330: Fang Tianxiong

For these Southern Yue city officers and soldiers, such an operation was unprecedented. In the past, they had never dared to launch an offensive, so many were still feeling uneasy. They wondered what had gotten into the Prince Fu's Mansion steward and the two generals, to actually dare to launch a siege on Wind Wolf Mountain in the middle of the night. Wasn't this just pure suicide?

After the world changed, the Human Race had basically remained on the defensive when facing the Beast Race; otherwise, there would have been no need to build such high walls and large cities for protection.

Human Race warriors had long been accustomed to cowering inside the city, relying on various Mystic Cannons and Profound Weapons to defend it. Charging at the Beast Race in the wilderness so blatantly was extremely rare, let alone in the middle of the night. This was the time when the Beast Race went on their frenzied hunts; they should have been hiding, for goodness' sake...

Fortunately, this batch of Southern Yue city officers and soldiers were considered elite troops, carefully selected, and basically all had actual combat experience against the Beast Race. Plus, with two Martial Generals leading the team personally, although they felt uneasy, they still bit the bullet and followed. As the team ventured deeper into the wilderness, they finally saw quite a few beast herds, but these herds were small in number and consisted only of low-Rank or even unranked beasts. Upon seeing the arrival of the large Human Race battle formation, the herds scattered and fled...

These low-end beast herds were naturally not the target of the siege. The team drove straight in, and to their surprise, there were no decent beast herds to stop them. This gave the soldiers great confidence; it seemed that Wind Wolf Mountain truly no longer had any powerful beasts. Otherwise, with such a massive Human Race battle formation charging in, they would have been discovered and acted against long ago.

Zhu Nan was now full of confidence. He rode at the front and turned back to shout to the soldiers behind him: "Listen up, soldiers! Our heroic Young Lord has already single-handedly taken down the mid-to-high-Rank beasts of Wind Wolf Mountain. Our mission this time is to help him clean up the remnants, eliminate those low-end beasts, and completely destroy the Beast Race base on Wind Wolf Mountain! After this battle, our Southern Yue city will be able to welcome a relatively long period of peace! Tonight's operation must be thorough to prevent them from making a comeback!"

"The Young Lord is mighty! The Young Lord is mighty!! The Young Lord is mighty!!!" The soldiers couldn't help but roar upon hearing this. Only then did they realize that there was a Young Lord of Prince Fu's Mansion. As for who this Young Lord was, it didn't matter; they would know when they were supposed to know.

The total number of this battle formation reached 30,000. This roar was truly like a mountain-toppling tsunami, creating an astonishing wave of sound in the dark night that carried far away...

After a day and a night of siege and cleanup, it was only on the second day that the battle formation returned to Southern Yue city. Subsequently, news of the successful beast extermination spread through the city, sparking great enthusiasm among the citizens of Southern Yue, who ran around telling each other, extremely excited...

Meanwhile, in the inner area of the North Gate of Southern Yue city, there was a complex of buildings that offered tranquility amidst the noise. There weren't many people passing by, yet it was very close to the bustling downtown area, making it an extremely ideal location. Such a complex was naturally not something an ordinary person could possess; it belonged to the Fang Family. This Fang Family was one of the major families that had newly risen in recent years. The main Family was in Shuntian Prefecture, and the Fang Family in Southern Yue city was one of its branches. The head of the Family was named Fang Tianxiong, who had a very good reputation in Southern Yue city, known for fair business dealings and being charitable.

The Fang Family dealt in the business of Profound Weapons and Profound Herbs. They had shops in multiple districts of Southern Yue city, all of which were quite large. Their daily cash flow was growing day by day, and thus the Fang Family became known to more and more people in Southern Yue city.

However... many things cannot withstand scrutiny. The reason the Fang Family was able to rise so quickly had a great deal to do with their attachment to the Third Prince, Prince Lu. It was precisely because of the support of Lu Wang Manor behind them that the Fang Family was able to rise rapidly within the last fifty years, becoming a First-Rank Family with combat power at the Martial General level.

Indeed, a First-Rank Family must possess combat power at the Martial General level, but conversely, possessing combat power at the Martial General level does not necessarily mean one can become a First-Rank Family; it is merely one of the standard requirements for a First-Rank Family.

Generally speaking, in terms of Family ranking, a First-Rank Family possesses Martial General level combat power, a Second-Rank Family possesses Martial Ancestor level combat power, and a Third-Rank Family possesses Martial Master level combat power. Within the same Rank of families, there are also distinctions; those possessing Peak Martial General combat power are naturally stronger than those with only Late Stage Martial General combat power, especially in the Late Stage of Xuan Practitioner, where the gap in combat power between each level is greatly widened. Therefore, the hierarchy between families is extremely strict, and it is very difficult to cross it without significant Opportunity and resources.

This was also the main reason the Fang Family had to attach themselves to Prince Lu. Without the protection of power, wealth could easily end up being nothing in the end, snatched away by others, resulting in the tragic fate of working for someone else's benefit. But with the protection of power, not only could they keep it, but they also had the Opportunity to continuously expand and reach higher levels. This is the important reason why countless wealthy merchants are trying every means to attach themselves to the powerful and noble.

Fang Tianxiong was well-versed in this. When he came to Southern Yue city to expand the Family business many years ago, he not only relied on the resources and influence of the main Family behind him and Lu Wang Manor, but he also curried favor with Prince Fu and maintained close ties with Prince Fu's Mansion. Therefore, he quickly opened up the situation in Southern Yue city, and the business grew larger and larger.

Of course, he did not expect the situation to change so drastically. Now, the Great Ming had fallen into a succession struggle. Several powerful princes, in order to compete for the throne, were secretly undermining each other, with endless internal fighting. This gave him a massive headache because it was common knowledge that his Fang Family was attached to Lu Wang Manor. Therefore, the Fang Family had long been naturally categorized as being part of the Lu Wang Manor faction, causing the forces of other princes to intentionally or unintentionally distance themselves from the Fang Family.

What made him feel fortunate was that because Prince Fu had withdrawn from the succession struggle early on, there was no obvious conflict between Prince Lu and Prince Fu. Prince Fu had not done anything detrimental to his Fang Family; rather, they continued to cooperate where they should, and even continued to support him as always in terms of some resources and power. Fang Tianxiong felt deeply lucky about this; compared to those Fang Family branches doing business under the forces of other princes, he was certainly a much luckier person!

However, changes in things often happen in an instant. Just a few days ago, the arrival of a group of people completely changed Fang Tianxiong's life and plunged him into deep panic...

The people who arrived were two retainers of Lu Wang Manor: one named Zhu Lan, and one named Zhu Yu, General. Both were trusted Geniuses cultivated by Prince Lu, and later bestowed with the surname Zhu, becoming retainers of the Manor. This path of development was also the source of most of the Manor's personal guards. Many Geniuses regarded this path as a primary direction for their development; after all, mastering arts and skills to sell to the imperial Family was a fixation deeply rooted in the hearts of many ordinary people.