Chapter 10: Crisis Everywhere

## Volume 1: First Steps into Another World

Of course, if Chu Chuyan was the mastermind behind all of this, he would accept his fate. At most, he would expose his own flaws to prove his innocence. Luckily, it didn't come to that.

Zu An composed himself and said to Chunhua, "Keep your resettlement fee. You've arrived just in time. The last woman who was brought into the mansion is currently in the military camp, screaming that she can't take it anymore. You can take her place."

"Resettlement fee?" Chunhua finally caught on. "Wait, why is she in the military camp?"

"Don't you know?" Zu An feigned surprise. "My wife is wonderful in every way, except that she loves me too much and can be quite jealous. The last woman who entered this household, just like you, was given as a 'reward' to the soldiers in the army under some pretext. Ah, being a bride every night must be quite challenging for her."

Rage points from Chu Chuyan: 433!

Chu Chuyan hadn't expected him to pin such a reputation on her. Facing the strange looks from everyone, she felt like killing Zu An. However, she knew that the events of the past two days were truly suspicious, and in many respects, this man still met her requirements. If they were to seek a new son-in-law, it would once again involve various influential parties. So, despite her frosty expression, she did not retort.

"To the military camp?" Chunhua's face instantly paled. In their profession, there were clear distinctions. The highest-ranking were the courtesans of the most reputable brothels, followed by ordinary women from such establishments, then the cheaper prostitutes from bathhouses like hers. But the absolute lowest were those colleagues who had been exiled to military camps for crimes. The soldiers in the army were all lustful, strong men. No woman could endure that intensity; most would be utterly ruined within half a year. Recalling the horrifying stories circulating within their circle, Chunhua's entire face turned deathly pale.

Zu An nodded. "Don't worry, they're all our private soldiers. They'll definitely take good care of you. They're just looking for something fresh."

Lady Chu could no longer hold back. "You scoundrel, our Chu family—"

She was about to declare that the Chu family's private army would never be involved in such sordid affairs, when Chunhua, unable to bear it any longer, began waving her hands and screaming desperately, "I don't want to go to the military camp! Everything I just said was a lie! I don't even know you!" As she spoke, she tugged at Diaoyang nearby. "Diaoyang, this is completely different from what you told me! Come out and say something! I don't want to go to the military camp!"

Diaoyang's face changed drastically. He kicked her away. "You crazy woman, don't slander us! Our Chu family maintains strict military discipline. How could there be such a mess—" He tried to say more, but suddenly, a powerful aura enveloped his entire body, rendering him unable to utter another sound.

Chu Zhongtian's face was ashen. He looked at Chunhua. "Did he ask you to come here and say those things?"

Chunhua nodded vigorously, like a pounding mortar. "He found me and gave me twenty taels of silver. He also said there would be even greater benefits once I got to the mansion. I thought, 'This is a Duke's residence, any crumbs dropped by the important people here would be enough for me to live on for a lifetime,' so I was led astray and came. Please, Master, spare my life!"

Only then did Chu Zhongtian release Diaoyang from the restraint. "What else do you have to say?"

Diaoyang's face was deathly pale. He quickly knelt and kowtowed, begging for mercy. "Please, Master, spare my life! Someone ordered me to do this as well."

"Who instructed you?" Chu Zhongtian demanded.

"I... I don't know either," Diaoyang swallowed hard, quickly adding, "That person met me through a wall and gave me a sum of money. Besides, I've always disapproved of Young Miss marrying a good-for-nothing like Zu An, so I was momentarily confused. Please, Master, show me mercy for my years of hard work."

Hearing him say that, Xue'er, who had been tightly gripping her braid, finally relaxed her hand.

Chu Zhongtian snorted and waved his hand, signaling for Diaoyang to be taken away. Then, his gaze swept across everyone in the hall like lightning. "Since the truth has come to light and Zu An was wrongly accused, and given that he has already been punished by Chu Huanzhao, the previous incident will not be pursued further. No one is to mention that matter again. Does anyone have an objection?"

Chu Tiesheng gently fanned himself, and Chu Yuepo lightly tapped his abacus. Both kept their gazes down, looking at their noses and contemplating their hearts. Since the mastermind hadn't been discovered, who would dare to speak up at this point? Wouldn't that just invite trouble?

Zu An breathed a long sigh of relief, thinking this hurdle was finally overcome. To his surprise, Lady Chu seemed dissatisfied. "Are you just going to let him off like that?"

"Of course not," Chu Zhongtian immediately replied with a placating smile. "Given Zu An's constant mischievous behavior, to prevent him from causing major trouble in the future, we will send him to Brightmoon Academy for cultivation once his injuries heal..." He had initially thought of sending him to cultivate and temper his character, but he paused, recalling Zu An's aptitude, and quickly corrected himself: "Never mind. We'll send him to Brightmoon Academy to study literature. Even if he can just become an accountant for the family in the future, that would be good."

"Brightmoon Academy?" Zu An was somewhat stunned. However, considering Chu Zhongtian was the Duke of Brightmoon City, this 'Brightmoon Academy' was probably some kind of private family school. His attention was now fully on the rage points he had collected. From just now until this moment, he had accumulated a total of 1646 rage points, enough to try the lottery again.

He was carried back to his room. Just as he was about to draw, a graceful red figure burst in. Recognizing the intruder as the Second Young Miss of the Chu family, Zu An's face became wary. "What are you doing here?" He wondered if the girl had discovered that his injuries were fake.

Chu Huanzhao jumped directly onto a nearby table and sat there, her slender legs swinging easily in the air. "I just came to apologize to you."

"Apologize?" Zu An was momentarily bewildered.

A hint of awkwardness appeared on Chu Huanzhao's face. "Didn't I promise not to pursue what happened that night when we made our bet? I didn't expect that I wouldn't be able to protect you today, and you still ended up being punished."

Zu An chuckled. He hadn't expected this girl to be a bit naive. He was eager to try the lottery now and had no time to chat idly with her, so he waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine. It's perfectly normal for a child like you not to be able to make decisions in the household."

Rage points from Chu Huanzhao: 66!

Zu An paused, then noticed Chu Huanzhao's displeased expression. She snorted, jumped off the table, and said as she left, "From now on, when we're at the academy, I'll look out for you. If anyone dares to bully you, just mention my name."

Zu An rolled his eyes behind her back. He thought, 'You're just a little girl, acting like some gang leader. Who are you trying to fool? Besides, I'm the son-in-law of this mansion after all. After what happened today, who in the family's private school would truly dare to bully me?'

He didn't give it much thought. After glancing around and confirming everyone was gone, he rolled out of bed. He solemnly washed his face and hands, then somehow found an incense stick, lit it, and continuously prayed: "May all the gods and Buddhas, God, and Allah protect me and bless me to draw something good."

Adding the 66 rage points Chu Huanzhao just contributed, he now had 1712 rage points. He summoned the keyboard, moved the cursor to the lottery section, and carefully pressed the Enter key. The cursor rapidly flickered back and forth between numbers and the space bar. The result, as expected, was a blank.

This was within his expectations. After all, the probability of winning was inherently low, and he was quite aware of his own luck. Ever since he was a child, he had bought so many lottery tickets, but had only ever won a washbasin. He pressed the Enter key again to start the draw, and it was blank again. "Seriously?!"

Zu An's face darkened. Was his luck really that bad, or was the winning probability truly that low?

It wasn't until the 13th draw that the cursor finally stopped not on a blank space, but on the number "8" key. He perked up. This was a new key; he wondered what it would be. Immediately after, he saw a small bottle appear before his eyes, containing a sparkling green liquid. Below it was a small line of text: "Poison Vial: Throwing item. Causes targets within a small radius to become paralyzed and weak. Ignores grade defense for those below Fifth Grade."

Zu An was overjoyed. No matter what, the "ignores grade defense" attribute was incredibly powerful. The only drawback was that it was only effective against those below Fifth Grade. But he probably wouldn't provoke any Fifth Grade masters for now, right? Probably...

With another life-saving trump card, Zu An happily put the small green bottle back into the keyboard's inventory space. The only thing he disliked was that the color was a bit inauspicious. He then drew 4 more times. As expected, all were "Thank you for participating." This winning probability is a bit of a rip-off.

Zu An was glad that earning rage points seemed quite easy for him. However, collecting rage points was destined to create enemies everywhere. In this world of cultivation, would he be slapped to death by a powerful expert? "Hmm, I definitely need to be more vigilant in the future! Sigh, I wish I could eliminate anyone I met, like the North Profound Heavenly Venerate, but unfortunately, my strength doesn't allow it. I can only learn from the steady Senior Brother and play it safe."

Rage points from Qin Wanru: "2222..."

The string of messages made Zu An a little dizzy. What was going on with that cheap mother-in-law of his? What had he done to provoke her this time?

Meanwhile, after Chu Zhongtian and Qin Wanru returned to their room, Qin Wanru was still seething with indignation. "That scoundrel truly infuriates me! My poor Yan'er, her lifelong happiness is ruined by a man like that."

Chu Zhongtian quickly poured his wife a cup of tea and handed it to her. "After all, this was Chuyan's own choice."

Qin Wanru took a sip of tea but was still not appeased. "And isn't it all for your Chu family!"

Chu Zhongtian gave an awkward smile and quickly diverted his wife's attention. "Compared to all that, I'm actually more curious about who is secretly targeting Zu An."

Seeing him bring up a serious matter, Qin Wanru's brows furrowed as well. "True. Before, when you mentioned it, I was still a bit skeptical, but what happened in the ancestral hall today certainly seemed like someone was secretly targeting him."

Chu Zhongtian nodded. "On the wedding night, Zu An inexplicably ended up in Huanzhao's bed. While that fellow is a bit of a scoundrel, I don't think he would have such gall."

Qin Wanru snorted dismissively. "In the ancestral hall today, his audacity didn't seem small at all."

Chu Zhongtian said, "Huanzhao was knocked unconscious that night. Otherwise, how could he have gotten into her bed? You don't think he has that kind of ability, do you?"

"If that good-for-nothing really had that ability, I wouldn't be so angry," Qin Wanru said bitterly, clearly still deeply resentful that her daughter had married such a husband.

Chu Zhongtian sighed. "There's something I haven't had a chance to tell you. That night, our spiritual spring was polluted."

"What!" Qin Wanru abruptly stood up. The Chu family's two main pillars of livelihood were salt and weaponry. The Chu family's large market share in weapons, besides their exquisite rune formations, also relied on the spiritual spring within their family for nourishment and tempering. This allowed their quality to be significantly superior to that of their competitors. It's important to know that all major families possessed rune formations, and other families' rune formations might not be inferior to the Chu family's. However, this spiritual spring was exclusive to the Chu family, making it the very lifeblood of their weaponry industry.

"That night, you were furious with Zu An, so I didn't dare tell you about this," Chu Zhongtian said, cautiously observing his wife's expression before continuing, "Now that I think about it, it must have been on the wedding night. Someone put Zu An into Huanzhao's bed to create chaos in the household and distract everyone, then secretly sent someone to pollute the spiritual spring."

Qin Wanru quickly asked, "Can the spiritual spring still recover?"

Chu Zhongtian shook his head. "That person dripped Devil's Saliva into the spiritual spring. I'm afraid it won't recover within twenty years. Fortunately, the amount that person had wasn't much. Perhaps after a few more decades, the spiritual spring will slowly regain its spiritual energy."

"After a few more decades, it's uncertain if our Chu family will even still exist," Qin Wanru said, understanding that Devil's Saliva was the most evil and defiling substance in the world, and there was truly no hope for a spiritual spring once it was contaminated. "Who do you think it was? Someone from the Emperor's side or Prince Qi's side?"

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