: The Ancestor is Too Biased Towards Ning Zhuo

Ning Family.

Assembly Hall.

Spirit light lamps emitted a bright glow.

A group of family elders had gathered here, but the head seat and the seat to its left were empty.

The Ning Family Head and Young Family Head were absent.

The elders looked grim, their moods sour, as they discussed family affairs.

"The siege of the Molten Rock Immortal Palace by the Crimson Flame beast tide has already receded by sixty percent. In a few days, the Crimson Flame demon beasts around Fire Persimmon Immortal City will also begin to retreat. By then, the City Lord's Manor should issue proclamations. Setting aside disaster relief and pacifying the people, and ignoring the clearing of wild demon beasts, reinforcing the border outposts should be where we intervene most."

The words of the Talisman Hall elder immediately garnered agreement from the majority.

It had already been four days since Ning Zhuo voluntarily ceded the position of Palace Lord to Meng Kui.

In fact, on the very day Meng Kui became Palace Lord, the three Nascent Soul cultivators joined forces. Zhu Xuanji, Shu Zhongjun, and others launched a counterattack, killing countless demon beasts and directly crushing the rampant arrogance of the Crimson Flame demon beasts.

The three Nascent Soul cultivators were, naturally, Meng Kui, Meng Hu, and the Taiqing Palace cultivator.

The Taiqing Palace cultivator had used the pretext of "our disciple being mistakenly killed by the Zheng Family" to seize the opportunity to scheme for the Molten Rock Immortal Palace.

After Meng Kui became Palace Lord, he proactively revealed the nature of his position, making the Taiqing Palace Nascent Soul cultivator immediately realize his scheme had failed and his plan had fallen through.

Staring at Meng Hu and Meng Kui, he gritted his teeth in anger: "What formidable Meng Family generals."

Meng Hu's gaze was heavy, his attention focused more on the Thin Fate Shield in the Taiqing Palace Nascent Soul cultivator's hand. This Night Rain Demonic Weapon was truly powerful. He had fought bitterly for a long time without seeing any hope of breaking the shield. Instead, he was injured by the rebound, covered in wounds, and the effectiveness of all his defensive means was weakened.

Meng Kui, however, smiled and expressed that he wouldn't let the Taiqing Palace Nascent Soul cultivator leave empty-handed; he would hand over the entire Zheng Family!

This surprised the Taiqing Palace Nascent Soul cultivator. After detailed inquiry, he learned that both of the Zheng Family's only two Golden Core ancestors had fallen. Core forces like Zheng Hua and talented younger generation members like Zheng Jian had also lost their lives.

He immediately understood why Meng Kui could hand over the Zheng Family.

Without the strength to protect themselves, the Zheng Family was merely a pawn to be sacrificed at will!

After learning the details, the Taiqing Palace Nascent Soul cultivator's attitude softened: "I need the corpses of the Zheng Family's two Golden Core cultivators."

Meng Kui nodded, meaningfully saying, "Zheng Danlian can be given to you, but Zheng Shuang gou was already killed by a demonic cultivator. His corpse's whereabouts are unknown."

The Taiqing Palace Nascent Soul cultivator said, "Just Zheng Danlian's corpse alone is not enough!"

Meng Kui sneered, "No hurry. Once we kill those two demonic cultivators and retrieve Zheng Shuang gou's corpse, we can also satisfy your needs."

Those who killed Zheng Shuang gou were precisely the two Golden Core cultivators from the Taiqing Palace, though they were disguised as shadowy demonic cultivators.

The Taiqing Palace Nascent Soul cultivator's momentum stalled. He could only take a step back, his attitude softening further, and began discussing privately via sound transmission with Meng Kui.

He indeed needed Zheng Family captives to take back to his sect to account for the mission. If he didn't cooperate with Meng Kui, he wouldn't get Zheng Danlian's corpse. He would also be jointly driven away by the two Meng Family Nascent Soul cultivators, which would look very bad for him.

After the two had roughly negotiated, Zhu Xuanji also flew up, representing the Southern Bean Royal Family, expressing sincerity for cooperation. If the Taiqing Palace Nascent Soul cultivator could assist, it would be considered a great merit, and he would receive rich rewards from the Southern Bean Kingdom.

Thus, the two sides who had just been fiercely fighting ceased hostilities and made peace. The Taiqing Palace Nascent Soul cultivator, Meng Kui, and Meng Hu acted together, sweeping across the battlefield, killing Crimson Flame demon beasts until corpses lay everywhere.

Among the three Nascent Soul-level Crimson Flame demon beasts, one was dead, one injured. The Treading Flame Lizard, with a hole in its head, fled in disgrace.

The Runaway Fire Snake was restrained by Meng Kui.

The Demonic Ape fell into a coma.

The Crimson Flame demon beasts suffered heavy casualties, but beasts lack intelligence. Stirred by death and bloodshed, their boundless ferocity was aroused, and they continued to charge and fight relentlessly.

The three Nascent Soul cultivators first easily recaptured lost ground, then counterattacked into the magma, pushing deep into the heart of the Fire Persimmon Mountain. They fought until their arms grew somewhat tired before finally stopping.

During this time, another Nascent Soul-level Crimson Flame demon beast was provoked into anger and clashed with the three Nascent Soul cultivators, retreating with serious injuries.

Meng Hu chased it all the way, only turning back grudgingly after seeing the demon beast plunge deep into the boundless fire poison and earth fires.

Without the support of Nascent Soul-level demon beast monarchs, the Golden Core-level elite demon beasts naturally suffered heavy losses.

However, even with the Nascent Soul cultivators frequently taking action, the Crimson Flame beast tide continued incessantly. It wasn't until the third day that the number of Crimson Flame demon beasts emerging from the summit of Fire Persimmon Mountain noticeably decreased.

"This slaughter is immense, a sin against heaven. After returning to the palace, I must fast for seven days and seven nights, bathe in the Supreme Clarity Qi, before I can wash away the killing and blood aura," sighed the Taiqing Palace Nascent Soul cultivator, thereafter ceasing to act.

Meng Kui also stopped shortly after.

Only Meng Hu attacked everywhere. Fighting to his heart's content, he roared towards the sky, his roar shaking the clouds, enveloping the entire Fire Persimmon Mountain.

The Crimson Flame beast tide was suppressed by the joint efforts of the three Nascent Soul cultivators!

The Ning Family elders continued discussing various family matters.

Taking stock of losses, repairing the clan territory's defensive formations, strictly distributing condolence payments...

Finally, they had no choice but to broach a topic. Yet, this was a topic everyone in the hall wished to avoid.

"Ning Zhuo is our real threat! This time, he wants to publicly sacrifice to the Ning Family clansmen who died in battle. Should we really not stop him?" The one who proactively raised this was Ning Qingqiao.

He possessed the innate talent "Frost Fall Silent," and had Foundation Establishment cultivation. Originally, he had no qualification to participate in discussions. But during the demon beast siege, not only the Family Head died; some elders had also perished.

With vacancies in the family's upper echelons, Ning Qingqiao was promoted, becoming a new face in the assembly hall.

The elders all fell silent.

The Academy Elder let out a soft sigh: "A state's great affairs are only war and sacrifice. The same goes for a family."

Ning Qingqiao immediately added: "This time, if we really let Ning Zhuo preside over the public sacrifice, I'm afraid the hearts of the people in our clan's branch lineage will all turn to him. With this increase for them and decrease for us, how will we contend with the branch family in the future?"

The elders all frowned.

This wasn't because they lacked a broader perspective, but because they were all familiar with administration and understood the current situation very clearly: the main family and branch family, due to blood ties, were like a seesaw supported in the middle. When one side is high, the other is low.

It's either the east wind prevailing over the west wind, or the west wind prevailing over the east wind. The suppressed side would be continuously drained by the dominant side. The weak would grow weaker, the strong would grow stronger.

The War Hall Elder spread his hands: "Ning Zhuo has already become the branch family head. This matter even received the ancestor's approval. It's already irreversible."

"He's only a minor Qi Refining mid-level cultivator, but his status is high enough. Publicly presiding over the sacrifice is completely unproblematic. How can we stop him?"

Everyone was silent for a while.

"Ning Zhuo, sigh... Who could have predicted that such a freak would appear in our clan's branch lineage?"

"A few months ago, I would never have imagined that our vast Ning Family would be split in two because of a mere sixteen-year-old junior from the branch lineage!"

"Hmph, if it weren't for the emergence of the Molten Rock Immortal Palace, how could it be possible?"

Seeing the elders only skimming the surface, Ning Qingqiao grew anxious: "Hmph, in my opinion, if we can't stop him openly, then we should use some underhanded methods. If we can make Ning Zhuo's sacrifice fail, or make the scene look bad, it will surely damage his prestige and gain some advantage for our Ning Family main lineage."

*Pfft!*

As soon as Ning Qingqiao finished speaking, his expression suddenly changed drastically. He spat out a mouthful of blood, directly fell from his seat, and knelt on the ground.

The elders were shocked. They wanted to rise, but were pressed firmly into their seats by immense pressure.

Ning Jiufan suddenly appeared in the Family Head's main seat.

He coldly swept his gaze across the hall, rebuking: "You are all from the same Ning Family source, yet you actually want to fight among yourselves? With such temperament, how can you make the family prosper!?"

"Ancestor!" the elders cried out, making excuses for themselves. Some even went so far as to disassociate themselves, saying this was solely Ning Qingqiao's personal opinion and didn't represent theirs.

Hearing this, Ning Qingqiao was so angry he spat out another mouthful of blood.

Ning Jiufan harshly criticized everyone. Finally, he looked at Ning Qingqiao, directly stripped him of his elder status, and ordered him to reflect deeply for three years in secluded contemplation.

After dealing with the matter, Ning Jiufan left directly.

Only then did the elders regain their ability to move. They were all sweating profusely, as if reborn.

Looking at Ning Qingqiao, they felt disdain. Being an elder wasn't just about combat power; one needed brains too.

They also couldn't help but feel a sense of shared sorrow, like mourning a hare's death.

Ning Qingqiao, who possessed an innate talent, still ended up like this. They, these elders without innate talents, if they tried to deal with Ning Zhuo, their outcome would surely be worse than Ning Qingqiao's!

"I agree with Ning Zhuo presiding over the sacrifice. There's nothing bad about it."

"Yes, he is a genius of our clan. Having such an outstanding junior step forward and take responsibility is a wonderful thing."

"This is a sign of our Ning Family's prosperity and development. I think we should出面相助 [Note: This phrase is in Chinese in the original text, meaning "show up to assist"] on the day of his sacrifice."

"Agree."

"I concur."

"Seconded."

Seeing the elders behave like this, Ning Qingqiao was so angry his vision went dark.

"The ancestor is too biased!" he wailed, then fainted dead away on the spot.

The other elders deeply agreed with Ning Qingqiao's lament in their hearts, but they all acted as if they hadn't heard a word.

Ning Jiufan sighed softly.

Although he had left, his spiritual sense still enveloped the assembly hall.

If the Ning Family main lineage elders knew the truth about the Molten Rock Immortal Palace, they would profoundly understand Ning Jiufan.

The combat power Ning Zhuo displayed in the end greatly shocked Ning Jiufan!

The Buddhist Doctor · Meng Yaoyin, who could repel Zhu Xuanji head-on.

The Butterfly Mother, who could deploy a quasi-Golden Core level formation.

The Heavy Blood Ape · Da Sheng, the Nether Envoy · Qi Bai, and the Weather Ball · Ice Crystal Snow.

With these mechanical constructs by his side, who would dare treat Ning Zhuo as merely a minor Qi Refining mid-level cultivator?

Such powerful combat strength already surpassed Ning Jiufan himself, alright!

Moreover, the skill Ning Zhuo showed when facing Zhu Xuanji and Meng Kui made Ning Jiufan view him in a new light and take him completely seriously.

He regretted not discovering Ning Zhuo's excellence earlier and winning him over too late.

He was also secretly庆幸 [Note: This word is in Chinese in the original text, meaning "grateful" or "relieved"] that Ning Zhuo proactively split the family and didn't stay to cause trouble for the main lineage. Given his righteous methods, strategies, and fearsome combat power, who in the main lineage could be his match?

Hadn't they seen the Ning Family Head and Young Family Head die right before his eyes?

Ning Jiufan's public support for Ning Zhuo and his strong backing were actually to protect the Ning Family main lineage, after all, he had promised to look after these descendants.

Ning Jiufan's punishment of Ning Qingqiao was also希望 [Note: This word is in Chinese in the original text, meaning "hoping"] that the latter could fully recognize reality. During his three years of secluded contemplation, he should cultivate properly and strive, with his innate talent, to provide new momentum for the Ning Family main lineage side.

The current Ning Qingqiao, having suddenly obtained elder status, was too arrogant. If he really provoked Ning Zhuo into action, his life would be in great danger!

Unfortunately, Ning Zhuo, Zhu Xuanji, and Meng Kui had agreed to strictly keep the final truth of the struggle for the Molten Rock Immortal Palace confidential. Although Ning Jiufan was informed afterwards, he could not reveal it.

Without knowing the truth, it was difficult for everyone to understand his well-intentioned efforts.

(End of )