Chapter 20 - Yun Yixuan Has Come To Visit (1/2)
The clansmen may have been administered with first aid as soon as the danger had been averted but there were still casualties. Three had died in the melee, thirty-six were gravely injured, one hundred and six were wounded in one way or another.
The clansmen could only lament the accidental passings of the three most unfortunate ones among them.
“Where the hell is Ye Moyang?!” Ye Zhantian bellowed in rage.
“Chief, Elder Ye Moyang has already escaped. Even his son, who was supposed to be detained in the Tribunal, has escaped too.”
“That damned crook!” Ye Zhantian exploded in fury. “From now on, I decree that Ye Moyang and his son, Ye Kongyan, are expelled from the Ye family. If anyone of you dares maintain any form of contact with him, you’ll be punished accordingly; And should anyone of you encounter him anywhere, the only acceptable reception toward him would be to slay that lout right there and then so that he doesn’t live to embarrass our family any longer!”
The clansmen gave an affirmative chorus.
This Unihorn Lizard’s intrusion must have been Ye Moyang’s handiwork, no doubt about it. Ye Zhantian could not even imagine just what kind of method did that crook used to lure a Ninth Stage mystical beast from its original habitat to come all the way to Ye Castle; But one thing was for sure — Ye Moyang used the ensuing chaos to rescue Ye Kongyan from the detention cell before escaping. If it were not for Ye Chen’s rescue, Ye Castle would likely sustain even worse damage.
The only silver lining was that the rewards carved from such an advanced-stage Unihorn Lizard were very hefty. Hunting down a Seventh or Eighth Stage mystical beast was already very rare, much less successfully maiming a Ninth Stage one. In addition to that was the fact that Unihorn Lizards were chock-full of useful raw materials. Its hide, for example, could be used to make at least a dozen armors. The beast’s organs could also be harvested as ingredients for herbal medicines, though the organ with the single most merits was the Spirit Pill — every mystical beast that had attained the Eighth Stage or above would possess a Spirit Pill within themselves. A Spirit Pill salvaged from this Ninth Stage Unihorn Lizard would be able to fetch at least two hundred Chi-amassing Pills.
It did not take a long time before every clansman who was able to quickly chip in to harvest the Unihorn Lizard’s cadaver as they carved and skinned every part of the monster.
In the conference hall.
“Chen, what was that thing you’d used to kill that Unihorn Lizard?” Ye Changxuan asked. The effect from that otherwise-nondescript bag was too mighty for the old-timer to ignore — especially when the impact generated was as potent as the brunt of a Ninth Stage fighter’s maximum force.
Whatever that bag was — it was something terrifying even to the old-timer himself.
“It’s gunpowder,” Ye Chen replied.
“Gun…powder…?”
“It’s, um, something our ancestors had taught me to make. Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to talk about its details,” Ye Chen quickly fibbed, once again making an excuse using his ancestors’ name. Some things are always best kept as secrets, especially when the truth may prove to be fatalistic to the family.
The fewer people knew about the existence of such a thing, the fewer people would be able to get a hold of it — which was ultimately the better outcome. Had it not been a situation this desperate, Ye Chen would not have evinced the existence of gunpowder so publicly.
“If that is the case, then I suppose we have no rights to ask,” Ye Changxuan said as the rest nodded. Whatever this gunpowder thing was, its effects should never be taken lightly. In fact, the sight that had occurred when it exploded was still leaving their mind in a daze.
“Spread the news to the whole clan. No one shall mention a single word about today’s event!” Ye Zhantian ordered after giving a moment’s thought.
Of course, it was doubtful that anyone who had not witnessed it would believe those who talked about what had transpired, as the whole tale was just so preposterous. However, precautions should still be taken.
The Unihorn Lizard had become just the oasis the House of Ye needed to relieve some of their current predicament. Very soon, the Unihorn Lizard’s organs and Spirit Pill had all been traded off for about three hundred Chi-amassing Pills via Ye Zhantian’s mercantile connections in the Donglin county. On the other hand, the Unihorn Lizard’s hide was promptly used to forge protective leather vests by their in-house blacksmith, the completed products distributed to all of the Zhang cohort clansmen, although Ye Chen was given one just as well.
The leather vest was aesthetically-pleasing without compensating its defensive property. Firstly, normal-bladed weapons would not be able to penetrate it and secondly, unskilled Seventh Stage or Eighth Stage warriors may not be able to harm anyone wearing the vest with their melee attacks either.
Another boon of this leather vest would be how slim it was — it fitted the wearer’s shape so snugly that, should the wearer don an extra outer garment over their vest, nothing on their exterior appearance would have suggested the vest’s existence. Quite obviously, donning a leather vest like this meant that there would be fewer casualties should a sudden battle erupted between the Ye family and other hostile forces.
In a sense, the House of Ye had at least gotten something good out of a fiasco.