Chapter 227 - 125: Disciple, Do You Dare Ride a Jiaolong into the Sea, Travel 8,000 a Day, and See ’Jiangyin Prefecture’!?

Chapter 227: Chapter 125: Disciple, Do You Dare Ride a Jiaolong into the Sea, Travel 8,000 a Day, and See ’Jiangyin Prefecture’!?

Anning County. The riverside docks.

"The transfer order isn’t until tomorrow! Today, I’m still the ’Lord of Anning County,’ so on what grounds are you stopping me?!"

"Listen here, Cai! I’m telling you, my brother is the world to your little sister. If anything happens to him, she’ll be at your throat..."

A disheveled Zhao Jiu dragged Cai Zhen, the eldest young master of the Cai Family, to the docks, fuming. Cai Zhen wore a look of utter resignation.

Beside him, the young man in the jade coronet, dressed in the cyan robes of a Prefecture Official, sighed.

"Master Zhao Jiu, you have to understand, it’s not my Jadeite Shop Cai Family that wants to give you a hard time," he began. "Ever since word got out that Duan Chenzhou was in Anning, plenty of people have been looking to cause trouble for him."

"This time, the patriarch of the Fishing Trade was the first to lose his patience. He conspired with the other houses and even paid a hefty price to hire a Flood Dragon. Isn’t that enough to deal with a Grandmaster who just finished Breaking Realm?"

"Even if he cultivated a ’Superior’ Qi Sea, he still hasn’t condensed a ’Treasure Body.’ He can’t subdue dragons and tame tigers, achieve Ghost God Avoidance, or push the Third Refinement to its absolute peak. How can he possibly survive such a death trap?"

"As for that Ji Xiu, I’ve heard a little about him. The fact that he’s gotten this far is largely thanks to Duan Chenzhou."

"Now, he’s gone and offended the third-generation direct heir of the Medicine Shop, which drove Elder Huang—one of the Nine Lords of the Thirty-Six Professions—into a frenzy. He swallowed his pride and went to the Prefecture Yamen to request an official order."

"He then had a son from a minor branch of his family lead a hundred Government Soldiers to arrest Ji Xiu on trumped-up charges."

"With all these deadly plots converging, forget about a minor Lord of Anning County like you. Even if your own father came to reason with Elder Huang, who just lost his grandson, I doubt he’d listen."

"You have the Wine Shop at your back, but this time, you’ve just been caught in the crossfire."

"Because Huang the Seventh’s death stirred up a hornet’s nest, Elder Huang from the Medicine Shop has nowhere to vent his rage. He’s specifically named you to bear partial responsibility for ’the Central Yellow’s uprising and the Demon attack on the County.’"

"You can’t be the County Magistrate anymore."

"But Master Jiu, with your father backing you, you can just return to the Prefecture City and lie low for a couple of years. Afterward, you’ll still be able to get an appointment in another county. It’s not a major setback."

"As for my sister... she’s grown up spoiled and wild by our grandfather’s side. She’s still young and doesn’t understand the full story. Years ago, Duan Chenzhou killed our Fourth Uncle, which angered our grandfather so much he nearly fainted. This is a family feud."

"Even if we’ve let the matter rest for now, she has no business coming to this remote, backwater county to hover around the disciple of our family’s enemy."

"When I see her this time, I’m definitely taking her back. I can’t control her, but if Grandfather intervenes, she won’t dare to argue..."

Cai Zhen was a Prefecture Official, responsible for collecting taxes from the counties and delivering orders from the prefecture. He was also the second son of the Jade Shop’s direct lineage.

He watched Zhao Jiu, who was still grabbing him, his face etched with anxiety. When Zhao Jiu heard that a Grandmaster and a Flood Dragon were coming to get revenge on Duan Chenzhou, he looked stunned. His brow furrowed, and he immediately started trying to figure a way out of this mess... all for some no-name country boy from the county.

’How strange,’ he thought.

’Based on the information I’ve gathered... why are both of them so obsessed with that poor kid from the county?’

His little sister, Cai Ling’Er, was one.

And now this Master Jiu from the Wine Shop—a man known in the prefecture for his arrogance and dandyish ways—was the other!

It was truly bizarre.

But he had no idea what was really going through Zhao Jiu’s mind.

’This is big trouble,’ Zhao Jiu thought, his mind racing. ’Old Huang from the Medicine Shop, the patriarch of the Fishing Trade, and they’ve even teamed up with the Lumber Trade and the Daoist Schools of two other martial arts Schools... they’re all coming at once.’

’Duan Chenzhou also killed one of my family’s illegitimate half-brothers back in the day, creating a feud. Even if I bring my father into this, I’m afraid it won’t be enough to control this situation...’

’I, Master Jiu, might be an opportunist who kisses up and kicks down, but at least I have some decency and a sense of reason!’

’If these guys were just going after Duan Chenzhou to settle a score, fine. At least that would make sense.’

’But that old bastard from the Medicine Shop is being completely unreasonable!’

Zhao Jiu suppressed his rage, silently cursing the unreasonable old bastard from the Medicine Shop with every fiber of his being.

’You old fossil,’ he fumed internally, ’what kind of brain-dead idiot did you raise? Did your grandson really think he was still a big shot outside the Prefecture City? Giving this person the cold shoulder, pointing and cursing at that one.’

’In the end, he pissed off someone he shouldn’t have, and dragged me, Zhao Jiu, down into the pit with him! If it weren’t for Ji Xiu and his master, this whole county would’ve been done for!’

’Stirring up that much trouble and getting himself killed for it—he brought it on himself! It served him right!’

’And now, the old bastard in his family is still not satisfied.’

’Don’t you have any clue what kind of person the grandson you raised was, you undying old coot?’

’Serves you right that your family only has one heir for three generations! Good that the master and disciple wiped out both your son and grandson!’

But cursing was one thing.

Zhao Jiu still couldn’t help but sigh to himself.

’Brother Ji, I’m sorry. This time... I can’t help you.’

This time, he could barely save his own skin; he needed to lie low until the storm blew over.

The vortex of this turmoil was too powerful. Back in the day, when Wang Xuanyang of the Celestial Blade School reached the Peak of Dragon and Tiger and opened the Six Great Limits, even One State’s Feudal Town over in Beicang had to be wary of him.

With such a figure for protection, no matter who Duan Chenzhou killed, the victim’s family could only count themselves unlucky, hold their noses, and accept it.

But times had changed. The once-great Celestial Blade School couldn’t even produce a single Martial Artist at the level of a Sect Leader.

In the eyes of the bigwigs in the prefecture, weren’t they just ripe for the picking? It was time to settle old scores.

Zhao Jiu was still lamenting this in his heart...

But by the time he finished his wrangling with Cai Zhen and finally arrived at the scene, it was already quite late.

He saw that the docks were swarming with people. Centurion General Huang Chan, from the Jiangyin Garrison Mansion, was leading a contingent of Government Soldiers, blocking the road as still as statues.

And in front of these soldiers...

...a young woman with long, pale-green hair had stepped forward from the group from the Ji Residence. An aura of draconic might emanated from her as she stood tall at the edge of the dock, her bearing absolutely peerless.