Chongming Xianzong

Chapter 176 Blue Silver Mine
After getting up from Huo Ying's body, Master Kang walked straight to an uninhabited cliff outside Chongmingfang City. At this time, a skinny old man in Taoist clothes was standing there with an iron-feathered eagle with a wingspan of three meters.

Kang Dabao had seen both the man and the bird. The old man was a well-known beastmaster in Pingrong County. He had the impression that he should have a few sworn brothers who were also capable.

This group of people had a good reputation around Pingrong County. They often went to the Jackdaw Mountains together to hunt monsters to earn food. They seldom attacked their fellow villagers in the county and could be considered a rare group of good people.

The Iron-Feathered Eagle is a spiritual bird that has been passed down in the Luo family of Black Forest Castle for nearly a hundred years. Its grade is not high, only a mid-grade first-grade one.

I just heard that the Luo family patriarchs of all generations have loved this giant eagle that only shows their majesty, but I didn't expect that it has now fallen into the hands of an outsider, the old man in Taoist costume.

"It seems that the life of our county magistrate seems to be even more difficult." Kang Dabao shook his head. Of course, he just sighed and it was impossible for him to worry about Luo Heng.

The old man in Taoist attire was waiting here so early because he was sent by Tiexishan to pick up Kang Dabao.

Calculating the time, when others had just left the Pingrong County Government Office, I should still be on the bed, happily whipping Deacon Huo. The night wind was howling, and it must have been really tiring.

Having a spiritual bird like the Iron-Winged Eagle for transportation is much better than an old donkey. Although it is not as fast as the Black Falcon used in the previous battle against the Five Phases Sect, it is also quite fast.

The old man in Taoist attire was very attentive in talking to Master Kang on the street, with a very humble attitude, and it was completely hard to tell that he was the new chief of Pingrong County who was about to take over Tiexishan's position.

The Pingrong Tie family did not let one of their own take power this time, but instead chose such a casual cultivator to succeed in order to preserve their family's interests. I'm afraid there is a deep meaning behind this.

But this has little to do with Kang Dabao, and with his personality, he is too lazy to guess. The Taoist old man has practiced for decades and has been to many places, even outside the Tao. This kind of experience is rare among fellow Taoists, and he has a lot of knowledge. Master Kang chatted with him all the way and gained a lot of insights.

Of course, the old man in Taoist attire was also happy to have a good relationship with Master Kang.

According to Tie Xishan's previous instructions, after he takes office as the magistrate of Tanggu County, the Pingrong Tie family should follow Tie Zhihui's instructions and devote a large part of their energy to the much richer Tanggu County.

His family could no longer take care of their poor hometown in Pingrong County, so they chose an old man in Taoist costume as a cover.

The Pingrongtie family also knew that with only the skills and capital of the Taoist old man, it was impossible for him to compete with the head of Kang. They only hoped that the old man could protect the family's property as much as possible, and did not think about anything else.

The Iron-Winged Eagle flew much faster than Master Kang's spirit boat, and the two of them quickly flew to the Pingrong County Government Office.

When passing through the county town, Kang Dabao saw clearly that the two county magistrates who were stationed in the county still did not put much effort into managing the people's livelihood.

The common people in the county were still dishevelled and dirty, with little spirit in their eyes. From time to time, tragedies such as starving people falling to the ground and children being sold happened on the streets.

It can be seen from this that although Pingrong County is a formal city in the Xian Dynasty's geomancy, it is still far from being as vibrant as Chongming City, a wild city privately built by a sect.

This is true. After all, the main city recorded in the map of the Immortal Dynasty, in theory, only the Immortal Dynasty can select immortal seedlings from here. If other sects and families want to get involved, then according to the laws of the early years of this dynasty, they will be severely punished.

Before the arrival of the Earl of Nan'an, the immortal seedlings in the main city of Yunjiao Province were tacitly divided equally among the forces of each county. Naturally, some people would have some concerns at that time, but now that the provincial court has come, they have been making a big deal out of it and imposing harsh penalties.

Gradually, people stopped doing things like selecting the immortal seedlings of the city, so as to avoid being given an advantage.

In recent years, among those forces that were destroyed and their temples were destroyed by the state court because of their closeness to the Liangyi Sect, many of them were found by the state court because of these trivial matters and ended up with their families destroyed.

In this case, certainly few people will care about public property. Wouldn’t it be better to focus on improving the cities and towns that they have built privately?

Master Kang is now in his prime. The yamen runners guarding the door have been trained by Tie Xishan to be very tactful. When they saw him coming, they bowed and led the way.

The number of county officials in the hall is still uneven. After Sun Bingdou died, the candidate nominated by the Caowu Cult did not get the approval of Huo Bin, and the matter is still on hold.

Kang Dabao guessed that Governor Huo was still trying to manipulate the Grass Witch Cult in order to extract some benefits, but the latter probably would not be willing to pay tribute to Huo Bing, an old foundation-building cultivator.

The head of his sect, Chen Ye, was almost going crazy in his desire to build a foundation and was reluctant to spend even a single spirit stone. He probably wanted to wait until Huo Bing died of old age before doing anything.

In the hall, only Luo Heng was wearing official uniform, while Tie Xishan was dressed as a Taoist priest.

Looking at the smug and triumphant head of the Kang clan, Tie Xishan immediately recalled the appearance of Widow Ma and Lady Chong yesterday, and a hint of envy appeared on his face.

I thought to myself, "To have two women on both sides is a blessing."

The market town of Tanggu County did not have the chance to be upgraded to a town market. Tiexishan benefited a lot, but it was far less prosperous than Kang Dabao. At least there were no female cultivators of that level who would throw themselves into his arms.

"Thank you for your hard work, brother." Tie Xishan put aside all the distracting thoughts in his mind and was the first to come forward to greet him, with a hint of intimacy in his smile.

"It's been a long time since we last met. You look even more elegant than before." Luo Heng forced an awkward smile as a greeting.

He has tried every possible means, but still cannot escape the control of Tiexishan, who has a stronger backing.

The Huo family behind him has been slow to respond, probably intending to abandon him as a son-in-law. As a result, Luo Heng has lost his spirit recently and no longer has the idea of ​​competing for power with Tie Xishan.

Unexpectedly, as a result, his life became much better. Tie Xishan no longer made things difficult for him and allowed him to visit prostitutes and drink as he pleased.

This also meant that the servants in the county government no longer had to worry about their butts when they were on duty.

“Hello, my two wise brothers. Here is an imperial edict which arrived this morning. It was sent from the Governor’s Mansion, and it says…” Just from this, it can be seen that Luo Heng’s status has really been much higher. After all, Tie Xishan agreed to let him read the silk book.

"Where are you going to conquer next?" Luo Heng was interrupted by Kang Dabao with a stern face when he was halfway through his words.

Didn't Tiexishan mention this when he came yesterday?! Are they really going to send troops to Puzhou to fight the Sanxiang Sect?! Are you calling on me again? I've only been back for a few days, and I can't use a mule like this.

Tie Xishan had read the silk book long ago, and smiled to reassure the headmaster Kang: "Don't worry, brother, it's just that the spiritual stone vein in Tanggu County is going to be restarted, and Governor Huo wants us to send some masters."

Master Kang finally breathed a sigh of relief. Not long ago, he heard that Huo Bing went to the Earl of Nan'an to cry and complain. The latter was tired of listening to him, so he transferred the ownership of the spiritual stone mine in Tanggu County from the state court to the governor's office.

The Huo family has just regained this source of wealth, but they are so impatient to recruit teachers from all the counties?

How many lives would it take to sacrifice that small spiritual stone vein?

What happened to the Huo family recently that made them so shameless as to steal spirit stones from everywhere?
This made Master Kang a little puzzled, but he had already led a team there once, so it shouldn't be his turn.

Although the spiritual stone vein was swept by Tie Liuyun, Gun Shide and Bushe, three foundation-building true cultivators, and the provincial court soldiers, all the monsters had been wiped out.

But when Master Kang thought of the dense swarm of rats at that time, he felt a little sick. Chongming Market and Chongming Sect both had a lot of things to do, so he would not take such an unscrupulous job.

You know, Pingrong County alone has lost four thousand masters because of the mining of spirit stone mines. The cave is really full of bones, and every spirit stone chiseled out is filled with blood.

Tie Zhubu would not be interested in doing the hard work that Master Kang did not want to do, so in the end, the job was taken over by County Master Luo.

Huo Bing is a real miser. The work assigned to him from the Governor's Office is all tiring and unprofitable, so it is only right for his son-in-law to do it.

After talking about this little matter, Tie Xishan and Kang Dazhang exchanged glances, and the county lord Luo Heng left the main hall that belonged to him.

"I will be going to Tanggu County to take up my post soon. There are still some things at home that I need your care!" Tie Xishan ignored the clerks beside him, took out a talisman map with a faint glow, and unfolded it to show Kang Dabao.

Kang Dabao took a closer look and was slightly surprised. He didn't know since when the Tie family had so many industries in Pingrong County.

The entire Qingzhu Forest of the Qingzhu Gang, 30% of the shares of the Tongxiu Association's Yushan Market, and half of the ownership of the Caowu Cult's Chonggu Yangshan.
Except for the forces of Hemu Dao and Chongming Sect, which the Tie family had no involvement in, all other prominent forces in Pingrong County were bitten hard by the Tie family.

The dozens of Qi-cultivating cultivators in the Pingrong Tie family don't have such a big appetite. It seems that Tie Liuyun's appetite is not much better than Huo Bin's.

That's right, there is nothing new in the world, the crow stands on the black pig.

Tie Xishan and Kang Dabao talked about this map for a long time, going into every detail and going through the whole process.

In contrast, there was a pile of official documents accumulated in Pingrong County, which Tie Xishan casually handed to Master Kang, asking him to take a look at it when he had time.

That's true. As the saying goes, public affairs are not as important as personal affairs.

After traveling for half a day to reach Pingrong County, Kang Dabao was not in a hurry to return to the clan and declined Tie Xishan's invitation to a banquet. He wanted to return to Chongming Market as soon as possible as he had a lot of official business to attend to.

Unexpectedly, when passing by a brothel under the Yuanyang Hall, he heard a few tunes that quite suited his taste, so he simply walked in in a low-key manner, ready to cultivate his sentiments.

After a few songs, Master Kang could be heard smiling. Although the female singer on the stage was not as pretty as Huo Ying, her singing was better than the latter's last night, with a unique flavor.

"This little song is really white."

"Who said it wasn't?" Kang Dabao replied subconsciously, and was suddenly startled. He moved his eyes from his thighs and saw a man sitting in front of him, with a curly beard and black armor, who looked familiar.

"Hello, Commander Tie." Kang Dabao was surprised and quickly stood up to greet him.

"County Lieutenant Yan Kang from Xishan has important matters to attend to and cannot come to the mansion for the banquet. It turns out that he came here to see these slutty women." Tie Liuyun was not as cold as he was when he first met Kang Dabao and held the head.

At this moment, not only was his tone humorous, but his hands were also not polite, he picked up the fruit on Kang Dabao's table and started to chew it. "Hey, I wonder what Tie Xishan wants to do." Kang Dabao laughed awkwardly and cursed Tie Xishan in his heart, "You damned thing, if you had told me earlier that this guy was at home, only a fool would refuse to go and perfunctorily deal with him."

"You should go to Tanggu County too." Tie Liuyun was straightforward and wiped the juice off his beard with the warm sweat towel on the table.

"This official just came back from the spirit stone mine not long ago. His wounds haven't healed yet, and he almost bled out for the Immortal Dynasty. Besides, this is not the business of the Demon Correction Bureau, Commander Tie..." Kang Dabao immediately looked embarrassed. The man in front of him was really treating him like a mule.

Master Kangda now has plenty of resources and teachers to teach him. Only a fool would want to go to Tanggu County and risk his life.

"Don't worry, I'm not asking you to lead hard labor to mine. I know you've done it once and don't want to do such hard work again." Tie Liuyun smiled, making his fierce face even uglier.

"The Tanggu and Kuai family are your in-laws, right? It was you who gave Dantong Cliff to his family, right?!" Tie Liuyun asked suddenly.

"My elders are indeed related to the Kuai family." Why did they suddenly bring up the Kuai family? Kang Dabao didn't understand, but the news couldn't be hidden from those who were interested. In a few days, the head of the Kang family was planning to help Pei Yi propose marriage to the Kuai family, so he answered truthfully.

"That's right!" Tie Liuyun slapped the table excitedly, "His family is lucky. They recently found a blue silver vein in Tanggu County. You in-laws are destined to get rich too!"

Kang Dabao was also surprised after hearing this and felt that the Kuai family was lucky.

Unlike extremely cheap spiritual ores such as black iron, minerals such as blue silver are considered medium-quality among first-level spiritual ores.

If the deposit is large enough, there might be a second-level blue silver crystal, which would be even more valuable. That is a high-quality spiritual material that can be used by many fake pills and golden pills to practice weapons, and ordinary foundation-building forces should not even think of getting involved.

But this kind of mineral deposits are not something that the Kuai family, let alone the current Chongming Emperor, can enjoy, let alone share in the profits. How can they make any fortune from it?
Besides, since the Kuai family discovered the blue silver vein, why didn’t Kuai En write to me?
Well, it turns out that they were just affectionate in words. When it was time to eat meat, they kept calling our Kang Dabao "Uncle". But when it was time to eat meat, they forgot about our Kang Dabao.

Is his family going to change their allegiance again? Well, if that's the case, can I ask Junior Brother Pei to break off the engagement?
Seeing that Master Kang didn't respond, Tie Liuyun frowned and thought to himself, "How can this guy be so out of touch with the news?! Half a day has passed, and he still doesn't know the news?!"

After cursing in his heart, Tie Liuyun continued, "I heard that your family, Governor Huo, wants to seize this mine. This is simply unreasonable. Aren't you going to help?"

Kang Dabao's eyes rolled when he heard this. OK, so this is the idea.

Since they are relatives by marriage and have connections with Dantong Cliff, it is reasonable for him to help the Kuai family seize the mine.

Tie Liuyun was the sponsor of the family, so it was natural for him to be brought in as the backstage. Then, the commander of the Baisha County Demon Correction Division could compete with the Huo family for the spiritual mine on the Huo family's territory.
"Bah, how can the officials of Jingnan Prefecture extend their hands so far into Yunjiao Prefecture? They are so shameless." Kang Dabao cursed in his heart.

After all, the Huo family is a large foundation-building family, and Huo Bing is the local leader that the Earl of Nan'an relies on. He has nothing better to do than to provoke him.

"Commander Tie, Governor Huo is now your close confidant."

"That old bastard Huo Bing doesn't have ten years left to live. How can an old man like him be qualified to be the governor's confidant?" Tie Liuyun interrupted Kang Dabao, glanced at him, and continued: "Think clearly, I have only been practicing for a hundred years. But even among the entire Shannan Road foundation building, I am not necessarily afraid of anyone!"

"My mother-in-law, Fei Nan-ao?"

".He is not from Shannan Dao, so he doesn't count."

"Then my Uncle Black Shoes."

"He is only at the third level of foundation building, so he is not that scary."

Upon hearing this, Kang Dabao said "Oh" and stopped talking. Instead, he took a sip of tea calmly, feeling comfortable. So this is the feeling of having a backer!
"If you can get it, I'll give you 10%." Tie Liuyun's face changed for a while and he put forward the conditions.

"Commander Tie, Kang Dabao is just a lucky guy. I don't have the courage to make things difficult for the Huo family." Kang Dabao replied half-truthfully.

"Thirty percent." Tie Liuyun was silent for a while and said through gritted teeth.

"The Chongming Sect is in a state of decline and has no strength." Kang Dabao still shook his head.

"Fifty percent!" Tie Liuyun slammed the table with red eyes, shocking the people who were listening to the music around him.

"...I still have to ask my elders at home." Kang Dabao really didn't expect that even the smallest blue silver vein would earn 3,000 to 4,000 spirit stones a year, right? It could really increase Chongming Sect's income by a lot.

Tie Liuyun was really willing to give it up like this? It seemed that he was not attracted by the blue silver vein, but was determined to slap Huo Bin in the face.

"Go and ask now. I'll be waiting for your reply in Pingrong County." Tie Liuyun glared at Kang Dabao unhappily and drove the latter out of the brothel.

After Master Kang flew back to Chongming Sect on his spirit boat, he realized that he had wronged Kuai En. It turned out that Kuai En had sent him a letter about the blue silver vein right after he left Chongming Market.

However, unlike what Tie Zhihui said, Kuai En's letter did not say that the Huo family had done anything to bully others. They only said that the mineral vein would be sold at a discount.

This is normal. After all, with the strength of the Kuai family, they really can't keep the good things on their land. They are willing to pay money and can exchange it for a sum of spirit stones safely. Even if it is less, it is a good thing.

Calculating the time, Commander Tie knew that the Huo family was going to buy the Kuai family's blue silver mine only half a day later than the parties involved in the two families.

So it’s not that Kuai En’s letter came too late, but that Commander Tie was too well-informed.

Kang Dabao never needed to notify the Taoist Heilu when he met him. This was his privilege. The Taoist had already come out of retreat and was instructing Jiang Qing in his swordsmanship.

"If we ask him for 60%, he will give it to us." The Taoist in Black Shoes said indifferently, as if he was going to the market for a stroll: "If he doesn't give it to us, forget it. We can go and rob him ourselves."

Jiang Qing on the side nodded in agreement. The Taoist Heilu's style of doing things was indeed in line with the style of the contemporary number one swordsman of the Chongming Sect.

"Uncle Master, the Huo family..." Kang Dabao carefully reminded him. After all, Huo Bing was also a true cultivator in the foundation building stage, so he shouldn't look down on them.
"Huo Bing is too old, he won't live for many years. None of the Huo family members are capable of anything, so don't be afraid of him." The Taoist priest in black shoes continued, "You are the legitimate son-in-law of the Fei family, just make the scene look good, and the Huo family won't dare to bear a grudge against you."

"Of the 60%, the Fei family gets 10%, the Chongming Clan gets 10%, and I get 40%. The Fei family has married off a few girls from smaller clans these days, and they lost a lot of dowries. It's rare for them to get some money back. Even though it's not much, they'll be happy."

"Thank you, uncle."

The next day, Great Master Kang came to Pingrong County to report. Just as Taoist Heilu expected, Tie Liuyun agreed to the 40-60 split.

The next day, when Kang Dabao rushed to the Kuai family with Jiang Qing, Pei Yi and Yuan Jin and declared that they wanted to help the Kuai family, the head of the Kuai family, Kuai En, was actually confused.

"Who asked you to come here?" From the day he discovered the blue silver vein, Kuai En knew that he could not keep this wealth by relying on just a few people from the Kuai family.

So he contacted the local powerful family, the Huo family, early on, hoping to sell it to them at a good price.

Telling Kang Dabao about this matter was nothing more than a normal report, and it did not mean that Chong Mingzong needed to come over to support them.

The Huo family offered two thousand spirit stones. Although this might not even be as much as the income from the Blue Silver Mine in half a year, it was already a huge sum of money for Kuai En.

With the three people in their family, even if they didn't eat or drink, it would take at least 10 to 20 years to save so many spirit stones, so they were already quite satisfied.

But now Kuai En has no choice but to think what he wants. Now that Tie Zhihui says that the Kuai family has been bullied by the Huo family, then they have been bullied.

It turned out that the Huo family members who came over happily to take over the mineral vein were driven back by Kang Dabao, and the leader was furious on the spot.

Well, a small Kuai family actually dares to go back on their word! So what if I ask Tie Liuyun for support? My ancestor is the governor! Even in front of the uncle, he still has a say.

As a result, the conflict between the two families became increasingly intense from the second day.

First, the store run by the Kuai family in Tanggu County was smashed and looted, then nearly a hundred of the young and strong men of the Kuai family were beaten to death by the Huo family, and then the Kuai family’s ancestral graves were dug up by the Huo family’s gang...

Until he could no longer bear it, Kuai En looked at the people of the Chongming Sect sitting in the hall with red eyes. He almost spit out the curse in his mouth, and just continued to beg in a sad voice: "Uncle! Sect Leader Kang! County Lieutenant Kang! Please bring out the rules!"

Kang Dabao blushed when he heard this: "Ahem, I'll talk to the head of the Huo family tomorrow."

The conversation between the two young Qigong practitioners was totally insignificant.

The negotiations between Kang Dabao and the head of the Huo family began on the second day after the Kuai family's ancestral tomb was dug up. After two days of discussion, apart from a few mildly swear words exchanged, nothing of any practical significance was achieved.

In the end, we still have to ask Huo Bing and Tie Liuyun, two true foundation-building practitioners, to come out to make a decision.

Sect Leader Kang had no idea what the two talked about. Tie Liuyun only asked Tie Xishan to pass on the message that three fights would be held half a month later, and the winner would take all!

　Thanks to the 1874 points from the Minotaur brother Xiaode, and thanks to the points from the distant brother

　　Thanks to Brother Wuhuanglei for the two monthly tickets

　　Thanks to Niutou Xiaode and Shuyou 20210205163246430 for their monthly tickets

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(End of this chapter)