Chapter 102: Imported Goods: The Silver Benevolent Servant, The Golden Malevolent Master

At this moment, the ancestral mansion of the Pu family was engulfed in a grim and oppressive atmosphere. Some members from the nearby branches of the clan had been gathered here for close supervision. Strangely, while many among them trembled in despair, the main line of the Pu family—marked by distinct Central Asian features—did not collapse. Instead, they exhibited a bizarre calmness, as if they had transcended life and death.

Under the direction of several of the highest-ranking elders, they all entered an inner courtyard surrounded on all sides by tall white walls. Outside the mansion’s outer courtyard, a large group of guards, recruited from outside but sharing the same clan and faith, stood watch. Nominally caravan guards, they were equipped with numerous fine firearms, curved blades, and even small cannons, their armaments far superior to the local garrison troops.

Among the guards stood a young man whose appearance bore a strong resemblance to Pu Shouying. He anxiously twisted a gem-encrusted ring on his finger, pacing back and forth. He had asked the steward countless times already, “Has the master’s life lamp gone out?”

As always, the steward replied with respectful composure: “Young Master Haiyun, it still burns, though faintly. The flame dims and could extinguish at any moment. Even after sacrificing several servants, the life fire could not be restored; we could only reinforce the sacred seal within the master’s soul. I surmise that while the master is alive, his soul has been extracted and imprisoned by a powerful figure. His physical body will not perish within seven days. Had this been a normal accidental death, the soul would have returned to the ancestral temple immediately. The secret of the Pu family has been exposed since the ‘Feigning the Road, Secretly Crossing Chen Cang’ fell into enemy hands, which explains everything. Now, we must abandon any hope for miracles. There remains but one final path: before the imperial envoy of the Great Zhao Emperor arrives, we must hold a ceremony to abandon the physical body and send the souls of the main lineage back to the realm of the gods.”

Pu Haiyun, the second young master of the Pu family stationed at Stinging Coral Port, had no choice but to reluctantly accept this desperate measure. “It must be so. I hope our private guards can hold out until the ceremony is complete, so the heroic spirit of ancestor Pu Gengshou may descend, guiding our souls and the treasures we have accumulated through the years to the divine realm.” He then produced a gold coin and a silver coin from his pocket.

The guards of Central Asian descent around him, including the elderly steward, all had a spark of spirit light ignite in their eyes—some silver, some gold. When they looked at Pu Haiyun and the precious coins in his hand, their faces radiated unwavering loyalty.

“Fine treasures!” Pu Haiyun exclaimed.

In the shadows of a corner of the mansion, a sinister presence slithered silently and echoed the praise inwardly, “Fine treasures!”

This dark entity’s three abilities—“Star Gazing,” “Debt Collector,” and “Miser”—were best suited for treasure hunting and plundering. It resolutely avoided places with danger warnings but would be drawn by the scent of valuables. From afar, it spotted the two peculiarly crafted precious metal coins in Pu Haiyun’s palm.

The second young master of the Pu family himself was only a seventh-rank official; he lacked any resistance to Wang Cheng’s rare treasures.

“Rare treasures: silver coin ‘Silver Servant’ and gold coin ‘Golden Tyrant.’”

Gold and silver were both servants and tyrants! This matched set of talismanic artifacts originated from a Western civilization rich in commerce, equivalent to a prized treasure of a Great Zhao provincial government. They could be used to employ various beings—humans, animals, demons, spirits, and so forth—to serve their master.

Effects:

“Silver Servant”: After signing an employment contract with the hired, as long as agreed wages are regularly paid monthly, the hired must serve as a devoted servant, disregarding family, affection, health, or rest, and must forcibly prioritize fulfilling all employer demands with tireless diligence.

“Golden Tyrant”: Similar to the Silver Servant but far more domineering. By advancing an excessive wealth loan (known as ‘issuing promissory money’ in Great Zhao), it forcibly converts the borrower into a slave bound to repay the debt for life. They become a slave for ten, twenty, or thirty years, or even until death, without rest or respite, relentlessly exploited yet unable to escape.

Usage: Financial goods such as copper coins, gold and silver, grain, bolts of cloth, damp pepper, sandalwood, or moldy grain are bathed in precious light overnight and then distributed to the other party. The amount of wages and excess wealth must be set according to the value of the hired. Both have quantity limits; the more powerful the hired, the fewer the number of coins.

Seeing this description of the talismanic artifacts, Wang Cheng’s pupils involuntarily contracted. Even though he had seen the world in two lifetimes, he suddenly felt as if he had regressed from the “civilized” feudal era to a “barbaric” slave era.

“If one accidentally signs a contract with these, can they still be called human?”

Wang Cheng recalled that many in the gentry fleet surrendered during the recent Moon Harbor battle. Yet the crew aboard Pu Shouying’s ship, even after being afflicted with the “Imperial Concubine’s Perfume” and several stubborn resistors subjected to the “Shapeshift Maid” curse by the dark entity, endured tremendous physical and mental torment without surrendering—fighting to the last man.

“At the time, reinforcements were needed at Dragon Lock Well, so I sold off all their bodies without much thought. Now it seems they had been transformed by Pu Shouying using ‘Silver Servant’ and ‘Golden Tyrant’ into absolutely loyal slaves. But this stuff is just too evil. It’s certainly forbidden for use on our own people. However, recruiting some peripheral troops of uncertain loyalty would be quite suitable.”

As for whether he could obtain any of these, Wang Cheng was not worried at all. The Pu family still owed a life debt to the Water-Collecting Wang family. If the latter ever neglected vigilance, the “Debt Collector” could seize his treasures.

“When will they repay? At least with a second-rank living ghost god, right?”

This was also the most valuable trophy Wang Cheng could guarantee he would take without injury after his reconnaissance. Once in hand, he could pay wages to hire labor and earn more money, use promissory money to generate more money, and finally use the Debt Collector to squeeze the debtor dry—forming a complete cycle. Just imagining it filled him with a sense of guilt worthy of a noose.

The sinister presence slipped along the door crack and hid on the necessary path from the outer courtyard to the inner courtyard, gazing mysteriously toward the depths of the inner chamber.

The Pu clan members gathered around a solitary white building within the mansion, and under the elders’ command, knelt one after another.

“This appears to be the ancestral temple. They just mentioned going to the realm of the gods? But in this world, the underworld is nowhere to be found. Yin and yang are blurred; mountains and seas serve as boundaries. Only a small number of devotees who accumulate virtue can enter the domain of the earth gods and reside there, and once their yin lifespan ends, they vanish without a trace. Where is their divine realm? Can it truly ferry these souls across thousands of mountains and waters?”

Once most of the Pu family had gathered in the ancestral temple, Wang Cheng and his companions strolled through the opulent inner chambers, searching discreetly for anything of value without revealing their presence. They managed to pilfer valuables worth roughly twenty to thirty thousand taels of silver.

The Pu family had prospered for centuries; even a handful of soil seemed to exude wealth. Still, despite Wang Cheng’s treasure-hunting prowess, he could not avoid some pitfalls.

Among the treasures’ radiance, besides gold and silver seeds, jewelry, and fine fabrics, there were many highly valuable feminine items: over a dozen jade-carved “horn gentlemen” of various sizes; seven or eight gold and silver ankle bells with delicate chains, crafted from gold and silver on the outside and containing mercury beads inside that would vibrate continuously when shaken—each worth four to five hundred taels on the market; and the largest find, a grand piece of furniture resembling a ceremonial carriage made from rosewood and white jade, which could easily fetch ten or twenty thousand if sold to the right buyer.

As a gentleman and lawful maritime merchant, Wang Cheng immediately converted these goods into cash. After all, having developed the “Money Power” ranked first among weapon manuals, he needed ample ammunition reserves.

He just couldn’t share the spoils with Sister Yunxiao right away—that could wait.

Returning to his vantage point, Wang Cheng watched coldly as the Pu family began an unprecedented ritual.

Over a hundred people knelt in a circle around a large seven-branched candelabrum made of gold. The highest-ranking elder in white robes carefully took a small piece of gray wax from a treasured gem box and placed it into the central candle holder.

As it melted slowly, the flame took on a golden hue, flickering and growing steadily until it formed a vertical eye-like portal.

Instinctively, Wang Cheng hid in the shadows, confirming that while the candelabrum was nothing unusual, the wax was highly significant.

[The raw materials are pure beeswax, holy water, sacred oil, and holy incense, etched with the image of a lamb and called “Lamb’s Holy Wax” by devotees. This relic is extremely precious, blessed only once every seven years. The highest grade is known as “Martyr’s Wax,” gray in color, made by mixing the ashes of martyrs with holy wax and oil, regarded as one of the sacred relics of bones. Lighting this Lamb’s Wax can open a divine descent without any complex ceremony.]

Wang Cheng immediately understood the Pu family’s trump card.

—In the family’s hour of crisis, they beseech the old ancestor to rise!

This was, after all, a distinguished family with a history of three to four centuries, having assimilated local customs by adopting the divine official cultivation system and secret scrolls, its highest member having held a provincial governor’s rank.

Though it was difficult to reach the top third rank and even harder to be deified after death, after centuries, there was theoretically one or two ghost gods still in existence.

“Judging by this scene, their ancestor who achieved ghost god status clearly did not become a folk deity of the Great Zhao dynasty with temples erected at Stinging Coral Port. Instead, some force beyond the Three Officials Alliance system has assimilated this ancestor into another form of existence.”

Just as Wang Cheng hesitated whether to retreat, thunderous hoofbeats rang from the end of the long street outside.

Mounted troops shouted in unison, their voices shaking half the city:

“By imperial decree, the White Scale Guards execute the clan. All bystanders, keep clear!”