Support! Playing with Hearts!
Night had fallen on the back mountain.
Moonlight poured like water over the massive boulder at the entrance to the Spirit Vein, illuminating the black bear crouched atop it like a small mountain.
Sun Bo'an knelt more than ten zhang away, drenched in cold sweat and afraid to breathe too loudly.
He had been kneeling for half a shichen.
As long as Shi Jian did not speak, he dared not move.
The mountain-like Yao Qi weighed on him until he could barely breathe. The might of a Foundation Establishment greater yao was a hundred times more terrifying than he had imagined.
"Speak."
At last, a deep, lazy voice rang out. As if imbued with some kind of magic, it instantly dispelled the pressure bearing down on Sun Bo'an.
Sun Bo'an jolted and hastily kowtowed. "This junior is Sun Bo'an, an elder of the Sun Clan's third branch. On behalf of the third branch's disciples, I pay my respects to Old Ancestor Shi!"
"I know who you are, and I know why you've come." No joy or anger could be discerned in Shi Jian's voice. "That old thing Sun Hangchun is biased, and you resent it. You want me to stand up for you."
"Say whatever you have to say. You can't hide those little schemes of yours from me."
Sun Bo'an trembled, towering waves surging in his heart.
How... how could he know?
"Old Ancestor, your insight is true!" He had no time to think further and kowtowed again. "This junior does not ask Senior to seek justice for us. I only beg Senior to give our third branch a way to survive!"
"A way to survive?" Shi Jian chuckled. "Why should I give you one?"
"What does the dog-eat-dog fighting among you humans have to do with me? I recognize only Spirit Stones. Whoever gives me more offerings is my friend."
"Besides, as far as I'm concerned,"
"You are a Sun Clan disciple, and so are they. I, your old ancestor, will only safeguard the Sun Clan's survival. I won't concern myself with anything else."
Sun Bo'an's face went pale, and his heart sank to the bottom of the valley.
He gritted his teeth, took a Storage Bag from his robes and offered it up with both hands. "This is everything our third branch could scrape together: one hundred and twenty low-grade Spirit Stones, and a few unremarkable spiritual herbs...
"I beg the Old Ancestor to take pity on us!"
Shi Jian glanced at the shriveled Storage Bag, without even the interest to lift a paw.
"One hundred and twenty Spirit Stones, and you think you can buy your third branch's future?"
His voice abruptly turned cold.
"Sun Bo'an, are you trying to fob off a beggar, or do you think the price of having me act is so cheap?"
A wave of icy killing intent descended upon him. Sun Bo'an felt as though he had fallen into an ice cave, and his teeth began to chatter.
"This junior wouldn't dare! I..."
"Wouldn't dare?" Shi Jian slowly sat up, his enormous shadow completely enveloping Sun Bo'an. "I'll give you a chance to name another price."
"I don't want your Spirit Stones."
A hint of amusement appeared on Shi Jian's bear face:
"I want you and the third branch behind you to work for me."
Sun Bo'an jerked his head up, his eyes full of astonishment.
"Starting today, I don't care how Sun Hangchun divides the Sun Clan's three hundred mu of spiritual fields," Shi Jian said unhurriedly. "I only want all the produce your third branch grows..."
"All of it. You won't have to hand it over to the Sun Clan, nor will you have to pay Sun Hangchun any mind."
"You only need to listen to me."
Sun Bo'an's breathing quickened, and his heart pounded wildly.
Was he asking him to betray the Lineage?
"Of course, I won't make you work for nothing." As if seeing through his thoughts, Shi Jian cast out a bait he could not refuse.
"Half the produce goes to me. The remaining half belongs entirely to your third branch."
"Also..." Shi Jian raised a bear paw, and a Jade Slip flew from its palm, landing in front of Sun Bo'an.
"This is a Cultivation Method called the Thick Earth Essence Cultivation Instruction. It belongs to the Lin Clan, and it suits cultivators like you, who specialize in growing crops, better than your Sun Clan's Azure Wood Everlasting Spring Art."
"It is also a legacy that leads directly to the Foundation Establishment Realm."
"From now on, I will protect your branch well, and the Sun Clan's future will be controlled by your branch..."
"As for Sun Hangchun, or the first and second branches, all of them will become things of the past."
"And you, Sun Bo'an, will become the Sun Clan's new successor, its new patriarch. All you need to pay is half the entire clan's income."
"Well?"
"Whether you establish your own line and become its ancestor, or toil your lives away for the first and second branches for generations, the choice is yours. Don't choose wrongly."
A beaming smile appeared on Shi Jian's bear face. There was hardly anything bearlike left in that expression; he looked just like the craftiest of merchants.
But the terms he offered really were tempting!
"Old Ancestor... I'm willing!"
"I'm willing to do anything!"
Sun Bo'an could no longer concern himself with anything else. Prostrate on the ground, he held the legacy Jade Slip above his head with both hands and knocked his forehead against the earth in the humblest posture.
"I, Sun Bo'an, on behalf of everyone in the third branch, am willing to die in the Old Ancestor's service!"
"From this day forth, my branch will obey the Old Ancestor's every command and follow his lead!"
Sun Bo'an had no talent for cultivation, nor did he possess exceptional cunning, but none of that mattered anymore, so long as he could stand up and carry on his own branch!
Nothing else mattered!
Even if he betrayed the Lineage and everyone else perished, as long as their third branch survived, the Sun Clan would still endure.
The Sun Clan would not have perished!
They would continue to pass down the Sun Clan's bloodline!
For that, Sun Bo'an was willing to pay any price and spare no sacrifice. Everything was for the Lineage, everything was for the Sun Clan.
Everything he had done today would prove utterly right!
He was the one who truly bore the burden of everything that was the Sun Clan!