Chapter 798

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

"Oh my, looks like a fight's about to break out! Fight, fight!"

"Left hook, right hook, then a punch to the head — make him learn to watch his mouth."

"Hehe, sure enough, big family and great business — planning to just buy them off with money?"

"……"

The System, like a child with a new toy, watched the grievances and rights and wrongs of Shang Lu Cheng with great relish.

Shen Yao: ……

"You've been quite leisurely lately. Do you know where the Spirit of Shanglu ran off to?" Shen Yao stayed in the temporary courtyard; compared to her life before Shang Lu Cheng disappeared, her current circumstances were certainly more crude and rough, but without the Spirit of Shanglu's prying, Shen Yao's mindset was more relaxed.

"Host, the Spirit of Shanglu doesn't seem to be in Zhongzhou." As for exactly where it ran off to, the System truly didn't know.

"It probably feels Zhongzhou isn't safe. The Jiuzhou Continent is such a huge place.

Even if the Spirit of Shanglu fled with Shang Lu Cheng, there's always somewhere to settle itself. Wait another hundred or eighty years, and rumors should surface."

Mhm, given the Spirit of Shanglu's caution (craftiness), it'll at least wait until this current batch of people are worn out before showing its face.

"Since it's not in Zhongzhou, then in the short term, we won't be able to meet — truly a pity."

Shen Yao sighed, then waved at the empty seat beside her. "How are the forces inside Shang Lu Cheng now? This disturbance likely affects the entire Qingchuan Region; I'm afraid it won't settle for a long time."

The number of ordinary people in a city is uncertain, but for a city like Qingchuan with many secret realms, a large number of ordinary people are needed to keep it running daily; therefore, a conservative estimate of several million is entirely possible.

To snatch all these people into their own bowls — given the current distribution of large and small forces in the Qingchuan Region — almost none could achieve it.

Therefore Shang Lu Cheng will be chaotic, chaotic for a period of time, until all forces have allocated their respective interests, only then will Shang Lu Cheng calm down.

"Same as always, Host. Those forces would love to split up and take away these millions of ordinary people right now." Pity that no matter who takes the lead, they can't satisfy everyone, so it stays deadlocked right here.

"Yeah, if this drags on, many forces from outside the Qingchuan Region will come too."

After all, Qingchuan has many secret realms; outside forces covet the benefits here. If they can use this chance to take control of Qingchuan, even if they only nibble a tiny bit of benefit, they won't lose out.

Besides, those outside forces that have survived — who among them is easy to deal with? On the surface they're intimate, half-brothers from different mothers; in the dark they'd love to treat each other as mortal enemies and crush them dead.

"Host, when are we leaving?" The System indicated that although it liked watching the excitement, if Shang Lu Cheng got more and more chaotic and their safety couldn't be guaranteed, it would be better to leave early.

At least in the System's view, keep the green mountains, and you won't lack firewood.

"Us? No rush."

Shen Yao replied to the System with composure. "The big show in Shang Lu Cheng hasn't started yet; the relevant personnel and forces aren't in position."

A faint smile, a dark glint flashing in her eyes. "When the timing comes, we'll naturally leave."

System: ……?

Couldn't understand what the Host was really saying, but it understood that the Host wasn't leaving for now.

Mm

Since she's not leaving, it'll keep eating melons and watching the play? The excitement outside hasn't fully dispersed yet.

Before the rich main course arrives, eat a bit more light congee and side dishes to pad the stomach — the System knew the story's direction all too well.

…………

"An Brother, meeting again."

Lu Yan hadn't expected that not long after parting with An Ran, they'd run into each other again in Shang Lu Cheng.

An Ran also pressed his forehead with a bitter smile. As the manager of Ning'an City and the An Family, after learning of the incident in Shang Lu Cheng, he'd only had time to make simple arrangements for home and Ning'an City before rushing to Shang Lu Cheng in haste.

"Lu Brother, I'm now nothing but a puppet listening to others. This matter of Shang Lu Cheng —" he couldn't manage it.

He just hadn't expected Lu Yan to arrive in Shanglu and have trouble, and not leave at the first moment.

"Right now, outside Shang Lu Cheng, crises abound. Leaving now would be worse than staying."

Lu Yan smiled, thinking to himself that right now Shang Lu Cheng was like a piece of meat giving off a fragrant aroma — the forces wanting to eat it were too many to count.

Although Shen Yao's existence could guarantee Lu Yan's safety as much as possible, when out and about, one still must not reveal all one's trump cards.

Staying in Shang Lu Cheng wouldn't affect him either way, so Lu Yan temporarily didn't plan to leave, but would wait until Shang Lu Cheng's situation became clear, then plan to leave Shanglu for the surrounding other cities.

An Ran clearly understood Lu Yan's implied meaning. Recalling the scenes on the road when he came over, An Ran nodded. "Outside is very chaotic. The Lin Family of Lin'an City also rushed over; they're unwilling to give up on wanting Shanglu." Pity the Lin Family's strength compared to other forces in Qingchuan still falls short. As the current Head of the An Family, An Ran wasn't very optimistic about the Lin Family's capability.

"Shanglu has many ordinary people. Absorbing them would be a force not to be ignored." Who doesn't want to arm themselves? At this time, population is a precious resource, comparable to those heavenly materials and earthly treasures.

Heavenly materials and earthly treasures can only be used by one person, but this population can benefit all aspects. Anyone who has been a leader would understand the importance of population.

"Yeah, so these forces don't want to let go." Everyone wants to scoop up a bigger batch to take back.

What's more, right now Shang Lu Cheng is gone, and this land has become ownerless territory again.

If they could rebuild a Shang Lu Cheng — although the cost would be enormous and would injure muscles and bones — it would be very worthwhile if it let their own force expand smoothly.

"An Brother, the secret realms inside and outside Shang Lu Cheng are destroyed. Today's Shang Lu Cheng is a clean slate." Lu Yan reminded: wanting to restore Shang Lu Cheng to its former appearance would cost a sky-high price — would any force really do it?

An Ran: ……

"Secret realms destroyed can regenerate." It's just that Shanglu was destroyed quite a lot, including the new secret realm that previously absorbed all the city's cultivators — it seems to reject everyone from entering.

Brow ridges knitted tight, An Ran quickly weighed pros and cons in his heart, then smiled and parted from Lu Yan, turning and leaving in haste.

"He's this anxious and flustered; if seen by someone, it'll probably invite trouble."

Shen Yao abruptly walked out from behind Lu Yan, wearing a crescent-white long dress, her hair draped to one side, half coiled into a hair bun gently secured by two beautiful, warm, slender jade hairpins.

Holding a round fan pinched between her fingers, swaying it left and right, Shen Yao lifted her head, her lively eyes looking at Lu Yan. "The new secret realm is about to differentiate and disintegrate."

Lu Yan turned his head. "How many days?"

"Five days." Shen Yao raised her hand, comparing fingers, then innocently examined her freshly dyed nails. "When the time comes, the commotion will be enormous. We should avoid it."

Lu Yan listened, lowered his head, and pondered. Five days? That was still before their chance to leave; he could only shut his doors to outside guests for now and quietly watch how things changed.

Five days passed in a flash, and An Ran and Lu Yan did not meet again.

The system still went outside every day to watch the excitement; these past few days conflicts increased, and the forces dragged into it grew larger and larger like a rolling snowball, until the morning of the fifth day, when a huge boom sounded in everyone's ears, accompanied by a trembling sensation as if the earth moved and mountains shook, and everyone turned their gazes toward the area outside the city.

At the entrance of the new secret realm, the vortex-shaped gate grew larger and larger, and cracks would appear from time to time.

Those were — spatial cracks!

"This is a sign of the secret realm disintegrating." This secret realm was a newborn secret realm; it had absorbed all the secret realms around Shanglu and should have existed for a long time. How could it suddenly differentiate and disintegrate?

Seeing this, certain forces began to beat a retreat; they had struggled and contended, not only for Shang Lu Cheng's several million ordinary people, but also for Shang Lu Cheng's secret realm resources.

Now the situation told them Shang Lu Cheng's secret realm resources were not even one in ten remaining, and it was unknown when they would recover. Wouldn't the investment they had originally planned go to waste?

The relevant population could just migrate back, but building a city on the spot required considering many aspects; at least some small and medium forces dared not invest, fearing they would not recoup it and would damage their original resources.

"City Lord Lin, are you interested in cooperating?"

"The Fan Family's clan head has not yet returned; can you represent the Fan Family?"

"If you don't try, how will you know? Besides, just because the Lotus Pond Fan Family can't do it doesn't mean the Floating Fan Family can't. Merely occupying the two cities of Lin An and Ning'an — City Lord Lin, your tone is a bit too big."

"..."

Also unexpected: the matter of Shang Lu Cheng was this explosive; even Lian Tang, where Lu Yan held half the management rights, sent people.

The person who came from Lian Tang this time was also an acquaintance; Fan Sheng still had not returned — it was Fan Sheng's son, Fan Gui Qi.

"Young Master Lu"

Fan Gui Qi brought the steward and personally came to visit; even though Lu Yan was declining guests, he had to welcome them in.

"Didn't expect it to be you." Lu Yan knew Lian Tang City had sent someone back; he thought at most it would be a steward or a newly propped-up puppet family joining the fun. He didn't expect Fan Gui Qi to come in person; judging by the look of it, he still wanted to contend with the local Qingchuan forces for ownership of the Shanglu secret realm.

Fan Gui Qi didn't want to come either. As the saying goes, plans can't keep up with changes. When he received the Shanglu news, he also received a secret letter from Fan Sheng.

"Father wrote in the letter: the Qingchuan region is special; if we can gain an advantage or two, it will be advantageous for future actions."

This was the main reason Fan Gui Qi personally took action. Although Fan Sheng was not in Lian Tang, his words still carried weight.

Lu Yan:...

Lu Yan finished reading the secret letter in his hand and confirmed the handwriting on it was genuine beyond doubt.

Why would Fan Sheng want Qingchuan? "Advantageous for future actions" — could it be that Fan Sheng really obtained some inside information by relying on the token and letters?

Lu Yan took the things but did not move them; he only knew that one strand of seemingly true yet seemingly false information. Fan Sheng personally went over for the sake of advancing a step further.

Now Fan Gui Qi came to the door bearing Fan Sheng's secret letter, clearly wanting to cooperate with Lu Yan. Lian Tang City still had Lu Yan's half management rights; the Fan Family kept its promises and would not renege.

"What plan does Young Master Fan have? Given the current distribution of forces inside Shang Lu Cheng, relying solely on our Lian Tang's foundation, it will be hard to seize the benefits we want."

Fan Gui Qi planned to form vertical and horizontal alliances; on the surface he would entangle with those forces, while secretly offering heavy benefits to unite other forces inferior to Lian Tang.

This also counted as a conventional method; everyone does it this way — it's just a matter of who does it better, who can unite more forces in the limited time, adding bargaining chips for their own side.

Lu Yan was not a Lian Tang person, but Lian Tang held a different significance for him.

Besides, Fan Gui Qi came to the door bearing Fan Sheng's secret letter, and in the end even let Lu Yan read it; from this one could judge that Fan Gui Qi wanted to join hands with Lu Yan first.

As for the subsequent distribution of benefits, after handling the forces they had won over, they would adjust according to both sides' contributions; Lian Tang City's people would automatically group together.

"Fine, but we must seize the time. During this period quite a few forces will hesitate and withdraw." Taking the initiative would certainly yield gains.

Lu Yan went to find the An Family; An Ran was still in Shang Lu Cheng and had not left.

However his condition was far worse than before; the dark circles under his eyes were obvious, and his speech even sounded weak and listless.

"Brother Lu"

An Ran rarely opened his mouth to complain, pouring out his dissatisfaction with the Lin Family during this period.

Lu Yan sat opposite An Ran listening quietly until An Ran stopped the topic and asked the purpose of his visit.

"Brother Lu, one doesn't visit the Three Treasures Hall without a reason." This person wasn't the type who liked to scheme.

Lu Yan smiled. "Not hiding it from Brother An — this time I came wanting to do a deal with Brother An."

A deal?

With him?

An Ran widened his eyes. "I didn't know I still have something Brother Lu needs on me?"

It wasn't that An Ran lacked confidence in himself, but compared to everything Lu Yan possessed, An Ran — including the An Family — was not worth mentioning.

Lu Yan:... Not that bad, really.

An Ran's frankness left Lu Yan not knowing what to say, but he still spoke his thoughts.

An Ran:...

Ah? So Brother Lu came to poach the corner? The An Family had taken root in Ning'an City, and because of Lin An City they had always been under the Lin Family's jurisdiction.

An Ran hadn't not thought of breaking free from this situation, but the An Family were healers — nannies, essentially — unable to fight and still possessing no combat power.

Right now, if he cooperated with Brother Lu and brought Lian Tang City into the Qingchuan region, would the An Family's problem also be alleviated?

An Ran didn't expect a single step to solve everything; as long as it could give the An Family a chance to breathe, An Ran felt this deal was not a loss.

"Brother Lu, whatever you need, just say it; our An Family absolutely will not refuse."

Gambled on it!

Compared to being slowly boiled like a frog by the Lin Family, An Ran still felt he should take the initiative; even if he failed in the end, the worst result was still the same.

Lu Yan and Fan Gui Qi split into two different forces; on the surface they had little intersection, but behind the scenes they separately contacted their chosen forces.

Lu Yan picked forces that had demands; such people weren't afraid of them turning coat, because their biggest opponents were those forces contending with Lian Tang.

Fan Gui Qi's side needed improvement; fortunately the steward could help him stabilize the base. There were occasional twists along the way but they were still smoothly resolved.

When the two met again and compared the forces they had won over, Fan Gui Qi exclaimed that Lu Yan truly lived up to the young talent Father repeatedly praised; comparing the two sides, he had let down his father's reputation.

"City Lord Fan places high hopes on you. Besides, these matters are just a bit of experience; once you understand enough, you'll be able to do it too."

Fan Gui Qi's childhood was happier than his; Lu Yan's abilities were all forged from the losses he suffered as a child — in a certain Significance, the Lu Family accelerated Lu Yan's growth.