Rise of the Wang Clan: Starting with a Portable Farm

Chapter 191: The Old Granduncle

Some Wang family assignments involved hunting demon beasts. Those combat jobs paid more spirit stones and contribution points than ordinary tasks.

Even without an assignment, clan members could turn in a beast carcass for a substantial reward.

Hunting alone was difficult, so Wang Wenjiang had formed a capable team. Its members were all at least at the sixth layer of Qi Refining and divided rewards according to their contributions.

They usually hunted first-tier beasts and had done well.

On this expedition, while chasing a beast, they had found the den of a middle-grade, second-tier Cyan-Brown Wolf.

Several hundred-year-old Spirit Gathering Grasses grew nearby. At that age, the plants could be used to make low-grade, second-tier Qi Gathering Pills.

They could not defeat the wolf themselves, so they wanted to report it to Wang Hao.

Wang Longyou was often in seclusion. Wang Yanzhao was busy with alchemy and, as patriarch, intimidated younger clan members. Wang Wenyuan was too weak to handle a middle-grade, second-tier wolf.

Wang Hao, long held up as an example to the family, was the obvious choice.

“I just finished seclusion and could use some exercise,” Wang Hao said. “This wolf will do.”

Clan members who found resources they could not secure could ask the family for help, though they had to give the family a share.

“If I step in, you can claim only thirty percent of the proceeds. Are you sure?” Wang Hao asked.

He did not need the money, but could not break the rule or everyone would come asking for help.

“There are only five of us. The wolf and grass should fetch at least four thousand spirit stones. Thirty percent is over twelve hundred—more than two hundred and forty each. Of course we are satisfied,” Wang Wenjiang said.

“Good. Know your limits. If you cannot protect a prize, let it go. Trying to claim what you cannot hold usually ends badly.”

“Yes! Thank you for the lesson, Fifth Brother!”

“Enough acting. You are clever enough to know that already.” Wang Hao gave him a playful kick. “Show me your companions and tell me more about the wolf.”

“This way, Fifth Brother.” Wang Wenjiang gestured ahead and led him to a pavilion, where Wang Hao met the other four.

“Wenzhu, Wenxue, Wensheng—greetings, Fifth Brother!”

“Wuxiang greets Fifth Uncle!”

Wang Hao looked at Wang Wuxiang. “How old are you? You are already hunting beasts?”

“I am twenty and at the sixth layer of Qi Refining, Fifth Uncle.”

“The Wu generation is twenty already?” Wang Hao realized he himself was now past fifty.

Wang Wenzhu said, “Wuxiang is the eldest of his generation, but he is only nineteen. His cultivation is the best among them.”

Wang Hao knew the most talented had been chosen for other paths. Even a few years older, Wuxiang might not surpass Wang Wuyan, who was well suited to the family’s techniques.

“As the eldest, you should set a good example. You have done well. Take this high-grade magic tool from your Fifth Uncle.”

Wang Hao took out the tool. With age, he had grown steadier and could play the role of a senior convincingly.

“Thank you, Fifth Uncle!” Wang Wuxiang bowed.

“You favor him too much, Fifth Brother,” Wang Wenzhu complained. “My cultivation has improved. Why do I get nothing?”

Wang Hao’s Fifteenth Sister was nearly thirty, but still as lively as she had been as a child.

“Look at Wenjiang and Wuxiang. Both might reach Foundation Establishment before thirty. What about you?” Wang Hao teased.

“If you keep playing around, the family will not support an idler. Perhaps we should find a marriage alliance for you.”

Wang Wenzhu rolled her eyes. “I am not a mortal woman obliged to marry and bear children. I seek long life. You and Twenty-Third Brother should be marrying and adding members to the clan. You wrote the family’s birth incentives yet do not lead by example!”

“Look at Fourteenth Granduncle. He has more than forty wives and concubines. His household is practically a village.”

Wang Hao smiled ruefully, remembering Ji Xiaotang. Nearly ten years had passed; he wondered how she was.

Once he reached the sixth layer of Foundation Establishment, he meant to visit the Ji family overseas and ask about her, whatever her ancestor thought.

Only a few Foundation Establishment cultivators, including Wang Guang’an, knew about Ji Xiaotang. The others thought Wang Hao intended never to marry so he could focus on cultivation.

As for the old granduncle, he lived more comfortably than an emperor—the “one man, one city” life Wang Hao had once imagined.

With more than forty wives and concubines, over a hundred children, and servants, his household was larger than some villages.

Wang Hao considered finding him herbs to nourish his health and prolong his life so he could enjoy it longer.

Joking aside, he respected the old man for answering the family’s call even at a cost to his health. Ten more like him would delight Wang Hao, and he would gladly invest resources in their descendants.

After more banter, Wang Hao asked about the wolf.

For the young hunters, success would let each of them buy two high-grade magic tools. They spoke seriously, and Wang Hao listened.

He could handle a middle-grade, second-tier beast easily, perhaps without even fighting himself. Yet carelessness could kill cultivators. He was only at the fifth layer of Foundation Establishment and had no reason to grow arrogant.

Giving them a chance to learn mattered more than taking the prize for them.

Even watching the fight would teach them something.

The next day, Wang Hao took Wang Wenjiang, Wang Wenzhu, and the others by flying boat to Falling Phoenix Valley.

Falling Phoenix Market lay in the valley, to the left of Green Bull Market. Six cultivation families had lived nearby. In the last sect war, four were wiped out; only a few members and several Foundation Establishment cultivators escaped from the remaining two. The market was later recovered, but its prosperity never returned.

It was now far less prosperous than Green Bull Market.

Unaffiliated cultivators gradually moved toward Green Bull Market instead.

Resources around Green Bull Market declined quickly, reminding Wang Hao of overfishing in his previous life.

These cultivators had little reason to think about sustainable harvesting. The five families could not simply drive them away; their shops depended on them as customers.