10: Chapter 10 The Ancestor Makes His Move, A Stunning Success

The hoarse crying of Xiao Liu echoed throughout the Gu Family's modest courtyard.

Upon hearing this, Shen Qingxue's face instantly turned deathly pale, and her body swayed unsteadily. The thing she feared most had finally happened.

"Father..." She looked at Gu Yan helplessly, her voice choked with sobs.

There was no change in Gu Yan's expression.

He felt no anger, no anxiety; he did not even furrow his brow. He just listened calmly, as if what Xiao Liu had said was merely a trivial matter, like a neighbor losing a chicken.

He reached out and gently patted the back of Shen Qingxue's tightly clenched hand, his voice as steady as a ballast stone: "It is fine."

After speaking, he turned around and said to Xiao Liu, who was kneeling on the ground: "Get up, lead the way."

Then, he took a step, walking unhurriedly toward the manor gate.

His gait was steady, with the distance of each step nearly identical. His washed-out, old long robe, worn over his upright posture, unexpectedly revealed a hint of an ethereal Daoist Aura.

Watching his departing back, that sense of composure and calmness invisibly soothed her panicked heart. She gritted her teeth, immediately ordered the servants to prepare medicine for injuries, and then hurried to follow him.

Gu Yan walked out of the manor gate, along the East Street, toward the rice shop.

The morning streets were bustling with people, and the sounds of hawking were incessant.

A ruddy-faced, upright man in his fifties walking on the road should not have attracted much attention. But Luoyun Town was small, and neighbors saw each other all the time.

Soon, someone recognized him.

"Eh? That person... why does he look a bit familiar?"

"Yeah, the figure, the way of walking... it looks a bit like the Gu Family's Old Ancestor..."

"Don't talk nonsense! Old Man Gu is nearly eighty, lying on the bed unable to move, how could he look like this? I think it's probably some distant relative invited by the Gu Family."

"That's true, probably here for the funeral..."

The whispers were not loud, yet they reached Gu Yan's ears without missing a word. His hearing was no longer what it used to be.

He ignored these speculations and did not stop walking.

Soon, the familiar lintel of the Gu Clan Rice Shop appeared at the corner of the street.

However, at this moment, the entrance of the shop was already surrounded by onlookers, three layers deep inside and out, blocking the entire street.

From within the crowd, the arrogant cursing of Steward Wang Fu's servants, the pained groans of the shop assistants, and women's screams could be heard from time to time.

Gu Yan's gaze pierced through the gaps in the crowd, seeing the mess inside the shop.

White rice was scattered all over the floor, mixed with dirt and blood, trampled into a filthy mess. Shelves were overturned, the abacus was shattered, and several young shop assistants were beaten black and blue, curled up in the corner.

The elderly Uncle Zhong was being pinned down by Steward Wang Fu, who had one foot on his back, unable to move, his gray hair covered in rice grains and dust.

Steward Wang Fu was standing with his hands on his hips, spitting everywhere as he brandished his power to the surrounding neighbors, declaring the Wang family's "ownership" of this shop.

Gu Yan's eyes finally showed a slight change.

It was the look one gives to dead objects.

He did not make a sound, just silently parted the crowd and walked in step by step.

His appearance immediately attracted everyone's attention.

The smashing sounds in the shop stopped.

Steward Wang Fu also stopped cursing; he frowned, looking at this strange man who had suddenly walked in with a face full of confusion.

"Who the hell are you? Don't you see the Wang family is doing business? Get lost..."

His words were cut off halfway, suddenly stuck in his throat.

He saw Gu Yan's face clearly.

That face, he had seen it before. Although it was much younger, the contours of the brows and eyes were clearly that old immortal Gu Yan!

"You... are you... Gu Yan?" Steward Wang Fu's voice was filled with uncertainty and shock.

The surrounding neighbors also erupted into a low uproar.

"Impossible, right? How could Old Man Gu be so young?"

"It really is him! I recognize that mole on his chin!"

"My god! This is... rejuvenation?!"

Steward Wang Fu's shock lasted only for a brief moment before being replaced by even stronger greed and disdain.

In his view, this old thing had just gotten lucky, eaten some Spirit Pill, and was merely experiencing a temporary recovery before death. A dying man, even if he looked a bit younger, what use could he be?

"Yo!" Steward Wang Fu let out a disdainful, strange laugh, and ground his foot down harder, causing Uncle Zhong to let out a pained grunt. "I was wondering who it was, turns out it's Old Man Gu! What, the coffin lid couldn't hold you down, and you crawled out?"

"Not lying on the bed waiting to die, and you dare to come here. What, tired of living, want me to send you on your way?"

The few servants behind him also revealed sinister smiles and slowly surrounded him, the clubs in their hands tapping against their palms, making a heart-palpitating sound.

Gu Yan ignored his clamoring.

His gaze crossed over Steward Wang Fu and landed on Uncle Zhong, who was under his foot.

Then, he lifted his foot and continued walking forward.

"Stop! Old thing, are you deaf?" Steward Wang Fu, seeing himself ignored, felt embarrassed and roared with a fierce expression but a weak heart.

He gave a wink to the servant nearest to him: "Stop him for me! Break his legs!"

The servant gave a sinister laugh, brandishing the wooden club in his hand, and stepped forward to block Gu Yan's path.

He was half a head taller than Gu Yan, covered in thick flesh, and the wooden club in his hand carried the sound of wind as it smashed straight down toward Gu Yan's head!

The surrounding crowd erupted into gasps.

Shen Qingxue was even more terrified, covering her mouth, her heart in her throat.

However, Gu Yan's pace did not pause in the slightest.

Just at the moment the club was about to hit him, he moved.

No one saw how he struck.

In everyone's field of vision, they only saw an afterimage flash through the air.

"Snap!!!"

A loud bang, crisp and resonant, drowned out all the noise on the street.

The sound was like the largest string of firecrackers during the New Year exploding by one's ear, or like the driest firewood being snapped in an instant.

Immediately after, the body of the aggressive servant left the ground in a bizarre posture.

He spun two full circles in mid-air, spitting out a spray of blood mixed with teeth, tracing a tragic arc.

Finally, his heavy body slammed fiercely into the row of shelves at the very back of the shop.

"Boom! Crash!"

The shelves made of hardwood were smashed to pieces by the immense impact, and the dozens of bags of rice piled on them collapsed with a roar, instantly burying his unconscious body completely.

The rice shop, which had been extremely noisy a moment ago, fell into absolute silence at this moment.

Everyone seemed to have been hit by a freezing spell, maintaining various postures, frozen in place.

The servants who were preparing to step forward held their clubs, frozen in mid-air.

The arrogant Steward Wang Fu still had a sinister smile frozen on the corner of his mouth.

The onlookers, the neighbors, all had their mouths wide open, their eyeballs bulging as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.

Time seemed to have been pressed on pause by an invisible hand.

Everyone's gaze focused on the man in the center who was slowly withdrawing his right hand.

Gu Yan's posture remained as calm and indifferent as before.

He seemed to have just done a trivial thing, such as dusting off his sleeves.

He withdrew his hand, not even looking again at the servant buried in the pile of rice.

His pace remained unhurried.

Step by step.

He walked toward Steward Wang Fu, who was already deathly pale and whose legs were shaking like a sieve.