With Feng Chunlin's departure, Li Yaowen looked at Feng Qingyang with amusement. "Lord Feng," she teased, "it seems I underestimated you. Even your own son doesn't know what kind of person you truly are."
"My son is foolish," Feng Qingyang replied. "His life mirrors that of my Feng family ancestors."
Feng Qingyang shook his head and sighed. "He's content with the status quo," he said. "His greatest desire is for Azure Cloud region to remain peaceful forever. But in my view, that's utterly foolish. People's ambitions only grow with time."
"One hundred and thirty thousand years ago, if our manor had seized the opportunity to destroy the Azure Cloud Pavilion one by one, we could have completely controlled the Azure Cloud region long ago."
"Unlike now, where all the factions are vying for power. Especially your Li family, your ambitions are even greater, wanting to become the new rulers of Azure Cloud region, to make this era belong to the Li family? You are far too ambitious and conspicuous."
Li Yaowen smiled but said nothing.
Feng Qingyang raised his head curiously and asked, "How did your Li family manage it? The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion used their techniques, and Yu Xian of the Azure Cloud Pavilion had been a member of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion for two hundred years. He couldn't possibly betray them for the Li family. After all, the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion promised him a breakthrough to Nascent Soul, a temptation no one could resist. Your Li family couldn't offer him anything comparable."
"And what about the other seven forces?" he continued. "How could they possibly retreat? Your Li family supposedly possesses half of Azure Cloud's destiny. To become the new overlords of Azure Cloud region, they would even risk the annihilation of their own sects to try and seize it!"
Hearing this...
Li Yaowen's expression turned strange. Her words caused Feng Qingyang to crush another white Go stone in his hand.
"Lord Feng," she said, "do you also believe in such intangible things as destiny?"
"I told you before, it was us who instigated the major sects to besiege the Li family today. We are the true chess players."
"Many years ago," Li Yaowen explained, "the members of my Dawn organization spread the news, telling everyone that my Li family would replace the Azure Cloud Pavilion and become the new rulers of the Azure Cloud region. People everywhere were saying that this era belonged to our Li family."
"The effect was excellent. People always respect the strong. Over the years, the number of our enemies has decreased, while we have gained many friends. Unfortunately, the Nascent Soul sects are arrogant and aloof. I sent people to negotiate with them many times, but they were unwilling to befriend the Li family, nor did they want to become our enemies."
"This included... the rumor that my Li family controlled half of Azure Cloud region's destiny!"
Feng Qingyang frowned.
He understood now. The Li family's ambition was even greater than he had imagined!
But he was still puzzled. "Rumors, when repeated often enough, become reality," he said. "Even if the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion tries to explain, it will be useless. Aren't you afraid, Li family, that you're weaving a cocoon around yourselves?"
"To dispel a rumor, you only need someone with sufficient prestige."
"Or even better, on this day, to hold back all our enemies for us."
"It just so happens that my Li family has a group of such people."
Feng Qingyang was stunned. "What?" he asked. "A group of what?"
...
"A group of what? Grandpas, of course! Didn't expect that, did you?"
At this moment, in front of the screen, Li Wei grinned.
The scene shifted. After many years, Li Tianyi finally emerged from the dark and desolate ancient tomb!
At this moment, he was gathered with the Nascent Soul experts from the seven major forces under a pavilion on a mountaintop. Spiritual mist swirled around them. He sat, while the seven Nascent Soul experts stood, their faces filled with bewilderment as they looked at the twenty-three old men behind Li Tianyi.
"Oh my, the current leader of Everlife Mountain is truly unimpressive. I was alive thirty thousand years ago, and your leader back then even fought a duel with me."
"This generation of the Ghost Eye Sect is not bad, though. I was alive one hundred and thirty thousand years ago. Back then, it was my disciple who founded the Ghost Eye Sect. I always said he had a poor character. Ah, I heard that my disciple reached the peak of Nascent Soul and died a natural death. I didn't expect the Ghost Eye Sect to become a Nascent Soul power now."
"Hahaha, these youngsters are truly foolish. Let me tell you, that rumor about the Li family possessing half of Azure Cloud's destiny? Fake! I was still around when that rumor was being spread."
"Alright, alright, Tianyi will return to the Azure Cloud Pavilion soon. A descendant of the Li family will be the new Pavilion Master. You don't need to worry. Your grudge with the Li family isn't that deep. It's the Azure Cloud Pavilion that has a bigger score to settle with them."
"If even the Azure Cloud Pavilion won't be destroyed, how could they possibly annihilate you?"
"That's right, don't get involved in this mess. We didn't come out at the Azure Cloud Pavilion; we were waiting for this day."
"Stop targeting the Li family. There's no benefit in it. If you really try to fight them, you'll be living in fear every day."
"..."
Li Tianyi sat in the pavilion, listening to the chattering of the old men behind him. He looked at the numerous Nascent Soul experts in front of him, exchanging puzzled glances. His heart pounded, and he swallowed hard.
When the seven major forces mobilized, the disciples of the Azure Cloud Pavilion intercepted all the Nascent Soul cultivators and brought them to him.
The mountains here were truly high, and the auras of the seven Nascent Soul cultivators were incredibly powerful. The wind here, was fierce.
He felt like crying but had no tears.
He didn't know if these Nascent Soul cultivators would capture him and use him to threaten his family.
Or perhaps they would kill him on the spot and take away those old men behind him.
Or maybe they wouldn't even care about those ancient old men.
All sorts of thoughts raced through his mind, and he felt utterly miserable.
"Can't you just let me peacefully make my fortune in the tomb?" he thought. "Fourth Aunt, I'm scared!"
---
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