Our Strength Lies in Business

"I welcome Scholar Zhang to our humble abode. If I may ask, what business does Scholar Zhang have in our Min Clan?" The one who asked the question was Min Yue Yue's father, none other than the Clan Lord of the Min Clan. "If I'm not mistaken, didn't you just said you're a specialist in war provision and management? Even if Scholar Zhang were to teach us, it would be of no use since the Min Clan did not even participate in the war. Our strength lies in business."

Scholar Zhang calmly sipped the black tea that was served to him. Then, he forced a smile, but it was awkward that it doesn't seem sincere at all.

"As much as I love to give the knowledge to the Min Clan. Unfortunately, this visit is not for that. I am here simply to inform of a danger that was about to befall upon Min Clan."

"A danger?! Scholar Zhang, Please do tell!"

Scholar Zhang slowly crossed his arms. With all the seriousness in his eyes, the Clan Lord could not help but gulp.

"The Fang Clan is trying to rob the Min Clan!"

"..." The Clan Lord creased his eyebrow as he was slightly confused. The friendship between the two clans has lasted for hundreds of years. There may be some dispute or small conflict, but in the end, all of that was resolved. "Scholar Zhang must be kidding, right?"

"Hmm... Perhaps rob is not the right words." Despite the Clan Lord's response, Scholar Zhang maintained his expression perfectly. "It would be more fit to say, The Fang Clan is trying to destroy the Min Clan."

The Clan Lord's patience has exploded. He kept his temper with all his might, then said in a rough tone, "Please leave now! You are not welcome here."

"Who do you think you are talking to?! I'm the Emperor's guest!" As he could not accept being treated this way, Scholar Zhang also replied more roughly, "In the first place, I'm here because I cared about the Min Clan. Don't you want to know how the Fang Clan will destroy you? They took your kindness and your daughter but planned to repay it with evil deeds.

"Enough of this! Don't speak another word about the Min Clan or the Fang Clan ever again! Leave now, or I'll ask the guard!"

"Fine, I'll leave!" Zhang Wan stood up from his seat out of anger. As he was just about to leave the room, he stopped for a moment and said, "It's fine if you don't believe me. But what happens if your daughter's names changed to Fang Yue Miao? Or the fact that they have been collecting earth spirit weapons?"

As the scholar was out of sight, the Clan Lord let out a sigh. But, then he remembered Zhang Wan's last words before he left. "Change my daughter's name? They would not even dare, and I will be the first one to hear about it. But... Earth spirit weapons? It could not be, right?"

Every cultivator has its foundation and Qi Aura. Most of the Min Clan was dominated by a blue aura, while the Fang Clan was filled with red aura cultivators. It indicated water spirit and fire spirit, respectively.

This also means that if two cultivators with equal strength fight against each other, the one who wins will obviously be the one who holds the water spirit as it extinguishes the fire.

As Qi Aura cannot be changed since birth, it seems that it was disadvantageous to fight against the cultivator who holds the weakness of his own spirit. But there's a way to repel, if one cannot beat the water spirit with fire spirit, then just use an earth spirit weapon. Not only earth spirit was superior to the water spirit as the earth absorbs water. If combined with the fire spirit, the earth spirit weapons could get stronger as fire strengthens the earth.

If the Min Clan and Fang Clan were to fight against each other, it was estimated that the match could end in a draw. The Fang Clan were superior in strength, but the Min Clan could somehow hold on with their spirit elements' advantages. However, if the Fang Clan owned many earth spirit weapons, the result would be different. The Fang Clan would use the earth spirit weapons to easily annihilate the Min Clan.

Of course, The Clan Lord would not believe that were to happen. The friendship between the two clans was stronger than that. But... Just in case.

"Go check on the Fang Clan! See if there has been an idea of changing my daughter's name or if they have been collecting earth spirit weapons recently?"

The Clan Lord summons one of his personal bodyguard that was not part of the Fang Clan.

"Yes, my lord." the bodyguard dressed in dark blue clothes bowed and left right away.

The Clan Lord slouched back on his seat as he let out another sigh. "There's nothing wrong with just investigating. It's all for the sake of the Min Clan."

***

The way to the Fang Clan from the MIn Clan was not that too far from each other. There is a large grassy intersection in the middle of the path everyone is traveling from and will pass through. Not far from that intersection lays a large rock the size of 2 men.

A scholar named Zhang Wan was lying down and resting at the top of the rock. He did not seem that tired, and he should have passed this intersection about half an hour ago.

"It's about time..." Zhang Wan was looking in the direction of the Min clan, which he was just from. He could see a man in dark blue attire fastly walking from a distance but not that fast to be considered running either.

Scholar Zhang could not help but smile sinisterly. "Haha. He took the bait!"

Without any hesitation, he jumped and charged through the bodyguard.

"Fist of the Anger Cloud!"

The fist was so powerful that the bodyguard would almost die. Yet, thanks to his years of experience, he successfully defended against the incoming ambush.

"Haha... Not bad!"

"You... You're Scholar Zhang!" The bodyguard's eyes were wide open as he carefully saw the face of the man who attacked him. A scholar was someone who pursued knowledge instead of techniques. Furthermore, Scholar Zhang was also someone from Xiang Lan Nation, the country known for having the weakest cultivator, if calculated by average. "Why the hell did you attack me? Explain yourself!"

"I do not need to explain anything. You're gonna be dead soon anyway!" Scholar Zhang continued his attack with yet another one of his techniques. "Kick of Storm Cloud."

Zhang Wan jumped and repeatedly landed one kick after another. However, his opponent skillfully dodged every single one of his kicks.

"Is that all you got? It won't be enough to defeat me!" Quickly he spun around and got right beside the Scholar. "Take this! Splash of the Starfish!"

Yet, Scholar Zhang did not even faze. In fact, he smiled, "Hehee... I got you where I want you to be!"

** Stab **

Unknowingly, a spear went right through the bodyguard's chest. "This is... an earth spirit spear."

The dark blue clothes he's wearing turned red. His hand was shivering, and blood spewed out of his mouth before he falls to the ground. "Forgive me..."

It turned out Scholar Zhang was even stronger than him. As his lifeless body lay on the ground, the Scholar lighted up a fire and burned the corpse.

The fire grew larger and larger, swallowing the whole body. As half of the corpse's skin has been turned black, the scholar immediately put the fire down with his kick.

"This should be enough..."

Scholar Zhang turned away from the lifeless body as if nothing ever happened here and continued towards the Fang Clan.

***

"What did you just say?!"

"He's dead. His body was half burned down. And from his wound, there were traces of earth Qi. We believe that this must be an earth spirit weapon."

The Clan Lord of the Min Clan clenched his fist tightly before he bashed it to the table in front of him. "Investigate more about this. Dismissed!"

"Yes!"

The Clan Lord closed his eyes as he muttered to himself, "Could it really be the Fang Clan? Did they resort to killing because he found out too much?"