Chapter 101: The Elders Regret
Zhang released his qi, pressuring the elder who spoke. "Watch your mouth. Didn't we discuss this together? Are you putting the blame on me now?"
'What together!? You single-handedly pushed the narrative at that time, making everyone who disagreed not dare to say it.' He cursed in his mind but didn't dare say it out loud.
"What should we do now, then, Patriarch?" A young woman asked. She came from the same generation as MingYue.
"How about this? Let's split up," Zhang suggested, then pointed at the young woman.
"Just like her, we also have many descendants still cultivating with other Sect.
We should split up and lay low for now. After some time, we will gather again and rebuild the family."
Zhang's suggestion made the rest of the Xueqi family frown. This meant they were giving up on their family.
"Patriarch, how could you say that! They desecrated our ancestors' graves!"
Another added, "That is true. How will other families take us seriously while we cannot even protect our ancestors' Pride?"
Others also voiced their opinions, none agreeing with Zhang.
Their respect for him has dropped a lot.
They respected the patriarch because he was the family head, not for his strength. If all of them cooperated together, Zhang would not be their match, but the thought of this never even crossed their minds because they respected the family rules.
That is, until now.
Desecrating their ancestor's grave is unacceptable for them, and their patriarch, instead, nonchalantly suggests for them to escape. He is not even trying to retaliate.
This also made them hate the Hua family to the core; they didn't remember having a blood feud with them to the point of desecrating their ancestors' graves.
Even the most vile demon cultivator wouldn't do that without a personal vendetta since there's no upside to this. While everyone else will judge what they do.
The only thing they could get from such action was satisfaction and to erase all proof the family ever existed.
Even though the cultivation world is harsh, cutting someone down to the root, to the point of leaving nothing behind, is something that rarely happens.
Zhang's veins popped, and his tone rose, "Pride? Face? Getting revenge? What use is all that if we are wiped out then? You think dead people have any right to talk about those!!!"
"Wiped out? You are the one who says for us to take refuge like cowards in other sects where our younger generation is.
As long as they survive, our family will continue the line, but how could they even hold their heads high and focus on the cultivation road when their elders ran away with tails between their legs?
This will become a heart demon for all of them! How could you, as our patriarch, not even realize that!?"
"That is true! Doing this will kill our family for good."
"Yeah, just like the Liu clan, now even their descendant feel shame having that surname. Some even change it."
The rest of the family agreed with what the elders said, none of them taking Zhang's side at this moment.
Seeing the situation, Zhang knew he could not convince them anymore, and he didn't plan to go on a suicide mission with them.
For him, doing it for their own face is stupid, and what use is the family glory if they are not alive to enjoy it. But he knew he could not just outright say it. Otherwise, they would really rebel and attack him now.
"How about this then? Let me try to convince CuiYing again. Without her help, we really don't have any choice other than to lay low and gather enough strength."
The elders looked at each other. They know Zhang didn't want to take any risks. If they kept forcing it, this would instead turn into infighting.
"Alright, Patriarch, but then can you give us the storage ring from Lady CuiYing? We need the money for capital to take revenge."
Zhang froze at the request.
The amount in the storage ring was enough for him to have a leisurely life for a hundred years; he didn't want to give it to the family.
The rest of the elders also knew the amount since the treasure that was given to CuiYing was bought with the wealth in the family treasury, but Zhang convinced them to get favor from the Situ family.
His reasoning was, 'What use is letting the money lie around if they cannot use it for the family's betterment, and the Situ clan is famous for always fulfilling their promise.'
Even though they each still had some wealth, it wouldn't be enough to do what they wanted.
Just like CuiYing said, they need to find out who the golden cultivator behind the Hua family is, then infiltrate their city and make a plan to strike back at them.
At the very least, desecrate their ancestors' graves just like they did to them.
The elders also want to buy some cultivation resources for their younger generation.
All of the elders had already burned out all their potential; they knew they could not become stronger anymore, but if they became martyrs now, after giving resources to them, they were sure this would make every single one of their descendants wear the Xueqi name with Pride, making sure the Xueqi family continued, and hoping one day it would rise again.
After some consideration, Zhang took out the storage ring, looked at his palm, and then asked, "Who wants to go with me then?"
Seeing no one from the family agreed with him, Zhang sighed, then threw the storage ring toward them and quickly left the place.
But Zhang didn't plan to look for CuiYing; he had another place in mind, the Yang Clan.
He also had some acquaintances there; this time, he wanted to use the favor to find someplace to hide. 'Lucikly these people forgot, we still have some connection with another family in the other region, now I should look for a formation to get here.