Chapter 157: Chapter 154: Discussion
「Three months ago,」
Someone had caused a disturbance at the village entrance.
When Shen Changchuan arrived on the scene, he discovered it was a group of victims who shared a blood feud with the Blood Slaughter Three Demons. They wanted to take the demons’ corpses, which were hanging from the flagpole, and grind their bones to dust to vent their hatred.
After Shen Changchuan understood the whole story,
He considered their tragic circumstances—how the Blood Slaughter Three Demons had slaughtered almost their entire families, thousands of people in all. He also noted their deep-seated hatred and their respectful attitude.
So, he simply gave them the corpses of the Blood Slaughter Three Demons to handle as they saw fit, free of charge.
He didn’t ask for any reward.
Even though, given the circumstances, they would have paid any price Shen Changchuan named, even if it meant bankrupting themselves.
But at the time, he decided against it.
’They’ve already suffered so much. There’s no need to profit from something like this.’
Afterward, with Nangong City presiding, they cut the corpses of the Blood Slaughter Three Demons into pieces and divided them equally. The victims then took their portions home to deal with as they saw fit.
During this,
Nangong City also made a suggestion.
He suggested they use their piece of the corpse as the main component, hire folk artisans to carve the remaining body parts, and assemble it all together to create a full effigy representing the Blood Slaughter Three Demons.
Just like joss paper or paper effigies, they could burn these creations before the graves of their loved ones to appease their spirits.
Everyone agreed to Nangong City’s idea.
After they finished dividing the corpses of the Blood Slaughter Three Demons—while also setting a portion aside for any other victims who might seek revenge later—everyone returned home to pay respects to their deceased relatives.
Shen Changchuan had originally thought the matter was over and didn’t follow up on it.
He never expected that,
after those victims returned home and paid their respects to their kin,
several of them found their vengeful obsessions lifted. But when they looked around, they saw that their families and clans had long since been annihilated by the Blood Slaughter Three Demons.
In the vast expanse of heaven and earth, the lands of their youth were now nothing but ruins overgrown with weeds.
Suddenly, their lives were without purpose.
Some fell into such despair that they even considered suicide.
But they soon remembered the kindness of the man who had helped them get revenge—the man who had so generously given them the corpses of the Blood Slaughter Three Demons, allowing them to finally lay their obsessions to rest. That debt of gratitude had not yet been repaid.
This debt of gratitude was too great!
It had to be repaid!
And so,
a few Cultivators with no remaining ties,
after mourning their relatives,
set out once more and returned to Dawan Village.
At that time,
Shen Changchuan had already been in seclusion for over half a month.
Unwilling to disturb him, those who wished to repay his kindness took up temporary residence in the houses in the eastern part of the village.
It was also around that time,
that news of the merchant guilds’ temporary outpost in Dawan Village spread, and more and more outside Cultivators began to arrive.
Experts and powerhouses of all kinds arrived one after another.
It was a motley crew.
This caused considerable chaos in the commercial district in the eastern part of the village.
When conflicts broke out in front of them, these few who had come to repay a debt did not stand idly by.
They intervened directly,
and suppressed the troublemakers.
Afterward, they learned from his maternal grandfather, Han Qinhu, that Dawan Village’s permanent residents were not very powerful.
They had no way to deal with powerful visitors.
They had the will but not the power.
Although Shen Changchuan had initially used the personnel left behind by the major merchant guilds to form a patrol to maintain order,
the major guilds were already short-staffed when it came to transporting their goods.
The remaining people could only barely maintain a semblance of stability.
When a battle between Qi Introduction Seventh Layer experts broke out, they were completely outmatched.
And so, after learning that their benefactor’s enterprise was in trouble,
those few people volunteered. After discussing it with Han Qinhu, they proactively joined the patrol and began to stabilize order in the market.
Besides them,
Nangong City had also visited several times, making appearances in the commercial district to further endorse and support order there.
As a result of this,
with everyone working together,
the order in Dawan Village’s commercial district was completely stabilized.
So much so that no problems had arisen in the past three months.
’I guess this is a case of one good turn deserving another, huh?’
Shen Changchuan walked through the crowd, gazing at the orderly scene in the commercial district. The report his maternal grandfather, Han Qinhu, had given him flashed through his mind.
He couldn’t help but sigh with emotion.
The good karma from that single act of kindness,
he never thought it would be repaid like this so soon.
Shen Changchuan was certain,
that if they hadn’t intervened to help,
maintaining order in the commercial district would have been a huge problem!
’It probably would have affected my own secluded Cultivation. I wouldn’t have been able to focus, and it would have significantly delayed my progress.’
’The market chaos might have even caused business to wither, leading to even worse consequences!’
’Sometimes, you have to be a little benevolent. You can’t always put profit first.’
’Just like this time.’
’If I had chosen to squeeze every last bit of profit from the victims of the Blood Slaughter Three Demons back then,’
’then they wouldn’t have stepped in to help solve the troubles in the commercial district.’
’Maybe I should host a banquet tonight to entertain them?’
He saw a patrol team in the distance.
The one leading them seemed to be one of the victims of the Blood Slaughter Three Demons. ’I think his name was An Dawu.’
The thought flashed through Shen Changchuan’s mind.
But seeing the group walk away,
Shen Changchuan didn’t go up to greet them.
’As for thanking them...’
’it would be better to express my gratitude more formally at a banquet tonight.’
’For now, I should find Si Houqing and get an update on the merchant guilds.’
"Brother Si, I just came out of seclusion. I heard the caravans formed by your guilds have been ambushed repeatedly during transport and lost a lot of goods. How are things now?"
Finding Si Houqing in the backyard of the temporary outpost, Shen Changchuan didn’t beat around the bush and stated his purpose directly.
"Younger Brother Shen, I’m sorry to have troubled you to come here in person."
"Sigh... this matter is quite troublesome indeed."
Si Houqing was very enthusiastic in his welcome of Shen Changchuan,
but a hint of unconcealable worry still lingered in his eyes.
"Brother Si, please speak freely. I’ve taken so many Spirit Stones from you all; it’s only right that I do something in return."
At Shen Changchuan’s request,
Si Houqing didn’t hide anything and explained the situation in detail.
The situation was indeed not good.
Two consecutive cargo shipments had been ambushed. Not only had they suffered significant losses in goods, but they had also lost many of their escort personnel.
More importantly,
the current situation was growing worse!
Anyone with eyes could see that even more chaotic times were coming.
’Can we even continue doing business?’
The Shopkeepers from the merchant guilds who had set up in the commercial street were all starting to have thoughts of pulling out.
