The branch family masters came to a rather secluded pavilion and sat there after leaving Fane’s living quarters.One of them then spoke, “Everyone, do you think we can rely on Young Master Fane? It concerns me, seeing as he had just returned to the Woods family. I think that many people can’t accept him yet, and Lily might work against him. Moreover, he’s yet to settle down. Do you think he can truly help us?”Another old man smilingly replied, “It matters not to me if he can help us or not. It was already difficult for him to say what he said today, but he even invited us for a meal to boot. I’ve already kept my opinion to myself for a very long time. I feel much more comfortable after I say it out.”“Haha… Exactly! I feel much at ease too!” Lancelot laughed. He then said, “How about this: Let’s all slowly leave the main family tomorrow morning. You can wait for me at the bottom of Dragon Mountain, which isn’t far from the main family. I’ll go talk to Fane tomorrow and see what he
Joan gave a bitter smile. “Why should I hate you?” she said. “I did hate you at the start—I hated how weak you were, and how you couldn’t take care of us!”Here, she heaved a sigh and stood up. “But I no longer hate you. I know that you truly love me, and I can feel your sincerity,” she continued. “I also understand your helplessness. You are in this position after all. And your father and your family would never have approved of us even back then. Besides, as the master of the family, you must always take the Woods family into account!”“Thank you, Joan. Thank you for being so understanding and forgiving!”Nash’s eyes reddened. “Or maybe this is God’s punishment, to make me, the master of the Woods family, die on a bed instead of a battlefield,” he added. “I thought of plenty of ways I could die, but I never thought that I would be poisoned!”Joan turned around and looked at Nash, smiling. “Don’t be so pessimistic. Fane’s very skilled in medicine. I believe that there will be a wa
Nash flashed a grin. “Well, we’ve always made them pay 50 percent. But we’ve raised this by 10 percent in recent years for the sake of developing the main family, so they give 60 percent. There’s no way about it though. The branch family members have to make some sacrifices to help some of us get stronger.”Here, appreciation crossed Nash’s expression. “The branch family members are pretty good. The Third Elder said it himself—they truly understand us, and they fully cooperate with us. They even give the best-spirited grass to us. I’m thinking of reverting the tithing to 50 percent after the main family is more stabilized.”It was just as Fane had thought it would be. The Third Elder and Lily had been lying to everyone by taking plenty of resources for the enhancement of martial status for themselves. “So you’ve never increased the tithing after raising it to 60 percent? Not even once?”Fane asked again just to make sure.“No!”Nash did not think twice before answering, “60 perc
When he heard this, warmth filled Fane’s heart. “Don’t worry. I’ll help to treat your condition,” he said, smiling. “Now I’m suspecting that it was Lily who administered the poison. She already sent assassins after me in Middle Province. Who’s to say that she won’t do something like this!”“Ah. She sent assassins after you, and the Ninth Patronum—who are in a good relationship with the Third Elder and the others—was waiting to kill you at the entrance. Furthermore, she joined hands with the Third Elder to take some of the martial art resources for themselves by raising the tithe. They’ve made their linkage clear before us!”Fane released a sigh. “I’d be a fool to not believe it even after all this!” he said impatiently.“What should we do now, Father? I think it’ll be difficult. After all, the Third Elder is a powerful chi practitioner. The only one who can probably match him now is the First Elder! That’s why we have no way of weeding them out.“And Lily is no slouch either. More
Nash frowned, deep in thought.It took a long while before he finally replied, “It’s a good idea, Fane, but it’s too dangerous. Once we hand the responsibility over to other elders, it’s as though we know about how Lily and the other have secretly extorted 70 to 80 percent of martial resources from the branch families. If the other elders know about this, we can’t pretend that we are oblivious about it. Here, Nash paused for a while before continuing, “Once the elders from the main family find out about this, chaos will erupt. We’ll enter a war anyway!”“Ah!”Fane heaved a sigh. He thought about it before saying, “Then why don’t I secretly convey your opinions to the branch families? I’ll get them to hold out for one or two months. We’ll revert the tithe to 50 percent after you get better. But I do have an idea to give some benefits to the branch families!”“Oh? Let’s hear it out!”Nash was delighted after he heard that. He admired Fane’s intelligence and ability to remain calm.
“Rest earlier, Father. I’m going back first!”Fane nodded his head and left.“Al–alright. My son is truly grown up. And so mature too—much more mature than Lance!”After Fane left, Nash lay on the bed, gratitude written all over his face.The next morning, the members of the branch family who had stayed the night began to head back.Everything seemed normal. However, no one thought that Hudson, who was talking to the two daughters of the Woods family in a pavilion, would actually observe Lancelot heading toward Fane’s place. “Strange. Why is he going to Fane’s place? The rest of the branch family members have already left. Why hasn’t he left? Why has he gone to see Fane instead?”Hudson frowned as he stared at Lancelot’s back, suspicion carved on his expression. He had been thoroughly embarrassed yesterday. He had wanted to kill Fane, but he had not been able to lay even a finger on him before he was eliminated.He had even thought that Fane would be the last contender in
Lancelot greeted Fane with a fist-to-palm salute as he stepped forward.“Take a seat!”Fane gave a wan smile and waited for Lancelot to sit down. “I’ve already talked to my father about your problem,” he said slowly. “We held a meeting to discuss about raising the tithe for the martial resources.”Fane paused here for a while before continuing, “But we only raised it once, increasing it from 50 percent to 60. And we didn’t raise it anymore after that. That’s why it’s obvious that the Third Elder and the Mistress have conspired to take the martial resources you gave!”“I never thought that they would take it for themselves!”Although he had long suspected that this was the case, Lancelot was still shocked after Fane confirmed the fact. At the same time, anger sparked in him.“Then what does the Master want us to do?”In the end, Lancelot cast a heavy look at Fane. He was aware that although this corruption was confirmed, it was not going to be easy to solve it.Furthermore, the
“Heh. Get up first. You’re being too polite!”Fane hastily hauled the other man up. “All right. You can leave now. Everyone should be waiting for the news,” he said. “And you’ve been here for too long. It won’t be good if someone else spots us!”“All right. I’ll tell everyone about the good news!”Lancelot declared excitedly.“Remember to tell them to keep it a secret. Don’t worry. We may not be able to deal with Lily and the Third Elder for now, but I’m sure that my father can settle a matter like this during a meeting!”Fane reminded him after thinking for a while.Quickly, Lancelot left, giddy with happiness.At the foot of a mountain that was not too far from the Woods family’s residence, the heads and elders of the branch families who had pretended to leave were actually gathering together.“Ah. I wonder if Lancelot will bring good news to us!”Chad Woods, who had a head tufted with white hair, could not help but heave a sigh after waiting a while. “Heh. Don’t worry. He
There was a heavy rumbling as the door slowly opened. A boundless sense of energy seemed to come from it.A few of them looked inside. Other than the green light, they could see nothing. The light completely obscured their sight. If they wanted to look inside, they would have to step in themselves.On the way there, Fane had already talked to Lourain about it. Lourain wanted to see what the legendary Valley of Enlightenment was like. That was why Fane asked for two spots.The three of them exchanged looks with each other, and they did not hesitate to step forward together, entering the door.The power of distorting space suddenly pulled the three of them in. The space around them started to spin rapidly. They did not know how much time passed, but it felt like a whole century before the space slowed down in front of them. Then, the sense of weightlessness disappeared as their feet landed on solid ground.The three of them had not been sent to different locations and arrived at the
Zayne scoffed, "Alright then, how do you want to work together?"He wanted to see what Fane was trying to do.Fane did not waste any time, "Both of us have all three keys, and we can open the door. Ten people can enter the door anyway. I just need two of those spots.Zayne looked at Fane meaningfully, "You sure know quite a bit."Fane even knew that only ten people would be allowed through. He seemed to have done his homework.Zayne took out his purple key from his storage ring. At that moment, all three keys were there. As long as all the keys were placed together, the gateway to the Valley of Enlightenment would open."If you only need two spots, then I don't mind working with you," Zayne looked at Fane meaningfully, but he quickly added, "However, make sure you don't cause any trouble during the important moments."Fane smiled before he said, "I've always been someone who keeps to my word. I'm more worried that you'll cause me trouble instead. There are many geniuses in the V
The two of them knew what that meant. Their eyes met, and worry was evident in their eyes."Is it Fane again?" Zayne said with a frown. At that moment, the first name that popped up in his head was Fane.Only Fane would truly be a big problem for them. Seymour's expression turned sour. He suddenly felt like Fane seemed to be his Achilles heel. Fane could pop out at any time and put him in a difficult spot."That's right! It's me!" At that moment, a voice was heard from afar. The two of them looked in the direction of the voice and saw five figures appearing in the air.This time, Fane did not have a disguise on. He was facing everyone with his real face."It really is you!" Zayne's face completely soured at that moment. Even if they were meeting for the first time, he was already incredibly sensitive to Fane's name.Nothing good ever happened when Fane was mentioned and Fane had actually appeared in front of him."How dare you!" Seymour shouted angrily!He walked forward to sta
When Shin and the others saw that, they were speechless. That person who had looked down on them was completely bound and on the ground at that moment. He looked pathetic.Fane quickly walked toward Warren, reaching out to pull off the mask to reveal his face.Fane controlled his energy, reducing the destructive power in Warren's soul. After the pain diminished, Warren slowly woke up.He looked up and saw the one person he never wanted to see in his life. He lost his voice as he said, "Fane?! It's you!" He almost bit his tongue as he spoke.Fane smiled and nodded slightly, "Yes. It’s me.""No wonder, so it's you! Where's Presti then?" Warren looked up and said.Fane raised an eyebrow and shot an incredulous look at Warren. Warren immediately understood what happened, and his whole face turned pale, "He's dead!"Fane nodded. There was nothing much to hide. Warren gulped, suddenly feeling like his thoughts from earlier were an absolute joke at that moment. He had even been think
After seeing that, there was a surprised look on Warren's face. However, he quickly pushed back that surprise. Even if that man was skilled, he would just be an above-average warrior. Above-average warriors were like paper to him!"Brat, it looks like you have some skill. However, that means nothing in front of me. I'll show you right now what a warrior at the peak is!"Right after he said that, he circulated his true energy around his feet. Red energy started to frantically blow away the dust on the ground. He lunged into the air incredibly fast.Fane raised an eyebrow before he started to form seals with his hands. Countless seals danced around in the air, and a chain appeared.That chain looked like a black dragon as it danced in the air.Warren scoffed in disdain. It was just a petty trick from an above-average warrior in his eyes. That chain would shatter in just one blow.He did not even bother thinking about it as he raised the sword in his hand. A silver ray of light quic
He leaped forward and landed in front of those four. Fane had already noticed Warren a while ago, but Fane relaxed when he saw Warren was alone. If it was just one person, then there was nothing to worry about!"Presti really is a piece of trash. He couldn't even get you!" Warren said with a sneer.Shin clutched his chest and turned to look at Cavill next to him. Cavill nodded slightly and did not say anything. The two of them shut their mouths at the same time as they looked in Fane's direction.Warren immediately felt something was wrong. He turned to look at Fane and saw that Fane was still completely calm as if nothing had happened."Brat, it looks like you're no ordinary person!" Warren said with a sneer.Fane turned to look at him before saying calmly, "Are you here to kill us?"Warren laughed out loud, and his eyes were full of mockery, "What do you think I'm doing here? Do I look like I'm here to chat?"Fane laughed. He could not believe another one turned up so soon aft
When Warren heard that, he felt incredibly exasperated. He mumbled, "It's just Shin, how could there be any trouble? Even if he has some fellow disciples with him, Presti is more than enough. They're all trash anyway."Zayne frowned, and he unleashed an incredibly strong aura that forced Warren to take a step back, "Shut up! Do you think we can afford to be careless right now? We're at the cusp of accomplishing everything right now. We have to be extremely careful. What kind of attitude is this?"Warren immediately shut up and did not dare to say anything. Zayne coldly looked at Warren, and deeply felt like Warren was not someone who could accomplish much. If it was not for the fact that he was useful, Zayne would not even bother bringing Warren through the door with him.Seymour turned to look into the distance. Gray mist filled up the skies, and no one could see the end of the horizon.There was nothing in the skies, and Seymour suddenly started to feel some worry. He was not clo
In front of an ancient stone door, two men were standing there, while another was sitting down and resting.The men who were standing had very stiff expressions on their faces. The two of them looked at each other with animosity in their eyes. It was obvious they were not friendly with each other. The man who was sitting down had his eyes shut and completely ignored the other two."Seymour! You're just the same as Desmond. You can't even get something so simple done. Desmond lost his life. I think you're about to follow suit!" Warren sneered as he mocked.Seymour's expression was dark, and he shot right back, "Warren, stop with those disgusting words of yours! Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do. You're just trying to push me down and take all the credit for yourself!"Stop joking around! You aren't smart enough to steal my credit! Even though Desmond is already dead, he still did the best he could. He was just tricked by Fane. If it was you, you wouldn't even have
Fane frowned. After he reached out to grab Presti's neck, Presti's life ended with a crack.Shin's eyes widened as he looked at Fane with fear. His savior could very well kill him!Cavill started to panic as well. He looked at Fane with alarm. Even though he was thankful that Fane saved the two of them just now, he had no way to tell what Fane would do after this. Fane slowly walked in front of them, and he did not show much emotion on his face.Cavill said in a dry voice, "Fane, you…?"Fane shook his head, "Don't panic. I won't kill you. Let's work together. It's not like only one person will be able to enter after the door opens."Shin looked at Fane with an incredibly inquisitive look. He thought about it before he said, "I… I don't want to work together. I'll give you the key as thanks for saving me. That Valley of Enlightenment doesn't sound like a good place at all. If I enter, I don't even know if I'll be able to survive."As he spoke, Shin had a bitter look on his face.