“Can’t you guess you little brat?” Huang Fu suddenly said to Bia Xiaofung.
“With the Mercenary Association being such a massive existence they have become the number one supplier of cultivation resources on each Continent. That black card is a key to all of that. There are some secrets and treasures that the Mercenary Association have in their possession but aren’t available to normal buyers, not even father has such a card. In fact, no one does, the Mercenary Association has never once given out that card to anyone, EVER!”
--
‘Do you see why everyone is so shocked by you having it now son?’
‘Hm, I guess, but who is Huifen in the Mercenary Alliance for him to have the ability to give me such a card?’
‘Shen’er, do you know how each generation is separated?’
‘Yes, I do. It’s split into the Early Generation, the Middle Generation, and the Later Generation.’
‘That’s right, your generation is the Early Generation while your brother’s own would be the Middle Generation. As for the Later Generation, those people would be someone like the Vice Headmaster of the Sword Pavilion.’
‘Oh.’
‘Among each generation, there are geniuses that fight for the right to be called number one. Among your brother’s generation in the Righteous Faction, he along with your cousin Sun and that sword genius Ling Tian is somewhat tied. However, below them are people like Huifen.’
‘After breaking into the Nascent Soul Realm, he was able to Comprehend a deviant Law from the Earth Dao, the Laws of Gravity. He was taken in as a disciple by the Mercenary Association Leader after abandoning his family, which is one of the Top three Noble Families under my rule, the Chu Clan.’
That fact surprised Li Shen.
After listening to everything his father told him, he sunk into his thoughts while twirling the black card in his hands.
‘Why did he give this to me though? I have no relation to him.’
‘It’s strange the more I think about it, but all I have to do is just ask him when I have the time. Whatever his reason may be to gift me something so precious so casually, it must be profound. Though, with this card I might have acquired another insurance chip.’
Li Shen’s mind danced with curiosity about this Huifen, but his father’s voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
‘Now that the Academies and the Seven Major Clans have finished presenting their gifts, I want to introduce the Noble Families to you.’
Li Shen looked up and saw Ling Xia turning away after presenting the Celestial Academy’s gift. He had missed a few gifts while he was in his thoughts.
--
Ling Xia, after walking away took a glance towards the side at Yang Su but saw he was averting his gaze from her.
‘Is he ignoring me? After everything he said?’
Ling Xia frowned in her heart at Yang Su’s actions.
Jun who was next to Yang Su caught this and he asked curiously.
“Senior disciple brother, I thought you liked sister Xia, why are you avoiding her?”
“I’m not yet strong enough. Only when I’m stronger and worthy of her will I allow myself to pursue her fully.”
“But didn’t you tell us she was betrothed to someone? What if you take too long?”
“Then I just have to get stronger faster! With strength anything is possible!”
Lihua who was listening to Jun and Yang Su’s conversation snorted and said.
“What's with that? Maybe you should try and aim a bit lower, you men are all too ambitious.”
Fei Yin bitterly smiled and said.
“Sister Lihua, why do always speak so broad? And we should be supporting Eldest brother in his decision as his friends.”
Fei Yin patted Yang Su on the shoulder before they continue to talk casually among themselves.
--
‘Why the need to introduce them?’
Li Shen was puzzled by his father’s decision.
‘I’m sure you aren’t planning on keeping your talents a secret forever, even if it’s just revealing your abnormal soul power, you’re bound to attract attention. The Ming Clan has made their move and despite our Family’s strength these Noble Families posed as much threat as them by betraying us.’
‘So I should know my enemy's strength as much as I know my own?’
‘Yes, exactly.’
Li Shu was quite surprised to hear such an accurate explanation of what he was trying to teach him.
‘I guess my son is talented in the art of strategy as well, hahaha!’
Hearing his father’s praise, Li She refrained from mentioning that he just happened to copy it from some guy in his strange memories and just rephrased it.
Before his father could start introducing the various Noble Families he asked.
‘Father, how strong is our Li Clan exactly? We’re facing off against the Academy Alliance, the Seven Major Clans and now the behemoth Mercenary Alliance. I can’t help but think we’re on the losing end when the potential betrayal of these Noble Families is added.’
Chuckling, Li Shu responded.
‘Are you doubting our family’s strength? Remember our true identity. There’s no need to worry about the Mercenary Alliance as they are an eternally neutral power. As for the Seven Major Clans, it would be best to call them the six Major Clans in your mind as the Ming Clan despite being a fallen Great Ancestral Clan has enough hidden power to stand alone. But even with all of that, the hidden forces of our Li Clan have grounds to fight back against each power. Just you’re uncle’s Divine Star Academy, despite being a part of it, can deter the entire Academy Alliance.’
‘Eh? But that’s not what I read, isn’t the Celestial Academy the number one Academy? How would the Divine Star Academy stand up to them plus the numerous others?’
‘It is true they are the number one academy at producing top geniuses in each generation, but they aren’t stronger than the Divine Star Academy for several reasons. Shen’er, from now on I want you to forget everything you have ever read about the power distribution on the Maple Continent up until this point. Forget it all.’
‘Those pieces of information you’ve read outside as well as inside the Clan Library are just the tip of the iceberg, written by people who could only speculate by looking at the surface. But what’s hidden underneath that surface is not so simple.’
Hearing that, Li Shen felt like he had been lied to all this while. It sounded as if he was missing a huge chunk of information regarding the Maple Continent.
‘I know it might be hard to grasp what I’m saying but while I’m introducing these Noble Families to you, I want you to start over learning everything. Listen to me carefully, I’m going to explain to you how the power structure of the Maple Continent is really set up. You’ll need it for the future.’
After that, Li Shen sat there quietly while his father tell him in detail about every Noble Family and in between would explain the spiderweb-like power structure of the Maple Continent.
It was so broad and intricate that Li Shen almost lost track a few times.
They were a lot of factors that influenced the power structure. The number of high-level experts at a power’s disposals, the number of resources they have, as well as treasures. Li Shen found out that a power possessing a Celestial treasure could significantly change their hierarchical position on the Maple continent.
Like tracing a spider’s web, Li Shu took Li Shen all over the Maple Continent mapping out the Continent’s Power structure in vivid detail.
But not only their Continent, but Li Shu would also slip in information on the sects from the Star Bound Continent as well. Some of this information wouldn’t even be present in the Clan’s Secret Archives.
But one thing that caught Li Shen’s attention about the power structure on their Continent ,was where the Demonic Cult stood on this metaphoric web.
His heart shook to find out that despite their lack of resources and lesser numbers, the Demonic Cult could threaten the existence of not only the Academy Alliance, but the Major Clans, and the new group of power Li Shen came to know of as the Noble Families Alliance.
Even the Mercenary Association on the Maple Continent wasn’t an exception. In fact, their neutrality ends when the Demonic Cult was involved, and although deals were still conducted between the two, a strong hatred was still felt.
Li Shen came to know that this scenario was a result of the top three Demonic Sect. The Poison Sect, the Puppet Sect, and especially the Dark Moon Assassins Guild.
They were way too skilled in assassinations with even Nascent Soul Realm experts in seclusion within their Academies being killed.
The main battle between Powers was between the Core Formation Realm cultivators and below. If mid or top powers were at war and they utilized their Nascent Realm level experts or Elders, then that was when things get heated.
Soul transformation Realm Existence was like the backbone of any power that had them. They wouldn’t be involved in battles unless it was on a massive scale involving that top powers eradication, or on special occasions.
So the Assassins Guild being able to kill Nascent Realm cultivators so easily showed how threatening they could be as well as the power the Demonic Cult holds.
--
‘This is the Chu Noble Family that Huifen is from. They are one of the top three Noble Families under us. This is also the Noble Family Wei’er’s mother is from.’
‘Oh.’
‘Their loyalty to us is only below that of the Zhi Clan, so they can be trusted somewhat.’
“The Chu Clan offers the Second Prince this guqin.”
The servant took the guqin from the Elder and handed it to Li Shen. After plucking the string to hear the crystal clear note, he smiled at the Chu Clan Elder before saying.
“The craftsmanship is excellent and the runes are perfectly made. I thank the Chu Clan for this wonderful gift.”
The Elder bowed respectfully with a smile before he turned to head back to the crowded.
Li Shu continue explaining more about the Chu Clan but a commotion suddenly occurred in the crowd.
It was Huifen, a young girl around Li Shen’s age was yelling at him with tears in her eyes.
After seeing that Huifen wasn't even paying attention to her and was simply sipping from a gourd she cursed at him before stomping back towards the Chu Clan’s group.
‘It is still unknown as to why Chu Huifen left his Clan, but despite his talents more than a few people were glad to sever all ties with him. But a few remain who thought it was a pity to lose such a genius.’
Li Shu commented before he went back to his explanation.
After a few more Elders of Noble Families came up, one young youth that was around twelve to thirteen suddenly stepped forward.
‘Hm? Which Noble Family is he from?’
Li Shen asked his father, but got no response from him, he had gone silent for some reason.
“Second Prince, my Tang Family offers you this gift.”
The youth presented a small box which the servant took and handed to Li Shen.
Opening it, Li Shen saw that it contained two rings.
He frowned and was about to ask why two rings but his face stiffen when he realized who the second one was for.
“Our Tang Clan also wanted to be the first to congratulate the Second Prince on his engagement so it works as both a birthday and engagement gift.”
Li Shen looked at the two silver rings and thought.
‘They must have changed their gift after hearing about the engagement. It’s thoughtful of them, but it’s making me realize that this engagement is starting to set in stone.’
Looking over to his side, Lu Yue who was completely silent until now was looking at the rings in his hand.
‘Should I give her one?’
Li Shen thought.
‘No, not now, maybe after this.’
Li Shen then placed the box in his storage ring and was about to turn away but he suddenly caught a glimpse of Lu Yue's eyes.
‘Huh?’
She turned her head to look forward right after, but Li Shen was sure he saw her eyes flicker with something, but he couldn’t discern what it was.
“Hey, what is that youth doing?”
A commotion in the crowd drew Li Shen’s attention and he turned around to see the youth from the Tang Clan heading for the table his brother and father were sitting at.
Sweat appeared on the youth’s forehead as all eyes landed on him.
Stopping in front of the table, he bowed to Li Shu and said.
“His Majesty the Emperor! I, Tang Long, from the Tang Noble family under your grand leadership, have come to request the Princess’s hand in marriage!”
“What?”
Li Shen said with a frown.
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