“Dividing the flow?”
This term caught Lu Chen quite off guard.
Old Wu nodded and said, “Take my Wu family and the Sun family, for example. My Wu family follows the path of letters, while the Sun family walks the path of martial arts.
My Wu family has three main halls, each dedicated to [Lord Wenchang], [Venus of the West], and [Lady Taiyin]. These are the foundations upon which my Wu family was established.
As for the other three rising families in the eastern part of the city, they each have their own popular deities as well—such as [Yue Lao, the Matchmaker], or [the God of Wealth].”
“The so-called ‘dividing the flow’ doesn’t mean we simply hand our worshippers over to other families.
That’s not something anyone can force, anyway. Which shrine a worshipper chooses to visit is entirely voluntary—we have no control over that.”
“The real ‘dividing the flow,’ put plainly, is about avoiding direct competition with subordinate rising families over worshippers.
For instance, if the Xiong family in the east of the city has the most efficacious [God of Longevity], then my Wu family simply won’t set up a [God of Longevity] altar.
Worshippers with that need will naturally gravitate toward the Xiong family’s shrine.”
“Of course, young friend, you also know that the Zhao family’s [God of Longevity] is equally efficacious. Even your Uncle Sun here used to visit the Zhao family’s shrine rather than the Xiong family’s.
This kind of cross-regional competition for incense offerings comes down to each family’s own abilities.
But generally speaking, most worshippers just want convenience and prefer to choose an efficacious shrine close to home.
Those who specifically travel from the east of the city to the north to make offerings are few and far between—they can’t affect the big picture.”
“I see.” Lu Chen suddenly understood.
He hadn’t expected there to be so much maneuvering between shrines.
Sun Dechang chimed in at this point, “This is exactly why we say the Zhao family acts so overbearingly.
Several of the most efficacious deities in their Zhao family shrine happen to overlap with the main deities worshipped by other rising families in the north of the city.
This creates direct competition. Not only do they fail to divide the flow—they actually pull other families’ worshippers away by force. Truly unbecoming of a great family.”
“Heh, Old Sun, it’s not just the incense offerings in the north of the city that the Zhao family covets.”
Old Wu’s tone carried a hint of coldness. “In recent years, they’ve been aggressively promoting worship of [the Thunder Ancestor]. At first, they even offered free incense, drawing flocks of worshippers. For a time, they even overshadowed your Sun family’s shrine.
You should know, [the Thunder Ancestor] is the primary deity your Sun family worships.
The Zhao family’s ambitions are no small matter—not content with seizing deities of the scholarly path, they even want a piece of the martial path’s deities.”
“And you’re one to talk,” Sun Dechang snorted softly. “Hasn’t your Wu family’s [Lord Wenchang] also had quite a bit of incense stolen by them? I bet you’re even more anxious and fired up about it than I am.”
Old Wu sighed. “Alas, when the old master Zhao was alive, they still showed some restraint. Who would’ve thought that the moment Old Zhao passed, this young Zhao’s way of doing things… it’s truly…”
The words that followed were clearly unflattering. Old Wu caught himself at the last moment and swallowed them back, stopping just short.
Lu Chen recalled the Zhao family head he’d seen at yesterday’s meeting—Zhao Jiutang—and murmured, “I never expected the Zhao family head to look so refined and gentle, yet have such polarizing reviews…”
“The Zhao family head? You mean Zhao Jiutang?” Sun Yourong asked upon hearing this.
“Yes. At yesterday’s meeting, I found his speech and manner quite elegant. I never imagined…”
Sun Dechang and Old Wu exchanged a glance and suddenly both burst out laughing.
Even Sun Yourong covered her mouth with a light chuckle.
“What is it? What are you laughing at?” Lu Chen was confused.
“Young friend, you’ve misunderstood,” Old Wu said with a smile. “That Zhao Jiutang is only the Zhao family head in name. The one who truly runs the Zhao family is not him at all.”
“What?!” Lu Chen was stunned.
“That’s right,” Sun Yourong explained. “The true power holder of the Zhao family is Old Master Zhao’s grandson—Zhao Jiutang’s nephew. His name is Zhao Wanliang. ‘Wanliang’ as in ‘ten thousand taels of gold.'”
“Zhao Wanliang?”
Holy crap.
Sure enough, a family that worships the God of Wealth—even the name is that blunt!
“However, this person…” Old Wu’s brow furrowed slightly. “His reputation is truly terrible. Practically every vice a spoiled rich kid could have, you can find in him.”
“Hmph!” Sun Dechang let out an inexplicable cold snort. “This brat actually dares to covet my Rongrong? Utterly delusional!”
“Grandpa~” Sun Yourong glanced at Lu Chen from the corner of her eye, seemingly unwilling for Sun Dechang to bring this up.
Sun Dechang understood and said no more.
Old Wu smiled, then turned serious. “This young man’s behavior is eccentric and reckless.
Over the years, several of the major rising families in the north of the city have been bullied quite badly by him.
But this young man does have the capital to be arrogant. Never mind the vast estate Old Master Zhao left behind—just his own talent is extraordinarily high.
It’s said his attunement rate with the Thunder Ancestor’s attendant deity has already reached over 30%.
The Zhao family shrine’s ability to invite the Thunder Ancestor into their temple—this young man deserves the lion’s share of the credit.
At present, his strength should have reached the fourth rank. Considering his age, his future is truly boundless.”
“The Thunder Ancestor? He cultivates thunder arts?” Lu Chen thought of something and couldn’t help raising his voice.
The others looked at him in surprise. “What’s wrong, young friend Lu? Cultivating thunder arts… isn’t that quite common?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.” Lu Chen waved his hand with a smile. “I just found it a bit surprising that the head of a major scholarly family would actually specialize in thunder arts, that’s all.”
“Yes, that’s exactly why I said this young man is extraordinarily gifted. After all, spiritual practitioners who can raise their attendant deity attunement above 30% are truly rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.”
Though Old Wu had no good feelings toward Zhao Wanliang’s character, he acknowledged his talent and strength.
“Speaking of which, I saw him a few times when he was a child. Back then, I thought the boy was quite cute and likable. How did he grow up to become like this?”
Old Wu frowned.
“It’s probably due to family upheaval. His parents died young, and he was raised single-handedly by his grandfather. He lacked love to begin with. Then a few years ago, Old Zhao suddenly dropped dead. Blow after blow—I’m afraid it completely twisted his nature.” Sun Qingcang paused. “Speaking of which, I saw him once last year.”
“Oh? You saw him? The last time I saw him was at Old Zhao’s funeral. He must have been only sixteen or seventeen then. He should be twenty-two or twenty-three now.”
“Right, he’s one year older than my Rongrong. He should be twenty-two this year. Speaking of which, the boy has changed drastically. He looks terrible—his face is pale as paper, like someone drained by wine and women, sickly and frail.
He walks with unsteady steps.
I’m not cursing him, but at this rate, forget comparing to his grandfather—even living to his father’s age seems doubtful.”
“Really? Could it be… he’s contracted some serious illness?” Old Wu pressed.
Sun Dechang shook his head. “Who knows? The boy has always been mysterious. By rights, at his age, he should be out managing the family’s affairs, yet he still lets Zhao Jiutang carry the title of family head. Don’t you find that strange?”
Old Wu pondered for a moment and nodded. “It is indeed somewhat odd. So where did you see him?”
Sun Dechang: “The boy wanted to marry my Rongrong. Last year, he came to propose once.
I saw him looking neither human nor ghost, so I refused outright.
A son-in-law of the Sun family can lack great ability, but the first requirements are solid character and a strong body!
Otherwise, everything is off the table.”
As he spoke, Sun Dechang didn’t forget to glance at Lu Chen from the corner of his eye.
However, at this moment, though Lu Chen’s face showed nothing, his heart was already surging with waves.
—Cultivates thunder arts.
—Frail body, seemingly afflicted by serious illness.
—Ruthless and cunning methods.
—High position and power, as the head of a family.
Stack all these conditions together, and he couldn’t help but immediately associate them with the Yin Thunder Wood, with the Five Prisons Immortal Ascension.
His heart skipped a beat.
“Could this Zhao family young master be connected to corpse liberation ascension?”
Of course, these were just wild guesses from his brainstorming, with no factual basis.
Perhaps he simply wanted too badly to crack the [Corpse Liberation Case] and claim those twenty thousand military merits, making him somewhat oversensitive.
But regardless, anyone capable of performing such corpse liberation secret arts would, nine times out of ten, match the above characteristics.
—”Zhao Wanliang.”
Lu Chen silently repeated this name several times in his mind.
“Alright, alright, enough talking. The food’s getting cold. Let’s eat!”
At this point, Old Wu once again took charge.
At the dinner table, the clinking of glasses resumed.
…
Inside the City God Street.
Watching the lively scene in the private room.
Li Chenghuang stood with his hands behind his back, a chilling coldness flickering in the depths of his eyes.
“Fine Sun Dechang. Fine Wu Zhong.”
“Good. Very good…”
In the silent, soulless hall, a series of creaking sounds rang out as fists clenched tight…
