When the elders heard Xiao Yun’s demands their faces turned aghast. Even Elder Xiao Chong was a little surprised. “This is a bit excessive Young Master Yun!” A few Elders sputtered. “These are valuable resources!” What he demanded were precious items, the clan would have to spent more than half of the 150 medium grade spiritual stones to get it, which was not ideal.

  “Valuable, yes.” Xiao Yun agreed calmly. “But not as valuable as my life or the potential contribution I can make to the clan in the long run. Our great ancestor, venerable Xiao Tianlong has bestowed more knowledge upon me than just the Mystic Cleansing Jade. As soon as I’m able to make sense of that esoteric knowledge our clan will be able to gain another income stream on top of the Cleansing Jade’s income.” Hearing their distant ancestor’s name was enough to appease some of the elders as they fell silent, seemingly deep in thought.

  But Xiao Yun didn’t stop and kept pushing his advantage.

  “And consider this Elders. If I use these resources to enhance my own safety and knowledge, I become a more valuable asset to the clan. A strong and informed young master is far more beneficial than a weak and vulnerable one, wouldn’t you agree?”

  He saw understanding dawn in some of their eyes, particularly those who were more pragmatic and less blinded by immediate greed. They begrudgingly agreed to his demands.

  After a moment of tense silence the Fourth Elder spoke, his voice grudging but resigned. “And the Foundation Establishment Pill? What of that?”

  “I naturally have plans for that pill. Since it’s my personal property as well, I think I should get to decide who consumes it.”

  Thinking that he wanted to keep the pill for himself, the few of the elders wanted to object. “But young master, with your current cultivation it would be dangerous to-” Understanding their concerns, Xiao Yun raised a hand and interrupted their incoming flurry of complaints.

  “It’s not what you think Elders. I never said I wanted to keep it for myself. As you said, it would be dangerous and a waste for someone undeserving to get such a precious pill and squander it.” Saying so, he shot a glance at the Sixth Elder, who just a short while ago tried to recommend that her boastfully useless grandson should get the pill.

  That look didn’t escape the other elders’ gazes as well. Some of them that wanted to put forth their own descendants as candidates now hesitated. Whether their descendants were truly worthy or not, they knew best.

  “I have the ideal candidate in mind, the one who is most likely to succeed in breaking through to Foundation Establishment stage. That someone also has plenty of combat experience and has been in the peak of Qi Gathering stage for a long enough time that her footing and foundation is quite stable.”

  Realization dawned in the elders faces. Fourth elder, ever the social butterfly piped up again.

  “You can’t mean-” and yet again Xiao Yun didn’t let him finish.

  “I’m talking about Xiao Lian. In my opinion she’s the ideal candidate.”

  A pervasive silence fell over the clan meeting hall. Xiao Lian and her story was a sore spot. Her failure to break into the Foundation Establishment stage wasn’t just her failure, but that of the elders and the whole clan. The Xiao clan had a single genius in their midst in centuries and they had failed to protect and nurture that genius properly.

  Hearing her name, Elders all had sour and disappointed looks on their faces, mixed with a bit of shame. This time it was the First Elder who spoke with a heavy heart.

  “Xiao Yun, you do know that Xiao Lian failed to break through due to a heart demon, correct? I’m afraid without the sixth rank pill, the Clear Heart Pill it is nigh impossible to overcome a heart demon. Even if we sold the entire Xiao clan we can’t afford one tenth of the price of a sixth rank pill. The foundation building pill will have no use for her either.”

  The first elder looked sadder and more disappointed the more he spoke.

  “We should wait for another viable candidate amongst the younger generation and not waste the foundation building pill on an empty hope.” Although he was the one saying it, the First Elder didn’t have much expectation that someone truly worthy would ever appear in the Xiao clan.

  The rest of the elders held similar sentiments. They knew the clan’s state best.

  But Xiao Yun didn’t care. He didn’t care if the pill was wasted, and he didn’t care if the elders considered anyone worthy. He was cooking up many schemes and the pill was just a bonus that appeared suddenly. He decided to rely on the ancestor’s wisdom once more, meaning that he was about to make up another legend about ancestor Xiao Tianlong.

  “Ahem, there is no need to look so downcast elders. As I said, the ancestor has bestowed upon me a great variety of knowledge form all fields, it’s just that it takes time for me to decipher that knowledge and make use of it. Amongst the things he taught me, there is a method…”he paused for dramatic effect, making sure all the elders were paying attention. “A method that can be used to combat heart demons and it requires no pills nor any other resources!”

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  The silent clan meeting hall was suddenly in an uproar. “Is it true?!” involuntarily shouted the third elder, his long eyebrows trembling. He, alongside most of the Elders lost control over their aura, causing the meeting hall to be filled with an indescribable pressure.

  “Little Yun, you’re not lying to us, are you? Does such a miraculous method truly exist?!” the fifth elder asked excitedly, his wrinkled face seemingly getting younger by a few decades.

  ‘What miraculous method, it’s just psychotherapy.’ Xiao Yun rolled his eyes internally.

  “Indeed, such a method does exist.”

  The remaining elders had reactions ranging from astonishment, excitement to utter bewilderment. The first elder quietly started at him wide eyed, his earlier melancholy completely gone. They could barely contain themselves. There were some seeds of doubt in their hearts, but the Mystic Cleansing Jade incident gave them some slight hope, the profits that venture was bringing them were solid enough after all.

  Slightly startled by their reactions and the involuntary release of their auras, Xiao Yun regained his composure and adjusted himself before speaking. “There’s no need to get so excited elders. It is a small method, a method Xiao Lian and I have been working on to help overcome her heart demon.”

  “So you’ve already taught Xiao Lian this method?” Asked the First Elder, now with some hope in his tone. “Where is she? Someone go quickly call her!”

  “Unfortunately, that won’t be possible elder. Xiao Lian has gone out into the wilderness, but this time she isn’t there to hunt. She said she needs to seclude herself. I believe after she comes back, she will have overcome her heart demon and that’s why she should get the pill to improve her chances of a breakthrough even further.”

  The elders were experiencing so many emotions in such a short time. Eventually the fourth elder spoke again. “Young master that method you mentioned, would it be possible for you share it with the rest of us? After all, the ancestor gave you that knowledge to help uplift the Xiao clan. If one of us here were ever to encounter such a heart demon in the future, it would be immensely beneficial if we had such a tool at our disposal.”

  The fourth elder worded his demand in such a way that it painted that Xiao Yun as a greedy man refusing to share his wealth with the rest of his family. That naturally didn’t escape Xiao Yun’s notice. He smiled to himself, since even if he did try to teach them the concept of therapy, emotional wellbeing, mental trauma, survivor’s guilt etc. it would require him undo views implanted by decades worth of societal and cultural influences, which wasn’t an easy thing to do to begin with. Additionally, every person’s trauma was unique to themselves, one method that worked for someone might be completely useless for someone else.

  “It’s not that simple elder. The method the ancestor taught me isn’t some cultivation technique that can be taught to anyone…It’s a rather special set of steps that requires the person inflicted with the heart demon to divulge their deepest secrets, desires and their hidden shameful memories to me and only after that can I tailor them a specific pathway that will allow them to overcome their heart demon. I’m sure you know why most people would be averse to embrace such a method.”

  In one of the rare moments in his life, the chatty Fourth Elder was stumped into silence. The rest of the Elders didn’t say a thing either. Everyone had painful memories, everyone had done things they were ashamed of and most of those memories were their guarded secrets, especially in cultivation settings where things like ‘face’, decorum, seniority and tradition were highly valued. And Xiao Yun was acutely aware of that. He knew that most people would be averse sharing their secrets with their until recently degenerate young master, especially for a method that might or might not work. It’s not like he was lying to them either. If they truly encountered a ‘heart demon’ in the future, they could come find him to seek help, but that required for them to first overcome their ego and seek help from someone many decades their junior.

  After an incense stick’s worth of contemplative silence, Xiao Yun interrupted the elders who were digesting his words.

  “So, I assume this matter is settled elders? Today our clan avoided humiliation and gained benefits instead. I will get my talismans and the Cloud Treading Belt in exchange for giving the two hundred mid-grade spiritual stones to the clan. We will keep the foundation building pill for when Xiao Lian returns. In the meantime, our workshop will keep producing the Mystic Cleansing Jade as before.” Xiao Yun spoke like he was giving the summary of a corporate shareholder meeting before the company executives.

  “Oh and I think it would be appropriate for the first elder to keep the pill as the most senior and impartial person among us.” Saying this he put the burden of the pill on the first elder. Now if any of the other elders wanted the pill for their own descendants, they wouldn’t come bothering him, instead they would have to deal with the first elder who was an immovable as a mountain once he made up his mind.

  Hearing his words, the first elder smiled ever so slightly. He knew what Xiao Yun was trying to do. It was heartening to see that someone in the younger generation had enough brains and cunning to lead a bunch of old foxes around by the nose. It was unfortunate that his cultivation talent wasn’t a fraction of his political skill.

  The first elder raised his hand causing the spirit stone pouch and the bottle containing the foundation building pill to float towards him. As they reached right in front of him they disappeared into his spatial ring in a flash, causing some of the elders to look wistfully at the treasure that slipped from their grasp. The low-grade spatial ring he was wearing was a storage artifact, left over from the clan’s more glorious days. It was a part of their legacy the had barely managed to hold on to.

  “Will that be all elders?” Xiao Yun asked in a feigned reverent tone.

  “Hmm, this matter is settled, everyone is dismissed. You can return to your duties.” Finally concluding this emergency meeting that had turned form a family disgrace into a meeting about sharing profits, the first elder left the clan meeting hall first, closely followed by Xiao Yun and remaining elders, all of whom had a range of expressions on their faces.