Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The rebirth of Su Yu’s Dantian enabled him to possess an amount of Vital Energy that surpassed the Half Fairy Realm, yet it also became an impediment, preventing him from reaching the Fairy Realm. He had spent the whole night trying to make a breakthrough, and now that it was daytime, he had to go to meet the Shangguan Family’s Master.
After an hour passed, a maid came in with their breakfast, and after they ate it, they were brought to the Shangguan family’s guest hall. The Shangguan Family’s Master was sitting there solemnly, along with the Shangguan family’s core members, Shangguan Yunque, and Shangguan Qinger.
The Shangguan Family’s Master was quite imposing. Shangguan Yunque and Shangguan Qinger, who were sitting on his right side, a both wore respectful and solemn expressions.
When the Shangguan Family’s Master looked at them, Su Yu noticed that he had a sharp gaze, which seemed capable of seeing through people’s hearts. Su Yu was also amazed by his cultivation, as he was a Divine Master. Moreover, he was even a middle-stage Divine Master!
Although his body didn’t emit an aura, he still gave people a suffocating feeling, as if they were facing a great mountain that was bearing down on them. His gaze swept over all of the people present expressionlessly and calmly, and it was only when his gaze swept over Su Yu that it stopped a moment before continuing on.
“Not bad. I believe that, even if you depend on your efforts alone, you could still achieve some great accomplishments,” the Shangguan Family’s Master said. “I have ten quotas, and I could allow you to hold a post in the Shangguan family. Moreover, I could groom you personally. So, what do you think about that?”
Hm? A peculiar glow appeared in the deepest part of Su Yu’s eyes as he wondered…
We were recommended to enter the Red Blood Palace, so why has he suddenly changed his mind? Moreover, why does he want to let us stay with the Shangguan family?
The Shangguan family possessed great influence and power, and if they held a post within it, they would received many cultivation resources from them, but it still couldn’t compare to one of the eighteen great factions, let alone the Red Blood Palace! As they now had an opportunity to enter the Red Blood Palace, if they stayed with the Shangguan family now, they would just be limiting their prospects.
Zhang Fan spoke up first, “Sir, can you please tell us the reason for your offer?” They all felt that there was something odd about this matter.
The Shangguan Family’s Master nodded slowly. “Okay. Well, all of you have outstanding talent, and some of you may even manage to enter the Red Blood Palace, but the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands has experienced some accidents recently. Eight of our family’s bird farms suffered attacks at the same time, my son almost died, and many of our industries were destroyed by some unknown faction.”
He shook his head. “After I communicated with the other families, I learned that the same thing had happened to all of the great families! The Ximen family was even exterminated in one night by some mysterious enemy. Not one of their descendants was spared!”
Zhang Fan’s pupils contracted. “The Ximen family was exterminated?” He couldn’t believe it.
All of the known super factions in the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands were ranked, and among them, the Ximen family was ranked third, which was just behind the Shangguan family, which was ranked second.
“How could such a great faction be exterminated in one night? Who could achieve such a thing? Only one of the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands’ eighteen great factions possesses such power…” Zhang Fan said.
The other people were also shocked and frightened by this news. They were stunned to think that such a great family was unexpectedly exterminated in the blink of an eye.
“Some powerful dark faction must have come to the Eighteen Blessed and Heavenly Lands to try to destroy all of the eighteen great factions! It’s unfortunate that our Shangguan family is one of them!” The Shangguan Family’s Master’s face was grave.
He then said, “To preserve our Shangguan family’s lineage and prevent it from being exterminated like the Ximen family, we decided to send all of the family’s juniors to the Red Blood Palace.”
The expressions of Zhang Fan and the others became extremely unsightly when they heard him.
THe Shangguan Family’s Master then said, “Our Shangguan family’s recommendation quotas are limited, so we were forced to wrong you. If we still have an opportunity to do so in three years, then we will surely exhaust our powers in order to recommend all of you. Moreover, if you are willing to stay here, then our Shangguan family would train you as compensation.”
Sure enough, he had just confirmed that their quotas had been taken by the Shangguan family’s juniors!
“I will give you one day to consider this offer. I hope that you can give me your reply before the arrival of the envoy tomorrow. It’s up to you to decide whether to stay here in our Shangguan family or try to pursue your futures by yourselves.” The Shangguan Family’s Master waved his hand at them in dismissal, then returned to a room at the back of the manor.
Shangguan Yunque looked at Su Yu and Yuan Yingying before he braced himself and followed after him. “Father, I already promised Su Yu and Yuan Yingying that I would recommend them, so can you give me two quotas? There wouldn’t be more than two or three people in the family who could manage to pass the Red Blood Palace’s test, so there is no need to waste the quotas in such a way,” Shangguan Yunque said.
The Shangguan Family’s Master turned around and revealed a helpless look. “If I had a choice, I would grant your request, as keeping one’s words is a man’s most important principle, but as this matter is related to our family’s survival, we are forced to make an exception.”
“But, brother Su once saved my life! If it wasn’t because of his warning, then I would have died at those vile people’s hands! Those people were obviously targeting me.” Shangguan Yunque still couldn’t be at ease with such a decision.
The Shangguan Family’s Master sighed. “It isn’t up to me alone to make such a decision, as all of the family’s old men want to retain some of their lineage, which means that we are all fighting over the quotas.”
He shook his head, then said, “If I clung to my opinion obstinately, then I would disappoint all of them, and it’s extremely dangerous to lose our unity at such a critical time. So, I could only let down those juniors. If Su Yuxian and Yuan Yingying are willing to stay within the Shangguan family, then I will properly take care of them.”
Shangguan Yunque’s shoulder slumped when he realized that there was no hope of obtaining the quotas for them. After he thought for a moment, he rolled his eyes and took his leave.
At the moment, Shangguan Qinger was cultivating in her garden. She had a watermark between her eyebrows, which emitted a faint mist that engulfed her within it.
“Sister, I have only been away from you for a few days, yet you have already cultivated Water Mystery to its entry-level realm! I’m really not as good as you, as until today, I still haven’t comprehended any Mysteries.” Shangguan Yunque stood behind his sister, while marveling at her aptitude.
Shangguan Qinger opened her eyes and turned her head around as she curled her mouth and rolled her eyes at him. “That’s because pass spend all of your time messing around and wasting time! Even though our father spent a large sum to get you a position as an inner sanctum disciple, you are just traveling around and befriending people! So, can you blame anyone else other than yourself for your lack of progress?”
She shook her head. “If you put even half of your heart into diligently pursuing he martial path, then you would have already reached the Divine Master Realm long ago, as your talent isn’t mediocre!”
Shangguan Yunque could only bashfully smile when he heard such words.
“Regardless, just say what you came here for, as you wouldn’t come here for no reason.” As Shangguan Qinger gracefully stood up, her seductive body’s curves, which were hidden beneath her robe, became quite distinct.
Shangguan Yunque spoke softly, “I just wanted to ask you which elder will come to our Shangguan family this time to take charge of receiving new blood?”
Shangguan Qinger asked, “You never once cared about such things before, so why are you asking me this now?”
Although she was mildly annoyed by his question, she just rolled her eyes and answered him, “An elder isn’t coming here this year, as an outer sanctum disciple received this mission instead.”
“A disciple?” Shangguan Yunque furrowed his brow. “Receiving new disciples is a major matter, so how can an ordinary disciple take charge of such a thing? Moreover, he’s just an outer sanctum disciple! Could it be that you are talking about one of the Demon Mountain’s Four Great Demons?”
Shangguan Qinger revealed a faint smile. “You are right. It’s a demon from the Demon Mountain. Moreover, it’s a female demon, and she’s the one responsible for taking new disciples.”
Shangguan Yunque’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch when he heard this. He was quite scared of the Four Great Demons, even though he was already an inner sanctum disciple.
“Brother Su, it isn’t that I don’t want to help you, but I don’t dare to, as each one of the Four Great Demons is more freakish than the other!” Shangguan Yunque spoke bitterly.
He wanted to know who the envoy was so that he could introduce him in advance to Su Yu and Yuan Yingying, hoping that he would secretly take them away. But, he never expected that the envoy was from the Demon Mountain! The Demon Mountain’s four people were beings that even someone like Shangguan Yunque didn’t dare provoke.
…
The geniuses, all of whose expressions were unsightly, returned to the courtyard quietly. Such sudden and shocking news left them at a loss for what to do. They didn’t know if they should stay in the Shangguan family or leave. They could no longer count on passing the exam, as it was impossible for the Shangguan family to allow outsiders to qualify, at least not while it was in such a precarious situation.
“It’s really hateful of them! I worked so hard for three years, yet in the end, I will just become a subordinate of the Shangguan family, having no hope of realizing my aspirations!” A Level Two Fairy couldn’t help but punch the wall out of frustration.
A Level Three Fairy Realm woman, who was standing beside him, sighed weakly. “It’s just our fate. At this point, it’s probably better for us to just stay in the Shangguan family.” This woman’s words consoled many of them.
She then added, “Now that you mention it, although there are many of us here, whose powers are impressive, only two or three of us really have a chance of passing the exam. After all, most of us came here just to try our luck. So, getting to stay in the Shangguan family is better than being forced to go back home after failing the exam.”
Just a tenth of the Red Blood Palace’s disciples had been recruited from the outside, as most of their disciples came from the seven great factions that were governed by it, like the Soul Seizing Palace and the others. Every three years, a great competition would be held for all of the seven great factions. Then, all of the branch factions’ disciples who had outstanding performances would be allowed to enter the Red Blood Palace.
The Red Blood Palace was mostly taking disciples from them, as in such a way, not only could it be assured that they weren’t spies or something of the like, but it could also be assured of their talent, as they should all already have passed their branch factions’ test. This method of taking disciples from branch factions saved the Red Blood Palace a great amount of time and effort.
As for the outsiders’ recruitment test, it was severe and difficult. In fact, if even ten out of a hundred people managed to pass it, that would be considered quite a good result!
So, from the twenty geniuses here, only Zhang Fan truly had a chance at entering the Red Blood Palace. But, if the palace’s people were forced to make up for a shortfall in the number of people, then even someone like Su Yu might have an opportunity! All of the other people here were just depending on their luck.
“There is no need to consider it any further. We will stay within the Shangguan family, as it’s still better than ending up without any gains.” All of the people here quickly accepted their fates, leaving only Zhang Fan, Su Yu, and Yuan Yingying undecided.
“Brother Su, should we return to the Blue Mountain Range and continue refining elixirs? With your power and my alchemy talent, we won’t lack resources as long as we don’t slack, but persevere. It would be better than living under the Shangguan family’s roof.” After Yuan Yingying returned to Su Yu’s room, she supported her chin with her hands as she looked at the flickering candle flame with her pretty eyes, which were filled with disappointment.
After Su Yu pondered her words for a moment, he shook his head. “We shouldn’t do that. If the Shangguan Family isn’t mistaken, then all of the small factions besides the eighteen great factions could suffer an assault, and even the Blue Mountain Range may suffer one as well. So, going back there isn’t the best decision to make in such a situation.”
