Supreme Emperor of Mist

"Ma - Master... You advanced into the fourth-level?" Lu Qing Yun was the first to notice the differences in Qin Lan's Spiritual Energy undulation.

"Really?" Hu Jia looked at her husband patiently. Although it was already night when Qin Lan came out, the outside of his cultivation chamber is considered well lit for them to discern Qin Lan's usual appearance.

"En." Qin Lan nodded. The lighting could hardly show them clearly of his changes.

"Alright. Let's get back to the pressing topic first. What do you mean by having trouble?" Qin Lan asked. Although he always knows that trouble will come to them sooner or later, he has no idea that it will be this soon.

There were a few possible culprits in his mind, but Qin Lan decided to follow the flow.

"On the day you enter seclusion, the Chu's Security and Escort Business was attacked by a group of mysterious bandits. Three convoys were robbed, and about fifty people from the family met with their demise." Lu Qing Yun started to explain in detail.

"Three servants from our Qin Household and two from Hu Household also sacrificed that day from the attack. Since they had no other family members, the case was settled without too many problems on our end." Huo Zunjie added.

"Have the identity of the people attacking us been found out?" Qin Lan asked.

"No, they erased their track each time after attacking us. Not even a single identification nor document is left on those people we've killed." Lu Qing Yun answered.

"Husband," Hu Jia asked for Qin Lan's attention as the five of them headed back to the Courtyard belonged to Qin Tian's branch of family members. Looking at how anxious is the expression of his lawfully wed wife, Qin Lan stops walking.

"Is there something wrong with the Hu Household?" Qin Lan asked.

"Yes... The family received a few large orders from Su-Hang Town a few days before you went into seclusion. Right now, the due date for this order is almost here. We're only managed to fulfill one of the three orders."

"Based on how it goes, the family will be forced to compensate for being unable to fulfill our end of the contract. The cost of breaching the contract is close to 20,000 Flesh Foundation Pills..." Hu Jia whispered softly into Qin Lan's ears.

"Don't worry. I'll handle this personally." Qin Lan gave Hu Jia a kiss on her lips as he walked away and headed straight into the family hall.

"Young Patriarch has arrived!" Huo Zunjie announced Qin Lan's arrival as the group stepped into the meeting hall. Currently, Chu Xiang from the Chu Household and Hu Jia's father is present in this hall.

"Young Patriarch." Chu Xiang greets Qin Lan the moment he saw the latter came in with his subordinates.

"Son-In-Law..." Hu Jia's father was not as humble as Chu Xiang due to his status. But the female butler behind him behaves courteously and politely bow herself a little to greet Qin Lan.

"It is good that both families are here. Let us assess our current situation. How many experts can both of your spare to me right now?" Qin Lan skipped all the pretense and moved into the main topic right away.

"40 fourth-level Flesh Refining Layer experts and two fifth-level." Chu Xiang answered.

"The Hu Household can spare around 30 fourth-level experts and three fifth-level cultivators as well," Qin Lan's father-in-law added.

"That's great. Please have the experts gather here right away. I'll brief them on what to do on our way. As for the detail of this operation, please forgive me for not able to divulge too much information." Qin Lan cupped his fist together as he asked them to follow obediently.

"We'll go back and arrange it. Young nephew, we'll be waiting for your good news." both of them left without discussing anything else.

...

...

"Do you think he'll be able to handle this?" Chu Xiang asked when leaving the Qin's Estate located on the northwest of this Fu-Rong Town.

"Hopefully..." Hu Jia's father rubbed his temple because their previous attempt to gather material ended up getting attacked and almost had their entire party annihilated.

If that was not the case, the Hu Household might not be that short of manpower when Qin Lan asked.

...

"Qing Yun, prepare the ration for a hundred people. Lu Yi, go and prepare a hundred horses for us. If people asked, tell them that we're preparing a counterattack to sweep the Western Demon Forest inner region to gather resources to solve this matter."

"Zunjie, go and look for the town mayor. Tell him that we'll have to borrow a hundred Qiankun Pouches. If he asked, tell him that we're heading to the Cloud Plucking Sect." Qin Lan said.

"I thought we're going to the Western Demon Forest?" Lu Qing Yun and Lu Yi asked.

"Did I say where we're going?" Qin Lan placed both hands on his back as he returns to his own sleeping chamber. After changing into the cloth and appearance of Pharmacist Lu, Qin Lan sneaked out of the Qin Estate.

...

...

"Chu Household! Give us your answer right now! Are you going to compensate us for our losses? We've been waiting for a whole week already!" the smaller business owners who lost their merchandise and order complained.

Some behave aggressively, and a small fight quickly ensued right outside of the Chu Family Manor. But nobody noticed there's a silhouette is checking on them from afar.

An hour later, the silhouette appeared outside one of the businesses that belonged to the one who acted aggressively and sneaked into his building without alarming the guest.

The silhouette spread his Spiritual Sense around the building. He acted immediately after noticing there are no experts of his level here. Sneaking around and stealing a few pieces of paperwork related to its merchandise, the silhouette left.

This process repeated a few times before the silhouette returned to the Qin Estate.

Changing back to Qin Lan, he left his sleeping chamber to greet the group of cultivators from both Chu and Hu Household.

"I am Qin Lan. First of all, please let me say thank you for gathering here." Qin Lan cupped his fist together and started to speak.

"Greetings, Young Patriarch!" everyone politely addressed Qin Lan as he made his presence known.

"I believe that everyone present knew the reason we're gathering here today. But first, let me ask for your forgiveness because we'll keep our mission secret until we've arrived at our destination. Those that unwilling to obey my request may leave right now." Qin Lan stated.

None of the cultivators left.

Qin Lan chuckled. After the provision and horses were distributed to each of them, he secretly ordered Lu Yi and Lu Qing Yun to take the lead and bring the punitive force of a hundred fourth to the fifth-level cultivators out.

Instead of taking the quick way out from the outskirt where Qin Estate is located, they're using the main access gate of the Fu-Rong Town situated at the south.

Greeted by the residents as they depart, it makes a hundred cultivators felt somewhat proud as they ride on the back of the horses and proudly exit the town.

But what comes next was a big puzzling question that nobody could answer.

The punitive forces continued heading north as they traveled past the entrance into the Western Demon Forest. Soon, a signal flare is fired into the sky, summoning them back to the Qin Estate.

"What just happened?" the public found out that they had lost their ability to perceive what just happened. Furthermore, the door leading into the Qin Estate is completely shut off once the last horses entered through that private northwestern gate.

...

...

...

"Somebody must have leak our movement to those people from the Qin Household. If not, how do they know we're planning a pincer attack against them between the Western Demon Forest and route to Fuyun City?"

A table is smashed into pieces when this individual vents his anger.

"What shall we do next?" asked another individual standing beside him.

"Arranged everyone to camp along the route leading to Fuyun City. I'm suspecting that the Qins will try to use this opportunity to slip away from us. Tell the Hushan Bandits nothing about this. They might have a few loose lips amongst them that give our position out unintentionally."

The leading individual said.

Then, a smaller group of people dressed in farmer's clothing returned to the outpost.

"Hahaha, that business owner is quite a smart one. Only he can come up with the idea to get rough with the guards from the Chu Family. I think one more day is enough for us to make the people lost their patience and charge into the manor asking for compensation." one of the farmers said.

"It seems we're doing well inside the Fu-Rong Town. Did you bring back any of the Spiritual Gathering Dew, old six?" the door into the outpost is opened to allow old six to step inside. In his hand is a Qiankun Pouch holding about twenty bottles of Spiritual Gathering Dew.

"Big brother, old two," he greeted his two brothers and dropped the Qiankun Pouch on the table near the wall.

"Are we going to attack the Qins? It seems they're covering themselves inside that turtle shell, at least to me." old six said as he mentioned how tight is the door to the Qins is closed.

"Did any of your boys talk about our operation today when chasing the skirts out there? We almost lost our chance to attack the Qins because of this!" the leading individual asked.

"Young master Jiao, please mind your words." old six poured the Spiritual Gathering Dew into his mouth and sat on top of a wooden crate inside the room.

"We're business partners. Not your subordinate." he chuckled.