Catching Monsters

Chapter 619 The broad road
At this moment, Jiang Yun and Linglong had already approached the city gate, and Jiang Yun frowned deeply.

Looking at the large number of city guards on the city wall, he secretly felt that something was wrong. He knew that although the city guards were far weaker than the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

However, the enemy is defending the city walls, which are also equipped with many defensive weapons such as bows and crossbows. If they charge out in a fierce battle, my men will likely suffer heavy casualties.

However, to Jiang Yun's surprise, the city gate creaked open slowly.

The city guards on the city wall put away their weapons and did not intend to forcibly stop them.

Seeing this, Linglong frowned slightly and whispered, "Could it be that the Xiang family is afraid of the Embroidered Uniform Guard? Are they worried that using the city guards to fight the Embroidered Uniform Guard would have too bad an impact?"

"But that doesn't make sense either. The Xiang family's previous actions clearly showed they weren't afraid of our Embroidered Uniform Guard. That's really strange..."

Jiang Yun's face darkened, and he said, "Never mind all that, quick, get out of the city!"

On the streets, countless Imperial Guards filed out of the city gates.

As soon as Jiang Yun stepped out of the city gate, he noticed a gaze coming from above. Jiang Yun looked up and met Xiang Huang's gaze.

Xiang Huang even had a faint smile on his lips.

Jiang Yun's face darkened. Without time to think, he led a large number of Imperial Guards out of the city under the cover of night.

Soon, all the Imperial Guards gradually disappeared into the night.

Meanwhile, Xiang Hui in the city was facing an attack from four dark tigers.

He was on the street, his swordsmanship superb, and in an instant he killed the four tigers.

Then, he looked at Di Fei with resentment.

Di Fei, on the other hand, seemed calm and composed. Standing on the eaves of a house, he continued to paint. Soon, he realized that Jiang Yun had safely evacuated.

As the last stroke was completed, a giant bird flew out of the scroll, and Di Fei lightly leaped and sat cross-legged on the scroll.

"Master Xiang, your swordsmanship in today's battle is truly worthy of its reputation. If you have the opportunity, please come to the capital. I, Di, will definitely treat you to a hearty drink."

Xiang Hui watched with a sullen face as Di Fei rode away on a dark-colored bird, but did not give chase.

During their fight, Xiang Hui never intended to kill Di Fei. Di Fei was a highly accomplished Confucian scholar, and killing him would cause trouble for the Confucian community.

The Xiang family feared nothing and no one, except for Confucianism, which they greatly feared.

After Di Fei left, Xiang Hui quickly headed towards the city gate. When he arrived, the massive Imperial Guards had vanished without a trace.

Xiang Hui immediately located Xiang Huang on the city wall.

"Where are those Imperial Guards?!"

"Didn't I give the order to stop these Imperial Guards from leaving?"

Seeing this, Xiang Huang said, "Brother, the other side has taken my niece Ye Yun hostage. I have no choice but to let them leave the city to avoid harming her."

Hearing Xiang Huang's reply, Xiang Hui was momentarily speechless. His face darkened, and he said, "Summon the clan elders and hold a clan meeting!"

Upon hearing Xiang Hui's words, Xiang Huang's eyes flashed slightly. This was good news!
It should be noted that the only entity capable of removing Xiang Hui from his position as clan chief is the clan council.

The Xiang family has eight elders, all of whom are of very high seniority and highly respected.

Many important matters in the Xiang family are decided by the clan association.

……

On the official road, Jiang Yun, worried that the Xiang family would come after them, led his men to travel another twenty miles under the cover of night before finally resting at a post station.

Inside a room, candles were lit. Jiang Yun looked at Di Fei as he returned and said gratefully, "Thank you, Senior Di Fei."

Di Fei arrived here even before the Imperial Guards. He was sitting in his room drinking tea when he said in a deep voice, "Jiang Yun, the Xiang family has considerable influence in the capital. They won't let this matter rest."

"I know what I'm doing." Jiang Yun nodded slightly. If it weren't for the meteorite, Jiang Yun wouldn't want to offend the Xiang family.

Now that we've offended them all, we'll naturally deal with whatever comes our way.

Lingling, who was standing nearby, asked in a low voice, "Xiang Yeyun is still in our hands, what should we do?"

This is somewhat tricky. After pondering for a while, Jiang Yun said, "At least he's a hostage. Let's take him back to the capital first. Maybe he'll be of some use when the Xiang family comes knocking on our door."

"Okay." Linglong nodded.

Afterwards, Jiang Yun went to Qi Da's house to visit him, as Qi Da was seriously injured. Qi Da was lying in bed, weak but with only superficial wounds, and would recover after some time.

After chatting with Zidane and offering him some comfort, he ordered all the Imperial Guards to get some rest. The next morning, the Imperial Guards who were already on missions in the northern border were to leave and continue their duties.

The others followed and returned to the capital.

Inside the mansion, Xiang Hui sat in the main hall with a gloomy expression. The steward beside him reported in a low voice: "Master, the good news is that the Imperial Guards have been restrained and only attacked those who resisted. None of the women in our mansion have been harmed."

"More than 30 people who resisted within the mansion died, and more than 70 were seriously injured."

Upon hearing the report, Xiang Hui's expression hardened, and he looked towards both sides of the hall, where eight elderly clan elders sat.

The youngest of these eight people is over seventy years old.

Further down, there's the spring...

Having finally seized the opportunity, he naturally took advantage of the situation, saying sarcastically, "Brother, not to be rude, but why did you have to offend the Embroidered Uniform Guard for no reason?"

"Yes, it seems we are in the right. It was indeed that Jinyiwei guard named Qi Da who broke into our Xiang family and stole the meteorite first."

"But instead of driving him away, you imprisoned him in the dungeon and tortured him."

"The Embroidered Uniform Guards have always been ruthless and vicious. Upon hearing this news, they will naturally bring even more men to seek revenge."

"Besides, does the Embroidered Uniform Guard really want the meteorite?"

"What are the Embroidered Uniform Guards for? They are the emperor's henchmen. Without His Majesty's authorization, would they dare to mobilize such a large force?"

"Furthermore, Jiang Yun, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, is young yet has already gained the Emperor's trust."

“If you confront him head-on, you'll only cause trouble for the Xiang family.”

Although Xiang Huang was sarcastic, what he said wasn't entirely without merit, which made Xiang Hui's expression turn serious.

He then took a deep breath and ignored Xiang Huang's sarcastic remarks. The two were brothers, so how could he not understand Xiang Huang's little scheme?

Xiang Hui looked down at the many elders below and asked, "Eight elders, what are your thoughts?"

These eight elders were not chosen randomly; they were the wisest and most experienced elders among the tens of thousands of members of the Xiang clan. Soon, the eight elders began their discussion.

An elder sitting closest to Xiang Hui said, "In my opinion, the root of this matter is the meteorite. If the patriarch had handed over the meteorite directly, perhaps this calamity would not have occurred."

"Of course, doing so will also make outsiders think that our Xiang family is weak and easily bullied."

An elder from the clan nodded in approval and said in a deep voice, "Our Xiang family has monopolized Yanzhou Prefecture, and the enormous wealth we have accumulated has long been the envy of many. If this matter is not retaliated against, it will be extremely detrimental to our Xiang family."

"That's right. Moreover, Ye Yun has been captured by them. The eldest daughter of the Xiang family has been captured by a group of vicious Imperial Guards. If we don't speed up the rescue, who knows what might happen."

Xiang Hui closed his eyes and said in a deep voice, "Fortunately, our Xiang family has a deep-rooted network in the capital. Although dealing with this Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard is not easy, it is not without a way."

Xiang Huang sat in the chair, looking rather anxious. Why wasn't he talking about changing the clan leader?

The attack on the Xiang family mansion was unprecedented in the nearly two-hundred-year history of the Xiang family. Such a great responsibility cannot be glossed over.

He coughed and said, "Elders, in my opinion, my elder brother is getting old, and we should probably reconsider the position of clan leader..."

“That’s right.” An elder nodded emphatically, agreeing with Xiang Huang’s words.

Xiang Huang was overjoyed.

But the elder continued, "Therefore we must hurry to rescue Ye Yun. Although there has never been a female clan leader in our Xiang family, in my opinion, among the younger generation, Ye Yun is brave and resourceful, and at such a young age, she has already reached the fourth rank. With more cultivation, her achievements will not be too low."

Xiang Huang was stunned. Was this what I was talking about? Don't ignore me.

“A woman succeeding as clan leader is unprecedented in our Xiang family,” Xiang Huang coughed.

The clan elder beside him glared at Xiang Huang: "Whose fault is that? None of your children are easy to deal with?"

"He's a master of all sorts of vices—eating, drinking, gambling, whoring, and prostitution—he's utterly useless. Otherwise, would we have considered letting Ye Yun succeed him as clan leader?"

Xiang Huang was speechless after being rebuked like this. Indeed, he had quite a few sons, a total of five.

Quantity has increased, but quality has declined.

Instead of cultivating properly, they spend their days loafing around in Yanzhou Prefecture, indulging in eating, drinking, gambling, and whoring. Some even go so far as to forcibly abduct women.

This matter caused quite a stir a few years ago.

This also caused Xiang Huang to lose face completely.

The third brother is alright; he only excels at drinking, gambling, and whoring.

He drinks heavily every day, almost ruining his brain. He spends his days in his little house, surrounded by wine jars and beautiful women, living a carefree and happy life.

Xiang Huang had tried to teach him properly, but to his surprise, the third brother said, "What's the point of working hard to become the clan leader if not to enjoy yourself?"

"Now I can enjoy life without having to work hard, so why bother?"

Enraged, Xiang Huang gave the third brother a severe beating.

Hey.

Thinking of this, Xiang Huang sighed deeply.

……

Five days later, Jiang Yun led a large number of Imperial Guards back to the capital. Along the way, Qi Da's injuries were treated with the unique healing ointment from the Imperial Guards, and he recovered to about 70-80%.

During this process, the meteorite was expelled from his stomach.

Heaven knows how long it took him to wash it before it was finally presented to Jiang Yun.

Upon returning to the capital, it was already late, so Jiang Yun had someone take Xiang Yeyun back to the Northern Garrison for custody. He himself, having been away from home for a long time, rushed back to the Jiang residence as soon as possible.

"Master is back!" Yun Pingchuan ran into the mansion with a big smile and shouted loudly when he saw Jiang Yun return.

Then, Yun Pingchuan led Jiang Yun into the Jiang residence and said, "Master, we have a guest here named Hu Yi. He has been staying here for several days and claims that he has something important to give you."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yun's eyes flashed slightly: "Brother Hu is here? Please invite him to the living room for a chat."

"Yes."

After sitting down in the living room, I soon heard Hu Yi's hearty laughter.

"Hahahahahaha!"

"Brother Jiang, you're finally back! I've been waiting for you for so long."

Soon, footsteps sounded from outside. Jiang Yun quickly got up to greet them. Hu Yi entered the living room with a smile on his face.

After inviting Hu Yi to sit down, Jiang Yun personally made him some tea: "Brother, have some tea first."

"You've really made it big now, kid. I've heard a lot about your deeds in the Demon Kingdom." Hu Yi looked Jiang Yun up and down and said in a deep voice, "To be able to get Lord Tiger Saint to kill the Crown Prince, you're really awesome."

"When we heard about this, even our clan leader was shocked. He then instructed me to bring you the meteorite when I had some free time."

Hearing this, Jiang Yun cursed the fox clan chief in his heart, thinking that he was indeed trying to renege on his debt.

If he couldn't get Tiger Saint to help him, wouldn't that old bastard be planning to give him the meteorite?
Thinking of this, Jiang Yun frowned and then said, "Brother Hu, where is the meteorite?"

"Here it is." Hu Yi said, taking out a black handkerchief from his pocket. Inside was a crystal-clear meteorite.

After Jiang Yun took it, he compared it with the meteorite he obtained from the Xiang family. There was not much difference, so it should be genuine.

Hu Yi, standing nearby, couldn't help but complain, "This broken stone, I don't know what it's for, but Brother Jiang, you treat it like a treasure. We're not strangers, so tell me, what's this thing for?"

Jiang Yun thought to himself, "I'd like to know what this thing can do."

If it weren't for what Bai Wuchang said, Jiang Yun wouldn't have gone to such great lengths.

Jiang Yun smiled and said, "I don't know either."

"Well, if you didn't know, would you have gone to all this trouble? Oh well, I, Old Hu, have no interest in this stuff anyway." Hu Yi sighed, "I'm setting off back to the Demon Kingdom soon."

"Brother Hu, why don't you stay a few more days?" Jiang Yun said with a smile. "Our Zhou capital has plenty of places to eat, drink, and have fun. There's no rush to go back so soon, is there?"

“It’s nothing special.” Hu Yi shook his head. “To be honest, brother, ever since I went to Penglai Island, I’ve lost interest in eating, drinking, and having fun. My only goal is to set foot on the island and stay there.”

"Being a good spirit pet for the immortals is the only way to achieve success."

(End of this chapter)