Dream of the Red Chamber: Starting from Immortal Martial Arts

"Knock knock knock!"

The war drums thundered, their sound spreading in all directions. The people on the street were terrified and scattered to their homes, locking their doors tightly.

The Yangzhou government, the salt administration, and various factions within the city paled at the news, as the commotion from the battle at Shugang on the west side of the city had already been noticed by those within the city.

Those who thought victory was assured were surprised to find that two powerful cultivators at the Spirit Seizing Realm and five late-stage Divine Qi Realm cultivators, leading numerous followers, failed to even exchange a single pawn under Jia Tang's command.

Now that Jia Tang has led his troops into the city, there's no time to run away.

In the government office, Prefect Lu's expression changed after reading the letter in his hand, and he muttered to himself, "There are others behind this?"

At the Salt Administration Office, some people were rushing to distance themselves from the salt merchants, while others were packing their valuables in preparation for fleeing. They all turned to Salt Commissioner Wang and said, "The assassination of Lady Lin and the ambush of Jia Tang have blown up the whole thing."

"Now that this murderous star has entered the city, everyone be careful. If you mess with him, he'll find a place to slit his own throat. Don't drag me into it, or I'll dig up your ancestral graves."

···

In Qingyun Pavilion, on the fifth floor, in the Qingyun Chamber, a young man named Xiu Lan stood by the window, flanked by Zhang Moyun and Huang Qinglin. The three of them looked at Jia He in the air with inscrutable expressions.

The commotion outside the city could be heard throughout the entire city, and the Taoists' shouts using their internal energy were also clearly audible.

Huang Qinglin sighed, "No wonder those two old geezers of the Jia family insisted on establishing seven-year-old Jia Tang as the fourth generation leader of the Jia family before they died. So that's why."

The Jia family generals served as commanders in the court, leading all generals, and as leaders in the cultivation world, integrating cultivators.

Zhang Moyun, standing to the side, clicked his tongue: "I didn't expect that Jia Tang could refine his blood nine times when he was in the Blood Refining Realm. His Qi flowed and thundered. So this is the innate Golden Jade Body. If I had known, I would have forcibly killed him in the Immortal Capital earlier."

Xiu Lan's expression was somewhat heavy, but he said calmly, "Things have come to this point, there's no need to say more. The more extraordinary Jia Tang's talent is, the more everyone wishes he were dead."

"Now that Jia Tang has grown powerful and his claws are sharp, we can only wait for his vital energy to increase rapidly so that more third-tier martial artists, or even fourth-tier ones, can appear in the world."

"If one Tier 3 isn't enough, then two; if two aren't enough, then three. By then, even the strongest Tier 2 will be worn down and killed."

The two nodded; for now, they could only avoid direct confrontation and wait for an opportunity.

One or two could be worn down, but these five second-tier martial artists, one with a body that generates thunderous sound and four family retainers with golden bodies and golden blood.

This means that just to contend with Jia Tang, one would need to mobilize four divine senses, each at least seven or eight miles away, which is equivalent to a second-tier martial artist who has already cultivated a golden body in the early stages.

This is the advantage of having a strong foundation in the early stages; the gap widens as time goes on.

···

On the other side, Jia Tang rode his horse to the front of the Lin Mansion. Looking at the white sails hanging high, his expression became slightly irritable.

"He foolishly thought that by arriving after the New Year and dispatching new elite troops south, he would be safe and sound."

"Jia Min, who should have died of illness long ago, lived to the age of eighteen, thanks to her own reminder in a letter."

"But Jia Min still died, at the hands of a cult. Was it the world's corrective force?"

At the main gate of the Lin residence, Lin Ruhai, along with his steward, a middle-aged scholar, and Cui Shulin, stood to the side to greet them. The remaining soldiers and others knelt down to wait respectfully, their eyes bloodshot and exuding murderous intent.

Jia Tang waved his hand, ordering the kneeling crowd to rise. He then dismounted, bowed to Lin Ruhai, and entered the mansion. The main hall had now become Jia Min's mourning hall.

After Jia Tang entered the mourning hall to pay his respects and offer incense, he saw Lin Daiyu, dressed in mourning clothes and with a deathly pale face, return his greeting.

Seeing her frail appearance, Jia Tang turned to Lin Ruhai and said, "Uncle, my aunt dotes on my cousin the most. If she knew she had cried herself sick, she would definitely..."

Lin Ruhai, his eyes red, glanced at Lin Daiyu, ordered a maid to help her up, and advised, "Yu'er, go and rest for a while. Your mother will not rest in peace if she sees you like this."

Lin Daiyu remained silent upon hearing this, staring intently at the coffin without moving.

Seeing this, Jia Tang said to the maidservant beside Lin Daiyu, "What are you standing there for? Don't you know to help Miss back to her room?"

The two maids quickly got up, helped the struggling Lin Daiyu up, and took her back to her room.

Lin Ruhai led Jia Tang and the others into the inner study. After everyone was seated, Jia Tang spoke first, saying, "Uncle, please explain the whole situation to me."

"The matter arose because of a deficit of 9.87 million taels in salt permits and an arrears of 11.13 million taels in taxes, totaling more than 21 million taels."

Each of the eight major salt merchants in Yangzhou had outstanding debts, with the Cheng and Jiang families having the largest, followed by the Wang family, and the rest were roughly equal. This only reflects the debts on the official accounts; the private debts were even greater. As for who colluded with the Incense-Wen Sect, that remains unclear.

Upon hearing this, Jia Tang inquired, "Are there any suspected targets among the forces that attacked Aunt?"

"It should be one of the Cheng, Jiang, or Wang families."

A middle-aged scholar standing nearby suddenly spoke up, saying, "It should be the Cheng family."

Lin Ruhai looked puzzled: "Because my brother-in-law killed the previous head of the Cheng family?"

The middle-aged scholar replied, "So, Your Excellency is aware of this."

"Forget it, stop guessing. Let's slaughter all eight families first, then we'll talk about the rest. Once everyone's gathered, we'll kill them."

Jia Tang's eyes flashed with a fierce light, and his face turned ruthless. "Damn it, I'm not guessing anymore. Killing them all is definitely the right thing to do."

"Waiting for someone?" Lin Ruhai asked, puzzled.

"Two uncles who led troops south to help the market."

Lin Ruhai sighed and asked again, "Were you injured when the rebels ambushed you?"

Jia Tang shook his head: "It doesn't matter, they're just pigs and dogs practicing evil magic."

Jia He chimed in, "Two Spirit-Seizing cultivators, several Evil Qi Realm cultivators, two teams of armored Blood Refining Martial Artists wielding Divine Arm Crossbows, eight Triple-Bow Iron Ballistae, and over a thousand soldiers in the first three realms—all dead."

Lin Ruhai and the others were dumbfounded, and asked in disbelief, "Spirit-stealing? A second-level master of the Incense Path?"

"Yes, just like the Lord said, they're nothing but pigs and dogs. Any one of us brothers could easily take them down."

"They even have crossbows and ballistae, it's absolutely insane."

Lin Ruhai's heart tightened upon hearing this. Crossbows and armor were controlled military supplies, not to mention ballistae, which even the Yangzhou Guard did not have.

Jia He shrugged, recalling that three days ago, the Yuan soldiers received a message from Cui Shulin and asked, "Uncle, have you found out who sent the message?"

Lin Ruhai and the others shook their heads in unison.

Jia Tang waved his hand dismissively, "They're probably fence-sitters, ignore them. Jia and the four of you will lead the team and cooperate with the Yangzhou Guard to surround the eight salt merchants."

Lin Ruhai explained, "It's called eight families, but it's actually six surnames. The Cheng family has two large business associations, one main branch and one second branch. The Ma brothers each have a business association, but they are smaller than the others; the two of them are equivalent to one."

"It's all the same, go, Jia He."

"only!"

Jia Tang watched Jia He and the others leave, closed his eyes in thought, then suddenly remembered something and looked at the middle-aged scholar, asking, "Who are you?"

Lin Ruhai, who was standing to the side, quickly said, "This is the tutor in the manor. His surname is Jia, his given name is Hua, his courtesy name is Shifei, and his pen name is Yucun."

Jia Tang straightened up and realized that this person was Jia Yucun, a sophisticated egoist, a petty person who would abandon righteousness for profit, and a typical ungrateful wretch.

"But have I done something wrong?"

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable under Jia Tang's gaze, Jia Yucun cautiously asked a question.

This man was like a dragon coiled around a tiger, exuding an astonishing aura of menace, especially his pair of tiger-like eyes, which made him feel cold.

"It's nothing, I just think you're very handsome and talented, and I'm sure you'll achieve great things in the future."

Jia Tang outwardly praised him with a straight face, but secretly he was thinking about how to kill him.