Chapter 564 – Strange Hurricane Family

Inside the Buddha Empire’s sea region, the travel with the Hurricane Family people came smoothly as well. In the Buddha Empire, there was almost no reason to offend the Hurricane Family.

The people of the Hurricane Family were not interested in influence. The people from the Buddha Empire were very friendly with them because they weren’t striving for power nor profit. The Royal Family also liked to intermarry to their family, which made the other nobles treat them very well. One could say that the Hurricane Family was the most accepted people in the entire Buddha Empire.

However, Kristen wasn’t in the mood to think about all of this right now. The group was currently entering the Buddha Empire’s largest river, Iron Warhorse River.

According to legend, the founding Emperor of the Buddha Empire has managed to obtain the approval of a unique Magic Beast, an Iron Warhorse, in this river. With the horse as his mount, he managed to make a lot of achievements and finally established the Buddha Empire. After taking his seat as Emperor, he immediately changed the name of the River into Iron Warhorse River.

The territory of the Hurricane Family was along a branch of this river, inside a mountainous area. The mountain didn’t have any ores, and its land wasn’t fertile. It can be said that this territory was the worst in the Buddha Empire.

However, even after holding this territory for millennia, the Hurricane Family didn’t even attempt to expand it one step, nor did they seek help from others. The Family only relied on their family members to excavate the mountainous area and make terraced fields of which Bamboo Rice, oil trees, and green vegetables were planted. They were living in something like a mundane paradise.

In the eyes of other Nobles, this might be an example of not making progress. However, the Hurricane Family seems to like living like this. They were selling a lot of Bamboo Rice, oil products as well as vegetables, but not Magic Vegetables. This made their yearly profits much lesser than the other nobles, but this could still satisfy the family.

But as many years passed by, the Hurricane Family were still a Great Clan. Other clans rose to the top, others fell into depravity, but the Hurricane Family still stayed the same. They just lived their day-to-day lives peacefully, as they did from the very beginning. This made people quite speechless when discussing them.

However, if you think that the Hurricane family was weak, then you couldn’t be any more wrong. Because of their innate Wind attribute, the Family had a lot of experts within their members.

The other families might have 7th or 8th rank experts as their Foreign elders, eliciting respect and resources in order to make their strength grow. But it was different with the Hurricane Family. One might see a farmer on the fields, tending to his crops, only to know that the person was an 8th rank expert. You might even see someone peacefully chopping wood, but actually had the strength of 7th rank. There were no other family in the Buddha Empire that was just like the Hurricane Family.

The Hurricane Family’s core values is based on being good to others. They had helped a lot of families in the Buddha Empire before, making the entire Buddha Empire nobility grateful to them. One could say that in the Buddha Empire, the Hurricane Family was the most detached family in terms of political agenda.

When the Radiant Church was at its strongest, they wanted to suppress the Hurricane Family because of its non-compliance. But when they came to doing it, they found out that they weren’t able to do anything. The Hurricane Family didn’t have any businesses aside from their rice, oil, and vegetables. And these things were daily supplies, so they really cannot be suppressed. And when the Radiant Church wanted to use other avenues to deal with them, the Nobles of the Buddha Empire disagreed. In the end, the Radiant Church can only take a step back.

Although Zhao Hai had some understanding of the Hurricane Family, in the end, he was not a person of the Buddha Empire. His understanding of the Hurricane Family was only based on some writings on paper. As to the actual prestige of the Hurricane Family, Zhao Hai has close to no clue.

After travelling for three days in Iron Warhorse River, they finally sailed on a branching body of water known as Blooming Flower River and stopped at a place called the Blooming Flower Lake.

On the east of Blooming Flower Lake, a stone pier can be seen. This pier was Hurricane Family’s personal pier. At the same time, this Blooming Flower Lake was also part of the Hurricane Family’s territory.

After the two ships stopped on the pier. Zhao Hai discovered that there were a lot of people present. The one leading them was an old man wearing an azure Robe. This old man’s robes was neither magnificent nor luxurious. The robe looked just like the robes that low-level Mages used to wear. It didn’t have any special qualities in it.

The hair of the old person was white, he had a wrinkled face that made him look like an old Mage that had zero accomplishments in his life. However, Zhao Hai didn’t dare look down on this person. Although the old man looked weak, Zhao Hai’s intuition was telling him that he was an expert.

After lowering the springboard, Zhao Hai, along with Laura and the others, walked down from their ship. Kristen also disembarked from her own ship. Naturally, Kristen had already sent a message towards the old man, informing him about what happened as well as Zhao Hai’s presence.

Kristen went to the old man and gave him a salute. The old man smiled kindly towards her and said, “Good. It’s nice that you’ve come back safely. I told you to not go, but you insisted to. Right, let’s not neglect the guests.”

Then the old man turned to look at Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai didn’t neglect his manners as he bowed and said, “Buda Clan’s Patriarch, Zhao Hai, has seen the Elder.”

The old man smiled faintly and returned the bow before saying, “Juno Hurricane has met Patriarch Zhao Hai.”

Zhao Hai quickly replied and said, “Elder shouldn’t be too polite. You’re old enough to be my grandfather. No need to give me a bow, I don’t deserve it.”

Old Juno looked at Zhao Hai and smiled faintly, “Patriarch Zhao Hai has rescued my granddaughter. That’s a great service to my Hurricane Family, that’s enough to merit a bow.”

Zhao Hai smiled, “Elder is too polite. I just did it because of the coincidence, so I helped a little. Not really a big deal.”

Juno smiled a little, he didn’t want to dwell too much on this topic. So he said, “Since mister has come to my Hurricane Family, then we would of course show you our hospitality.” Juno changed how he addressed Zhao Hai from Patriarch to mister. It seems like their relationship has gone one step closer.

Zhao Hai also noted the change to how he was addressed. He smiled and said, “I’ll have to trouble the elder.” Then the group went to leave the pier and approached some carriages. The carriages were very ordinary, something even merchants wouldn’t ride on. But from the looks of the Hurricane Family members, it seems like they were already used to it.

Zhao Hai was now very curious about the people of the Hurricane Family. He wasn’t expecting that there would a millennium-old family like this to exist. It made Zhao Hai think about how great it would be if he were to be born into such a family. However, his fate was on the opposite direction.

After the group rode the carriage, it immediately headed towards the depths of the Hurricane Family’s territory. This showed Zhao Hai that the Hurricane Family’s territory was a mountainous region, no flat lands can be seen. The road that they were going through were all mountain paths paved with stones.

Zhao Hai looked at the lush, Bamboo Rice and oil trees in the mountains. Then he turned to Laura and said, “This place is really good. It’s much better than our Black Wasteland.”

Laura smiled and said, “Their lifestyle is really astonishing. I didn’t think that there would be a millennium-old clan that is like this. I used to hear how the Hurricane Family lived, but I really didn’t expect it to be like this.”

After crossing two mountains, their carriage stopped. Zhao Hai didn’t immediately get down from the carriage, he was busy gawking at the scene.

This village wasn’t different than the villages that they had seen in the past two mountains. Stone houses with a stone walled courtyards, of which several fruit trees were grown. Dogs can be seen running around the vegetation and pigs’ squeals can be heard. It’s a typical mountain village that one can see everywhere.

However, this typical mountain village was actually the Patriarch’s residence of one of the most famous Great Families in the continent. This scene made Zhao Hai stare blankly.

At this time, people can be heard walking towards the carriage. This made Zhao Hai recover as he led Laura and the others down. Juno had also reached Zhao Hai’s carriage as he smiled, “Mister Zhao Hai, this is where I live. It’s quite crude, I hope you don’t get offended.”

Zhao Hai quickly replied, “This is actually a very good place. I like it very much. I’d have to trouble the Elder to take care of me.” Juno smiled faintly and led Zhao Hai to enter the courtyard. Kristen was also following them from behind, while the others went back to their own households.

Upon entering the courtyard, Zhao Hai can see another old person there as well as two children running around like crazy.

Kristen entered the courtyard and immediately ran towards the old person as she held her up, “Grandma, I’ve missed you.” The old woman looked at Zhao Hai and then back to Kristen as she said, “Good girl. Right, go invite the guests over inside.”

Zhao Hai looked at this old woman and immediately knew that she was an expert as well, at least 7th rank. Zhao Hai hadn’t seen an 7th rank Mage like this old woman before. Moreover, she was a millennium-old Patriarch’s wife.

At this time, Zhao Hai also entered the room with Juno. The living room was quite big, when he entered, he can see wooden chairs and tables inside, looking like they were already antiques. The items inside gave off a serene and deep aura.

After the group sat down, Kristen got them something to drink. Then Juno looked at Zhao Hai and smiled, “Is Patriarch Zhao Hai not too familiar with a crude place such as this?”

Zhao Hai shook his head and said, “Not at all, I’m quite used to it. A year ago, I lived in a similar condition. It’s even much worse than here. Hahaha. Even the place that I’m living in right now is not much better than this.”

Juno smiled and said, “Our Hurricane Family had been living like this for as long as I can remember, so we’re already quite used to it. Right, I heard that Patriarch Zhao Hai’s purpose this time was to contact the dwarves, am I correct?”

Zhao Hai nodded and said, “I did come to do some trades with the Dwarves. But I’m quite unfamiliar with the place as well as the people here. I’ll have to ask the Elder for help.”

Juno smiled and said, “Patriarch doesn’t need to be polite. You’ve rescued Kristen, such great kindness needed to be repaid. If I can help you even for a little bit, then I would be very happy.”

Zhao Hai smiled and said, “Elder is really too polite. I feel quite uncomfortable receiving such remarks from a respectable person like you.”

Juno just smiled and said, “Alright, no need to talk about this. I’ll have to ask Patriarch Zhao Hai to stay here for a few days since I’ll need to arrange this matter. After I take care of it, I will personally accompany you to Dwarf Mountain. I believe that those old Dwarves would still give me some face.”

Zhao Hai stared blankly before he immediately said, “I’ve dared to cause the Patriarch too much trouble, I’ll have to deeply apologize.”

The Old man waved his hand and said, “It isn’t a big deal. I happen to have several good friends among the Dwarves. Patriarch Zhao Hai doesn’t need to be too polite. Right, I’ll have to ask Patriarch Zhao Hai to rest in his room first. In a while, I’ll be inviting you over for dinner.” Zhao Hai complied, and then he led Laura and the others out.

After walking out of the house, they saw that Kristen was already there waiting for them. However, Kristen was very different compared to the first time that they’ve met. In the past, Kristen was wearing a long skirt, with her hair fairly unkempt. But the present Kristen was now wearing ordinary clothes, she also had her hair into a braid, she looked just like an adorable neighbor.

Kristen gave a small bow and said to Zhao Hai, “Patriarch Zhao Hai, please come with me.” Then she led Zhao Hai towards a nearby building.

After arriving at the building, Kristen turned her head to Zhao Hai and said, “Patriarch, this is the place that Grandfather has arranged for you. It looks quite simple, we hope that Patriarch doesn’t get too offended.”

Zhao Hai entered the room. It wasn’t that big, the inside was divided into two; the living room and the bedroom. If one carefully looked at it, one could see that the room was spotlessly clean.

Zhao Hai turned his head to Kristen and then said, “Sister Kristen is too polite. This place is very good, it’s very much to my liking. Thank you very much.”

Kristen smiled and said, “Patriarch is too polite. Then I’ll leave patriarch here so that you can take a rest. If Patriarch needs anything, don’t hesitate to tell me.”

Zhao Hai nodded, then Kristen turned around and left. Meg and the others also came inside as they evaluated the house.

Laura smiled and turned to Zhao Hai, “Brother Hai, I didn’t think that the Hurricane Family would be living this humbly. It’s really too strange.”

Zhao Hai smiled and said, “I also didn’t think that the famous Hurricane Family would have this kind of lifestyle, it’s completely out of my expectations. With how strong they are, they still chose to live such lives, they have my utmost admiration.”

Laura smiled and said, “They really do make people admire them. But I feel like our situation is quite similar to the Hurricane Family. We have the strength to rule a nation, but we chose to live our current lives. Maybe we are pursuing the same life as them.”