45 Jia family struggles

It was the end of August. Autumn was about to begin and leaves were slowly turning golden yellow. The Jia clan leader, Jia Min, sighed as he was watching the trees through the window of his bedroom. His sons, Jia Fu and Jia Gui have both returned from their caravan trips but his third son, Jia Jin Sheng, didn't make it back to the clan. Jia Fu accused Jia Gui of murdering his own brother to bring him down and Jia Gui retaliated by accusing Jia Fu instead. Both parties were throwing insults at one another and arguments were starting to divulge into fights.

The Jia clan elder, at almost eighty years of age, couldn't take the infighting anymore. He ordered both his sons to stay apart for some time to mourn for the loss of their brother. He thought to himself, "I tried my best to split my assets among my sons based on merit but it seems they prefer bloodshed instead. Like the leaves of an autumn tree, soon many forces of the Jia clan will fall in this conflict. I must ensure that my Jia clan doesn't wither and die due to this!"

After a few days of thought, he summoned both his sons, "I've toiled all my life to bring success to this clan as a merchant and a gu master. I've thought that I succeeded in my life life but what kind of success am I if my own sons kill each other for power?" Jia Fu and Jia Gui were taken aback.

"Father, I'm telling you! It is Jia Gui who plotted against me! Allow me to hire divine investigator Tie Xue Leng. He will definitively uncover this plot and make sure the criminal is punished.", said Jia Fu as he looked in the direction of Jia Gui.

"Hmph! Do you think I am afraid of that? Justice is on my side! Father, allow me to hire the divine investigator. I want to see Jia Fu's face when he is pronounced a criminal in front of everyone!", said Jia Gui.

"Enough! I'm too old for this. I have already sent a messenger to the Tie clan to request he assistance of the divine investigator. But knowing how busy the investigator is, it may take several years for him to take the case. What I don't want for now is to see my remaining sons fighting amongst themselves in the mean time allowing the clan to become embroiled in a civil war. So I have decided to create a fighting arena in a similar fashion to the Shang clan's arena. If you want to fight, fight in the arena. Fight like men that I raised you to be!" The Jia clan leader's voice was harsh and reprimanding. He continued, "I may be old, but if I get a hint of any assassination attempts from either of you, I will not show any mercy."

Both Jia Fu and Jia Gui became silent and just nodded their heads. They were grown men but they still held a fear of their father who was once a towering figure in the region. Jia Min continued, "Since I am trying to model this arena after Shang clan's arena, I want you to invite several external gu masters to fight here. I will use some of the clan's gu insects as rewards to attract them so use this opportunity to recruit powerful gu masters into our clan's forces and strengthen the clan! We are a large clan but we can grow much more powerful in the future. I refuse to believe that I raised two sons who are incapable of that!"

"Yes father. We will not disappoint you.", sad both his sons in unison.

"This is also a test for you. With my deteriorating health, I believe I will live for another five to six years at most. Judging from the results of your caravan profits and arena prowess, I will decide how to split the family assets."

"Father! Don't speak like that. I want you to live a full hundred years.", said Jia Gui.

"I will use this gu fighting competition to find a powerful healing gu master for you father. You'll be back to your old self in no time.", said Jia Fu refusing to let Jia Gui take the spotlight.

"Sigh! You both can go now!", said the Jia clan leader. He was well aware of how much his sons actually cared for his health. Both Jia Fu and Jia Gui started making their plans for the gu fighting competition.

…

Back in Gu Yue village, the academy was rebuilt once again with compensation received from Xiong village. Xiong clan had to budge due to pressure from Gu Yue clan and their relations were distraught due to this. Fang Zheng had already broken into Rank 1 upper stage. He had started receiving guidance from the clan leader after Gu Guangzhi's attack as they thought that the attack was targeted towards Fang Zheng. Even the security around him was increased significantly.

Both Gu Yue clan and Xiong clan sent search parties for Gu Guangzhi but he was never found. Xiong clan concluded that Gu Guangzhi must've lost his cultivation due to the impurities in his aperture and eaten by some wild beasts. Gu Yue clan didn't make a big fuss about it as they received appropriate compensation. Bai Ning Bing, on the other hand, threw a fit of rage as he heard about Gu Guangzhi's death. He had pinned his hopes on Gu Guangzhi's mysterious gu insect to solve the problem of his aperture. Now that Gu Guangzhi was dead, he had to look for other methods again.

Even during the mid year exam, Fang Zheng was attacked by yet another suicidal demonic path gu master with Rank 2 strength. The demonic path gu master tried to take his life with a very powerful poison path gu insect, Rank 2 Love Life Separation Gu, but Fang Zheng was able to successfully defend himself before the dark hall members swooped in to kill the demonic gu master. Ever since, he had trained more diligently. The Gu Yue clan tried to pin this attack on the Xiong clan again but they didn't budge this time due to lack of evidence.

Fang Yuan, however, knew that both these attacks were meant for him. He wondered if Gu Guangzhi was actually alive and was plotting another attack. He smiled and thought to himself, "So what if he attacks again? I just need to crush him."