I have no words. I input the chapter upload date wrong. I will publish another chapter in about an hour as a punishment.
Sorry once again.
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The Wang Clan's Decision
After all of the heads left, Huo Long was suddenly left on the stage alone with Yue Zifeng's disciples.
However, he didn't bother to look at Zhu Que, Xiao'er, Ye Rou, or even Jiang Xiaorou, who was in the far back, deep in mediation, but instead, the young boy in black who sat in the center of all of them like an inconspicuous child.
Two 'brothers' hadn't seen each other in almost seven years, and since then, many things had changed between them, making it hard to speak up first. Whether it was their physical appearance or their cultivation, nothing was the same.
Huo Long wanted to ask so many things, but years of estrangement had made their relationship rather awkward.
Years ago, Xue Bai had made him shed his cold lonely exterior for the first time toward someone that wasn't a family member, invested in his potential, and even revitalized the reemergence of his clan.
Yet of all the many changes between them, there was one that stayed the same, their statuses.
Back when Xue Bai first met him, Huo Long was merely the Young Marquis of a clan on the brink of extinction, while Xue Bai was the only son of a Duke and the empire's best alchemist who were also peak stage Domain Lord realm cultivators.
And now, while he had certainly lessened the gap between them, Huo Long still felt a slight inferiority toward his 'brother.'
Sure he had a higher cultivation base with him now at the 1st stage of the Qi Sea realm, but one had to note Xue Bai currently had a cultivation of the 8th stage of the Bone Strengthening realm.
Which on its own was nothing in the vast Southern Continent unless someone added the fact that Xue Bai wasn't even 14 yet.
Xue Bai had awakened his martial veins on his birthday on the first day of the year 973. And now, only two years and about nine months later, he had advanced four realms and was nearing the 5th.
Huo Long had a huge lead currently, with his cultivation being two realms higher, but he knew that he was only relying on a cheat thanks to his Master.
Since the nine nirvana he had undergone was only laying the foundation of his cultivation, he had yet to truly start cultivating. But now that it was complete, even with Feng Huang by his side, Huo Long wasn't sure if he could hold the lead for much longer.
Thankfully before Huo Long overthought the situation, Xue Bai hopped off his chair and walked over to his brother.
"Brother Long! You surprised everyone today!" Xue Bai laughed merrily, "I can see you didn't use my gift then?"
And instantly, all of the worries and inferiority Huo Long felt dissipated following Xue Bai's words. It seemed that even now, after all of the years and changes, Xue Bai hadn't, and he still thought of Huo Long as a brother and friend.
"I didn't, Brother Bai, I didn't," Huo Long laughed. Then, going into his pocket, Huo Long pulled out the letter Xue Bai sent him along with the spatial ring that stored the pill.
Other than the thought of protecting his clan from destruction, the letter that Xue Bai sent him was one of his major motivations to continue cultivating. And he always kept it near him. But since he didn't want to rely on the things that anyone gave him, Huo Long never used Xue Bai's spatial ring and only ever opened it to see what was inside.
"Junior Brother, you know him?" Ye Rou asked, surprised from afar.
"Yes, his clan is a subordinate family under my father. And a few years ago, I visited them and invested in them. We got acquainted then." Xue Bai explained simply as he patted Huo Long on his shoulder.
Standing up, Ye Rou walked around Huo Long, seemingly inspecting his worth. But after a few walkarounds, she couldn't find anything special to note other than his extremely handsome face.
But Ye Rou was mischievous in nature and couldn't compliment anyone truly, so she only spoke, "His hair looks nice."
Like Xue Bai's black hair with a slight purple hue, Huo Long's hair also had a slight red hue that came from his bloodline.
"Ignore her, Brother Long. She won't speak her mind even if you beat her to death." Xue Bai pulled Huo Long away as he tried to catch up with the protagonist.
While Xue Bai didn't plan to be so estranged from him, he had been busy over the years, especially after Huo Long was crippled, tying his hands.
Thankfully thanks to his butterfly effect, they had met up earlier than they thought he would.
All he needed to do was to catch up with Huo Long while making sure that Feng Huang didn't notice anything he didn't want her to.
"Come, Brother Long, the night is still young, and you haven't seen the majesty of our Soaring Sword City. I'll show you around." Xue Bai merrily spoke as he jumped off of the stage, not forgetting to pull Huo Long along with him.
In the almost decade-long time he had been in the Baishen Plane, Xue Bai had yet to try any type of the spirit wine that Soaring Sword City was so famous for and was extremely curious about it. He had heard so many great things from Xue Feng and Li Rou.
And even before his transmigration, wines in cultivation novels were always described as heavenly elixirs capable of allowing people to break through and even undergo epiphanies.
Of course, those spirit wines wouldn't be in Soaring Sword City, but still. The temptation was there, and Xue Bai wanted to try some.
So after waving off his companions, he left.
—
Wang Clan Estate Main Hall
"Patriarch, it seems that it's almost confirmed that it was Duke Xue and Duchess Li who had killed the third elder." Wang Chen spoke with a listless voice.
Ever since his pride and joy, Wang Lin died a graveless death in the Soaring Sword Sect's entrance exam, his life had lost color.
His condition wasn't much better than the Grand Elder, who died of Qi deviation after the death of Wang Mo, but he didn't think it was much better. Even now, more than two months later, Wang Chen was afraid to cultivate, fearing he'd fall into Qi deviation as his uncle did and die.
Thankful his cultivation journey had halted long ago as he reached the limit of his potential.
Even Wang Yichen, the cold and indifferent ruthless general, couldn't help but fear the situation of his Wang Clan.
While Duke Xue hadn't declared war on his Wang Clan yet, the two were already mortal enemies. The only thing that they needed was an official statement to start it.
Before, he wasn't afraid of Xue Feng since his clan had a long thousand-year inheritance that couldn't be overthrown by two peak stage Domain Lords, even if they were also Dukes. But now, since the two had broken into the Xiantian Great Realm, his clan descended into a silent gloominess.
It was almost as bad as the Huo Clan's atmosphere right after Huo Long was crippled.
The feeling was horrible. It was like being slowly boiled alive.
You knew you'd die. It was only a matter of when.
None of the youths had the motivation to cultivate, the elders looked like shells of their former selves, and Wang Yichen, the patriarch, was much quicker to anger.
In the short time since Wang Yin's death, Wang Yichen had killed more maids out of anger than he had in the past year.
"Give Yu'er a few more years. He is someone destined to trample this tiny continent." Wang Yichen eventually decided, "Announce that Yu'er is the last hope of our Wang Clan, that I am giving him the title of Saint Child, and he will have the entire clan's resources at his disposal."
Since every single promising genius in his clan had died, Wang Yu was their only hope to break them out of the pot that was boiling them alive.
"Father said himself that he can last another 12 more years before he'll eventually die. That is more than long enough for Yu'er to reach the Domain Lord realm. After that, he can fight the title of Demon Child in the Blood Saber Sect. Once he becomes a potential Demon Child, let alone Xue Feng, Li Rou, even Yue Zifeng, and the Soaring Sword Sect would be ants under our boots." Wang Yichen spoke seriously.
His father, the current Great Elder of the Wang Clan, had a cultivation base of the 6th stage of the Spirit Awakening realm, which was even stronger than Yue Zifeng. However, he had also at the end of his 1000-year-long lifespan, which also made his true combat power much lower than his actual cultivation base.
Currently, he was almost 950 years old and constantly emitting a death-filled aura wherever he was, which made him seclude himself in the ancestral hall, making sure any tiny bits of vitality in his weak old body stayed inside.
However, no matter how starved a camel was, they were still bigger than a horse. So he was sure that he could hold his own against the newly promoted Xue Feng and Li Rou. After all, it had only been two months since their breakthrough was announced.
He had a cultivation base five stages higher than the couple, so while the fight might be close, the Great Elder was confident he could end up winning. Besides, all he had to do was to be a deterrent to the couple and not truly fight to the death.
The couple had just recently advanced into the Xiantian Great Realm, so they should most likely take a year or two to stabilize their cultivation and not advance. Coupled with the fact that the two had broken past their innate limit, that also meant that they would struggle to advance in the Xiantian Great Realm.
So how far could they truly get in 12 years?
The Great Elder thought that no matter how talented the couple was, they would reach the 2nd stage, or 3rd stage at most, before he eventually kicked the bucket, which was more than enough time for Wang Yu to show his worth to the Blood Saber Sect and have them become true backers.
Sadly neither Wang Yichen nor the Great Elder was aware that both Li Rou and Xue Feng were at the 3rd stage of the Spirit Awakening realm and not newly advanced cultivators.
The Imperial Advisor was a smart man and lied to the public. He knew that experts didn't like having their cards exposed, and he wanted to build a good relationship with the power couple and not offend them, so he lied, saying that the two were newly advanced and not at the 3rd stage.
Since Wang Yu was indeed their last bastion of hope, no one in the hall had an objection, and after a few more small matters that needed discussions, the meeting was adjourned.
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