Anyone in the Fan clan with even the slightest access to information knew that several distinguished guests had arrived.
One was a female cultivator at the Grotto-Heaven realm, accompanied by several servants.
At least, they had initially been called servants. Later, people began saying that they were actually her junior brothers and sisters. Every one of them was at the Core Formation stage, and none was over a hundred years old.
With such ages and cultivation levels, they were absolutely first-rate prodigies within the Fan family.
As a result, some of the more calculating members of the family wanted to take the opportunity to befriend Yuan Dawei and the others and exchange insights on the Dao with them. There were also several young juniors of outstanding appearance whose elders repeatedly instructed them that if they could seize this chance to catch the eye of one of these promising cultivators, they would have nothing to worry about for the rest of their lives.
Every clan had young men and women whose aptitude was not particularly outstanding and whose resources were likewise limited. If they wanted to continue cultivating, they either had to venture out and make their own way in the world or find themselves a long-term source of support.
Yuan Dawei and the others were young, accomplished, and not bad-looking either. Naturally, they were the best choices these people could hope to encounter.
If one could become Dao companions with a young and beautiful cultivator, who would truly be willing to become the concubine or companion of some old man or old woman?
Thus, Yuan Dawei and the others discovered that once it became known that they were actually Shu Xin’s junior brothers and sisters, their treatment within the Fan family improved overnight.
Every day, members of the Fan family—both men and women—invited them out to have fun.
This sort of attentiveness was completely different from what they had received aboard the Hu family’s flying ship. On the Hu family’s ship, although they were also Core Formation cultivators, they were publicly regarded as servants. Many of those who approached them harbored some degree of contempt, while those who considered themselves important would not bother befriending them. But now, although they were still only Core Formation cultivators, they had become the junior brothers and sisters of a Grotto-Heaven True Person. The value they represented for a marriage alliance had increased by more than a hundred or a thousand times!
Shu Xin’s only requirement of them was that they not get in her way. They could interact with the Fan family as much as they liked.
Therefore, Yuan Dawei, Cao Ru, and the others did not refuse the Fan family’s invitations. They treated it as an opportunity to broaden their horizons.
“Senior Brother Yuan, Senior Sister Cao, this is our Fan family’s martial arena.” Several young men and women from the Fan family had taken the initiative to invite them to tour the family’s martial arena. They could also spar with Yuan Dawei and the others while they were there, to see what the disciples of the Wenshen Sect were capable of and what was so profound about the techniques and divine abilities they practiced.
“Senior Brother Yuan, what is the martial arena of your Wenshen Sect like?” a Fan girl asked curiously.
Although they had heard that the Wenshen Sect had declined, they assumed that this merely meant it had declined compared with the major sects. No matter how poor it was, surely it could not be poorer than their Fan family.
Yuan Dawei looked at the luxurious martial arena before him and felt as though his conscience were being put through an examination.
“It’s not too different from yours. They’re both quite large,” Yuan Dawei said, maintaining his composure.
Cao Ru and the others exchanged a subtle glance with Yuan Dawei, communicating silently with perfect understanding.
Indeed, they were both quite large.
The Wenshen Sect’s martial arena was simply a large empty stretch of land at the back of the mountain. The mountain was bare, and there was nothing else at all. Whenever they used spells, they had to remember to cast a “Windproof Spell” on themselves first, lest the dust blow all over them during a fight and soil their clothes.
How could it compare with the Fan family’s arena?
Not only was the spiritual energy in the martial arena abundant, but several healing cultivators stood nearby with commonly used pills at the ready. Various standard magical artifacts had also been placed to the side for cultivators to take and use as they pleased.
“Who are those people?” Li Qinghe asked, pointing at a group of cultivators dressed in gray within the martial arena. “Are they servants? They don’t really look like it.”
“Those are martial slaves. Doesn’t your sect have any?” the Fan youth asked curiously. “Some of them were hired with spirit stones, some are servants of our household, and others are cultivators from forces we defeated. Their main job is to fight against us. Otherwise, how are we supposed to improve our cultivation through actual combat?”
“I see that their cultivation levels are generally quite high,” Li Qinghe continued. “They’re considerably stronger than the disciples who come here to spar. Can they still serve the purpose of exchanging techniques?”
“Of course. They have to suppress their cultivation and fight us, but they aren’t allowed to injure anyone. If they hurt us, the elders will naturally punish them,” the Fan youth said without hesitation. “Once they’re no longer useful, they’re generally used to give the younger members of the clan their first taste of blood. However, if they perform well and render meritorious service, they can also be promoted from martial slaves to guards.”
The martial arena was normally guarded by several Core Formation cultivators. If any of the martial slaves tried to resist, they would immediately be killed on the spot.
“Of course, the few of you are far too powerful for ordinary martial slaves to satisfy your needs. Core Formation martial slaves are rare, but we do have some. If you need them, I can help you submit a request,” a Fan girl beside them added.
“No need.” Li Qinghe shook his head.
“That makes sense. With the abilities of the senior brothers and sisters, you must be far stronger than ordinary Core Formation cultivators.”
“There’s not much point in staying in the martial arena. Why don’t we go out and have a look instead?” Cao Ru knew that her junior sister was soft-hearted, so she quickly changed the subject. “We’d also like to see just how large the Fan family is. How can you support so many cultivators in their training?”
“Haha, our Fan family isn’t that impressive.”
“In this city, we can only be called ‘Half the City.’ There’s still the Zhang family here as well.”
The Fan disciples happily led Yuan Dawei and the others outside to take a look around.
Although Yuan Dawei and the others had briefly seen the city while traveling with the funeral procession, they had merely stayed within the city itself and knew little about the surrounding area.
“This entire stretch belongs to our Fan family’s spirit fields.” A Fan disciple pointed at the seemingly endless farmland before them. “We grow spirit grain here. Half of what we harvest is used to feed members of the clan, while the other half is sold to various sects and aristocratic families. Our Fan family’s spirit grain is famous in the several cities nearby. It tastes excellent.”
Cao Ru and the others recalled the food they had eaten over the past two days and nodded. Although its spiritual energy was rather thin, the flavor really was quite good.
“With so much farmland, is it all tended by cultivators?” Meng Wenrui asked curiously as he looked around. “Why haven’t I seen any cultivators?”
“Of course it’s tended by mortals.” The Fan girl blinked. “Why would cultivators tend ordinary spirit fields like these? The spirit fields cultivated by cultivators produce spirit grain only once every ten years. Neither the price nor the yield can compare with what we have here. The spirit grain in these fields ripens once a year, and ordinary mortals are perfectly capable of tending it.”
“The mortals work on another mountain during the day. These spirit fields don’t need to be tended during daylight hours. It’s only at night that insects come to steal the rice, so that’s when the mortals have to come catch them.”
Meng Wenrui felt that something was wrong after hearing this. “Then don’t these mortals have to work both day and night?”
“Exactly. If we don’t allot these mortals a little more spirit farmland, they won’t be able to raise their children. They’re all far too prolific.”
“They’ll distribute the work themselves. For instance, in a family of four, two of them specialize in working at night and the other two work during the day, taking turns sleeping. If there’s someone especially lazy who only works during the day or only at night, then our Fan family can’t afford to keep such a slacker.”
“We also raise spirit fish, spirit flowers, and spirit herbs on another mountain. Those need to be tended by mortals as well.”
“Mortals are much more useful than cultivators. They have no use for spirit stones, so all we need to give them is enough food to eat. And if they happen to give birth to a child with spiritual roots, that child can enter our Fan family and become a servant. In return, the entire family is exempted from taxes for ten years.”
“Senior Sister Li, don’t feel sorry for these mortals. They’re not as easy to fool as you might think.” A Fan family girl noticed that Li Qinghe looked displeased and said indignantly, “Our Fan family is already the best employer around. We protect them and keep them from being captured by demonic cultivators and refined into soul banners. We even provide them with food and clothing. But the moment they get a chance, they try to pass off inferior goods as quality ones. We’ve caught them doing it several times. Those mortals secretly take spirit grain and feed it to people who’ve fallen ill and are supposed to be discarded. Hmph, those wretches don’t understand that if people with those illnesses eat spirit grain, they’ll only die faster.”
“These mortals are never satisfied. The moment you treat them a little better, they start wanting more.”
“Exactly. Spirit grain is the property of our Fan family. What right do they have to take it?”
“If a cultivator did something like that, we’d flay them alive and pull out their tendons.”
Li Qinghe and the others fell silent.
Before long, they spotted a child of about three or four years old in the spirit fields. He was filthy from head to toe and was gnawing on a bug nearly as large as his fist.
When the child saw them approaching, he clutched the bug tightly to his chest and scampered away.
“Why is there a little mud monkey here?” A young man from the Fan family looked disgusted. “Isn’t he an eyesore in front of all our honored senior brothers and sisters? I’ll go kill him right now.”
“No need, no need.” Li Qinghe hurriedly stopped him. Then, realizing she had reacted too strongly, she forced her face into a stern expression and continued, “He’s nothing more than a child. As cultivators, would we really stoop to quarreling with such an insignificant ant? That would only diminish our status.”
“Senior Sister Li is right.”
Meanwhile, the atmosphere around Shu Xin was completely different.
Quite a few of the Fan family’s wives came to visit Shu Xin, chatting and making conversation with her. Every one of them was beautiful, their cultivation bases were not low, and they were exceptionally pleasant to listen to. There were flirtatious ones, aloof ones, dignified ones—practically every type imaginable.
Their only common trait was that they had all given birth.
It was obvious at a glance what Fan Xiang had in mind by sending these women to Shu Xin.
In the face of these aristocratic wives, each as shrewd as a fox, Shu Xin repeated just three lines from beginning to end.
“Madam, you’re joking again.”
“I devote myself to cultivation. I don’t know anything about those things.”
“Madam is right.”
No matter what they said, Shu Xin simply pretended to be foolish. She would cry a little over her past experiences and curse that “faithless, heartless” former fiancé of hers, earning herself a great deal of sympathy.
At the same time, Shu Xin invented a little more about the deep bond between herself and Fan Jia’an. She casually adapted a few romantic lines she had heard in her previous life, and that was enough to convince them that her feelings for Fan Jia’an had been genuine.
“When the mountains lose their ridges and heaven and earth become one, only then will I dare part from you.”
“Fan-lang was considerate to the very bone. Every morning, he would wait for me to wake up, then wash my hands and cook for me.”
“Oh, Fan-lang once told me that in heaven, we would be birds flying wing to wing, and on earth, branches entwined together. He said he wanted us to become an immortal couple.”
As Shu Xin spoke, she could even burst into tears on cue.
The wives were disgusted nearly sick by the whole performance. They couldn’t help wondering whether Fan Jia’an really had been quite something to come up with so many sweet nothings to deceive people with.
And so, the cultivation world’s version of a lovesick fool was successfully created.
On the surface, these wives remained courteous toward Shu Xin. In their hearts, however, they were so jealous they wished they could chop her into mincemeat.
Heaven was truly unfair. How could a female cultivator who was so devoted to love possess such outstanding talent and such incredible cultivation?
If they had that kind of aptitude and luck, why would they still be reduced to playing supporting roles here?
However, remembering the warnings from their own partners and elders, they could only swallow their resentment in silence.
“That Fan Xiang is still dreaming of marrying into the family. Why should our children be any worse?”
“Shu Xin looks innocent and easy to deceive, yet her cultivation is so high. If she took a liking to one of our sons or brothers, wouldn’t that mean we’d gained a Grotto-Heaven realm cultivator’s support for free? Fan Xiang doesn’t have a single decent son who can serve as the next clan leader, yet he still refuses to appoint someone else. What he’s plotting is obvious, isn’t it?”
“Putting everything else aside, it would be nice if we could first trick some resources out of Shu Xin.”
…
Everyone in the Fan family believed that since Shu Xin was so sentimental, they could use love to bind her.
The purpose of these wives’ current efforts was to discover Shu Xin’s preferences, after which they could create someone specifically suited to her tastes.
Fan Jia’an was dead anyway.
His younger brothers and older brothers could serve as substitutes.
If Shu Xin truly liked someone mature and steady, they could even have their husbands divorce them.
“True Person Shu, one must look ahead. Cousin Jia’an has already passed away. Why not consider someone else?”
“What kind of person does True Person Shu like? There’s no harm in telling us.”
“True Person Shu…”
“Sister Shu Xin…”
By the time Shu Xin had been badgered nearly to the point of collapse, Fan Xiang made his appearance, dressed up like a strutting rooster.
Unless a cultivator was nearing the end of their lifespan, maintaining a youthful appearance was exceedingly easy.
As the clan leader, Fan Xiang usually dressed in a mature and dignified manner. Today, however, he had styled himself like a refined young gentleman.
What was more, whether intentionally or not, nearly everything Fan Xiang wore and used was almost identical to Fan Jia’an’s.
They were father and son to begin with. At a glance, one could almost mistake him for Fan Jia’an returned from the dead.
All the wives present were so embarrassed by the clan leader’s stunt that they could barely raise their heads.
The clan leader truly had no shame.
The identity of a senior disciple of the Asking Gods Sect was apparently so alluring that he was willing to cast aside all dignity and compete with his dead son for the woman.
It seemed they would have to speed up their own efforts as well.
[…Ugh. What is wrong with this man?] The sword spirit genuinely retched this time. The demonic cultivators Shu Xin usually killed were disgusting because of their techniques, but Fan Xiang was disgusting purely because of his behavior.
[He should take a good look at his own age. Even dreams aren’t this ridiculous.]
The sword spirit was shocked. The sword spirit did not understand.
“What’s so hard to understand?” Shu Xin rolled her eyes inwardly. “A pure, innocent, wealthy beauty falling for a twice-married middle-aged man like me? That’s a classic romance scam. Old geezers love this kind of thing.”
