When the Weather Turns Cold, Let the Wang Family Go Bankrupt

[Important Document No. 168]

[Notice Regarding the Organization of the Mount Longhu Luotian Grand Ceremony]

[In the name of the company and Perfected Lin, one of the newly appointed Ten Elders, all espers across the nation are summoned to Mount Longhu to attend the Luotian Grand Ceremony!]

[The Luotian Grand Ceremony will be hosted by Tianshi Mansion on Mount Longhu and funded by Lu Jin of the Ten Elders...]

The moment the news spread across the espers' exclusive forum, it caused an uproar.

"The Luotian Grand Ceremony is meant to select the next Celestial Master. Why are outsiders being allowed to participate?"

"I heard it was the result of a Ten Elders Council meeting. Supposedly, it's because of some guy named Zhang Chulan and the Eight Extraordinary Skills behind him."

"Not just Qi-State Origin-Flow. This time, Senior Lu Jin is even offering the Connecting Heaven Talisman as a reward."

"By the way, what are the Eight Extraordinary Skills?"

"Holy shit, Zhang Chulan carries that much weight? So many big shots are tangled up with him, and even the company has stepped in."

"Kid above, your news is outdated. Zhang Chulan isn't with the company. After trading a few moves with Perfected Lingyu, he was supposedly recruited by the World Association. Feng Zhenghao and one of the newly appointed Ten Elders are backing him."

"Am I the only one paying attention to the Ten Elders list?"

"The Wang Family? Where did Wang Ai go?!"

"When the weather turns cold, let the Wang Family go bankrupt."

Feng Zhenghao sat in the chairman's office with his fingers interlaced. Light glinted faintly off his glasses as he looked down at the fallen leaves carpeting the ground below. He said calmly, "Wang Ai is no longer one of the Ten Elders."

"Father, are we really just letting the Wang Family off?" Feng Shayan asked in astonishment. "Back then, they did that to Great-Grandfather..."

"No matter what, the Wang Family spared my grandfather, Feng Tianyang, back then." Feng Zhenghao smiled kindly. "Naturally, the Wind Family will not drive the Wang Family to extinction."

Feng Shayan froze slightly. She could not remember her father ever being softhearted toward anyone outside the family.

"Letting them off? My dear niece," Zhang Chulan said with a grin, sprawled lazily across the sofa. "President Feng hasn't let the Wang Family off at all."

"Who's your niece?!" Feng Shayan glared at him furiously.

"Sis, calm down, calm down." Feng Xingtong hurriedly grabbed her and soothed her. "There's a generational difference, a generational difference. Senior Zhang Xilin and our great-grandfather Feng Tianyang were sworn brothers. Technically, we're the juniors."

"This is the benefit of marrying late and having children late," Zhang Chulan muttered.

"Don't spout nonsense just because you're from an older generation." Feng Shayan's face turned cold. "The Wang Family is still alive. How does that count as revenge?"

"Revenge? You have no idea how miserable the Wang Family is." Zhang Chulan sprang off the sofa and said leisurely, "It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury to frugality. Taking a capitalist's property hurts them more than killing them."

"What does it mean to be worse off alive than dead? This is what it means."

"Making those young masters who never lifted a finger to do housework go out and work for a living themselves. Making Wang Family members who once spent money like water argue until they're red in the face with vegetable vendors over a few dollars."

"That's killing without spilling blood."

"Look."

As he spoke, Zhang Chulan took out his phone and showed it to the Feng Family members. It displayed news from the esper world, and the headline read: [Shocking! Wang Bing, once the young master of the Wang Family, has fallen so low that he robbed ordinary people!]

Scrolling down revealed nothing but reports about Wang Bing. One official report was a detention notice from the company: Wang Bing and several members of the Wang Family had attacked ordinary people, were reported, and were arrested on the spot.

"Wang Bing?" Feng Shayan pondered. She knew of him. He had a poor reputation in esper circles. Though he was fairly strong, his temperament and conduct were terrible.

But having a bad temperament did not mean he was stupid. Did Wang Bing really have the nerve to attack ordinary people—and get discovered and arrested on the spot afterward?

"An esper attacking ordinary people is a serious crime." Feng Xingtong sighed, the smile in his eyes never fading.

"Falling from heaven into hell—the difference in treatment is like clouds and mud." Zhang Chulan said meaningfully, "The psychological shock brought by such a tremendous contrast makes people more likely to go to extremes. Don't you agree, President Feng?"

Feng Zhenghao's expression barely changed. He merely slipped a report about ordinary World Group employees being attacked by Wang-surnamed espers into a drawer, then stressed in a grave tone, "It truly is unexpected that the Wang Family would produce espers like this. As one of the Ten Elders, I am deeply grieved as well."

"Shayan, Xingtong, Chulan, remember that obeying the law is every esper's social responsibility and moral obligation."

"As disciples of the Ten Elders, you must set an even better example."

"You're absolutely right!" Zhang Chulan laughed. Then his expression abruptly turned solemn, and he swung his fist as he shouted, "All evil shall be brought to justice!"

"Alright, you may all leave now." Feng Zhenghao nodded, then looked toward Lin Xian, who was playing Gomoku with Feng Baobao in the lounge. He smiled kindly. "Perfected Lin and I have matters to discuss."

The Feng siblings nodded and withdrew, with Zhang Chulan following close behind. Looking at the two figures playing chess, he fell into thought.

Before those two had come to the World Association, the Feng Family and Wang Family had been evenly matched. After they arrived, the Wang Family immediately plummeted into decline, with trouble springing up everywhere.

Was it really a coincidence?

"This is a coincidence," Zhang Chulan murmured. One's identity determined one's position. He was now a shareholder employee of the World Association, so naturally he had to believe that the Wang Family's misfortune was punishment from Heaven for their sins. It was all a coincidence.

"Stop looking, Uncle Zhang. My dad is going to teach Perfected Lin Spirit Summoning and Dispatching." Feng Xingtong stepped forward and pulled Zhang Chulan away from the doorway. He chuckled. "Unless you become my dad's son-in-law, he won't teach it to you."

"Xingtong..." Feng Shayan's eerie voice rang out. The three immediately descended into chaos and ran downstairs.

"They didn't even close the door."

Feng Zhenghao shook his head and looked at Lin Xian apologetically. "I've made a fool of myself before Perfected Lin."

"It is perfectly normal for juniors to fool around. President Feng, let's begin."

Lin Xian took a deep breath and looked toward the clusters of black smoky spiritual energy behind Feng Zhenghao. That was Spirit Summoning and Dispatching, one of the Eight Extraordinary Skills.

Ever since arriving in this world, he had dedicated himself to combining Qi-State Origin-Flow with the Shrouding Method, hoping to nurture something of his own, seek out the shared laws of immortality between the two worlds, and explore the earliest Source.

Then, some time ago, a conversation with Xu Xiang had allowed him to see his true nature clearly. It had strengthened his Dao and heart, allowing him to pierce through the fog and push open the gate to the Divine Bridge realm.

Though he had not entered that realm, he had used this opportunity to see through some of the truth behind the Eight Extraordinary Skills and find the most fundamental aspect of Qi-State Origin-Flow—Primordial Qi!

He had conducted an experiment on Xu Xiang and received obvious results.

Xu Xiang, who had originally been able to do nothing but lie in bed and await death, relying on divine power to prolong his life, suddenly became full of vigor. It was as if he had lived a second life and returned to the peak of his existence.

Though that peak had lasted only an instant, fleeting as an epiphyllum bloom, Xu Xiang died without any suspense after that brief pinnacle.

Yet the state he had reached in that moment could not have been false.

Thus, Lin Xian had come here. Spirit Summoning and Dispatching was not his Dao, but perhaps it could help him find resonance.