Chapter 267 - 138: Jiangyin Garrison Commander, a Dragon Tiger Realm Expert, Wants to Take Me as a Disciple?

Chapter 267: Chapter 138: Jiangyin Garrison Commander, a Dragon Tiger Realm Expert, Wants to Take Me as a Disciple?

Jiangyin Prefecture, the Fishing Trade.

Its main estate was located on North Street in this maritime Prefecture City.

This was also the most prosperous and luxurious district in the entire Prefecture City. Countless wealthy merchants and grandmasters coveted a plot of land here to establish their homes and businesses, but found it exceedingly difficult.

As one of the Upper Nine Professions, the Fishing Trade’s Lineage Master, Chen Jing, was a genuine Leakless Level Martial Artist.

Without this Martial Power as his foundation, he would not have been able to suppress the Eight Docks beneath him. Nor could he have cooperated with the Post House—another of the Thirty-Six Professions—to nearly monopolize the maritime transport and fisheries of the East Canghai, growing his family business to such a grand scale.

He even ranked as one of the Nine Lords of the Jiangyin Chamber of Commerce, serving as the annually rotating Leader of the Business Road, wielding immense authority.

The Fishing Trade was secretly involved in almost every highly profitable business related to maritime affairs, whether it was dealing in salt or iron.

This was why the main estate of the Chen Family, this Grand Lineage, was a magnificent construction of stacked pavilions and resplendent carved beams. The side-chambers and branch families under the Trade’s banner... all in all, nearly a hundred people, including those from concubines and lesser branches, were all rooted here.

What did it mean to be the sons of the rich, a grand and noble clan?

The young masters of the Three Major Professions in Anning County had scarcely any blood relatives to speak of; such a family could not be called a "clan" at all.

Only a family like the Fishery Chen Family—one that had established a firm foothold in the Prefecture City, erected an Ancestral Hall, defined the direct and secondary lineages, possessed family rules and Clan Elders, and had endured for over three generations—was qualified to be considered a true noble house.

As the saying goes, even the gatekeeper at the Prime Minister’s mansion is a seventh-grade official.

In this great age of struggle, where might and power reigned supreme, being born into a prefecture clan—even from a concubine’s side branch—meant that once you stepped outside the family estate bearing the surname of a Grand Lineage, anyone trying to make their way in Jiangyin Prefecture would show you some respect.

But times had changed. A recent series of incidents had cast a shadow over the entire Fishing Trade.

Inside the Chen Residence.

As the Patriarch, Chen Jing’s gaze was sharp. He looked at the Jade Talisman containing a message from Gu Qi—a Tributor, a Ferry Leader, and a Qi Cultivation Grandmaster. He rubbed it between his fingertips, then suddenly squeezed.

With a KACHA, the Jade Talisman snapped in two.

"Duan Martialist’s disciple? A poor boy from Anning County?"

Below the screen, the disciples of the Chen Family all wore grave expressions, their faces ashen.

Among them, a descendant from the line of the third branch’s Grandmaster, Chen Chuhe, was filled with righteous indignation, his face flushing red.

"Patriarch, this is simply outrageous..."

Chen Jing waved his hand. A silent sweep of his gaze made every disciple who had just started to speak swallow their words.

"That Wild Flood Dragon is a difficult one to tame. The Trade fed it so many good things, but now it seems there was no difference from feeding a stray dog. It remains feral."

"Since it can’t be tamed, we should have joined forces with a few Grandmasters back then to hunt it down, tear out its dragon sinews, and extract its Dragon Bone."

"The Prefecture Examination is just around the corner. We could have used it to nourish our Chen Family’s Qilin son, to help him win the Prefecture Official Merit, giving him a chance to enter Cangdu or Xuanjing and fight for our family’s chance to become a Noble Family."

"As for that boy, Ji Xiu... at seventeen, he has already cultivated Golden Muscle and Jade Veins, Mercury Blood Silver Marrow, and the Purest Gang... tsk tsk."

"It’s hard to imagine how a backwater place like Anning County could produce such a talent."

"But... to turn the Chen Family of the Fishing Trade’s joyous occasion into a funeral?"

"Heh."

"Young people... they’re so hot-headed. He’s just like his master. But back then, his master had Wang Xuanyang protecting him, which is why he dared to turn on me."

"But him..."

"What right does he have?"

"Does he think he can rely on Luo Daocheng?"

Chen Jing slowly sat back down.

"Luo Daocheng. The Jiangyin Garrison Commander, a Dragon Tiger Realm expert. He’s a man of high position and great power, with three thousand armored and armed Government Soldiers under his command, responsible for guarding Jiangyin’s corner of the East Canghai."

"You could say he’s just one meritorious deed away from being granted a fiefdom. He’s doing very well for himself."

"But as long as he can’t sever his ties with Duan Chenzhou—or to be precise, with the Celestial Blade Style..."

"That Luo fellow won’t be able to protect him either!"

"If he really could have protected him..."

"...Then back when Wang Xuanyang was gone and the Celestial Blade Style was being hounded by all the other schools, he should have stood up for them instead of watching from the sidelines."

"This kid thinks he can use his Master’s Sect connections to latch onto the Garrison Mansion? He’s still too young."

"If he didn’t rely on his Master’s Sect, if he stood on his own two feet and cut ties with Duan Chenzhou—if he hadn’t pulled this whole mourning act—he might have actually been able to establish himself. But now..."

"Chen Chuan."

He tossed the Master’s Personal Order, engraved with the character "Chen," from his waist onto the table.

"Take my token. Go to the Medicine Shop and ask Mr. Wang to join me in taking the lead on this. Then go to the Jiangyin Prefecture Yamen and request a decree."

He knocked on the table.

"I hear this kid with the surname Ji came into contact with the shadow of a Divine Being before the new year?"

Chen Jing smiled faintly.

"Among the Outer Dao, the Great Xuan strictly forbids the proselytizing of the Divine and Demons. How many cautionary tales, how many vivid and unforgettable tragedies, have been caused by a Divine Calamity?"

"He claims he eliminated the Divine Calamity and saved a county from disaster. Heh, but who saw it?"

"Was it a direct descendant of the Upper Nine Professions? Or did some Prefecture Official from the Yamen record it for him?"

"He’s a mud-caked peasant from a rural county. Who’s going to believe the empty words coming out of his mouth? The Prefecture City has a registered population in the millions. If a major disturbance were to occur, word would reach the heavens."

"As one of the Nine Lords of the Jiangyin Chamber of Commerce, representing the Hundred Trades and Livelihoods, I naturally have to consider the well-being of the prefecture. The sectarian prejudices and school rivalries of the Jianghu Martial Artists... I can’t be bothered with those."

"But when it concerns the livelihood of the prefecture’s people, we are all people who follow the rules. For a boy like that, a walking liability, it would be unjustifiable not to lock him away in the Prefecture Yamen for a few months of interrogation."