I Can See Your Combat Power

East City Outskirts

Since yesterday, the Bai, Wan, Bie, and Pan clans, the four great esteemed families, began to jointly collect grain and handle their assets.

As the three families who have been recognized by Xiling for having merged with the Xu Sheng family, it is unknown how they joined forces with the Wan family. People in Xiling say that the three families have a deep bond.

Rumors circulated among the populace that the four great families were preparing to move their clans to Yuanzhou, and thus needed to deal with all the assets in Xiling.

The prices were exceedingly fair. A shop along the Golden Avenue only needed a million pounds of grain. A courtyard house in the city center could be bought with just one cargo ship. The prices for ordinary stores and wine shops were cheap to the point of craziness. Except for the fact that they only wanted new grain, the only things they accepted in exchange were chariots, beast-drawn carriages, cargo ships, and warships.

People understood their reasons. After all, Yuanzhou was 30,000 miles away, reachable by both land and water routes. A family clan of at least tens of thousands of people migrating 30,000 miles would require food and transportation resources of breathtaking proportions.

Xiling has nine major families. The other five, seeming to spot a rare opportunity, immediately went to the four families and secured deals. In just one day, the properties of the four families in Xiling had been largely swapped. Apart from a few high-value shops and family lands that hadn’t been settled yet, the ownership of all others had been transferred.

The stewards under the four families had all been sent out to collect grain, specifically the new harvest from the people of Xiling.

As beneficiaries of the ‘Five Acres of Farmland Decree¹, the citizens of Xiling were finally able to stop worrying about food. The first group that had cleared their farmland had even wrapped up their first harvest.

Some Xiling free citizens, who were doing small businesses, saw their family sizes grow and managed to secure dozens of acres of farmland.

“Mr. Shen, new grain is five silver horns per pound, fifty gold per hundred pounds. This is a surprisingly high price. Your 15,000 pounds of new grain sitting in your warehouse is useless. With the autumn harvest approaching, you might as well sell the new grain to me. In less than two months, new grain will grow in the field again.” The well-dressed Wan shopkeeper suggested to Shen Dafa.

Wan Tong, who had suffered a crushing defeat in the agricultural industry by the Righteous Business Group, went back to the Wan conglomerate and managed other businesses. Today he was tasked with a commission to buy up the new grain. Being one of the core staff members of the Wan group, he knew exactly why the Wan group was buying new grain and made extra efforts.

In front of him, Shen Dafa, whose family had lived in Xiling for generations, had over a hundred direct descendants. If one of them became a warrior of the Fierce Realm, they could become a new clan in Xiling. Due to their large population, the Shen Family could cultivate nearly a thousand acres of farmland, making them one of the main targets of Wan Tong’s grain collection. Wan Tong’s offer was initially so tempting that Shen Dafa was just about to agree. However, a thunderous voice resounded in the sky, shaking the earth like an ancient bell.

“I am Tang Luo. The flood will arrive in three days. Citizens, pack up your belongings and take all your grain to Red Cloud Mountain!!”

Shen Dafa, an ultimate Mortal Realm warrior, listened carefully to the announcement and his face turned ashen. He swallowed back his intended agreement to sell the grain and asked Wan Tong, “Mr. Wan, Tang Tianjiao said the flood is coming. Do you know about this?”

“What a joke.” Wan Tong blanched and denied, “How could I possibly know about that?”

Despite Wan Tong’s denial, Shen Dafa knew better, he coldly replied, “I can’t sell this grain. Tang Tianjiao made it clear. There are three days left until the flood comes. I am bringing my family and grain to Red Cloud Mountain to avoid disaster. I won’t keep you any longer.”

“That’s right. You should do that.” Wan Tong gave an awkward smile to Shen Dafa, bowing his hands in salute. But in his mind, he was casting curses on Tang Luo, “As the eldest son of the Tang clan who is also the strongest Mortal Realm warrior in Xiling, why is he always obstructing me! Creating the Righteous Business Group to monopolize Xiling’s agriculture in just a few months, now he’s collecting grain and announcing the impending flood to the whole city. Does he not have better things to do!”

The same thing happened in various corners of Xiling. When Tang Luo announced the flood warning to the whole city, it meant the four families’ grain collection plan was officially abandoned. The scattered grain buyers could only bid farewell with a smile.

With Tang Luo’s announcement spread throughout Xiling, the five family heads who had happily obtained land and shops from the four families were practically grinding their teeth in anger. Looking at the land deeds and contracts in their hands, all they wanted to do was rip them to shreds.

No wonder the Pan, Bai, Bie, and Wan families were frantically selling their properties and collecting grain throughout the city. It turned out a natural disaster was imminent!

The originally priceless land and shops were worthless in the face of disaster, and grain became the top necessity in such times. Its value surpassed gold in the early stages, and by the later stages, a sack of rice could save a Mortal Realm warrior’s life.

But in their struggle for the four families’ properties, the five families handed out most of their grain reserves, leaving just enough for their clans to eat. If they attempted any operation now, they’d undoubtedly come up short.

What the five family heads couldn’t understand was, being among the esteemed families of Xiling, the size of their Wind Media Department should be similar, so why did the four families receive information so much earlier? Listening to Tang Luo making his announcement, it seemed that the young man couldn’t bear to see the civilians being kept in the dark, so he announced it to the whole city. The announcement being three days in advance gave the family heads an estimation: the Tang Clan must have received the news not long ago.

But the four families were a day ahead of Tang Luo. In all of Xiling, the only one who could do this was the Mi Clan’s Wind Media Department.

“This is really strange.”

The Tang Clan has blood ties with the Xu Clan in Yuanzhou. Three out of the four great families’ daughters were about to become servants to Mr. Xu Sheng. Logically, shouldn’t the four families be closer to the Tang Clan? After all, Mr. Xu’s aunt by marriage is the wife of the head of the Tang Clan.

Ignoring the closer Tang Clan, but entangling themselves with the Mi Clan instead, it was really unclear what the four families were up to.

The outskirts of the city, Jiang Lin

The protracted battle raged on for a day, darkening the sky and changing its colors.

The land had become a barren wasteland due to the continuous fighting. Even with the endurance of Fierce Realm warriors, they were starting to feel overwhelmed.

On the battlefield, aside from Tang Sen and Mi Yang who could still maintain vigorous energy, even Mi Hu was not as spirited as when he first arrived.

The battle concerning sixty-five Fierce Realm warriors had dwindled down to forty, leaving twenty-five from both sides severely injured and unable to return to the battlefield.

The remaining ones here were truly the best among Fierce Realm warriors, with none of them having less than 70,000 points of spiritual power, they were the real mainstays of the two families.

This also made the battle more intense. Although the Tang Clan’s warriors had acquired the Vermillion Bird seal to enhance their offensive capabilities, the Mi Clan had gained another top-level strong man, making the battlefield balanced once again.

Having been opponents for a thousand years, neither side lacked patience, and the remaining Fierce Realm warriors were extremely cautious.

The so-called Martial Ancestors were a clan’s supreme warriors, their sole contribution to the clan was in combat. As professional fighters, they would never allow a mistake on their part to lead to defeat.

Golden light and green rays clashed and collided at the horizon. The situation was getting more and more intense.

Until Tang Luo’s voice, sounding divine-like, boomed above the battlefield, shaking the white clouds in the sky.