Chapter 1778 — Finding a Way

"Everyone, though the secular Yu family has been wiped out and we of the hidden Yu family wish to avenge them, in this matter our Yu family simply has no just cause!" The Yu Family Ancestor was no fool either. "The Hidden Clan Arbitration Association has already declared that hidden clans may not involve themselves in the affairs of the secular world. Our covert patronage of the secular Yu family to turn a profit was itself a violation of the hidden clans' compact. If we then seize upon this incident as a pretext for vengeance, when the Grand Elder returns, it is our hidden Yu family that will suffer for it! So even if we mean to test the waters, we must produce a reason that will stand scrutiny—one that lets us shift the blame afterward, even if the Grand Elder comes asking, rather than leaving some poor soul to take the fall!"

"My dear in-law speaks the truth!" Old Master Zhao nodded in agreement. "But there is no reason we must leave the mountain right now, is there? When Jin Wudi of the Jinzhong Sect descended the mountain, the Grand Elder was absent, and it was we few who approved it provisionally. His reason for descending was sound enough—vengeance for his disciple—but the crux is that he died afterward, so when the Grand Elder wished to censure him, there was no one left to censure!"

Everyone present agreed with Old Master Zhao's reasoning. Had Jin Wudi not died, they might have used the affair to probe whether the Grand Elder still existed. But Jin Wudi was dead, and the Grand Elder had no need to appear again. Thus, if any of them wished to leave the mountain, they too would have to find a presentable reason.

"Let us all put our heads together! Think—is there any reason compelling enough for leaving the mountain that even the Grand Elder, were he to learn of it, could not censure?" said the Right Family Ancestor.

"That... well, it is not as though there is no way." The Yu Family Ancestor pondered a moment, then said, "The Hidden Clan Arbitration Association was established, on the one hand, to **safeguard every hidden clan**, and on the other, to mediate disputes among the hidden clans so that they do not come to blows."

"You mean to say we fabricate a dispute and then have the Grand Elder come out to adjudicate it..." Old Master Zhao's eyes lit up as he asked.

"Precisely!" The Yu Family Ancestor nodded. "We need only fabricate a dispute and set two hidden clans at each other's throats. The Hidden Clan Arbitration Association could not possibly fail to intervene, and in that way the Grand Elder would be forced to show himself!"

"But... was it not also said back then that ordinary disputes we may resolve ourselves by convening a hidden clan assembly? And there is still your venerable self, the Second Elder—in some matters, you as Second Elder are empowered to decide." The Right Family Ancestor frowned as he raised the question.

"That is so in words, but what if the dispute were between our Yu family and another?" The Yu Family Ancestor smiled faintly and countered.

"Oh?" The Right Family Ancestor was briefly taken aback, then could not help giving the Yu Family Ancestor a thumbs-up. "Haha, well worthy of one who was the first to advance to the Heaven-rank! Old ginger is the hotter for its age—you do have a way! As Second Elder of the Hidden Clan Arbitration Association, if the dispute were between you and another, we truly could not interfere; only the Grand Elder could come out to judge it!"

"Precisely!" The Yu Family Ancestor nodded. "Everyone here is one of us—no outsiders. Who is willing to play this scene out with our Yu family? There may be some loss involved, of course, but this is the only way. After all, no one wishes to be the bird that sticks its head out and leads the breaking of the rules. If none of you are willing, then pretend I never spoke!"

"Cooperate—of course we are all willing to cooperate. The crux is that there is no suitable point of dispute!" said the Right Family Ancestor. "Our two houses are evenly matched. If you say we are to fall into conflict and it comes to real swords and spears, we would surely suffer grievous losses and still might not have a victor. And without a fitting cause for the quarrel, anyone would see at a glance that it was staged! At our age, none of us are fools; we cannot be as hot-blooded as the young."

"That is true enough... But perhaps some here have heard that our Yu family lost a Qi-Gathering Pill not long ago!" At this, the Yu Family Ancestor glanced toward Old Master Zhao. In his estimation, Yu Xiaojin likely knew of the matter and would surely have told Old Master Zhao.

Old Master Zhao, however, mistook his meaning. His heart lurched, and he thought: Could the Yu family have learned something? Could that old fellow Yu Huoxing have a loose tongue and let it slip?

"That... I have heard a faint rumor of it..." Old Master Zhao said, forcing himself to remain calm. "But why bring it up so suddenly?"

"If that Qi-Gathering Pill were seized by another clan, then we would have our point of dispute!" said the Yu Family Ancestor. "Xiaochen could have advanced to the Heaven-rank. Such a fine opportunity, now gone—then whoever took the Qi-Gathering Pill would be our Yu family's mortal enemy. That our Yu family would throw its full strength into battle against them is entirely understandable."

"But our Right family could not possibly have stolen your Qi-Gathering Pill. Hard as the Qi-Gathering Pill is to refine, if we wanted one—heh heh—it is not as though we could not refine it. It is merely that the expenditure would not be worth it." The Right Family Ancestor chuckled.

No one present took the Right Family Ancestor's words as boasting. After all, though the Qi-Gathering Pill was already a top-grade elixir to the hidden clans, to the ancient sects it truly amounted to little—especially the Xuandan Sect, which could refine it at will if it so wished. Yet taking a Qi-Gathering Pill carried certain drawbacks, and only hidden clan juniors of mediocre talent like Yu Xiaochen would resort to it. After all, without the Qi-Gathering Pill, barring some stroke of fortune, Yu Xiaochen's cultivation would have stalled forever at the peak of the late Earth-rank. With the pill, he forced his way into the Heaven-rank; though any further advancement would afterward be doubly hard, Yu Xiaochen had never even dreamed of advancing further.

Such was the difference between the hidden clans and the ancient sects. The hidden clans were for the most part content with the Heaven-rank; with a Heaven-rank expert's protection, a family's enduring prosperity was assured. The ancient sects, by contrast, pursued a realm higher still than the Heaven-rank—the Way of Heaven!

Only, no one had yet broken through to the Way of Heaven. Those who had once pursued it had all vanished without a trace. So no one knew what power truly lay above the Heaven-rank, nor whether above the Way of Heaven there existed yet mightier beings.

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