At the same time, inside the study of the Langya Family Patriarch.
"I won't marry him!" Langya Xin smashed the teacup in her hand heavily onto the floor. Porcelain shards flew everywhere. "As your own daughter, don't I even have the right to choose the person I like?"
Langya Tianxing sat upright behind a rosewood desk, calmly watching his most beloved daughter fly into a rage.
The candlelight in the study flickered, reflecting the unquestionable resolve in his deep eyes.
"Xin'er, calm down." Langya Tianxing's voice was unhurried. "Mu Bai possesses extraordinary talent. The Grand Elder personally said that he may become a cornerstone-level powerhouse of our Langya Family in the future. A person like him must be bound to the family's chariot in the most secure way possible."
Langya Xin's cheeks flushed red with fury, tears welling in her almond-shaped eyes. "So I've become a bargaining chip for you to win over talent? Father, you weren't like this before!"
"The past was the past." Langya Tianxing sighed softly and rose, walking to the window with his back to his daughter. "Back then, you were still young, and I was nothing more than a green youth who had just taken over as family patriarch. But now, things are different..."
He turned around, his eyes gleaming with the cold severity unique to a family patriarch. "The situation among the Eight Great Families is growing ever more tense. Many families and sects are eyeing our position like tigers eyeing their prey. If the Langya Family wishes to stand firm through this crisis, we must seize every chance to strengthen ourselves. Mu Bai... is precisely such an opportunity."
Langya Xin shook her head and staggered back several steps, as though she were truly seeing her father for the first time. "Then what about