Chapter 162: Blooming a Thread of the Flower
Ning Ze quietly listened, his gaze flickering frequently.
“So that’s how it is.” Only now did he understand part of the situation.
Ning Ze slowly nodded, “Lan’er, you’ve done well.”
Wang Lan said, “I’m still terrified even now. Today was so thrilling, I never thought that little Zhuo would actually pull it off!”
“I… I don’t know how to face him.”
“After all, he’s the one who saved you, and also brought down that damned Ning Xiaoren.”
Ning Ze sighed, “This is exactly what I want to talk to you about.”
“Little Zhuo…”
“I misjudged him before. I underestimated him too much.”
“Regardless of whether someone was secretly guiding him this time or not, just based on his behavior at the banquet, he’s definitely no ordinary person.”
“From now on, we need to follow behind him closely and support him as much as possible.”
“Let Ji’er follow him. After all, they’re cousins!”
Wang Lan was surprised, “Ah? Husband, you mean…”
Ning Ze glared, “Can’t you see it yet? With Little Zhuo’s reputation and his talent, he’ll at least be an elder of the family in the future.”
“Didn’t you notice that Ning Houjun, Ning Youfu, and the other senior members of the branch families all stepped up to back him and show their goodwill?”
“Does Ji’er have talent? Little Zhuo’s future isn’t something Ji’er can match. Now, if Ji’er follows Little Zhuo, the latter might lend him a hand out of their past connection, saving Ji’er a lot of hardship.”
Wang Lan was deeply worried, “Ji’er and Little Zhuo’s relationship—Husband, aren’t you aware? Although they’re cousins, they’ve never gotten along since childhood. Their relationship isn’t good at all.”
Ning Ze shook his head, “You, you’re still just a woman.”
“You haven’t seen it clearly.”
“Let me ask you, what kind of relationship do we have with Little Zhuo?”
Wang Lan hesitated and shook her head, “Not very close.”
Ning Ze snorted, “To be precise, it’s very poor!”
“But this time, he cleared my name and saved me. Why? Is it because he’s filial to us? Because he remembers the kindness of our care?”
Wang Lan blinked and hesitated, “Although we favor Ji’er more, it is true that we raised Little Zhuo.”
Ning Ze shook his head, “The main reason Little Zhuo saved me is that he could use me to pull Ning Xiaoren down.”
“Another reason is that I’m his biological uncle, his closest relative in this world.”
“If he wants to progress and rise higher, his character must be flawless. Therefore, he will definitely take care of us, purely because of this blood relationship.”
“From what happened at the banquet, I am already certain—Little Zhuo understands this and has such magnanimity!”
Wang Lan said, “If that’s the case, why don’t we just live our own lives? Why bother flattering Little Zhuo?”
Ning Ze shook his head again, “Little Zhuo will treat us well because of our close blood ties.”
“For the same reason, the family’s main branch will see us as being on the same side as Little Zhuo.”
“Especially today, when we both testified against Ning Xiaoren! That means, even if we don’t want to, we are now seen as part of Little Zhuo’s faction.”
“We are already tied to Little Zhuo—if he prospers, we prosper; if he suffers, we suffer.”
Wang Lan’s eyes widened, “So that’s how it is.”
Ning Ze added, “Since we are already so deeply bound to Little Zhuo, why not fully support him and join him?”
“He has talent and such magnanimity; relying on him isn’t a bad thing.”
Wang Lan fell into silence.
The boy she once looked down on had now become the person her entire family needed to curry favor with and depend on.
For a moment, she found it hard to adjust her mindset.
After a long while, she slowly nodded, her voice bleak, “Husband, you’re right. We… we’ll depend on Little Zhuo.”
Ning Ze nodded, “Tomorrow morning, I’ll explain this decision to Ji’er.”
The couple made their plan, then went to bed.
In Ning Ze’s cultivation chamber, Ning Zhuo was still working on today’s training.
Amidst the thick clouds, his entire body was emitting blood light, which condensed into sheets of fascia, covering his entire upper body, with a few covering the lower half. He looked as if he were clad in a thin layer of blood armor.
The Mirror Platform Spirit Technique had now reached the peak of the sixth layer.
However, the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique and the Five Elements Qi Regulation Art still had much room for improvement.
Ning Zhuo focused his attention on the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique.
Because, according to his estimation, “After bringing Ning Xiaoren down, I’ll be in the limelight for a while, becoming the focus of discussions among the clan members.”
“The main branch won’t be foolish enough to withhold my rewards anymore.”
“Ning Xiaohui’s performance is far inferior to mine. The chance of me obtaining the Ice Jade Wine is extremely high!”
Ning Zhuo planned to use the Ice Jade Wine to enhance his mana cultivation, so the Demonic Blood Tendon Technique, which had no shortcuts, became his primary focus.
The hard work of refining his blood essence finally ended.
Ning Zhuo slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of turbid air.
He began to contemplate the current situation.
“Today, I brought down Ning Xiaoren and became famous within the clan, known far and wide.”
“In the coming period, I need to gather more forces, unite as many branch family members as possible, and formally rise to power.”
“I must complete this as quickly as possible—the sooner, the better.”
“If I miss this favorable wind, it’ll be exponentially harder to rise later on!”
“As for Ning Ze’s family’s debt, it can be settled slowly in the future.”
Sun Lingtong had always taught him to repay kindness with kindness and enmity with enmity.
Ning Zhuo had grown up in the Ning family and knew the family’s situation like the back of his hand.
It was precisely because he understood the conflicts between the main branch and the branch families so well that he was able to easily exploit those contradictions to help himself take down Ning Xiaoren.
Ning Xiaoren’s existence had already become an obstacle to Ning Zhuo’s progress, so he had to be eliminated.
Ning Zhuo had never considered breaking away from the family or rashly cooperating with outsiders.
He understood the value of his identity as a Ning family member very clearly.
This identity allowed him to grow steadily and make progress in learning.
Without the Ning family identity, people like Zheng Jian and Zhou Zhenshen would treat him quite differently.
The pressure from Zhu Xuanji’s investigation also made Ning Zhuo choose to continue hiding within the family.
After obtaining the embryonic form of the divine ability Life Hanging by a Thread, Ning Zhuo was even more certain that his Ning family identity could not be easily discarded.
This was because once Life Hanging by a Thread was planted, it could exist for a long time. It was quite beneficial for his destiny, allowing Ning Zhuo to understand that uniting more clan members around him would be greatly advantageous.
“Speaking of Life Hanging by a Thread… today I accidentally noticed that many of my fellow students’ threads have become thicker and sturdier.”
“But I clearly didn’t use the embryonic divine ability on them again.”
“Could it be that because I brought Ning Xiaoren down, my reputation has soared, and they’ve become more inclined to see me as their leader?”
With this thought, Ning Zhuo realized another key point.
“Has my communication jade slip already been transferred from Chen Cha to Fei Si?”
Ning Zhuo had secretly used his connection with Fei Si to deal with Ning Xiaoren.
Fei Si had already admired Ning Zhuo to some extent, and causing internal strife within the Ning family was beneficial to the City Lord’s side. Thus, it was highly likely that Fei Si had persuaded the City Lord’s office to activate their mole within the Ning family for Ning Zhuo.
And sure enough, it had worked!
However, the City Lord’s office would never expose their crucial mole to Ning Zhuo because of this. That’s why, during the banquet, Ning Zhuo could only guess which of the branch family members present was the mole from the City Lord’s office.
“The Ning family’s main branch, the branch families… and the City Lord’s mole…”
“I managed to achieve all of this without even using the Buddha Heart Demon Seal or Life Hanging by a Thread.”
“Everyone’s desires, the conflicts between different groups, the rules of operation of the orthodox powers—aren’t these all just strings that can be pulled?”
“I only need to follow the trends and guide them, and I can make them act as I want.”
“When all their actions combine, I can shape the situation the way I want it to be.”
“Isn’t this another form of ‘moving according to the spirit’?”
Ning Zhuo recalled how he had been taking actions aligned with spiritual forces to strengthen his control over Yuan Dasheng, who was in the Spirit Movement stage.
“My success this time came from following the thoughts of these people and guiding them.”
“Life Hanging by a Thread…”
At this point, a flash of inspiration appeared in Ning Zhuo’s mind.
The moment that inspiration appeared, Ning Zhuo instinctively tried to grasp it, but it quickly vanished.
“Was that an illusion?”
“I seemed to feel the bud of the divine ability’s lotus tremble just now, as if it opened slightly?”