Chapter 42: Great Clans and Prestigious Families All Bow Their Heads

Due to a series of recent events, the Marquis's estate servants had become much more well-behaved lately.

Judging by Erniu’s conversation, his standing among the domestic servants had risen sharply.

When going to fetch the morning meal, quite a number of servants in the kitchen department fawned over him and sought to strike up a conversation.

Several maidservants even addressed him as Brother Erniu.

Seeing Erniu break into a broad, simple-minded grin, Lu Xiao smiled along with him.

Status and standing were sometimes truly inconsistent with reality.

Both previously and now, he remained the fourth young master of the Marquis's estate; his status had not changed in the slightest.

Yet, what kind of attitude had the estate's servants held toward him before?

And what kind of attitude did they hold now?

The two continued eating their breakfast while Erniu shared the news he had picked up from other domestic servants.

"That old codger Tian Zi's retirement money was completely confiscated last night, and early this morning, he was driven right out of the Marquis's estate.

They said it was an order given by the Old Madame.

If not for taking pity on his advanced age and his years of somewhat bitter toil, he would have been given a sound beating with the wooden planks."

Erniu whispered his relay of the news, speaking with absolute certainty, as if the information was ironclad.

"It seems the Old Madame still cares for the fourth young master after all.

That old fool Tian Zi went looking for trouble with the fourth young master last night and was immediately punished for it."

Hearing this, Lu Xiao frowned, quickly deducing the underlying reason.

"The Old Madame didn't do this to stand up for me, nor out of any heartache for me.

She is simply resentful that Tian Zi deceived her."

Lu Xiao turned his gaze toward Erniu and, seeing the look of confusion on the youth's face, continued to explain.

"Tian Zi has been in the household for decades. All the younger generation of descendants in the estate had their cultivation talents examined and evaluated through his hands.

Yet now, the Old Madame has discovered that Tian Zi deceived her.

His evaluations were not the honest truth.

Though most of these matters were likely not the work of Tian Zi alone, with others pulling strings behind the scenes,

the Old Madame has accumulated so much resentment in her heart, and she simply needs an outlet to vent it."

Lu Xiao quickly figured out the rationale behind the entire affair in his mind.

His own eldest uncle had several illegitimate children outside, and when they came to the Marquis's estate to test their cultivation talents, the results returned were invariably poor.

It was abundantly clear that someone had been tampering behind the scenes.

As for himself, Lu Xiao believed that the unfair treatment he had suffered was not enough to provoke such genuine anger from the Old Madame.

After listening to Lu Xiao's explanation, Erniu remained silent for a moment and did not pursue that topic any further.

He had caught wind of plenty of other news this morning as well.

"Fourth young master, do you know that fellow Wu Shanlong?"

"What about him?"

Seeing that Lu Xiao was familiar with this person, Erniu felt certain that the servants had not been talking nonsense to him.

"This Wu Shanlong, I hear he is coming to visit the Marquis's estate again in a couple of days."

"Is that so? What is he coming for?"

Lu Xiao pressed with a follow-up question, but this time he received no answer.

"They don't know either, they've just received orders to clean up the guest rooms in preparation."

The masters of the Lu family certainly would not divulge their every motive to the servants below.

On the surface, Wu Shanlong could be considered a benefactor who had bestowed favors upon him.

However, Lu Xiao had long since seen through his true intentions.

Yet under the current circumstances, he had indeed reaped many benefits from Wu Shanlong.

Should he run into him again, he would still need to put on a show of profound gratitude.

"Fourth young master, since you're heading out to cultivate so early, why don't you go catch up on some sleep first?

If anyone assigns any tasks, I'll just handle them."

This time, Lu Xiao did not decline. Erniu assumed he was merely heading out early for his morning martial practice.

In reality, he had cultivated through the entire night.

Ever since his martial realm broke through and consolidated within the Stone-Carrying Stage, enduring a whole night meant he still retained plenty of physical strength and energy.

There was only a trace of fatigue, which was vastly better than before.

However, since an opportunity to rest presented itself, he might as well take advantage of it.

He slept all the way until midday. Without any lingering sense of exhaustion in his body, Lu Xiao felt no inclination to linger in bed.

Just as he stepped out of his room, he happened to run into Erniu carrying his lunch.

The two of them sat down right at the stone table by the doorway and began to eat their midday meal.

Much like the breakfast, the lunch brought back today was considerably more lavish than what they usually received.

As his martial prowess continued to grow, his appetite had expanded in tandem by a great margin.

Previously, after finishing a meal, Lu Xiao always had to supplement it with half a flatbread to feel full.

Judging by the portions brought over today, it looked like it would finally be enough.

As the two ate their midday meal together, Erniu once again began to recount the information he had gathered.

Erniu's position and circumstances indeed made him exceptionally well-suited for gathering intelligence.

Moreover, Erniu had grown quite adept at collecting news.

Back when he accompanied the eldest brother, Lu Zheng, at the capital's academy, he would frequently go about sniffing out gossip.

A great deal of the information Lu Zheng possessed had been relayed to him by Erniu.

"Didn't you ask about that treasure that suddenly manifested in the south previously, fourth young master?

Erniu managed to track down some concrete news about it today."

A proud smile graced Erniu's face as he fixed his gaze on Lu Xiao,

waiting for Lu Xiao to offer a look of eager anticipation.

In truth, Lu Xiao was not particularly curious about this abruptly surfaced treasure.

Such a treasure had long since surpassed the struggles of the younger generation; the dispute was now entirely between the major factions of the Great Xia dynasty.

Still, listening to it as an amusing anecdote was not a bad idea.

Furthermore, given the expression on Erniu's face, there was no need to dampen his enthusiasm.

Lu Xiao's eyes lit up, immediately adopting an expression of eager expectancy.

"The contest for this treasure is already being fought by the middle-aged experts of various factions.

Can even intelligence like this be pried into by someone like you, Erniu?"

"As it turns out, it was pure coincidence. A few days ago, Chunya from the Second Mistress's courtyard took three people down south to purchase fabrics.

Chunya's ancestral home happens to be at Liushuipo in the south.

An older brother of hers works as a waiter in a tavern in Liushuipo.

She stopped by to visit her family and stayed there for half a day.

With her brother working as a tavern waiter, he heard all sorts of news coming and going."

Erniu quickly shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth before continuing his story.

"Her brother said that rumors of the treasure here have been circulating for nearly two months.

Wave after wave of people have come and gone.

A few days ago, elders from the Nine Stars Palace and the Xuanheng Sect both arrived.

Knowing that these top-tier powerhouses had shown up, everyone was just waiting to see whose hands the treasure would ultimately fall into.

As it turned out, not only did the people from the Nine Stars Palace and the Xuanheng Sect fail to secure the treasure, but they even ended up getting injured!"

Hearing this, a flicker of astonishment crept onto Lu Xiao's face.

This time, it was not an act; Lu Xiao was genuinely surprised.

The Nine Stars Palace and the Xuanheng Sect were the two preeminent supreme sects of Great Xia.

In terms of sectarian strength, these two factions stood as the absolute mightiest entities in Great Xia.

Although the martial artists of Dragon King Mountain also possessed formidable strength—arguably top-tier—

Dragon King Mountain was not a major sect; their entire organization numbered fewer than a thousand people.

Meanwhile, the Nine Stars Palace and the Xuanheng Sect each boasted over a hundred thousand disciples.

They were formidable, deeply rooted major sects within Great Xia.

Even with both sects dispatching people—and sect elders at that—they still failed to claim the treasure.

It was hardly strange that Lu Xiao felt genuinely surprised by this news.

"What kind of object is that treasure?

Could it really be some supreme divine artifact dropped from the heavens, defying even those formidable powerhouses from claiming it for themselves?"

At Lu Xiao's inquisitive prompt, Erniu shook his head.

"I asked Chunya this morning as well, but even her brother has no idea what kind of treasure it is.

All he knows is that it is extraordinarily precious, and the people from these major sects refused to leave empty-handed after failing to acquire it."