Chapter 54: I'll Make Sure You Get Even

Niu Youdao could barely suppress a laugh.

From the bear demon's expression, Yuan Gang had somehow managed to read a sense of "belonging"—the sort that came from thinking everyone present was a demon too. He suddenly wanted to punch Yuan Fang in the face.

In a flat voice, he asked, "Do you know how bears die?"

"Uh..."

Alarm and suspicion mingled on Yuan Fang's face. He asked cautiously, "How?"

Yuan Gang jerked his chin toward Niu Youdao. "He's Niu. An ox."

"An... ox?"

Yuan Fang froze, then stared with wide eyes.

"An ox?"

Niu Youdao gave a low chuckle, turned around with his hands behind his back, and walked away.

Yuan Gang left Yuan Fang where he was and followed. After catching up in a few strides, he asked, "Master Dao, that demon doesn't seem especially bright. You really want to take him in?"

In their previous life, Master Dao had plenty of brothers beneath him. Whenever he found someone he admired, recruiting them was nothing unusual. Yuan Gang had seen it more than once.

Niu Youdao chuckled. "You've misjudged him. He's the sort who knows when to bend and when to stand, the type who plays the pig to eat the tiger. He simply hasn't seen enough of the world yet and lacks jianghu experience, which is why he slipped up and fell into Song Yanqing's hands. Song Yanqing was an arrogant man. Believe it or not, if he'd stayed at Nanshan Temple a little longer and eventually relaxed his guard after being lulled into complacency, nine times out of ten we wouldn't have needed to lift a finger. That demon would've killed him himself."

Yuan Gang was surprised. "What makes you say that?"

Niu Youdao smiled faintly. "Think about it carefully. Forget everything else. Those twenty-odd monks had a perfectly good chance to escape safely, yet under circumstances like these they were still willing to take the risk of following him. And didn't Song Yanqing and the others kill more than a dozen of them earlier? Human hearts are the hardest thing to fathom, much less the hearts of a bunch of monks willing to prey on other criminals. Could a man who looks that foolish really be simple if he can gather dozens of people around him and keep their loyalty? That alone tells you plenty. He's not as useless as you think. His foundation is decent. At worst, his outlook on life and values are a little questionable. He's still someone who can be molded. With this sort of person, treating him well isn't enough to win his heart. It comes down to one thing: make him submit. When you have time, straighten him out a little."

Yuan Gang fell silent, thoughtful.

Then he abruptly turned around and walked back. He ran straight into Yuan Fang, who had just stepped out of the room. Without saying a word, Yuan Gang kicked him viciously.

Bang!

The kick landed squarely in Yuan Fang's chest and sent him flying backward into the room. Yuan Gang charged in after him. Punches, kicks, knees, elbows—a savage beating followed.

Inside the room, Yuan Fang's screams and pleas for mercy rang out without end. Only after quite some time did the cries finally stop. Yuan Gang walked back outside expressionless. Ignoring the nearby personal guards staring at him in astonishment, he tugged his clothes straight and strode away. A while later, Yuan Fang limped out as well.

His face was bruised and swollen, and he wiped blood from his nose while pain made the muscles in his face twitch. He had no idea why he had just been beaten. There had not even been an explanation. The beating had come completely out of nowhere...

At the Commandery Governor's residence, the garden was silent. Feng Lingbo stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the bright moon. A trace of melancholy lingered in his expression. The thought of marrying his daughter away like this left his emotions complicated. Peng Yulan approached quietly and draped a cloak over his shoulders.

Spring was already deep, but the night air still carried a chill and heavy dew. Her husband was not a cultivator and had no business allowing cold qi to invade his body. It was not only her husband. Not one of their three children possessed a constitution suited to cultivation either.

Given Peng Yulan's background, if any of them had been suitable, she could easily have recommended them into the Tianyu Sect. The fact left her somewhat helpless. There was no way around it.

The meridian structures of different people varied to some extent, and those truly suited for cultivation were a minority. Feng Lingbo turned his head, saw her, and smiled faintly. Peng Yulan handed him a thin sheet of paper.

"My father sent word. After discussion within the Tianyu Sect, they approve the matter. They're worried that after you divide manpower and send people to Canglu County, the forces here may be stretched thin, so they've already urgently transferred additional people over."

Under normal circumstances, the Tianyu Sect could not possibly concentrate all its manpower in Guangyi Commandery. The sect had other territories and spheres of influence that also needed attention.

Of the people stationed here, some served as guards. Others were responsible for the daily collection of spirit herbs. Commoners throughout Guangyi Commandery who gathered spirit herbs would turn them over to these people in exchange for money and grain.

The collected herbs were then gathered together and sent back to the Tianyu Sect, where they could be refined into pills for cultivation or traded within the cultivation world. In truth, this was broadly how all major cultivation sects operated after dividing up their spheres of influence. The world was vast, and spirit herbs were hardly found everywhere.

If a sect relied entirely on its own disciples to roam mountains and rivers searching for and gathering them, the efficiency would not necessarily be very high. This was not something where simply running faster guaranteed success.

A sect's manpower was limited.

More importantly, if cultivators devoted most of their time and energy to searching for spirit herbs, their own cultivation would suffer. Naturally, cultivation resources did not refer only to spirit herbs extracted from one's sphere of influence. Money and grain mattered as well. For cultivation to proceed effectively, none of the four essentials—wealth, companions, method, and place—could be lacking.

Without a territory of one's own, how could one casually make use of the resources on someone else's land? Feng Lingbo took the paper and read it by moonlight. Then he slowly crumpled it in his palm. The result had not surprised him. After a long silence, he sighed.

"Go persuade Ruonan again."

"Mm."

Peng Yulan nodded gently.

Just then, Steward Shounian strode over and bowed to them both.

Feng Lingbo asked, "How did it go?"

Shounian replied, "They've all been settled in. They should come pay their respects to Master tomorrow."

Feng Lingbo nodded to show he understood.

Peng Yulan, however, asked with concern, "What does that Shang Chaozong look like?"

Shounian answered, "A dignified appearance, with quite a masculine bearing."

"Oh."

Peng Yulan relaxed somewhat.

Then a different worry arose.

If Shang Chaozong was handsome and imposing, would he truly be able to take a liking to her daughter? She was not worried that he would refuse to marry Feng Ruonan. She doubted he would dare.

What worried her was that after the marriage he might treat her daughter coldly and leave her to suffer humiliations that could not even be spoken aloud. Sometimes cold treatment hurt more than an open wound. Not long afterward, Peng Yulan arrived at her daughter's courtyard and entered Feng Ruonan's room.

Mei, Lan, Zhu, and Ju had been ordered to remain beside Feng Ruonan at all times to prevent anything unexpected. Feng Ruonan had never even removed her armor. She lay on the couch staring blankly into space. Peng Yulan waved her hand and dismissed the four women, then sat beside the couch. Before she could speak, Feng Ruonan spoke first.

"Mother, there's no need to persuade me again. I already said I won't marry. I won't marry no matter who tries to force me!"

Peng Yulan became irritated.

"I don't want to see you married off like this either. But you're a general who commands troops. Do you really not understand what it means to consider the greater situation on a battlefield?"

Feng Ruonan abruptly sat upright.

She said angrily, "What greater situation? I think the only thing being considered is the Tianyu Sect's greater situation! Have Grandfather come see me. I want to ask him myself whether using his own granddaughter to complete the Tianyu Sect's plans is something a man should do!"

"Impudent!"

Peng Yulan slapped her across the face and surged to her feet.

Pointing at her, she rebuked sharply, "Without considering the Tianyu Sect's greater situation, could Guangyi Commandery remain secure? Do you have any idea how many people want your father's life? Competition among the major sects allows no retreat. If you do not grow stronger, others will. Once they have enough strength, they will swallow you whole. If the Tianyu Sect falls, do you think Guangyi Commandery can survive? Your father, your mother, and your brothers would all die without even a place to be buried. Is that what you want to see?"

This was no empty warning.

Cultivation sects and the secular powers within their territories existed in a mutually dependent relationship. If a sect wanted a larger territory from which to obtain more cultivation resources, it needed people to occupy and administer that territory on its behalf.

No matter how many disciples a sect possessed, it could never throw all of them into the secular world to manage military and political affairs. How many disciples would it take to watch over a territory of that scale?

It simply was not realistic.

Cultivators needed to devote most of their energy to cultivation in the first place, and their ability to handle ordinary affairs might not even equal that of secular officials.

So sects needed secular proxies.

They supported talented and capable figures in the mundane world and had those people manage affairs for them. This was the most efficient way to conserve a sect's own disciples. More cultivation resources required more territory.

More territory required more disciples.

At the same time, sects could not refuse to provide protection to their secular proxies and to the key people beneath those proxies. Otherwise, rival powers could easily assassinate them. That was how retainer cultivators had come into being. As a sect's territory expanded, the number of retainer cultivators it had to deploy naturally grew as well.

That meant cultivating more disciples.

And cultivating more disciples, in turn, required still more cultivation resources. Cause and effect fed one another. Feng Ruonan held one cheek, biting her lip as tears shone in her eyes. Of course she did not want misfortune to befall her family. But she also did not want to be married off under such humiliating circumstances.

"Ruonan, just treat it as your mother begging you. All right?"

Peng Yulan's tone softened, turning sorrowful.

"What if I kneel to you?"

As she spoke, she moved directly in front of her daughter and bent both knees, about to kneel. Feng Ruonan caught her arms at once.

She shook her head desperately.

How could she possibly accept her mother's kneeling?

Tears filled her eyes.

"Mother, don't do this. I'll marry, all right?"

Mother and daughter immediately embraced and wept together.

"Mother, I feel wronged. Shang Chaozong has gone too far..."

Feng Ruonan choked out the words against her mother's shoulder. Peng Yulan patted her daughter's back and gave her a promise.

"Don't worry. Your mother has already thought it through. I'll make sure you get even and vent that anger. Your father has tacitly agreed as well!"

By midmorning the next day, Niu Youdao was still sitting cross-legged in his room, cultivating, when Yuan Gang knocked and entered.

He reminded him, "Master Dao, those three are outside asking to see you."

Niu Youdao slowly drew his cultivation to a close and breathed out.

He opened his eyes.

Naturally he knew who "those three" meant.

Who else could it be but Shang Chaozong, Shang Shuqing, and Lan Ruoting?

He rose and went outside.

Sure enough, the three were waiting below the steps. All three came forward together and cupped their hands.

"Master Dao!"

Their tone was noticeably more respectful than before. Niu Youdao thought nothing of it. Face and standing were things a man earned for himself. Then he noticed the dark circles beneath Shang Chaozong's eyes and could not help laughing. The prince probably had not slept well last night. Niu Youdao suppressed the smile and solemnly cupped his hands in return.

"I wonder what instructions Your Highness has for me?"

Shang Chaozong smiled. "We're about to go meet Feng Lingbo and came to invite Master Dao to accompany us."

"That..."

Niu Youdao smiled and waved his hands.

"I won't go. You can handle it yourselves."

He had hardly done anything honorable in this affair and naturally felt a little guilty. Better to leave the business of watching other people's expressions to the man standing before him.

Then, as though remembering something, he casually asked, "How is the matter of the ten thousand gold coins coming along?"

Shang Chaozong shook his head helplessly.

"We're strangers here and unfamiliar with the place. There truly isn't any way to raise that much money so quickly."

He gestured toward Lan Ruoting.

"We'll have to trouble Mr. Lan. Later, he'll discuss it with Feng Lingbo and ask to defer the debt for now. Once we reach Canglu County, we'll find a way to make it up."

"Defer it?"

Niu Youdao stared at the three of them, speechless.

"You three spent the whole night tossing and turning and this is the best idea you came up with? If you go there empty-handed and end up thoroughly humiliated, don't blame me for not warning you!"

[End of Chapter 54]