Big Data Cultivation
Chapter 773 - Chapter 773 Chapter 773 This is Presumptuous

Chapter 773: Chapter 773: This is Presumptuous Chapter 773: Chapter 773: This is Presumptuous The Yu Family had once been a clan within the Family Alliance, and their ancestors had some interactions with the Mu Family. The old servant of Mu Fengtang had used the Yu Family’s CheMa Trading Company for transport on these last two occasions, indicating that they were relatively inclined to favor the Mu Family.

However, in reality, the Yu Family did not provide much cooperation this time, other than lending out the property.

The elders of the Mu Family were quite dissatisfied with this–they were High-Rank Martial Masters, and the patrons and emissaries from the Long Branch who accompanied them were also High-Rank Martial Masters. “Does your insignificant Yu Family even have any High-Rank Martial Masters?”

But at the moment, on the Divine Doctor’s territory, it was not a good idea for the Mu Family to make a scene. They had come to realize that the Divine Doctor was a Cultivator.

Thus, the Mu Family could only make some passive-aggressive remarks, indicating that the Yu Family seemed to have climbed up high and probably didn’t need the Mu Family’s cooperation while moving around in Tianfeng County anymore.

In the view of the elders of the Mu Family, businesses like the CheMa Trading Company should value dealing with various forces the most. To avoid any trouble as they operated nationwide, they needed not only to be on good terms with the powerful local forces but even with smaller forces that were not as strong as themselves.

The aim of running a business in all directions is to make money. If some small forces occasionally create minor obstacles, it’s not that they could not be handled, but that dealing with these petty troubles is a waste of time and effort, and just not worth it economically.

If a larger force decided to secretly trip them up, only more headaches would ensue.

Little did the Mu Family expect that shortly after they uttered those words, the Tian Family and the Mi Family came knocking at their door, asking the Mu Family to clarify what they meant by their earlier statements.

The people of the Mu Family were enraged. “Do you really think that just by maintaining some order on Mount Zhige, you can count yourselves as major clans?”

“If it weren’t for our visit to Qingning Prefecture, your two families’ names wouldn’t even catch the eye of our Mu Family.”

The representatives from these two families were not offended; they simply smiled and indicated that there were quite a few people on Mount Zhige who had benefited from the Yu Family. If the Mu Family did not change their attitude, they might find it easy to leave but difficult to return.

To tell the truth, even though the Yu Family’s presence here wasn’t strong, anyone truly concerned knew that of the two sets of Gathering Spirit Array Plates on Mount Zhige, one set was with Feng Jun, and the other with Yu Changqing.

Not many people were privy to the details about Yu Changqing, but many knew she was a member of the Yu Family, and these people were allowed to absorb Spiritual Energy, naturally leading them to owe debt of gratitude to the Yu Family. This group included not just Mi Yunshan and Tian Family members, but also Chen Junsheng.

The Mu Family was indeed part of the Family Alliance, but threatening the Yu Family would only incite public outrage.

Furthermore, isn’t the Yuntai Chen Family part of the Family Alliance as well?

The Mu Family was already irate when a group charged in with a whoosh, still the guards of Lord Beiyuan, with someone laughing as they spoke, “What nerve, to threaten the Yu Family. We’ve come to recognize faces, so that we can issue bounties later on.”

Now the Mu Family members were confused: Was this still the same martial world they knew? Since when had the Mu Family’s reputation become so worthless?

The temper of the elder of the Mu Family–a temper that had become more fiery with age–showed as he sneered, “Lord Beiyuan, is it? The Mu Family will remember this. Don’t think you can do whatever you want just because you are nobility. Should the Family Alliance take action, the Official Government might not even care to intervene.”

“The Family Alliance? You’re really scaring me,” sneered one of the intermediate-level martial masters who was a guard, “The Yangshan Gu Family is also part of the Family Alliance, right? What’s left of them now?”

Upon hearing this, the elder of the Mu Family’s face changed suddenly. The downfall of the Gu Family was one of the major events in the Family Alliance in recent years.

Although the Yangshan Gu Family was one of the lesser members of the Family Alliance, they were still a part of it.

About the decline of the Gu Family, there were many rumors. A more authoritative version was that they had offended several smaller clans until they were ultimately exterminated, later subjected to bounties to ensure that no one from the family survived.

It was said that Official Government had a hand in exacerbating this tragedy, and indeed, the government reclaimed a large portion of the Gu Family’s assets.

The Mu Family did not know much about the incident, but they did not lack information either. At the very least, they were certain that two Innate experts from the Gu Family had died in battle.

We can leave out the visiting Innate expert, but Gu Maoyuan was recognized by the Family Alliance. Although old Gu was relatively low profile, many Innate experts within the Alliance believed that his actual Combat Strength was far superior to what it appeared on the surface and that he was not someone to be provoked lightly.

This threat made the elder of the Mu Family feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.

The Mu Family did not fear hardship; throughout their history, they had survived many trials. A thousand-year-old clan like the Mu Family should by rights have a population of at least a million by now if not for those trials.

Yet, they had no desire whatsoever to be involved in this kind of inexplicable annihilation.

Just then, someone came to report that they saw Mu Fengtang working with a group of workers not far away.

The Mu Family group went out collectively to see what he was doing.

Recently, Mu Fengtang had been actively pursuing the Lang Family’s eldest sister. Although she still harbored some doubts in her heart, being chased by a handsome man felt quite good, especially since the charmer was a core member of the Family Alliance.

Nevertheless, winning her favor proved difficult. The Lang Family might not have much money, but the eldest sister wasn’t prone to spending extravagantly.

Visiting the prefectural seat, county seat, or even the capital for pleasure? The eldest sister stated that she wasn’t interested for the time being and stubbornly believed that Mount Zhige was the most bustling place, comparatively speaking, the capital was merely so-so.

Does the capital have nights as bright as day? Does it have beautiful fireworks? Do they have utility vehicles? Do they have… toilet paper?

She heard that the capital didn’t even have fancy rolled cigarettes and lighters–this was what she heard from her dad.

Mu Fengtang thought about it and found the statement quite reasonable. He had been to the capital and knew about its extraordinary prosperity, but when it really came down to comparisons, Mount Zhige had many aspects in which it was superior to the capital.

The prosperity of Mount Zhige seemed to have sprung up overnight, and though it might be short-lived, it was very unique. The craftsmanship of many objects was much finer than in the capital, ranging from streetlights that turned night into day, down to… toilet paper.

People used to say that for elegant attire, nothing could compare to the capital, but many fabrics at Mount Zhige, whether in terms of silkiness, fineness, or color, were far superior to those in the capital.

Even recently, Mount Zhige had come up with a bicycle, two-wheeled and powered by human effort. It was quite efficient for traveling or transporting goods and especially convenient for carrying across mountains and streams.

The only drawback was that it couldn’t carry a lot of goods, but compared to the convenience and speed, this flaw seemed negligible.

In this situation, Mu Fengtang found it truly difficult to ingratiate himself with Lang Family’s eldest daughter. His usual courtship tactics–buying and gifting–what could he buy here?

A tricycle? Don’t joke around, Doctor Feng’s yard has a whole row of tricycles that the eldest daughter can use as she pleases.

Toilet paper? Oh no… chocolate? The eldest daughter can grab them whenever she wants from the Divine Doctor!

And as for the most top-notch perfumes, the eldest daughter has quite a few bottles, but she cherishes them and says she will only use them for important occasions.

Recently he found out that the Lang Family’s home was still an ordinary brick house, so he hired people to build a house for them–not just any house, but one like Doctor Feng’s, made of Jade!

In fact, there were several other families who also desired to build houses like Feng Jun’s, made of jade. Even though jade was relatively cheap, it was still much more expensive than bricks and also had a better visual effect. In Qingning Prefecture’s Xiyin City, a few wealthy households were even using green jade to build walls.

But no one here dared to do such a thing.

When Mu Fengtang had stonemasons start work on the Lang Family’s property, Lang Zhen called a halt to it on the very first day.

Lone Wolf knew that this youngster had been chasing his daughter recently. Although he was conflicted that his daughter could no longer pursue a relationship with the Divine Doctor, he had previously expressed a willingness to “let it be”–after all, the boy was a core member of the Family Alliance, and not too shabby.

But upon seeing the materials prepared for the construction, he sternly said, “Hold it right there… this is presumptuous!”

No one else dares to build a house of jade, and only I dare to do it. Are you trying to set a trap for someone, or just trying to set a trap?

Mu Fengtang was quick-witted. He had already speculated why others were not building houses of jade, and promptly said with a smile, “There won’t be any overstepping. Of course, we can’t build a house exactly like the Divine Doctor’s. It must be smaller… no, much smaller!”

The eldest daughter of the Lang family expressed her happiness, saying that she didn’t mind having a smaller house than Feng Jun’s. A girl’s whims are always a bit sentimental–though she couldn’t sleep with him, she would at least sleep in a house similar to his.

Lang Zhen accepted this reasoning but insisted that the house couldn’t be built by outsiders, as if he were trying to take advantage of something.

If you build it, I’ll have to pay you wages–if you don’t agree, I’ll get someone else to build it.

The wages can be negotiated, they’re negotiable–Mu Fengtang had finally found a way to ingratiate himself with the elder daughter, and everything was up for discussion.

This is how the Mu family members got involved.

When the elder of the Mu family clan saw what was happening, he almost burst with anger. Without asking about the situation, he yelled, “Mu Fengtang… Get over here!”

“Hey,” said a middle-aged man standing not too far away, raising his head and speaking with displeasure, “Can you keep it down? Think this is your own backyard?”

The elder of the Mu family clan was just about to get angry when he realized the man looked familiar. After thinking for a moment, he tentatively asked, “Have we met before?”

“I’ve met too many people to remember,” said the middle-aged man impatiently, waving off the question. He paused, and then lifted his head to look at him again, uncertainly asking, “Are you part of the… Mu family?”

“Ah, what was I thinking, it’s Duanmu Laosan of the Duanmu Family,” said the elder of the Mu family clan with a smile, recognizing the man, “How’s your brother? Haven’t seen him in many years, where’s he high and mighty now?”

Duanmu Zhongjiu had been the Prefectural Governor of Tianfeng County ten years prior but had left office. However, the clan elder remembered this brother of the former Duanmu Junshou quite well–Duanmu Lao San was the pride of the clan, already an Intermediate Level martial master back then, and now a bonafide High-Rank Martial Master.

Duanmu Lao San gave him a look, then glanced at Mu Fengtang, “Feng Tang, does this guy have an issue with you? Do you need me to take him out later?”

The Duanmu Family Clan belonged to the nobility of Donghua, with ancestors who fought alongside the imperial founders. Moreover, their descendants were impressive, with an Innate Expert emerging from time to time. They had significant influence at court and had no reason to fear the families of the Family Alliance.

Duanmu Lao San might not have the guts to declare war on the Mu Family, but taking out a few Mu family elders was virtually risk-free for him.