Promise!

Chapter 172, Fulfilling the Promise

Zhuang Jin pondered to himself: 'Actually, I don't need to worry too much about the other offerings: I don't really value food, drink, and pleasure; I have no bottleneck in martial arts resources and don't have much need for so-called high-end resources; as for family and subordinates, I don't have that many tangled and intertwined branches. Yunniang can be taken over later. Xue Yandao, Duan Tao, Bi Kai, Lin Hong, and others are at most at the seventh level of cultivation, and most others are at the first to sixth level. The level of interests involved is not high, so the others won't make things difficult for me or refuse to give me face...'

'I have none of the disadvantages that other offerings bring; on the contrary, I have many advantages.'

Firstly, it allows them to escape the purview of the family head, Shen Xianhong, and avoids similar schemes that were used to help Shen Xuchen before.

Secondly, it reduces jealousy and attention, allowing one to focus on cultivation and improve with all one's might.

'I have no bottlenecks. Even at my current Meridian Opening Realm, I can still advance steadily at an extremely fast pace... but breaking through too quickly attracts attention...'

Putting aside other offerings, even the Eighth Young Master Shen Xuchen, who had a good relationship with Zhuang Jin, had previously felt a slight jealousy, but it was dispelled by the other party's rationality.

'But if this continues, my breakthroughs will accelerate faster and faster. When my opponent realizes that no matter what they do, they can't catch up with me... it's such a test of wills; it's hard to say what unspeakable things might happen.'

'I went to the county seat. Distance makes the heart grow fonder. When the gap becomes too large, so large that the other person no longer has the desire to compare themselves to me, this problem will resolve itself... The same principle applies to other levels of veneration.'

Thirdly, at the Meridian Opening Realm, there are dozens of people in the prefectural city, which means there are so many people who can pose a threat to Zhuang Jin... But if he goes to the county town, he will truly be at the top and feel extremely safe.

"The Medicine King Gang only has eight or nine people at or above the Meridian Opening Realm, and they'll be under close surveillance... As long as I don't do anything that would incur divine and public wrath, the Medicine King Gang leader, and the hall masters who are even stronger than me, wouldn't be so idle as to go to great lengths to avoid being watched and go to the lower counties to cause me trouble, would they?"

After some thought, Zhuang Jin realized there were many advantages.

"Furthermore, while the conflict between the Shen family and the Medicine King Gang doesn't currently involve those at the level of Offering Masters, the situation in the prefectural city is volatile and unpredictable. Who can say for sure that the Medicine King Gang won't escalate the conflict further, drawing in martial artists at the Meridian Opening Realm? My decision to leave the prefectural city and avoid trouble might just be a blessing in disguise."

"Of course, with every gain comes a price. Just like when I joined the Shen family, gaining access to extraordinary powers and acquiring cultivation techniques, resources, and various conveniences, I inevitably became involved in the struggle between the Shen family and the Medicine King Gang, as well as various internal affairs of the Shen family... In this world, there is never a good thing where you only enjoy rights without paying obligations. If I want to become the county governor and enjoy peace in the future, I must first resolve the mess in the county below!"

After careful consideration, Zhuang Jin realized that this was a worthwhile task and volunteered, saying, "Master, please include me in the investigation of the cases in the three counties below and the selection of county magistrates!"

Upon hearing this, the other worshippers looked on in surprise, but in a moment, many of them understood that Zhuang Jin was ranked third from the bottom, probably because he knew he couldn't avoid it, so he might as well take the initiative.

Shen Xianhong nodded slightly. Seeing that Zhuang Jin had taken the initiative to respond, giving him a way out and face, he looked at him and said, "I remember that last year, Zhuang Jin escorted the fleet of wealthy merchants from the county below, namely Linji County. He is quite familiar with this county, so let's go to Linji County this time as well!"

"Thank you for your kindness, Patriarch." Zhuang Jin clasped his hands in thanks and sat down again.

With Zhuang Jin volunteering, Qiu Yizhi and Sun Mingbi, after Zhuang Jin's ranking, felt they couldn't avoid it either, so they could only respond, and the three of them made their selection.

There's no need to go into detail about the other arrangements that followed.

……

After the high-level meeting ended, Zhuang Jin returned to the headquarters courtyard and told Chen Yun about it, saying that she would go there first and pick her up after everything was settled.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yun, though reluctant, knew that the temporary separation was for a better reunion in the future, and went to help Yu Xiaoxiao and Song Lan pack his things.

Because there aren't boats to the counties below every day, and for someone of Zhuang Jin's rank, the boats they travel on, even if they're not of a certain standard, can't be too simple... The Shen family needs some time to make arrangements.

Therefore, the departure time was set for two hours later, also to give everyone time to say goodbye and entrust matters to each other.

Zhuang Jin sent his servant Yue Song to fetch information about the Shen family and Linji County.

In Linji County, there were originally three forces: the county government, and the two powerful families, the Fei family and the Yao family.

"Now that the Medicine King Gang has joined in, and I'm included myself, there are five factions now. It's quite a lively scene!" Zhuang Jin exclaimed.

Of these five parties, the county magistrate, Teng Yuansong, is at the Tongmai realm.

Most government positions require martial arts skills; otherwise, one would not only be unable to maintain order but would also be vulnerable to assassination, resulting in a loss of decorum and authority.

Therefore, a county magistrate must be at the level of "opening the meridians" (通脉境界), while a prefectural magistrate must be at the level of "innate" (先天境界).

Yes, Mu Yuantu, the prefect of Yunnan, is one of only three innate martial artists in Yunnan Prefecture, besides Shen Xianhong, the head of the Shen family, and the leader of the Medicine King Gang!
There are two reasons why Mu Yuantu, the prefect of Yunnan, a master of the Innate Realm, has a low profile in the prefectural city.

On the one hand, public and private matters are different. The Shen family belongs to the head of the family, Shen Xianhong, and the Medicine King Gang belongs to the leader of the Medicine King Gang. However, the government does not belong to the prefect. Mu Yuantu wants to fight for his interests, so he inevitably clashes with other innate beings of the same realm, engaging in intrigue and even battles. Therefore, he doesn't care much about many things. As long as he doesn't cause a major upheaval and the people suffer, he turns a blind eye.

On the other hand, this involves the political structure of the Great Qian Dynasty, which consisted of five powerful clans, including the imperial family, who, together with aristocratic families, powerful clans, and wealthy households, jointly governed the country. Under such a political structure, if a prefect did too much work, it would be easy to end up with nothing to show for it.

However, despite his low profile, this prefect still received a fair share of benefits in Diannan Prefecture.

Like the prefectural government, the county government maintained a neutral stance on the conflict between the Shen family and the Medicine King Gang.

Next up are the two prominent families, the Fei family and the Yao family.

In Linji County, the Fei family and the Yao family, two powerful families, one strong and one weak, checked and balanced each other, which was intentionally done by the Shen family.

Two prominent families, the Fei family was responsible for the grand offering at the beginning of the year, and the Yao family was responsible for the smaller offering in the middle of the year... This time it wasn't the Fei family that got into trouble, but another family, the Yao family.

Zhuang Jin found the martial arts information of the two families quite interesting. The distribution of martial arts at different levels in the two families was extremely distorted. It was not a pyramid shape in the usual sense, but a 'human' shape.

The Fei family has one martial artist at the Meridian Opening Realm, Fei Yuanlong, the patriarch of the Fei family. At the Meridian Opening Realm, there are only three or four people with seven to twelve meridians, but dozens of people with one to six meridians. The Yao family has no martial artists at the Meridian Opening Realm, only three with seven to twelve meridians, one with twelve meridians, one with eleven meridians, and one with eight meridians. They also have dozens of martial artists with one to six meridians.

This is also the basic configuration of the county towns below. Generally, the Shen family, one of the stronger families in a county town, will allow a martial artist at the Meridian Opening Realm to emerge.

Logically speaking, this shouldn't be done for the sake of easier control, and there are reasons for this.

This is related to the extraordinary place that Shen Xuchen, the Eighth Prince, once mentioned. The extraordinary place in Cangzhou—the Funiu Mountains—is part of the Mangcang Mountains.

The Funiu Mountains are a unique place, with a small primordial energy tide once a year and a large primordial energy tide once every five years. During the primordial energy tide, rare and precious materials will appear, and exotic beasts will advance in rank. This is a grand event, but it is also a place where the strong prey on the weak. Therefore, some relatively weaker exotic beasts will flee or migrate.

These strange beasts travel along the Mangcang Mountains to the prefectures and counties below. Occasionally, strange beasts at the Yi Jin realm will appear, requiring the cooperation of martial artists at the Tong Mai realm and the army to kill them.

After reviewing these details, Zhuang Jin refocused his attention on the matter at hand, pondering silently. He narrowed his eyes and said, 'I believe the Medicine King Gang had been keeping an eye on the counties below and had established an intelligence network; but I don't believe that such a network could have allowed them to completely plunder the medicinal herbs offered by a powerful local family.'

'Did the Yao family exaggerate their battle losses? Or was it that the Medicine King Gang had the covert assistance of the Fei family, another local power, to achieve this?'

'If it's the former, then the Yao family is... If it's the latter, then how deeply involved is the Fei family, to what extent, and can they still be trusted?'

Although Zhuang Jin got along fairly well with the Fei family during the escort mission at the beginning of last year, there were no conflicts of interest at that time. Now that there are conflicts of interest involved, the Fei family may not be trustworthy. He had already learned this lesson from the Miao Lun incident.

"This matter needs to be prepared properly... It's time to repay the favors done to Fu Shousong and Qiu Yizhi!"

……

(End of this chapter)