msmithbooks Chapter 420: Arrival at Kang Mansion
Chapter 420: Arrival at Kang Mansion
The boat continued along the Mei River, heading toward Yunxi.
Chen Yan gazed at the wide river surface. Inside the cabin, the only sounds were the swishing of the hull cutting through the water, occasionally punctuated by the wind whipping past and slapping against the boat.
"Brother."
After Kang Keyang had left, Su Hongzhen finally had the chance to strike up a conversation with Chen Yan:
"Are we really going to the Kang Family?"
"Yes."
Chen Yan nodded.
Su Hongzhen, being from Liaolong, had naturally heard of the renowned Yunxi Kang Family.
Or rather, in the various nations surrounding Yunxi, those who didn't know of the Kang Family's existence were few and far between.
"Going to be a guest elder at the Kang Family..."Little Su furrowed his brow. This thirteen-year-old boy seemed to be weighing something carefully:
"Brother, I know you're incredibly strong, but that's the Kang Family after all..."
Even when considering the major secular dynasties around them—Yunxi, Liaolong, Great Yu, Guqi—the Kang Family was undisputedly the greatest clan.
A clan this vast, with over a thousand Martial Masters across the main and branch families, and five to seven thousand martial artists in total, was already enough to run roughshod over the secular world.
No doubt about it—if the Kang Family had ambitions, they could easily unify the surrounding dynasties.
They could even pacify the northern Shanrong and the Jie tribes without breaking a sweat.
Under these circumstances, plenty of people flocked to curry favor.
But actually entering the Kang Family... one would likely lose all autonomy.
"No matter."
Chen Yan smiled faintly. His voice was exceptionally calm, without any fluctuation, and quite relaxed:
"The Kang Family can't do anything to me. Because... I'm even stronger than you can imagine."
...
Over the next few days, from the time they boarded at the Mei River Crossing in Liaolong to their arrival at the Jiangdu Prefecture port in Yunxi, Chen Yan spent virtually all his free time cultivating.
And Sixth Master Kang's hospitality toward Chen Yan and Su Hongzhen was impeccable—the three daily meals were always lavish.
But Chen Yan's appetite genuinely startled Kang Keyang.
"Good Brother, your appetite is almost matching my father's when he was young!"
Sixth Master Kang remarked with such emotion.
Upon hearing this, Chen Yan paused his chopsticks briefly:
"Is that so?"
"How could I be lying? I remember when I was little, my father's appetite alone could match all six of us brothers combined... and then some."
Sixth Master Kang said, lost in recollection.
"Then my appetite is probably still far from reaching Patriarch Kang's level."
Chen Yan shook his head with a smile.
He had very clearly caught the implication of those words.
The current head of the Kang Family, Kang Zongdan, had fathered six sons, all of whom were martial artists. And martial artists naturally had much larger appetites than ordinary people.
If what Kang Keyang said was true—that Kang Zongdan's appetite matched all six sons combined—it suggested a distinct possibility.
Kang Zongdan was a cultivator.
Because only cultivators in the Body Forging Realm, whose bones and tendons had been cleansed by the world's spiritual energy, possessed strength far exceeding ordinary people. Their energy consumption was greater, leading to a sharp increase in food demand.
If, as Kang Keyang said, Kang Zongdan's enormous appetite was only prominent in his youth, it might mean he had already advanced beyond the Body Forging Realm.
At least the Qi Circulation Realm as a starting point.
Because when cultivators could draw qi into their bodies and refine it into true qi using spiritual energy, the process itself produced energy that allowed cultivators above the Qi Circulation Realm to "fast from grains."
Of course, there were other possibilities.
Body Forging cultivators were ultimately limited to Body Forging—their qi and blood would inevitably decline with age, causing a decrease in strength.
Qi Circulation cultivators could partially resist the decline from qi and blood loss. Only those who reached the Martial Spring realm and above, where true qi continuously surged from their own Martial Springs, could truly escape the effects of aging on their qi and blood.
Now at ninety-one years old, if this Patriarch Kang was indeed a Body Forging cultivator, the strength he could exert at this age would certainly be less than a fifth of his peak.
It seemed the Kang Family was not as simple as he had imagined.
Another three days passed, and the Kang Family's cargo ship loaded with armor and weapons finally arrived at the port in Jiangdu Prefecture.
These three shiploads of armor and weapons could arm a crack force of three thousand soldiers.
In any secular dynasty, privately hoarding this quantity of armor and weapons would be a crime far worse than mere execution.
Yet the Kang Family dared to sail their cargo ships openly along the Mei River, flaunting their wares.
Who could stop them? And even if they could, what was the use?
...
Inside the Kang Mansion, the main hall.
"Kneel down!"
With a stern shout from the imposing old man seated in the main seat, holding a staff, the sound of knees hitting blue bricks rang out.
Sixth Master Kang knelt on the ground, head bowed.
On the other side, the old man's other five sons stood in a neat row.
The eldest, Kang Keye, was already over seventy, and the fifth son, Kang Kewei, was in his fifties.
These direct descendants of the Kang Family were imposing, prestigious figures in any corner of Yunxi, Liaolong, or Great Yu.
But here in this hall, they looked like nothing more than underlings.
"You idiot! You're old enough to be a grandfather soon, so why do you still act without a shred of brains!"
The current head of the Kang Family, Kang Zongdan, bellowed with curses:
"Could you possibly be hurting for the silver from a few shiploads of armor and weapons? This is pure brainlessness!"
"Father, Little Six knows he was wrong!"
Kang Keyang admitted his mistake.
This nearly fifty-year-old man, normally so imposing outside, now looked utterly like a child in front of Kang Zongdan—a ridiculously comical sight.
"Get out of my sight right now! Hand those three shiploads of armor and weapons over to your eldest brother to handle, and from now on, don't take a single tael of silver from the mansion's accounts!"
Kang Zongdan doled out this punishment.
"Father, Little Six didn't come back from Great Yu and Liaolong empty-handed either!"
Kang Keyang quickly argued.
"As long as you didn't stir up even more trouble, that's already a blessing! What gains could you possibly have!"
Kang Zongdan roared.
Kang Keyang immediately twisted around, looking toward Chen Yan and Su Hongzhen behind him, then said hurriedly:
"This young brother—on this trip, I made his acquaintance at the Liaolong ferry!"
Hearing this, Kang Zongdan slowly shifted his gaze toward Chen Yan:
"Oh?"
He let out a light "oh," the tone rising, but said nothing else, merely waiting for Kang Keyang to continue.
"This young brother's swordsmanship is extremely profound. In my opinion, it's far superior even to Second Brother's!"
Standing among the brothers, an old man with graying hair who looked to be in his sixties raised his head and glanced at Chen Yan a couple of times.
He was Kang Zongdan's second son, Kang Kewen, who specialized in swordsmanship.
Kang Zongdan turned his gaze back to Chen Yan and began scrutinizing him.
"Junior greets Senior Kang."
The boy's voice was clear and distant, as smooth as flowing water, as he made a slight bow in Kang Zongdan's direction.
It was only a clasped-hands salute, without bending his waist at all.
This was not the proper etiquette of a junior greeting a senior.
Kang Zongdan's pupils contracted.
Looking at the unworldly aura this young man exuded, his memories were instantly yanked back sixty years.
The gesture of a bow could be imitated, but such an aura was difficult to fake.
Could it be that this young man was...
Kang Zongdan made a silent conjecture in his heart.