Announcement If you are enjoying the story so far check out my Patreon at patreon.com/SmithJulyNovel for advanced and bonus chapters.
In Temple Gorge the Kang family compound was burning. In the middle of the flaming courtyard Zhao Yaozu was standing in front of a kneeling Kang Gang. Kang Gang was covered in blood and had a few teeth missing.
Zhao Yaozu shouted in a booming voice, “You Kangs have finally been beaten like the dogs you are. Now everybody will know what happens when you cross the Zhao clan.”
Kang Gang spat some blood on to the stone floor of the courtyard, “You are a coward Zhao Yaozu. You waited until my father left before you dared to attack us.”
Zhao Yaozu sneered and replied, “I was told my fiancé was going to deal with your father in Rockcreek, so I thought why wait? Better to purge the Kang Clan in one fell swoop.”
Zhao Yaozu placed his foot over Kang Gang’s throat and pushed down to break his neck. The neck gave in with a snap but not before Kang Gang used his Qi to manipulate a sharp rock to meet Zhao Yaozu’s foot halfway through his neck.
Zhao Yaozu managed to stop his foot before the rock went clean through the foot but still gave himself a nasty cut. Zhao Yaozu hopped around on one foot for a while before collecting himself. He wanted to carry on beating Kang Gang, but the man was already dead.
Instead, he exited the burning courtyard to see a small crowd gathered outside on the street. Smiling he swung himself into the saddle of his horse and shouted at the crowd, “I am going to the capital to join a sect. While I am gone let this be a reminder the Zhao Clan is not to be touched.”
Zhao Yaozu. Then rode off into the night.
When Xiulan rode back into the city the next morning with Yen Wen there was smoke rising from the top level of the Gorge. The fire had spread to one of the upper walkways and the flaming bridge had fallen down into the river, taking out several other walkways along its way.
It did not take long to find out what happened, Zhao Yaozu had deliberately made a spectacle of the night raid against the Kangs.
Xiulan had a headache. She almost wanted to find another family to work with, but it would take too much time to establish the infrastructure needed to take over the mining operations.
Xiulan rode straight to the Zhao family compound instead of her rented house. She needed to explain just how much of a disaster this was.
When Xiulan arrived the Zhao family was already in a state of excitement. Xiulan and Yen Wen were shown into a room where the only member of the Zhao Clan that did not look jovial was Patriarch Zhao.
Another elder of the clan was mid speech, “Zhao Yaozu should be commended, not condemned. Finally, the family has shown ourselves to be a strong cultivator clan and not just a bunch of iron mining peasants. No doubt Zhao Yaozu will spread our prestige to the capital and then who knows what will happen.”
Xiulan interjected in a loud voice, “The price for your family’s glorious actions is two percent.”
The elder who had been talking turned towards Xiulan red-faced, but Patriarch Zhao beat him to speaking, “What do you mean miss Long? No doubt my son will have to make an accounting to the magistrate when he returns but I do not see how this affects our deal.”
Xiulan rolled her eyes, “I do not expect a respected cultivation clan like yours to understand the dirty world of mundane business, but two things are going to happen to your iron sales now. First, that new seam buzz I started to boost your sales price is going to evaporate now. Everybody knows that this was a scheme of one family against another now. It will not take long before they find out that the Zhaos have taken ownership of the Kang Clan mines in Rockcreek. Second, even though you will now have a monopoly on the iron ore in the city you will have to offer a discount to keep some good will.”
The elder could not hold his tongue anymore, “discount! Ridicules we control all the iron in temple Gorge now. If anything, we should increase the price.”
Xiulan sneered and snapped back, “you could have done so, had the Kang Clan been delt with quietly out of town as I had planned to take out Kang Gang. I did not have Kang Cai come to an isolated palace in Rockcreek simply for a sense of poetic justice. If you raise the prices now, then people will resent the Zhao Clan. They will think to themselves, well if one clan can fall why not two? As powerful as you seem to think Zhao Yaozu is there is no way that he could resist the whole city as well as every other powerful clan.”
The elder calmed a bit as he realized that Xiulan spoke the truth. Xiulan ended her speech with, “you should send some kind of appeasement to the powerful clans of the city. Maybe a wagonload of ore or something. Overall, as all of this was the fault of the Zhao clan, and I already had a plan that would have avoided this mess I am claiming two percent of your gross sales and not one percent. I am not going to lose money because some arrogant brat thinks he is a martial genius, and a few old idiots encouraged him.”
The elder bristled again but Patriarch Zhao quickly interjected, “that is fine Xiulan you can leave the rest to us. We will make sure to send the two percent to you every month. I assume you will be at your rented home?”
Xiulan at least liked that the patriarch knew how to do business, “For now yes. I will most likely be buying a house in Temple Gorge soon. I plan to be in the city for at least several months more.
Yen Wen had been eyeing the elder savagely and only when Xiulan pulled her sleeve did Yen Wen follow her out of the door.
When the pair left the elder whirled on the patriarch, “That woman has no respect for the Zhaos. Had Zhao Yaozu been here she would never dare to be so bold.”
The patriarch rubbed his temples in frustration, “have you all forgotten how we came to this point? How Zhao Yaozu reached his current cultivation? It is from the wealth of iron. We have moved up from a second-rate family in Temple Gorge to a future power. That woman is a golden ticket to wealth and Zhao Yaozu is a fool for crossing her. I can only hope that the sects instil some humility into him.”
The elder sneered at the Patriarch and snarled, “my nephew will be back after the trials are held before he joins the sect. By then we will see if this attitude of yours is still so small and money minded.”
Announcement If you are enjoying the story so far check out my Patreon at patreon.com/SmithJulyNovel for advanced and bonus chapters.
In Temple Gorge the Kang family compound was burning. In the middle of the flaming courtyard Zhao Yaozu was standing in front of a kneeling Kang Gang. Kang Gang was covered in blood and had a few teeth missing.
Zhao Yaozu shouted in a booming voice, “You Kangs have finally been beaten like the dogs you are. Now everybody will know what happens when you cross the Zhao clan.”
Kang Gang spat some blood on to the stone floor of the courtyard, “You are a coward Zhao Yaozu. You waited until my father left before you dared to attack us.”
Zhao Yaozu sneered and replied, “I was told my fiancé was going to deal with your father in Rockcreek, so I thought why wait? Better to purge the Kang Clan in one fell swoop.”
Zhao Yaozu placed his foot over Kang Gang’s throat and pushed down to break his neck. The neck gave in with a snap but not before Kang Gang used his Qi to manipulate a sharp rock to meet Zhao Yaozu’s foot halfway through his neck.
Zhao Yaozu managed to stop his foot before the rock went clean through the foot but still gave himself a nasty cut. Zhao Yaozu hopped around on one foot for a while before collecting himself. He wanted to carry on beating Kang Gang, but the man was already dead.
Instead, he exited the burning courtyard to see a small crowd gathered outside on the street. Smiling he swung himself into the saddle of his horse and shouted at the crowd, “I am going to the capital to join a sect. While I am gone let this be a reminder the Zhao Clan is not to be touched.”
Zhao Yaozu. Then rode off into the night.
When Xiulan rode back into the city the next morning with Yen Wen there was smoke rising from the top level of the Gorge. The fire had spread to one of the upper walkways and the flaming bridge had fallen down into the river, taking out several other walkways along its way.
It did not take long to find out what happened, Zhao Yaozu had deliberately made a spectacle of the night raid against the Kangs.
Xiulan had a headache. She almost wanted to find another family to work with, but it would take too much time to establish the infrastructure needed to take over the mining operations.
Xiulan rode straight to the Zhao family compound instead of her rented house. She needed to explain just how much of a disaster this was.
When Xiulan arrived the Zhao family was already in a state of excitement. Xiulan and Yen Wen were shown into a room where the only member of the Zhao Clan that did not look jovial was Patriarch Zhao.
Another elder of the clan was mid speech, “Zhao Yaozu should be commended, not condemned. Finally, the family has shown ourselves to be a strong cultivator clan and not just a bunch of iron mining peasants. No doubt Zhao Yaozu will spread our prestige to the capital and then who knows what will happen.”
Xiulan interjected in a loud voice, “The price for your family’s glorious actions is two percent.”
The elder who had been talking turned towards Xiulan red-faced, but Patriarch Zhao beat him to speaking, “What do you mean miss Long? No doubt my son will have to make an accounting to the magistrate when he returns but I do not see how this affects our deal.”
Xiulan rolled her eyes, “I do not expect a respected cultivation clan like yours to understand the dirty world of mundane business, but two things are going to happen to your iron sales now. First, that new seam buzz I started to boost your sales price is going to evaporate now. Everybody knows that this was a scheme of one family against another now. It will not take long before they find out that the Zhaos have taken ownership of the Kang Clan mines in Rockcreek. Second, even though you will now have a monopoly on the iron ore in the city you will have to offer a discount to keep some good will.”
The elder could not hold his tongue anymore, “discount! Ridicules we control all the iron in temple Gorge now. If anything, we should increase the price.”
Xiulan sneered and snapped back, “you could have done so, had the Kang Clan been delt with quietly out of town as I had planned to take out Kang Gang. I did not have Kang Cai come to an isolated palace in Rockcreek simply for a sense of poetic justice. If you raise the prices now, then people will resent the Zhao Clan. They will think to themselves, well if one clan can fall why not two? As powerful as you seem to think Zhao Yaozu is there is no way that he could resist the whole city as well as every other powerful clan.”
The elder calmed a bit as he realized that Xiulan spoke the truth. Xiulan ended her speech with, “you should send some kind of appeasement to the powerful clans of the city. Maybe a wagonload of ore or something. Overall, as all of this was the fault of the Zhao clan, and I already had a plan that would have avoided this mess I am claiming two percent of your gross sales and not one percent. I am not going to lose money because some arrogant brat thinks he is a martial genius, and a few old idiots encouraged him.”
The elder bristled again but Patriarch Zhao quickly interjected, “that is fine Xiulan you can leave the rest to us. We will make sure to send the two percent to you every month. I assume you will be at your rented home?”
Xiulan at least liked that the patriarch knew how to do business, “For now yes. I will most likely be buying a house in Temple Gorge soon. I plan to be in the city for at least several months more.
Yen Wen had been eyeing the elder savagely and only when Xiulan pulled her sleeve did Yen Wen follow her out of the door.
When the pair left the elder whirled on the patriarch, “That woman has no respect for the Zhaos. Had Zhao Yaozu been here she would never dare to be so bold.”
The patriarch rubbed his temples in frustration, “have you all forgotten how we came to this point? How Zhao Yaozu reached his current cultivation? It is from the wealth of iron. We have moved up from a second-rate family in Temple Gorge to a future power. That woman is a golden ticket to wealth and Zhao Yaozu is a fool for crossing her. I can only hope that the sects instil some humility into him.”
The elder sneered at the Patriarch and snarled, “my nephew will be back after the trials are held before he joins the sect. By then we will see if this attitude of yours is still so small and money minded.”
