60: Chapter 60 From now on, the knife in your hand will be aimed where I point.

Early the next morning.

The scent of blood still drifted in the cold wind of the West City.

Zhang Yuniang rushed into the courtyard, sporting two dark circles under her eyes.

She gripped a new ledger tightly in her hand.

"Husband, I've calculated everything!"

The excitement on her face was even more intense than last night.

"The He Family's Medicinal Pill shops, Magical Artifact shops, and Talisman shops in the city add up to seven in total!"

"Now they all belong to us!"

She spread the ledger out on the stone table, her slender fingers tapping loudly against the paper.

"And there are the bad debts and active accounts in the city, plus those Spirit Fields outside the city."

"I've only calculated conservatively, but with over a thousand mu of Spirit Fields, we'll be able to collect money just by sitting in the courtyard from now on!"

Su Wan came out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of clear porridge and a side dish.

She looked at this wild girl with a hint of helplessness.

"Yu Niang, have you been fussing over these few sheets of paper all night?"

"Come over and eat something; the baby in your belly must be hungry."

Zhang Yuniang waved her hand vigorously.

"I'm not hungry!"

"Sister Wan'er, you don't understand; the moment I think about those shops and Spirit Fields, I feel like I have endless energy!"

Jiang Feng smiled and pulled her to sit down beside him.

"It hasn't even been inventoried yet, and you're already this happy."

"Why hasn't it been inventoried!"

Zhang Yuniang puffed out her chest.

"The He Family is all dead; the stuff is ours!"

As they were speaking, the sound of two pairs of footsteps coming to a sudden halt echoed from outside the courtyard gate.

Young Master Jiang Chen walked in, covered in the pungent scent of blood.

His clothes were stained with dirt and dried black blood.

"Second Master."

Young Master Jiang Chen cupped his hands in salute, his voice raspy from a night of slaughter.

"The remnants of the He Family's caravan near the Black Mountain Range have been wiped out."

Ding Baiyi followed behind him.

He kept his head low, his expression reserved.

He had stood on a distant rooftop and watched the entire one-sided massacre last night.

Two auras of Foundation Establishment Mid-stage had rolled over them; fifty-some people had fallen in unison like grass mown down by a scythe.

Especially when he followed them to raid the He Family at dawn; the gate of the centennial Family was kicked open, and the entire courtyard of maids and servants knelt in unison.

He had personally carried out twenty chests of Spirit Stones.

His hands were shaking by the time he reached the third chest.

It wasn't from exhaustion.

It was the numbness in the brain of someone who had been terrified of poverty suddenly touching so much money.

Jiang Feng picked up his teacup and took a sip of warm tea.

"What about the He Family estate?"

Young Master Jiang Chen raised his head.

"The residence has been sealed according to your instructions."

"However, the Zhou Family and the Zhu Family sent people over before dawn this morning."

"Under the banner of maintaining order, they are actually seizing several mineral veins and low-grade Spirit Fields of the He Family outside the city."

Jiang Feng blew on the floating tea leaves in his celadon bowl.

"If they want to steal meat to eat, they need to have good teeth."

He set down the teacup, his tone steady.

"First, clean up the He Family's remnants in Huoyang Commandery. Leave none with cultivation; for those without Spiritual Roots, give them some travel expenses and drive them out of the city."

"We will take the shops and residences in the city, plus the five hundred mu of the best medicinal fields outside the city."

"As for those scattered mineral veins and remote, inferior fields outside the city, they are too spread out, and we cannot spare our own people to manage them right now."

"You make a trip to the Zhou Family and the Zhu Family."

"Tell the two Clan Leaders that those scraps of industry are just miscellaneous work I'm bestowing upon them since the Jiang Family has just arrived."

"Starting next month, they are to pay us rent based on twenty percent of the profits."

Zhang Yuniang heard this and immediately flipped open the ledger, clutching it to her chest.

"Over a thousand mu of Spirit Fields, and we're only taking half to farm ourselves?"

Jiang Feng reached out and pinched her cheek.

"The Jiang Family's current focus is on Medicinal Pills."

"Forcibly sending people to guard a few broken mineral veins outside the city makes them vulnerable to attacks by Yao Beasts from the Black Mountain Range, and it's not convenient for consolidating our manpower."

"Bestowing this thankless, dirty work upon them also allows us to use their hands to block the Qin Family."

"This is called using other people's money to support our own establishment."

Zhang Yuniang lowered her head and fiddled with the abacus, barely making sense of the account, then carried the ledger to the side room to total the numbers.

Ding Baiyi stood where he was, looking down at his toes.

This wasn't conceding profit.

This was riding directly on the heads of the Zhou and Zhu Families, treating the Families of Huoyang Commandery like long-term laborers.

"Yes, Second Master!"

Young Master Jiang Chen cupped his hands, turned around, and walked quickly out the door with Ding Baiyi.

The Zhou Family main hall.

Clan Leader Zhou was holding a teacup; after hearing Young Master Jiang Chen's words, the tea lid hovered in mid-air.

After a long while, he clicked the tea lid back on and squeezed out a smile.

"Young Brother Jiang, what you just said... 'bestowing'?"

Young Master Jiang Chen was expressionless.

"Those were the Second Master's exact words."

Sitting beside Clan Leader Zhou was his eldest son, Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan's face flushed red; his lips moved, and just as he was about to speak, Clan Leader Zhou slapped his knee.

"A good 'bestowing'."

Clan Leader Zhou stood up and cupped his hands.

"Please thank Second Master Jiang for his care on my behalf."

After Young Master Jiang Chen left, Zhou Yuan slammed his fist on the table.

"Father! He's an outsider; by what right does he use the word 'bestowing'!"

Clan Leader Zhou glanced at him.

"Did you not hear the commotion last night?"

"Patriarch He Wanshan was Foundation Establishment Early Stage, Ancestor He Changqing was Late-stage Foundation Establishment, plus over fifty people. From the moment they left the house until they were all dead, they didn't even last the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."

Zhou Yuan opened his mouth but didn't make a sound.

"They haven't wiped us out yet, and you're still handing them a knife?"

Clan Leader Zhou sat back in his chair and picked up the tea that had already gone cold.

"Twenty percent is twenty percent; at least we haven't fallen out for the time being."

"It's not our turn to lead the charge either."

Clan Leader Zhou looked toward the East City, in the direction of the Qin Family.

The Zhu Family was even more straightforward.

Clan Leader Zhu Hou directly had the steward bring out the land deeds, stamped them in front of Young Master Jiang Chen, and even gifted two jars of aged Spirit Wine.

"Please convey to Second Master Jiang that the Zhu Family is ready to follow orders at any time."

Young Master Jiang Chen walked out of the Zhu Family gate, with Ding Baiyi following behind, silent for a long time.

When they reached the street corner, he finally squeezed out, "They're scared to this extent?"

Young Master Jiang Chen glanced at him.

"Do you think the four Great Families have been local tyrants for decades because they are so powerful?"

"It's because previously, no one was more powerful than them."

"Now there is."

Ding Baiyi was silent for a long time.

He remembered when he was hunting Yao Beasts in the Black Mountain Range, he had pondered countless times how to unite the Loose Cultivators to resist the He Family.

Calculating troops, terrain, and morale, bringing the win rate from thirty percent to forty-five percent, he had already felt that was the limit.

And what about Jiang Feng?

He didn't even need to calculate.

He simply overturned the chessboard.

The He Family, which had operated in Huoyang Commandery for a hundred years, changed ownership in just half a day.

The Loose Cultivator district in the West City was in an uproar.

"The He Family is really gone!"

"The Qixia Alchemy Pavilion is too ruthless; they uprooted a Great Family just like that!"

"Ruthless, yes, but their rules are good! Look, today the Qi Gathering Pill is still eight Spirit Stones!"

"It would be great if the Qin Family also fell; I wouldn't have to pay so much protection money every year!"

Captain Zhao Du, using his only remaining left hand, carried a pot of cloudy wine and leaned against the base of the wall, taking a large gulp.

Someone nearby leaned in and lowered their voice, "Brother Du, do you think the Qin Family will also..."

Captain Zhao Du wiped the wine stains from the corner of his mouth and didn't answer.

He looked down at his severed arm.

This arm was cut off back then by the third brother of the Qin Family, who was at the Qi Refining Great Perfection.

At dusk.

Young Master Jiang Chen stepped into the courtyard gate.

The transfer documents for all the properties were laid out on the stone table, stacked half a foot high.

Zhang Yuniang heard the commotion and, with her big belly, ran out happily again to count the land deeds, muttering to herself, the abacus clicking loudly.

Jiang Feng stood before the courtyard wall.

The sporadic discussions of Loose Cultivators drifted from outside the wall.

"Young Master Jiang Chen, Ding Baiyi."

The two waiting in the courtyard immediately stepped forward.

Jiang Feng turned around.

"In the name of the Qixia Alchemy Pavilion, set up a banner for a Yao Beast hunting squad."

"Tell the Loose Cultivators outside that as long as they join the squad, they will be under the protection of the Jiang Family from now on."

"They don't need to pay the protection fees that the Qin Family forces them to pay anymore. If anyone from the Qin Family dares to come and demand it, tell them to come directly to me."

"When entering the Black Mountain Range, the Alchemy Pavilion will issue rewards according to the tasks."

"For all Yao Beast Materials brought back, we will underwrite them at a price ten percent higher than the market rate."

Young Master Jiang Chen paused, then cupped his hands heavily.

Ding Baiyi looked up sharply at Jiang Feng.

"Ten percent higher than the market rate? Wouldn't all the Loose Cultivators in the city go crazy?"

Jiang Feng looked over their shoulders at the half of the sky burned red by the sunset.

"Entering the doors of my Qixia Alchemy Pavilion isn't that easy."

"Once they receive protection, from then on, the lives of these people belong to the Jiang Family."

"Of course—"

He paused.

"If anyone dares to touch one of my people, let them try."

The hairs on Ding Baiyi's back stood up.

He had spent three years hanging out with Loose Cultivators in the Black Mountain Range; he knew too well what kind of people they were.

Poor, reckless, fearless, but no one respects anyone else.

Now someone is giving them cheap Medicinal Pills, buying Yao Beast Materials at high prices, and blocking the Qin Family's protection fees for them.

These Loose Cultivators won't just be grateful.

They will risk their lives.

Jiang Feng stopped at the threshold of the courtyard.

"Go do your work."

"I want the blades in the hands of these Loose Cultivators in Huoyang Commandery to henceforth strike wherever I point."