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Nanyang City:

"Seventh Master, things can’t go on like this..."

The old bookkeeper of the merchant association, holding the accounts, sought out Seventh Master Shen Yifeng of the Shen family.

Though the mundane affairs of the Shen family were operated by family members who could not become magicians, the enormous wealth accumulated by the Shen family over a thousand years still needed a chief steward, and among the twelve legitimate branches of the family, Shen Yifeng was the most suitable candidate.

His Thousand Eyes Technique could monitor someone’s every move from a thousand miles away. Even though he might not always be watching you, such a deterrent kept the non-magical descendants of the Shen family from tampering with the accounts.

At this moment, the old man was complaining, but his expression was respectful, and he even dared not look directly at the other person.

"Xiao Hua, don’t just complain about everything," Shen Yifeng said with a smile: "With the foundation our Shen family has built over so many years, you think we can’t last even two months?"

The elder known as Xiao Hua felt somewhat odd. He remembered being a ten-year-old child when the lord before him called him by that name. Now he was eighty-seven and had reached the age of understanding his destiny, yet Seventh Master looked exactly the same as back then.

Being a Sorcerer Master is indeed different...

Suppressing the envy in his heart, the old man earnestly said, "It’s not a complaint, Seventh Master.

Our Shen family’s foundation is solid, but our expenses are large, too.

To keep those merchants reassured, we’ve offered them rubies, agates, and fragrances—all hard currency from the West Sea.

To stabilize prices, we’ve bought goods from cloth and grain merchants at three times the market rate, suppressing their dissatisfaction.

But this continual lack of circulation, with us just buying up goods, no matter how wealthy, will drain our resources.

Perhaps... we should call a meeting with those cloth merchants and ask them to cut production? "

"Cut production?" Shen Yifeng scoffed: "Do you know what the consequences would be? Once we ask those cloth merchants to cut production, those wealthy merchants will think that the Shen family is no longer stable. If we aren’t stable, will those sea merchants who have been buying goods with us dare to continue? "

The old bookkeeper fell silent. Indeed, the Shen family had bought up a large volume of goods from the market and stabilized morale.

Those bosses who couldn’t go to sea trusted the Shen family, which is why they followed in purchasing and stockpiling goods.

With people buying goods, the cloth merchants wouldn’t cut production, and the large textile houses wouldn’t stop work, allowing Nanyang to just barely maintain its current bustling state.

"But we..."

"Keep buying!" Shen Yifeng interrupted: "You don’t need to worry about the accounts or how long the river blockade will last. Nanyang is the foundation of our Shen family. As long as it stands, no matter the loss, the Shen family will always be able to recover. Understand?"

"Yes, Seventh Master..."

"Go now, don’t worry too much. The matter will soon be resolved."

"Yes..."

After the elder left, Seventh Master Shen sat in his chair, closing his eyes in thought.

Not long after, an unexpected figure appeared.

Shen Qi eyed the newcomer with curiosity. The visitor was Old Shi’er, the youngest legitimate branch of the family, barely in his twenties.

He was a legitimate descendant of the Shen family born decades after the incident with the great ancestor.

In terms of seniority, Old Shi’er might be considered his great-grandson, but in the Shen family, as long as one was recognized as a legitimate branch, they were considered peers, which was a unique rule of the Shen family.

Due to the large age gap, the last three branches had a very distant relationship with the older generation, seldom gathering, especially with himself.

His Technique made people wary of him, even more so than his second brother, making others reluctant to approach him. So why did this fellow come looking for him today?

"What is it?"

"Seventh Brother..." Old Shi’er looked hesitantly at Shen Qi and finally said, "I... I’m a bit scared."

"You’re scared?" Shen Qi remained unmoved by his younger brother’s pitiful expression, his gentle smile concealing vigilance.

The three legitimate branches younger than Old Jiu were the youngest and the easiest targets back then. Due to their youth and their focus on studying Techniques, they seldom went out, and honestly, they were also quite suspect...

However, Old Shi’er was perhaps an exception. Maybe because of the Fire Technique he practiced, he tended to be more lively and got along better with his older brothers, unlike the other two who were more introverted. Nonetheless, Shen Yifeng did not intend to lower his guard.

"I really am..." Old Shi’er sat down across from him, looking down and bewildered: "Old Liu said there’s a monster among us. Is that true?"

Shen Qi looked at Old Shi’er, his smile containing a hint of mockery: "Are you not afraid that the monster is me?"

"I’ve considered it..." Old Shi’er nodded: "But if Seventh Brother isn’t the monster, then this place would be the safest with you!"

Shen Yifeng: "...."

This kid sure is thinking a lot...

However, it was true. His Technique allowed him to control the overall situation, with all of Nanyang under his surveillance.

Old Liu, to evade him, never dared show his real face for fear of being monitored by the Evil Eye.

Indeed, if Shen Yifeng wasn’t the monster, then this place would indeed be the safest.

Considering this, Shen Yifeng gave a wry smile and sighed.

The reasoning was simple, but it seemed all his brothers favored wariness over trust when it came to him.

And no wonder, the older legitimate descendants of the Shen family were each incredibly powerful, and the strong always preferred to trust themselves.

"Seventh Brother, let’s cooperate?"

"Cooperate?" Shen Yifeng looked at him: "How?"

"Third Brother has the strongest monitoring Technique, and I have the strongest attack Technique. If we team up, no one would dare provoke us. What do you think?"

Shen Yifeng furrowed his brows: "Why don’t you go find your sixth brother?"

Old Liu controlled the Arrays of Nanyang, and after the incident, he could almost be said to have put them under house arrest covertly. By motive, he was the least likely to be parasitized, especially now that, without him, Nanyang would have been overrun by zombies.

He had no reason to be a monster. It would be safer to go to him.

"Old Liu doesn’t trust me..." Old Shi’er shook his head: "He never shows his true self. He doesn’t need to cooperate with anyone."

"This too is..."

Shen Yifeng nodded. Old Liu had concealed his true body extremely well, and now controlled all of Nanyang City’s arrays, holding absolute initiative. He really had no need to cooperate with anyone.

"Why should I cooperate with you?" Shen Yifeng looked at the other party. "I can monitor the whole situation and, like Old Liu, simply be an observer from the sidelines."

"You’re different, Seventh Master," Old Shi’er shook his head. "You don’t have enough ability to protect yourself, and if that so-called monster were to make a move, Seventh Master, you would be the first one they’d try to eliminate!"

"So, are you here to finish me off today, Old Shi’er?"

Old Shi’er frowned, about to speak again, but then he saw Old Qi suddenly stand up and look in the direction of the south city gate.

"What’s gotten into Seventh Master?"

"We have guests... Tsk, how curious."

"Who is coming?"

In Old Qi’s eyes, it was very clear, tens of miles away, at the gate of the city, a scholar dressed in white was bringing a child, quite carelessly seeking an audience at the city gate.

The one questioning him was the current mascot of the city gate, Commander Lord Hong Rui.

"I am Chen Qing, Magistrate of Lyuzhou, sent by the Imperial Court, here to visit Nanyang. I request Commander Lord to open the gate!"

"Chen Qing?" Shen Yifeng became more interested, and directly said to those behind Old Shi’er: "How about you guys not get busy with action today and instead go greet the visitors first?"

Upon hearing this, Old Shi’er’s expression suddenly changed, his face turning sunny and cloudy by turns.

After several breaths, the doorway was wriggling, and two other young figures appeared, precisely the other two from the third branch of the family.

"The reputation of the Thousand Eyes Sorcerer is well-deserved..." said a handsome young man with eagle-like sharp eyes. "I have mastered Divine Concealment for a year now, and even the eldest sister-in-law cannot see through me. How did you detect my presence, Seventh Master?"

"Eldest sister-in-law can’t see through you?" Shen Yifeng chuckled. "You believe what that woman says? The style of the wind changes wherever you two pass by. Even I, an amateur Wind Sorcerer, can see that. Do you think the eldest sister-in-law can’t?"

Old Shi’er: "...."

"Best practice some more, and remember to pay attention to the details..." Old Qi helplessly shook his head, bypassing the three and walking straight towards the outside, appearing completely unguarded.

The trio watched with furrowed brows, but still dared not make a move.

Among the first nine branches of the family elders, besides Ninth Elder Shen who was of a similar age to them, the rest were grand sorcerers with a reputation of two hundred years; being discovered by them, the three really didn’t dare to act recklessly, even though Old Qi wasn’t as remarkable in battle achievements as the others.

Once Shen Yifeng was far enough, Old Shi’er looked at the other two: "Why didn’t you make a move?"

"Why didn’t you?" Old Shi’er rolled his eyes. "Aren’t you the one who claims to have the strongest offensive technique in the Shen Family?"

"That... One must show some momentum..." Old Shi’er said with a guilty smirk.

"What do we do now?" Old Shi’er frowned. The three of them were close in age, having the best relationship among siblings, and even normally sticking together, as there was a generation gap with the older brothers.

So when Seventh Master Shen announced the matter of the parasitic at the family meeting, the three of them didn’t become suspicious of each other but discussed whom was the biggest threat and came to the conclusion that Old Qi, who could monitor them at any time, was the most troublesome. Hence, today’s probing.

"Let’s go have a look then..." Old Shi’er coughed lightly to ease the awkwardness.

"We didn’t attend the banquet last time that Minister Wang was here, and we missed out on a lot.

Too passive. Now there’s another visitor, might be someone from the Imperial Court again.

This time, we definitely need to show our faces. "

"Yeah, makes sense." The three nodded, looking like adults for a moment, and then one by one, they hurriedly followed the direction Shen Yifeng had gone.

After the group had left, an eye opened on the table in the room, and everything was seen by Shen Yifeng in the distance.

"Childish temperament..." Shen Yifeng shook his head with amusement. Old Shi’er and his group weren’t that young, all in their twenties now, but because they spent all their time cultivating techniques and rarely went outside, their minds weren’t much different from the children in the academy.

Now that they had become direct heirs, they wanted to appear more mature, which only made them look more childish.

But was this an act, or was it real?

Shen Yifeng sighed. This shadow that had enveloped the Shen Family for decades made him wary of getting too close to even his once-familiar brothers, not to mention these cousins of a different generation. It was uncertain whether the Shen Family would be able to withstand this ordeal...

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"Chen... Chen Qing?" Commander Hong Rui with a face full of fleshy creases was taken aback. He recognized that name. It’s the one his old lady at home wouldn’t stop talking about, her accomplished son.

Could it be that this guy’s arrival signifies... reinforcements from the Imperial Court?

No, no, no... One can’t be too hopeful. Remember that last time the Minister from the Judicial Court came, and it was of no use at all?

"Do you have any proof of identity?" Hong Rui asked loudly.

"I’m afraid I don’t have that," Chen Qing shook his head. "The only proof was already taken by Master Shen Yi last time Minister Wang came."

Hearing this, Hong Rui was startled, turning to look at Shen Yi beside him, and cautiously asked, "Master Shen, is this true?"

Upon hearing the question, Master Shen Yi looked seriously at the young man...

Knowing about Wang Ye... that must mean, Wang Ye truly succeeded in bringing Old Qi to Lyuzhou?

And what exactly was this Magistrate of Lyuzhou aiming for by coming here alone?