Family Cultivation: My entire family are Villains

For more than three hours, Wang Gong lay unconscious before finally regaining his senses. His vital energy was gravely depleted, not even one-tenth remained; clearly, he had encountered an adversary beyond his match and despite exerting all his effort, he had still sustained serious injuries.

Upon awakening and seeing Hou Yuxiao, he instinctively tried to rise and pay his respects, but Hou Yuxiao pressed him back down. Reluctantly, Wang Gong lay back with a bitter smile on his face.

"Family Head, it is my oversight. When I went to the West Cloud Escort Agency, they treated me quite politely, and I thought the people from Ling Cheng Escort Agency would be the same. Who could have expected…"

Hou Yuxiao shook his head. West Cloud Escort Agency sided with the faction of County Magistrate Fan Longhe, while Ling Cheng Escort Agency sided with Ding Dian of the Prison Admin Department. Yesterday's events at Shengxin Residence, where he openly allied with Gui Yutang, Ding Peng, and others to disgrace the Qijue Gate, had already spread; there was no way Ling Cheng Escort Agency would still treat Wang Gong with courtesy.

However, seeing that upon waking up, Wang Gong first blamed himself, a flicker of emotion crossed Hou Yuxiao's heart. Yet as he saw the fist marks and scars on his body, his expression quickly darkened, and he said, "You should focus on healing now, no need to concern yourself with other matters. First, tell me, who inflicted these injuries on you?"

Wang Gong immediately fell into silence, hesitance flashing in his eyes, he said, "Family Head, currently our Hou Clan is advancing to a prominent position, it's not suitable to make too many enemies. I've just suffered some injuries; as a martial artist, my body is strong and healthy, and I only need to recover for ten days to half a month, there is no need to… for my sake…"

"Wang Gong, since you have joined our Hou Family, you are one of us. Whether it is you who got beaten or someone else, we will not let it go. If we don't make them remember this lesson well, there will be a second time. Do you understand?"

This statement from Hou Yuxiao sent a shock through Wang Gong, while Su Li, Gao Cheng, and Gao Hu, who were next to him, slightly bowed their heads, a warm current flowing through their hearts.

"The Escort Leader of Ling Cheng Escort Agency, Lu Gui, has the cultivation of Opening Ten Layers."

Hou Yuxiao nodded and asked Gao Hu to take Wang Gong back to his room. His expression gradually steadied as he looked at Gao Cheng and asked, "I told you to change the name of Happy Forest. How is your thinking progressing?"

Everyone was initially waiting for Hou Yuxiao to order a retaliation against Ling Cheng Escort Agency, but when they heard him inquire about the name change from Gao Cheng, they immediately realized Hou Yuxiao was planning to retaliate through other means.

Gao Cheng understood the hint and stepped forward to respectfully say, "What does the Family Head think about the name 'Qinglong Association'?"

"It's good. What were the rules for your assassination trades before?"

"Previously in Zhaoyang County, Happy Forest earned money by selling orders. The Merry Orders were made of Seven-color Tree Cores and came in four ranks.

The Black Order sold for 50 silver taels, targeting martial artists of One to Three Levels of Body Opening. The Red Order sold for 200 silver taels, targeting martial artists of Four to Six Levels of Body Opening. The White Order sold for 500 silver taels for targets of Seven to Nine Levels, and the most expensive Purple Order went for 1000 silver taels, aimed at Warriors of the Tenth Level of Body Opening.

We cultivated ordinary citizens as our subordinates. Our principle was to deal with the job when we see the order; the person behind the order is not seen. As long as they see the symbol of Happy Forest and know the target, they will act accordingly, and we don't bother with the rest!"

Gao Cheng didn't continue. Back in Zhaoyang County, the highest cultivation in Happy Forest was him and Gao Hu. There were fewer than ten Warrior of the Tenth Level of Body Opening in the entire county, so in reality, the Purple Order, this level, was just for show and hardly ever utilized.

"So you mean, after you perform an assassination, you leave behind traces."

Hou Yuxiao thought for a moment and quickly realized that while the "seen order, unseen person" method was sufficiently secretive, it was also hard to convince others. A simple token: why would it be worth so much money? It needed fame to support it.

Therefore, their assassinations definitely had to leave evidence that it was carried out by Happy Forest.

Gao Cheng showed respect on his face; he hadn't thought that Hou Yuxiao would think so deeply in such a short time. He nodded and replied, "Correct, although our business is unseemly, it is still a way to make a living. To sell the orders successfully, we must make them convincing. The Seven-color Tree Core is not particularly precious, but it cannot be repaired once broken, so after each assassination, we would shatter the order and leave it at the scene."

"In that case, Qinglong Association will continue this tradition from now on, but the rules for the orders will have to be changed!"

Hou Yuxiao pondered for a short while, a sharp light appearing in his eyes. He said, "In the future, Qinglong Association will have three types of orders: Qinglong Bronze Order, Silver Order, and Gold Order, using the Seven-color Tree Core as the kernel and edged with gold, silver, or bronze respectively.

The Bronze Order will cost 2000 taels, the Silver Order 50,000 taels, and the Gold Order 100,000 taels!"

As Hou Yuxiao announced these three prices, Gao Cheng immediately showed a look of shock. He ventured a guess, "Does the Family Head mean that the Bronze Order is targeted at those in the Open Body Realm, whereas the Silver Order..."

"You don't need to worry about the Silver Order and the Gold Order for now. This Lu Gui will serve as Qinglong Association's first job to establish our reputation, and I'll leave it to you and Gao Hu to carry it out personally! After it's done, distribute an initial batch of Bronze Orders, and we'll discuss the rest later!"

"Gao Cheng accepts the order."

To sell the Qinglong Orders smoothly, it was necessary to convince people of their power. To ensure the assassinations were foolproof, success was a pre-requisite, and with the Family's current strength, assassinating someone in the Gang Qi Realm would be excessively difficult unless the Family Head himself acted.

If they too hastily released the Silver and Gold Orders and failed to carry out an assassination, it would be the reputation of Qinglong Association on the line. Gao Cheng naturally understood this principle.

Since the prices were set so high, the success rate of Qinglong Association's assassinations had to match, or else why would anyone pay such a high price for your orders?

After dealing with Wang Gong's matter, Hou Yuxiao turned his gaze to Hou Yuling and asked, "Third Mother, have you purchased all the elixirs?"

Hou Yuling nodded and replied, "The Medicine Dust Sect has treated us quite well. With two hundred thousand taels of silver, we bought a total of thirty Yuan Gang Beads, in addition to two hundred bottles of Body Strengthening Pills, amounting to 1800 pills!"

The price of a single Yuan Gang Bead was 1500 taels, and a Body Strengthening Pill was 100 taels each. Elixirs, unlike other items, were eagerly sought after by martial artists, creating a demand that outstripped supply, making it difficult to haggle or get a discount. The original cost of these items would have exceeded 220,000 taels, so for Hou Yuling to obtain them at 90% of the original price clearly showed that the Medicine Dust Sect indeed showed favor to the Hou Family.

"The Hou Clan stands unopposed in Zhaoyang. Now that our advancement into the stream has been successful, we will inevitably continue to give money to the Medicine Dust Sect in the future, so there is no need for them to be at odds with us. No business can compare with alchemy. We've brought a total of four hundred thousand taels of silver this time, giving half of that to them, tsk tsk!"

Seeing Hou Yucheng clicking his tongue, Hou Yuxiao also felt a pang of pain. Counting the more than 300,000 taels of current silver along with the batch of iron ingots, the total indeed amounted to more than 400,000 taels of silver. Half of that was spent on the Yuan Gang Beads and the Body Strengthening Pills.

Additionally, with the 100,000 taels for dealings with the Great Luo Sect, 50,000 for the weapons for four individuals, the money Gao Cheng spent buying a residence, Wang Gong managing the Escort Agency, and the expenses of staying at the inn for those hundred or so people over the past few days, he was left with less than thirty thousand taels of silver.

Money spent like water indeed...

However, these 1800 Body Strengthening Pills, under the current operation of the family system, will be enough for more than four hundred martial artists at Three Levels of Body Opening or above, with one pill per month, which would last for more than four months. The thirty Yuan Gang Beads should suffice for Hou Yucheng and Hou Yuling to break through to the Gang Qi Realm with no significant problem.

As for the two martial artists at the Open Body Ten Layers Peak, Gao Cheng and Gao Hu, that will have to wait until later. After all, they could come to the Prefectural City at any time to buy Yuan Gang Beads when needed. Perhaps Hou Yucheng and Hou Yuling would not even use up all of the thirty beads, and there might be some left over.

"Alright, everyone go back and rest. Tomorrow morning, follow me to the Shengxin Residence!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's hearts tightened, and they looked at Hou Yuxiao with a touch of worry in their eyes.

Tomorrow was the 24th, the day Hou Yuxiao and Cheng Yue would fight at the Shengxin Residence. Although Hou Yuxiao had already told them that even if he were defeated, his life would not be in danger, they couldn't help but worry.

Hou Yuxiao saw the expressions on everyone's faces, shook his head with a smile, and said, "It's not your place to worry about me. If someone really wants to deal with me, would your current strength be of any help?"

At this question, the others might be okay, but Hou Yucheng and Hou Yuling immediately lowered their heads with a hint of shame on their faces.

They were undoubtedly Hou Yuxiao's younger siblings, but in reality, everyone was close in age. Yet Hou Yuxiao was not only at the Qi Gathering Second Realm, Collecting Evil Phase cultivation but also had the impressive feat of defeating Tian Linong.

Meanwhile, they were still at the Open Body Ten Layers Peak, a full two major realms behind.

During their time in the Prefectural City, they saw Fan Longhe and Ding Dian, negotiated with major powers, struggled for the clan's advancement to the stream, and agreed to a gamble fight with Cheng Yue…

All these matters were handled solely by Hou Yuxiao, the Family Head and older brother.

"Big brother, I'll breakthrough to the Gang Qi Realm as soon as possible to help you!"

"Big brother, Yuling will do the same."

Both of them looked up at Hou Yuxiao simultaneously, their tones firm and earnest.

A surge of warmth crossed Hou Yuxiao's heart as he nodded, tapping their shoulders without saying a word, his eyes filled with trust as he looked at them.

A single family could not rely on one person alone. Nonetheless, whether the current Second Elder and Third Mother or the Fourth Elder and Old Fifth in the clan, all four possessed both talent and character—it was only a matter of time.

Actually, from the brink of clan extinction to becoming today's respected force in Zhaoyang, and just a step away from progressing to the next rank, the Hou Family had used no more than two years. This pace, compared with all other powers across the thirteen states of The World, was certainly fast.

"Go back and rest assured! Tomorrow will be the day of… my Hou Family's rise to power!"

Hou Yuxiao's voice was slightly deep, and when the words 'rise to power' were spoken, a breeze stirred outside the door, and the expressions of everyone suddenly became invigorated.

.........

After everyone had left, Hou Yuxiao returned to his room, gently picked up the Ape Demon Staff leaning against the bed, and held it in his hand, feeling the coldness of the staff as his mind grew quiet.

Approaching the window, he gazed at the skies as the clouds began to gather, and a rich sense of battle welled up within his pupils...

"As day breaks, I will let the name of Marquis of Zhaoyang echo throughout… the entire Tongling County!"