Chapter 54: Chapter 51 Defending the Forbidden Zone_1
Zhou Zhengkong looked at Lu Yan somewhat nervously.
He was afraid that Lu Yan would use his ’guilt’ to extort him again.
"I came to buy Martial Food. As a steward of the Zhou Clan, you should have channels to obtain Dried Martial Food, right?"
Lu Yan directly announced his purpose.
"Buy Martial Food? I can get some, but not much. How much do you want?"
Zhou Zhengkong said, still worried that Lu Yan wanted to extort him. Even though he mentioned buying Martial Food, if he refused to pay in the end, or only symbolically gave him a bit, he could only stare blankly.
Lu Yan, fully aware of Zhou Zhengkong’s thoughts, laughed, "Rest assured, I will buy it at market price, you won’t suffer any loss."
Lu Yan, who had read many novels and watched many dramas in his previous life, deeply understood one principle, people must not be forced into a corner.
If pressured too hard, the other party may take desperate measures and end up in a situation of mutual destruction.
It is necessary to give the other party some benefits from time to time for long-term... exploitation.
Hearing this, Zhou Zhengkong visibly relaxed, saying, "How much do you want to buy? I will do my best to gather it for you."
"Let’s start with two hundred jin of Dried Martial Food."
Said Lu Yan.
Zhou Zhengkong nearly choked on his tea. After a great effort, he swallowed and said, "Two hundred jin of Dried Martial Food, do you think the Zhou Clan is a Master Level Feudal Lords families clan, how could you produce so much all of a sudden?"
"The esteemed Feudal Lords, a family of Martial Chefs, are you saying you can’t come up with 200 jin of Dried Martial Food?"
Lu Yan obviously didn’t believe it.
Zhou Zhengkong forced a smile and said, "It’s true that the Zhou Clan is a familial clan of Martial Chefs, but even a talented woman can’t make something out of nothing. The Blood Land Vein of the Zhou Clan is only a first-grade vein, and the Energy of Earth Blood density is not enough. The amount of Earth Blood generated each day is limited and the Alien Beasts have high requirements for Energy of Earth Blood. If they can’t absorb enough Energy of Earth Blood, the Alien Beasts simply cannot grow, and their meat will completely lose its effect."
"Therefore, the number of Alien Beasts that a first-grade Blood Land Vein can raise is limited. The Zhou Clan has many people and hundreds of soldiers to feed each day, requiring a large amount of Martial Food consumption. Coupled with the limited supply daily at several restaurants, we simply cannot meet demand. There is far insufficient Alien Beast meat."
"There’s such a thing?"
This was the first time Lu Yan heard about the inside stories about the Blood Land Vein.
Looking at it this way, the Liu Family and Wu Family are more or less the same. No wonder they are so reluctant about providing Martial Food.
"I could, of course, clean out the Zhou Clan and get 200 jin of Dried Martial Food, even 500 jin, but those are reserved for emergency use in times of war. And as you know, my faction is suppressed at every turn. As a steward here, I don’t have much real power. So the amount of Dried Martial Food I can get is very limited."
Zhou Zhengkong said.
"You might as well just tell me straight, how many jin can you get in one day?"
Said Lu Yan.
"Two jin. In a month, I can get you sixty jin."
Zhou Zhengkong said.
Lu Yan was quite speechless, but it was still better than nothing.
He dares not make large-scale purchases at the Linglan Chamber of Commerce at present, only being able to buy two or three jin a day.
Adding from both sources, he was getting about four or five jin a day, which was fine.
Four jin a day, that’s one hundred and twenty taels of silver.
The silver he had on hand wouldn’t burn for long.
"Fine, I’ll come to get it in half a month, these Silver Tickets shall be the deposit."
Lu Yan took out nine hundred taels Silver Tickets and put them on the table, then turned around and left.
After a while, Zhou Zhengkong picked up the Silver Tickets, grinding his teeth and cursing in his heart.
These Silver Tickets were too familiar, they were clearly his, the ones he used to ’ransom’ his life.
Now, Lu Yan was using them to buy Dried Martial Food from him.
He suspected Lu Yan was deliberately trying to infuriate him.
But Lu Yan was wrongfully accused, he had just grabbed a handful when he left the house.
On the way, Lu Yan sneezed a few times, he touched his nose and murmured: "Why am I sneezing all of a sudden? Which beauty is missing me?"
...
The days passed quietly, flowing like water through his fingertips.
Half a month later, Lu Yan went to Qingyang City and got thirty jin of Dried Martial Food.
Eating four or five jin of Dried Martial Food each day had significantly sped up both his accumulation of Qi-blood and the improvement of his Shape-shifting Technique.
Half a year after he returned from Qingyang City, his Shape-shifting Technique finally reached the level of Mastery.
At this stage, the Shape-shifting Technique held many useful applications.
Once activated, it could change the muscles and bones of the face, completely transforming his appearance. Lu Yan deliberately changed his appearance and put on new clothes; even Lu Qingshan and Wang Cui couldn’t recognize him.
Of course, he could only change his appearance, but he wasn’t able to ’transform’ into someone else.
That would require extremely precise control over muscle and bone structure.
That was too difficult. Lu Yan estimated that even if he had refined his shape-shifting technique to its peak, he still might not be able to achieve it.
The peaceful days were interrupted at this time.
Recently, more and more unidentified Limit Breaking Warriors have been appearing around Changfeng City.
The Liu Family and Wu Family’s long-term blockade of the forbidden area has attracted all sorts of speculation from other Feudal Lords. Many of them have their eyes set on the area, sending Martial Artists under cover to investigate and figure out what’s inside the blockade by Liu and Wu Families.
So, lately, Martial Artists often appeared around the forbidden area, some even trying to sneak into it.
In the past six months, the Liu and Wu Families had killed at least a dozen Martial Artists who tried to infiltrate the forbidden area.
The Liu and Wu Families have also increased their defenses around the forbidden area. It was difficult to spare any more soldiers, as the two families’ main bases also needed to be guarded. If more soldiers were dispatched, they would leave their main base exposed.
Therefore, they mobilized the Red-clad Guard.
The Liu Family ordered the Red-clad Guard to be divided into two groups, rotating their assignments to the outskirts of the forbidden area to strictly guard against anyone entering.
Their primary duty was at night, and they could rest at home during the day.
The visibility was good during the day, and having the soldiers on patrol was sufficient. Most of the Feudal Lords who intended to sneak into the forbidden area would choose the night.
Lu Yan was chosen for the first group.
Each group’s rotational duty lasted a month, and after a month, it would be the second group’s turn.
"Father, Mother, I am going."
After dinner, Lu Yan changed his clothes and went out.
"Son, be careful of everything."
Lu Qingshan warned.
"I know. You also should rest early and don’t work too hard. Making bamboo baskets at night is bad for your eyesight."
Lu Yan advised.
After moving into the city, Lu Qingshan and Wang Cui were not idle either. They learned the art of bamboo weaving from somewhere and were getting up early and staying up late to weave bamboo baskets, mats, and other items to sell.
Lu Yan had tried to persuade them several times not to work so hard and take care of their health. Money earning should be left to him.
But they simply ignored him, saying they were still robust and able to work. They insisted not to spend Lu Yan’s money.
They insisted that Lu Yan should save his money. It would cost a lot of silver to marry a wife and raise children in the future.
Lu Yan had no other choice but gave up after several unsuccessful attempts to persuade them.
He arrived at the Red-clad Mansion, met up with the others, and a group of nearly fifty people headed for Changfeng Mountain to the outskirts of the forbidden area.
They couldn’t enter the forbidden area, instead, they set up defenses and patrolled around it.
It was apparently agreed upon by the Liu and Wu Families. The Wu Family also sent out more than half of the Wind Patrol to set up a defense around the forbidden area.
"Dao Book, there is a reaction again."
As soon as Lu Yan had a slight communication with the Dao Book, it started flashing, expressing a hunger, a desire to eat...
It made Lu Yan feel a sense of hunger out of thin air, yearning to rush into the forbidden area and snatch the Dao Food.
"I feed you Martial Food every day, but it seems it’s not enough to satiate you."
Lu Yan said helplessly.
Forcing down the impulse to rush into the forbidden area, he patrolled the periphery together with Wang Lin.
Nothing happened throughout the night. After dawn, they returned home to rest.
Fortunately, Lu Yan now had much nagged Qi-blood and was energetic. Sleeping for four hours a day was enough for him to wake up energized and practice martial arts.
Otherwise, he would have lost his time for training.
At night, he continued to set up defenses around the forbidden area.
Time passed day by day.
Being on guard duty in person, he genuinely felt there were many more Martial Artists around. He often saw some wandering around. When they tried to get closer, they would be driven away by the Red-clad Guard.
However, the longer he stayed around the forbidden area, the more sensitive the Dao Book became to the area inside. At first, he needed to actively communicate, but later on, the Dao Book would flash on its own, its hunger even more intense.
This left Lu Yan irritable and itching to go. It was like a starving person who hadn’t eaten for a few days, and there was a feast right in front of him, but he couldn’t eat a bite.
The feeling was unbearable.
Lu Yan began to consider whether he could venture into the forbidden area again.
