Lord of the Desert

Chapter 423: Move
Three days later, November 13th.

Night, Tongyun Villa.

The starry sky is twinkling with snow, and ice flowers are floating in the moonlight.

The Zhengutang, made of gold and iron, is filled with a chill, and the light of candles flickers on its countless edges and corners.

Zhu Leshui, the eldest son of the Zhu family and a person at the innate four-in-one realm, stood in the hall, covered in dust, with some unmelted snow still floating in his cloakroom.

"You have worked day and night for the past two days. Thank you for your hard work."

Zhu Zhanran sat alone on the high platform, with one hand on his knee and his head lowered, looking down.

"You just said the letter was delivered and you met the person, so what did they say?"

"Sect Master Li said that the Tiannanxing was originally a collaboration between them, Hongfan, the Shen family, and the Weaponry Bureau, and that the Shura Sect has invested a huge amount in it."

Zhu Leshui replied with difficulty and swallowed his saliva.

"As for the matter of Tongyun Pavilion, he said that it was all his orders. If the master is dissatisfied, he can go to Tianpeng Mountain to argue. The Shura Sect will be ready to welcome you."

When he said this, the eldest son of the Zhu family lowered his head to the ground with a dazed look in his eyes.

Zhu Zhanran nodded silently.

The hall, where dozens of people were standing, seemed to be frozen.

The north wind was roaring back and forth outside the Zhengu Hall, carrying a mixture of ice and snow. Every time it came in through the door, it was like hitting an invisible door or wall, and had to blow back.

After more than ten breaths, Zhu Leshan, who was standing in the crowd, had become so weak in his limbs that words came slowly from the leader.

"Ha, Sect Master Li is still as fiery as ever."

Zhu Zhanran laughed a few times.

"Hey, my Zhu family's children are so amazing now. The two most popular people on the Tianjiao list came to visit together, but they are not even worthy of a seat..."

His majestic voice echoed between the iron walls and after a few breaths was diluted in the wind.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Leshan turned pale and cast a pleading look towards Zhu Liu who was sitting on a high place while he was about to fall. Unfortunately, the "Iron Horse" who was usually known for his explosive temper just sat there with a stern face and back straight, not uttering a word.

Liangzhou is a vast area covering two thousand miles. The Zhu family is like a single pillar and a peak. Except for giving the Shen family a big head in Xijing, they can go anywhere smoothly.

The only exception is the small sect on Tianpeng Mountain.

The threshold is very high, so the population is sparse;
Because of his eccentric personality, his social connections are limited;
Not good at management, so the power is weak;
The members come from all over the world and each has their own hometown, so the internal cohesion is naturally not as strong as that of a family with blood ties and surnames as the bond...

But they are too good at fighting.

"Mr. Sheng, I asked you to study the skills of Tiannanxing before. Have you come up with anything?"

Zhu Zhanran looked at a short and strong man standing in the crowd.

His name is Sheng Zhiming. Although his cultivation level is only at the Pure Land level, he is the number one technical expert in Tongyun Villa.

"My Lord, I have discussed this in detail with Master Liu and the people who came back from Xijing, but I still cannot understand Hong Fan's methods."

Sheng Zhiming replied with shame.

"To put it simply, the essence of steelmaking is to remove impurities, and the purer the steel, the higher the temperature required. According to Master Liu's description, the most special thing about Tiannanxing is the two hanging steel furnaces, but in my opinion, the only way to heat a large, open iron furnace to a very high temperature is to rely on the assistance of the warrior's true essence."

The other craftsmen present nodded.

"If Tiannanxing uses martial arts masters to make steel, it would be impossible to achieve a price of 40 wen per pound."

Zhu Zhanran sneered.

"My lord, that is exactly the case."

Sheng Zhiming said with difficulty, wiping the sweat from his cheek with his sleeve.

"I understand."

Zhu Zhanran glanced at everyone in the hall with a gloomy expression.

"We are a huge Tongyun Villa, and have been dealing with gold and iron for hundreds of years. Now, we have been trampled under the feet of a kid in our old business..."

Use five fingers to exert force.

The enameled copper clouds engraved on the fine steel handrails were squeezed and deformed.

Hundreds of years ago, the Zhu family had encountered this kind of thing before.

In the past, they could kidnap people, interrogate, learn secretly, and bribe people - over the past few generations, how many local workshops, each with their own unique skills, were forcibly acquired by Tongyun Villa?
However, even Zhu Liu didn't dare to mention it this time.

"All the elites of my Zhu family for five generations are here, what should we do?"

Zhu Zhanran asked finally.

No one said anything.

"Okay, the situation is clear now..."

Zhu Zhanran looked at the twisted steel handrail, took two deep breaths, and roughly restored it to its original shape like kneading dough.

"In a physical fight, I can't beat the three of us alone. In a literary fight, you guys can't beat a grown-up kid. So we have no choice but to bow our heads and negotiate."

"Inform everyone that my birthday celebration in two days will not be held!"

he said angrily.

"Grandfather, please think twice about this!"

Zhu Lingze, the patriarch of the Zhu family and the father of the Zhu brothers, stepped out anxiously and spoke.

"Most of the 120 families and sects that were scheduled to come to celebrate the birthday and offer gifts have already arrived in Hongyi City. It would be too rude to ask them to go home now..."

"So, the Tongyun Pavilion was smashed to pieces, and the ruins have not yet been cleared. They have all seen it, and you still want to put up lights and pretend nothing happened?"

Zhu Zhanran's voice and expression were stern, and his hair and beard were all standing on end.

"Tianpeng Mountain said that they will prepare a feast for you. Who among you can go? Let's gather these people together in two days. Will you celebrate my birthday or watch me have fun?"

He was furious.

"Grandfather, there's no need to cancel it, or should we postpone it first?"

Zhu Leshui, who was standing in the hall, bowed and spoke.

What he was thinking about at this moment was the birthday gift that he had spent countless efforts to get.

"Humph, you're just trying to be brave, is that all you can do?"

Zhu Zhanran leaned back on the throne and glanced at him with disdain.

This sight made Zhu Da's face turn red.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Er, who was originally frightened, felt much better instantly.

······
On November 16th, it snowed heavily.

In the afternoon, we travel south.

The newly built house was heated like spring by several charcoal stoves.

The meeting started at noon.

It was past two quarters past the afternoon when Hong Fan pushed the door open, looking a little tired. He walked through the heavy snow that was as heavy as goose down and stood under the eaves outside the courtyard to get some fresh air.

To the north of Xujiatai, the distant mountains look like a white lion, lying and roaring in the icy wind, shaking its snowy mane.

After a while, Hong Fan heard the sound of footsteps in the snow coming closer and closer, and saw a man walking towards him with his clothes open, standing beside him with his thumbs on his belt.

It is Qu Luoyi's fault.

"Are you really planning to go to Tongyun Villa in person?"

He leaned against the wall, his voice light but clear.

"My master told me about Zhu Zhanran. He is different from Shen Maya. He cares about face even at the cost of life. He can do anything when he is in a hurry. We have forced the Zhu family to cancel the birthday celebration, which can be regarded as offending him very much. You still want to go there at this time. You are a bit careless."

Hong Fan withdrew his gaze and was slightly stunned.

"Brother Qu, this is really not something you would say."

he laughed.

"What you said shows that you haven't fully understood the ways of the world." Qu Luoyi shook his head.

“You have to be flexible in your dealings with others, let’s use the example of getting beaten as an example.

Sometimes, my master looked so angry that he wanted to beat me to death, but in fact, he just wanted to show off because there were outsiders present. If I ran away quickly, I would not only avoid being beaten, but also give him a way out.

Sometimes, he is really angry, and I can’t run away. I have to take a few beatings from him to calm him down. That’s the right thing to do.”

"Well, anyway, the water here is very deep and it's hard to grasp."

He spoke with a sigh and his face looked haggard.

"Then according to your experience, Brother Qu, what should we do this time?"

Hong Fan bowed and asked for advice.

"I mean, don't pay any attention to that Zhu."

Qu Luoyi leaned against the wall and rubbed off two pieces of frozen and brittle wall paint.

"With your furnace, the Zhu family can't beat us in steelmaking anyway; and since my head has said so, you don't have to worry about them doing anything else - Zhu Zhanran doesn't dare to come to Tianpeng Mountain, but my master dares to go to Hongyi City."

Hong Fan nodded silently.

But Troilio saw that he was not convinced.

"What on earth are you thinking?"

he asked.

"Brother Qu, there is a reason why the trip to Tiannan started off so smoothly."

Hong Fan thought for a while and then started the conversation from another angle.

"Our first batch of manpower is all elites selected by various companies. Half of them have some martial arts skills, and one third can read and write. But what about the future?"

"Just recruit later. If you have money, why worry about not having people?"

Qu Luoyi took it for granted.

"Brother Qu, talents don't grow in the ground, and you can't recruit them just by having money."

Hong Fan shook his head.

"There are two right paths in Jiuzhou. The first is to practice martial arts, and the second is to farm and study. No one is willing to work for others unless they have no other choice. Not to mention that the metallurgical industry is not something that anyone can do. It takes at least several months to train a worker who can be used."

"For example, the converter you just mentioned. I started preparing the first two furnaces before I founded Tiannanxing. Now the other two were completed quickly with the help of the warriors of Jincimen, but this is not enough. Liangzhou has 20 million people, Jiuzhou has ten times that..."

Hong Fan muttered to himself, looking at the endless white snow falling on the white world, his heart feeling lonely and cold.

"But what are you in such a hurry for?"

Qu Luoyi interrupted, puzzled.

"If Tiannanxing continues at its current pace, it will soon be able to make money."

“It’s not about making money…”

Hong Fan exhaled a breath of white air and watched it shattered by the icy wind.

"I once dreamed of a vision. When I woke up, I wanted to push the world towards it. To do this, I had to release the greater power of mortals besides warriors."

"Mortals, more vast?"

Qu Luoyi couldn't help but sneer.

"Brother Qu, which one do you think is stronger, grass or trees or tigers, leopards, jackals or wolves?"

Hong Fan asked calmly.

"Naturally it's a beast."

Qu Luo answered immediately.

"That's true for one-on-one situations. But what if we look at it from a deeper level? You practiced the Shura Battle Sutra and were able to sense vitality. How much vitality does lions and tigers have in the world, and how much does grass and trees have?"

Hong Fan asked again.

"If one day I want to change the color of the world, should I rely on wild animals or plants?"

This time Qu Luoyi was obviously speechless.

"So what I value about Tongyun Villa is not the financial and human resources of the Zhu family, nor the celestial and human strength of Tongyun Jizhao, but the tens of thousands of miners and thousands of skilled craftsmen under their command."

The sound of Hong Fan is resounding.

"So when I first drafted the Tiannan Journey with Duke Zhuang, I thought of this day - the plan is so big and the goal is so far-reaching, we should strive for even a little bit of strength, let alone a behemoth like Tongyun Villa."

"You talk so nicely, why didn't you seek cooperation with them from the beginning?"

Qu Luoyi argued.

"It's the same if we go after them first, it's just a matter of fighting them earlier or later. If we don't fight, how can we tell who's better?

Hong Fan laughed.

"Actually, there's no need to worry too much. Zhu Zhanran specifically invited me to go, and even asked Zhu Shengxiong to come in person to apologize and deliver the letter. This is already a sign of weakness, so there will be no danger."

The snow covered the feet of both men.

Qu Luoyi did not reply, but just stared at Hong Fan without blinking, as if he was looking at something strange.

"Brother Qu, why are you looking at me like this?"

Hong Fan asked.

"I always thought you were different."

Qu Luoyi replied.

"My appearance is indeed more outstanding than that of ordinary people."

Hong Fan said calmly.

"I'm not talking about appearance. Although you are better than me in appearance, the difference is not much after all - you also know that my handsomeness is recognized in Tianpeng Mountain."

Qu Luoyi smoothed the tangled hair on his temples and replied seriously.

"I have seen many martial arts geniuses. Although their personalities and talents are different, they are all focused on martial arts. Only you are different."

"You are not good at fighting, nor are you obsessed with martial arts. Your mind is wandering all over the place, and your thoughts are all kinds of strange, numerous and scattered."

"It stands to reason that such a person would never be able to practice martial arts well, but your progress in cultivation is not only not slower than mine, but your achievements in killing techniques are far higher than mine. This really doesn't make sense."

"I was surprised by you at first, but now I have to admit defeat."

He smacked his lips.

These words came out of nowhere, and Hong Fan remained silent for a long time.

The second generation has been a bully for many years, and he has always been proud of his current achievements.

But if you think about it carefully, it is obvious that the knowledge is from the previous life, and the destiny star martial arts are given by the Dragon Soul Tree. How much of it is unique to one's own struggle?
When he thought of this, Hong Fan felt guilty at first, but then he had a strong sense of mission.

"Brother Qu, I can only say that it is a coincidence that I have come this far."

He sighed softly.

"Perhaps this world wants to use me to accomplish something, so it gave me all this..."

He was about to express his feelings when he was suddenly interrupted.

"Okay, I don't understand your twists and turns."

Qu Luoyi used his little finger to pick his ear and a piece of earwax popped out.

"Anyway, since you have made up your mind, I will accompany you to Tongyun Villa again."

Hong Fan felt a little warm at heart when he heard this, but he couldn't say thank you.

The factory had stopped working at this time and everything was so quiet, except for the deafening sound of snowflakes falling to the ground.

Outside the wall, heavy snow hung from the sky and fluttered like a curtain, covering the mountains, rivers, clouds and forests; among them, Linchuan played black, and Yunshan played white, and they had already placed all the pieces on the chessboard.

(End of this chapter)