Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 976: Chapter 689: Catastrophe

Wei Cen had not yet left Jiangnan when a storm of blood and violence had already begun there.

Songhe Prefecture, the old Liu family estate.

Over a thousand soldiers surrounded the old Liu family estate.

The Liu family was the largest jade merchant in Songhe Prefecture, as well as the largest salt merchant. Such wealthy merchants as the Liu family had countless connections in the Jiangnan officialdom.

This Liu family also had a deep connection with the Yang family business. When the Tenglong Guard first began developing maritime trade, Luo Shang found many partners in Jiangnan, and the Liu family was one of them.

When Yang Zhenshan came to Jiangnan back then, the family head Liu Fuzhang of the Liu family even tried to use his influence to suppress and lower the price pre-negotiated with Luo Shang.

To teach the Liu family a lesson, Yang Zhenshan directly raided their treasury, taking away five hundred thousand taels of silver. At the same time, Yang Zhenshan gave Liu Fuzhang a severe beating, teaching him a painful lesson.

Afterwards, the Liu family behaved, obediently cooperating with Luo Shang.

After the establishment of the Yang family business, the Liu family became one of its important partners in Jiangnan.

Over the years, the business scale between the Liu family and the Yang family expanded continuously, and they managed to earn quite a bit, their wealth increasing several times compared to before.

However, for partners like these, the Yang family didn’t really care; it was simply a business relationship with no deep ties.

And to be blunt, the Yang family business wasn’t concerned with wealthy merchants like the Liu family.

The Yang family business was well aware that such blatant transactions could provoke Chen Hengchang’s wrath, but since wealthy merchants like the Liu family weren’t afraid of Chen Hengchang, the Yang family business wouldn’t care about Chen Hengchang’s feelings either.

After all, the sea was the main stage for the Yang family business, and as long as their ships didn’t dock, no matter how angry Chen Hengchang got, he couldn’t do anything to the Yang family business’s ships.

Therefore, in recent years, the Yang family business, in collaboration with wealthy merchants like the Liu family in Jiangnan, procured large quantities of goods from Jiangnan.

To make money, those rural gentry, influential families, officials, and wealthy merchants were all striving to trade with the Yang family business.

Liu Fuzhang had long since passed away, and now the head of the Liu family was his eldest grandson, Liu Tinghu.

Seeing a large number of soldiers surrounding his old family estate, Liu Tinghu was both surprised and angry. He summoned hundreds of house servants and guards to the front yard, pointing at the leading general and questioning loudly, “Whose soldiers are you, daring to cause trouble at the Liu family?”

The general was brawny, with coarse features, and a fierce gaze that exuded a brutality one could not look at directly.

Liu Tinghu, feeling confident in his backing, was not afraid of these soldiers. However, before he could even finish his sentence, a long knife pierced through his chest.

The cold blade entered his chest, and Liu Tinghu didn’t even react. He looked down at the handle and the large hand gripping it, first in bewilderment, then in terror.

With a piercing sound, the long knife was withdrawn, spraying blood all over the tall general’s face.

The general grinned, his tongue licking the blood at the corner of his lips, revealing a cruel and grotesque smile.

“Kill!”

The next moment, the entire Liu family became a bloody killing field.

House servants and guards clashed with soldiers, while servants and maids ran in all directions. The Liu family’s members cried out in despair, begging for mercy.

Yet all struggles were in vain as the massacre had begun, and it wouldn’t stop until every last member of the Liu family was dead.

In fact, the Liu family was not weak; as a wealthy merchant, they had hundreds of martial artists, including quite a few Postnatal Martial Artists of the seventh and eighth level.

However, they weren’t facing ordinary soldiers but the disciples of the Divine Sun Sect.

The slaughter wasn’t even finished when soldiers were already feasting on the blood of some of the martial artists’ dead bodies.

They were like fiends, devouring each corpse with madness.

After just an hour, the old Liu family estate was littered with corpses, and aside from the soldiers still moving, there wasn’t a single living Liu family member.

The soldiers efficiently began cleaning the old Liu family estate, moving the dried corpses to one spot to burn, carrying away all the property inside, including grains, fabrics, and other resources.

Soon, thick black smoke rose above the old Liu family estate, with a strong burnt smell spreading over ten miles.

However, in Jiangnan, the Liu family wasn’t an exception; in various prefectures in Jiangnan, wealthy merchants like the Liu family were slaughtered, with some prefectures having several influential families massacred.

In just seven or eight days, over a hundred thousand people fell to the blades of the Divine Sun Sect, and over ten thousand Postnatal Martial Artists became their blood fodder.

From the New River’s Commandery Prince’s Mansion down to various rural gentry and wealthy merchants, and even many martial arts sects and gangs like the Songhe Gang, were slaughtered by the Divine Sun Sect.

After this, Chen Hengchang’s power greatly increased.

Not only did he gain a massive amount of wealth, but he also acquired many Martial Arts experts.

The Divine Sun Sect disciples recklessly drank the blood of Postnatal Martial Artists, their cultivation rapidly increasing.

Of course, the Spirit Continuation Blood Refining Skill had its flaws. Drinking others’ blood and devouring others’ Essence Qi twisted one’s personality.

Perverse, brutal, bloodthirsty, various negative emotions continuously impacted the mind, and even those with strong wills had difficulty resisting these negative emotions.

If taken in small amounts or with long intervals between consumption, these negative emotions could still be suppressed.

For example, Lin Fuan, in his early years, used the Spirit Continuation Blood Refining Skill to enhance his cultivation, but he hadn’t used it for a long time, and now he was just like a regular Innate Martial Artist, without a trace of the violent aura.