Chapter 403: Chapter 388: There are Successors!
A small family meeting to understand the family’s situation made Zhouyang aware of the unnoticed hidden dangers within the Zhou Family; from this perspective, the meeting was extremely successful.
After discovering the hidden dangers between Zhou Family cultivators of different backgrounds, although eager to find a solution, he dared not to alarm anyone to avoid prematurely igniting this hidden threat.
Even Preaching Elder Zhou Guangjian, who faintly sensed something, was ordered by Zhouyang to keep silent and not disclose today’s discussions to anyone.
Subsequently, Zhouyang acted as if nothing had happened, listened to reports from other law enforcement elders of the family, gave some related guidance, and then announced the adjournment of the meeting.
After the meeting, Zhouyang secretly reviewed the law enforcement hall’s records for the past twenty years and indeed found some anomalies.
In the law enforcement records from the past twenty years, the annual increase in dispositions due to fights among clan members was evident.
Although the law enforcement records didn’t specify the reasons triggering fights, Zhouyang found it easy to compare with the Zhou Family cultivator roster from the preaching hall and discovered that the parties involved in fights were often cultivators from "Fengyue Tower" and direct lineage cultivators of the Zhou Family.
Now, what comforted Zhouyang was that those fighting clan members were mostly young people.
Those over sixty and seventy years of age within the Zhou Family, because they used to share joys and hardships, they maintained restraint even if influenced by some young people, not engaging in fratricide.
However, as time goes by, new generation Zhou Family cultivators, due to lacking shared hardship experiences, during internal family resource competition, the division between pureblood and mixed blood will inevitably become an excuse for mutual attacks.
At that time, even if the seniors can keep their heads clear and see the consequences of their choices, they may still be inevitably dragged down by their juniors.
After all, not everyone can be like Zhouyang without brothers and sisters, without children and relatives, able to maintain "individual integrity."
When one’s siblings, nephews, nieces, sons, and daughters are insulted and attacked as "mixed-blood bastards," how many can restrain their anger and not protect their kin?
"This warrants vigilance!"
Inside the quiet room, after finishing all the materials, Zhouyang couldn’t help rubbing the corner of his eyes and sighed with a complex expression.
A clan can never be in eternal harmony; Zhouyang had always been aware of this since he took over the clan a hundred years ago.
Previously, the Zhou Family was in a rising period, with fewer people and more resources. Even if there were some contradictions, they were soon temporarily forgotten due to various busy matters.
Conflicts were not eliminated, just suppressed by more important matters.
After a hundred years of development, the population of Zhou Family cultivators increased by twenty to thirty times; with more people, all kinds of trivial family matters were bound to occur.
In fact, back when Zhou Guangyin and Zhou Tongming’s affair came to light, it had already exposed some issues, but Zhouyang had no time to think about these aspects then and didn’t pay much attention.
However, now he knows he must address the pureblood and mixed-blood issue beforehand; otherwise, when their conflict escalates to an irreconcilable state, solving it without bloodshed and death would be impossible.
Zhouyang actually has a solution to this, but it cannot be implemented yet.
Because once executed, it will inevitably strike the Zhou Family’s development severely and face opposition from many clan members.
Therefore, he must wait for the conflict to escalate until most clan members realize the severe consequences often caused by this conflict before implementing it.
By that time, those opposing clan members should be few.
Of course, this conflict can escalate but must remain under Zhouyang’s control, not escalate infinitely, or breach his bottom line.
Coincidentally, Zhou Guangxiang is now in secluded cultivation opening the Purple Mansion, Zhouyang regains the power of Clan Leader, giving him a legitimate opportunity to rearrange and rectify the situation.
He first reduced the expenditure of "Fengyue Tower," indirectly reducing the number of mixed-blood cultivators born.
Then, he adjusted the work of some internal cultivators of the clan, secretly transferring some mixed-blood cultivators to guard on Spirit Mountains outside Red Tiger Mountain.
Next, he quietly spread the rumor that the number of clan’s Deacon Elders is too small, their power too great, and the Supreme Elder intends to expand the Elder Council’s members and reduce the Deacon Elders’ power.
As he expected, some Zhou Family cultivators soon began probing the authenticity of this news and preparing to compete for a place.
However, at this moment, he thunderously responded to the rumors as false, severely reprimanding those who spread them, announcing that anyone spreading rumors within the clan will be directly exiled.
Those Zhou Family cultivators, seeing the rumors quickly discovered by Zhouyang and sternly dealt with, immediately realized that Zhouyang, the Supreme Elder, is not wholeheartedly cultivating away from worldly affairs, but actually acutely aware of everything happening within the clan.
Some clan members with ulterior motives were also frightened into restraint by Zhouyang’s actions, and the clan’s internal harmony improved significantly.
Meanwhile, due to this incident, Zhouyang’s maneuvering of clan members’ work, except for some stakeholders feeling somewhat unwilling and discontent, others paid little attention to it.
Most cultivators are actually sophisticated self-interested individuals; as long as their personal interests are unaffected, they won’t care about what happens to others and prefer channeling energy into cultivation instead.
"Supreme Elder, reporting to Supreme Elder, the junior has an important matter to discuss!"
On this day, Zhouyang was handling some accumulated clan documents in the daily affairs palace of the Clan Leader when he suddenly heard the extremely joyful shout of Liu Xuanxuan, the Vice Hall Master of the Zhou Family’s Hundred Arts Hall.
"So it’s Liu Xiaoyou. What brings you here today?" He summoned her inside and asked with a smile about her purpose.
However, upon hearing his words, Liu Xuanxuan directly reached out and tapped her Storage Bag, taking out a shimmering cyan Feather Fan and handed it to him.
"Please look, Supreme Elder. This [Wind Feather Fan] is the latest artifact refined by this junior. What do you think?"
The cyan Feather Fan was crafted using the feathers from the Eagle Lion Beast after its advancement to Tier Four as the main material, and the fan handle was made from Tier Three Spirit Wood. The spiritual light emitted from the magical artifact was evidently of Tier Three standard!
Back then, Zhouyang took a considerable amount of Eagle Lion feathers to the Zhou Family Treasure Vault after plucking them, and he always knew that Liu Xuanxuan had been consuming her accumulated Spirit Stones and Contribution Points from over the years to exchange materials from the vault to refine the Tier Three artifacts, keeping her promise.
It now appears that she truly succeeded!
Of course, whether she truly succeeded still needed Zhouyang’s judgment.
He didn’t say anything; he directly reached out to receive the Feather Fan handed over by Liu Xuanxuan and immediately began to refine the magical artifact.
With his cultivation at the Fourth Layer of the Purple Mansion, refining such a Tier Three Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact was, naturally, accomplished in just a moment.
Then he walked out of the room, waved the fan toward the sky, instantly causing the fan’s surface to flash with cyan light, forming three foot-long cyan Wind Blades that shot toward the sky, flying out four to five hundred meters before dissipating.
Afterward, he shook the Feather Fan again, the fan’s surface flashing with cyan spiritual light, and quickly formed a cyan-gray Wind Wall before him.
He gently reached out and poked the Wind Wall, finding it quite resilient, difficult to pierce through in one go.
"After failing fifteen times, this junior finally used nine Eagle Lion feathers as the main material, combined with Cyan Sky Wood to refine this [Wind Feather Fan]."
"This fan can not only charge and release a Tier Three Lower Grade Attack Spell-level Wind Blade once daily to attack enemies, but it can also release a Tier Three Lower Grade Defense-level Wind Wall for defense every three days."
"If faced with a critical situation, it’s possible to use the self-destruct method to trigger the nine Eagle feathers on the fan’s surface for a cover attack. Each feather’s attack power should be comparable to the strike of a Tier Three Lower Grade Flying Sword!"
While Zhouyang was testing the magical artifact, Liu Xuanxuan, as if she finally caught the opportunity, introduced the functions of her artifact with a beaming smile from the side.
A Tier Three Lower Grade Spiritual Artifact with three different divine functions was indeed a rare occurrence, no wonder a hint of pride and satisfaction peeked through her words involuntarily.
Zhouyang, however, didn’t test the third divine function of the magical artifact as mentioned by Liu Xuanxuan, which would destroy an artifact of great commemorative significance to Liu Xuanxuan.
Moreover, with his status as a Tier Four Middle-grade Refiner, he could naturally tell whether Liu Xuanxuan’s words were true or not.
After testing the first two divine functions of the "Wind Feather Fan," he put away the artifact and looked deeply at Liu Xuanxuan, asking, "How old are you this year?"
Liu Xuanxuan was startled upon hearing this and then, as if she thought of something, respectfully replied, "Supreme Elder, this junior entered the Zhou Family at twenty-one and is already fifty-five years old this year."
"Time flies, unnoticed, thirty-four years passed by!"
Zhouyang sighed with emotion, gently nodded in the puzzled gaze of Liu Xuanxuan, and said, "Very good, since you can refine a Tier Three artifact with Ninth-Layer Qi Cultivation, I shall fulfill my promise, ensuring your success in Foundation Establishment!"
Ensure your success in Foundation Establishment!
Upon hearing this, Liu Xuanxuan couldn’t contain her extreme delight despite having developed a calm mindset over the years.
"Here is a Foundation Establishment Pill; take it and try. If you fail, come to me for another one."
Zhouyang, being straightforward, knew actions spoke louder than words and that many good words were less convincing than practical actions. Without delay, he took out a Jade Bottle containing the Foundation Establishment Pill and handed it to Liu Xuanxuan.
"Thank you, Supreme Elder, for bestowing the pill!"
With an excited face, Liu Xuanxuan took the Jade Bottle containing the Foundation Establishment Pill from Zhouyang’s hand and didn’t even know how she returned to her own cave mansion.
She had served the Zhou Family for many years, earning the right to reside in a Foundation Establishment Cave Mansion with her Artifact Refining Skill at Red Tiger Mountain.
Upon returning to her cave mansion, filled with excitement, she immediately went into seclusion to attempt Foundation Establishment.
A month later, Liu Xuanxuan emerged from the cave mansion with a grim expression. Her cultivation was at Qi Cultivation Tenth Layer Great Perfection.
Regarding Liu Xuanxuan’s failure in Foundation Establishment after taking the Foundation Establishment Pill, Zhouyang didn’t think much of it. The success rate for Foundation Establishment was never a certainty when Middle-grade Spiritual Roots took Foundation Establishment Pills; failure was normal.
Thus, he simply consoled Liu Xuanxuan, urging her not to bear too much psychological pressure. He then gave her a second Foundation Establishment Pill.
Fortunately, Liu Xuanxuan didn’t waste the opportunity this time, successfully establishing her Foundation after a month and a half in seclusion.
Henceforth, the Zhou Family’s first Class A Honored Guest Elder came into being.