Three hundred years later.
Mount Qingyun.
Night.
The north wind whistled and snow swirled. On the rugged mountain road, a young man in his twenties walked quickly. He wore a long green robe and a felt bamboo hat. He carried a rectangular box wrapped in green cloth on his back. Although it was the middle of the night, the mountain was covered in snow. It was not difficult to see the road under his feet.
According to common sense, this was the time to be sleeping in their warm beds. No one would be bored enough to come to the Great Snow Mountain in the middle of the night to pass the time. However, for him, there was an unspeakable difficulty in traveling in the middle of the night. There was only one reason, and that was the thing he was carrying on his back.
The young man was called Ye Fan. He was the 68th generation great-grandson of the Ye family. When it came to the Ye family, there was no one who did not know them. The Ye family was famous for forging weapons. It was said that the ancestor of the Ye family had saved the life of the master swordsmith, Ou Yezi, by chance. Ou Yezi had nothing to repay him with, so he gave the Ye family his life's work, "Weapon Forging Manual". From then on, the Ye family rose to prominence and became famous all over the world. No matter if it was a sword, a spear, a halberd, an axe, a hook, or a fork, as long as it was a weapon made by the Ye family, it would not be an exaggeration to call it a divine weapon. Therefore, in the era of cold weapons, the Ye family was famous in Jianghu and had wealth comparable to a country. Weapons made by the Ye family were even more precious. From the emperor's imperial sword to the imperial army's weapons, everything was made by the Ye family. Even the major sects and heroes of Jianghu would be proud to have a weapon made by the Ye family. The Ye family owned eighty-one large weapon shops, twelve mines, nine furnaces, and more than a hundred pawnshops. The Ye family's status was even more obvious. Their highest official was the Minister of War. Therefore, whether it was the imperial government, the people of Jianghu, or even the emperor, they gave the Ye family some face. After all, it was the era of cold weapons. The quality of the army's weapons directly affected the success or failure of the war. Therefore, the emperors of each generation took good care of the Ye family. Therefore, the Ye family's official position became bigger and bigger, and they became richer and richer. It was said that the Ye family's money was so much that they could not fit it all in their house. Therefore, they directly cast gold into a dozen large balls, each weighing a few thousand pounds, and hid them underground. The Ye family's power was obvious.
With such a large family business, it was only natural that there would be a head steward, who was also the head of the Ye family. The authority of the head of the Ye Clan was extremely great. He was in charge of all the branches of the Ye Clan and was in charge of the entire clan's affairs. All the men of the Ye Clan would diligently study the art of forging weapons from the day they became sensible. They did not dare to delay for even a moment. The reason for this was because of the Ye Clan's rules. The "Weapon Forging Manual" mentioned earlier was only passed down to males and not females. Only the head of the Ye Clan had the qualifications to study it. Back then, when the Ye Clan's ancestor obtained the 《Weapon Forging Manual》, he passed down a section of the Weapon Forging Manual to his three sons. He also made them swear that they could only pass it down to their own sons. If they didn't have sons, they would rather rot the Weapon Forging Manual in their hearts than pass it down to outsiders. Otherwise, no matter who it was, they would use the entire clan's power to cripple the person who leaked the secret. From then on, every member of the Ye Clan who obtained the Weapon Forging Manual would be very careful, as if they were treading on thin ice. They would keep their mouths shut like a bottle of water. If their own sons were not made for it, they would definitely not pass down the Weapon Forging Manual. Otherwise, if one of the prodigal sons leaked the Weapon Forging Manual, what awaited them would be the death of their entire clan and the pain of losing their sons.
On the contrary, if their own sons were to live up to expectations and understood the true meaning of the Weapon Forging Manual, then they would have the possibility of becoming the head of the Ye Clan, the successor of the 《Weapon Forging Manual》, and the ruler of the Ye Clan's assets. This was because there were two conditions to obtain the position of head of the Ye Clan. First, the person had to be a male, regardless of age. Second. This was to obtain the first place in the Weapon Forging Manual during the ancestral worship ceremony. Every twenty years, there would be a candidate for the head of the Ye Clan. When the current head of the Ye Clan was old, sick, or unable to manage the affairs of the Ye Clan due to other reasons, the candidate would automatically become the head of the Ye Clan. He would officially have the right to manage everything in the Ye Clan.
Now that the Chinese New Year was approaching, according to the rules passed down by the Ye Clan, the dozens of branches of the Ye Clan had to send representatives back to the ancestral home far away. The first reason was to pay respects to the ancestors of the Ye Clan. The second reason was to report to the head of the Ye Clan about the family's business situation under the jurisdiction of their own branch, as well as to pay tribute to the head of the Ye Clan. This year, Ye Fan's father, Ye Kong, had specially allowed Ye Fan to go to the ancestral home. First of all, Ye Fan was born with a proud and aloof personality. He didn't like to interact with people, and spent his days either reading books or playing with weapons. However, he was already an adult. In the future, Ye Kong's branch of the Ye Clan's bloodline would be led by him, and the pawnshop business would also be handed over to him. This trip to the mountains was long, so it was a good opportunity for him to gain experience. Second of all, the current head of the Ye Clan, Ye Yun, doted on his grandson the most. Last year at the New Year's Eve dinner table, he had specially instructed Ye Kong that this year, Ye Fan had to make a trip to pay respects to the ancestors. Once the head of the Ye Clan had spoken, who would dare to disobey? Therefore, this year, Ye Kong had specially prepared a generous gift for the old man, which was the item he was carrying on his back. He had also instructed Ye Fan not to open the box no matter what happened on the road, and that he had to personally hand it over to the old man. After hearing this, Ye Fan was curious. However, since his father had instructed him not to look at it on the road, Ye Fan could only follow his father's instructions. The box weighed a few dozen kilograms. Ye Fan guessed that it was definitely an antique sword or something like that from the pawnshop. He was afraid that if he casually played with it on the road, it would attract the attention of others. This period of time wasn't very peaceful. There was turmoil and chaos, and bandits were rampant. It was common for people to disappear without a trace. His father's actions were reasonable. After all, Ye Fan was still young and didn't have much experience in the martial arts world. Thinking of this, Ye Fan directly avoided the wide roads and changed to a less traveled path. He also disguised himself and acted in a low-profile manner. Smoothly arriving at the ancestral home was better than anything else.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as he wished. Even so, he still discovered that there were people secretly following him along the way. Moreover, it wasn't just one person, but a large group of people. This group of people was dressed like a merchant caravan. They had a caravan of camels and horses, and they were carrying bulging bags. The clanking sounds along the way were very eye-catching. Ye Fan discovered that no matter where he went, this group of people followed him from a distance. If not, they would split into two groups. One group would be in front of Ye Fan, and the other group would be behind Ye Fan. In the beginning, Ye Fan was secretly laughing. He thought that his father was being overly cautious, sending so many people to secretly escort him. However, he slowly discovered that something was wrong. The people following him weren't escorting him at all. This was because their eyes were fixed on the item on Ye Fan's back. If they were sent by his father, they definitely wouldn't stare at the item. They would just keep an eye on him.
Thinking of this, Ye Fan couldn't help but smile bitterly. He had just left the house and he was already being watched. His luck was really bad. This group of people were definitely not ordinary bandits. His father had specially instructed him not to cause any trouble on the road. The jianghu was dangerous, and offending anyone would not benefit the Ye Clan. It wasn't that the Ye Clan was afraid of anyone, but the Ye Clan still had to do business. Amiability led to wealth. More friends meant more roads, and more enemies meant more walls. Ye Fan didn't want to be a busybody. Since he couldn't afford to offend them, he could just hide. Thus, he simply slept in the inn during the day and quietly got up in the middle of the night to hurry on the road. However, this method didn't work. These people were really like tortoises eating a scale. They were as hard to deal with as dogskin plaster. When he slept, they also slept. When he hurried on the road, they also hurried on the road. As the saying goes, don't be afraid of thieves stealing, but be afraid of thieves remembering. Even though Ye Fan repeatedly didn't want to cause any trouble, these people didn't want to give him face. It was unavoidable that a long delay would lead to more trouble. Thus, Ye Fan decided to go all the way. He directly told them what they wanted to do and if they were really tired of living, he would directly send them to heaven.
That night, as usual, Ye Fan got up in the middle of the night and directly went up Mount Qing Yun. Mount Qing Yun, as the name implied, was very high. It towered into the clouds and was full of cliffs. Ye Fan walked halfway up the mountain and looked at the terrain. He felt that this place was quite flat. He wanted to end this matter here and then go back to have a good sleep so that he could continue on the road in the morning. He couldn't delay his business. Thinking of this, Ye Fan put his bag on a big rock and sat down, waiting for the group of people to come up.
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