Sorry, I forgot to schedule the automatic release.
Seeing that the atmosphere had grown somewhat heavy, Chen Xiaojun hastily changed the subject. "What do you two elders think about the Tang Family absorbing the Mountain-Breaking Giant Hammer Lineage?"
At those words, both Chen Yu and Chen Cong fell into thought, their brows tightly furrowed. For a moment, the air seemed to freeze.
After a while, Chen Cong was the first to break the brief silence, a hint of surprise in his voice. "I really never expected those people from the Clear Sky Sect to resort to something like this. It's a far cry from their usual way of doing things."
Chen Yu nodded lightly, his expression grave. "They were probably driven to it. Several successive calamities have cost them too many people. After all, the Snowmen Tribe aren't easy opponents to deal with. Holding the road south into the Empire Central District all by themselves has been a real struggle."
Chen Cong gave a slight nod and said solemnly, "They really are short-handed. The intervals between calamities keep getting shorter, and they can't raise people fast enough to replace their losses."
"Xiaojun once pointed out that the greatest difficulty soul masters face is that whenever someone dies, training a new soul master takes decades."
Hearing this, Chen Yu gave Chen Xiaojun an approving look and replied, "Exactly. Xiaojun captured the heart of it in a single sentence."
Chen Cong raised his head and gazed into the distance. His lingering sigh carried the weariness of someone who had weathered the world. "In the face of death and the continuation of a family's bloodline, any style or stance becomes utterly insignificant, no more than dust."
He paused, seemingly calculating something in his head, then continued, "The Tang Family probably only has