Old Matters

The Great Jin Immortal Dynasty had been founded for eight thousand years, and now occupied the lands of nineteen provinces.

The Liang Family was located in Ludong County, Luyang Commandery, under Yang Province, in the eastern reaches of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty, while Ning Province lay in the southwest of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty. Between the two provinces stood the two provinces of Jing Province and Yi Province.

Even counting only the straight-line distance between the two provinces, it was more than two hundred thousand li.

Liang Zhaohuang took the decoded "Wood Lotus" and immediately went to find the clan leader, Liang Xuelin. The clan leader at once summoned Liang Xuegui and Liang Zhaojun as well.

The four gathered once more, and Liang Zhaohuang activated the "Wood Lotus" again, causing a screen of light to manifest.

They carefully studied the contents recorded within the light screen and confirmed the existence of the Five Elements Foundation Establishment cultivation method, which filled them with delight.

However, the Cave Mansion where the cultivation method was located was in Ning Province, and that left them all with brows knitted, unable to find a way forward.

"Ning Province is too far away. On top of that, crossing provinces will inevitably require passing through stretches of wilderness, with all sorts of dangers. Three years might not even be enough for a round trip."

Fifth Uncle Liang Xuegui spoke at this moment with a furrowed brow and a bitter expression:

"Could it be that we can only give up the family estate here?"

"Take a Cloud Ship!" Liang Zhaojun said directly at this moment. "Go to the provincial city and take an interprovincial Cloud Ship straight to Ning Province."

"That's the fastest method, and also the safest."

Hearing this, Liang Xuegui still frowned and said, "But taking an interprovincial Cloud Ship has a threshold. Our Liang Family hasn't entered the ninth rank, so I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to board."

At this time, the clan leader, Liang Xuelin, said in a deep voice, "Then we can only go to the Wang Family and ask for a Name Card."

The Wang Family!

At the sound of those words, the expressions of the people present turned somewhat complicated for a moment, but no one objected.

Though they were unwilling to go and beg the Wang Family, this was the only feasible method.

Clan leader Liang Xuelin looked at the others, and in the end still said to Liang Zhaohuang, "Zhaohuang, tomorrow you and I will set out together and make a trip to the commandery city."

"Yes, clan leader," Liang Zhaohuang immediately answered.

The next day, the two set out. Luyang Commandery City was over a thousand li from Liangyuan Village, and even traveling with Wind-Walking Talismans, it still took the two nearly three days before they finally reached the commandery city.

The Wang Family of Luyang Commandery was located in Yuhai Ward within the commandery city. Among the ninth-rank aristocratic clans, it was a sixth-rank commandery magnate family, with a Golden Core cultivator presiding over the clan.

The reason an unranked humble family like the Liang Family could have any connection with a sixth-rank commandery magnate family like the Wang Family was tied to an old matter within the family from years ago.

The first-generation clan leader of the Liang Family, who was also Liang Zhaohuang's grandfather and was called Saint Duke Liang within the clan, was the one who had established the Liang Family.

Saint Duke Liang had five children. From eldest to youngest, they were Liang Xuexin, Liang Xuelin, Liang Xuemiao, Liang Xueyan, and Liang Xuegui—four sons and one daughter, among whom Liang Xuemiao was the only woman.

Around fifty-some years ago, this aunt of Liang Zhaohuang's happened to encounter a young master of the Wang Family, and that young master took a fancy to her.

After Liang Zhaohuang's grandfather, Saint Duke Liang, learned of it, he made the decision to marry her to that Wang Family young master as a concubine, using this to climb into relations with the commandery magnate Wang Family.

It was also because of the Wang Family's care that the Liang Family was able to take over the area of Mulberry Garden Town, then rename it Liangyuan Village, and from then on gradually develop.

However, not everyone within the Liang Family had agreed with Saint Duke Liang's conduct of selling his daughter for glory.

In this world of cultivation, becoming someone's concubine was actually not much different from becoming a "cultivation furnace." Not only was there no personal freedom, one's entire cultivation had to be used to nourish another person. It could be said that there was no hope at all.

Among Saint Duke Liang's five children, the one who opposed it most fiercely was Liang Zhaohuang's father, the fourth child, Liang Xueyan.

Liang Xueyan and his third elder sister, Liang Xuemiao, were male-female twins born of the same father and mother. Back then, because of this matter, he had even run away from home, directly leaving the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty for the East Sea, where he joined a cultivation sect.

Liang Zhaohuang had actually been born in the East Sea. It was just that when he was very young, his father had sent him back to the Liang Family, and he had then grown up in the Liang Family.

As for Liang Xuemiao, because she had been "sacrificed," she in truth held no small amount of resentment toward the Liang Family.

But on the other hand, to gain a foothold in the Wang Family, she needed the Liang Family's support, so she had no choice but to barely maintain contact with them.

As for the other members of the Liang Family, they always felt guilty toward Liang Xuemiao, and when facing the Wang Family, they also had an inferiority that made them feel a head shorter. Their feelings could be called complicated.

Thus, over these years, apart from sending some disciples to join the Wang Family's teams in fighting and killing at the borderlands of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty—first, to earn merit in hopes of exchanging it for a Foundation Establishment Realm Five Elements cultivation method, and second, because this was also a demand the Wang Family made of vassal families like the Liang Family—and apart from sending some gifts during festivals and holidays, in ordinary times, the members of the Liang Family were actually not willing to set foot through the Wang Family's gates lightly.

But this time, for the future of the family, Liang Xuelin and Liang Zhaohuang had no choice but to seek out the Wang Family and ask for help.

With the status of Liang Zhaohuang and his companion, they were not qualified to enter through the Wang Family's main gate. They could only knock on the side gate, then, under the indifferent gazes of the Wang Family servants, state their identities and origins. In the end, they handed over five low-grade spirit stones and a letter, asking the other party to deliver them to Young Master Wang Hui.

Wang Hui was the son of Liang Zhaohuang's aunt—in other words, Liang Zhaohuang's older cousin.

For Liang Xuemiao to be able to give birth to a son in the Wang Family while bearing the status of a concubine showed that she did have some ability.

However, because he was a son born of a concubine, Liang Zhaohuang's older cousin Wang Hui was only an illegitimate son of the Wang Family. He had not even been entered into the Wang Family genealogy, and his name had not been assigned according to the generational character.

So strictly speaking, Wang Hui could not really be counted as a "young master" within the Wang Family.

The Wang Family servant gave a cold laugh, but perhaps for the sake of the spirit stones, he did not say anything more. He took the spirit stones and the letter, then left.

Liang Zhaohuang and Liang Xuelin found a teahouse near the Wang Family and sat down to wait for news.

They waited a full hour before Wang Hui finally arrived.

Wang Hui was twenty-seven this year, with somewhat androgynous features and cultivation at the ninth layer of Qi Refining.

"Cousin, over here." Liang Zhaohuang immediately went up to greet him and led him into a private booth in the teahouse.

Clan leader Liang Xuelin was an elder, after all, so he sat in the booth and waited.

"Cousin." Wang Hui nodded slightly to Liang Zhaohuang. The two entered the booth, and he then paid his respects to Liang Xuelin, saying, "Greetings, Second Uncle."

"All right." The clan chief, Liang Xuelin, nodded in return, then asked, "Has your mother been well lately?"

"She's all right. Mother has taken a liking to growing flowers recently," Wang Hui replied.

After the few of them chatted idly for a bit, the clan chief, Liang Xuelin, turned to the main topic and explained that he wished to obtain a Name Card from the Wang Family.

"I wonder what Second Uncle needs a Wang Family Name Card for?" Wang Hui asked.

Having a Wang Family Name Card in hand represented the commandery's prestigious Wang Family. If someone used it to do anything, it would implicate the Wang Family. Therefore, these cultivation clans were all quite cautious about the Name Cards they issued.

The clan chief, Liang Xuelin, did not conceal it, but he did not tell the whole story either. He only said that he needed to ride a cross-state Cloud Ship and had to borrow a Wang Family Name Card for that.

When Wang Hui heard this, he frowned slightly and said with difficulty, "Originally, since Second Uncle has asked, your nephew naturally ought to satisfy your request."

"It's just that you all know the awkward position Mother and I have in the Wang Family. They say we are Wang Family descendants, but in truth, sometimes we are not even treated as well as a steward."

"As for trying to get a Name Card out..." As Wang Hui spoke, he frowned and shook his head. "Difficult!"

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