Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather Chapter 1324 - 855: Don’t Use the Xuanqing Sect to Intimidate Me

"Young Master, won’t this stir up trouble?" Zhang Cheng voiced with a hint of worry.

"Trouble? Haha, if it’s the whole Xuanqing Sect, we’d have to stay alert. But just the Wang family? No need to fret!"

Having once reigned as an Emperor, Yang Chengye was naturally sharp to these kinds of plots and schemes.

The Wang family’s ploy was nothing more than trying to haul the Yang family into the mud, setting them at odds with the Xuanqing Sect.

Then, with the Xuanqing Sect’s overwhelming power, they could crush the Yang family outright!

This was borrowing the shade of a towering tree; backed by the Xuanqing Sect, the Wang family naturally scorned the Yang family’s recent climb to prominence.

Over the years in the Sea of Spirit, the Yang family had unveiled countless marvels, offloading goods worth millions of spirit stones; no mere common clan could churn out such vast supplies.

Yet only a handful of insiders knew this, since most items from the Spirit Source Land flowed through the Illusion Moon Sect, Lu family, and Ji family, leading folks to see the Yang family as a fledgling power with thin foundations and feeble strength, nowhere near the ancient lineages.

After a short reflection, Yang Chengye firmed his resolve.

"Qinting, head out of the city with Uncle Zhang, acting like you’re bound for Yang Family Town!"

They absolutely couldn’t make a move inside Green Jade City; that was Xuanqing Sect turf, and striking there would be a direct slap to their face.

But beyond the walls, it was fair game.

Zhang Cheng and Yang Qinting raised no qualms, swiftly packing up before slipping from the courtyard toward the city gates.

...

"Senior brother, they’ve emerged!"

The instant Zhang Cheng and Yang Qinting stepped from the yard, several figures in gray hemp garb across the road spotted them right away.

Six in total, headed by a hulking brute with a thick beard.

Known as Wang Shanhu, this collateral Wang family kin had to bow to Wang Qisheng as young master by blood ties.

Wang Shanhu eyed Zhang Cheng and Yang Qinting striding down the street, then growled deeply, "Move out, tail them!"

At his word, the six split up, shadowing Zhang Cheng and Yang Qinting from afar.

Their pursuit was skilled, melting into the throng, rotating watches while keeping a perfect gap—not too near, not too distant.

Against most targets, they’d slip by unseen.

But their mark was Zhang Cheng.

And who was Zhang Cheng?

Yang Zhenshan’s trusted attendant, a Secret Martial Guards trainer excelling in frontline charges and stealth intel ops; a jack-of-all-trades genius.

Tracking? Zhang Cheng was a master at it.

Thus, the moment those six stirred, he sensed them, yet played it cool, bantering idly with Yang Qinting en route.

Before long, they passed through the gates, bound for the Sea of Spirit’s ferry dock.

Xuanqing Sect lay north across the Sea of Spirit, Yang Family Town south; a boat ride over the waters was required.

Green Jade City sat mere thirty miles from the ferry.

They reached the port as dusk fell, hiring a black awning boat and shoving off into the night.

Not from haste to hit Yang Family Town, but because the Sea of Spirit stayed secure after dark; overnight voyages were routine.

After all, Three Sects and Twelve Families patrolled the Sea of Spirit, barring pirates or rogue threats.

Aboard the black awning boat, Yang Qinting peered astern, noting, "Grandpa Zhang, they’re on our tail!"

"Hmm, relax! The Young Master’s got our backs!" Zhang Cheng lounged in the cabin, honing the gleaming spear tip.

"Where’s Uncle and the rest? I didn’t spot them." Yang Qinting queried, puzzled.

"Underneath!" Zhang Cheng jabbed a thumb at the boat’s base.

"Under the boat?" Yang Qinting gaped at the rail, astonished.

Moonlight barely pierced the night, the waters below like glossy black silk, hiding all depths.

Zhang Cheng grinned, clarifying, "We’ve got this pill called the Sea Dragon Pill; swallow it, and you glide through the sea like a true dragon. The Sea of Spirit’s merely a lake, far tamer than raging oceans."

Crafted mainly from Sea Dragon Ginseng, its formula and the pill itself hailed from the Zhang Dynasty in the Ten Thousand Miles Sea Domain.

Later refinements boosted it beyond the Zhang Dynasty’s version.

Spirit Source Land’s Sea Dragon Pill let users dart like fish in the depths; for a Heavenly Gang Stage Martial Artist, breath-holding underwater stretched five to eight hours.

Yang Qinting, who’d left Spirit Source Land young, lacked deep knowledge of local wonders.

Rarer treasures like the Sea Dragon Pill had escaped his ears.

The black awning boat sliced the inky waves, oar splashes lost in the hazy twilight. Past three quarters of midnight, skies grew slate-gray, stars devoured by thick clouds, save for horn lanterns swaying fore and aft, their flames dancing faintly.

Hunched at the stern, the boatman’s raincoat glistened wetly, ripples from his bamboo pole vanishing into fog.

Abruptly, an odd noise caught his ear; he whipped around, gaze piercing sharp.

No mere mortal poled boats on the Sea of Spirit—Innate cultivation or higher, at least.

This boatman, a veteran of the waves, snapped vigilant at the faintest anomaly.

"Guests, trouble’s brewing!" he called to Zhang Cheng and Yang Qinting inside.

"No issue, keep poling!" Zhang Cheng rose at the stern, gripping his long spear, voice rumbling low.

The boatman flicked eyes to the spear, said nothing, resumed his steady strokes.

True, no pirates plagued the Sea of Spirit, but perils still lurked.

Deep night, choking mist, endless waters—prime for foul play.

Moments later, six shadows pierced the fog veils, materializing astern of the black awning boat.

They skimmed the lake like phantoms in the gloom.

"Take them alive!"

Wang Shanhu fixed on the boat, his tone icy.

In a flash, the six surged through the murk, arrowing at the black awning boat.

Yet nearing three yards out, the dark lake erupted, nine forms blasting upward amid spraying waters.

"Damn, lurking lake-bottom’s a drag!" Yang Chengye hit the surface, flinging off droplets.

"Haha, Young Master, lake floor’s teeming with fish; let’s fish there sometime!" Luo Bo chuckled, slapping his drenched garb.

Like a Spirit Lake, the Sea of Spirit brimmed with spiritual energy; no match for Spirit Source Land’s Spirit River or that Ancient Array’s pool, yet packed with spirit-rich fish.

Their leap flipped the script; Wang Shanhu’s six assailing the boat turned to Yang Chengye’s nine hemming them in.

The boatman’s poling hitched a beat, then flowed smooth as ever.

Sixty-plus years plying these waters, he’d weathered every storm—this was tame.

Meantime, Wang Shanhu and his crew froze their charge, warily sizing the nine arrivals.

"Who goes there? How dare you block our path!" Wang Shanhu bellowed.

"Haha, you know full well!" Yang Chengye brandished his long spear. "We’re here to end you!"

"Yang family?"

"That’s right, Yang Chengye of the Yang family!"

"Hmph, the Yang family’s got guts! Ambushing Xuanqing Sect folk!"

Yang Chengye sneered in contempt. "Xuanqing Sect? You’re just Wang family hounds, aren’t you?"

"Don’t try scaring me with the Xuanqing Sect—we’ll seek their vengeance after!"