bookbashuk Chapter 48 Never Compromise
Chapter 48 Never Compromise
"They actually want all the Lin family cultivators from us?"
Everyone found it unbelievable. What use are the remaining Lin family members if they've already escaped? Surely they can't use the hostages to coerce the other party to come back?
Are you suggesting I kill someone to vent my anger?
"Heh, it's not hard to guess. They probably intend to use a bloodline technique to track you, right?"
The elders present were not particularly surprised, and Zhang Yuanlin explained:
"This bloodline technique is generally used to test whether people are related by blood. After all, some cultivators are dashing and romantic, and have many offspring outside."
"That's how it started. Later, some demonic cultivators improved upon it, making it possible to track cultivators using blood ties, so that they could hunt down their blood feuds."
"Of course, because of the cruelty of the methods, they often kill the person on the spot once they are used."
After hearing this, everyone suddenly realized what was going on, and someone in the hall spoke up:
"Since that's the case, why not hand over the Lin family cultivator? Since they're all going to die anyway, why not let them die at the hands of those two families? Even if that person comes back, the blood feud will be with them."
"Yeah yeah."
Upon hearing this, many elderly people actually began to agree with it and came to agree with the viewpoint.
Zhang Xingyao observed coldly, offering no decision, but instead turned to Zhang Lingyu and asked, "Little Nineteen, what do you think?"
"This junior believes that the Lin family should not be handed over, nor should the entire clan be exterminated!"
The boy pondered for a moment, then gave his own answer.
"Oh?"
The Zhang family patriarch immediately became interested and asked with great interest, "The Lin family stole the spiritual item and injured you, yet you're willing to let it go? Tell me more."
"Yes."
Zhang Lingyu bowed and then explained, "First of all, the Lin family is our subordinate family. We and the Yunming family are both Foundation Establishment families. Why should they give us the right to order us around?"
"We'll just hand them over as we're told? What will the other vassal families think? Once we hand them over, the Zhang family will become disloyal, and many of our vassals will likely be disappointed in us and turn to the other two families."
"That's right, Little Nineteen is correct!"
After listening, Zhang Yuanlin stroked his beard and praised it highly, and the other elders also expressed their admiration.
If the Zhang family really hands it over, they will lose face, and all the years of fighting between the two families will become a joke.
"As for the second point, the Lin family should have been exterminated, but the opportunity was missed. If those two members of the Lin family were captured by my family, there would be nothing to say. Exterminating the family can deter the people of other vassal states and prevent them from acting recklessly."
At this point, Zhang Lingyu felt a little regretful and sighed, "I fought with that person several times and I could tell that he was no ordinary person. He will definitely be able to reach the Foundation Establishment stage in the future. If we destroy the Lin family, they will definitely hate my family in the future."
"He doesn't dare retaliate against Foundation Establishment cultivators, but he's willing to target Qi Refining cultivators. He kills one and runs away; how are we supposed to catch him?"
"Well said."
Zhang Xingyao's face beamed with joy as he said, "Little Nineteen, continue. How should we respond to both families, and what should we do with the Lin family?"
"The Lin family is affiliated with my family; it's our own business. How can we allow outsiders to interfere? Naturally, we refused."
"As for the Lin family..."
Zhang Lingyu thought for a moment and gave her answer: "We'll send someone to the Lin family to tell them about Lin Yongsheng and Lin Yongxuan, as well as how the Ming family is treating Lin Yongsheng and our family's decision."
"Then we'll stay put and let them continue their cultivation as usual."
"As long as the Lin family is still in our hands, there is still room for maneuver. If Lin Yongxuan really achieves Foundation Establishment in the future, after hearing about Lin Yongsheng, he will definitely hate the Ming family. At that time, we can deal with them by targeting him."
"What a clever tactic—using one enemy to devour another, while simultaneously winning people's hearts..."
Everyone was amazed after hearing this, and suddenly felt that they couldn't understand the young man in front of them. A sense of fear arose in their hearts in the face of his scheme.
"That's right, that's right, what Xiao Shijiu said makes perfect sense."
Zhang Xingyao nodded with satisfaction. As the head of the Zhang family, he was actually considering the long-term interests of the family. Although annihilating the clan could relieve his anger in the short term, it seemed insignificant in the face of the threat of a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the future.
Moreover, they might be able to use the Lin family to win them over and make them submit to the Zhang family again.
Of course, the possibility of this is extremely slim.
Looking at the calm and composed young man below, a thought suddenly popped into his mind: "Perhaps Lingyu could be the next patriarch of my Zhang family."
Zhang Lingyu's recent performance and his remarks just now undoubtedly satisfied all the senior members of the Zhang family present. With a little more training, he will surely be a qualified successor.
"Now that this matter is over, I still need to speak with the First Elder and the Second Elder."
Although Zhang Xingyao was in his prime, he dared not be careless about matters concerning the fate of his family.
A quarter of an hour later, seeing that no one objected to Zhang Lingyu's suggestion, he gave the order: "Go and reply to the Yun and Ming families, tell them that our Zhang family will not hand over the Lin family cultivators."
"Come and rob us if you dare!"
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"Hmph, you won't listen to reason, so you'll have to suffer the consequences!"
Inside the Ming family's main hall, Ming Yichuan slammed the letter onto the table with a "bang," his face contorted with rage as he said:
"Since they're unwilling, we'll force them to hand over the person!"
"Oh? They actually refused?"
Yun Ruifeng, the patriarch of the Yun family, was quite surprised. Lin Yongxuan had snatched the Foundation Establishment spiritual treasure that the Zhang family could easily obtain and injured Zhang Lingyu. According to his usual temper, he should have wiped out the Lin family when he received the letter.
They're actually protecting the Lin family now.
"It's nothing more than wanting to save face."
Ming Yichuan was quite troubled. They couldn't get their share of the Foundation Establishment spiritual treasure from the Zhang family. They couldn't very well have both families attack Qingya Mountain, could they?
Since Lin Yongsheng is already dead after the bloodline secret technique was used on him, the rest of the Lin family members are indispensable if we want to continue to track down Lin Yongxuan.
"Why not send someone to sneak into the Zhang family's territory and capture a few people?"
"Impossible."
Ming Yichuan rubbed his temples and sneered, "Right now, they must have left all the Lin family cultivators at Qingya Mountain. If we go there, we'll definitely find nothing. Anyone related to Lin Yongxuan by blood will definitely be under their strict protection."
"So what do we do?"
Yun Ruifeng didn't want to give up on this Foundation Establishment spiritual item. The people sent out by their two families to investigate had already found some clues, and with the help of bloodline secret techniques, they were very likely to be able to get their hands on it.
Ming Yichuan exhaled a breath of stale air, stared intently at the man before him, and asked, "Fellow Daoist Yun, are you willing to undertake something big?"
"Tell me about it?"
"Since the Zhang family is unwilling to pay, we will force them to. All the cultivators from both our families will attack together and see if they pay. If they still refuse, then let the Zhang family cultivators pay with their lives!"
"You're going to start a full-scale war!?"
"good!"
Ming Yixing's expression was somewhat manic. He pointed to a corner of the map and laughed, "Let's choose the Zhang family's mine as the location..."
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