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Chapter 402: Calamity

Tang Jie stood in a distant corner of this world, looking at that back as if he was hypnotized.

The back slowly turned like an opening door, a ray of light peeping through and illuminating this space. But it was impossible to make out that woman’s profile.

The back turned a third of the way around before stopping, and no effort in the world could make it move anymore.

A moment later, the space shattered, the image fading away.

Tang Jie found himself standing back in the small room of the Carefree House. On the wall across from him was the Dream Pearl Lady painting.

Tang Jie sighed, knowing that he had failed again.

After getting the painting, Tang Jie had tried to enter that mysterious state from before. Alas, no matter how he tried to comprehend and perceive, he was unable to grasp that brief sensation from before.

But there was one thing he was sure about. The Dream Pearl Lady painting was a painting that could be used to comprehend the Dao.

As for entrancing the mind, that was simply a manifestation of being immersed in the comprehension of the Dao. In a way, it was similar to the Soul Refining Pearl.

The Mindseizers of the Soul Refining Pearl were originally conceived for the purpose of possession. It was later discovered that the chances of possession were too low, but the momentary daze created during the possession attempt was very significant, leading its usage to slowly shift.

Such was the case with the Dream Pearl Lady painting. What had been a painting for comprehending the Dao was now being used in combat for that mind-seizing effect created when one was comprehending the Dao.

Now that Tang Jie had this painting, he naturally needed to comprehend its contents. Alas, no matter what he did, he found it difficult to understand its divine depths.

Mei Huaping had probably not understood it either, or else he wouldn’t have used it in battle. His Painting Dao had been decent, but in the end, it was essentially an art. He had yet to enter the Great Dao.

From this, Tang Jie could see that comprehending the Dream Pearl Lady painting was not an easy task, and besides, he had no reason to rush it.

After inspecting the painting a little longer, he turned and left.

Life was calm and simple, and soon, another two months had passed.

Tang Jie had achieved greater attainment in the heart revolution, so he now proceeded to the head revolution. His progress was smooth, and if there were no mishaps, he could finish before graduation, which was a little more than a year from now.

Today, Tang Jie was cultivating in the Carefree House as usual when there was a knock at the gate.

He opened the gate to find Shi Meng.

Tang Jie asked in surprise, “Why did you come back? Doesn’t the Wei Clan still need you?”

Shi Meng replied, “The Wei Clan doesn’t need me. It needs you. Besides, I can’t always be devotedly serving the Wei Clan. After nine months of standing guard, I’ve done my duty. Now that graduation is soon, I have to start planning for myself. If I don’t have a breakthrough in the time I have left, I’m afraid that we won’t be able to meet in the future.”

With the several hundred thousand coins he had gotten for his part in the Stone Gate Sect mission, Shi Meng had managed to shed his mortality in the Wei Clan.

But reaching the Mortal Shedding Realm didn’t mean that one could enter the Basking Moon Sect. With his stockpile of resources, Shi Meng had managed to reach the leading pack when it came to cultivation level, but he was still lacking in actual combat power.

In the past, when the gap was too big, this would have been fine, but now that he had grown in cultivation level and strength, he couldn’t accept failing when he was only lacking one last thing. Thus, Shi Meng had decided to devote all his strength to see if he could get into the sect. He had come to find Tang Jie naturally because he hoped to get his support.

Tang Jie replied, “I see. I overlooked this, but there’s no need to worry. You can leave the matter of entering the sect to me. While I can’t guarantee you the top ten, I think I can help you get into the top one hundred and an outer sect disciple spot.”

Shi Meng was overjoyed. “I’ll take your word for it.”

Tang Jie chuckled. “We’re all brothers now. Do you still not trust me? Right, so how has the Wei Clan been doing lately?”

Shi Meng’s face darkened. “This is also another reason I rushed back. The Wei Clan is in big trouble, and I’m afraid you’ll have to intervene this time.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Tang Jie was unmoved, bringing Shi Meng into his room. “What’s wrong? Sit down and tell me slowly.”

As Shi Meng talked, Tang Jie slowly developed a picture of what the Wei Clan had been doing in this time.

Over this period of time, the Wei Clan had been steadily deteriorating.

The Wei Clan wouldn’t have been in such a bad state if its only problem were that Tang Jie had withdrawn from the clan affairs. But their excessive expansion had been liable to cause a powerful backlash, and they had been relying entirely on the prestige of Tang Jie and Wei Tianchong to support it. Now that the more important one of this pair had left, the pressure from the backlash had soared, and the Wei Clan inevitably found itself trying to put out too many fires. Besides that, the Jade Radiance Sect was working in the shadows, encouraging various groups to make trouble for the Wei Clan, again strengthening the backlash. Finally, these attacks were infectious. When one person succeeded, there would inevitably be imitators. While those who followed might not be as strong as those who came before, there would be ten times, a hundred times more, so the danger they posed was even greater.

The nine months which Tang Jie had spent at the academy had seemed like nine years to the Wei Clan. One problem came after another, leaving the Wei Clan breathless as it ran around. One place wasn’t paying rent, another place’s store was getting smashed in, and still elsewhere, servants of some group were causing trouble or some clan or competitor was stirring the pot.

The pressure from their competitors was the greatest. For the sake of profit, people were always willing to resort to any means, daring to become enemies with anyone.

Seven months ago, a rumor began to spread that one of the Wei Clan’s external medicine stores was selling fake medicine, with a servant boy personally accusing the Wei Clan manager. This had dealt a severe blow to the Wei Clan’s reputation, though fortunately, herbs and medicines were not the Wei Clan’s principal business. Although he knew that the manager had been framed, Wei Danbai still had to endure the pain and let go this manager who had served him for ten-some years. This person ended up on the streets, for which people later criticized the Wei Clan for being heartless and treating its elderly servants poorly.

Five months ago, the Wei Clan was accused of reporting less land than it had actually purchased. The extra land was seized, and a fine of three thousand taels of silver was levied. It truly had reported less land, as this affected how much tax it had to pay, but almost all of the major clans did this. In fact, to report ten acres for every one hundred acres was being very generous. But the government had not audited the others, only the Wei Clan, which made people suspect that something else was going on. This was also the first time the government moved against the Wei Clan.

Three months ago, one of the Wei Clan’s stores in Canglong Prefecture had been seized. The reason wasn’t important. What was important was that this was the first time the businesses in Canglong Prefecture had been touched. This meant that their adversaries were no longer just targeting the Wei Clan’s outside properties and had extended their reach to the Wei Clan’s home turf. Encroachment had inertia, and it would only stop once it encountered failure.

Two months ago, three of the Wei Clan’s stores had been set on fire in the same night, and two days after that, a servant had inexplicably died in a store.

All these incidents had Wei Danbai working frantically, but soon, the true lethal blow came.

One month ago, a Wei Clan caravan was robbed.

“It was a caravan to the Watcher River market,” Shi Meng said.

“‘The Watcher River market’?” Tang Jie was startled, and then he understood. “Did it have Immortal items in it?”

The Wei Clan could afford the loss of a caravan being robbed, but if it was one carrying Immortal items, the nature changed completely. The value went from tens of thousands of taels of silver to more than a million.

But Tang Jie soon found out that this matter was even more serious than he had imagined.

Shi Meng bitterly smiled and nodded. “All those incidents had led to many losses, and the master was anxious to pull off a big deal, so he found some Immortal spirit plants to sell… He bought some Violet Berries.”

“Bastard!” Tang Jie slapped the table. “He wants to sell banned goods? Has Wei Danbai gone crazy?”

Violet Berries were a special product of Sageheart. Their actual value wasn’t especially high, but the problem was that they were only grown in the central region of Violet Star Lake, and they were necessary ingredients for some medicines. They became more valuable when they were rare, so the Basking Moon Sect naturally wouldn’t permit them to be casually circulated in the market, tightly controlling them. But these berries were easy to plant and raise, so there were always some that circulated outside of the country every year.

Regardless, they were banned goods that were not allowed to be sold by private parties!

Rather than thinking that Wei Danbai’s brain had stopped working, Tang Jie concluded that Wei Danbai dared to try and sell these berries because the recent losses had driven him crazy.

Now that he thought about it, the biggest problem here was still Wei Danbai himself.

It was precisely because he was unwilling to give up on an expansion eight years in the making that he was running into so much trouble. If he had pulled out promptly and given up on the outside stores to fortify Canglong Prefecture and its periphery, outsiders would have found it very hard to get in. But because he refused to let go, he ran into all sorts of problems and started to face capital stresses, causing him to look to illegal goods.

Now that the caravan had been robbed, the matter of the Violet Berries was bound to be exposed.

If this matter reached the Basking Moon Sect’s ears, the entire clan might be exterminated, and not even Wei Tianchong would be able to do anything about it.

Sure enough, the greatest damage always came from one’s own side!

If not for Wei Danbai’s idiocy, conceit, and stubbornness, the Wei Clan would have never fallen this far. At the very least, Tang Jie had never imagined that the Wei Clan would end up like this.

Shi Meng anxiously said, “Tang Jie, you have to think of a way. We can’t let the Wei Clan end like this.”

Tang Jie asked, “Do you know who did this?”

Shi Meng replied, “I’m not sure. It seems like the work of a wandering cultivator. We have to find and kill this person before he can spread the word.”

“How long has it been since the incident?” Tang Jie asked.

“It’s been eleven days since the caravan was robbed. The two Spirit Masters guarding the caravan were killed, and it was the surviving escorts who escaped and told us, which is why there was such a big delay.”

“Eleven days… Do you think this can still be kept a secret after such a long time?” Tang Jie coldly laughed.

Shi Meng shook his head and sighed. “I know that it’s not very possible, but I still have to ask for the sake of the Wei Clan. I can’t resolve this matter, so I can only rely on you. Oh, right, the clan head said that if you are willing to save the Wei Clan from this crisis, he was willing to put aside everything and seek your forgiveness, and also allow you to choose a girl from the Wei Clan to marry so that you can inherit the Wei Clan, and that you will essentially be the clan head in the future. If this isn’t enough…”

Shi Meng hesitated. Tang Jie could tell from his tone that if this still wasn’t enough, Wei Danbai was even willing to promise him the entire Wei Clan. He quickly said, “My ambitions are on the Great Dao, and I have no interest in the Wei Clan. But I once said that I would not sit by while the Wei Clan walked toward disaster. I have some connection to this matter, so I will naturally act. The problem right now is how we should handle this.”

He stood up, put his hands behind his back, and began to pace back and forth.

In the yard, Tang Jie pondered the situation while Shi Meng expectantly looked at him.

After a while, Tang Jie said, “It’s already a fact that the Wei Clan was trafficking illegal goods, and there’s no changing that. Right now, there’s no point in mending the fence after the sheep have been lost. We’ll have to look at this matter from another angle to find a solution.”

Wei Danbai has finally gone too far! It’s time for Tang Jie to save the day!