"That would be me."
After spending so long as the third wheel, Tang San finally had a chance to make himself useful and eagerly stepped forward to make his presence felt.
Upon hearing that he was Tang Hao's son and the Tang Sect's sect master, Niu Gao grew excited, delighted, and tremblingly... vented all his resentment over losing the match, along with his years of dissatisfaction with the Clear Sky Sect, on him in one go.
Nothing else mattered. After all, with a certain Tang San's Soul King strength, he was nothing but a small fry, not worth taking seriously. In other words-
I'm picking on you. What are you going to do about it?!
And so, in an atmosphere where only Tang San got hurt, the Defense Clan successfully joined the Tang Sect, becoming part of this new family.
Niu Gao was a straightforward, generous man. Once they became familiar, he took the initiative to suggest drinking together to deepen their friendship. Lin Qian wasn't even afraid of Ten Thousand Drunk, so how could he fear a little booze?
And so the two used the biggest bowls to drink the strongest liquor, drinking freely all night long, and their friendship advanced by leaps and bounds.
As before, Lin Qian downplayed their hatred of Spirit Hall and spoke only of the benefits of joining the Tang Sect, while planning how to reform the Defense Clan in his mind. Through subtle psychological influence, he would change their hostility toward Spirit Hall little by little. This was destined to be a massive undertaking and couldn't be rushed.
The patriarchs of the Strength and Defense Clans were on very good terms. Once both clans had joined, they began plotting how to bring in another patriarch: Bai He of the Speed Clan.
A