Chapter 2279: Value
Wu Yao had a rather unpleasant look on his face as he directed an odd smile towards Xia Ziheng. "How can my Celestial Frost Sect ignore it when the Xia family is conducting their ceremony to worship their ancestors?"
Xia Ziheng frowned. "My Xia family did not invite you. We invited the Celestial Frost Sect’s sect master. If anyone comes at all, it should at least be Bai Su."
"Hahahaha, it doesn't matter who represents them." Another voice spoke up. It was the Wang family’s Semi-Progenitor Chai. He had also arrived at Shenwu’s Sky.
Given the fact that Yu Hao had completed the Sky Beyond the Sky trial, it was not only the Celestial Frost Sect and the Xia family that was eager to recruit him. The Wang family and the White Dragon Clan were in the same boat, and if there were any possibility of success, then the Liu family, Seed Garden, and even Specter Abyss would eagerly pursue him.
Xia Ziheng's heart fell. With multiple Semi-Progenitors arriving to keep an eye on the Xia family, it would be impossible to keep anything hidden unless a Progenitor moved. These old guys were already causing trouble.
The God of Food suddenly turned to look in a particular direction, overflowing killing intent blazing in his eyes. Mr. Yu had also arrived.
Lu Yin was quite surprised to see Mr. Yu appear, as the hatred between this man and the God of Food was something that could never be erased. Mr. Yu’s presence would not help the White Dragon Clan in their efforts to try to recruit Yu Hao, and it would instead create additional obstacles.
Xia Ziheng was also surprised to see Mr. Yu’s appearance. "Are you the Semi-Progenitor who the White Dragon Clan has been keeping hidden?"
Mr. Yu smiled. "I enjoy my privacy, and it seems that my preferences have created some misunderstandings with people."
Wu Yao adopted a half-smile. "Mr. Yu, I’m familiar with you, though I’m surprised to see that you are willing to come here. Aren’t you afraid that the God of Food will try to kill you?"
Semi-Progenitor Chai also spoke up. "Right, I remember hearing about you now. I’m impressed to see that you’ve shown yourself at all."
Mr. Yu responded with a relaxed smile that did not waver even when he was facing the God of Food. "I have a decent chance against Master, and Master won’t do anything to me right now. Isn’t that right, Master?"
The God of Food continued to glare at Mr. Yu. "Your days are already numbered."
"It would be my honor to die at Master’s hands." The man then turned his focus onto “Yu Hao.” "Prof. Hao Yu, do you have any interest in joining my White Dragon Clan? We will provide you with whatever you wish for."
"Mr. Yu, you are in Shenwu's Sky!" Xia Ziheng shouted.
Mr. Yu was unbothered, and he simply smiled at “Yu Hao” while remaining silent.
"Prof. Hao Yu, my Wang family wishes to extend an open invitation to join us. Even when compared to Shenwu's Sky, my Wang family is superior. If you try to climb higher in this place, I’m afraid that you’ll only end up hurting your own feet," Semi-Progenitor Chai said.
Xia Ziheng became increasingly annoyed by the shamelessness of the various Semi-Progenitors. "Yu Hao is my Shenwu’s Sky’s son-in-law, and he will remain here. There’s nothing for you to concern yourselves with."
The old man then deliberately ushered the group from Virtue Archives into Shenwu's Sky.
Originally, the celebrated guests from Virtue Archives for the duration of the exchange program were intended to be the 100 students. The entire exchange program was nothing more than a process which the four ruling powers were using to recruit students to determine how they would divide up their respective rights to the Mountain and Sea that was currently hidden within Virtue Archives. However, everyone had been distracted by Yu Hao, and they had completely stopped caring about the students.
This was particularly true of the White Dragon Clan, as they already knew that they had no chance of recruiting any of the students at all. Mr. Yu continued to offer increasingly generous conditions in a bid to win over Yu Hao, all the while completely ignoring Xia Ziheng's presence. Things were only exacerbated when Semi-Progenitor Chai also started offering various conditions, and even Wu Yao put on an act of trying to win over Yu Hao. Xia Ziheng struggled to resist the temptation to activate Shenwu's Sky’s defensive sourcebox array and drive all of the Semi-Progenitors out of Shenwu’s Sky.
Xia Ziheng was not confident that he could keep Yu Hao around as a member of Shenwu’s Sky. After all, it was normal and expected for cultivators to be ruthless in their decisions and actions. Would Yu Chuan really be enough for them to keep a leash on Yu Hao? Xia Ziheng had no idea, especially when he heard the ever-increasing conditions being offered by the other ruling powers. Their offers were simply too generous, especially the ones that Mr. Yu was stating. According to the man, Progenitor Long was looking for a disciple, and as long as Yu Hao was willing to join the White Dragon Clan, Progenitor Long would take him in.
Xia Xing greeted the students and chaperones when they entered Shenwu's Sky.
Many of the students were caught off guard when they saw Xia Xing, as they had thought that the sect master had gone missing.
Only a few people understood that the Xia Xing who had gone missing was just a clone.
Lu Yin even spoke up to express his own irritation. "Semi-Progenitor Ziheng, you told me that Sect Master Xia Xing had disappeared, which was why only you could deliver a promise to me. What’s the meaning of this?"
"The sect master cultivates the Nine Clones Secret Technique, and it was just one of those clones that was captured. Don’t worry about it. Now that you are in Shenwu's Sky, the sect master himself will be offering you our promise."
Lu Yin fell silent after that.
Xia Xing entertained the group from Virtue Archives and showed them into Shenwu's Sky. He glanced at “Yu Hao” and then asked for guest quarters to be arranged for everyone to use. With those matters settled, Xia Xing went to speak with Xia Ziheng and find out about his clone.
Xia Ziheng shook his head. "I tried, but I was in the Celestial Frost Sect, and with old Wu Yao eying Yu Hao, I couldn’t give him any opportunity to steal Yu Hao away from us."
Xia Xing replied in a low voice, "While I could only sense the direction of my clone, I’m 90% certain that it was in the Celestial Frost Sect. No one else could have taken my clone aside from them."
"We were able to confirm that Forgotten Ruins God is responsible for what happened through Colonel Lan. It’s why we gathered everyone from Star Alliance together as bait to lure out Forgotten Ruins God. And yet, now you’re saying that you’re certain that the Celestial Frost Sect is behind your clone’s disappearance? What do you think is going on?" Xia Ziheng asked. He had been pondering this question for some time, for if Forgotten Ruins God had been the one to capture Xia Xing's clone, then it should be impossible for the clone to be in the Celestial Frost Sect.
Xia Xing also felt rather confused. "It's either a coincidence that I felt my clone in the same direction as the Celestial Frost Sect, or…"
He hesitated for a moment and stared at Xia Ziheng. "Someone in the Celestial Frost Sect is working with Forgotten Ruins God and hid my clone within the sect, hoping to trick us into attacking the Celestial Frost Sect while Star Alliance is being taken away."
"That’s possible," Xia Ziheng replied.
"How are things going with Yu Hao?" Xia Xing moved on.
Xia Ziheng felt his headache return. "Those other guys are all making increasingly attractive offers, and I’m afraid that Yu Chuan won’t be enough to keep him here."
"I'll speak to him," Xia Xing stated.
Xia Xing had a completely different status within Shenwu's Sky than Bai Teng did within the Celestial Frost Sect. Xia Xing was a direct descendant of the Xia family, just the same as Wang Zheng was with the Wang family. Even Xia Ziheng needed to listen to Xia Xing, which was why it had made sense for Yu Hao to demand that he receive assurances from Xia Xing rather than a Semi-Progenitor.
A promise from Xia Xing was more binding than one from Semi-Progenitor Xia Ziheng.
The architectural style of the buildings in Shenwu's Sky gave everything a desolate feel due to the simplicity of the designs. There was nothing beautiful about the environment in the area, not unless the beauty was deliberately introduced by someone.
For example, Yu Hao was given a valley for his residence, and it was a place that had supposedly previously belonged to a mistress of Shenwu's Sky. She had ensured that the valley was lovely, and she had even placed a crescent moon to hang in the sky.
Wu Yao and the other Semi-Progenitors placed themselves around the valley that had been given to Yu Hao. They all ignored the residences that had been arranged for them by Shenwu's Sky and instead surrounded the valley according to some agreement. Xia Ziheng gritted his teeth at the shamelessness of his peers.
Lu Yin was also rather frustrated. Since he was surrounded by several Semi-Progenitors, then unless Progenitor Smoke decided to help him, there would be no chance for Lu Yin to roll his die. Luckily for him, Progenitor Smoke was an option.
However, if Lu Yin wanted to roll his die, he still had to wait for almost ten days. He could not help but think that these days would be difficult to deal with, as the various Semi-Progenitors would likely all continue to annoy him.
The first to visit him was Xia Xing. Lu Yin had already been waiting to see the man for quite some time.
"It’s been quite a long time, Yu Hao," Xia Xing said upon seeing Lu Yin. An awkwardness and confusion filled the older man’s eyes, as he had never been able to successfully reconcile the wastrel from a few decades ago with the peerless genius currently before him.
There were parts of the explanation that Xia Xing could accept and understand. After all, Yu Hao was Grandmaster Gu Yan’s apprentice, but the fact that Yu Hao had managed to pass the Celestial Frost Sect’s Sky Beyond the Sky trial seemed inexplicable.
Lockbreaking talent, cultivation base, and passing the Sky Beyond the Sky trial. Any one of these three aspects would qualify anyone to draw the four ruling powers’ attention, but Yu Hao possessed all three. Just what kind of freak was he?
Even Xia Shang, whose existence was a forbidden topic to the Xia family, despite being recognized as being truly peerless in terms of both cultivation talent and combat power, had not known almost anything about lockbreaking. Yu Hao could be considered practically perfect no matter how he was viewed.
Before leaving Virtue Archives, Lu Yin had made a point of speaking with Xia Taili. From that, Lu Yin learned that Yu Hao had never had a single conversation with Xia Xing, and he had only ever been briefly seen from a distance. Yu Hao had seen Xia Xing, but the sect master had never even opened his eyes at that time. Lu Yin needed to be careful not to expose himself with anything that he said.
"I believe that you did not expect to ever see me again, Sect Master," Lu Yin answered calmly.
Xia Xing stared at “Yu Hao.” "I honestly never even gave the matter any thought, as that would have required your life to hold some value. You used to be worthless, which was why no one cared about you. You have since become invaluable, to the point where both I and Shenwu's Sky are willing to offer a massive amount of resources. You’ve even become qualified to ask for additional conditions, which is why I came here to speak with you."
Lu Yin sneered. "Are you not afraid that such words will upset me and drive me to join one of the other three?"
Xia Xing clasped his hands behind his back. "The fact that you were able to cultivate to your current level shows that you have changed over these few years, and you should have also become more aware of what you desire. You should already understand that Shenwu's Sky is your only way out."
If Xia Ziheng had tried to speak with Yu Hao alone, Wu Yao and the other Semi-Progenitors would have objected and raised a fuss, but the fact that Xia Xing, the patriarch of the Xia family and sect master of Shenwu’s Sky, was visiting Yu Hao within the confines of Shenwu’s Sky meant that no one could object.
Lu Yin’s eyes narrowed. "Are you threatening me, Sect Master?"
Xia Xing remained completely calm. "No matter what, you are already Shenwu's Sky's son-in-law. If you join another power, what would happen to the Xia family's face? Or Shenwu's Sky’s? There are times when face is even more important than profit."
Upon hearing “Yu Hao’s” silence, Xia Xing changed his tone to something a bit more tactful. "What sort of conditions did the Celestial Frost Sect offer you? I can promise you that my Shenwu’s Sky will match it. That should show you your current worth: Xia Zhitong and the others will be placed in front of everyone during the ceremony to honor our ancestors, and you will be allowed to deal with all of them however you see fit after the ceremony."
Lu Yin’s eyes rose. He had ignored one detail. When Xia Ziheng had previously promised to give Xia Zhitong and the others to Yu Hao, Lu Yin had only seen that Shenwu's Sky was focused on Yu Hao, as well as the family’s cruelty and indifference to even their own people. Looking at the matter again, was it possible that this was all a show that Shenwu's Sky wanted to put on for the entire Perennial World?
It seemed that they wanted to show the Perennial World that, as long as one had the ability, the Xia family would be willing to sacrifice even their own. This would be proof of the preferential treatment given to those who joined Shenwu's Sky.
Lu Yin stared at Xia Xing for a long moment. Allowing Yu Hao to publicly execute Xia Zhitong and the others who had harmed him would do nothing to harm Shenwu's Sky's reputation. After all, Yu Hao was an Envoy, so outsiders would not see Shenwu's Sky as being soft-hearted, but would instead only see how highly Shenwu's Sky valued geniuses: they would even sacrifice descendants of a branch family for the sake of Yu Hao.
This was how Shenwu's Sky handled things.
Lu Yin suddenly understood Progenitor Smoke's words even more clearly. No wonder the woman had mocked Shenwu's Sky. The Xia family was willing to do just about anything to the members of their own branch families, and they regarded anyone who was not part of the direct family line as pawns to be used. This was why they had made it a point to execute Progenitor Chen’s parents, and it was also why he had not been acknowledged by the family for so long, despite his peerless talent.
As far as the Xia family’s direct line was concerned, it was reasonable to pay a steep price to recruit talented outsiders into joining Shenwu’s Sky, but any talented members of the Xia family’s branch families needed to be ruthlessly suppressed.
"How many people?" Lu Yin asked.
Xia Xing looked upwards. "Twelve."
"That’s not many." Lu Yin was indifferent.
"How many do you want?"
Lu Yin stared at Xia Xing. "Is the Xia family willing to give me what I want?"
"Yu Hao, Shenwu's Sky will never allow another Progenitor Chen to appear," Xia Xing stated in a low voice.
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