Chapter 75

No matter what, whether Ban Yilou's promotion was for personal reasons or out of private motives to help, the one who benefited was Tang Zheng.

And Tang Zheng also reciprocated with a grand proxy purchase, which earned Ban Yilou a huge commission that he might never have earned in his entire life!

Therefore, for a little revenge on Ban Yilou's private motives, even if there was no evidence, or even if there was evidence that Tang Zheng had spread rumors, Ban Yilou had to endure it.

Who could blame him for his improper thoughts and bad intentions first?

Ban Yilou, puffed up with anger, went out to attend to business, leaving Tang Zheng and Tang Boyuan alone.

Tang Boyuan smiled at Tang Zheng, "Master is truly an extraordinary person! A social practice activity, and you even give the children a commission. You probably don't know that in just a few days of social practice, the income brought to Tang Family Fort has already exceeded the entire year's income of Tang Family Fort!"

When Tang Zheng left Tang Family Fort with the children, Tang Boyuan was actually quite worried, because it seemed like they were going to confront Yilan Manor...

But unexpectedly, in just a few days, the news he received became more and more shocking.

Completely contrary to his imagination!

Tang Zheng not only did not cause trouble for Yilan Manor, but instead started a grand proxy purchase in Wulong Town!

Although they did not kill anyone from Yilan Manor, their antics on West Street were like a big slap to Yilan Manor.

The shop owners on West Street, who had already been bought by Tang Family Fort but had not yet paid rent, experienced unprecedented hesitation and struggle in just a few days. A few of them, who were quick to act, decisively switched sides and voluntarily paid the rent to the new owners of the shops...

Tang Zheng's social practice not only brought in hundreds of purple gold coins in visible income for Tang Family Fort, but also made Tang Family Fort's influence in Wulong Town surpass Yilan Manor for the first time.

"Cough, it was just a social practice, a social practice..." Tang Zheng smiled. The proxy purchase he casually initiated was not intended to make money.

Originally, this social practice was to teach students while learning casting.

Making money was not even on his mind!

"I received a letter from Xiaotang yesterday. Master has something to discuss with me?" Tang Boyuan asked.

"Um..." Tang Zheng touched his nose, "I killed someone."

"..." Tang Boyuan's eyelids twitched, but he still asked, "Who?"

"The direct disciple of Qintian Sect, the younger brother of Feng Yuan, the sect's heir, Feng Le." Tang Zheng directly reported Feng Le's identity and name without beating around the bush.

"You..." Tang Boyuan's lips slightly parted, "You killed him?"

"Yes." Tang Zheng nodded.

"But, this morning I received news that Feng Le of Qintian Sect disappeared on his way back to the sect. The clues left at the scene almost all pointed to Zhaixing Sect..." Tang Boyuan looked puzzled.

"Ah?" Tang Zheng felt all his words were choked back.

He clearly finished off Feng Le with his own hands in Echo Alley and used his head to rank among the top 200,000 one-star martial artists on the Shadow Stronger List!

Feng Le could not possibly have been kidnapped on his way back to Qintian Sect.

"How many Feng Les are there in Qintian Sect?" Tang Zheng asked.

"If it's the direct disciple of Qintian Sect, the younger brother of Feng Yuan, the sect's heir, then there's only one..."

Tang Zheng lightly tapped the counter, "Then it's settled, I killed him!"

The clues to Feng Le's disappearance must have been fabricated by some "well-meaning person."

For some unknown reason, they probably did not want Qintian Sect to know that Feng Le died in Wulong Town.

"What a good person!" Tang Zheng sighed with a smile, easily guessing who would want to cover up the incident on West Street as soon as it happened.

Hearing Tang Zheng's confirmation, Tang Boyuan nodded heavily, "I understand. Once you enter the Tang family, you are a Tang family member! No matter what retaliation Qintian Sect takes against you, the entire Tang Family Fort will stand with you!"

Although Tang Family Fort is considered a local power in Wulong Town, it cannot be compared to a sect-level force.

However, the reason Tang Family Fort can stand in Wulong Town and resist Yilan Manor, which is backed by two major sects, is not without its own trump cards...

"Cough, cough, cough..." Tang Zheng choked on a sip of water, "No, no, that's not what I meant."

He knew the attitude of Tang Family Fort from the beginning.

Tang Boyuan did not make grand promises, saying he would take care of Qintian Sect, but a simple and straightforward "stand with you" was enough for Tang Zheng.

If Qintian Sect really took action against him, Tang Family Fort would not stand idly by, just as he would not stand idly by if someone targeted his students.

Hearing Tang Zheng's words, Tang Boyuan was stunned.

Not what he meant...

Then what did he mean?

However, because the situation had changed, Tang Zheng did not explain his "meaning" and asked, "Then now, with Zhaixing Sect and Qintian Sect at odds, they won't be able to deal with Yilan Manor, right?"

"Feuding?"

"..." Tang Zheng rubbed his forehead.

"That... actually, the feud between the two sects... is both good and bad for Yilan Manor," Tang Boyuan guessed and answered directly, "Yilan Manor won't be able to rely on the two sects for a while, but the two sects won't pressure Yilan Manor's debts as much."

"Oh, oh, oh..." Tang Zheng roughly understood the situation and suddenly thought, "Then are the three ledgers useful?"

"Ledgers? I saw Xiaotang mentioned them in the letter, but I haven't read it yet. I'll go find Xiaotang... But, does Master understand accounting?" Tang Boyuan asked.

"No, no." Tang Zheng quickly waved his hands.

...

Tang Boyuan called Xiaotang and found a teahouse on West Street to verify the three ledgers Tang Zheng had seized from Lan Yan.

After drinking Deep Valley White Reed, the blood qi from Feng Le on Tang Zheng's body was greatly diluted. As long as he did not deliberately get close to Qintian Sect, they would not find him for a while.

He originally wanted to remind Tang Boyuan that Tang Family Fort might be affected by Feng Le's death and to prepare in advance, but now he did not need to say much.

Tang Boyuan was not like Xiaotang and the other children; he knew that Feng Le was killed by Tang Zheng and would have his own plans.

Thus, the only "well-meaning person" who knew the whole story was still Lan Shaoye...

Tang Zheng felt that not killing him would be a betrayal of the wind, the rain, and the sunshine.

After a few days of proxy purchases, the long queue in front of the Treasure Pavilion finally became much shorter.

The social practice was almost over.

In the evening, after Tang Xiaotang and the others left, Ban Yilou took Tang Zheng into the inner chamber and directly brought out a casting furnace as tall as an adult's knee...

"All done? Can we start casting?" Tang Zheng had been practicing martial arts and listening to Ban Yilou's repeated theoretical lectures for several days, so he was ready to start the furnace.

"Yes, this 'Sunny Rain Furnace' costs 25 purple gold coins, charged to your account!" Ban Yilou carefully held the furnace and sat down on the ground.

"Okay." Tang Zheng had a bag of purple gold coins with Ban Yilou, which he had not even counted.

Although the furnace was charged to Tang Zheng's account, Ban Yilou handled it with extreme care.

Tang Zheng watched as his star power turned, and the entire furnace floated, enveloped by a faint layer of star power...

Ban Yilou called out to Tang Zheng, "Do you remember the steps I told you?"

"Yes!" Tang Zheng nodded, looking at the materials spread on the ground.

"Let's start!" Ban Yilou lifted the furnace, "I'll control the star power!"

Controlling the star power means providing uninterrupted and stable star power to the casting furnace. Tang Zheng had learned this before, but with his current one-star power, he could not achieve either "uninterrupted" or "stable."

Ban Yilou was not a professional caster and could not both control the star power for the furnace and complete the other steps of casting at the same time...

Therefore, adding and melting the materials would all be done by Tang Zheng!

"All parts of the same weapon must be cast in the same furnace... Yes..." Tang Zheng took out his notebook, nodded, and was relieved that the dagger, besides the sheath, only had two parts: the handle and the blade, and neither was very large.

Tang Zheng extended his star power, picked up the moonstone, and placed it in the furnace, flipping it over.

The moonstone was hard but brittle and had to be cast and taken out first before being melted with metal.

Then he added the softened Wuji Black Iron...

As the star power in the furnace surged, just as the moonstone was about to break, Tang Zheng held a bottle in his left hand, extended his star power, and poured half a bottle of the already decolored fang bat blood into the furnace.

"Damn." Ban Yilou mimicked Tang Zheng's tone and sighed.

The more fang bat blood used, the higher and more stable the star power resonance would be, but usually, just a few drops were enough...

Tang Zheng was truly meticulous.

The starlight in the casting furnace continuously flipped, changing colors. When all the materials were melted to a certain degree, it was time to shape them.

"Right! Now!" Ban Yilou saw that Tang Zheng was still a bit off and reminded him.

"No, wait..." Tang Zheng felt something was wrong and saw a crack, almost invisible to the naked eye, between the moonstone and the Wuji Black Iron.

Tang Zheng flipped his hand and poured a ladle of Heavenly Pool Cold Water into the furnace.

After a moment, he poured a few more ladles.

"The star fire is old..." Ban Yilou watched Tang Zheng's handling but did not stop him, only reminding him.

"Yes, I'll start shaping." Tang Zheng closed his eyes, gathered his star power in his palm, and directly held the materials rolling in the casting furnace...

A slight burning sensation came from his palm.

The casting furnace was not fire, but the sensation was even stronger than fire.

And in Tang Zheng's ears, Ban Yilou sighed, "This furnace is probably a failure, isn't it?"

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Thank you to Jia Xiaoqi for the 1888起点币, Xiao Jianke for the 1188起点币, Kong Long Ling for the 900起点币, Pindao Bu Chi Luobo for the 688起点币, DouB Nanbo Wan, Da Shi Mo Mai Meng, ぁ懒ぉ羊羊 for the 588起点币, ΦΨKKΨΦ for the 400起点币, Xue Ye Xing Chen for the 200起点币, Yi Wo, Xing Kong Yue 2, Hao Tian or Hao Yue, Lovlife, Miss Shu, Daxia Yin, Ah Ai You He, Nie Yu Cang Lan, JeffPang, Shui He Zhi Wu, Cang Hai Zhi Xin Hu Po Ming Yue for the 100起点币.