In the compound of the Patriarch of the Jing Clan.
Jing Chengye, the Patriarch, met with the First Elder and many other powerful figures of the clan in his room.
The atmosphere was very tense.
“Elders, what should we do about this?” Jing Chengye’s voice sounded heavy.
“The Zhao Clan sent someone this morning, asking that we hand Jing Yan over. It is apparent that they have no respect for us whatsoever. They behaved in a very haughty manner. But then again, I’m sure all of you know just how formidable the Zhao Clan is. Zhao Dangyuan reached the Enlightenment rank. If we just ignore them, there will probably be dire consequences.” Jing Chengye was unable to relax at all.
Zhao Dangyuan, whom Jing Chengye spoke of, was none other than the current Patriarch of the Zhao Clan.
The number one Patriarch of a major clan in Dong Lin City was also an Enlightenment warrior.
He was also the only Enlightenment warrior among all three of the major clans.
That was the reason that the Zhao Clan was far above both the Jing Clan and the Lin Clan; they had a terrifying Enlightenment warrior in charge of their clan.
There were few Enlightenment warriors to be found in all of Dong Lin City. Only the City Lord, the president of the Extreme Combat Association, and a few others had reached such an esteemed rank.
For many years, the Jing Clan had maintained an alliance with the Lin Clan just to resist the Zhao Clan. Only by becoming allies had the two clans even stood a chance of holding their own against the powerful Zhao Clan.
Now, the Zhao Clan had come to the Jing Clan and demanded an explanation for what Jing Yan had done.
They weren’t happy about the fact that Jing Yan had injured Zhao Dengtian, the youngest son of Zhao Dangyuan, in the Extreme Combat Association.
The Jing Clan investigated and discovered that, despite not having sustained any life-threatening injuries, Zhao Dengtian was nonetheless severely injured. His meridians had suffered considerable damage. His rank would probably fall even if he managed to recover, and it would make cultivation very difficult for him in the future.
Zhao Dangyuan had become enraged when he saw that his son had essentially been crippled. He vowed to not rest until he was able to dispose of Jing Yan.
In truth, if he hadn’t wanted to avoid causing too much of a ruckus, Zhao Dangyuan would have probably ended up bringing his might down on the Jing Clan personally.
The Jing Clan didn’t matter to him, and neither did the alliance forged between the Jing Clan and the Lin Clan. However, he still needed to consider the feelings of the City Lord of Dong Lin City. As the City Lord, the last thing that powerful man wanted was to have the great clans of his city going at each other’s throats.
Therefore, after considering a lot of factors, Zhao Dangyuan had restrained himself and sent someone to demand an explanation from the Jing Clan first.
He hoped that the Jing Clan would simply hand Jing Yan over to him. However, if the Jing Clan were to refuse to cooperate, the consequences could be dire.
“Jing Yan isn’t responsible for what happened!” Jing Tianying, the Fourth Elder, said immediately.
When Jing Yan fought against Li Tianfu in the Extreme Combat Association, Zhao Dengtian had lost a huge number of Spiritual Stones in a bet. Instead of dealing with his loss gracefully, he had attacked Jing Yan. He only had himself to blame for being injured, since Jing Yan was acting in self-defense.
In fact, everyone who had been present in the place had been able to see that it wasn’t Jing Yan’s fault. But then again, that didn’t change the fact that Jing Yan had caused grievous injuries to a son of the Patriarch of the Zhao Clan, which ended up bringing a lot of pressure down on the Jing Clan.
“Fourth Elder, you need to know that we’re dealing with the wrath of the Zhao Clan here. Are you aware of what the Zhao Clan is capable of?” Jing Chunyu, the First Elder, looked up. His eyes were grey, and his sarcastic smirk was eerie.
Everyone knew just how terrifying the Zhao Clan was.
It was even said that the Zhao Clan had tight relations at the County Seat of Lan Qu Province.
If the Jing Clan were to clash head on with the Zhao Clan, the former might end up being wiped out altogether. It was a result that none in the Jing Clan found acceptable.
However, it was impossible for them to just hand over Jing Yan. Jing Yan was in the process of restoring his powers and returning to his former glory, which would mean having a bright future. That aside, the Jing Clan couldn’t maintain respect and power if they just handed Jing Yan over because the Zhao Clan told them to.
Furthermore, Jing Yan was also the grandson of the former Patriarch of the Jing Clan.
“Whatever we do, we can’t just hand over Jing Yan. What is the Zhao Clan up to, huh? They can come at us if they want to! We of the Jing Clan are not afraid of them!” The Seventh Elder rose and shouted. The man was known for his fiery temperament.
“Seventh Elder, no need to jump to conclusions. We’re only discussing what to do about this. We need to figure out a way to deal with the matter that will satisfy both parties,” the Third Elder said, looking at the Seventh Elder.
“Patriarch, would the Zhao Clan be willing to let the matter slide if we were willing to compensate them for their loss to some extent?” the Sixth Elder asked slowly, his eyes flickering.
“That would be very difficult. Zhao Dangyuan asked specifically for Jing Yan.” Jing Chengye shook his head.
The elders brought up suggestions one after another. However, none of those suggestions seemed anywhere near to solving the problem at hand.
“We can’t hand over Jing Yan, and that is final,” Jing Chengye concluded eventually.
The mouth of the First Elder twitched when he heard the Patriarch’s conclusion, but he didn’t object to it.
“I’ll head to the Lin Clan now and see how they react. I’ll pay a visit to the City Lord as well. If the Zhao Clan intends to do this the hard way, they’ll need to seek permission from the City Lord regardless,” Jing Chengye said finally.
The elders all fell silent. From the looks of things at the moment, that seemed to be the only option available.
However, everyone present knew that this would only delay the inevitable, instead of solving the problem at a fundamental level.
Jing Yan had been training in isolation for more than two weeks, so he had no idea of all the commotion that was happening in the city.
At that moment, nothing mattered more to him than enhancing his fighting prowess.
Jing Yan, who had been sitting cross-legged on his bed for the entire day, shuddered a bit.
“Open!” he shouted in his mind.
The barrier that stood in his mind between the Seventh Heaven and the Eighth Heaven crumbled away under Jing Yan’s burst of focus.
In an instant, terrifying Vital Qi coursed all through Jing Yan’s meridians.
Vital Qi at the Eighth Heaven was far more potent than that of the Seventh Heaven. At the very least, the Vital Qi had doubled in strength.
“I did it!” Jing Yan opened his eyes, and a wide grin spread over his face.
From the beginning of his isolation to that moment, it had taken Jing Yan two weeks to rise from the initial stages of the Seventh Heaven and break into the initial stages of the Eighth Heaven.
The efficiency at which he progressed was nothing short of awe-inspiring.
“This Vital Qi is strong indeed,” Jing Yan thought, probing his own Vital Qi gently. “I would probably have a much easier time fighting against Li Tianfu and beating him as I am now.”
“But Jing Tianlong is a Precelestial. Even if I fight him while I’m at the Eighth Heaven, I still won’t stand a chance of winning,” Jing Yan thought in annoyance.
“I still have more than a month to spare. I’ll need to get to the Ninth Heaven by then. Only by getting to the Ninth Heaven and using any means at my disposal will I be able to stand against Jing Tianlong. I need to win this. Not only for grandpa, but for myself as well.” Jing Yan exhaled lightly.
He then turned his gaze on the Nine Yin Fruit and the pile of Spiritual Stones before him.
“Huh?”
Jing Yan felt something was off with the resources before his eyes, and he trembled slightly as he looked at them.
He had a total of 50 Nine Yin Fruits at the beginning of his isolation, and he had left the box of fruit sitting open in front of him. At present, however, there were only 33 left in the box, which had been filled to the brim before.
That meant that Jing Yan had used 17 Nine Yin Fruits within half a month’s time, which in turn meant that he had ingested more than one fruit per day on average. That rate at which he had burned through his resources would soon put a strain on his stockpile.