After Fu Zhengong saw Mr. Yu off, he angrily summoned Fu Ping and the other four men and berated them: "Useless trash! What use are you to me?"
"A bunch of useless trash, is it really that hard for you to kill Fu Ya?"
“My lord, we are all clansmen, we dare not go too far…” Fu Ping knelt down and kowtowed to tell the truth.
Enraged, Fu Zhen grabbed a teacup from the octagonal table and smashed it over Fu Ping's head: "Bang!"
"Ah!" Fu Ping screamed and fell to the side, clutching his bleeding head and rolling around in agony.
The remaining dead were so frightened that they knelt on the ground, trembling, and no one dared to utter a word.
Fu Zhen slammed her hand on the table in anger: "Useless trash! I ordered you to kill Fu Ya, and instead you went to annul the engagement. Are you trying to kill me?"
"Your Excellency, we misunderstood your meaning. Please give us another chance. We promise to kill Fu Ya to prevent future troubles!" Fu An hurriedly begged for mercy, kowtowing repeatedly.
Fu Zhen rushed up to them and stopped, bending down angrily and saying, "You told me earlier that Fu Ya had undergone a complete transformation and could withstand a thousand pounds of force without flinching, is that true?"
"Your Excellency, this is absolutely true. Even if you gave us ten lives, we wouldn't dare to say such a thing!" Fu An kowtowed until his forehead bled, ignoring the blood streaming down his face, and kept explaining the truth.
Fu Yi, who was kowtowing beside him, chimed in: "Your Excellency, Fu Ya has grown half a foot taller overnight, and his physique has changed from thin to moderate."
A thin, pale, square face transformed into a dignified and imposing one, with a rosy complexion, resembling the appearance of someone who had undergone spiritual cultivation and whose physique had improved. I humbly request Your Excellency's understanding…”
"Oh, could it be that Fu Ya's miraculous escape from a desperate situation has stimulated the true energy and magical power of his spiritual root cultivation?" Fu Zhen quickly suppressed her anger, turned around seriously, walked to the main seat, and sat down, muttering to herself.
Three hundred years ago, the path of immortality flourished, and many people ascended to the immortal realm.
Since the outbreak of war, which shattered mountains and rivers and left the world in ruins, the cultivation techniques and the abundant spiritual energy of heaven and earth have been severed, leaving only incomplete inheritances of cultivation.
As a result, the spiritual roots of cultivators were damaged, and over the past three hundred years, the proportion of people born with spiritual roots has increased from one in ten thousand to one in a million.
Whoever discovers their spiritual root and enters the first level of Qi Refining can experience a comprehensive improvement in their physical qualities, undergoing a complete transformation.
Their social status also rose accordingly.
Knowing that the clan chief was worried that Fu Ya's spiritual root cultivation might alarm the dynasty's cultivation families, causing them to offer protection and creating a hidden danger, Fu An hurriedly tried to remedy the situation: "My lord, we can use poison to eliminate this hidden danger, Fu Ya!"
"No, the five of you should not provoke him again."
Since he possesses spiritual roots and can cultivate, how could I possibly abandon my family's scion and invite ridicule and disgrace?
I will personally recruit him, provide him with cultivation resources, encourage him to restore the glory of his ancestors, lead the entire Fu clan to stand tall in the Great Li Dynasty, and safeguard the family's long-term prosperity.
"Do you understand?" Fu Zhen changed her stern and imposing expression to a warm smile.
At first glance, they seem very approachable.
But Fu Zhen's appearance terrified Fu Ping and the other four, who nodded repeatedly in agreement, "Yes, that's right, Your Excellency is right..."
"Alright, you may all leave!"
"Guards, each of you will be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver!" Fu Zhen said generously.
A middle-aged man in a gray robe entered through the door, stopped in the center of the main hall, clasped his hands in a fist and bowed to Fu Zhen, and said, "My lord, is there anything else you need?"
“Lai Er, you are an old man in our Yongguo Duke’s Mansion. Four generations of your family have served the descendants of the Yongguo Duke. You know all the rules. You should handle this!” Fu Zhen waved his hand to shoo him away. Lai Er smiled obsequiously, bowed, and retreated, waving to Fu Ping and the other four as he walked.
Fu Ping and the other four quickly stood up, bowed to Fu Zhen, and retreated until they reached the entrance of the main hall before turning around and walking out.
Fu Zhen, used to it, didn't take it seriously and continued to enjoy the massage from the two maids.
Lai Er handed over Fu Ping and the other four, and scolded them with a stern face: "Do you know how much trouble you five murderers have caused the Duke?"
"Chief Steward Lai, we know we were wrong. Please enlighten us!" Fu An hurriedly clasped his hands and bowed for help. The other four followed suit and bowed as well, all with pleading expressions on their faces.
Lai Er caught a glimpse of the panic in their eyes and sneered, "Hmph, if it weren't for the fact that you are members of the Duke's clan, this steward would really be too lazy to save you."
"I, the steward, am acting on the orders of the lord to reward each of you with one hundred taels of silver. This is to ward off misfortune. Do you understand?"
"Yes, we understand!" Fu An understood his implication, and Fu Ping and the others nodded in agreement, seemingly not quite.
When Lai Er led the five of them to the Yongguo Duke's treasury, took away one hundred taels of silver and a bottle of hemostatic medicine for each of them, he drove the five of them out of the Yongguo Duke's mansion.
The five men hid in the alleyway in fear and began to discuss: "Every time the lord makes a harmonious joke to people, someone dies unjustly."
I'm worried he'll try to silence us..."
“Brother, look at the hemostatic medicine in our hands, one bottle for each of us. What does this mean?” Fu An shook the hemostatic medicine bottle in his hand, guiding the four of them to figure it out themselves.
Fu Yi said thoughtfully, "No wonder Lord Jue made the five of us fake our deaths and hide outside to make a living."
"This is to recruit Zheng Ya to bring glory to the family, sacrificing the five of us..."
"You want to eat shit?"
The lord meant that the bleeding to death was unstoppable even with five bottles of hemostatic medicine, implying that we should hire someone to poison Fu Ya.
"If Fu Ya doesn't die, the five of us will die, understand?" Fu Anxin said wearily, revealing the truth.
Fu Ping scratched the back of his head and said, "That's not right. Lord Jue clearly said he wanted to recruit Fu Ya to cultivate for the long-term prosperity of the family. Why would he hire a deadly poison to kill Fu Ya?"
"Are you all brainless idiots?!"
The fact that the Duke asked us to leave the main hall earlier indicates that he had guests resting in the side room, and that family matters are not to be discussed with outsiders.
After all, family scandals shouldn't be aired in public!
Conversely, if this guest were to have the Duke kill Fu Ya, it would be as if someone were plotting against the eldest daughter of the Dai family.
That would involve far too many complexities.
Therefore, the lord has essentially given us ammunition to plot against Fu Ya. Whether the lord wants to cover up his shame or it is at the behest of this guest, he must kill Fu Ya.
"But this has already failed once. Getting involved with Fu Ya is already a matter of cultivation. We need to avoid suspicion, which is why the Duke said those things. Recruiting Fu Ya is a pretense, just for show. The real purpose is to assassinate Fu Ya to eliminate all future troubles. Do you understand?" Fu An lowered his voice and warned the four of them.
Fu Ping felt increasingly cold as he listened: "Then, what do we do? Will we be silenced afterward...?"
"We're already in this situation, do we even have a choice?" Fu An said irritably in a low voice.
The other four fell silent, their faces ashen and contorted with rage.
Fu Ping was silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Damn it, let's do it. That cancerous guy has been gambling like crazy these past few days and desperately needs money to win back his losses. It's no big deal if we bribe him to poison Fu Ya!"
“Okay, let’s get started right away…” Fu An and the other three nodded in agreement.
At this time, Fu Zhen, under the protection of Lai Er and his men, rode in a four-person sedan chair to Fu Ya's house to recruit clansmen.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com