Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1370: Family Accumulation

"It's not difficult to refine a corpse, but it's hard to find a good corpse."

Mr. Fang San spoke in a very elegant manner, but his words were not at all "elegant". He extended his hand to invite Mr. Jia to take a seat, and the servant from Lu Ning's perspective consciously stood at the end of the servants. These people were obviously very familiar with the four iron corpses.

"Master Shengyuan, Fang Yuanyuchang, I have visited both families, and the Fang family is indeed the leader."

"Mr. Jia, be careful with your words." The Third Master Fang raised his teacup. "The first family in Shengyuan is the Yuwen family after all. The order of precedence cannot be messed up. Otherwise, it would be a violation of the rules."

"I spoke out of turn, and I'm punished with a glass of wine." Mr. Jia picked up the cup. Unlike the one in Mr. Fang's teacup, this cup contained actual wine.

Mr. Fang San just watched Mr. Jia drink the wine and then nodded with satisfaction.

"Iron Face Building is indeed a business. How many years has Mr. Jia been in the world?"

"I am young and dull, but after walking for two hundred years, I still have many questions about the ways of the human world. I was favored by the owner of the building and took my current position."

"Very good, very good. Mr. Jia now looks 90% human. If he is not a top person in the world, it is hard to tell whether he is a human or a monster. And in Shengyuan City, the rules are very strict. Only a monster like you who knows how to abide by them can talk to us." Young Master Fang laughed, then he suddenly turned his head and reached out to press the arm of an iron corpse beside him.

Everything in front of her eyes suddenly became blurred. Lu Ning immediately used the freedom in her dream to slide out of the garden. She then stabilized her dream with the help of other people's dreams.

It’s not that she was discovered, but that the Third Young Master Fang took the initiative to block the perception of ordinary people. The servant knew nothing about what happened afterwards, and her dream seemed to be disturbed to a certain extent.

Her ability is still too weak to weave a dream by herself. She can only guide it a little. This is what happens when she encounters too strong interference. But this is enough. From what Mr. Jia said, there are two other noble families in the city that have been visited?

Fang, Yuan, Yu and Chang. Yuan was naturally the Yuan named Yuan Weinong, but Lu Ning didn't know much about the Yu and Chang families.

But it doesn't matter, she can weave her dreams with the help of the large population here to find out some confidential matters. With what happened just now, she also knows that the things in this city that can be called confidential will not be easily discovered by her.

That was good—she could investigate more safely.

Just walk a few streets and you will arrive at the main area managed by the Yu family. Each family has its own main business place. Of course, if other families come to open a store, it is also fine. It is just business competition, and it depends on one's own ability.

It is somewhat ironic that Lu Ning visited many shops in this way, and some of them were dissatisfied with their peers and even jealous and resentful. However, none of these shop owners dared to use some despicable means. At most, they joined forces with other peers to squeeze the business. In contrast, Huai Ling Lu, as an emerging family, has now become like that.

The territory of the Yu family is no different from that of the Fang family. Shengyuan City is so peaceful that it is unlike those cities in the outside world that are constantly plagued by natural disasters and man-made disasters. If Lu Ning did not know the reason for this appearance, she would have really thought that this was some kind of paradise.

As expected, the Yu family also has similar protections.

First of all, the Yu family mansion is inaccessible even in dreams, which seems to be a common understanding among the residents of Shengyuan City. And there is no one in the Yu family who can be communicated with in dreams - this does not mean that no one is resting, it can only mean that the Yu family itself has special defense methods.

Lu Ning had never tried other family houses, but it was probably similar. There was no need for more. As long as it was a grand ceremony, it would be enough to isolate her from the momentary scene that she was not yet familiar with.

Secondly, people’s descriptions of the Yu family in their dreams are also varied.

This is different from the Fang family. In the dream, most people's evaluation of the Fang family is the standard style of aristocratic families. Even if it may be different from the actual situation, the caliber is basically the same. But the Yu family is different. They even have some "bad reviews". It's not a big deal, but there are always people complaining that the Yu family handles certain things unfairly, or that some of the family members are more dandy.

Compared to the perfect Fang family, the Yu family is different, but are they really like that?

After seeing the four iron corpses around Mr. Fang San, Lu Ning no longer dared to make any guarantees.

She checked in her dream and finally found a person from the Yu family in a gambling house.

Judging from Lu Ning's experience in this world, gambling was not something she particularly rejected. After all, Lu Qingxu was even an expert in it. However, after she walked into the gambling house in her dream, she couldn't help but frowned.

This gambling house was obviously not well managed, anyone with money could come in and play. She had originally thought that the people in Shengyuan City were so considerate that they would at least keep the place clean, but that was not the case.

The man from the Yu family even held a wine jug in his hand and stood in front of the gambling table, looking drunk. It was obvious that this person had fallen asleep in reality. After she walked into the gambling house, her dream began to revolve around him.

As the saying goes, dreams can bring you anything. Lu Ning couldn't have any great magical powers, but it was possible that this man would win nine out of ten bets and make a fortune. It was just a dream after all. And this gambler was obviously a gambler. Seeing that there was already a small pile of bamboo chips in front of him, he actually picked them up and prepared to bet big.

Lu Ning naturally let him win.

"Haha!! I, Yu Baijuan, have finally come to this day! This time, I... hiccup, I won back! Boss! Boss?"

"Master Yu, stop yelling. The boss told me to wait here." A tall man came over with a smile on his face. "Master, you are very lucky today. Do you want to play again?"

"Of course I'm coming, but..." Yu Baijuan divided the bamboo chips and pushed a large pile of them over, "Get my mask back first."

"Sir, the things won't get lost if they are placed here." The man came closer and said with a smile, "You are so lucky today, of course..."

"Don't give me that! Give me the mask first." Yu Baijuan said dissatisfiedly, "Rules, don't break the rules."

The man's face changed, and he could only take a cloth bag from the person behind him and put it in front of Yu Baijuan. Yu Baijuan snatched the bag and took out a well-carved wooden mask from it. After carefully examining it, he pulled the rope behind the mask and hung it around his neck.

"Hmph, that's all for today."

Yu Baijuan picked up the remaining bamboo chips, walked to the side of the table to exchange them for money, then staggered out with the wine jug in his hand.

Mask? Lu Ning opened her hands and formed a mask exactly like the one she had just used, but apart from its excellent workmanship, she could not tell anything special about it.

After all, it is a dream, and some special effects cannot be replicated here. I don’t know if this is the case with Yu Baijuan’s mask, but she also has a way to verify it.

As soon as a thought passed, Lu Ning woke up and walked towards the gambling house in the direction he remembered.

In reality, Yu Baijuan still lost everything, and he found a bench to lie down and fell asleep. His dream of winning money also turned into an impression that disappeared in an instant when Lu Ning woke up. He would not remember it once he woke up, and at most he felt that he had a good dream.

But after all, he was born in the Yu family. The gambling house dared to win his money, but they didn't dare to really do anything to him. If he wanted to sleep here, he could do it.

Lu Ning also saw that the mask was placed in a bag. She guessed that there was something mysterious on it, but since the gambling house dared to take it, it would be okay for her to borrow it and take a look.

It was very easy to steal things with those little spells. Without much effort, Lu Ning got the bag in her hands. This time, she could see the aura contained in the mask through the bag.

Yaomu had never seen breath from a dead object before. This was the first time.

Lu Ning did not take out the mask immediately, but weighed it in her hand. In her dream, the mask was made of wood, but when she really took it in her hand, she felt it was quite heavy and a bit heavy.

She glanced at Yu Baijuan who was still sleeping on the bench, returned the things, and after leaving the gambling house, she booked a room in a theater opposite and performed the scene of a moment again.

This time, Yu Baijuan sat on the bench with his head down, drinking alone, while a man dressed as a merchant came over and sat down next to him.

This traveling merchant naturally did not exist. He was just a person created by Lu Ning to act on her behalf. She did not intend to enter the dream herself, in case something could really remember her - that was how she had tricked herself into a night tour.

"Brother, you are well-dressed, why are you so dejected?" asked the traveling merchant.

"Who are you?" Yu Baijuan looked up at the merchant, then became annoyed, "Forget it, I lost everything again today."

"Brother, do you owe money to the gambling house?"

"Ha, I dare to owe them, but do they dare to owe them?" Yu Baijuan sneered, "It's just that I don't have the money, and I can't redeem my mask."

"Mask? Haha, don't blame me for being nosy. I've traveled a lot as a merchant, and I've seen countless kinds of masks. How much is a mask worth? You look like you come from a wealthy family. Your monthly allowance alone should be enough to buy a hundred or so masks, right?"

"Outsider?" Yu Baijuan turned his head and looked at the traveling merchant, laughing, "But even if he is a local, he wouldn't know. Every member of my Yu family has one mask, and they have all been carved by hand since childhood. How can it be the same as those ordinary ones outside?"

"Well... If you are willing to help me solve this problem, I can pay to help you get the mask back. How about it?" asked the traveling merchant.

"Two hundred taels of silver, can you afford it?"

As a result, the merchant took out two silver notes worth one hundred taels of silver from his pocket.

"Brother, you don't know that I travel around the world, buying and selling goods, but I also write down the world's strange stories and interesting things. If you can tell me one or two and really satisfy my curiosity, what is a mere two hundred taels of silver to me?" The traveling merchant laughed.

Yu Baijuan stared at the banknote for a long while, then made up his mind: "You said so."

"Although I am not a gentleman, when doing business, I rely on the word honesty and integrity."

"Okay... I'll tell you what I can say. Speaking of knowledge, I, Yu Baijuan, am also one of the top ten in Shengyuan City!"

After hearing this, Lu Ning thought he was bragging, but she didn't expect Yu Baijuan to be able to talk about the city's affairs in a very clear and logical manner, and not just about his own family.

In his words, the so-called aristocratic families were actually "the Fang family who drove corpses, the Yuan family who worshipped Buddha, the Yu family who performed shaman dances and the Chang family who begged for food." He only knew little about the Yuwen family.

Although the words were a bit crude, the noble families all started from humble beginnings, and their ancestors had experienced great fortunes before they reached their current status. It was also because of this that it was an unspoken rule among them not to tear each other's faces apart or expose each other's past.

As long as the mask of the Yu family is in the family tree, when the baby is holding the first birthday, five kinds of wood will be selected for the baby to grab. The wood selected by the baby will be used to carve out the prototype of the mask, and incense will be offered in the ancestral temple. When the baby is five years old, he will be worshipped in the ancestral temple and the mask will be taken away. From then on, he will learn the carving method every day, repair the mask, and nourish its spirit. When all the details of the mask have been carved, it is ready for use. At this time, he can practice the family's spiritual mind skills, and the strength of the skills depends on how much the mask has grown.

Yu Baijuan was still quite proud: "Although ours sounds strange, at least it's not evil, it's not like... ahem."

It can be seen that even behind the back, people from these families would not gossip casually.

The situations of the other families were just a bonus. It seemed that Yu Baijuan felt that only his own things should not be revealed, so he started to talk about the secrets of other families.

For a moment, Lu Ning was wondering whether he would really be compensated with two hundred taels of silver in reality.

The Fang family is now at the peak of their powers in Shengyuan City with just one corpse-refining technique. Yu Baijuan, an outsider, could not know the specific details, but the Fang family's corpse-refining technique was both offensive and defensive, and he could stand back and watch the show leisurely. Yu Baijuan was very envious of such a useful thing. This corpse-refining technique also has levels, just like the mask of the divine mind technique also needs to grow. The more powerful the corpse, the less human-like its skin is, and the stronger its strength is.

The Yuan family does have a wish-making device as rumored, but the main body has been kept in their ancestral home. Now the Yuan family uses something they call astronomy, which is mysterious. Yu Baijuan can see that the effect is that this spell can make luck extremely good, almost to the point of making wishes come true. A gambler like him is quite envious of this ability.

As for the Chang family, as the last of the four families, Yu Baijuan jokingly called them beggars because they mastered the art of gathering treasures. Everyone in the family carried rare treasures and were like walking money bags. Although they were the last of the four families, they were the richest family in the entire city. The beads that fell from their bodies were enough for Yu Baijuan to redeem his mask. The other three families were actually a little afraid of the Chang family, because the treasures they gathered were not just worldly treasures, but also the unique skills of various families. If they were not careful, they would probably be gathered.

After listening to this, Lu Ning could only sigh that it was fortunate that he did not act rashly. These aristocratic families that were able to occupy the north and survive several dynasties were indeed not easy to deal with.