I'm Just a Beast Tamer

Chapter 27: Chapter 25: Setting Out

In all his life, the farthest Jiang Zuo had ever traveled from Red Fox Town was Sifang County.

It wasn’t that he lacked interest in other places.

It was just that this world was too dangerous; one slip-up while traveling and you could be dead before you knew what hit you. Having managed to settle down in a place as safe as Red Fox Town, you’d have to be an idiot to want to run off.

If he hadn’t been forced into a corner, he wouldn’t have wanted to flee Red Fox Town either.

According to his original plan, he was going to lay low for several decades, then move to another place, change his identity, and start a new life.

But since he was already on the move, Jiang Zuo decided to take the opportunity to explore the surrounding area.

His stats had skyrocketed. As long as he was careful not to provoke any powerful Martial Artists, ordinary people and wild beasts were no longer a threat to him.

Still, Jiang Zuo didn’t plan to go too far.

For one, he didn’t have the time. For another, while he’d never visited the areas surrounding Sifang County, he knew a little about them and hadn’t heard of any powerful Martial Artists in the vicinity.

He’d be quite safe here.

But if he went somewhere else, he’d be in unfamiliar territory, and the chances of running into trouble would increase dramatically.

Jiang Zuo chose Cowherding Village for his first stop.

If he could find an Obsession Relic in Cowherding Village, he could work on resolving it while he was on the road.

After all, he doubted he’d ever again encounter an obsession like the one with the Porcupine Beast Tooth, which could be satisfied simply by cooking a delicious meal.

To keep anyone from tracking his movements, Jiang Zuo decided against taking a carriage from the post station.

He could travel through the wilderness on his own at a speed that wasn’t any slower than a carriage, and he could also take the time to train Ninth Generation Great Black along the way.

People were constantly coming and going through the gates of Sifang County, and no one paid Jiang Zuo much mind.

Jiang Zuo strolled along leisurely with Ninth Generation Great Black, as if on a scenic tour.

Ninth Generation Great Black, the little puppy, was less than a month old. With its short little legs, it struggled with all its might just to keep up with Jiang Zuo.

Jiang Zuo waited until the little fellow was panting and completely out of energy. Then, he scooped up the puppy. With a flash of movement, he ducked into the woods by the road and vanished in the blink of an eye.

...

「Da Xi Imperial Capital.」

In the study of a lavish estate.

A middle-aged official sat blankly in a chair, his eyes vacant, answering Wan Zifeng and Wan Ziyuan’s questions over and over.

When it was clear they couldn’t get any more useful information, Wan Zifeng flicked his hand, and the official slumped forward onto the desk.

He didn’t begin to stir until long after the two had disappeared.

A splitting headache wracked him. He glanced at the sky outside the window, and his heart leaped in alarm.

’Did I fall prey to the methods of an Immortal Family? Was it the Da Xi Imperial Clan, or one of Venerable Red Fox’s subordinates?’

He closed his eyes, trying to remember what had happened. After a long moment, a look of terror crept onto his face.

It was a good thing he knew a little about the Cultivation Realm; otherwise, he wouldn’t have understood what had happened.

’I can’t keep probing into Red Fox Town! Whether it was the Da Xi Imperial Clan or one of Venerable Red Fox’s people, the fact that a Cultivator paid me a visit is a clear warning. If I keep stirring up trouble in Red Fox Town, it won’t end well for me.’

Wan Zifeng and Wan Ziyuan had already slipped out of the Imperial Capital.

"This is probably all we’re going to find. Let’s head back and report."

Wan Zifeng produced the Cyan Wood Ship. Under the cover of night, the two of them soared into the sky.

Aboard the Cyan Wood Ship, however, their expressions were grim.

Over the past two days, they had started with Ma Baoping and worked their way up, using the Soul Capturing Technique to interrogate more than ten court officials.

Piece by piece, the intelligence regarding the relationship between the Du Family and Venerable Red Fox had been laid bare before them.

"I wonder how the family will decide once they receive this intelligence," Wan Zifeng said after a moment of hesitation.

He was quite talented with magical arts. He had already grasped the basics of the Soul Capturing Secret Technique before even establishing his Dao Foundation.

It was precisely because he could use the Soul Capturing Secret Technique that the Wan Family had sent him.

Even a nascent grasp of the Soul Capturing Technique was more than any mortal could resist.

However, compared to Wan Ziyuan, Wan Zifeng’s personality wasn’t as unyielding as his name might imply.

On the contrary, he was often hesitant and indecisive when faced with difficult situations.

"That’s not our concern," Wan Ziyuan said, shaking his head. "Our only job is to bring this intelligence back to the family."

Unlike Wan Zifeng, Wan Ziyuan was a man of decisive action who never wasted time on extraneous matters.

However, even he couldn’t help but feel how thorny this intelligence regarding Venerable Red Fox was.

When they first interrogated Ma Baoping and the other officials with Soul Capturing, Wan Ziyuan and Wan Zifeng had found it laughable. They discovered that these officials were actually testing the waters, trying to find a way to overthrow the Du Family’s rule.

Such probing was utterly meaningless. These mortals had no idea how vast the gulf between them and immortals truly was.

In truth, as long as the Du Family’s clan wasn’t wiped out in the Cultivation Realm, mortals couldn’t even dream of overthrowing their rule.

’In Wan Ziyuan’s opinion, they would be better off just openly rebelling. If the Du Family was truly finished, they’d secure the throne. If not, at least they could enjoy being emperor for a few more days.’

But soon, they were no longer laughing.

From one Da Xi court official after another, they confirmed two things.

First, Venerable Red Fox placed great importance on Red Fox Town.

For a thousand years, the town had been conducting Spirit Root tests on all children of the appropriate age.

This wasn’t something the Du Family did to curry favor with the Venerable; it was a direct instruction from Venerable Red Fox himself.

Second.

The Da Xi court officials widely believed that the Du Family had received Enlightenment from Venerable Red Fox.

The fact that the Du Family, starting from nothing, had managed to produce descendants with Spirit Roots and establish a Cultivation Clan in the Cultivation Realm a few hundred years ago was very likely thanks to Venerable Red Fox’s help.

A few hundred years wasn’t a long time in the Cultivation Realm. For even the lowest-level Qi Cultivation clans, it was merely the span of three or four generations.

For a weak clan like the Du Family, which had started from scratch, to be able to contend with the Wan Family after just a few hundred years was remarkable.

This was especially true given that the Du Family hailed from the ancestral land of humanity, where the body’s meridians were severely affected by the Heaven and Earth Sealing Spirit Array.

Even after reaching the Cultivation Realm, the probability of them producing descendants with Spirit Roots should have been minuscule.

But for a mighty Cultivator like Venerable Red Fox, achieving such a thing would not be difficult.

Thus, the likelihood that the Du Family had been aided by Venerable Red Fox was extremely high.

For a long time afterward, Venerable Red Fox seemed to have offered the Du Family no further assistance.

But that raised a question.

Could the Wan Family risk betting that the Du Family didn’t have a favor they could call in from Venerable Red Fox?

If the Du Family did have such a favor in hand, they might be reluctant to use it for trivial matters. But if faced with the threat of their clan’s annihilation, they would undoubtedly use it, no matter the cost.

When that happened, the Wan Family would be doomed beyond redemption.

Then there was the fact that the Du Family had reaped many benefits over the years by acting under Venerable Red Fox’s name.

Perhaps Venerable Red Fox himself was too busy to bother with such trivialities, but his disciples and their descendants surely knew about it.

Yet they never stepped in to stop it, which implied a certain degree of tacit approval.

’Faced with the Du Family, could the Wan Family truly hope to win this struggle?’

...

「Red Fox Town.」

「That night.」

Under the moonlight, three shadowy figures furtively climbed over the fence into the yard of Jiang Zuo’s wooden cabin.

"Is this really a good idea? The word from the Government Office was to lay low. It’s only been two days, and now we’re here stealing. If the government finds out, we’ll be in for it," one of them, a short man, said uneasily after a moment’s hesitation.

"What do you know! Jiang Zuo’s not like those other rich folks. His money’s got to be hidden in the house! The place is tiny; finding where he stashed it won’t be hard. If we don’t act now, someone else will beat us to it!"

"That’s five thousand taels! Add in what he’s saved up, and it could be seven or eight thousand!"

"If we get our hands on that much money, we can skip town and go far away. By the time the Government Office finds out, what are they going to do about it?"

The other man, a tall fellow, said confidently, his expression alight with excitement, as if the thousands of taels of silver were already in his grasp.

The short man was still uneasy, but the tall one had a point.

It was a fortune an ordinary person could never earn in several lifetimes. If they pulled this off, they could live the rest of their days without a care in the world.

A little risk was to be expected.

"Let’s check the kitchen first," the tall man said. "I bet that’s where Jiang Zuo would hide the money."

The kitchen was cluttered with all sorts of things, making it the perfect place to hide money.

The men entered the kitchen and began rummaging through everything.

When some utensils were accidentally knocked over, the three men paid it no mind.

Jiang Zuo only had one neighbor, and their house was dozens of meters away. There was no way they could hear anything.

"Hey, be careful rummaging through there. Don’t break anything."

But just then, a sweet, childish voice suddenly rang out in the silent night.

As if struck by lightning, the three men stared in horror toward the source of the voice.

Then they saw it: perched on the two-meter-high fence was the head of a little girl, and next to it, an oil lamp was lit.

In the dim, flickering yellow light of the lamp, the little girl’s cute face looked anything but. It was a distorted, terrifying sight.

"A ghost!"

"Run!"

Staring at Subai’s distorted little face, illuminated by the lamp, the three men were scared out of their wits and screamed in terror.

Forgetting all about the money, the three scrambled desperately back over the fence, their only thought to escape.

Granny Mei was already waiting for them outside the fence.

As they landed, she brought her cane down on each of them in turn, knocking all three to the ground.

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