Chapter 80: 80. Lin Shuxuan [1]
Azure Willow City:
The Zhao Family Estate was unusually lively as another family meeting convened.
In the past, meetings of this scale were held only once every six months. However, recently, they had become a monthly occurrence.
"Patriarch, the Lin family is clearly looking down on us! We’re allies, for heaven’s sake!"
"That’s right! The least they could do is tell us where those pills came from!"
"Exactly! They’ve benefited enough already."
The elders spoke one after another, their dissatisfaction growing louder with every complaint.
Zhao Luhao sat at the head of the hall with an unreadable expression.
Ever since his daughter had returned from the Mystic Sky Sect, the Zhao family had repeatedly attempted to apply for promotion to an Eighth-Rank Clan.
Yet no matter how many times they tried, the kingdom’s officials rejected every application.
On paper, the Zhao family possessed two Golden Core cultivators, more than enough to replace the requirement of twenty Qi Refinement cultivators and a single Golden Core expert.
The problem was Zhao Moying herself.
Although she bore the Zhao surname, she was officially a disciple of the Mystic Sky Sect. In the kingdom’s records, her primary affiliation belonged to the sect, not the Zhao family.
Otherwise, the clan ranking system would lose all meaning.
If every disciple’s strength could be counted toward their birth clan, then any clan with a member accepted into a powerful sect could simply borrow the influence of a Nascent Soul elder, receive a recommendation, and leap several ranks overnight.
The kingdom would never allowed such a loophole.
A clan seeking promotion had to possess enough strength of its own to govern the territories and subordinate families placed under its authority.
If that strength remained inside a sect, bound by the sect’s rules and obligations rather than the clan’s commands, then it could not truly be considered the clan’s strength.
In that case, there was no reason to grant the promotion at all.
Zhao Luhao slowly raised a hand.
"That’s enough."
The hall immediately fell silent.
"As I’ve said before, the Lin family doesn’t owe us anything. Whatever opportunities they obtain are theirs alone. An alliance does not mean they must hand every benefit to us."
The elders exchanged dissatisfied glances, but before anyone else could speak, the Zhao Family’s Head Elder rose from his seat.
"Patriarch, I must object."
His aged voice echoed throughout the hall.
"We gave them a trade route into the empire, one that our Zhao family spent decades establishing. And what have we received in return?"
He swept his gaze across the room.
"Nothing."
The hall fell into agreement once more.
"You’ve grown soft. Did you truly think an alliance could exist with a demon?"
Silence filled the meeting hall.
"You’ve seen it with your own eyes. Lin Xuan is arming the Lin family with precious pills without the slightest hesitation."
His voice remained calm, yet a trace of regret crept into it.
"He’s even going so far as to feed those pieces of trash whose Martial Spirits aren’t even Fourth Grade."
Several elders lowered their heads.
Everyone present knew exactly what he meant.
The Lin family’s weakest disciples, those who would normally receive only enough resources to survive, were now cultivating with pills that many respectable clans could scarcely afford in large quantities.
"Head Elder, you’ve said enough."
Zhao Luhao’s voice carried an unmistakable firmness as he looked toward the old man.
"The most we can do is attempt to purchase the pills from the Lin family. Asking for their source was going too far."
The hall gradually quieted.
In truth, Zhao Luhao himself did not trust Lin Xuan enough to believe a genuine alliance could exist between them.
The man had risen too quickly, possessed too many secrets, and his methods were impossible to predict.
Forming ties with someone like that was akin to walking alongside a tiger.
Yet his daughter had insisted.
Even before returning to the Mystic Sky Sect, Zhao Moying had repeatedly urged him to maintain an alliance with the Lin family.
She rarely spoke with such certainty, and because of that, he had chosen to place his faith in her judgment.
Even so, he often found himself asking the same question.
Has it been the right decision?
That doubt had never truly disappeared.
However, that was a separate matter.
Whether the alliance would ultimately succeed or fail had nothing to do with what had just transpired.
The elders had gone to the Lin family and demanded to know the source of their pills.
That was no longer a request between allies.
It was an attempt to pry into another clan’s greatest secret.
They had crossed the line.
Just as the atmosphere in the hall grew heavy, three measured knocks echoed from the chamber doors.
Zhao Luhao halted the discussion and a strand of spiritual qi carried his voice beyond the closed doors.
"Come in."
A moment later, the doors opened, and a guard hurried inside. He immediately dropped to one knee.
"Patriarch."
"What is it?" Zhao Luhao asked.
"A member of the Lin family has arrived outside the estate. He identified himself as Lin Shuxuan."
The guard continued, "He said you would be interested once you saw this."
As he spoke, he respectfully raised both hands, presenting a small jade bottle toward Zhao Luhao.
For a brief moment, everyone’s eyes were drawn to the jade bottle. Even the Head Elder, who had been arguing only moments earlier, narrowed his eyes in curiosity.
With a casual wave of his hand, the jade bottle flew from the guard’s outstretched palms and landed steadily in Zhao Luhao’s grasp.
The movement was effortless yet every elder in the hall watched with unconcealed admiration.
That was qi control.
Only cultivators who had stepped into the Golden Core Realm could manipulate spiritual qi with such precision, controlling objects from a distance as though they were extensions of their own limbs.
For most of those present, it was a realm they had long since abandoned all hope of reaching.
Zhao Luhao studied the bottle for a brief moment and then he gently removed the stopper.
The instant the seal was broken, a rich medicinal fragrance poured into the meeting hall.
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