Chapter 1720 — Where the Qi-Gathering Pill Went

No wonder Father had always stressed how important Yu Ning was, and why even Yu Bing, for all her excellence, was regarded differently from Yu Ning. So Yu Ning was the one the Yu family's backers had their eye on!

"Of course, whether little Ning can ultimately stay with our Yu family and become the head of the house, that I cannot say for certain. But that little Ning can become a Heaven-rank expert is beyond doubt!" the Yu family's Old Ancestor said. "If little Ning cannot remain with the Yu family, then it will not be too late to reconsider the matter of Yu Bing. But for now, the people behind us have not spoken, so we can only put little Ning first!"

"So that's how it is!" Yu Xiaochen nodded in sudden understanding, then went on reading the letter in his hand. But halfway through, his brow furrowed.

"How has Yu Bing gotten mixed up with Wei Zhao? How can the boy be so utterly reckless? So the Ling Yi that Yu Shan spoke of is none other than that Wei Zhao!" Yu Xiaochen's brow was tightly knit, and his voice carried a note of anger. "And he has even taken Wei Zhao as his leader? What the devil is he playing at? Does he mean to defy heaven itself?"

"Xiaochen, your temper still lacks steadiness. All these years, keeping up a stern front before outsiders — it must have been quite a strain on you!" The Yu family's Old Ancestor waved a hand, signaling Yu Xiaochen to calm himself.

Yu Xiaochen flushed slightly. Before his father, his true nature showed through. Before outsiders there was no help for it — as head of the family, if you let your feelings show on your face, people would begin to look down on you.

"Without Wei Zhao, it is far from certain whether Yu Bing would have come back alive this time. Is the whole sequence of events not written out clearly enough in the letter?" At this point, a look of disgust crossed the Old Ancestor's face. "That boy Yu Shan — he has the aptitude, true enough, but he never turned his cleverness to proper use. To end up as he did, he has only himself to blame!"

"This Wei Zhao is that formidable? He even defeated Zhang Naipao and Feng Nitian of the ancient sects?" To be honest, Yu Xiaochen found it a little hard to believe. "In this letter, Yu Bing isn't lying?"

Yu Bing was Yu Xiaochen's son, but Yu Shan had told one story and Yu Bing another. Yu Shan was the more given to lying, true, but for fairness's sake, he could not simply take Yu Bing's word either.

"This letter was written to little Ning. Would Yu Bing have any need to lie?" The Yu family's Old Ancestor waved a hand, then handed Yu Xiaochen another letter. "What you read before was written to little Ning — no more than casual chatter between brother and sister, and Yu Bing had no reason to lie. But this one is what Yu Bing meant to have little Ning pass on to us!"

"Oh?" Yu Xiaochen hastily took the sheet of paper the Old Ancestor handed him and read. This letter was far more formal than the last. Yu Bing first sent his greetings to the elders of the family, then gave a general account of the trial — though he said not a word about Yu Shan's scheming against him or about anything concerning Wei Zhao. Then Yu Bing changed tack: Yu Huoxing had in fact obtained a Qi-Gathering Pill, but had not turned it over to the Yu family — he had kept it for himself!

Moreover, Yu Bing pledged with great certainty that the source of this information was entirely reliable, and that someone in this trial could bear witness to it — though he did not say who.

"Finished?" asked the Yu family's Old Ancestor.

"Finished... The matter Yu Bing writes of..." Yu Xiaochen was not surprised that both letters had fallen into the Old Ancestor's hands first. Though the Yu family was nominally under his control, in truth most matters were in the Old Ancestor's grasp.

"It should be no lie. He has no need to lie about this, and there is no conflict of interest between him and Yu Huoxing," the Yu family's Old Ancestor said. "That he is on close private terms with Wei Zhao, however, is true enough. If we fall out with the secular Yu family over this and do not stand up for them, then naturally we need not make an enemy of Wei Zhao. I expect that is precisely why Yu Bing brought the matter up!"

The Yu family's Old Ancestor had a keen eye, and saw through the hidden design at once.

"So that's it..." Yu Xiaochen said in sudden understanding. He had not considered this deeper motive. "Then this Wei Zhao..."

"This Wei Zhao is truly a talent. A lone cultivator, and in just a few short years he has become an early Earth-rank expert — it is almost unbelievable!" the Yu family's Old Ancestor said. "At the time of the trial, he had only just broken through to the late Mystic rank. How long has it been since, and he has already broken through to early Earth rank? This man is a rare talent indeed!"

"Father is right!" Yu Xiaochen had not expected his father to praise Wei Zhao so highly. But in Yu Xiaochen's eyes, Wei Zhao was no simple figure either — that he could wipe out the secular Yu family showed as much. To think he could beat Yu Shuixing, who had taken elixirs — that was fighting above his own rank!

"A pity that we have no chance of recruiting Wei Zhao!" The Yu family's Old Ancestor sighed. "With little Ning in the picture, Wei Zhao could never be made to serve our Yu family — unless little Ning were given to him in marriage..."

"And why not?" Yu Xiaochen was slightly taken aback. "Wei Zhao is so young, and already an Earth-rank expert. Even among the hidden families that is rare, let alone in a lone cultivator!"

"The heir must be an untouched woman, or she cannot receive the inheritance!" the Yu family's Old Ancestor said. "That is also why I forbade little Ning to take a lover. These young people — if one of them acts on impulse, the consequences would be unthinkable! This is a death order from our Yu family's backers! Little Ning absolutely must not take a lover!"

"So that's how it is!" Yu Xiaochen said, the truth dawning on him. "If little Ning cannot be married to Wei Zhao, then our Yu family truly has no way to recruit him..."

"But for the time being, there is no need to make an enemy of him either!" the Yu family's Old Ancestor said. "The Grand Elder of the Hidden Families' Arbitration Council has not shown himself for a long time. Everyone else is stirring, all of them poised to break the rules. But before the rules are broken, our Yu family must not be the one to stick its neck out!"

"Oh? The other hidden families want to break the rules of those years as well?" Yu Xiaochen asked.

"Apart from that man of those years and the Grand Elder, the other elders are all the old heads of their respective families, and I am one of them. Breaking the rules of those years would benefit us all!" the Yu family's Old Ancestor said. "It is only because the lingering authority of that man and the Grand Elder still holds that these people dare not lightly break the rules. But now... that man vanished years ago along with those Heaven-rank experts, and the Grand Elder has not shown himself for many years either. So..."

For the fastest updates, please read without pop-ups.