Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 222: 2141 hit sure to hit

Yang Zhenshan approached the central building while pricking up his ears to listen to the sounds around him.

There were two postal couriers talking in the gatehouse to the left, and four sleeping in the room to the right; there were six horses in the stable ahead.

Yang Zhenshan could hear the breathing coming from each room distinctly.

Indeed, such a night was more advantageous to him; darkness might obstruct sight but not his hearing.

On the contrary, the quiet environment maximized his auditory abilities.

If he were in a noisy environment, it would be impossible for Yang Zhenshan to distinguish the sounds of breathing.

A moment later, he noiselessly arrived behind the central building of the post station.

Pressing his ear against the cold wall, he carefully listened to everything inside.

Three breathing sounds.

One was very steady, seemingly asleep, while the other two were faint.

Faint did not mean these two people were weak, but rather that they were controlling their breathing to be stable and slow.

Yang Zhenshan was no stranger to this situation; only Martial Artists above the fifth layer of the Postnatal Realm could control their breathing so.

In fact, this was a breathing technique, not some marvelous ability, just a resting method for Postnatal Realm Martial Artists.

When unable to sleep, Postnatal Martial Artists could enter a state akin to hibernation by controlling their breathing.

In this state, their bodies could get adequate rest, their spirits could alleviate fatigue, and they could still remain alert to their surroundings.

However, usually, only those whose cultivation reached the fifth layer of the Postnatal Realm could grasp this way of resting.

That is to say, apart from Su Shanyu, there were two other Martial Artists inside above the fifth layer of the Postnatal Realm.

Under this circumstance, it was practically impossible to sneak in silently; forced entry was the only option.

After a brief contemplation, Yang Zhenshan slowly moved to the back window of the building.

Gazing at the sealed carved wooden window, Yang Zhenshan clenched a short sword in each hand and a fist in the other, then fiercely struck out.

Bang! The carved wooden window instantly shattered.

Yang Zhenshan’s figure, like that of a civet, leapt into the window in an instant.

The sudden loud crash awakened the three people in the room immediately.

Su Shanyu woke from his sleep, still in a state of confusion without any response.

However, his two attendants reacted immediately; the moment Yang Zhenshan entered the room, they both snapped their eyes open and drew their long blades, lunging at Yang Zhenshan.

But before they could get close, two short swords suddenly flew towards them.

Under the flickering candlelight, the silvery blades sparkled.

One of them reacted quickly, dodging the incoming short sword, while the other was not so fortunate; a foot-long short sword buried itself directly into his throat.

Two years were enough for Yang Zhenshan to train his Thousand Mechanism Hand to an awe-inspiring extent.

With Thousand Mechanism Hand combined with his strength and vision, it was absolutely accurate and extremely powerful.

Now, even Martial Artists of the Postnatal Fifth Layer were nothing but a moot effort against him, hardly worth mentioning.

However, his target was not these two attendants, but Su Shanyu lying on the bed.

At this moment, Su Shanyu finally came to his senses. He sat up abruptly from his bed and reached for the long sword beside him.

Too late!

Within a breath’s time, Yang Zhenshan had already arrived in front of the bed.

In the dim candlelight, Yang Zhenshan was like a ghostly apparition – Su Shanyu didn’t even see his figure before feeling his throat clenched by an iron vice.

“You~~”

Su Shanyu tried to say something.

But the reply he got was a crisp sound of breaking bones.

Crack!

“Second Young Master!”

The remaining attendant clearly heard this crisp sound of bone breaking and immediately called out in urgency.

But after Yang Zhenshan snapped Su Shanyu’s neck, he moved like a specter and leaped out of the window.

From the moment he broke the carved wooden window to jumping out of the building, the entire process took no more than a few breaths. In fact, Yang Zhenshan did little – he entered the room, threw two short swords, and then went to the bed to break Su Shanyu’s neck.

The process was that simple, that swift.

By the time he left the post station, Su Shanyu’s other attendants and postal couriers hadn’t even reacted.

Only the attendant inside stood in front of the bed, his face full of terror, staring at Su Shanyu whose neck was broken.

“Second~Second Young Master!”

He called out softly, reaching to prop up Su Shanyu, yet didn’t dare to.

It was only when the other attendants burst in did he go forward to gently adjust Su Shanyu’s head.

By then, Yang Zhenshan had already left the post station far behind, reaching a nearby hillside, and sped away on Red Cloud.

This time he was not a general slaughtering on the battlefield but an assassin.

An assassin who kills within ten steps and leaves no trace for a thousand miles.

This was Yang Zhenshan’s first assassination; it wasn’t his specialty, but isn’t that nothing more than hitting the mark with a single strike and fleeing thousands of miles away?

His only target was one, the rest were trivial.

So after snapping Su Shanyu’s neck, he did not hesitate to leave the mountain inn and returned to Chongshan Pass without hesitation.

After another night of rapid travel, by the time he arrived at Chongshan Pass, the sky was just beginning to brighten, and the city gates had not yet opened.

Yang Zhenshan waited on a small dirt slope not far from the official road for nearly an hour before the city gates finally opened. However, he did not immediately enter the city, but waited until people gradually started entering through the official road and then joined the passersby to go inside.

“Back already, no accidents, I trust!”

Right upon returning to the small courtyard, Yu Qingyi couldn’t help but ask.

Yang Zhenshan’s departure to kill Su Shanyu, naturally, could not be concealed from Yu Qingyi.

“No accidents!” Yang Zhenshan took off his fur coat and said with a faint smile.

“Is the man dead?” Yu Qingyi asked while helping him remove his sturdy outfit.

“What, you don’t have confidence in your husband?” Yang Zhenshan asked with a smile.

Yu Qingyi gave him an eye roll, “I’m just worried that you may not kill the snake and end up being harmed by it!”

She had no objections to Yang Zhenshan going out to kill, after all, she used to be a worldly person, and she preferred to solve problems with force.

Yang Zhenshan changed into a loose scholar robe and casually leaned on the soft couch. “Now that Su Shanyu is dead, Marquis Jingyuan Mansion definitely won’t let things go!”

“It’s just uncertain what measures they will take next!”

Yu Qingyi contemplated, “As long as they don’t have evidence that proves it was the master who did it, they can’t take legal actions against the master.”

“That’s right!” Yang Zhenshan agreed and nodded, “Their methods are nothing more than two: one is to suppress me in the official circles and the other is to secretly plot murder!”

“On the official side, I’m guessing it will be quite difficult for them to operate, especially since this is Chongshan Town.”

“So~~”

Yang Zhenshan stretched out his hand and pulled Yu Qingyi into his embrace, “So you all need to be more careful in the future. Take more people with you when you go out.”

He was not afraid of Marquis Jingyuan Mansion taking action against him; he feared they would target people like Yu Qingyi.

Yu Qingyi leaned against his chest, “I don’t have much to worry about, after all, I rarely go out; it’s Ming Cheng and the others who should be cautious!”

“Especially Ming Zhi, Ming Zhi is at Jianning Guard, and we are unable to look out for him.”

Visible guns are easy to dodge, hidden arrows are difficult to guard against.

The worldly society is perilous, but the officialdom is even more unprincipled.

If Marquis Jingyuan Mansion becomes frenzied because of this, their methods would undoubtedly be extremely vicious.

Yang Zhenshan pondered for a moment, then said, “I will write a letter to General Zhou right away!”

Everyone else was in An Yuan City, within his reach for care, but for Yang Mingzhi, he could only seek help from Zhou Lan.

Immediately after, he got up and wrote a letter to Zhou Lan.

Of course, he did not mention that he had killed Su Shanyu in the letter, only stating that he had offended Marquis Jingyuan Mansion and that they may resort to insidious methods against him and his family.

After sending someone out with the letter, Yang Zhenshan then inquired about Yang Yunxue’s situation.

“Does Yunxue have any objections to the marriage?”

Yu Qingyi thought of Yang Yunxue and Liang Jinyan and couldn’t help but chuckle, “She just thinks that Liang Jinyan’s strength is too weak.”

Yang Zhenshan felt somewhat helpless about this.

Finding someone stronger than Yang Yunxue among her peers is almost impossible.

After all, he had never heard of anyone who managed to reach the Refining Power Level by the age of fifteen.

“Weak strength does not matter; if it really comes down to it, I can instruct him for a few years. I believe he can also become a Martial Arts Master in the future!” Yang Zhenshan said.

Of course, his mention of instruction was just a pretense, the true key was the Spiritual Spring Water.

Given Third Young Master Liang’s talent, if nourished with Spiritual Spring Water for two or three years, bringing out his potential, his future would still be promising.

However, surpassing Yang Yunxue was almost an impossibility.

After all, Yang Yunxue was his own dear daughter, and Yang Zhenshan would not let his own daughter be shortchanged.

“Well, there shouldn’t be any other issues. Yunxue is quite satisfied with Third Young Master Liang!” Yu Qingyi recalled yesterday’s meeting between Yang Yunxue and Liang Jinyan and cautiously spoke.

Yesterday, after Yang Zhenshan left the city, they visited the Marquis Mansion again, and Yang Yunxue interacted with Liang Jinyan for quite some time.

In truth, Yang Yunxue had no dislike for Liang Jinyan, the only complaint being his lack of strength.

However, for matters of marriage, the level of cultivation and the strength of one’s ability were not the most important criteria.

At the very least, Liang Jinyan’s character was quite good. Born into the Marquis Mansion yet devoid of arrogance, he experienced wealth without being spoiled, possessed a gentle nature, and was capable both in literature and martial arts.

To say his cultivation was low and his strength weak, it also depended on comparison.

Compared to most noble sons, Liang Jinyan was actually not weak.

“Then you should ask Yunxue again later. If she is willing, we can go back!”

The marriage matter was essentially settled, but before finalizing it, Yang Zhenshan himself still needed to meet Third Young Master Liang.

However, he couldn’t go to the Marquis Mansion to meet Third Young Master Liang; he should invite Third Young Master Liang to visit him in An Yuan City.

“Alright!” Yu Qingyi replied.

In the morning, Yang Zhenshan rested for more than an hour. By noon, Yu Qingyi inquired about Yang Yunxue’s opinion.

Yang Yunxue blushed shyly, stammering for a while, and finally said, ’I will follow Dad and Mother’s decision!’

In the end, she was still a young girl, shy to talk about her own marriage.

But her words were clear enough, basically agreeing to the marriage.

Yang Zhenshan and Yu Qingyi exchanged glances, smiled at each other, and did not say more.