Song Zhigang waited at home for news from his father, and with every passing minute his nerves twisted tighter and tighter like worms drying in the sun.

A little after eight o'clock, the quiet night suddenly exploded with a series of loud huffing snorts right outside his door.

What is that sound?

Song Zhigang thought.

Two guards rushed in and shouted, "Oh no! Young Master, someone has driven a road roller right up to our gate."

"Who the hell is that? Who let a road roller rumble into the village? I swear…" Song Zhigang put on an angry expression, but in truth he wasn't angry at all. All he felt was fear.

Soon after, another guard rushed in to report. "Young Master, there is a lunatic outside. He says he will give us ten minutes. If we do not move out before then, he will ram the road roller straight into the courtyard."

"How are we supposed to move out in ten minutes? Do not bother with that lunatic. Shoot him!"

The guard answered at once and hurried out, but would he really dare to shoot? Even with a hundred guts stuffed inside him, he would never have dared.

Too many strange things had happened in the past few days. The chief steward had vanished, the master had vanished, the second young master had gone missing, and the eldest young master had even lost the bloodcall out in the fields.

Rumors were spreading like wildfire outside. People were saying that Blue Poplar Village would no longer belong to the Song Family.

The eldest young master was certainly anxious about it, but the guards felt no urge to panic with him. If the eldest young master of this family was not even willing to come out and risk his life, why should they, as the guards of the family, fight with their lives at stake?

The guard arrived at the gate. He stared at Li Banfeng, who was sitting on top of the road roller, and did not dare say much.

Ten minutes slipped by quickly. Li Banfeng checked his pocket watch and smiled. "Time's up."

One guard, who was rather brave, stepped forward and attempted a polite appeal. "Sir, please don't be angry. Show mercy in areas where you can show mercy. You said that we should move, but we have to wait for the master of this family to come back. You have driven the road roller to our gate, but surely you would not drive it inside, would you? If you ask me, you should first…"

Li Banfeng pressed down on the steam valve. A blast of steam erupted, and the road roller rumbled to life before slamming straight into the front door.

Terror washed through the guard so fiercely that he went numb from head to toe, and he fled as fast as his legs would carry him.

A handful of road workers stood watching from afar. One of them, a fellow named Little Gen, ducked his head and muttered, "Are we truly letting this happen? Letting an outsider toy with the road roller like that?"

Little Chuan shot him a sharp look and said, "Outsider? What are you talking about? That is our Fifth Young Master."

Little Gen looked worried. "But he was already kicked out of the Ma Family."

Little Chuan gave a cold laugh. "And why is that your concern? Master Wu paid us. We took the money, so what exactly are you afraid of? At worst, we leave this job and follow Master Wu from now on."

Li Banfeng rammed the road roller straight into the courtyard wall.

The Song Family residence was built with impressive strength, and crashing into it head-on would do little to bring it down.

However, Li Banfeng had not come unprepared. He had already hidden rock-boring silkworms in several key spots.

With so many bricks in the front wall already hollowed out, the road roller smashed through the weakened barrier and barreled into the courtyard.

Song Zhigang stood in the front courtyard, and his voice trembled with fear as he cried out, "What are you doing, and what do you want? If one blow is all it takes to kill someone, then what else are you demanding from us?"

Li Banfeng took out his pocket watch and smiled at Song Zhigang. "I will give you another ten minutes. If you are still here after those ten minutes, the road roller will drive straight into your house."

The guards had all run for their lives, and the women of the household were dashing about in terrified confusion.

Song Zhigang seized a guard by the sleeve and commanded, "Go at once and fetch Ni Ruiliang!"

The guard brushed him off and yelled, "Get him? Fuck. Ni Reiliang had already run ages ago!"

Ni Ruiliang had run because he grasped one truth all too well. The Song Family had fallen, and there was nothing left to save. He even guessed that Song Jiaern had died.

Ni Ruiliang knew that the Ma Family was not a power to provoke, but something told him, in a way he could not quite explain, that they were not behind this.

There appeared to be some other power standing behind Ma Wu, a power Ni Ruiliang could not make sense of at all. It was a kind of madness and ruthlessness he had never faced before, not in all the many years he had lived.

With a fourth-level cultivation, he could earn a living anywhere. He had no wish to stay here and risk his life for a doomed cause.

Song Zhigang called for guards in every direction, while Li Banfeng stood by and watched him coldly.

Was Li Banfeng afraid? Not in the slightest. Being a level-three Homebound Cultivator and a level-two Wanderlust Cultivator, he had nothing to fear.

Let the lackeys come as they wished. No matter how many there were, Li Banfeng would handle them all. In his eyes, they were nothing more than just groceries that he could present to his wifey.

Song Zhigang clenched his teeth and tried to summon the courage to risk his life and fight Li Banfeng, but although he shouted again and again, not a single guard answered him.

He thought back to the words his father had told him when he was young, and he understood all too well how the monkeys scattered the moment the tree fell.

He had simply never imagined that the great tree of his own household would truly fall, or that the monkeys would scatter so quickly.

Another ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Li Banfeng placed his hand on the steam valve, and Song Zhigang shouted, "Sir, even if you're rushing me to my grave, at least let me catch my breath. I'll call everyone to move out right now!"

That very night, Song Zhigang gathered his entire family and moved out of Blue Poplar Village.

They took nearly everything of value with them, and whatever furniture they could not move in time, Song Zhigang simply abandoned.

The furniture was all in fine condition, but none of it held the slightest appeal for Li Banfeng.

Li Banfeng told Little Chuan to shout from one end of the village to the other that the Song Family had moved out and that everyone was free to come and claim whatever they desired.

At first, the villagers did not believe it, so Little Chuan brought over a few workers to take the lead and start moving items.

When the villagers saw people running past the gate carrying tables, others carrying chairs, someone hauling a bed, and even someone carrying off a washbasin…

They even took the washbasin? Then we must go! We must go quickly! If not, we will have nothing left to take!

thought the villagers.

The villagers could no longer hold themselves back. They rolled up their sleeves, took hold of their carts, and rushed straight toward the Song residence.

Li Banfeng directed Ma Wu to remain at the Song Family gate and carry on with his speech.

"Folks, hear me out. All these years, the Song Family has bled us dry. They enjoyed the meat and never allowed us so much as a mouthful of soup. They scraped our bones bare and left not even a crumb behind.

"From today onward, there is no more Song Family in Blue Poplar Village. When you go hunting in the New Land, give us a word first. The prices the Songs once decided will now be handled by me and Sev—"

Ma Wu had meant to say "me and Seventh Master." He knew Li Banfeng preferred to keep his identity hidden, but this seemed too good a chance for them both to earn recognition. Ma Wu could not bear to take the credit for himself, because everything they had accomplished had come from Li Banfeng's hand.

However, before he could finish, Li Banfeng suddenly shot him a glare.

Ma Wu quickly corrected himself. "The prices the Song Family used to set will now go through me, Ma Junyang, and the price will only be high!"

Blue Poplar Village bustled until morning. An elderly grandmother of eighty-five trudged along with her cart and managed three full trips into the Song residence.

By the end of it, the whole estate had been emptied, right down to the door panels. Li Banfeng drove the road roller, and Little Chuan gathered a crew of workers to begin tearing the house down piece by piece.

Ma Wu could hardly bear to see it happen. After so many bitter years, he couldn't bear to ruin such a fine house.

"It has to be demolished!" Li Banfeng said firmly. "From today onward, Blue Poplar Village has nothing to do with the Song Family. The Song Family can never return, and the people of Blue Poplar Village will never think of them ever again."

By dawn, the Song Family had completely disappeared from Blue Poplar Village.

Li Banfeng instructed Little Chuan. "Tell all the workers that whoever wishes to follow Ma Wu can sign up with you. Ma Wu will pay their wages monthly. Anyone who does not wish to follow him may remain at the village entrance and continue with the road work. There is no need to force anyone."

Little Chuan gathered all the workers and repeated Li Banfeng's instructions to them.

There were more than seventy road workers in total. About thirty chose to follow Ma Junyang, while the rest said they needed more time to think about it. That was perfectly fine, and Li Banfeng had already said he would not force anyone.

However, the matter needed to be spelled out. Anyone who decided to join Ma Wu later would find their position several ranks lower than the rest.

Ma Wu turned to Li Banfeng and said, "Brother, what we are doing feels like… it's taking my father's men for ourselves. I'm afraid…"

Whenever his family was involved, Ma Wu was never able to analyze the situation correctly.

Li Banfeng waved his hand. "There is no need to be afraid. If he truly is your father, he will never hold this against you. If he is not, then we will address the matter when the time comes."

***

Song Zhigang led his entire family and walked all the way to Taiming Town.

The Song Family owned a small residence there, no more than two courtyards arranged front and back, yet spacious enough to hold everyone.

Once the family had settled in, Song Zhigang took two servants and ten thousand silver dollars with him and made his way to Liu's Paper Oblation Shop.

What could he possibly want from a paper oblation shop. Was he there to buy funeral paper for his father? Not at all.

He had gone there to see Liu Liangyi, the local powerhouse of Taiming Town and the head of the Liu Family.

For over twenty years, Song Jiasen ruled Blue Poplar Village like a tyrant, and the strength behind him was divided three ways. Thirty percent came from the Liu Family, thirty percent from the Si Family that presided over the Liu Family, and the final forty percent from the Lu Family at the very top.

Liu Liangyi had a fourth-level cultivation, and in Greenwater Bay, that level was not considered high. However, his Daoist path was unlike the others. He came from a legendary family of Nightfiend Cultivators.

Nightfiend Cultivators excelled at controlling ghost servants, and when facing most other Daoist paths, they possessed a natural edge.

More importantly, Liu Liangyi possessed a unique combat method. His ghost servants were able to possess paper effigies. A fourth-level Nightfiend Cultivator could command sixty ghost servants, and sixty ghost servants could in turn control three hundred paper effigies in battle. Together, they formed the equivalent of a small private army.

Liu Liangyi had started out as a bandit. With the Liu Family's paper soldiers at his command, he ruled over the hills for more than twenty years and encountered few who could challenge him.

Although he had cleared his name and given up raiding for a living, the bandits within the territory of Taiming Town were still struck with fear at the mere mention of the Liu Family.

When Song Zhigang reached the shop, Liu Liangyi was nowhere to be seen. Instead, he saw Liu Changyu.

With tears streaming down his face, he said, "Junior shopkeeper, please tell the old master that our family has fallen on hard times."

Liu Changyu, the youngest son of Liu Liangyi and junior shopkeeper of the paper oblation shop, was twenty-one and about the same age as Song Zhigang. When he noticed Song Zhigang lowering himself to kneel, he quickly stepped forward and caught him by the arm. "Brother Zhigang, what is happening? Tell me what has happened."

Song Zhigang selectively recounted what had happened.

He told the part about Ma Wu secretly selling goods behind their backs, but he left out the part where they had planned to beat Ma Wu half to death.

He told the story about the bloodcall in the fields, and he also spoke of Ma Wu setting a trap. However, he did not say a single word about the fact that his father had been the one who originally set the trap.

Upon hearing this, Liu Changyu frowned. "What Ma Junyang did was completely out of line. There is no need to trouble my father with this. I will handle it for you. I do not care if he is a fallen young master or whatever else he claims to be, we cannot allow him to turn Blue Poplar Village upside down."

The junior shopkeeper gathered two clerks and prepared to march toward Blue Poplar Village.

At once, Song Zhigang felt bolder than before. He called over several servants and launched into a speech meant to raise everyone's spirits. However, the group had barely reached the edge of town when the paper oblation shop's bookkeeper, Hu Juncai, came running after them and stopped them in their tracks.

"Young Master, the old master asks that you return at once," Hu Juncai said.

With no other option, Liu Changyu followed the bookkeeper back to the shop. Song Zhigang felt the last of his hope extinguish and had no choice but to return to his residence and wait for whatever news might come.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

When Liu Changyu returned to the shop and saw his father, Liu Liangyi, seated in the back hall, he began to explain everything. Yet Liu Liangyi raised his tobacco pipe with a quiet gesture and stopped him before he could utter a word.

"Changyu, I told you to watch the shop so you could gain some experience and learn to read people, not so you could run around showing off and pretending to be powerful."

Liu Changyu didn't understand what his father meant by this. "Father, the Song Family is under our family's care. This is their affair. Should we not be lending them our help?"

Liu Liangyi sighed, slightly disappointed in the way his son had handled things. "You are looking only at the Song Family and their affairs. What about the Ma Family and everything that concerns them?

"Why did Song Jiasen not seek our help himself? Why did he simply disappear? Ma Wu is only a fallen young master trying to survive in Blue Poplar Village. Why would he risk everything to battle the Song Family to the death? Have you thought about any of this?"

Liu Changyu had clearly not thought that far.

Liu Liangyi tapped his tobacco pipe and said, "Since you have not thought this through, I will do the thinking for you. Song Jiasen was a level-three martial cultivator. If there is still no word from him at this point, then there is an eight out of ten chance that he is dead.

"If a level-three cultivator like him has died, do you honestly think you can lead a few men into Blue Poplar Village and come back alive? All that Ma Wu was doing at Blue Poplar Village was to make a living. If he had not been pushed to a dead end, he would never have fought Song Jiasen to death.

"They had already fought with their lives on the line. What rules do you think you can enforce on Ma Wu? If you cannot best him, you will die the moment you set foot there. And if you can defeat him, are you really prepared to kill him? Do you think the Ma Family will let you live after that?"

Liu Changyu grew quiet. He realised he had not thought any of it through.

"Father, then… does this mean we are not going to intervene at all?"

"The Song Family brought this upon themselves, and we have no reason to get involved in that. However, Blue Poplar Village is our territory, and that we must handle this properly. The money collection day will be in three days. Tell Old Hu to collect the usual amount and see whether Ma Wu pays. If he pays, the rules stand, and there is nothing wrong with the village replacing its branch master. But if he refuses, then the rules have been broken. Only then will we confront him, and we will have every right to do so."

Liu Changyu understood the logic now. He quickly apologized to his father and obediently stayed behind to watch the shop.

The next day, Song Zhigang came again, crying miserably. Liu Changyu sighed and said, "Zhigang, go back and wait for whatever news comes. Your family has profited well from Blue Poplar Village all these years. If you ask me, living quietly for a while might not be such a terrible thing."

Author's Note:

PS: It's good to live a stable life. It's a good idea. But it would be wrong for them to ask Li Banfeng to pay them back.