Chapter 116: Knocking On The Door
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Upon removing her face mask, Fang Yuan was shocked at the amazingly gorgeous looks of Shi Yutong.
Beneath her perfectly curved eyebrows were a pair of upward sloping eyes. She had a small mouth and flawless porcelain skin. Even though she was no longer youthful, age did not seem to have caught up with her. She looked like she was at most 30 years old, maybe with an aura of a much mature woman.
Even though she was in her coma, her beautiful eye brows and the slightly pained expression on her perfect was still sufficient to arouse the deepest desires of the men around her.
Even though Ling Yin was also considered to be a pretty woman, in the presence of Shi Yutong she paled in comparison.
"Sir...sir..."
Of course, Fang Yuan could casually enjoy this pleasant sight while the others beside him were in utter shock.
After stuttering about for quite some time, Zhou Wenwu finally got his words out of his mouth and said, "Sir...you...you said that you went out on a hunting trip earlier..."
'How did you end up bringing back these two ladies with you from your hunting trip?"
This was the most pressing question Zhou Wenwu had on his mind that he wanted to ask, but he could not muster the courage to do it.
"Oh...While I was on my trip I coincidentally heard these two ladies discussing about how to sabotage me, so I took action and brought them here!"
Fang Yuan dug his ear as he blatantly spoke the truth.
'It seems like you already had an ulterior motive before you embarked on this hunting trip and you just ended up stalking them.'
Yu Xinlou and a few others rolled their eyes at Fang Yuan's admission. Huang Fu Renhe coughed and stepped forward and asked, "Now that if have both of the sect heads of the Spirit Returning Sect, what is there to be afraid of them?"
"Correct!"
Zhou Wenwu's eyes brightened instantly and said, "Sir is also a Wu Zong too!"
The immense prestige of the Spirit Returning Sect caused Fang Yuan's judgement to be clouded a little earlier. Now that his mind has cleared, he felt a little indignant as he thought, "Anyone with the ability could live within Qinghe County! What makes the Spirit Returning Sect the natural owners of this area!"
"Keke..."
Fang Yuan rolled his eyes at this far-fetched thought.
Although admitted, now that the Secluded Mountain Valley had the supreme tutelage of Fang Yuan, a few martial artists who have broken through the 4 Heavenly Gates and the spiritual beasts, there was no difference between the Secluded Mountain Valley and the Spirit Returning Sect or Five Ghosts Sect. However, they were a world apart in terms of rootedness.
Based on Fang Yuan's calculations, it would be almost impossible for him to control Qingye City based on the little resources he had, unless all the disciples in the Spirit Returning Sect swore their allegiance to him.
If he attempted to control the county, it would definitely lead to chaos and unrest. The costs outweighed the benefits.
"Sorry for spouting rubbish sir!"
Zhou Wenwu blushed with embarrassment.
As a former disciple of the Spirit Returning Sect, Zhou Wenwu was in an awkward situation. He was very eager to demonstrate his loyalty to his new master. The best way to do was of course to denigrate his original sect as much as possible, to show that he had severed all ties with them.
"However, you made one excellent point. Maybe we will not take Qinghe County, but I definitely want to take down Qingye City."
Fang Yuan nodded his head and said, "Zhou Wenwu, what is the likelihood of you controlling a city if you return now?"
"Erm..."
Under Fang Yuan's strong influence, Zhou Wenwu responded, "If you rise to Wu Zong and the news of the capture of Shi Yutong spreads out, the likelihood is about 50 to 60 percent!"
"It seems like you are still clear headed, and your judgement has not been clouded!"
Fang Yuan nodded his head and said, "I'll place Flower Fox Ferret and Zhang Shengpai under your charge. Go back and rally everyone else immediately to detain or banish the disciples of the Spirit Returning Sect!"
"Yes sir!"
After some internal calculation, Zhou Wenwu concluded that after the removal of the Guo family, Qingye City was now up for contention amongst his own Zhou family, the Zhang family as well as Minister Lin's Lin family. The Zhang family was greatly influenced by the secluded valley and there was no problem convincing them. His only main obstacles were the Lin family and the Spirit Returning Sect. Minister Lin was a sly old fox, if he had known that Shi Yutong was defeated and captured, he might also switch allegiance or even maintain his neutrality for the sake of his family's survival.
As of now, the only person left to deal with was the new head of the city and a thousand disciples of the Spirit Returning Sect.
Zhou Wenwu witnessed the mighty powers of Flower Fox Ferret himself before. It was comparable to a martial artist of the 4 Heavenly Gates level. With the addition of the extremely powerful and formidable servant cleaner, there was a high chance the mission would succeed. Zhou Wenwu beamed with confidence at this thought.
If he could take advantage of this situation and strengthen the position of his family to become the top-ranking family in the city, the days ahead looked extremely hopeful.
"But sir...why aren't you leading this mission yourself?"
After Fang Yuan answered, a few doubts emerged in Zhou Wenwu's mind.
He believed that if Fang Yuan led the mission himself, with his reputation as a Wu Zong, the disciples of the Spirit Returning Sect might even give up without a fight and all the other families would swear allegiance to him automatically.
"I...naturally will have other more important things to tend to!"
Fang Yuan lifted up the two comatose women and mounted Iron-tailed Black Eagle and ordered, "Attend to your tasks. I hope that I can have Qingye City in my control by the time I return!"
"Kaw kaw!"
Iron-tailed Black Eagle flapped its wings and took off.
With the extra weight of two extra human beings, it was a slightly burdensome load for it. Nonetheless it still flew off and disappeared amongst the clouds.
...
"Even though I have captured these two women, I have brought more trouble for myself. Without considering Shi Yutong, Ling Yin is the disciple of Lu Renjia. If he finds out he will definitely not let this matter rest and I will have very little options available when he does that!"
Fang Yuan ordered Iron-tailed Black Eagle to fetch him to his secret hiding spots. He first dropped Shi Yutong off at the place he detained Lady Yan and then brought Ling Yin to the Secluded Mountain Prefecture City.
"Since I cannot trust Lu Renjia, I can only ally myself with the head of the Secluded Mountain Prefecture. I think this stepping stone and application seems rather substantial!"
Fang Yuan took a glance at the comatose Ling Yin cradled in his arms indifference in his eyes.
Having gone through the training in his imaginary world, Fang Yuan was exposed to incredibly beautiful women. Ling Yin's aesthetic beauty could not sway him.
This sort of temporary beauty could not last in the long-term.
What attracted Fang Yuan's attention was the spiritual objects and other ornaments on Ling Yin.
"As long as one was a spiritual knight, one would be able to use spiritual prints to create a spiritual amulet. But most of these ornaments on her seem to be extremely rare charms..."
High up in mid-air, a translucent force floated up approximately 500 metres in front of Fang Yuan, blocking off the strong winds from reaching him, allowing him to sit steadily on the platform as he toyed with the green bangle in his heads.
"This spiritual item...seems very interesting..."
Fang Yuan's sight dug deep into the amulet. In no time, he dug out the most valuable item within the bangle.
The bangle was neither gold nor jade and spiritual light gleamed from it. Several spiritual prints lined the bangle, forming a chain.
"What a great spiritual item!"
Fang Yuan then attempted to inject some Dream Elemental Force into it and removed Ling Yin's original presence within it. Fang Yuan then decisively left his own mark inside it.
"Snap!"
In a burst of light, the green bangle turned into a dagger in his hands. On it, cold light enveloped the spiritual light earlier. Just by this sight one could tell it was not a normal item.
There were complicated writings on the body of the dagger, seemingly forming the olden words for "Green Snake".
"The Ancient Green Serpent Dagger?"
Fang Yuan let go of his hand and the magical energy dispersed. The green dagger melted into a ray of green light flowing about on his body as though it was a part of him.
"Outstanding!"
After this experiment, Fang Yuan was extremely delighted.
"Even though I am not an expert in using instruments or weapons, the power in this spiritual object is quite remarkable. It might even be good enough to be beneficial for a spiritual knight."
It was obvious that this was a gift from Lu Renjia to Ling Yin.
In reality, if Fang Yuan was a bit more aware, he would have known that Lu Renjia personally used this spiritual item before and was probably very well known for doing so amongst the higher echelons of the Secluded Mountain Prefecture.
By bestowing this give to Ling Yin, he sought to protect her through its reputation. Even if she ran into a spiritual knight or a Wu Zong, not many would risk offending him by attacking Ling Yin.
But going by Fang Yuan's unconventional way of thinking, Lu Renjia's plan not only failed, it also gave Fang Yuan an extra valuable spiritual item.
"You will be mine from now on!"
Even though Fang Yuan did not know much, he could judge from the response of Blood Killer and deduce that this dagger was extremely well-known. It could possible even be Lu Renjia's precious item.
However, he had already done the worst thing possible to offend Lu Renjia, it did not matter to Fang Yuan that he took away his precious item. At that point, he contentedly and happily kept the item and continued looking at his other loot.
"Erm, apart from a few spiritual amulets with unknown uses, the rest are just common pills. I'll let Huang Fu Renhe identify them when I get back..."
After a while, Fang Yuan rubbed his chin as though he was thinking of something.
He was slightly disappointed that he did not find any special alchemy or secret spiritual knight manuals on Ling Yin, but what he got was also irreplaceable.
"In fact, as a spiritual disciple, she is extremely valuable to me. Just by considering that fact that if I improve by one more level within the dream master realm and become a dream building master, I can extract everything that Lu Renjia taught her as long as it was not protected by magical will...."
A dream master had to be make extensive preparations to succeed. Even though Fang Yuan only mastered the dream elemental force, he had also received assistance on several other aspects which were sufficient for him to see many unexpected results!
...
Even though the Secluded Mountain Prefecture City was very far away from Qinghe County, it was only so if one were to travel by land.
At the blistering speed Iron-tailed Black Eagle flew at, in no time, Secluded Mountain Prefecture City appeared as a black giant in front of Fang Yuan.
In comparison to the grand and magnificent sight of earlier days, the city now looked devastated and run-down. What was left of the city was plastered full of burnt stains or blood stains. This was the obvious devastation of the ongoing war.
At that point, the head of the Secluded Mountain Prefecture, Liu Yan attempted to encircle Lu Renjia but he underestimated his opponent. Furthermore, he was slow in his execution of his strategy and had to deal with the rebellion of three strong families as well as some of the higher-ranking officers in the army. This brought about massive casualties to both sides and the entire city was ruined. The civilians were in great suffering.
In the end, Lu Renjia retreated first but he annexed three counties and was still in a state of war with the Secluded Mountain Prefecture. Nonetheless, the Secluded Mountain Prefecture was no longer the power it once was.