Divine Ability Prototype

"Thank you, Old Ancestor!"

After a moment of surprise, Yang Tianyou hurriedly expressed his thanks.

Something so precious was probably not even enough for Yang Haoyu herself to drink. For her to give him a cup was already an extraordinary kindness, and he could not help but be grateful.

Smiling, Yang Haoyu raised one hand slightly and helped Yang Tianyou to his feet. Then she shared another piece of news.

A month from now, the Yang Household would hold a contest of spells with the Liu Household of Thousand Wood Mountain and the Zhuang Household of Dengzhuang Town. Each household could send three people, one each at the early, middle, and late stages of Qi Refining. The winner of two out of three matches would receive ten percent of the proceeds from the Wood-Born Copper Mine.

The news shocked Yang Tianyou, not because of the contest itself, but because word of the Wood-Born Copper Mine had gotten out so quickly.

As if understanding his confusion, Yang Haoyu shook her head slightly and offered a few words of explanation. Only then did Yang Tianyou understand.

The news of the Wood-Born Copper Mine had not leaked. The Yang Household had taken the initiative to invite the Liu and Zhuang Households to mine it together.

As the discoverer, and with considerable strength of its own, the Yang Household held a full sixty percent share.

The Liu and Zhuang Households each held a fifteen percent share. The Yang Household had originally intended to give each of them twenty percent, but Liu Changqing, an elder of the Liu Household, had proposed putting ten percent up as a prize for the younger generation of the three households to compete for. Whoever won would receive that share of the mine's proceeds.

And so the contest was settled.

"Tianyou, what do you think of this matter?"

Yang Haoyu took a small sip of tea and asked with a hint of scrutiny in her smile.

Hearing this, Yang Tianyou pondered briefly, then gave his opinion.

"Senior Liu Changqing of the Liu Household proposed this contest. Could it also be meant to test the younger generation of our Yang Household? After all, a lineage's future depends on its next generation, and that will directly affect how the Liu Household treats our Yang Household in the future."

"Besides, the Wood-Born Copper Mine lies on the border between Dengzhuang Town and Purple Moon Town, so giving a share to the Zhuang Household, one of Dengzhuang Town's two major lineages, is appropriate."

"After all, the Zhuang Household can help shield us from a great many desperate Rogue Cultivators coveting the mine. And the three of us did kill three cultivators of the Deng Lineage. That white-robed elder in particular must have held a fairly high position in the Deng Lineage. In that case, supporting the Zhuang Household can also suppress the Deng Lineage to some extent. It's a way of using one force against another."

"As for giving a share to the Liu Household, on one hand, the Wood-Born Copper Mine really isn't far from them. On the other hand, it's naturally because the Liu Household is strong enough to claim a share even from five or six hundred li away."

"So I think the heart of the matter is still strength. Our Yang Household isn't strong enough, and we don't have a Foundation Establishment cultivator to spare to guard the Wood-Born Copper Mine. Otherwise, we wouldn't have to give the Liu Household and the Deng Lineage shares in the mine, letting them gain such a great advantage for nothing."

Having said this, Yang Tianyou sighed softly and fell silent.

Sitting opposite him, Yang Haoyu, the Yang Household's ancestor, looked at Yang Tianyou with surprise and delight in her eyes. Those words truly did not sound like something a fifteen-year-old child could have said.

Although he fell a little short in his understanding of human affairs and was limited by his experience, being able to see the heart of the problem and identify several key points was already commendable.

Yang Haoyu valued Yang Tianyou even more now, and her desire to nurture him grew stronger. First, she smiled affectionately, then added, "Everything you said is right, but it isn't complete."

"Let me ask you: what does a lineage need to flourish and endure for a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand years?"

Yang Tianyou thought for a moment and replied, "Internally, it needs to nurture talent and establish a reasonable system of rewards and punishments, promoting the capable and demoting the mediocre, while keeping the lineage's system healthy and active."

"Externally, it should actively expand, strive boldly, and keep developing outward, ensuring the lineage remains full of drive and ambition."

"Good. Everything you said is right, but externally, ambition alone isn't enough. Much of the time, outside help is also extremely important."

Yang Haoyu had truly come to like this junior now, and she took considerable care in guiding him.

"The Lu Wu Realm is vast and boundless. Purple Moon Town, where our Yang Household resides, is no more than a drop in the ocean. If we want to grow from that drop into rivers and lakes, and then into a boundless sea, relying on our own strength alone is nowhere near enough!"

"Take the Gold and Silver Alliance, a major sect in the Northern River Region. Its founding Old Ancestor was said to have originally been no more than a mortal merchant."

"By a chance opportunity, that Old Ancestor was found to have a Spirit Root and was able to set foot on the great path of cultivation. After becoming a cultivator, he did not abandon his business methods, though his way of doing business was somewhat unusual. Besides ordinary trade, what he liked most was investing in declining lineages, sects, and talented people."

"And so, day after day and year after year, no one knew how many Spirit Stones he spent. Over more than a thousand years, he built an incomparably vast network of connections for the Gold and Silver Alliance."

"If that were all, it would hardly be a legend. But three hundred years after the Gold and Silver Alliance's Old Ancestor passed away, a major power finally set its sights on the alliance's wealth and made its move."

"Having lost its Old Ancestor, the Gold and Silver Alliance had also lost its greatest deterrent. The major powers all thought it would decline from then on, but to their surprise, that major power had stirred up a hornet's nest."

"At the same time, five powers of equal standing declared war on it. What's more, Chen Qiaosheng, the sword immortal of his generation, sent out a Sword Invitation and, across ten thousand li of mountains and rivers, nailed the major power's sect master to death inside his sect with a single sword strike. From then on, the Gold and Silver Alliance's prestige shook the world, and no one dared set their sights on its wealth again."

"Afterward, someone investigated and discovered that the powers that had intervened had all received help from the Gold and Silver Alliance's Old Ancestor. Chen Qiaosheng, the sword immortal of his generation, had even been personally taught by the Old Ancestor for more than ten years in his youth. He owed him an immense debt of gratitude."

"Yet before this, no one had known of these connections. If the Gold and Silver Alliance had not faced the danger of destruction, they might have remained hidden forever."

At this point, Yang Haoyu took another sip of Spirit Tea. Looking at the thoughtful Yang Tianyou, she smiled faintly and said no more.

How much he understood, and what he grasped, depended on him. Some things had to be learned through one's own practice before they truly counted.

After a while, Yang Tianyou came back to his senses and bowed to Yang Haoyu.

"Thank you for your teaching, Old Ancestor. I understand. An individual's strength has its limits, but the strength of all beings is boundless. The Lu Wu Realm has always been dominated by groups and sects. If our Yang Household wants to develop, besides needing to be strong ourselves to forge iron, we cannot do without outside allies, relatives by marriage, or even Rogue Cultivator friends. Only then can we travel far and stand firm."

"Good, good, good! You are a child worth teaching. My guidance has not been wasted. Our Yang Household has produced a qilin child! Hahaha..."

Yang Haoyu laughed heartily, her eyes full of satisfaction.

After that, ancestor and descendant chatted for a while longer before Yang Tianyou finally asked, "May I ask, Old Ancestor, what exactly awakened in my golden eyes? Why can't I use it even now that my body has stabilized?"

"That should be a Divine Ability Prototype!"

At this, Yang Haoyu's expression grew slightly solemn.

"A Divine Ability Prototype?"