Ning Zhuo held his teacup steady, took a light sip, and then gazed at the Ning Family Clan Leader with a slight smile, "Clan Leader, don't you wish for your son to rejoin the family?"
The Ning Family Clan Leader was taken aback.
He had never imagined these words coming from Ning Zhuo's mouth.
Because it was Ning Zhuo who had brought down Ning Xiaoren!
According to the Ning Family Clan Leader's understanding, Ning Zhuo should have an extreme aversion to Ning Xiaoren. Why would he say such a thing?
The Ning Family Clan Leader was shocked.
At that moment, he suddenly saw a part of Ning Zhuo's true nature!
The youth before him was deeply versed in the Righteous Path; they were of the same kind.
What kind of person?
Cold to the point of heartlessness, placing interests above personal feelings!
Or rather, the emotions he showed to the outside world were just masks, disguises that best served his personal interests!
The Ning Family Clan Leader believed that he saw Ning Zhuo's true nature.
Thus, he displayed an unprecedented solemnity.
For the first time, he treated Ning Zhuo as an equal and engaged with him seriously.
"Xiaoren..." the Ning Family Clan Leader mentioned his own son, showing a hint of tenderness on his face, "I do indeed wish for him to return. But how can I trust you, that you can bring him back?"
Ning Zhuo was expressionless, "Since I managed to bring him down, naturally I can also lift him back up."
"He wanted to rely on me for a while before, didn't he?"
"I can agree to this matter, having him by my side, working for me. With my current position, it isn't difficult to give him some tasks and rewards, is it?"
"Then later, I will personally announce to everyone that Ning Xiaoren has reformed and has received my forgiveness. By then, his political stains will also be cleansed."
"Look, what a perfect solution. In the whole world, only I can do this."
"I believe, this is also a scene our ancestor Ning Jiufan would be pleased to see."
"After all, both our branches and your main line share the surname Ning; we're all one family."
Hearing Ning Zhuo, who was set on splitting the family, speak like this, the Ning Family Clan Leader snorted disdainfully: "What sheer shamelessness!"
After a moment of contemplation, the Ning Family Clan Leader nodded slowly, carrying a profoundly heavy expression.
The Ning Family Clan Leader departed, leaving Ning Zhuo alone in the room.
"Splitting the family, splitting the family..." he sighed long and deeply to himself.
He always brought up this idea, voicing it whenever he had the chance, and it wasn't merely for the sake of playing around.
Sects have Soul Lamps, states have registries, alliances have treaties, and naturally, families also have things that bind their children.
When a newborn baby of the family first cries out, the cut umbilical cord is made into a Magic Artifact Bloodline Umbilical Cord and brought into the ancestral hall for safekeeping.
After the baby is named, blood from the heart, under the tongue, and from the tip of the foot is used to write the name and inscribe it into the family records.
These are just two of the main conventional measures; there are even more formidable means of restraint.
That is the ancestors in the Netherworld!
This world is divided into the Mortal World and the Netherworld.
The Mortal World is where Ning Zhuo lives, with the sunrise and sunset, the wind soaring and clouds flowing, and the thriving existence of flora and fauna.
The Netherworld is full of ghosts, gloomy and dim, permeated with a stench of death.
The entrance and exit between the Netherworld and Mortal World is called Ghost Gate Pass.
People are divvied up between their mortal life span and their Netherworld life span.
According to the natural rules of this world, when Cultivators and mortals die, their souls return to the Netherworld to reside there for a considerable time; it's not until their Netherworld life span is exhausted that they truly perish.
Judging whether a family is a Cultivator Family isn't just about looking at the population and highest Cultivation Level in the Mortal World, but also the scale of ancestors and their highest Cultivation Level in the Netherworld.
The Ning Family is a genuine Cultivation Family; while their power may seem weak in the Mortal World, they're quite formidable in the Netherworld.
This is because sixteen years ago, the Ning Family migrated from North Wind Country, sacrificing too many family members—Golden Core Cultivators included!
The influence in the Netherworld has been strongly supplemented.
The connection between the Netherworld and Mortal World is very strong.
Each year, the Ning Family holds a grand ancestral rite, new additions to the family or funerals all involve communication with the Netherworld.
Therefore, for the members of the family, breaking the family rules and administering family law are not things to be taken lightly.
Ning Zhuo needed to acquire the right to act autonomously.
Without it, it would create a flaw in his plans going forward.
If the family seized this flaw and pursued it, it would become a big problem.
Even if Ning Zhuo did not die, he would suffer a substantial loss.
Now, through the exchange of interests, the Ning Family Clan Leader has loosened his stance and agreed to this. All the Family Elders of the Ning Family under the control of other sects have been persuaded by Ning Zhuo, leveraging the matter of Ning Xiaohui's grandmother.
Ning Zhuo then called together Ning Xiangguo, Ning Xiangqian, Ning Ze, Ning Chen, Ning Yong, and others.
He just started to speak when Ning Ze directly interrupted him: "What? Letting the murderer off and sending her back?!"
"I disagree!"
"I absolutely disagree!!"
Ning Ze couldn't stay seated and stood up abruptly, "Ning Zhuo, Ning Ji is your cousin, and you've grown up together since childhood."
"Now, he has been killed by someone!"
"Yet you want to compromise with the main line, let the murderer go, and return her to them?"
"If Ji'er knew from below the springs, how would he view you?"
"I have supported you wholeheartedly till now, our support branch has supported you to this extent, you can't lose your backbone!"
Ning Ze originally had no concerns, knowing the deep-rooted discord between Ning Zhuo and the main line. But now, at this meeting, Ning Zhuo's opening statement struck him like a bolt from the blue.
Ning Ze couldn't fathom why Ning Zhuo's attitude towards the main line could change so drastically!