Chapter 64

His disheveled long hair hung at his waist, with strands of messy hair in front of his forehead blocking half his face; his face had taken on a youthful, sparse look, covering the skin around his lips.

Having long shuttled through the passageways, slaughtering large numbers of beasts and fighting dozens of skirmishes with wilderness wanderers, Wu Tie's hair was a tangled mess, full of spiderwebs and bits of grass roots and leaves.

His attire was also simple: a waistband, two crude-looking heart-protection mirrors, and a rough idol totem amulet hung around his neck; only the white tiger armguard on his right hand appeared well-made.

The chubby man quickly sized Wu Tie up and down; with his keen eye, he naturally saw that Wu Tie had nothing of value on him.

He was just a miserable wretch, unwanted by heaven and earth, a wild brat roaming the wilderness.

Such unlucky fellows are a dime a dozen in this world.

"This young man looks quite spirited, he's not short, but he's so thin… hasn't had a full meal, has he?" the man tsk-tsked, set down the bronze bell in his hand, pointed at Wu Tie, and asked, "Do you know martial arts? If so, show me a few moves."

Just like the ox-tribe and wolf-tribe warriors in Wu Tie's household back then, many people in this world don't know cultivation techniques; they simply rely on brute bodily strength to fight.

Cultivation techniques are extremely precious resources; only families and powers with sufficient strength possess complete inheritances of such techniques.

The chubby man asked Wu Tie that merely because he sensed Wu Tie's demeanor differed greatly from an ordinary 'wildman,' so he threw out the question casually.

Wu Tie nodded.

He raised his head, thought for a moment, and from the superficial knowledge implanted by the Old Iron brand, he pulled out a technique called the 'Diamond Subduing Demon Fist'.

Those records contained no history of the Diamond Subduing Demon Fist, only noting that the style focuses on tempering the flesh, greatly increasing strength, and when cultivated to the utmost it possesses the terrifying power of a Mighty Diamond to subdue demons.

It is a top-tier Foundation Establishment method, also excellent for dealing with enemies.

Foundation Establishment forms must not be revealed; the Wu family's secret transmitted Foundation Establishment fist art must not, and does not wish to be exposed, so Wu Tie casually chose to display this Diamond Subduing Demon Fist.

With a loud 'Hei ha!' like a muffled thunder bursting from flat ground, Wu Tie stretched his limbs and unleashed the Diamond Subduing Demon Fist with wide, open movements. For a moment, fist qi howled, fist shadows like meteors shattering the air shook it, emitting a thunderous, dull 'Boom—boom!'.

A mighty, solemn fist aura spread outward, forcing the thousands of dwarves, gnomes, lizardfolk, and other onlookers gathered at the city gate to retreat involuntarily.

Especially the tiny, weak gnomes, they were shaken by the fist wind until their eyes rolled back, nearly suffocating. They fled in disarray dozens of meters away before finally catching their breath, panting heavily.

Wu Tie ran through the Diamond Subduing Demon Fist set five or six times, and on the final round he suddenly had a flash of insight, grasping several essential points of the technique.

With a loud shout, he stepped forward and Wu Tie thrust a punch ahead.

In his mind a vague, burly golden vajra phantom coalesced; as he threw the punch, Wu Tie's right fist glimmered slightly, and with a 'Boom!' a fist-sized aura about a chi in diameter shot out, whistling shrilly as it hurtled toward a guard outside the city gate.

"What gall!" the guard, a 2.56-meter-tall ox-tribe warrior, saw the fist aura coming, roared, the several large silver rings on his nose shaking violently, then likewise let out a loud shout and threw a punch at Wu Tie's fist aura.

A bowstring-like tremor sounded from within the ox-tribe warrior's body.

Wu Tie narrowed his eyes.

This ox-tribe warrior was, surprisingly, also a cultivator…

The Shi Family—it was then that he recalled the information he had extracted from the assassin of the Mist Blade.

This Shi Family is different from the Shi Family of Qianyu City.

The Cangyan Realm has three great families.

The Lu clan, the Yan clan, and the Shi Family.

The Lu clan excels at forging weapons; their armaments sell throughout the Cangyan Realm, making them arguably the wealthiest family, so their warriors are well-equipped, and other powers find it hard to match them.

The Yan clan, meanwhile, specializes in producing berserkers.

It is said the Yan clan possesses some foreign blood, cultivates quickly, and its members are all hot-tempered and fiery; once they fight they become demonic and mad, ordinary people standing no chance against them. The Yan clan relies on the individual strength of its warriors to squeeze into the ranks of the three great families.

As for the Shi Family, the Shi Family is on good terms with the dwarves and giants, and it is said they possess Giant Bloodline.

Their greatest strength lies in mining veins; they control ninety percent of the Cangyan Realm's rare minerals, so even if the Lu clan wishes to forge divine weapons, they must inevitably seek favor from the Shi Family.

The Shi Family's wealth and power are formidable, and its alliance with the dwarves and giants of the Cangyan Realm makes it natural for them to be one of the three great families.

No wonder, as one of the three great families, the Shi Family—even a city‑gate guard ox‑tribe warrior possesses cultivation techniques, and, like Wu Tie, has entered the Foundation Establishment stage, having cultivated Yuan Gang to permeate the body.

Ox-tribe members are born with tremendous brute strength; an adult ox-tribe's power exceeds that of an ordinary adult human male by more than tenfold.

Having acquired cultivation methods, this ox-tribe warrior's brute strength becomes even more formidable, his tendons and bones as hard as granite.

With a booming crash, the ox-tribe warrior's fist collided with Wu Tie's fist aura; the aura burst, the warrior grunted, staggered back seven or eight steps, toppled headfirst into the city gate opening, and only after a sorry struggle managed to climb to his feet.

"What tremendous strength!" the ox-tribe warrior shook his head and roared loudly.

The several ox-tribe warriors at the city gate widened their bull eyes, staring fixedly at Wu Tie.

These ox-tribe simpletons are the most straightforward; anyone who can outmatch them in strength, appetite, or drinking capacity is a hero to them. They admire heroes most, and are innately fond of them in a puzzling way.

Wu Tie gave those frank simpletons a smile, turned, and gave the chubby man an awkward laugh, saying, "I couldn't pull back in time—sorry."

The chubby man rose with a beaming smile, came around from behind the table, stood before Wu Tie, and warmly patted his arm.

"Now, Second Master Shi can answer your earlier question."

"I've eaten my fill, and there's meat."

"Hey, one punch can knock over three oxen—young man, you're not bad, really not bad; I, Second Master Shi, appreciate you."

"Haha, I don't know, little brother… you're not from a wildman background, are you?"

The round, chubby Second Master Shi looked at Wu Tie with a hearty laugh.

"I do have a family background… but it was wiped out."

Wu Tie fell silent for a moment, then answered Second Master Shi lightly. Recalling the scene of his own family being slaughtered, an inexplicable chill and killing instinct welled up, and his expression turned somewhat ferocious.

Second Master Shi appears simple and honest with his plump figure, but he is actually quite shrewd.

He took it all in, and immediately set his mind at ease.

A family wiped out, yet a warrior of decent cultivation—such a person is worth courting heavily. After all, they're talent, talent indeed.

"My condolences… such is the world… sigh!" Second Master Shi drew a long breath, firmly patted Wu Tie's arm, and said in a low voice, "You are an externally recruited warrior, so for now you can only serve in the External Affairs Bureau. But I, Second Master Shi, decree that you receive the treatment of a top‑rank External Affairs steward."

"What's your name?" Second Master Shi sat back behind the table, picked up a brush, and swiftly wrote on a thin piece of hide.

"Xiao Tie." Wu Tie did not give his surname, directly using the nickname Old Iron had for him.

"Xiao Tie?" Second Master Shi laughed, lifted his head, and gave Wu Tie's sturdy frame a once‑over: "Indeed you're as solid as cast iron… just a bit too thin, though; eat more meat and you'll fill out quickly."

He slapped his belly hard; the round belly immediately rippled with waves of flesh, the white flesh quivering violently.

"Look at Second Master Shi's fine bulk of meat! You lot of wandering scum, have a look!"

Shi Er Ye trembled all over, shouting loudly at the watching dwarves, gnomes, lizardfolk, and some other people.

Look at Shi Er Ye's shout—what fine meat! How is our Shi Family's treatment? Do we even need to say?

Such a fine physique… tsk tsk, not eating and drinking to one's fill every day—could I have raised it?

You wandering lowly breeds… you usually don't eat enough, don't stay warm, and all day you worry about being snatched by slave‑catching squads… but if you join my Shi Family, it's different…

Remember, this time my Shi Family is not buying slaves but hiring workers, workers! Understand?

He fiercely pointed at the short gnomes in the crowd and a few sneaky rat‑headed people: "Even you useless trash, our Shi Family this time is also willing to hire you as workers—only this once, never again!"

Wu Tie stood at the side, silent.

Shi Er Ye shouted for a while, recording Wu Tie's data—his height, build, and general appearance—then heard a loud 'clang' from inside the city wall, the sound of some large device violently crushing.

Not long after, the ox‑tribe warrior who had just been knocked over by Wu Tie's punch came out holding a scalding‑hot iron plate.

Shi Er Ye took the iron plate, handed it to Wu Tie, smiling: "Little Tie, you are now a member of our Shi Family's External Affairs Bureau; as for what you'll do, someone will naturally tell you."

Shi Er Ye shook his head, narrowed his eyes, leaned in mysteriously to Wu Tie and whispered: "Although you belong to the External Affairs Bureau and will just do odd jobs… but as long as you accumulate merit, our Shi Family is very generous…"

Don't talk about those useless external things… you kid are quite handsome; if you have enough merit, Shi Er Ye will set you up with connections, hehe—our Shi Family still has dozens of unmarried young ladies about your age, and when the time comes Shi Er Ye will fix you up with two!

Wu Tie stared at Shi Er Ye in astonishment.

This guy's integrity seems a bit unreliable… but Wu Tie inexplicably felt a bit of fondness for him.

He doesn't like those prim and proper old masters… Wu Tie, he just likes someone as unorthodox as Lao Tie, a smooth‑talking flatterer.

Two… hehe, I'm waiting!

Wu Tie, after all, had gained some experience; he went along with Shi Er Ye's tone and immediately nailed shut his coffin.

"Ah, ah…" Shi Er Ye opened his mouth, blinked his small eyes at Wu Tie for a while, finally stamped his foot, gritted his teeth and said: "Two then two—after all, they're not my own daughters; if you're capable, you can get them all."

Wu Tie stared, mouth agape, at Shi Er Ye whose flesh was quivering again.

This guy… his integrity really went to the dogs, huh.

Playing with the finely crafted iron plate in his hand—half a chi long, three cun wide, one cun thick—surely mixed with other materials, it felt heavy and substantial.

The back of the iron plate bears a large stone relief, on which is a seal‑script 'Shi' character.

The front actually bears a humanoid relief whose outline is 95% similar to Wu Tie, with fine inscriptions recording his basic data.

Wu Tie played with the iron plate—this was his identity token in the Shi Family.

In the distance, a few ragged but sword‑wielding men shouted from afar: "Shi Er Ye, why don't you say—what treatment is your Shi Family giving that little guy this time?"

Shi Er Ye smiled slightly, stood up, pointed at Wu Tie and said: "This time our Shi Family is quite sincere, recruiting from the wilderness to meet the family's needs… for example, Little Tie, he is a First‑class Steward of our External Affairs Bureau, and he gets daily two catties of grain, three hundred catties of mushroom‑miscellaneous food, and one hundred catties of meat…"

Shi Er Ye said in a deep voice: "Moreover, all armor and weapon wear and tear for a First‑class Steward are borne entirely by our Shi Family."

Furthermore, a First‑class Steward can receive each year a low‑grade Primordial Herb to aid cultivation… Do you know what a Primordial Herb is?

Wu Tie's eyes lit up; he of course knew what a Primordial Herb is.

In Lao Tie's era, they called it 'spiritual medicine', 'spiritual herb', or 'heavenly treasure'—that is today's Primordial Herb.

The concept of the Primordial Herb was also transmitted to Wu Tie by Grey Master.

Wu Zhan once obtained a low‑grade Primordial Herb, which he used to forge Wu Jin's cultivation foundation; thus Wu Jin has the sturdiest foundation, fastest cultivation speed, and greatest strength among the brothers.

The power of a low‑grade Primordial Herb cannot be compared to that of a foundation‑building elixir refined from blood‑essence.

Wu Tie drew a deep breath.

It seems, joining the Shi Family was indeed a correct decision.

"Resources, resources…" Wu Tie muttered.

Shi Er Ye kept shouting: "I see you few are also strong‑looking; have you trained a bit?"

"Come, come, come, give Shi Er Ye a good demonstration; if you have skill, are you afraid our Shi Family can't afford to give you good stuff?"

"As one of the three great families of the Cangyan Realm, our Shi Family has more than enough good stuff to scare you!"

"Come, come, come, as long as you have ability—women for women, men for men, food for food, drink for drink…"

"Hey, hey, not just handy fellows—you bunch of useless good‑for‑nothings, our Shi Family this time is hiring workers, not capturing slaves… you stone dwarves, if you join, our Shi Family will feed and clothe you and guarantee your safety."

Shi Er Ye gesticulated, spraying saliva as he shouted loudly.

Three days later, Wu Tie and a group of workers recruited by Shi Er Ye set out on the journey to the Shi Family's main city.