73 Fathers' council

The Snow Wind Family mansion. The City Lord's office.

Ye Zong looked at the guest sitting in front of him. He had invited Xiao Yunfeng to discuss the safety of his daughter.

In the past, their families had a close connection to each other, because their wives had been friends. But after certain events, they grew apart. Part of it was because of the new closeness between the Sacred Family and the Winged Dragon Family. Even though Ye Zong knew that it was not completely voluntary on the Winged Dragon Family's side, he couldn't do anything about it.

The politics of the city demanded him to keep a distance. And their daughters also drifted apart. But now they were again here because of their daughters.

When he heard from Xue Yin that Ye Ziyun had already reached the Silver rank and was looking for a demon spirit to integrate, the first thing he did was be elated. But then came grief, that her mother couldn't see that. Then shame. His daughter, instead of approaching him for help, was looking for the demon spirit on her own.

What kind of father would be unaware that his daughter reaching such an important threshold? Was he so distant that his daughter became disillusioned with him? The last time he talked to her about her classmate he could feel that she was hiding some things but didn't press, instead opting to investigate the kid himself.

So he approached her himself asking about her cultivation. Seeing that his daughter became so elated that he was showing interest in her cultivation was a stab to his heart. To his question about why she hadn't come to him for demon spirit, she responded that he was already too busy with the city's safety and she didn't want to bother him.

Yeah, he was a failure of a father. He hugged his daughter and told her in no uncertain terms to approach him anytime she wanted. And gifted her a demon spirit he and his father had prepared for the day when she will reach the Silver rank. It was a gold rank earth dragon demon spirit. It was a bit weaker than the ones he and Ye Han integrated with. They will exchange for something more powerful when she reaches the Gold rank.

Further talks revealed even more shocking things. Nie Li, the kid Gu Yan talked about, had given her a new, very powerful cultivation technique. When he asked for it her daughter hesitated to show it. After his assurance that he will only look at it for her safety, she handed him a parchment.

Reading through the chants he became astonished. It was on a completely another level from any technique he knew. Even some obscure and powerful techniques his father brought from some ruins were garbage compared to it. He could feel that if he used this technique he could reach the legend rank quickly without problem. But he would not break his words to his daughter.

Unfortunately, he couldn't ask permission from Nie Li too, because that would reveal that his daughter had shown him the technique. He did not know how Nie Li would react to that. He just added another point to Nie Li's mysterious master. Not only he was an expert at alchemy, but his knowledge of cultivation techniques was also impressive.

Another important thing revealed was that her friend and Nie Li had also reached the Silver rank. His first impulse was to get them immediately brought into the mansion for their safety, but her daughter reminded him about the secrecy. All three of them were not keen on revealing their cultivation yet. That was actually a good idea. Still, he decided to talk with Xiao Yunfeng (Xiao Ning'er's father) about his daughter's safety. Confidentially, because according to his daughter's opinion some of the elders of the Winged Dragon family served the interests of the Sacred family.

He organized a secret meeting with him for the next day. But there was a new surprise the next day. Gu Yan called him about a new artifact Nie Li wanted him to put up for an auction.

So he went to the Alchemy Association with a family appraiser. It had taken them till the evening to test the artifact fully. It was miraculous! Not as impressive as the cultivation technique of course, but still something that was never seen before.

How many treasures did that kid have? In their excitement, he almost forgot about the meeting with Xiao Yunfeng.

"I am sorry for the lateness. Something came up at the Alchemy Association that required my presence," he apologized.

"It's okay. The City Lord's office must be quite busy. Elder Ye Xiu told me you wanted to talk about my daughter?" Xiao Yunfeng directly asked.

"Yes, how's your daughter's cultivation going?"

"The same as yours I guess. The silver rank?" Xiao Yunfeng asked in turn.

"You decided not to announce it to the public?"

"She decided not to reveal it yet. She thinks it may attract some attention to her and I agree with her."

"That's reasonable. And exactly for this reason, I contacted you. Geniuses like her should be provided protection by the city. I want to offer her to move into our mansion." Ye Zong said.

"Wouldn't that declare to everyone that there's something strange going on?"

"Our daughters are close friends. We don't have to announce the reason for her moving here." Ye Zong said. Seeing the hesitation in Xiao Yunfeng's face he decided to change the topic for now. "Speaking of friends, what do you know about their other friend Nie Li?"

"Not much really," replied Xiao Yunfeng after some thought. "He healed my daughter and is helping her cultivation. I would have liked to meet and thank him personally, but don't want to attract attention to him." Actually, he knew more but his daughter was very hesitant in divulging that kid's secrets so he also would keep them to himself.

"Healed?" that was new information to Ye Zong.

"Yes. I haven't even known that she was sick. Something called Arctic Cold Disease. He provided her with methods of healing. If he hadn't, I could have lost my daughter."

Nie Li had knowledge of healing as well? Ye Zong wondered internally. The more he learns, the more mysterious that kid becomes. "Do you know anything about his master?"

"Master?" asked Xiao Yunfeng wondering. He hadn't heard anything about any kind of master. But the City Lord had better resources than him to investigate the background of that kid. "That would make sense, actually," he murmured.

Ye Zong decided to divulge some information. "We don't know much about him. Some kind of high-level expert out of the city. He had not contacted anyone in the city, except for the kid. We don't know why. May not even be in the city anymore."

"Well, many high-level cultivators have peculiar personalities." Xiao Yunfeng shrugged. He is not going to look the gift horse in the mouth. His family for the first time had a chance to leave the quagmire they have been caught in, in the last years.

"Yes, I have just been wondering why he would choose to help our daughters?"

"What do you think?" asked Xiao Yunfeng incredulously looking at him. "My daughter is already head over heels for him."

Ye Zong had some inkling but didn't want to think about that. "And you accept it so easily?" he asked.

"Better than Shen Hong's son I guess. And if what you're speaking is true, then he has a great future."

Ye Zong felt uncomfortable. It was not easy for him to accept that someone could be trying to woo his sweet innocent daughter. "Do you think it is Nie Li's decision to help our daughters? Or was it his master's orders?"

"I don't know. But we must not forget our daughters aren't the only ones he is helping. If we want to learn more we have to ask our daughters."

"That may be for the best." They couldn't leave everything to fate. What if Nie Li had some ulterior motives? Well, more ulterior motives than they suspected. It's their duty as fathers to learn about their male friends. And their daughters may know more than anyone about him.

Ye Zong called the servant and asked him to bring his daughter and her guest to his office.

"Before our daughters appear I have to tell you something. It's confidential information, you cannot share it with anyone." Ye Zong decided to trust Xiao Yunfeng with some of the secrets. They were on the same boat, and getting him out of the Sacred Family's clutches will reduce Shen Hong's power greatly.

After Xiao Yunfeng nodded in agreement, Ye Zong started his tale. He told him about Nie Li's connection to the Alchemy Association and the Purple Haze Grass scheme. Xiao Yunfeng had been greatly amused that behind all that fiasco with that grass was a 13 old teenager. He remembered how many organizations and families ran around like headless chickens back then.

Ye Zong also had been amused by it when he heard about it the first time. He had kept some of the things to himself, like the alchemy recipes Nie Li introduced. It was not completely his secret. But he told him about the throne artifact he inspected today. The information about it going to be released anyway, if Ye Zong won't decide to buy it outright, not letting it get to the auction.

They were talking about Nie Li and their daughter's adventures in the Ancient Orchid City Ruins when the girls arrived. Ye Ziyun and Xiao Ning'er greeted them and looked at them expectantly.

"What do you know about Nie Li's master?" Ye Zong decided to grab the bull by the horns.

Girls looked at each other and shrugged. "Nothing. I don't think he exists." Ye Ziyun said.

"Nie Li has never spoken about any master," Xiao Ning'er added. "So his existence is mostly a speculation."

"Even if he did exist, Nie Li doesn't contact him much, if at all." Ye Ziyun stated matter of factly.

Ye Zong and Xiao Yunfeng were surprised by the girls' no-nonsense answer. They spoke with confidence, sure in their opinion. Was Nie Li keeping the existence of his master secret from his friends? That would make sense. Teenagers are bad at keeping secrets after all. Ye Zong decided to move on to another matter.

"Have you heard about an artifact called 'Emperor's throne' or 'Kong Ming's throne' ?"

The girls again looked at each other confusedly. Xiao Ning'er mouthed 'Kong Ming's throne' surprised. Then Ye Ziyun's eyes brightened remembering something.

"Oh, a throne! That's what he was talking about!" she exclaimed. "I will pass his words directly to you. He said quote 'tell your father not to buy the throne, it's not meant for him. If he wants I will make him another one for a reasonable price' "