Protect Our Chief

Now, the entire Yuwen Family is filled with a strong sense of urgency, eager to quickly gain the combat power of a Purple Mansion Realm cultivator.

"If that’s all, Shouzhe is willing to give it a try," Wang Shouzhe pondered for a while and said, "But Shouzhe cannot guarantee success. If I fail, I hope Lady won’t hold it against me."

Lady Bilian beamed with joy, "Good, good, as long as you agree. In the entire Longzuo County, it’s hard to find someone more suitable than Patriarch Shouzhe. Whether it succeeds or not, our Yuwen Family owes you a favor."

Upon hearing this, Wang Shouzhe was also slightly pleased in his heart.

The strength of the Yuwen Family is among the strongest even in Strong Sixth-Grade Noble Families. Having the opportunity for the Yuwen Family to owe him a favor is undoubtedly a situation with countless benefits for the Wang Family.

Moreover, with Lady Bilian, an immediate daughter of a Purple Mansion Family, in the Yuwen Family, it might not be long before the Yuwen Family returns to the Purple Mansion.

For the development of the entire Changning Wang Family, having one more friend naturally paves one more path.

Then Wang Shouzhe made arrangements with Lady Bilian, agreeing to visit the Yuwen Family after handling his current affairs.

...

Several days later.

Longzuo County, more than two hundred miles west of the Commandery.

Here, villages, farms, and estates are densely packed, with a dense population.

The closer to the Commandery city, the more secure it becomes, and fierce beasts have long been extinct. Generations of people breed here, forming towns over time.

Once upon a time, when the Longzuo Wang Family was still a Purple Mansion Family, they owned countless estates. The tenant farmers and ordinary people under their jurisdiction numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

Even without other income, just the annual harvest of grain could bring the Longzuo Wang Family endless wealth.

Unfortunately, times have changed.

The current Longzuo Wang Family only has a few medium-sized estates left, tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, and their tenant farmers have shrunk to a tenth of what they were.

No matter how much wealth was inherited from the ancestors, after repeated failed attempts to become a Purple Mansion Family, they were gradually exhausted.

It was only in this generation that Ancestor Zhoubo discarded the pride of an old Noble Family, founded the Purple Mansion Palace, and began to increase income, aiming to reclaim some ancestral lands to benefit future generations.

At this moment, beside the estate of the Longzuo Wang Family, two forces were confronting each other.

Among them was a group from the Longzuo Wang Family. They were led by Ancestor Zhoubo, with Patriarch Wang Xiaorui, Clan Elder Wang Yuchen, and several Spirit Platform Realm Elders from the "Chen" character generation, "Qiong" character generation, and "Xiao" character generation following closely behind.

Just from the number of these Spirit Platform Realm Elders, it could be seen that even though the Longzuo Wang Family had fallen, its family’s foundation was not something the Changning Wang Family could compare to.

From the "Yu" character generation down, there were still clan elders surviving in each generation.

Whereas, in the Changning Wang Family, the elders from the "Chen" character generation and "Qiong" character generation were all gone, and only three remained from the "Xiao" character generation.

Only with the "Shou" character generation of Wang Shouzhe did the family begin to prosper again.

In the Longzuo Wang Family, the "Ding" character generation and "Shou" character generation were also quite prosperous. It seemed there were twenty to thirty young men from the "Shou" character generation alone. Wang Shoushin, Wang Shouyue, both familiar to Wang Shouzhe, were outstanding young men from the "Shou" character generation.

The Longzuo Wang Family’s Spirit Platform Realm cultivators now totaled twenty-one.

The eldest among them was Clan Elder Wang Yuchen, who was nearing one hundred seventy years old. Judging from his aged appearance, he was nearing the end of his life.

The youngest Spirit Platform Realm cultivator was the current Patriarch Wang Xiaorui’s grandson, Wang Shouyue.

Compared to more than ten years ago, he had matured significantly and easily broke through the Spirit Platform Realm amid the family’s great development.

According to Ancestor Zhoubo, the family plans to cultivate him into a Celestial Human Species.

That the Longzuo Wang Family had such a large population was quite understandable.

After all, back when Ancestor Zhou Xuan ventured into Changning Guard, he took only two sons. Over more than a hundred years of proliferation, including many lost to beast tides, the current population still exceeds fifty.

A Celestial Human Family with a heritage spanning several centuries having several hundred clan members is quite normal.

The Longzuo Wang Family had an even longer heritage. If not for being too poor, the family’s population would probably be even larger.

Facing them, the Zhaang Family was obviously much stronger than the Longzuo Wang Family, with a prosperous and thriving population. In terms of Spirit Platform Realm Elders alone, more than twenty were present.

The leader was an elderly man with a robust physique and white beard, possessing an aura as deep and unfathomable as a cold, bottomless pool, powerful and intimidating.

This was none other than the first Celestial Human Ancestor of the Longzuo Zhang Family – Zhaang Hongqing.

Everyone called him "Ancestor Hongqing."

Ancestor Hongqing, nearly three hundred years old, had cultivation long reached the middle stage of the Celestial Human Realm. Having given up on progressing to the Purple Mansion in this lifetime, he ceased advancing early and sustained his cultivation with minimal consumption, allocating most resources to his descendants.

"Wang Zhoubo, the contract you presented is over three hundred years old," Ancestor Hongqing spoke in a deep, resounding voice, "Those involved in the contract are all gone now. How do you expect me to believe it’s genuine? Since my birth, those estates have belonged to our Zhaang Family. Now you suddenly claim they’re yours, it’s truly outrageous. Don’t think just because our Zhaang Family’s foundation is weak, we’re easy to bully."