……

Fifty thousand Top Gold, that’s really not a small sum.

Although the Wang’s Clan of Changning seems prosperous and wealthy now,

the larger the family, the greater the expenses. The various spiritual pills and food provided for the clan members’ cultivation, aren’t each of them a significant expenditure? But if those expenses are cut, how could Wang’s Clan, with its current foundation, catch up with those families that have developed for hundreds or thousands of years?

Therefore, even though Wang’s Clan is now very capable of making money, they are still in dire need of it.

Or not?

Wang Shouzhe was slightly tempted…

But this thought was fleeting, and he immediately reaffirmed his Dao heart.

Wang Shouzhe, oh Wang Shouzhe, you must hold onto your bottom line, and not be tempted by filthy lucre…

“I’ll add another fifty thousand, making it a total of one hundred thousand Top Gold.” Seeing Wang Shouzhe wavering, Madam Bilian immediately raised the stakes, her demeanor full of boldness, “I know your Wang’s Clan of Changning is wealthy. But opportunities to earn an extra one hundred thousand Top Gold effortlessly don’t come often. Won’t you consider it, Patriarch Wang?”

Effortlessly?

Wang Shouzhe glanced at her somberly.

Madam Bilian, aren’t you underestimating me too much? However, to avoid being killed by my wife, I’d better not earn this one hundred thousand Top Gold.

“Madam Bilian, please stop talking nonsense.” He immediately stood up, speaking righteously, “I am already married, and such improper thoughts should not be mentioned again by you, Madam.”

“Uh… Patriarch Wang, could it be that you have misunderstood?” Madam Bilian’s expression stiffened slightly, a hint of astonishment flashing in her enchanting eyes, “One hundred thousand Top Gold, what are you thinking? If I truly harbored such improper intentions, this sum of money would be more than enough… pah pah pah~ Wang Shouzhe, I am not that kind of person.”

Could it really be that I’ve misunderstood?

Wang Shouzhe was also stunned, then frowned and said, “If it’s not that, could it be that some unscrupulous young master has set his sights on you, Madam, and you need me to step in as a shield?”

“Patriarch Wang, don’t let your thoughts run wild.” Madam Bilian couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him, “Have you not considered, with my status, which fool would dare to force me to do something against my will? If there really were such a death-wishing person, I would have sent dozens of my Clan’s warriors to chop him into mincemeat long ago.”

Well, to be serious, Madam Bilian’s status is indeed not small.

It is said that she is the legitimate daughter of a Purple Mansion family from a certain Commandery, and her current husband’s family, the Yuwen’s Clan, although fallen from the Purple Mansion status, is still a very powerful sixth-rank family. It’s not easy for anyone to provoke them.

“If it’s neither this nor that, then what exactly is it for, Madam?”

Wang Shouzhe was helpless.

It wasn’t his fault for overthinking; he simply couldn’t imagine what situation would require a handsome and outstanding man to resolve.

Madam Bilian frowned slightly: “This matter concerns some secrets of our Yuwen’s Clan. If I tell you, even if Patriarch Wang does not wish to help, please keep it confidential.”

Wang Shouzhe pondered for a moment: “I can keep it confidential. But as for helping, I need to consider the whole situation.”

“Based on the status of your Wang’s Clan of Changning and your own reputation, I will trust you this once.” Madam Bilian hesitated for a moment, then finally spoke, “This matter concerns the founding Ancestor of our Yuwen’s Clan. He once adopted a spiritual beast—a Three-tailed Fire Spirit Fox.”

“As you know, multi-tailed spirit foxes are powerful ancient spiritual species with strong bloodlines, so the Yuwen’s Clan has always taken great care of it. Now, a thousand years have passed, and she has reached the peak of six tails, about to grow the seventh tail. At that time, her spiritual intelligence will greatly expand, and her strength will be comparable to the Purple Mansion. With this Seven-tailed Spirit Fox, our Yuwen’s Clan’s strength will greatly increase. Even if we are still not considered a Purple Mansion family, we can deter various petty thieves and eliminate many covetous hearts.”

Wang Shouzhe was slightly surprised: “This should be good news, is there any difficulty?”

He thought to himself, the Yuwen’s Clan, even as a fallen Purple Mansion family, has such deep foundations. Just that six-tailed peak spirit fox alone could annihilate many seventh-rank families.

“The difficulty is that the Six-tailed Fire Spirit Fox has a rather peculiar temperament,” Madam Bilian said with a helpless look, “She likes to be fed heavenly treasures by young men who are handsome, young, and very outstanding. She particularly dislikes women and most ordinary men. Now that she is about to break through, her demands have become even higher. Those young and handsome men I used to associate with are all ignored by her, lazily refusing to advance.”

Wang Shouzhe broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this. There was actually such a hard-to-please clan guardian spirit beast?

Like the Yuan Water Spirit Turtle in his home, it was extremely well-behaved.

However, with this, he understood why Madam Bilian liked to associate with young and handsome men. The reason was probably mostly due to this.

“You don’t have to do anything else, just chat with her, and as long as you coax her into eating the heavenly treasures for advancement, that’s fine,” Madam Bilian said, “Our Yuwen’s Clan’s Six-tailed Fire Spirit Fox is gentle in nature, aside from this quirk, everything else is quite good. As long as Patriarch Wang can complete the task, one hundred thousand Top Gold will be delivered as promised.”

The Yuwen’s Clan was no longer as powerful as it was at its peak, but they still controlled a considerable amount of property. In the eyes of some interested parties, it was like a huge cake, and everyone wanted to get a piece of it from the Yuwen’s Clan.

Now, the entire Yuwen’s Clan had a strong sense of urgency, wanting to have a Purple Mansion realm combatant as soon as possible.

“If it’s just that, I might as well give it a try,” Wang Shouzhe said after some thought, “But I can’t guarantee success, and if I fail, I hope Madam won’t blame me.”

Madam Bilian’s eyes lit up with joy: “Good, good, good, as long as you agree. In the entire Longzuo Commandery, it would be hard to find someone more suitable than Patriarch Wang. Whether you succeed or not, our Yuwen’s Clan owes you a favor.”

Hearing this, Wang Shouzhe also felt a slight joy in his heart.

The strength of the Yuwen’s Clan, even among the strong sixth-rank families, was one of the strongest. Having the opportunity to have the Yuwen’s Clan owe him a favor was definitely beneficial for Wang’s Clan and had no downsides.

Moreover, the Yuwen’s Clan also had Madam Bilian, the legitimate daughter of a Purple Mansion family. Perhaps one day the Yuwen’s Clan would return to its former glory.

For the development of the entire Wang’s Clan of Changning, having one more friend naturally meant one more path.

Afterward, Wang Shouzhe and Madam Bilian made an appointment. Once he had dealt with his current affairs, he would visit the Yuwen’s Clan.

……

Several days later.

In Longzuo Commandery, more than two hundred li to the west of the Commandery city.

Here, villages, farms, and manors were densely scattered, with a dense population.

The closer to the Commandery city, the more secure it was, and ferocious beasts had long since become extinct. The people here had been thriving for generations, forming various towns.

Once upon a time, when the Wang’s Clan of Longzuo was still a Purple Mansion family, they owned countless manors, and the tenant farmers who worked for them, as well as the ordinary people who depended on them, numbered in the tens of thousands.

Even without any other income, just the annual harvest of grain could bring endless wealth to the Wang’s Clan of Longzuo.

Unfortunately, times change.

Now, the Wang’s Clan of Longzuo only has a few medium-sized manors and tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, and the number of tenant farmers is only a fraction of what it once was.

No matter how much wealth was passed down from the ancestors, after several failed attempts to break through to the Purple Mansion family, it slowly dwindled away.

It was only in this generation that Ancestor Zhou Bo abandoned the pride of the old family, founded the Purple Mansion Palace, and gradually increased the income, thinking of reclaiming some of the ancestral lands to accumulate blessings for future generations.

At this moment, next to the manor of the Wang’s Clan of Longzuo, two groups of people were confronting each other.

One group was from the Wang’s Clan of Longzuo. They were led by Ancestor Zhou Bo, the clan head Wang Xiaorui, the elder Wang Yuchen, and a host of elders from the “Chen,” “Qiong,” and “Xiao” generations following closely behind.

From the number of these Lingtai realm elders, it could be seen that even though the Wang’s Clan of Longzuo had fallen, the family’s foundation was not something the Wang’s Clan of Changning could compare to.

From the “Yu” generation downwards, there were still elders alive in every generation.

And for the Wang’s Clan of Changning, the elders of the “Chen” and “Qiong” generations were all gone, and even the “Xiao” generation only had three left.

It was only in Wang Shouzhe’s “Shou” generation that the population gradually began to flourish.

The “Ding” and “Shou” generations of the Wang’s Clan of Longzuo were also quite prosperous, with twenty or thirty young men in the “Shou” generation alone. Wang Shouzhe’s acquaintances, Wang Shouxin and Wang Shouyue, were among the more outstanding young men of the “Shou” generation.

And the total number of Lingtai realm cultivators in the Wang’s Clan of Longzuo had reached twenty-one.

The oldest among them was the elder Wang Yuchen, who was nearly one hundred and seventy years old. Seeing his decrepit appearance, it seemed his life was nearing its end.

The youngest Lingtai realm cultivator was the current clan head Wang Xiaorui’s eldest grandson, Wang Shouyue.

Compared to more than ten years ago, he had matured a lot and easily broke through to the Lingtai realm during the family’s great development.

According to Ancestor Zhou Bo, the family also had plans to cultivate him into a Tianren seed.

And it was within reason that the Wang’s Clan of Longzuo had such a large population.

After all, when Ancestor Zhou Xuan went to Changning to make his fortune, he only took two sons with him. After more than a hundred years of reproduction, and despite many losses due to beast tides, the population had already grown to more than fifty.

A Tianren family with hundreds of years of heritage, having several hundred clan members, was nothing out of the ordinary.

The Wang’s Clan of Longzuo had an even longer heritage, and if it weren’t for being so poor, the family’s population would probably be even larger.

The Zhang’s Clan, confronting the Wang’s Clan of Longzuo, was obviously much stronger, with a thriving population of young and old. Just the Lingtai realm elders present exceeded twenty.

And the leader, a robust old man with white beard, exuded an aura as deep and intimidating as an unfathomable cold pool.

This person was the first Tianren ancestor of the Zhang’s Clan of Longzuo—Zhang Hongqing.

Everyone called him “Ancestor Hongqing.”

Ancestor Hongqing was nearly three hundred years old, and his cultivation had already reached the mid-Tianren realm. However, having no hope of breaking through to the Purple Mansion in this life, he had long given up on advancing his cultivation, maintaining his cultivation with the lowest consumption and giving most of the resources to his descendants.

“Wang Zhoubo, the contract you brought out is over three hundred years old,” Ancestor Hongqing said in a deep voice, “The people involved in that contract are no longer here. How can I believe that this contract is real? Since I was born, those manors have been ours, the Zhang’s Clan. Now you come out and say that those manors belong to your Wang’s Clan, which is truly outrageous. Don’t think that our Zhang’s Clan is so easy to bully just because we have shallow foundations.”

Ancestor Zhou Bo trembled with anger: “Zhang Hongqing, this contract is made of fifth-order ferocious beast skin, and whether judged by its age or various authentication methods, it is a document from over three hundred years ago. Now you refuse to acknowledge it, are you planning to default on it?”

“Ridiculous! What’s the use of age authentication?” A young man in his thirties from the Zhang’s Clan jumped out and shouted, “If we now forge a contract and take it out a few hundred years later, saying that your Wang’s Clan of Longzuo’s main residence is ours, would you accept it?”

“Zhang Guanwen, when the elders are speaking, it’s not your turn to interrupt,” Wang Shouyue saw it was him, his face changed, and he sternly scolded, “If you’re not happy, I, Wang Shouyue, will accompany you to play.”

“Enough!” Ancestor Zhou Bo said with a dark face, “Whether this matter is true or false, you, Zhang Hongqing, know it well. Moreover, when this contract was signed, there were three copies, one for each of our two families and one stored in the Commandery Governor’s office. It’s not something you can just deny.”

With that, he turned to a refined middle-aged man beside him and bowed, “Master Cui, I have asked you to come here to act as a witness.”

The middle-aged man nodded slightly, then said indifferently with his hands behind his back, “I have reviewed the relevant certification documents in the Commandery Governor’s office, and indeed there is such a certified contract.”

With these words, the people of the Wang’s Clan of Longzuo all showed joy and breathed a sigh of relief.

With this, let’s see how the Zhang’s Clan can deny it.

However, Master Cui’s words were not yet finished: “However… over a hundred years ago, the storeroom where the certification documents were kept suffered a fire, and this document was among them. Many of the characters have become blurred and unclear.”

“What?”

Ancestor Zhou Bo’s face turned pale.The Zhang Clan’s denial was already causing frequent conflicts. We had hoped that the official document from the Commandery Governor’s office would suppress the Zhang Clan.

But now…

As expected.

Zhang Hongqing sneered, “The official document is unclear, how can it serve as evidence? Wang Zuo Bo, I advise you to stop pestering us.”

“Hmph!” Ancestor Zuo Bo’s face was extremely solemn, “Our younger generation has failed to honor our ancestors, squandering ninety-nine percent of our ancestral property. However, if we can’t even reclaim what rightfully belongs to our clan, what face would I, Wang Zuo Bo, have to meet our forefathers in the underworld?”

“In that case,” Chief Clerk Cui said, “the truth of this matter can no longer be verified. Since both your clans are in constant dispute over this, why not settle it according to traditional customs with a contest, and the winner takes all. As a representative of the Commandery Governor’s office, I can officiate. After this, both clans should continue to live in harmony and not use this matter as a reason to provoke further conflicts.”

“I, of the Zhang Clan, am willing to accept Chief Clerk Cui’s mediation,” Zhang Hongqing said with a bow, then squinted at Ancestor Zuo Bo, “Wang Zuo Bo, since things have come to this point, further argument is pointless. Let’s have a contest to decide the winner.”

“Ancestor, you must not!” Clan Leader Wang Xiao Rui urgently whispered, “Zhang Hongqing has been in the mid-stage of the Heavenly Man realm for quite some time, we stand no chance in this battle.”

The other clan elders were also very worried, all advising against it.

Even if we can’t reclaim the ancestral property this time, as long as we continue to operate the luxurious high-end hotel “Zifu Palace,” the Wang Clan of Longzuo will rise again sooner or later.

Ancestor Zuo Bo could see that Chief Clerk Cui was probably already siding with Zhang Hongqing. As for the so-called fire, how it started was still a matter of debate~

As the saying goes, circumstances can overpower a person, and if the Wang Clan’s foundation and connections can’t compete with others, there’s nothing to be done.

But!

Ancestor Zuo Bo’s eyes sharpened, and his aura suddenly became fierce: “That is the ancestral property left by our forefathers, how can it be swallowed up so easily? Even if I, Wang Zuo Bo, have to risk my life, I will not let him succeed so easily.”

With that, he glanced back at Wang Xiao Rui: “If I die, please ask Shou Zhe to take over as the head of the family for fifty years.”

Wang Xiao Rui’s body shook upon hearing this, and he wanted to persuade him again, but was stopped by Ancestor Zuo Bo.

“Zhang Hongqing, I admit you are stronger. But if you think you can bully the Wang Clan, I’m afraid you’re not qualified,” Ancestor Zuo Bo said to Zhang Hongqing with a sneer.

As his voice fell, his body shook, and a vast and powerful Heavenly Man aura suddenly erupted.

That might, like an abyss, like a prison, seemed like a cornered beast fighting desperately at its limit, with a resolute and fierce determination to fight to the death.

With that, it was Zhang Hongqing’s turn to change his expression.

His face was uncertain. He never expected that Wang Zuo Bo would risk his life over a mere twenty thousand mu of good land.

Indeed!

Zhang Hongqing’s strength was indeed superior to Wang Zuo Bo’s, but if they were to fight to the death, it was not certain that Wang Zuo Bo wouldn’t have a chance to take his life.

Even if it resulted in both sides being injured, it was not the outcome Zhang Hongqing wanted to see.

The value of any Heavenly Man ancestor far exceeded that of twenty thousand mu of good land.

“Have you gone mad, Wang Zuo Bo?” Zhang Hongqing shouted angrily, “Think carefully, your family only has one Heavenly Man ancestor, if you die, who will protect the Wang Clan of Longzuo?”

Ancestor Zuo Bo was about to speak.

Suddenly.

A calm and composed voice came from behind him: “Ancestor Zuo Bo is right, if we remain indifferent to the encroachment of our ancestral property, wouldn’t the backbone of our Wang Clan be broken?”

“Our Wang Clan, although we do not bully others at will, we will not allow others to trample on our heads.”

“This battle must not only be fought, but it must also demonstrate the spirit of our Wang Clan.”

As these resounding words echoed, several figures stepped out from the crowd and appeared in front of the two confronting groups.

The elders and youths of the Wang Clan of Longzuo’s eyes lit up, and almost simultaneously, joy appeared on their faces.

“Shou Zhe, it’s Shou Zhe who has come.”

…