Whether to Accept

The demands put forth by Meng Jingshan, Clan Leader of the Xinghua Village Meng Family, were indeed somewhat excessive.

If the current circumstances of Xie Rongxuan, head of the Xie Family, Li Jiaheng, head of the Li Family, and Sun Mingrui, head of the Sun Family, were exchanged with those of Meng Jingshan, Clan Leader of the Xinghua Village Meng Family, and Wu Bochang, head of the Wu Family, then the actions of those three would likely have been far harsher than Meng Jingshan's.

Whether for a Ranked Family or a Lesser Cultivation Family, the title of a Ranked Family was not all that important. It was merely the aspiration of all clan members in Ranked Families and Lesser Cultivation Families. What truly upheld a family's prestige was its foundation and strength.

And what supported the foundation and strength of a Ranked Family or Lesser Cultivation Family was naturally the various family industries under its name.

Only family industries could provide a Ranked Family or Lesser Cultivation Family with abundant foundation and strength. As for something as illusory as the title of a Ranked Family, it was better discarded than kept!

When the Xinghua Village Meng Family had first risen to prominence, although it did not possess the title of a Ranked Family, no Ranked Family or Lesser Cultivation Family in Qingyang County Territory had dared look down upon it!

If the Ranked Family titles of the Xie Family, Li Family, and Sun Family were revoked by the Great Yu Immortal Dynasty or Qingyuan County Magistrate Zhou Qingyuan, there would be nothing they could do about it. So long as those three Ranked Families could preserve their own family industries intact, they would eventually rise again.

But now, Meng Jingshan, Clan Leader of the Xinghua Village Meng Family, had publicly