Ya Fei Was About to Give Birth

Though the Jia Ma Empire nominally belonged to the Gama Imperial Family, it was not a place where the Imperial Family had the final say.

Among the powers within it, the Misty Cloud Sect on Misty Cloud Mountain was a colossal force the Jia Ma Imperial Family could not ignore.

Besides them, the Snake-Person Tribe in the Tagor Desert was equally impossible to underestimate.

The former had two Dou Emperors: its previous sect master, Yun Shan, who had been in seclusion for a long time, with his fate still unknown, and its current sect master, Yun Yun.

The latter was ruled by the Snake-Person Tribe's queen, Medusa, a Dou Huang expert who was both alluring and cold-blooded.

One of these two forces had countless disciples, while the other had countless tribespeople.

The Jia Ma Imperial Family now relied on Jia Xingtian to hold things together on his own, as well as a divine beast within the Imperial Family.

But Jia Xingtian was old. Naturally, he preferred not to act and to keep things peaceful.

Still, watching the two forces grow stronger by the day was bound to make him nervous and feel the pressure.

At that moment, after reading all the reports, Jia Xingtian sank into thought.

He said, "First there was Xiao Yan, and now Xiao Yu. Xiao Zhan is blessed indeed, to have two such fine sons."

Xiao Yu had taken a master, and in the space of a year, his strength had risen from the Third Stage of Dou Qi to a Three-Star Dou Zhe. This news had long since reached the Jia Ma Imperial Family.

Jia Xingtian had learned of it at the time, but hadn't been particularly interested.

After all, when Xiao Yu's master had appeared, he had only demonstrated the ability to fly by transforming Dou Qi into wings.

That meant the man's strength was roughly on par with his own.

But Jia Xingtian no longer thought so. With his strength, it would be difficult to make the Amethyst Winged Lion King accept Xiao Yu as its master and bow its head to him.

After all, the Amethyst Winged Lion King was renowned as the ruler of the eastern part of the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

"Yao Ye, Xiao Yu just had a child. Arrange for someone to send a gift to the Xiao Clan. Also, notify the cities with Xiao Clan Medicine Shops and tell their local city lords to look after the clan."

Jia Xingtian had begun to consider recruiting a young man with such tremendous potential.

However, he remained restrained.

Possessing a Tier 6 Magical Beast was certainly frightening, but it wasn't enough to make the Imperial Family act like toadies. A suitable show of warmth would suffice.

What came next would depend on whether the Xiao Clan could return to the Imperial Capital to develop, and on the clan's attitude toward the Imperial Family.

"Of course, Grandfather."

Yao Ye agreed.

When Xiao Yu returned from the back mountain and entered the hall, he saw his father and the three elders beaming with excitement and delight.

"Father, who just came by?" Xiao Yu asked curiously.

He had been handling the pills and had heard that they had a visitor, but he couldn't leave at the time. He had only just returned.

"Clan Leader, someone from the Imperial Family came especially to deliver gifts to our Xiao Clan." The Great Elder's aged face was wreathed in smiles, and the hand holding his teacup trembled nonstop.

The Second Elder looked deeply moved. "It's been so many years since the Xiao Clan left the Imperial Capital. We haven't had any contact with people over there in all that time."

"We have the young clan leader to thank for that." The Third Elder rose to his feet and suddenly bowed to Xiao Yu.

So it was someone from the Jia Ma Imperial Family... Hearing their words, Xiao Yu understood. His expression remained calm and indifferent.

It was only the Jia Ma Imperial Family. On the Dou Qi Continent, they weren't all that impressive.

The attitude of a mere imperial family wasn't enough to stir Xiao Yu's emotions.

He had three trial cards for summoning. He had used only one, which meant the Xiao Clan could still have two Tier 6 Magical Beasts.

With that combined strength, Xiao Yu could overturn the Jia Ma Imperial Family if he wanted to. It wouldn't be much of a problem.

"All right, you're all old enough to know better. How can your composure be worse than a child's?"

Xiao Zhan had also been smiling, but when he saw his son's expression, he quickly wiped the smile away and put on a stern face to lecture the three elders.

The moment they saw Xiao Yu, the three of them had started heaping praise on him.

Xiao Yu felt a little helpless and found a chair to sit down.

The Third Elder briskly waved away the servant who had stepped forward, taking over the job of pouring Xiao Yu's tea.

"Third Elder, sit down first. I have something to say." Xiao Yu's tone was calm and natural.

Xiao Zhan and the three elders didn't find anything strange about it at all.

They grew serious, putting aside their other feelings.

Xiao Yu said, "We'll stop expanding the medicine shops for now."

"Young clan leader..."

The Great Elder was the first to lose his composure.

No one had expected Xiao Yu to open with such a bombshell.

But as soon as he started to speak, he saw Xiao Yu raise a hand toward him. The question on the tip of his tongue was swallowed back down.

Xiao Yu continued, "There's no end to how much money we can make. You've all seen the Xiao Clan's problems lately. What the clan lacks now is people—clan members strong enough to hold their own.

"From now on, aside from the money needed to purchase essential raw materials, use everything else to buy cultivation manuals and Dou Techniques.

"Father, Elders, you need to cultivate and raise your strength."

A flush of shame spread across their faces, and a hint of awkwardness showed in their expressions.

Being spoken to like this by a junior made it hard to hold their heads up.

Yet they couldn't find any reason to argue back.

"If any of the Xiao Clan disciples sent out have good cultivation talent, don't hesitate to invest in them. The clan isn't short of money now. Give them all the resources we couldn't provide before..."

Xiao Yu explained the general direction to them, then left the hall.

Since he had been reborn as a member of the Xiao Clan, Xiao Yu naturally wanted to see it thrive.

But he couldn't make that happen by himself.

Wutan City, or even the Jia Ma Empire, wasn't Xiao Yu's ultimate goal. He and his father and the three elders didn't share the same horizons.

In the future, he would certainly have to go to the Central Plains, the heart of the Dou Qi Continent.

By then, the Xiao Clan's business would extend far beyond the area around Wutan City, and they would need more and more people.

It wasn't realistic to rely entirely on Xiao Clan members to oversee everything, but whether they hired outside help or not, the clan still needed some strength of its own to keep others in check.

Besides, the incident in Green Mountain Town had made things very clear to Xiao Yu.

A mere handful of Dou Masters had caused enough trouble to force a clan leader to act personally. What kind of situation was that?

In the hall.

Xiao Zhan and the three elders had been excited and just a little proud because people from the Imperial Capital had come.

But after Xiao Yu's words, they had been brought back down to earth and forced to face reality.

The Xiao Clan seemed to be flourishing, but in truth, it was all thanks to Xiao Yu.

Could the Xiao Clan afford to slack off?

Of course not.

Otherwise, wouldn't the four of them become nothing but leeches sucking Xiao Yu dry?

"Great Elder, contact the Mittal Auction House later and buy some cultivation manuals and Dou Techniques from them," Xiao Zhan said solemnly.

The Great Elder nodded. "All right."

Xiao Zhan said, "We'll raise the monthly stipends for all the Xiao Clan disciples by an appropriate amount. Also, draw up a completely new set of rules. Rewards shouldn't only go to those who bring in good sales; people should be rewarded for improving their strength as well. We need every member of the Xiao Clan to work hard at cultivation."

The four of them followed Xiao Yu's suggestions and filled in the details.

Toward the end of their discussion, the Second Elder sighed. "Come to think of it, we've been expanding nonstop lately and overlooked how hard the young clan leader has been working. He's under a lot of pressure making all those medicines, and he still has to cultivate."

The other three nodded silently.

After the three elders left, Xiao Zhan remained seated. He clenched his fist and silently resolved to cultivate diligently from then on, and try to break through to Dou Ling as soon as possible.

Following Xiao Yu's suggestions, the Xiao Clan shifted from relentless expansion to steady development. Everyone worked hard to grow stronger.

Time flew by, and soon the day came for Ya Fei to give birth.

This was Xiao Yu's third child.

Unlike when Li Qian had given birth to his first child, Xiao Yu's strength and status had risen, and so had his influence within the clan.

Now, even the birth of one of his children drew several times more attention.