「One day ago.」
「Dawan Village.」
Nestled on the mountainside was a magnificent courtyard. An array of exquisite buildings rose and fell with the terrain, built into the mountain in a staggered yet harmonious arrangement that exuded a simple and elegant beauty.
Stepping out of the courtyard gates, one was immediately greeted by the sight of Dawan Village's vast river valley plain. It was a view that instilled a sense of open-hearted tranquility and far-reaching peace in anyone who lived there.
However,
inside the courtyard's main hall, a volatile atmosphere shattered the mountain estate's tranquility.
"Father! I refuse to accept this!"
A youthful, aggressive voice echoed through the main hall.
"This post managing Dawan Village is something we only got after bribing Second Master Lai with eighty Spirit Stones!"
The young man, in his early twenties, shot to his feet with a furious expression. He slammed his hand on the table, his voice filled with unwillingness and rage.
"They clearly promised a ten-year term! It's only been six years, and now they want us to pack up and get lost with just a single, casual remark!"
"What is this? Is there any justice left in this world?!"
At this moment,
the young man—Shen Shaochong, often fawned over by outsiders as Second Master Shen—was shouting in a rage.
He had every reason to be furious.
To the direct descendants within the Shen Clan, Dawan Village was probably just some barren backwater where not even birds would shit—remote and far from the clan's center of power.
But for a remote, collateral branch of the Shen bloodline like theirs, it was a rare and valuable foundation!
Dawan Village had a total of twelve acres of Spirit Fields, which normally yielded around 1,200 jin of Spirit Grain per season.
As clan property, the Shen Clan took a fixed cut of 1,000 jin from each season's harvest, while the remaining 200 jin of Spirit Grain belonged to them.
Don't be fooled by the heavy tax of over eighty percent, which might make it seem like they toiled all year for nothing.
In reality, this was an incredibly lucrative post!
After all, the twelve acres of Spirit Fields weren't theirs to begin with.
All of Dawan Village was the Shen Clan's property; they were merely managing it on the clan's behalf.
Naturally, the clan's cut wouldn't be low.
Secondly,
the price of Spirit Grain fluctuated around one Spirit Stone for ten jin.
This meant that 200 jin of Spirit Grain would fetch a harvest of twenty Spirit Stones.
And since the Spirit Fields yielded two harvests a year,
their annual income was forty Spirit Stones!
What's more,
they didn't even have to farm the Spirit Fields themselves. That work was done by detained Mortal Martial Artists, exiled criminals, or those who voluntarily joined an Immortal Family to work hard in search of an opportunity for Immortal Cultivation.
But regardless of their origins, in the eyes of Cultivators, they were all just lowly Martial Artists and commoners.
A kind-hearted supervisor would provide enough meat and oil in their food to ensure they had the strength to work and didn't die from exhaustion.
If one was harder of heart or wanted to save a little money, they could just cut out the meat and oil. After all, if the workers died of exhaustion, a simple letter to the Mortal World would have a new batch sent over.
It was, for all intents and purposes, a business with zero overhead.
They could earn over forty Spirit Stones a year just by lying back and doing nothing!
An enterprise like this,
who could give it up so easily?!
Finally,
once they left Dawan Village, they would have to return to the Shen Family Mansion in Tian Nan City and find some other path.
But as large as the Shen Clan was, every good position was already filled.
The best posts had long been taken. How could a remote, collateral branch like theirs ever hope to get a look in?
When they returned to Tian Nan City, if they couldn't find a position due to a lack of connections, they might have to eke out a living like those poor Loose Cultivators, risking their lives outside the city!
No one would willingly give up such a foundation!
"Dawan Village is ours! No one is taking it away!"
"I'll take some men right now and break that kid's legs! Let's see if he still dares to come and take over!"
Shen Shaochong said defiantly, tilting his head up.
Around Dawan Village,
he, Shen Shaochong, was Second Young Master Shen, a figure fawned over by the minor Cultivator families and small farmer-landlords in the area.
When he went out, he was surrounded by a crowd of fawning underlings.
Relying on the Shen Clan's reputation, he had things his way and could even rake in some extra income on the side.
But once he returned to Tian Nan City,
back to the Shen Family,
Shen Shaochong was jack shit!
He was the most unwilling to leave Dawan Village.
And for that very reason,
after messing around outside and receiving the message from his old man not long ago, he had rushed back overnight.
He wanted to persuade his old man not to just give away this foundation for nothing.
"Second Brother, don't be rash."
Just then, a steady voice spoke, cutting through Shen Shaochong's fury:
"Dawan Village is clan property, it can't be considered our personal foundation. We only manage it on behalf of the clan. When the higher-ups make a decision, we can only obey."
"Besides, Father didn't explain clearly in his message. The person pushing us out this time has a powerful background. He's one of the current Clan Leader's sons. Even if he's the son of a concubine, he's still the Clan Leader's own flesh and blood!"
"We don't have the power to offend someone like that."
The speaker was Shen Shaochong's older brother, Shen Shaoguang.
Though his face also showed resentment, fear was clearly the stronger emotion.
He did not approve of a direct confrontation.
"So what?!"
"Does being the Clan Leader's son mean he can be completely unreasonable?"
"Besides, with his connection to the Clan Leader, even the worst-off son should at least be sent to a town to live comfortably. The fact that he's coming to a remote place like this means that kid must be an insignificant, abandoned son of a concubine. What's there to be afraid of!"
Shen Shaochong retorted, craning his neck stubbornly.
He looked as though he feared neither heaven nor earth and was ready to step up and fight.
However, his words lacked a certain degree of confidence.
Among the tens of thousands of clansmen in the Shen Clan, there was a vast gap in status between the main lineage and the remote collateral branches.
Even if the newcomer was unimportant, he was still the Clan Leader's son.
As for them, they were from a remote bloodline so distant they didn't even know how many generations removed they were, and they had to rely on bribing Steward Lai Er with Spirit Stones just to get a good position.
If a conflict broke out, it was hard to say who would win or lose.
For a moment,
the main hall fell silent.
In the oppressive atmosphere,
the two brothers' gazes turned toward their father, Shen Shiyin, who sat in the head seat.
Under these circumstances,
only their father, as the head of the family, could make the final decision.
Shen Shiyin sat in the head seat, his large frame giving him the imposing presence of a coiled dragon and a crouching tiger. His face was lost in shadow, so dark and grim it looked like you could wring water from it.
Without a doubt,
he was also extremely displeased about losing the post of garrisoning and managing Dawan Village for no good reason.
But he also knew very well.
An arm can't out-twist a thigh.
In the end, the position had to be relinquished.
But how to hand it over while preserving their own interests as much as possible—that required careful consideration.
"Shaoguang is not wrong. This matter has been decided by the higher-ups, and we can't change it."
"But Shaochong has a point too. If we let some worthless son of a concubine make us pack up and leave with our tails between our legs, what would happen to our reputation?!"
"When we return to Tian Nan City, wouldn't every Tom, Dick, and Harry be able to walk all over us? How could we possibly compete for benefits in the future?!"
As he spoke, a flash of ruthlessness crossed Shen Shiyin's dark face, and a cold glint flickered in his eyes.
"Shaoguang, go to the village treasury and move out every last grain of Spirit Grain, all the gold, and all the silver! Don't leave a single thing! He wants Dawan Village? I'll give him an empty village!"
"And you, Shaochong, based on the travel time, that kid should arrive tomorrow. When he does, you take some men to the village entrance, find any excuse, and put him in his place!"
"Let everyone know that our family is not some pushover they can just casually mess with!"
Shen Shiyin's words were filled with decisiveness and ruthlessness.
Compared to his two sons,
his considerations were far more thorough and comprehensive.
Having struggled and clawed his way through the Shen Clan for decades, he knew perfectly well what his fellow clansmen were like.
The moment you reveal a hint of weakness in front of others,
you'll be faced with countless hyenas rushing up from behind, eager to tear you apart and devour you!
They'll test you relentlessly until they've chewed you up and swallowed you whole!
He had already used some connections to get a general idea of the situation with the incoming replacement, the son of a concubine named Shen Changchuan.
Shaochong was right; the kid was indeed a very unimportant son of a concubine.
His birth mother was merely the daughter of a Mortal Martial Artist who had used some trick to win the Clan Leader's favor for a single night, luckily giving birth to him.
Among the Clan Leader's fifty-some children, he was one of the most inconspicuous and lowest in status. He was a complete nobody, probably less respected within the Shen Family Mansion than even some of the highly valued servants and stewards.
The Clan Leader probably didn't even remember he had such a son.
'His mother has a low status, and he's a dispensable nobody in the clan.'
'If I'm going to make an example of someone, who better to choose than you?!'
Shen Shiyin thought to himself.
If he were to just swallow this bitter pill tomorrow in front of such an insignificant son of a concubine, one with no power or backing, and do nothing in response,
he could imagine what would happen.
After returning to the Shen Family Mansion, countless others would surely use the names of the various young masters to pressure them, carving them up like fat on a chopping block!
On this point,
given his understanding of certain people in the Shen Clan, he was almost certain of it!
Therefore, a show of force to make his stance clear was absolutely necessary.
If things blew up, at worst, he could just pass it off as a misunderstanding between the younger generation.
Choosing the lesser of two evils,
Shen Shiyin already had a rough plan forming in his mind.
Of course,
he only dared to act this way because he knew Shen Changchuan's specific circumstances.
Otherwise, if it were any of the other young masters,
he wouldn't have dared to have any such thoughts. He would have just respectfully escorted the person to the central courtyard on Dawan Village's Back Mountain, and then his entire family would have promptly gotten the hell out.