The Song clan’s elder assembly today was destined to be lively. Since the very first meeting, the assembly would convene regularly despite the ongoing funeral.
The elders quarreled every day, but they weren’t idiots who only caused a ruckus without doing anything. The arguments at the assembly didn’t stop them from scheming in secret. Several secret meetings had taken place these days, the agreements from which were brought to the stage and cemented by voting.
Eight out of ten topics that had reached a decision in these meetings were related to the division of the Song clan’s businesses and profits. The objective here was to divide the Song clan’s jointly-owned businesses among the various families and branches. Some of the other discussion topics sought to target Song Zhongnian.
Song Zhongnian had been the clan lord for many years and had benefited from his position to a certain degree. This became especially evident when he had removed the Grand Elder from his position, sending the only branch that could compete against him into decline.
Now that Duchess An was gone, the situation was no longer the same. Surprisingly, all the family branches had reached a tacit agreement on removing him from the clan lord position. Only Song Zhongnian and a handful of elders from his family opposed the motion to split up family assets. The others rose up in unison and overwhelmed them with numbers, effectively deciding the outcome.
The repeated occurrences angered Song Zhongnian, prompting him to stop attending the meetings. Without his presence, the emboldened elders set their sights on the assets owned by the clan lord’s branch, citing equality as their slogan.
They spoke with a righteous tone, “We’re all descendants of the Song clan, why does your branch own so many businesses?”
While mentioning the total assets, these elders naturally wouldn’t bring up the number of people the main branch had to provide for. Nor did they mention the projects maintained by the clan lord like schools, social events, and support for distant relatives.
In the face of this skewed reasoning, Song Zhongnian was still a civilized person with a reputation to consider. He just couldn’t go and settle the score with them one after the other like a cook at the wet market. After making a couple of retorts, he swept his sleeves and left angrily.
Agreements were made one after the other as the elders took advantage of this period to split the businesses and assign their own people. Some of them had already left to report to their coveted posts despite the funeral period.
The assets that had been divided were mostly clan-owned businesses, the profits from which were used to maintain common facilities like energy towers, private armies, roads, etc. The flow of money from clan-owned businesses was decided by the clan lord, so the current decision was akin to weakening Song Zhongnian’s authority.
By the time Song Zining and Qianye walked into the conference hall, the elders were just beginning their meeting day.
“The thirty-two stores on the Western Continent, sixty-percent of their income will go to the fourth branch and the remainder will be split between the third and ninth branches. The manager of the store will be assigned by the fourth branch. Any objections?”
“Seconded.”
“No objections.”
“Don’t you think the fourth branch should treat us all tonight?”
A chubby elder stood up and bowed. “Of course, of course! I’ll be the host tonight, everyone must come! Those who don’t are looking down on our branch!”
The other elders agreed with a laugh.
It was at this time that a cold voice echoed from the door. “So what if I look down on the fourth branch?”
The entire elder assembly quieted down. The fat elder glanced toward the source of the voice, but his anger soon turned to shock. “Zining, how come you’re here?”
Song Zining had risen to fame in recent years, and his cultivation had improved by leaps and bounds. Many of the elders still remembered him as the boy from the clan examination, but they had more or less heard of his accomplishments and understood that no one in the younger generation of the clan was his match.
Most people found the person beside Song Zining rather familiar. That beautiful face left too deep of an impression on them, one that they couldn’t forget.
One of the elders pointed at Qianye. “Y-You’re…”
Qianye smiled. “I’m Qianye, don’t mistake me for someone else.”
One of the elders roared furiously, “You actually dare come here. Do you know where you are?”
Qianye replied calmly, “Where indeed? What I am certain of is that this isn’t a tiger’s den, and neither is it a bloody battle nor the city of Indomitable. I’ll come when I please and go when I want, why must I care?”
The elder trembled from the anger. “Insolence! Are you not afraid that I’ll command the soldiers to capture you?”
Qianye stood with his hands behind his back, scanning the room with his lightning-sharp gaze as he broke into a laugh. “You don’t even have a divine champion in the entire clan, yet you want to capture me? I don’t want to say it, but all of you here are trash on the battlefield.”
“Arrogance!”
“Scoundrel!”
“Which ignorant junior is this? Scram!”
Qianye remained motionless at the door while the lashing went on. The elders shouted and cursed, but none of them dared to come within three meters of Qianye. All of them were simply hiding in the distance and hurling verbal abuses. Those in the first row wanted to edge back but soon found that they could no longer squeeze into the crowd. The pale men had no choice but to face Qianye, not daring to utter a single word.
They were cursing secretly, but it was at their clansmen instead of Qianye. Several pairs of hands had pushed them forward when they were trying to retreat.
Qianye became thoughtful at the sight of this. “It seems my name can frighten them.”
Song Zining rolled his eyes. “The cheek of you!”
Song Zining walked over to the center of the conference hall and slammed his palm down on the stack of agreements. “So these are the agreements decided upon by the elder assembly. As I see it, we should just burn them here.”
This produced a wave of commotion through the assembly. These agreements were reached through several days of hard work, and they weren’t about to spit out the meat that had entered their mouths. Several men could no longer worry about Qianye’s presence as they jumped out and started cursing at Song Zining.
Song Zining channeled his origin power, saying, “These agreements contain everyone’s signature. To be blunt, this is solid criminal evidence. I’m burning it for everyone’s good.”
His voice wasn’t loud, but it suppressed all the background noise and caught everyone’s attention. Many of the elders were shocked. “Lil’ Seven, your cultivation has risen so much?”
Song Zining was currently rank-sixteen, a true expert in every occasion. Additionally, his combat strength in battle was even higher than on paper, meaning that he was almost peerless at the same realm. Only terrifying experts like Zhao Jundu and Qianye could suppress him.
“You’re at the elder assembly, not somewhere you can behave atrociously!” One of the elders said. However, he shrunk back and softened his tone midway, as did many of the other elders chiming in.
Song Zining replied, “Our Highland Song Clan has its rules. The businesses listed on these documents are clan-owned assets. Ignoring the blatant breach of rules, who’s going to pay for the maintenance of clan facilities, our private army, and the tens of thousands of mercenaries in our employ? Do you plan to kill them off after owing them money?”
“This is something all the elders agreed upon, you don’t need to worry.”
“Exactly.”
“You have no business in the elder assembly. Who gave a young brat like you the right to speak?”
The elders found courage in speaking out together, eventually surrounding the conference table.
Song Zining raised his cold voice. “Your actions are clearly aimed at splitting the clan up! How will you face your ancestors in a hundred years?”
Some of the elders looked rather ashamed, while the others merely saw a shift in expression. There was no way they would be willing to give up the meat in their mouths. It was even more distressing than being killed.
Song Xiuwen stood out and said furiously, “Lil’ Seven! This is not your place to speak. Many of those documents were signed by your main branch head. Do you not recognize his authority?”
The head of the main branch was the clan lord, Song Zhongnian.
Song Zining flipped through the papers and found several signed by the clan lord. He couldn’t help but sigh. “It doesn’t matter who signed them. How will these people enter the ancestral hall from now on? The old ancestor has just passed, but you people are already busy splitting the clan up. There are still so many people in the courtyard! Ignoring all else, the Song clan’s prestige will be destroyed once news of this spreads in the outside world! Do you think your own names will be left intact?”
Song Zining hesitated momentarily. “The current Song clan doesn’t have any good reputation left. As traders, you should know how important reputation is. Who will do business with you without a good name? You’re destined to lose all these family assets sooner or later.”
Some of the elders edged back in shame, but most of them were furious.
Song Xiuwen had already stepped out, so he simply kept going. He said in a fierce tone, “If the business declines in our hands, we’re willing to take that responsibility. What of it? The decision of the elder assembly must be executed! Don’t keep bringing up the old ancestor. Even the Great Qin’s laws had to be changed at one point. The clan rules were drafted by people, and now it’s time to change them.”
Song Zining hadn’t expected such words.
Qianye was standing by the door, observing everyone. “Zining, how come I don’t see your grandpa?”
Song Zining smiled wryly. “Let it be.”
Those documents were supposed to be stored in the depository, so why were they all in Song Zining’s hands? The reason was evident—Song Zhongnian was unwilling to face the elders and wished to push all the responsibility on Song Zining.
The current situation was related to the continued existence of the Song clan. There was no way it would remain standing after being divided among the family branches. The clan lord wasn’t willing to take action even under such circumstances; no wonder Song Zining had nothing to say.
If only Song Zhongnian were a bit stronger, it wouldn’t be hard for someone of his stature to ensure the clan remained intact. Preventing its downgrade from a major clan, however, was a different matter.
Qianye understood. “As a clan with a thousand years of history, the Song definitely produces a lot of talented people!”
Song Xiuwen had thrown caution to the wind. In his anger, he pointed at Qianye’s nose and roared, “Who the heck do you think you are? How dare you speak about the Song clan…”
He hadn’t even finished speaking when a crisp bang resounded through the hall. Qianye had landed a square slap on his face!
This slap was extremely powerful. Song Xiuwen’s teeth flew everywhere as he spun through the air and slammed into the wall, falling down unconscious in the end. He also crashed into several elders along the way and the hall fell into chaos.
The trembling elders pointed at Qianye. “Our Song clan is a place of reason. Y-You…”
Qianye slowly retracted his hand and smiled brightly. “I have a pretty bad temper. I normally become rather unreasonable when someone is pointing at my face and cursing at me.”
