lang Zhen in one move, it was evident that Lone Wolf’s cultivation level had somewhat recovered.

After some consideration, Elder Zhao decided to put civility before force and first to seek an explanation from them, to see what they would say.

Around noon, Elder Zhao, accompanied by more than twenty members of his family, arrived in front of the other party’s house.

Feng Jun had already turned off the xenon lamp, but he hadn’t bothered to put away the wires and lamps—after all, if he did, he’d just have to set them up again in the evening, which would be quite cumbersome.

As Elder Zhao approached with the family members, the first thing they noticed were the electric wires and light bulbs. After a careful look, Elder Zhao turned his attention to Lang Zhen, who was sitting there smoking, and asked indifferently, “Lone Wolf?”

Lang Zhen gave him a glance, continuing to smoke by himself, and snorted lightly, “If you want to sell ‘Jade,’ sell it. If not, don’t try to get chummy… I’m not interested in getting to know you.”

“Hehheh,” Elder Zhao laughed, revealing his yellowed teeth, then pulled out a smoking pipe, lit it with tinder, and began puffing out clouds of smoke.

After three puffs, he said leisurely, “So you haven’t firmly established yourself in the Martial Master Realm, are you sure you can beat me?”

Lang Zhen gave him another look, replying deliberately, “I seriously suggest that you… don’t try it, really!”

Elder Zhao felt a bit apprehensive inside, but he wasn’t afraid of the opponent. In fact, after seeing the opponent’s cultivation level with his own eyes, he was confident he could defeat him—even if he couldn’t win a one-on-one fight, he didn’t summon all these family members just to spectate.

However, while it was easy to defeat the opponent, capturing him would be difficult and would certainly cost his clansmen dearly.

So he spoke coldly, “By attacking a younger member of my Zhao Family, are you trying to provoke us?”

Lang Zhen snorted coldly, “I am ignorant and have never heard of any Zhao Family. Do you have an Innate Expert?”

Elder Zhao’s face grew even darker, “I did not expect Lone Wolf to aim so high. The person you injured yesterday, his elder brother is a Xuanwu Commandant in the county soldiers… do you know that?”

As a former soldier, Lang Zhen was, of course, aware of what a Xuanwu Commandant was. There were many levels of commandants, and martial artists could hold the position, but a Xuanwu Commandant had to be at least a martial master.

He did not want to indulge the other party, but as a former soldier, he still valued comradery, so he replied with a cold snort, “A mere martial artist, daring to mock me for being disabled, then I could only show a little discipline.”

This was his explanation, and as for anything more—Lone Wolf was always proud and aloof.

A strange expression flashed across Elder Zhao’s face, “You are a disabled person, aren’t you? Was he wrong to say so? Or do you think… you’re a martial master?”

His words were full of provocation, clearly pointing out—Mr. Lang, your current cultivation level has not yet stabilized as a martial master.

Lang Zhen was well aware of his cultivation level, but… he was definitely a martial master; it’s just that his realm had fallen for a time and he hadn’t fully recovered yet.

Moreover, he punished the other party not just for their disrespect but also for coveting his wealth.

So facing such biased rhetoric, he simply posed another question, “Even if I’m not a martial master, I can still kill you. Want to try?”

Elder Zhao had no confidence in confronting Lone Wolf—even if it were an unsettled Lone Wolf—as he heard this, he snorted coldly, “Don’t get ahead of yourself, someone will come seeking a reckoning with you. I just have one question: are you still buying this stone?”

Lang Zhen couldn’t be bothered to respond to him. Seeing no one else speak up, Deng Lao Er waited a moment before raising his voice, “Of course, we’re buying.”

“If you want to buy, the three stones from yesterday, my Zhao family fort will sell for three hundred silver dollars,” Elder Zhao declared righteously, “As Zhige people, we can’t stand by while you harm the interests of our fellow villagers!”

Yesterday, the Zhao Family’s quote was only two hundred silver dollars, but now it had increased to three hundred, and yet they spoke of the villagers’ interests. Lone Wolf thought to himself with a snort: They really are shameless.

However, before he could respond, a cry of surprise came from the side.

It turned out that Feifei had walked from a distance, and a Zhao family junior, annoyed that she was in the way, kicked her directly.

The Zhao family members knew that the girl, though young, had sided with the opponent, acting as a scout and doing the cooking and washing for them, so naturally, they had no good impression of her.

When the junior lashed out, he didn’t ease up because she was a child—being Zhige people, you serve the foreign thieves, you deserve to suffer.

Of course, he did not want to take her life, so he aimed his kick at the big basket on the girl’s back.

However, the girl’s reaction was strange. Instead of trying her best to dodge, she turned around and faced the kick with her chest, as she knew clearly in her heart—her little brother was sleeping in the basket!

After taking the kick, she stumbled back several steps, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood.

“Bastard!” Deng Lao Er’s eyes instantly reddened. Drawing the longsword from his back, he lunged forward, “To a little girl, you dare to deal such a strike? How can my Deng family, known for loyalty and righteousness, let you go?” “Hmm?” Elder Zhao frowned upon seeing this, pulled out the cloth belt tied around his waist, and flicked it forward with a snap of his wrist.

The cloth belt was actually a soft whip, which, when infused with inner qi, is immune to blades and spears—a weapon he prided himself on.

Before Lang Zhen could react, it was already too late, as he was seated at the time.

Moreover, in front of him, stood two high-rank martial warriors, staring intently at him. If he dared to make a move, he would face an attack from a martial master and two high-rank martial warriors.

In fact, Lone Wolf excelled at tracking, assassination, and escape, but rescuing others was not his forte.

Deng Lao Er had already sprung into action and, with momentum carrying him forward, it was too late to dodge. Just as he was about to be struck squarely by the whip, a roar came from not far away, “Bastards!”

The roar came from inside a house.

Indeed, everyone at the Zhao family fort knew that there were four people dealing in jade stones, and the one truly in charge was not the three present but the young man who often hid in the house.

As for the young man, everyone didn’t think much of him, considering him just a wealthy merchant.

Yet, following that angry roar, what came was a fierce gust of finger wind, whistling through the air with tremendous force.

(Updated to here, Feng Xiao should still be at the venue, and it’s still a scheduled update. I beg for monthly votes…I call upon them, emphatically.)