Shi Lingtian said, "The matter concerning the Liao Family was presumably arranged by Father. However, nothing bad should happen to the Liao Family; they were merely relocated."
"Of course I understand. The head of this Liao Family is none other than Shi Mingsheng, a disciple of our Shi Family. Because he committed a grave offense, your old man expelled him from the family on a pretext and then placed him in the west of the city with the covert purpose of monitoring the Zhao Family over there. In truth, the old man was just throwing dust in people's eyes."
Don't let his cheerful demeanor and lack of seriousness fool you; when it came to major issues involving the family's interests, this Second Uncle was extremely sharp.
"Naturally, none of this could escape Second Uncle's wise eyes," Shi Lingtian said with a smile, flattering Shi Donglai.
"Hahaha, you rascal do know how to talk! I like your kind—unlike your old man, who is so stiff and boring." Shi Donglai was clearly very pleased with Shi Lingtian's remark.
"Still, come to think of it, your old man was actually quite a handsome fellow when he was young, with a sweet tongue that charmed all the girls. Every time we went out to play, droves of young ladies from various noble households would swarm around him, leaving me with nothing to do but stand on the sidelines and watch." Reminiscing about the past, Shi Donglai still sounded somewhat aggrieved.
"Pfft!" Shi Lingtian burst out laughing.
Hearing the laugh, Shi Donglai glared with eyes as big as copper bells and chided, "What are you laughing at, you brat?" Then he went on, "Anyway, it was during that trip when your old man went to the Imperial City of the Daqi State for tempering. It had been agreed that he would return after half a year to represent the Shi Family in the Battle of a Hundred Cities. Yet, for reasons unknown, your old man failed to show up even by the day of the battle. With no other choice, I had to step up in a rush, and the result... sigh!"
As Shi Donglai spoke, his voice trailed off. Shi Lingtian was well aware of the outcome: representing the Shi Family in the Battle of a Hundred Cities, Shi Donglai had placed third from the bottom, meaning the Shi Family secured virtually no resources from that tournament.
Consequently, in recent years, the Shi Family had suffered from a shortage of resources and was gradually surpassed by the Zhou Family. This had always been a thorn in Shi Donglai's side. Despite his perpetual cheerfulness, he had been carrying this heavy burden in his heart all along.
Naturally, Shi Lingtian had no intention of dwelling on the subject. He steered the conversation elsewhere: "Second Uncle, ever since my father brought me back, none of us have ever seen my mother. Do you know anything about her?"
"No, I've never laid eyes on your mother," Shi Donglai recalled. "Several years after the Battle of a Hundred Cities, your old man simply returned with you in tow, without a trace of your mother. Whenever we asked, your old man refused to say a word."
"However, ever since your old man came back, his personality changed drastically, and he stopped talking much altogether. He spent every single day engaged in grueling cultivation. Yet, back when he was young, your old man was a once-in-a-century prodigy in Litian City. Ever since that journey away, he seemed to have suffered severe internal injuries, and his cultivation has hardly advanced at all over the years," Shi Donglai continued.
Hearing this, Shi Lingtian began to piece things together. His father had run into trouble during his travels away from home, causing him to miss the previous Battle of a Hundred Cities—a mishap that led to the Shi Family falling behind the Zhou Family over the past two decades.
Furthermore, during that excursion, Shi Beifeng had sustained hidden injuries, which explained why his cultivation had stagnated all these years. Of course, just last night, Shi Lingtian had given Shi Beifeng three Top-grade Spirit Gathering Pills, curing those hidden injuries and even elevating his cultivation to the Sixth Layer of Condensing Spirit Realm. At last, the Shi Family had regained its footing and confidence in Litian City.
Naturally, Shi Beifeng had explicitly instructed Shi Lingtian to keep this from Shi Donglai for the time being. The fewer people who knew, the greater the "surprise" for the Zhou Family when the time came.
"Tap, tap, tap," came a knock at the door.
"Second Uncle, I'm lying down; it must be the Great Elder. We shouldn't let him know my injuries are already healed just yet." With that, Shi Lingtian immediately reclined, assuming an appearance of severe vital energy depletion and breathing his last.
Shi Donglai smiled knowingly, giving Shi Lingtian a thumbs-up.
Then, Shi Donglai pushed the door open.
"Lingtian, Lingtian, how are you holding up?" a concerned voice echoed into the room.
A tall and slender figure walked in: Shi Linyang, the Great Elder of the Shi Family. A generation senior to Shi Donglai, he was essentially of a grandfatherly generation to Shi Lingtian.
Shi Lingtian slowly opened his eyes and, upon seeing the look of deep concern on Great Elder Shi Feiyang's face, felt a heavy knot in his stomach. This Great Elder, who possessed a somewhat ethereal and immortal air, had always treated him exceptionally well, granting him whatever he asked for. Yet today, he was forced to fake an illness and deceive him.
Still, for the sake of the entire Shi Family, Shi Lingtian had no other choice if he wanted to avoid arousing outside suspicion.
"Grandpa Great Elder, I'm... I'm doing all right," Shi Lingtian said in a weak, feeble voice.
The Great Elder sat down by the edge of the bed, clasped Shi Lingtian's hand tightly, and said softly, "There, there, good child. Stop talking and focus on recovering."
Then, turning his head toward Shi Donglai, he said, "Donglai, the family head says we must get Lingtian to the Spirit Gathering Pool to nourish his body as soon as possible. Let's take him there right away."
Without another word, Shi Feiyang scooped up Shi Lingtian in his arms and strode toward the door.
Seeing the Great Elder carry Shi Lingtian out, Shi Donglai hurried to catch up and offered, "Great Elder, let me carry Lingtian instead."
"What? Do you think I'm too old to hold the boy?" Shi Feiyang snapped, visibly displeased.
"Of course not! The Great Elder is in the prime of life, full of youthful vigor—how could you possibly be unable to carry Lingtian?" Shi Donglai hastily offered an ingratiating smile.
"Hmph, you! If you spent a little less time being frivolous and applied yourself more to cultivation, our family wouldn't be in this state today," Shi Feiyang shot him a sideways glance and rebuked.
Scolded thus by the Great Elder, Shi Donglai felt rather awkward. Fortunately, he knew that the Great Elder had a bark worse than his own and a heart of gold, and he was well aware of his own laziness and lack of ambition. Daring not to talk back, he merely let out a few nervous "hehehe" chuckles and followed closely behind Shi Feiyang in silence.
Carrying Shi Lingtian, Shi Feiyang walked out of the room and headed toward the Shi Family's Spirit Gathering Pool.
The Spirit Gathering Pool was the place where the family's spiritual Qi was densest. To put it plainly, the pool served as the spiritual eye of the entire clan.
Every major family was built upon a spiritual vein; the quality of that vein directly dictated the speed at which the family's disciples could cultivate.
Naturally, a family's spiritual vein was not set in stone.
During the last Battle of a Hundred Cities, Zhou Qin had achieved a stellar ranking and subsequently trained at the Eye of the Secret Realm in the Daqi State, where he successfully acquired a second-grade spiritual vein.
The Zhou Family had embedded this new vein right alongside their original one, effectively granting them two spiritual veins. As a result, over the past decade or so, Zhou Family disciples had advanced rapidly in their cultivation, with many breaking through the Solidification Realm to reach the Qi Gathering Realm. In recent years, the Zhou Family's overall strength had decisively surpassed that of the Shi Family.
Carrying Shi Lingtian, Shi Feiyang quickly arrived at the Shi Family's Spirit Gathering Pool.
The pool was constructed right at the heart of the Shi Family estate, with all the surrounding buildings laid out around it.
The moment Shi Lingtian drew close to the Spirit Gathering Pool, the grand hall within his Dantian began to tremble. In the very center of that hall, the palm-sized Tianji Alchemical Cauldron suddenly began to flash with a green light.