Chapter 250: Chapter 248: Trade Route Crisis
The next day.
Su Yu had just finished eating another treasure fish, and the progress toward his Breakthrough Point had increased a bit more.
[Breakthrough Point]: 0 Points (Progress: 10%)
’I still have plenty of treasure fish and treasure medicine. At this rate, I’ll be able to accumulate another full point soon!’
In a good mood, Su Yu began practicing the Demonic Ape Shakes the Mountain Fist again.
Two hours later.
[Martial Arts]: Demonic Ape Shakes the Mountain Fist (Minor Achievement 5350/7000)
As the last trace of the treasure fish’s energy was thoroughly wrung dry by his furnace-like body, Su Yu let out a long breath of turbid air. The high-intensity exertion brought a long-unfelt sensation of soreness and fatigue to his muscles.
’That’s enough Fist Technique practice for today.’
Su Yu wiped away his sweat, planning to head to the lotus pond in the backyard. He would use his divine sense to train the koi fish some more, striving to grind his Lingxi Beast Taming Technique to the Perfection Realm in one go today.
After all, the Cultivation Technique was less than one hundred Skill Level points away from a breakthrough.
Just then, a clamor of footsteps came from outside the courtyard gate.
"Senior Brother Su! Your junior brother is here with this month’s allowance!"
His voice arrived before he did.
Jiang Liuchuan, dressed in a flashy, sapphire-blue brocade robe, strode swaggering through the courtyard gate, elegantly waving a gold-flecked folding fan. Behind him followed a dozen household servants carrying mahogany accounting boxes, along with several junior brothers from the martial arts hall acting as guards—a grand entourage indeed.
Su Yu was also quite happy to see him. "Junior Jiang, on such a fine morning, why aren’t you at home properly refining your Qi and Blood? What brings you here?"
"Ugh, don’t even mention it. My estate is no place for martial arts practice..." Jiang Liuchuan sidled up to Su Yu familiarly, his face a mask of misery as he quietly complained, "Take this morning, for instance. I’d barely been in a horse stance for half an incense stick’s time before my newly acquired eighth concubine started crying and begging me to go admire the lotuses with her. And last night, I’d just picked up my saber when the sixth one dragged me into her room for drinks..."
The corner of Su Yu’s mouth twitched as he listened. If he remembered correctly, he had attended the celebration for this guy’s seventh concubine. How had he already brought home an eighth in the blink of an eye?
"Junior Brother, you took an eighth concubine and didn’t even send me an invitation?"
Jiang Liuchuan immediately threw an arm around Su Yu’s shoulder and said with a laugh, "Ah, if there had been a banquet, I definitely would have sent you an invitation, Senior Brother! It’s just that this eighth one has a slightly lower-class background, so we just brought her in quietly through the side gate in a small sedan chair. We didn’t invite anyone."
The two entered the house as they spoke.
Jiang Liuchuan picked up a teacup, gulped it down in one go, "GULP," and smacked his lips. "Tsk, tsk. I was originally being forced by those mistresses of mine to go boating on the lake today. It just so happened I was passing by your place, so I decided to personally deliver last month’s profits to you."
He turned, took two account books from a servant behind him, and casually handed them to Su Yu. "Right, this includes not only the profits from my Jiang Family’s waterway, but also the dividends from the trade routes newly assigned to you by the martial arts hall. As for the profits from the land routes, Senior Sister Lin’s family manages those, so don’t you go thinking your junior brother is lining his own pockets."
Su Yu took the account books and casually flipped through them.
The profit share from the Jiang Family’s trade route this month was three hundred taels of Snowflake Silver. But the total profit from the martial arts hall’s three waterway trade routes added up to a mere five hundred taels?
Su Yu frowned. "Junior Brother, those three trade routes from the hall are all golden waterways leading to Jian’an Prefecture. Why have the profits shrunk so drastically?"
Hearing this, Jiang Liuchuan’s face instantly turned bitter.
"Sigh. Senior Brother, I was just about to bring this up with you today. These waterways are indeed highly profitable, but the problem lies in the Ten Islands Region they pass through." Jiang Liuchuan’s expression grew solemn. "A Water Bandit Influence calling themselves Ghost Mist Island has recently taken over that stretch of water. When they heard our White Ape Martial Arts Hall took over these trade routes, they became extremely arrogant. Not only did they refuse to show us any respect, but this month they’ve also plundered our merchant ships several times, which is why the profits have plummeted."
"Master was furious when he learned of this and sent Senior Sister Qin to lead a team to negotiate a few days ago. Counting the time, we should be getting some news back in the next day or two."
Ghost Mist Island?
’What a small world for enemies,’ Su Yu thought.
Ghost Mist Island had once teamed up with the Iron Armor Martial Arts Hall to try and kill him, but he had turned the tables and killed their third-in-command, Han Qinhu.
’I’ve been looking for a chance to wipe them out. To think they’d dare to proactively attack the martial arts hall’s trade routes... they’re practically serving themselves up on a platter to be killed.’
"Junior Brother, Ghost Mist Island is just a group of Water Bandits who can’t see the light of day. How dare they so flagrantly provoke the might of our White Ape Martial Arts Hall?" Su Yu asked impassively.
"Sigh, they’re just relying on their geographical advantage." Jiang Liuchuan shook his head helplessly. "That Ghost Mist Island is shrouded in fog year-round and surrounded by hidden reefs, making it easy to defend and hard to attack. On top of that, this band of Water Bandits is a group of desperados who live on the edge. They’re extremely difficult to deal with. But we’ll have to wait for Senior Sister Qin to return to know the specific details. Master will probably summon us to discuss this in a couple of days."
"Mm, that’s fine."
Su Yu nodded and didn’t say much more.
The two chatted idly for a bit longer, but with the conversation turning to the damaged trade routes, their spirits were dampened. Jiang Liuchuan stayed for only a short while before taking his leave.
After Jiang Liuchuan left, Su Yu took stock of his current finances. Between various silver notes and cash, he had a full ten thousand taels. This was a considerable fortune that he needed to find a way to spend and convert into strength.
For him, breaking through to the Muscle Forging Realm didn’t require purchasing any breakthrough-aiding treasure medicine, which saved him a huge sum of money.
’In that case, it would be most cost-effective to dump all this money into treasure medicine and treasure fish to stack up Breakthrough Points!’
...
Black Water River, Ten Islands Region.
On Black Crocodile Island, inside a small waterside building.
"HISS—"
Qin Yu bit down hard on her pale lower lip, her forehead covered in a fine sheen of cold sweat. With a movement from the female disciple beside her, her left arm, which had been bent at an extremely grotesque angle, was forcefully snapped back into place.
The intense pain instantly drained all color from her once bright and beautiful face, leaving it looking wretched beneath a layer of dust. Her signature fiery-red martial attire was now not only soaked with river water, but a terrifying wound had also been torn open at the shoulder, so deep that bone was visible. Crimson blood still slowly seeped out.
"Senior Sister Qin, please bear with it." The female disciple from the White Ape Martial Arts Hall who was bandaging her wound looked at the bone-deep injury, her eyes red with distress. "These Water Bandits from Ghost Mist Island are simply going too far! Especially that second-in-command, Xia Lie. His moves are extremely vicious; it was obvious he wanted to capture you alive! Senior Sister, before reinforcements arrive, you absolutely must not take a single step off this Black Crocodile Island."
Violent killing intent instantly flooded Qin Yu’s pretty, mud-stained face.
She had come this time to handle the matter of the plundered merchant ships, originally planning to try courtesy before resorting to force and probe the other party’s background. Who would have thought that Ghost Mist Island’s second-in-command, Xia Lie, would be so outrageously arrogant? The moment they met, he had brazenly demanded that from now on, all White Ape Martial Arts Hall merchant ships passing through this stretch of water must unconditionally hand over thirty percent of their net profits as a protection fee!
How could someone with Qin Yu’s temper tolerate such an unreasonable demand, which was akin to carving off a piece of her own flesh? She drew her sword and broke off all pretenses with him on the spot!
But she never expected that Xia Lie not only had a Cultivation at the same early stage of the Flesh Refining Realm as her, but was also an expert in water combat. They had only exchanged a few moves before the ’water ghouls’ he had lying in ambush insidiously smashed a hole through the treasure ship she was on!
In a battle on the water, the Martial Arts Qin Yu had learned were impossible to fully utilize. Under the enemy’s coordinated siege, not only was she severely injured and nearly killed, but the three Outer Courtyard junior brothers who had accompanied her to the negotiations were brutally hacked to pieces by the Water Bandits at the bottom of the river!
The image of her three fellow disciples being slaughtered at the bottom of the river made Qin Yu’s heart feel as if it were dripping blood. She wished she could flay Xia Lie alive and eat him whole right this instant!
"Has the secret letter requesting reinforcements been sent out?" Qin Yu clenched her fists so tightly it felt like her teeth would shatter.
"Rest assured, Senior Sister. I’ve already had a Jiang Family fast boat deliver the letter back to Black Stone City overnight!" The female disciple wiped away a tear, her tone resolute. "Once Master and our senior brothers arrive, we will definitely raze this Ghost Mist Island to the ground and avenge our fallen brothers!"
Qin Yu nodded slightly, but her tightly knitted brow didn’t relax in the slightest.
She had already gotten a general understanding of Ghost Mist Island’s situation. Although the second-in-command, Xia Lie, was troublesome, he wasn’t the biggest problem.
The most troublesome one was Ghost Mist Island’s leader, Qin Bashan, known as the "Ghost Hand Asura." This man was an expert at Flesh Refining Realm Perfection. His fearsome reputation was well-established; he had run rampant on the waters of Liangzhou for many years without ever being captured or killed by the Government Office.
’Now that he’s occupying Ghost Mist Island, which is perennially shrouded in fog and easy to defend, it would be difficult to resolve this matter easily, even if Father came himself.’
’And with Black Stone City facing both internal and external threats, how could Father possibly leave for a place so far away?’
’But if we don’t remove this thorn in our side, the great reputation the White Ape Martial Arts Hall has just established in the Outer City will suffer an extremely heavy blow!’
’Right now, who knows how many jealous factions in the Outer City are hiding in the shadows, waiting to see our White Ape Martial Arts Hall become a laughingstock. If this isn’t handled well, those hungry wolves will instantly swarm in and devour every last scrap of the profits our hall has just swallowed.’
’Even the leadership position in the martial arts hall alliance, which we fought so hard to win, could be fatally shaken because of this!’
