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Chapter 25 – Autumn Water
The Xu Clan
The upper echelon members of the Xu Clan all bowed deeply to Xu Disheng. They had heard rumors that he was ranked at the Xiantian realm, and he was conferred as the lord of the Region by the Prince. Plus, he had just completely uprooted and crushed the Bai Clan with his unparalleled might. Although these people were of his parents’ generation or his grandfather’s generation, they had to be respectful towards Xu Disheng.
Only Xu Qinying and the elders, as well as Xu Xiao and Xu Disheng’s own direct family members didn’t bow, but they still stood on attention as they looked at him.
Xu Qinying had an excited look on his face as he walked down from his seat and exclaimed warmly, “Sheng’er, come on up quickly!”
Xu Disheng walked up, and Xu Qinying studied the youth, feeling as if it had been millenia since he last saw him.
“Great-Grandfather,” Xu Disheng greeted with a light bow.
Xu Qinying handed over the list in his hands and said with a smile, “Sheng’er, you are the Regional Lord appointed by His Excellency the Prince. This time, you coming back and destroying the Bai Clan has earned you the admiration and respect of the people. This list records the wealth the Bai Clan accumulated over several hundreds of years. You can decide what you want to do with them.”
The upper echelon members of the Xu Clan in the lower hall below them suddenly became noisy as they gazed fervently at the list in Xu Disheng’s hands. It was clear that these branch families all desired their own share of the spoils.
Nevertheless, they didn’t dare to speak up about how Xu Disheng was to distribute these resources. They were all overawed and frightened into submission not only by his position as the Regional Lord appointed by the Dynasty, but also his power as someone who had easily executed a Xiantian.
Xu Disheng received the list and looked it over. There were only 4 Martial Treasures. One drum-like Martial Treasure, one longsword, a small seal, and a piece of silk cloth. Martial Treasures could only be refined by old, experienced Xiantians. Newly promoted Xiantians like Bai Xiuyu for example, lacked the knowhow and information required to refine them.
However, in more flourishing areas, Martial Treasures weren’t considered particularly rare, and could be acquired by bartering with money, valuables, or spiritual medicines. But still, after several hundreds of years, the Bai Clan only had 4 Martial Treasures.
If used by an ordinary martial artist, they wouldn’t even be able to display 10 or 20 percent of the might of the Martial Treasure. The full power of a Martial Treasure could only be brought out in the hands of a Xiantian realm transcendent.
Among these 4 Martial Treasures, only the longsword was a high quality Martial Treasure. It had the characters ‘Autumn Water’ engraved on it, and it was normally stored for safekeeping in the Bai Clan’s ancestral domain. They didn’t dare to take it out easily, and before they could even find an opportunity to use it, it had already fallen into the hands of the Xu Clan.
If a Martial Treasure was carelessly given to an ordinary, innocent person, they would easily become the target of everyone’s greed and be unable to protect it. High quality Martial Treasures were extremely difficult to refine, and even Xiantian transcendents would be tempted towards avarice.
When Xu Disheng got to the lower part of the list, he saw records of the Bai Clan’s stores of spiritual medicine that they had accumulated in their treasury over the years, as well as their hefty sum of gold, silver, and other valuables. They ruled over their fiefdom for hundreds of years, so their accumulated wealth was by no means a small figure.
Xu Disheng looked back at Xu Qinying, who had been watching him this whole time. He knew that Xu Qinying was trying to help him establish reputation and influence, and he laughed inwardly. But he still opened his mouth and said quietly, “This drum Martial Treasure will go to Great-Grandfather for his protection.”
In the first row of the upper echelon of the Xu Clan standing in the lower hall, there was a girl in a white dress. Her complexion was graceful, and her skin was clear and smooth. Her eyes were bright and intelligent, which made it hard for people to stare at her for a long time.
Xu Disheng looked at her, a bit surprised. “Xu Qingcheng, are you already a half step to the Xiantian realm?”
Xu Qingcheng had Grade 5 Dao Channels, and she was already a half-step Xiantian. In the Xu Clan, she had the highest fighting power. She also cultivated the Shangqing Qi, so she was naturally qualified to take part in the upper echelon’s meeting.
When she saw Xu Disheng looking at her, her mood became complicated. She knew of everything that happened, especially the fact that Bai Xiuyu was trying to rely on his power to forcefully take her as his wife. In the middle of such a crisis, Xu Disheng suddenly appeared out of nowhere, with his jade-like complexion and unparalleled might, and turned the entire situation around.
The young girl regarded this act very fondly in her heart. But now when she saw Xu Disheng look at her as if he had just noticed that she existed, she couldn’t help but feel depressed. “Greetings to the Regional Lord, Qingcheng offers her respects,” she replied.
Xu Disheng didn’t notice the complicated situation in the girl’s heart. “Since you have the highest cultivation in the Xu Clan, this silk cloth Martial Treasure will go to you for your protection.”
The eyes of the upper echelon members of the Xu Clan below began to burn with unconcealable envy. This was none other than a Martial Treasure!
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Xu Qingcheng felt her heart, which was normally guarded and calm, suddenly flutter with emotion. She hurriedly lowered her head in gratitude, concealing the sentiment in her eyes.
Xu Disheng looked over the list again. Those spiritual medicines listed didn’t catch his interest. After all, the spiritual medicines from all 19 Regions in the You Province were always taken to fuel the You Province’s Dao Palace alone, so there was no way he would covet this meager amount that the Bai Clan had.
He returned the list to Xu Qinying and said, “I’m a little tired of looking at all these trivial things. I’ll take the Autumn Water Martial Treasure. Great-Grandfather and the other elders can decide on what to do with the rest of the property.”
Xu Qinying replied with a smile, “It’s good that you don’t bother to get preoccupied with the trivial things. It’s no wonder then that you could reach this level of cultivation at such a young age!” He looked down at the 10 members of the Xu Clan upper echelon below and muttered resignedly to himself before saying, “Xiao’er, I’ll leave the distribution of the Bai Clan’s spiritual medicines to you, so go ahead and split them among the branch families. The small seal Martial Treasure will go to you. You are the Young Patriarch, so you should have a Martial Treasure for your own protection as well.”
The members of the upper echelon of the Xu Clan were waiting for these words. They wore delighted expressions as they bowed respectfully in gratitude.
Xu Xiao was surprised that the matter that would allow one to win over the people’s hearts was handed over to him. He looked up at the youth above him, a wry smile forming in his heart. His own son was this brilliant, so he felt that he couldn’t afford to be too lazy. He stepped forward and said, “Understood, Grand Elder.”
The Second Elder suddenly said, “Regional Lord, Jiangdu City is currently empty, unoccupied by our troops. Should we send some of our people to permanently occupy the city?”
Xu Disheng glanced back at the Second Elder and replied, “Just have the Elders handle this matter themselves.”
With these words, everyone was shocked and puzzled. This time was clearly the best opportunity to assign trusted aides and subordinates. Jiangdu City wasn’t small, and its territory accounted for 20 to 30 percent of the land in the Ruyang Region. It was apparent that this legitimate Regional Lord didn’t care much for these matters.
Xu Disheng scoffed inwardly. He didn’t feel like wasting any bit of energy on this small foot of land. Assigning subordinates? Trusted aides? Establishing prestige? If he really became the local tyrant in this place and led such a petty existence, he was afraid that he would truly waste his life away in mediocrity.
He walked out of the palace hall without saying anything more, and the people in the hall looked at each other with dismay. Under the respectful gazes of the guards, he made his way to the Rain Listening Pavilion.
At the time that Jin Yu gave birth to Xu Disheng, she was only a 20-something year old young lady. But because she had taken care of her health well, her complexion was fair and without a single wrinkle, despite the fact that she was now well into her thirties.
Jin Yu had already heard Xu Yan go on and on about Xu Disheng’s actions regarding the Bai Clan. She looked at the pretty young girl in front of her, then said in a slightly exasperated tone, “Yan’er, you’ve already told me tons of times. It’s almost like you were at Jiangdu City yourself when it happened.”
Xu Yan was already 12 years old. When she heard what Jin Yu said, she smiled sweetly. “I heard about it from the Zhenhai Army’s Uncle Xiang! He told me that with a wave of his hand, my brother turned heaven and earth upside down, and that he’s the most outstanding person in the entire You Province.”
Jin Yu replied, “You say that you’ve never met your brother, but he actually used to carry you in his arms every day when you were just 1 year old. You just don’t remember it.”
As the two were talking, all of a sudden the guards outside the gates exclaimed respectfully, “The Regional Lord has arrived!”
Xu Yan suddenly looked like a startled rabbit, and she immediately ran to hide behind Jin Yu. Only her head peeked out as she looked towards the entrance of the hall.
Jin Yu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “This little rascal,” she muttered to herself, amused. She also looked towards the gates, and saw a youth in a Daoist robe walk in. His hair was long and black, and he looked extremely handsome.
His appearance somewhat bore a resemblance to Xu Xiao in his younger years, although his character and temperament were infinitely better than Xu Xiao’s.
“Sheng’er…” Jin Yu went forward and took Xu Disheng into her embrace, tears forming in the corner of her eyes.
Xu Yan was cowering in the back, staring fixedly at Xu Disheng with wide eyes. The usual sprightly liveliness that she showed on a daily basis was nowhere to be found.
When Xu Disheng suddenly found himself in his mother’s arms, his body was a bit stiff, but he didn’t shake her off. He only opened his mouth and said gently, “Sheng’er greets Mother.”