Eternal Beast Taming Family

The oldest of the three, Liu Qiancheng, spoke with a light laugh.

"Since the mayor took office, our Liu family has not visited the mayor's residence. We hope we are not too late today."

Tang Cheng glanced at them sideways, "I have important business to attend to today and do not have time to entertain you all."

With that, he turned and left the training ground.

However, after he had only taken two steps, five source beasts appeared behind the three members of the Liu family, and spiritual energy swirled around their bodies. This unique characteristic of the Spirit Rank declared to Tang Cheng that they were no weaker than him.

Even if he still had a Spirit-Rank Source Beast that he hadn't summoned, Tang Cheng knew he had no chance of winning against five opponents.

He gave a cold look, turned around and walked towards the mansion. "Please, everyone."

Is this what the family patriarch wanted him to experience? Tang Cheng seemed to have gained some understanding.

……

In the morning, when Chu Shengfan had finished breakfast and was about to leave for the town mayor's mansion.

Sun Chunchen appeared at the door and blocked his way. "The town is not peaceful today, so you should take a day off."

Looking at the old man's gentle smile, Chu Shengfan felt a little puzzled. "But I didn't ask for leave, so I should ask for leave too."

Sun Chunchen stepped forward and pressed Chu Shengfan back into his seat, while sitting down on the other side himself. "Now that the people in the town mayor's mansion are in dire straits, no one will care whether you, a mere lackey, go or not."

Chu Shengfan stared at the old man in front of him, who seemed to know a lot of inside information, and tentatively asked, "Grandpa Sun, what exactly happened in town? Do you know anything about it?"

"Want to know?" Sun Chunchen tapped Chu Shengfan on the head. "Curiosity comes at a price. What are you prepared to offer in exchange?"

Chu Shengfan looked somewhat bewildered. "What do you want?"

Sun Chunchen looked Chu Shengfan up and down. "You're all skin and bones, and you don't look like you have any treasures. Go help me with the work."

It was nothing more than putting in some effort. Chu Shengfan secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that Sun Chunchen would make some unreasonable demands. He nodded impatiently.

"it is good."

The maidservant cleared the table of dishes, leaving only Sun Chunchen and Chu Shengfan in the room.

"Do you know the realm divisions of the source beasts in our contract?"

"The four realms: Mortal, Extraordinary, Spiritual, and Domain."

"What about the division of aristocratic families?"

"Those who are not of high rank are considered poor, those who are ranked eighth are considered wealthy, and those who are ranked seventh can be called prominent families."

"Indeed, a family with a mortal-level contract master can call itself a second-rate family, but this is just a common agreement and will not be registered by the dynasty."

If a family has at least one contract master of a different rank and several or more contract masters of the mortal rank, they can petition the dynasty to upgrade their status to a ninth-rank commoner.

If there are at least two Spirit Rank Contract Masters, and more than ten Extraordinary Rank or Mortal Rank masters, one can become an Eighth Rank Elite Family.

These seventh-rank prestigious families only need one Domain Realm Contract Master to reside in their household; regardless of how many Contract Masters of other realms they have, they are all revered as prestigious families. What did you discover from this?

"The ninth rank corresponds to the alien rank, the eighth rank corresponds to the spirit rank, and the seventh rank corresponds to the domain realm. The rank of a family is determined by the highest-ranking member in the family."

Sun Chunchen nodded slightly. "What you said is mostly correct, but do you know what privileges families of different ranks have?"

Upon hearing Sun Chunchen's question, Chu Shengfan bit his lip and said, "I'm not quite sure."

It was rare to see Chu Shengfan with such a small expression, and Sun Chunchen's mood brightened up a bit.

"Insignificant families are not registered by the dynasty and are treated no differently from ordinary commoners."

Those from humble backgrounds who hold the ninth rank are exempt from certain taxes and have the authority to purchase various businesses. Without the guarantee of a powerful family, commoners do not even have the right to open a shop.

Only members of the eighth-rank noble families possess the right to leave their place of residence and travel throughout the dynasty.

Seventh-rank noble families possess their own exclusive fiefdoms, their members are allowed to meet royalty without kneeling, and their children have the opportunity to study at the imperial academy.

A look of surprise flashed across Chu Shengfan's eyes. Only now did he understand that families of different ranks possessed different rights, with each level progressively higher and the hierarchy clearly defined.

"But what does this have to do with what happened in town today, and why I can't go to work?"

Sun Chunchen smiled and said, "Kids are always so impatient. In this town, only the Liu family is an eighth-rank noble family, and there are no fewer than ten Spirit Rank Contract Masters in the clan."

Having stayed at the eighth rank for so long, of course one would want to advance further. Today is their family's grand festival day. If you offend the current Liu family, you might not even know how you died.

Upon hearing that the Liu family was skilled in controlling ice-type source beasts, Chu Shengfan's eyes widened. "This strange wind and snow?"

Sun Chunchen raised his index finger to stop Chu Shengfan from saying anything more, then nodded slightly.

"However, no matter how much trouble they cause, it won't affect me, so just stay put."

Standing up, Sun Chunchen seemed to remember something and turned back to look at Chu Shengfan. "Didn't you promise to work for me?"

Chu Shengfan nodded silently, and Sun Chunchen waved, "Come with me."

After passing through several courtyards, Chu Shengfan was led to the pharmacy.

Sun Chunchen pointed to a basket of jade stones piled on the table, emitting a faint, smooth luster. Chu Shengfan recognized this type of mineral as Ming jade.

"Your task today is to grind this basket of jade stones into powder."

Chu Shengfan looked around but couldn't find any grinding tools, so he asked curiously, "What tools do you need?"

"Tools? Didn't you bring your own?"

Hearing Sun Chunchen's words, Chu Shengfan's face became even more puzzled. He carefully looked himself over from head to toe, and then looked at Sun Chunchen with a questioning gaze.

Sun Chunchen didn't say anything. He reached out and took out a piece of jade the size of an infant's fist from the basket. Points of energy gathered in his hand, as if thousands of silver threads were cutting through the jade. In just a moment, the jade turned into a ball of white, crystalline powder in his hand.

"Now that you are a Contract Master, the energy within you can be used to nourish your mind and body, and you must learn to control it."

That move just now was a common technique for cutting silver threads that leak energy. It can be used not only to grind medicinal herbs, but sometimes it can also be used directly to kill enemies.

This technique is something that ordinary noble families can't learn. Kid, do you want to learn it?

Chu Shengfan first nodded subconsciously, then shook his head.

Sun Chunchen was amused by his contradictory behavior. "You're nodding and shaking your head, do you want to learn or not?"

Chu Shengfan said earnestly, "I want to learn, but I can't?"

"Oh? What's the reason for that?"

"I want to learn it because it really looks impressive and practical."

"I can't learn it because my grandfather taught me that one shouldn't accept rewards without effort; learning this skill should come at a price. But right now, I simply can't afford the equivalent of this skill, so I can't learn it."

Sun Chunchen placed the powder in his hand into the porcelain bowl and chuckled, "If you don't learn, how will you work for me? This bright stone can't be ground with ordinary tools; only the energy in the human body can soften it by a third."

As a child who grew up in a relatively innocent environment, Chu Shengfan's face showed a very obvious conflicted expression.

After a moment, Chu Shengfan spoke again, saying, "Grandpa Sun, I'm willing to learn, but you can write a contract, and I promise to exchange it for something of equal value in the future."

This little technique was nothing to Sun Chunchen. He waved his hand and said, "No need for the contract. Just have the idea. Hurry up and learn it. This old man needs to rest."

Seeing that Sun Chunchen's fatigue seemed genuine, Chu Shengfan could only swallow the words that were on the tip of his tongue and listen carefully to Sun Chunchen's explanation of the technique.

Finally, Sun Chunchen controlled the energy to move in and out of Chu Shengfan's palm several times, making Chu Shengfan experience the feeling of energy leakage.

Chu Shengfan was quite talented and quickly mastered the method of energy leakage. He then picked up the bright stone in the basket and began to practice.

However, while Sun Chunchen could cut the Mingguang Stone into powder, he could only cut it into pieces the size of a fingertip.

Although Chu Shengfan felt that his work was not ideal, Sun Chunchen nodded in satisfaction, "Well done, with more practice, you'll soon be able to grind it directly into powder."

"Practice on your own, I'm going to rest."

"Okay, Grandpa Sun, you should get some rest."

"Good boy. Go and rest when you're exhausted. There's no need to finish everything today."

"Okay, Grandpa Sun, I understand."

Inside the room, Chu Shengfan silently immersed himself in practice.

The outside world, however, has become a completely different story.

Sun Chunchen was suspended in the sky above the entire Yaoxin Hall. A bird with extremely long tail feathers and a body that was pure white, and whose body was nearly one and a half meters long except for the tail feathers, was circling around him.

The bird spread its wings, and countless feathers burst forth from its body, forming a thin veil that enveloped the outside wind and snow outside the Medicine Heart Hall.

Sun Chunchen looked in the direction of the Liu family, his expression somewhat gloomy and uncertain.

"To conduct a promotion ceremony so brazenly is truly unbecoming of a noble family."

Apart from the town mayor's mansion, the Medicine Heart Hall where Sun Chunchen was located, and the rest of Jade Town were all covered by heavy snow.

Standing in the snow, you can't see anything beyond two meters away.

At the location where the Liu family lived, where dark clouds gathered, a pillar of light that reached the sky stood tall.

A graceful figure seemed to be dancing beautifully within it, the surrounding snowflakes condensing into a light veil on her body, forming wings, and transforming into fluffy flowers.