Business

Not much time had actually passed since Wei Yuan first arrived in the Western Regions, but having lived through so much, it felt as though an eternity had gone by. Wei Yuan tilted his head up slightly and cast a sidelong glance at the innkeeper. "This one stumbled into a few profitable gigs and made quite a tidy sum!" With that, Wei Yuan fished out a bar of immortal silver, letting a small section peek into view. It looked to be easily ten taels. A beam instantly broke across the innkeeper's face, making him all the more certain of one thing: this fellow was a pauper after all. Sword cultivators might be broke, but their skin was thin. The innkeeper naturally would not let Wei Yuan see what he was thinking, so he offered a fawning smile. "Then regarding the business between us..." "It continues, of course! But my return this time is actually by order of a certain prominent lord. I want to do some business with you!" "Please, immortal master, speak!" "That lord wants all intelligence regarding the Xu family in the surrounding area—especially information on the movements of their caravans." The innkeeper started in shock and hurried to say, "The rule of our trade is never to touch the affairs of the aristocratic clans! This absolutely will not do—heads will roll!" Wei Yuan merely sneered. "If you don't take this job, your head will roll even faster!" The innkeeper gave a bitter smile. "Immortal master, don't joke. Even if I had the guts of a giant, I wouldn't dare meddle in the affairs of the great families! People like us only push around ordinary folks. If we run into someone with real backing—be it a noble clan, an immortal sect, horse bandits, or the authorities—which of them couldn't crush us as easily as bugs?" "There are authorities here?" The innkeeper pointed upward. "Isn't the Xu family the authorities? The official government is gone, but the Xu family is still here." Wei Yuan sneered, pulled out an object, and gave it a quick wave before the innkeeper's eyes. "So you still remember the Xu family after all! Look at this, what is it?" The innkeeper had sharp eyes; in that fleeting glimpse, he caught what it was. Astonished, he quickly ushered Wei Yuan into the backyard, led him to an unoccupied courtyard, and carefully latched the gate before speaking: "Immortal master, you are working for the Xu family now?" Wei Yuan glared. "Otherwise? Do you think that medallion was fake?" The innkeeper asked cautiously, "Then... might I ask why that lord wishes to gather such intelligence?" Wei Yuan rolled his eyes and replied coldly, "Knowing so much, what are you planning to do?" The innkeeper gave an ingratiating chuckle. "This lowly one has a few connections and old acquaintances, and out in the wilds there are some brothers waiting for their next meal. Normally, the lads will do just about anything. But in these turbulent times, with news of several major battles fought at the border and the Shamans constantly snatching people in secret, the brothers can barely survive. Since you are acting on the Xu family's orders while investigating the Xu family's own intel, I wonder if you might be short on hands to run errands?" Wei Yuan's heart stirred, but he said coldly, "How many men do you have? I won't take on dead weight!" Upon hearing this, the innkeeper thumped his chest. "Over a dozen men, all seasoned Dao Foundation cultivators, and they're damn good at what they do!" Wei Yuan pondered for a good while before saying begrudgingly, "Bring over the ten best fighters among them. Our first job is to rob a Xu family caravan." The innkeeper asked, "The Xu family has many caravans. Which one do we hit?" Wei Yuan slammed the table. "The fattest one, of course!" The innkeeper was taken aback. "Could it be..." "The one sending tribute back through the pass!" Wei Yuan concealed nothing. The innkeeper could no longer keep his cool. Filled with mixed fear and anticipation, he asked, "Pardon my presumption in asking, but since that lord is also from the Xu family, why do this?" "Some people are getting old and useless, yet they cling to their seats and refuse to step aside. Understand?" The innkeeper understood, forming his own guesses about the lord's identity. His impression of Wei Yuan improved slightly; he felt that beneath the rough exterior, the fellow had a sharp mind, and this venture might actually succeed. Wei Yuan waited in the inn for half a day before the innkeeper slipped quietly into the courtyard and handed him a sheet of paper. On it were detailed schedules of the Xu family's caravans over the coming days. Seeing this intelligence, Wei Yuan knew the innkeeper must have plenty of informants embedded in the Xu family's grand mansions as well. Wei Yuan pocketed the intel, set ten taels of immortal silver on the table, and said, "Have your brothers on standby. I'm going back to report now. Oh, right, are there any new storybooks in? Fetch me a few; a friend of mine wants to read some." The innkeeper promptly grabbed all the storybooks from the book crate and whispered, "These are all new releases, and two of them are quite inventive!" Wei Yuan impassively tucked the storybooks into his robes. After Wei Yuan left, the innkeeper slowly stepped out of the courtyard. A waiter slipped out from the shadows nearby and asked, "Boss, this isn't a scam, is it?" Twirling his thin mustache, the innkeeper narrowed his eyes. "Scam or not, we were going to pull off a job like this anyway. It suits us fine to let them spearhead the attack and test the Xu family's mettle first." *** Within the domain, Xu Jingfeng stepped out of the bath barrel and channeled his Dao power to vaporize the water from his skin. After all these days, this was the first time he could mobilize his Dao power, and the first time he had washed himself clean. He let out a contented sigh, swept his hand through the air, and manifested a round mirror of Dao power before him. Though the man in the mirror was haggard, he had faintly regained a measure of the Jade-Faced Immortal Sword's past brilliance. Xu Jingfeng picked up a brand-new robe and slipped into it, but as the fabric rubbed against his crotch and body, sharp twinges of pain made him knit his brows. Just then, the door swung open and Wei Yuan walked in. Xu Jingfeng, who had just regained the air of an elegant young lord, sprang back in an instant and curled into the corner of the room. Wei Yuan chuckled, set a letter on the table, and said, "Originally, I wanted a thousand, but your father was only willing to offer five hundred taels. In the end, we settled on seven hundred." Xu Jingfeng slowly stood up. "Father was afraid that offering too much might cause complications at the last minute." Wei Yuan said, "You aren't completely stupid after all. Oh, one more thing: I originally thought I would be ambushed on the return trip, but there was no sign of it. It seems you have no other choice." "Someone didn't want me to return?" Xu Jingfeng asked tentatively. "If that were true, it would actually be a good thing for you. It's about time. Let's head out." A short while later, Xu Jingfeng and an escort of cultivators flew out of the domain, arriving at a barren hill five hundred li away. A party had long been waiting there. Both sides exchanged money and captive at the same time without the slightest hitch. Even as Xu Jingfeng stepped into the Xu family's sprawling residence in Quliu Town, he felt as if he were dreaming, unable to believe he had truly returned. Upon his return, Xu Zhiyuan immediately summoned Xu Jingfeng and questioned him closely about his ordeal during this period. But Xu Jingfeng had little to say; from the very first day, he had been locked in a dungeon and kept there until now. Xu Zhiyuan inspected the injuries on his body, his expression darkening when he saw the trauma concentrated on the lower half. Fortunately, noting that the root had not been compromised and he could still carry on the family lineage, his face eased somewhat. He instructed Xu Jingfeng to visit Master Mu Shang afterward so the master could check if any covert tricks had been planted on him. Having given his orders, Xu Zhiyuan dismissed him to rest. Xu Jingfeng returned to his own courtyard. Everything appeared just as it always had, with two of his favored maidservants whispering to each other inside the room. *Finally back...* Returning to familiar ground, Xu Jingfeng slipped right back into his old ways. Excitedly bursting into the room, he threw his arms around both women and slipped his hands inside their garments. Feeling their fullness, he chuckled, "I've only been gone these few days—how did they get even bigger?" Both maidservants gasped aloud. But when they turned and saw it was Xu Jingfeng, their bodies went stiff, and their expressions became unnatural. Xu Jingfeng caught the oddity at once, and his hands slowed. The two women hastily put on fawning smiles to cater to him, but Xu Jingfeng glanced between them, letting his gaze sweep across the room piece by piece. The more he looked, the darker his expression became.