Being an emperor is not something he can do, so he can only rely on his connections.

---

Inside Gaoyang Tower.

"Master Shen," Zhang Jingwei's voice suddenly rose, carrying undisguised sarcasm, like an icy needle piercing Shen Kaiyang. "I'm afraid you've stayed in those deep mountains and old forests for too long, absorbing too much of the so-called 'immortal energy', and your brain... has been affected by it, right?"

The dead silence in the pavilion seemed to be ripped apart by these words! The warmth of the incense disappeared, leaving only an icy standoff.

The smile on Shen Kaiyang's face vanished completely, his eyes dark enough to drip with water. He slowly lowered the teacup in his hand, the porcelain cup clashing against the rosewood tabletop with a crisp yet heart-pounding sound. "Master Zhang," he said in a low, dangerous voice, "why do you say that? I, Shen, am all ears."

Zhang Jingwei met Shen Kaiyang's sinister gaze without fear, even leaning forward slightly. He spoke slowly, but every word was as sharp as a knife, striking at everyone's tense nerves. "Due to the corruption of the previous dynasty's church and the invasions of foreign races, the population of the Central Plains has declined, and all industries need to be redeveloped. Since the founding of our Celestial Empire, we have been well aware of the importance of manpower. Therefore, we have taken a unique approach to the slave system and implemented the 'employment system'! All slaves are registered under the imperial court! You nobles and gentry are merely 'employing' their labor with silver. You are the 'employers' rather than the 'masters'! For this reason, the imperial court has established a 'household slave tax', levied according to the number of slaves and the number of years of employment. This is national policy! It is also the price you should pay for employing imperial court personnel!"

His gaze swept across Shi Chongshan's gray and worn face like lightning, finally nailing Shen Kaiyang. His voice suddenly turned stern, "Indeed! According to my detailed investigation of the archives of the county government, the provincial government, and the Ministry of Revenue, the Shi family has purchased slaves through various slave brokers over the past five years, totaling over a thousand people! Yet, among all the taxes paid by the Shi family over the years, the 'household slave tax' only paid a handful of people! The discrepancy is shocking!"

Zhang Jingwei slammed his hand on the table, causing the teacups to clink. He demanded, "I absolutely refuse to believe that a family as wealthy as the Shi family would risk the grave crime of deceiving the emperor and concealing the number of people in the imperial court just to evade a mere 1,000 guan of 'household slave tax'! Immortal Shen! Give me an explanation! Where did these 1,000+ slaves who vanished into thin air go? Did they turn into the smoke from your furnace, or into the 'magic pill' in your gourd?"

This question was like thunder, causing Shi Chongshan's body to tremble violently. His withered fingers gripped the armrest tightly, his knuckles turning white. Shen Kaiyang's expression also instantly turned extremely ugly.

After a brief silence, Shen Kaiyang suppressed the surging murderous intent, forced an extremely stiff, forced smile on his face, and defended himself in a dry voice: "Haha... So this is what Lord Zhang meant... It's a misunderstanding, a complete misunderstanding! Those slaves... When they were bought back, most of them were sickly, or they fled from the north and contracted serious diseases on the way. After a bumpy journey, they arrived at Shijiazhuangzi, and many of them... died of illness in just a few days! The Shi family is kind and has hired a doctor for them, but it's their fate. Those who stayed are naturally healthy and strong. This... This momentary negligence, forgetting to report to the government to cancel the account in time, is also... It's also human nature! It's reasonable, very reasonable!" He tried to use "sick slaves" and "negligence" to cover up this fatal loophole.

"Sick slaves? Negligence?" Zhang Jingwei let out a bitter sneer, his gaze turning to Shi Chongshan, the mockery in his tone thick and thick. "Old Master Shi, I think... this explanation is better to say that your Shi family was struck by a plague! A plague that specifically targeted purchased slaves, silently killing thousands of people! Otherwise, how else can you explain these thousands of lives and thousands of slaves just disappearing into thin air without even a document to cancel their accounts?!"

"Master Zhang!" Shi Chongshan suddenly raised his head like an old cat whose tail had been stepped on. The last trace of anger that belonged to a former hero burst out from his cloudy eyes. His voice was hoarse and sharp, "Speak... be careful! How could my Shi family, a distinguished family of nobility, be plagued by a plague?! If my Shi family really was plagued by a plague... humph! I'm afraid that all of you in the Imperial Censorate, from the Imperial Censors to the petty officials, will be implicated! All of you... all of you will suffer!"

"Shi Chongshan!" Zhang Jingwei called him by his name without hesitation, his eyes sharp as a knife, piercing the old man's deepest fears and scars. "I think you've really lost your mind! You've been used as a pawn and a puppet for so many years, and yet you're still dreaming of a great life here! He's using you! He's squeezing every last bit of value out of the Shi family! Don't you understand?!"

He took a step forward, his voice like a hammer, hammering down fiercely: "And your eldest son, Shi Jincheng! Is he really not interested in the family business? Or... is someone thinking he's a nuisance and can't be tolerated?! Huh?!"

“Shut up!!” Shi Chongshan felt as if his deepest wound had been uncovered. He suddenly jumped up from his chair, his skinny body shaking violently with extreme anger and pain. He pointed at Shen Kaiyang, then at Zhang Jingwei, speaking incoherently, tears streaming down his face. “I know! I know everything! Jincheng… Jincheng… the Immortal… the Immortal thinks he… is not up to the task! He has long wanted to move him… back to his hometown in Huainan… to make him a wealthy man… but… but…” His voice was choked with sobs, filled with despair and struggle. “This old man… this is my only legitimate son! I can’t watch him sink into despair. I can only… can only…” He seemed to have exhausted all his strength as he spat out those heartbreaking words, “I can only let him… eat the elixir given by the Immortal! Let him… let him ascend to immortality with me sooner! Escape from this sea of ​​suffering in the mortal world!”

“Boom!” A thunderclap sounded just in time outside the window! The pale lightning instantly illuminated Shi Chongshan’s twisted, fanatical, and endlessly sad old face!

"Immortal pills?! Ascension to immortality?!" Zhang Jingwei looked at the old man before him, completely brainwashed by evil magic and the one who had personally pushed his son into the abyss. He felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. He shook his head, his voice filled with incredible pity and anger: "What kind of world is this! Shi Chongshan! You... you actually still believe these nonsense about cultivating immortality! That's poison! A deadly poison that will rip through the intestines and rot the stomach, and will end my family lineage! You poisoned your own son with your own hands...!"

"What do you know?!" Shi Chongshan waved his arms like a madman, his cloudy eyes gleaming with a sickly fanaticism. "That's because... you haven't seen it! You haven't seen an immortal soaring through the clouds! You haven't seen him turn stone into gold! That's... that's a true immortal! That's true immortal magic!"

"There's no hope!" Zhang Jingwei looked at the tragic human relationship scene in front of him and felt suffocated in his chest. He was angry at the lack of resistance and sad at the misfortune.

"Hopeless?" Shen Kaiyang, who had been observing with aloof eyes, finally spoke. His voice was unusually calm, yet it carried a cold, condescending arrogance that looked down upon everyone. He slowly stood up, gently waving his whisk. His face lost all trace of the mercenary attitude of a businessman, replaced only by the indifference and scorn of someone "outside the world." "It's you mortals, lost in the mundane world, who are beyond help!"

He glanced at Zhang Jingwei and Huang Liang as if he were looking at ants. "All day long, you're scrabbling over a few coins, fighting for petty gains, getting bruised and bloodied, living lives neither human nor ghost! And then look at those high-ranking officials in the government, all talking about benevolence, righteousness, and morality, but in reality, they're scheming and deceiving each other for power, demonstrating the baseness of human nature to the fullest! The Confucian etiquette you all follow and hold as your guiding principles... is this the case? Oh no, it's always been this way! Propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame? Just a rag covering your shame! Deep down, you're filled with filthy, disgusting deeds! This mortal world is so filthy, what's there to cling to? Only by transcending it can you achieve eternity!"

Shen Kaiyang's remarks, which blatantly trampled on secular etiquette and denied all values, were like a bomb dropped in the elegant pavilion! Shi Chongshan's eyes were empty, as if he had long been numb. Zhang Jingwei and Huang Liang, on the other hand, felt a chill running through their bones! This was no longer a simple struggle for interests, but a fundamental conflict of faith and existence! The undisguised contempt for "mortals" and the underlying murderous intent in Shen Kaiyang's eyes froze the air!

Huang Liang, sitting nearby, felt his back instantly drenched in cold sweat! He could clearly sense the dangerous aura emanating from Shen Kaiyang, as well as the subtle malevolence emanating from the silent "attendants" standing in the corner of the elegant pavilion! These people were definitely not ordinary servants! Based on Zhang Jingwei's previous judgment, Shen Kaiyang himself might possess special skills! If they were to fall out and start fighting now, the two of them would be in great danger!

"Ahem! Hahaha!" Huang Liang suddenly burst into an exaggerated, even somewhat piercing laugh, breaking the suffocating silence. He stepped forward, blocking a little in front of Zhang Jingwei (both in a friendly and protective manner), his face full of smiles, and he repeatedly bowed to Shen Kaiyang:

"Oh my! Shopkeeper Shen! You're joking! You're joking! Look, how can we even start discussing Dao?" He said, desperately signaling Zhang Jingwei with his eyes, the veins on his forehead throbbing. "My master attaches great importance to the laws of the court and cannot tolerate any injustice. His words may be blunt and harsh, but he has good intentions! He just wants to get things done thoroughly!"

He spoke rapidly, not giving Shen Kaiyang a chance to interrupt. He immediately turned to Zhang Jingwei with a smile that was both blaming and flattering: "Sir! You too! When it comes to business, harmony brings wealth! Shopkeeper Shen and Old Master Shi are both straightforward people. What can't we talk about nicely? Don't you agree?" He desperately tried to make excuses, his voice a little distorted due to nervousness. "Business! It must be done! Don't you agree, Shopkeeper Shen?"

Huang Liang's heart was pounding, nearly jumping out of his throat. He stared at Shen Kaiyang's uncertain face, fearing that he would suddenly attack him at the next moment.

Zhang Jingwei was silent for two seconds. He saw the panic and pleading in Huang Liang's eyes, and also felt the murderous intent that permeated the elegant pavilion, almost condensed into a tangible form. The corners of his mouth suddenly twitched upwards, forming an extremely brief, even slightly playful arc, and he let out two ambiguous chuckles.

"Hehe, hehe."

Then, the frost on his face seemed to melt instantly, replaced by an almost lazy smile, and he said, following Huang Liang's words:

"Yeah, Brother Huang is right. Just kidding, haha."

He even picked up the already slightly cold tea and raised it towards Shen Kaiyang from a distance.

"Shopkeeper Shen, please don't be offended. I... was a little impatient. Shall we... continue discussing business?"

This sudden "surrender" and smile made the atmosphere in the Accord even more weird.

Shen Kaiyang narrowed his eyes, looked at Zhang Jingwei's seemingly sincere smile, and glanced at Huang Liang who was trying to remain calm.

The sound of rain outside the window is dripping, hitting the window frame, like countless tiny drum beats, hitting everyone's tense heartstrings.

Shen Kaiyang finally forced a cold smile and slowly sat back.