Chapter 48 – One’s destiny will change over time.
“Sister Bingqian, I should be the one asking you what’s wrong. Ever since Ye Zifeng went onto the stage, you’ve been staring at him….” Liu Ningzi replied with a complicated look on her face.
Liu Bingqian fixed her hair and looked up, “Really? I’ve been looking at that Ancient Violet Cloud Sword. It looks very impressive.”
“Is the sword impressive or is the person you’re looking at impressive?” Bingqian’s servant girl, Xiao Lu, teased.
Liu Bingqian was at a loss for words. She could feel her face get hotter and hotter, “Xiao Lu. What are you blabbering about. If you keep talking, you won’t get to eat dinner tonight….”
……
“Brother Zifeng, that sword is so cool. Let me play around with it. Let me be cool too!” Ye Huichi quickly ran towards Ye Zifeng.
“If you want it, then here you go!”
Ye Zifeng smiled and threw the sword towards Ye Huichi. It looked as if he was throwing some candy to a little kid.
“Thanks Bro!” Ye Huichi was very excited. He immediately waved the sword around with a proud expression on his face.
One should know that this wasn’t any mere grade 3 spirit tier sword. This sword symbolized the strength that Ye Zifeng had in order to obtain first place in the gathering.
With this sword, the young beauties of Leizhou city will all fall onto their knees when they see him. Now, everyone who witnessed the gathering today will not look down on him anymore.
“Young master Ye, I’ll give you 5000 gold coins for your sword. How about it?”
“Ha. What a joke. You want to buy this sword for 5000 gold coins? That’s a ripoff. I’ll buy it for 10,000 gold coins!”
Of course, these people were only joking around and won’t actually buy it. Even if they had the money, Ye Zifeng probably won’t sell it either.
Ye Xueyi started to laugh, “Brother Zifeng. This expensive prize… you really threw it to Huichi and let him play around with it. If he chips it or something, won’t you be sad?”
Ye Zifeng smiled, “A sword is used to fight against enemies, not for decoration. Even if it’s chipped, it is still a grade 3 spirit tier sword.
Ye Chen walked over and smiled at Ye Zifeng, “From what I know about you, I thought that you would definitely choose the Ocean Containing Bottle. But you’ve surprised me and picked the grandest prize instead.”
“As a fourth stage qi refining disciples, I can’t really use the Ocean Containing Bottle yet. Also, since it can only help in increasing cultivation speed, I’m not really that interested in it.”
Ye Chen was shocked, “Not interested in increasing cultivation speed? Are you gonna be like my good for nothing son and fool around all day?”
Without thinking, Ye Chen started to bad mouth his own son…
When he realized, he laughed bitterly. It seems like everyone’s opinion of Ye Zifeng had changed after this gathering. If Ye Zifeng can help the Ye clan change its destiny, then why would he need to curry favors with the Liu clan?
“I want to look grand. I got the sword so I can wave it around and show off a bit.”
“This…..” Ye Chen thought about it. It was normal for Ye Zifeng to want to show off after everything that had happened to him.
By choosing the sword, he was able to significantly lower the other clan’s vigilance towards him. The experts in the other clans can probably see that the Ocean Containing Bottle can help in cultivation and for Ye Zifeng not to choose it, it showed that he was still a child at heart. He depicted himself as someone who liked to show off and goof around. Like Lin Ke, many people felt that his future was limited and that he only won by luck. By doing this, he was able to reduce the amount of enemies that he had.
Of course, he didn’t choose the sword for this reason only. He thought about it carefully and decided.
Ye Zifeng smiled and stood up, “Alright. Now that the award ceremony is over, you should announce the benefits of being the number one clan in Leizhou City.”
Because the defending champions had lost, there was a second award ceremony. Even if the Liu clan lost, they can’t leave empty handed since they couldn’t participate in the first part of the gathering.
This time, it wasn’t a simple reward. It included the flow of the market in Leizhou City.
It was because of this that the Wang clan was so depressed. Now, for five years, their income will be less than the Ye clan’s.
“Liu clan, since you guys lost as the champions, you will relinquish the shares of the market between Leizhou City and Tiandao City to the Ye clan. According to the rules, you guys can still control 20% of the market. Also, in the next gathering, you will need to participate in the first part once again. Do you understand?” Shen Li’s expression was stern. He had to uphold his attitude as an elder when announcing important news.
Liu Mu, the Liu clan’s clan leader took a deep breath and sighed.
‘Yes. Thank you Elder Shen.”
“Ye clan. As the new champions, you will receive 30% of the market share between Leizhou City and Tiandao City. Next time, you guys will automatically qualify for the second round. Any questions?”
Silent. The entire place was silent.
“30% What? How can the Ye clan have 10 times our market share?”
“Ten times? To a small clan like ours, it’s at least 20 times more!”
“Alright stop talking about it. If you guys don’t think it’s fair, then you can try to win the gathering 5 years later.”
Ye Chongtian didn’t take notice of all the chattering around him and laughed loudly, “Haha….. No questions at all. Thanks Elder.”
Before the gathering, the fallen Ye clan only held 3% of the market share. Now in one go, the Ye clan received 30% of the market share. The entire clan was very happy.
To be able to obtain one third of the market share in one go, the gathering was important to every clan in Leizhou City. If it wasn’t for this, then Ye Chongtian wouldn’t have ran to other branches and lower his head in order to find someone to participate.
“Quiet down everyone.” Shen Li clapped his hands.
“Now that the battles have finished and the rewards have been given out….As the host, I hereby announce that this year’s Heavenly Clan Gathering has concluded.
Once Shen Li announced the conclusion of the gathering, most of the people began to leave. However, before they left, they went to the Ye clan and congratulated them. The Xiao clan, Rong clan, Wang clan and even the Liu clan on the other hand was feeling a little depressed.
“Heyyy, Brother Chongtian, remember me?
Ye Chongtian looked confusingly at the person in front of him. He didn’t recognize this guy at all.
“Aish…. Brother Chongtian, it seems like your memory is failing you. It’s me, Old Liu. Twenty years ago, we used traveled together and became sworn brothers…..”
Before this Old Liu could continue talking, he was pushed away by someone else, “Go Go Go. Do you think that you can still call him your brother? When the Ye clan fell, you disappeared and never visited him again for twenty whole years. Unlike you, I, Old Lu, treated these twenty years as if only one day had passed.”
Old Liu immediately hollered back at Old Lu, “Yeah right. These twenty years, your Lu clan has been hating on the Ye clan and wanted to exterminate them.
In the next moment, both Old Lu and Old Liu were pushed away.
“Uncle Chongtian, don’t bother with these losers. You should make deals with my Gao clan. After all, we’ve respected and treated the Ye clan nicely all these years.
“Heh. Don’t try to act fake in front of Chongtian. Your Gao clan’s young master is one of Wang Lin’s lackeys who loved to bully Ye Zifeng back in the days.
Once the Gao clan’s clan leader heard about this, his face immediately paled and became speechless. They had hit a sore spot. He regained his composure quickly and replied, “That’s because my son is still young. A few years back, you were the one badmouthing Ye Zifeng in public. What do you have to say about that?”
“You’re lying….”
“No, you’re lying….”
“Enough.” Ye Chongtian snorted loudly, “Stop arguing. The past is in the past. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. From now on, if you guys want to use our market channels or talk about business, then come over the day after tomorrow. I will consider everything then.”
Twenty years ago, Ye Chongtian by himself was a domineering force in Leizhou City and was well respected. Even now, he is still considered a strong expert in Leizhou City due to his cultivation level. His words are to be respected.
Ye Chongtian had a complicated expression on his face. It looked sour and bitter and yet it showed some signs of happiness. All this was given to him by his son, Ye Zifeng. Thirty years the river flows east and thirty years later the river flows west. It was finally time for the Ye clan to shine again.
Ye Chongtian regretfully sighed and turned around, “Ah Zifeng. Father was wrong. Father has neglected you. From now on, I will……”
While saying that, he realized that something was wrong, “Hold on….. Where did Zifeng go?”