The Ancient Shen Clan The Starry Sky Ancient Clan

[You looked at Third Sister's haggard face, frail body, and lifeless eyes.]

[You only felt a nameless fire welling up in your heart.]

[The people present only felt a gust of wind blow past.]

[With your current cultivation, these mortals couldn't see your movements at all.]

["Crack..."]

[The sound of breaking bones echoed continuously.]

[The landlord's thugs who had just beaten Chen Yun and your niece all had their legs and arms broken!]

["Ahhhh! My hand! My leg!!"]

[You deliberately left them with one leg and one arm.]

[Death was too easy for these wicked thugs who ran rampant in the countryside. You wanted them to experience what it felt like to be a miserable person at the bottom of society for the rest of their lives.]

[None of the surrounding villagers pitied these injured men. The fact that they didn't cheer out loud already showed great restraint.]

[The county magistrate knew exactly what had happened, but he cooperatively scolded the group of bailiffs.]

["What is wrong with you all? Be more careful when arresting people! How could you break their arms and legs? How are they supposed to serve in the military now?"]

[Those below follow the example of those above. Since the leader was so good at reading the room, his subordinates were the same.]

["We apologize, Lord Magistrate! It was our mistake! These men can no longer be conscripted into the army. Let's exile them to the Beggars' Sect!"]

[The magistrate waved his hand.]

["That is a good suggestion. Let's do that."]

[You held Third Sister's rough palm and looked at your niece beside her.]

["How did things end up like this? Where is my brother-in-law?"]

[Chen Yun pulled you along to her and her daughter's current home.]

[It was a thatched hut at the end of Huowang Village.]

[It leaked wind and rain; at first glance, one might even mistake it for a cowshed.]

["After your brother-in-law was taken away, Jia'er and I relied on each other to survive.

Five years ago, Landlord Zhang from the county town took a liking to Jia'er and wanted to marry her.

He is over sixty years old and often beats and scolds his wives and concubines. How could I let Jia'er jump into that fiery pit?

When I refused, he arranged for people to harass us mother and daughter every few days.

I did some handicrafts to earn some money for the family, but he had people smash my stall and even demanded that we pay compensation..."]

[Speaking of their sad past, the mother and daughter couldn't help but shed tears.]

[In short, under Landlord Zhang's repeated persecution, Chen Yun and Shen Jia's lives became increasingly difficult.]

[Until they could no longer make ends meet and had to sell Shen Qingshan's courtyard at a low price.]

[The mother and daughter wanted to get away from the county town, so they came to settle down in Huowang Village.]

[Unexpectedly, this disgusting Landlord Zhang still wouldn't let them off.]

[When the mother and daughter wanted to farm, he forcibly bought the land in Huowang Village, turning the whole village into his tenant farmers.]

[Most of the grain grown every year had to be handed over to this old landlord. The grain left for the villagers was simply not enough to eat.]

[But if they couldn't pay the rent in grain, the old landlord would take away everything in their homes as collateral and even beat them up.]

[That was why Chen Yun and her daughter had ended up with nothing but a thatched hut.]

[The county magistrate was also listening from the side.]

[He was sweating profusely as he listened.]

[You turned to look at him.]

["Magistrate Chen, we even share the same surname. Look at the place under your governance. The common people's lives are so bitter. Does it have nothing to do with you?"]

[Magistrate Chen wiped his cold sweat.]

["Great Hero, you don't know. This Landlord Zhang has connections in the capital. He has an older sister who is a concubine of Prince De. That is why he dares to run amok locally without any fear."]

["A concubine? Ha! Those who don't know would think she's the princess consort!"]

["Yes... A concubine indeed has no status in the prince's mansion, but it is still the prince's mansion, right? Let alone the commoners, even I, the county magistrate, have to show him some respect when I see him."]

[You used the "Only True Seer in the Game" to verify Magistrate Chen's identity.]

[He was a good person.]

[But even good people know how to protect themselves.]

[However, knowing that he was a good person was enough.]

[This way, when Landlord Zhang's entire family is wiped out tomorrow because some unknown demonic martial artist happens to pass by, this highly observant magistrate probably wouldn't investigate too deeply.]

["Magistrate Chen, you can go about your business now."]

[The magistrate left.]

[Now, you wanted to focus on finding out what exactly happened to Shen Qingshan.]

[Chen Yun recalled the events of ten years ago.]

[Just as the magistrate had said, two powerful martial artists from the Shen family had arrived, flying through the air and stunning the entire county's populace.]

[And their target was actually Shen Qingshan, a Minor Banner Officer of the County Demon Slaying Division.]

["My husband didn't know them, but those two elders said they were elders of the Shen family and had come to bring him home."]

["Bring my brother-in-law home? So he just abandoned his wife and daughter and left with them?"]

["Fourth Brother, don't speak of your brother-in-law like that. When two strangers suddenly told him that he actually came from an immemorial aristocratic family with a legacy of tens of thousands of years, Qingshan didn't believe them either.

Moreover, even if it were true, he didn't want to leave us.

But those two elders were very resolute; they insisted on taking him away.

They also said this was a tremendous fortuitous encounter. If he could grasp it, even with his weak martial arts aptitude, he might surpass the Soul Condensation Realm in the future and become a Martial King or something..."]

[Listening to this, you were actually tempted.]

[Why didn't this heaven-defying fortuitous encounter fall on my head?]

[Why am I not the lost pearl of some great family?]

[You were very curious about how this so-called Immemorial Shen Family determined that Shen Qingshan was a member of their family.]

[Chen Yun stated that they did so through his cultivation technique.]

[Anyone who could cultivate the "True Sun Art" was a member of the Shen family.]

[If they were outsiders, they wouldn't be able to cultivate the Shen family's ancestral technique.]

[You froze for a moment.]

[Because you could cultivate it too!]

[What kind of bug was this?]

"Eh? Then could I..."

With the successful experience of intercepting Old Liu's fortune,

Chen Yi suddenly felt that in the next simulation, intercepting Shen Qingshan's fortune might also be a good idea.

It wouldn't affect the Shen Qingshan in reality anyway.

Once he figured out what this fortuitous encounter was, he wouldn't need to intercept it in subsequent simulations. He might even be able to point out a clear path for him on whether he should go or not.

[In short, Shen Qingshan had no choice.]

[The Immemorial Shen Family insisted on taking him away.]

[Shen Qingshan wanted to bring his wife and daughter along, but he was told that his current status in the Shen family was too low, and he had no right to bring family members from the outer domain.]

[If he really wanted to bring his wife and daughter into the inner domain, it would only be possible if he improved his standing within the Shen family.]

["Outer domain? Inner domain?"]

["They said that the Shen family doesn't live on this land of the Five Domains, but rather in the sky, in the Star Domain!"]

["Living on the stars?"]

[Is the Shen family that amazing?]

[You exclaimed that you had come too late.]

[Next time, you must stay one step ahead!]

[When the tidal bore arrives on the Qiantang River, only today do I realize that I am Shen Qingshan!]

[Chen Yun didn't know any further details.]

[That day, the two elders of the Shen family hadn't spoken much to Shen Qingshan.]

[You gave Chen Yun a large sum of money, telling her to take Shen Jia to the county town and buy a new courtyard, and to stop living in this run-down hut in the village.]

[Chen Yun was startled.]

["Fourth Brother! So much money? Third Sister cannot accept this. This is all your hard-earned money..."]

["It was no trouble at all. They were nothing but ill-gotten gains, and I simply returned them to the hands of the commoners."]