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Chapter 224 - Hardships




Chapter 224: Hardships
Exodus Tales
The moon was hanging up high in the sky, and the stars were thinly spread.
Yu Ruohan walked in front, leading both of them out of the market, passing the harbour and into the shipyard.
A fleet building up their own shipyard? They’re rich as hell.
The guards patrolling bowed as soon as they saw Yu Ruohan. Seeing Lu Mingshu trailing behind, they bowed to her as well before leaving.
After passing through a few doors, they ended up in a small courtyard.
Yu Ruohan brought Lu Mingshu in, and there was a cup of unfinished tea on the table.
“Take a seat.” Yu Ruohan pointed to a seat opposite her casually.
“Thank you, Senior.” Lu Mingshu looked around and sat down.
Yu Ruohan didn’t even care that the tea was already cold. She finished the cup of tea in one shot and passed Lu Mingshu a cup as well. “If you want water, get it yourself.”
Lu Mingshu stared at the cup blankly. She had never met a woman like Yu Ruohan before. She seemed to lead a rough and simple life, but she was unrestrained and elegant.
“Shocked?” Yu Ruohan smiled widely at her.
Lu Mingshu nodded. “Master never talks about his past.”
The smile disappeared from Yu Ruohan’s face. “If it was me, I wouldn’t want to talk about it either.”
How high-spirited one used to be, to turn into today’s dire and listless state

Both looked at each other in silence for a moment.
They didn’t know each other to start with, and the only common topic between them was the person they both knew, but that person was something that neither of them was willing to talk about.
“Senior, is my master very close to Senior?” At last, Lu Mingshu made up her mind to ask.
Yu Ruohan shook her head. “Not really. We first met in Zhongzhou and nearly got into a fight. Afterwards, I settled in Beiming, and when he came to travel, we met again coincidentally. We can be called friends, I guess.”
After pausing for a while, she looked at Lu Mingshu, eyes twinkling. “Fine, I’ll tell you the truth; I used to like him a lot, but your master is too slow-witted. Back then, I was still young, so I didn’t tell him. More than ten years have passed, and I’m regretting it now. If I had told him, would everything still be the same? Hey, help me ask him when you get back, eh?”
Lu Mingshu looked at her, dumbfounded.
Does she mean that, or is she just joking?
This sent Yu Ruohan into laughter. “You’re very serious, just like your master.”
“What do you plan to do about the Ye Family?” Yu Ruohan asked, no longer laughing.
Lu Mingshu bit her lips and pondered. “I’ll see what the Ye Family does first.”
“You’re so sure that they’ll give the queen of Zhongzhou face?” Yu Ruohan’s expression was unreadable.
Lu Mingshu blinked her eyes. What Yu Ruohan really meant was, “Is your relationship with the queen of Zhongzhou that good?”
She’s trying to probe for the truth!
“It’s not a big deal. Why would they bother with a younger generation member?”
Yu Ruohan smiled thinly. “It’s not a big deal to you, but not others.”
Ah, she’s still young, that’s why she doesn’t get it.
“Ye Zhenyan likes to hold grudges. Why would he just laugh it off after you defeated him publicly?”
Seeing Lu Mingshu staring at her feet, Yu Ruohan sighed. “Typical youngster. Nevermind.” She pointed to a room behind her. “It’s getting late, there’s no need to go back now. Rest here. We can still protect you for now.”
Lu Mingshu stood up and bowed. “Thank you for lending me a helping hand, Senior.”
Yu Ruohan smiled a little. “I glad I could meet my old friend’s disciple. It’s just a small matter.” She then called over a servant girl. “Clean up the guest room and receive this Miss.”
“Okay,” the servant girl answered and turned toward Lu Mingshu. “Miss, please.”
Lu Mingshu bowed to Yu Ruohan again before leaving with the servant girl.
Under the flickering candlelight, a man walked out from a room. “You went up against the Ye Family for her?”
“What, is she not worthy?” Yu Ruohan smiled at him thinly.
It was a slender figure with a scholarly appearance. It was Sir Ning. “The conflict between us and the Ye Family is already worsening. It wasn’t an appropriate move.” He furrowed his eyebrows.
But Yu Ruohan shook her head. “The past few years, the Ye Family has been suppressing us anyway. It wouldn’t be any better even if I didn’t intervene. Moreover, she has a close relationship with the queen of Zhongzhou, so this is a good chance for us to get closer to Zhongzhou’s royalty.”
“How can you be so sure that she’s actually valuable?”
Yu Ruohan grinned. “If the news from Zhongzhou is true, then 80%.”
Sir Ning pondered for a moment. In the end, he didn’t object. He only sighed. “Others think the Bon Voyage Fleet is well-off. Who knows what sufferings we have?”
Speaking about this, Yu Ruohan felt mentally drained too. “Not only the Ye Family. In Beiming, the aristocratic families are trying to eliminate us, the ordinary people. Luckily, we got the Mountain Whale this time, or it would’ve been bad.”
In the eyes of the Jianghu people, the Bon Voyage Fleet was more well-off than even some smaller aristocratic families. They were the only ones who knew about their own difficulties.
Beiming wasn’t peaceful and carefree the way it seemed in the eyes of others. Cultivating above the Harmonization Realm was like entering a snake pit because all the resources were controlled. For example, the Mountain Whale they caught this time; the Pure White Grace Pavilion had plenty of resources to afford a thousand mystic crystals. However, the Ye Family gave them too much pressure, and the pavilion didn’t want to make things ugly, so the whale went to an aristocratic family.
In the early days, Beiming used to be a paradise for commoners. Ancient Jade Summit was Beiming’s peak, standing alone, occupying the most abundant resources in Beiming. Aristocratic families didn’t hold much power; facing the dangerous river, they were too weak even if they banded together.
That was why, despite the dangerous environment, it attracted many Jianghu people to stay in Beiming, and it slowly developed into a big power.
The Bon Voyage Fleet and the Pure White Grace Pavilion were just two of the representatives. They gathered a group of commoners and had a rather powerful position in Beiming.
However, since the three biggest aristocratic families emerged, everything changed.
The aristocratic families slowly started to eliminate the commoners. Not only that, but they took over territories as well, then kicked the commoner’s out. Lower-level martial artists might not have felt it because the resources they needed for their cultivation weren’t expensive or rare. However, after the Harmonization Realm, the aristocratic families had a tight hold of everything.
The Bon Voyage Fleet and the Pure White Grace pavilion were obviously not easy to take out, but with the alliance formed by aristocratic families, their space in Beiming was slowly being compressed.
That was why, these years, the Bon Voyage Fleet had no choice but to explore new hunting grounds, and each trip cost a huge price.
However, this could only postpone them being taken over by the Ye Family.
“As soon as the Ye Family gains a second Assimilation Realm Elder, their ambitions will become unstoppable,” Sir Ning said. “Unless we gain an Assimilation Realm cultivator, we will soon be swallowed up by them too.”
Hearing that, an idea popped up in Yu Ruohan’s head. “About that matter, what do you think if we find that girl as external help?”
Sir Ning blinked. “You want to let her go over to Jasper Sun Mountain?”
Yu Ruohan grinned. “Not suitable?”
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Sir Ning raised his eyebrows. “She’s good, but not as good as Ling Wuxia.”
“Well, she’s better than our young ones.”
Sir Ning hummed. “Right.” He pondered for a moment before raising his brows. “I’ll go discuss this with Brother Mao.”
“Thank you for your trouble, Senior Brother Ning.” Yu Ruohan nodded, smiling thinly.