The Legend of Fangren

The leader of the Wang family led his men into the cave, leaving two men behind to watch over Attorney Chu and Shi Fang to prevent them from escaping and to prevent them from using tricks on their way there and back.

Curious, Fang Shi asked Attorney Chu, "How did you offend him?"

Attorney Chu sighed and said, "When I first came to the city, I happened to run into this guy who was drunk and acting recklessly. No one on the street stopped him, so I stepped in. I originally just wanted to stop him from harming a woman, but he started pestering me. I had no choice but to fight him, and I accidentally won."

"Just because of this? Who is that Wang guy? He gets drunk and beats people up in the street and nobody cares, but now he's targeting you like this. Don't the officials care either?"

Attorney Chu sighed again, "He's just the leader of a squad in Emerald City. He's usually quite law-abiding and knows the rules, so it's hard to find a loophole in his behavior. Everyone either has to curry favor with him or avoid him. Emerald City is so big, how can the big shots above care about the people below? In time, he'll become the local tyrant."

The saying goes, "Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake." At first, Attorney Chu went to the post station to find someone, thinking that the post station was special and that only ordinary people could stay there, so maybe Chief Wang wouldn't dare to do it. But it turned out that this guy was still not afraid.

In terms of Wang Touzi's cultivation level, he was actually only at the third level. However, after being a local tyrant for a long time, his sharpness had been dulled by wine and women, leaving him with only a rascally temperament. With a few henchmen under his command, who would dare to provoke him?

Emerald City's prosperity and stability depend on its soldiers. If anyone dares to clash with the soldiers in the city, they're fine if they're in the right, but if they're not, they're doomed.

Even in a case like Attorney Chu's, where he was in the right, he still faced constant targeting.

Robbery is forbidden in the city, but outside, the law of the jungle prevails. If Chief Wang could just find an excuse to go out on a tour with a few soldiers, he could easily rob Attorney Chu and make a profit. Even if someone exposed him afterward, it would be a minor matter. If word got out, people would just think that Attorney Chu couldn't compete with others.

This was not uncommon in the army. Others could get away with it by offering a little "tribute," but Chu Dazhuang was unlucky. He was all alone and had no background. As soon as he entered the city, he offended the local bully.

After listening, Fang Shi said, "Since things have come to this, why are you still staying here?"

Attorney Chu replied, "I've lived in other cities before, and I know that other places can't compare to this place. It's convenient to buy and sell things here, so as long as Chief Wang doesn't push me too hard, I still don't want to leave. I don't have much talent, and my family doesn't have the money to send me to a sect. By chance, I obtained a cultivation technique, and I've struggled my way here. I've suffered a lot of grievances, so this little bit of targeting is something I can just bear."

To his surprise, Fang Shi asked, "You've never been to a sect? Haven't you joined any other organizations either?"

Attorney Chu disagreed, saying, "My hometown is just a small village in the mountains. I don't have any connections to go outside. I just found a tattered martial arts manual and practiced some skills on my own. A few years ago, I suffered a disaster and my parents died, so I came out to make my way in the world."

"No... do you know how scary your words are?"

What was said unintentionally was taken to heart by the listener. What Attorney Chu considered an unbearable past made Fang Shi's heart pound.

"May I ask how old Fellow Daoist Chu is this year?"

He boldly guessed that the other party was very old, but to his surprise, Attorney Chu scratched his face and said very embarrassedly, "I'm a rather slovenly person, please forgive me, Brother Fang. But I'm actually only twenty-one years old this year... Sigh, people at this age are all full of vigor and ambition, but I'm just like this."

Fang Shi: "..."

Dude, what do you mean by "That's just how I am"?

Do you want to hear what you're saying? Poor village, no resources, no qualifications, broken cultivation techniques, haphazard practice—anyone else would be mediocre for life if they had just two of these flaws—but you, damn it, are a 21-year-old third-stage Qi Gathering Realm cultivator! And you even defeated the local bully!

Even if he was a little drunk at the time, he was still a veteran who had crawled out of the bones. Could a street drink really make a seasoned veteran so drunk that he passed out? Of course not. So, Wang Touzi was definitely fighting later, and yet he still lost.

Fang Shi counted on his fingers and realized that this person was only five or six years older than him. Twenty-one years old was nothing, just a young man. People who reach the Qi Gathering Realm at twenty-one have family connections and organizations. Where did you come from and already reach the third level?!

"May I ask... which stage of the Qi Gathering Realm are you at, Fellow Daoist Chu?"

After thinking for a while, Attorney Chu said, "According to others, I should have built the Qi pool, but my sword is not a good sword, it's just an ordinary sword. It's not easy to gather some Qi, but it can only make the sword spark. As for what they call the outer circulation, I still can't do it properly. Sigh... that's all I can do."

Fang Shi: "The stabilization period..."

That's it, that's it, you're all like this now, then the others can be buried.

Brother, this is a mortal sword of yours. It's questionable whether it can even gather profound energy. Yet you managed to gather the energy and even made the outer circulate of energy!

What does this mean? Other water pumps pump water, but this thing pumps cement, and the key point is... it can actually pump cement.

Fang Shi used to think that his special physique and lack of Xuan Qi made him so strong that he could fly like a brick. He never expected that this fellow Daoist Chu was no less capable.

The problem is, you say you have nothing, but you still need to have some outstanding point, right? No matter how talented we are, we can't use it like this. We still have to abide by the laws of the mystical world.

Could it be... that tattered cultivation manual of his is actually some kind of lost, peerless cultivation technique? Even a fragmented copy could allow a country bumpkin to cultivate to the third level, and be so powerful.

"May I ask what Fellow Daoist Chu's cultivation technique is...?"

"Just a regular cultivation technique," said Attorney Chu. "At first, I practiced according to a tattered piece of paper and only reached the first level. Later, I wandered around, helping people and saving money to buy spiritual items and cultivation techniques. It took me several years to barely reach the third level. But after reaching the third level, it's hard to buy good things even if you have money, so that's why I came to Emerald City."

Fang Shi was stunned, then asked, "After all these years of wandering around, haven't you ever felt like you're anything special?"

Attorney Chu shook his head: "Even if I'm special, I'm special because I'm poor. Every time I buy a spiritual item, I have to save up for several days and I can only buy a little bit... You know what, before I came to Emerald City, I was really proud of myself and thought I had some skills. But now I know that there are all sorts of people with third-level cultivation outside. Only the small town near my village takes third-level cultivation seriously. It's a good thing they praised me every day. I'm glad I wasn't fooled."

"Hmm..." Fang Shi calmed down, feeling that continuing to be so shocked would make him seem too much like a bystander.

So he chose to comply, agreeing, "I think you're right, people shouldn't be arrogant and complacent."

However! Fellow Daoist Chu, I hereby solemnly announce that from this moment on, I am your angel investor.