Chapter 7 – The Qin clan’s decision

As these events perspired in the Hai clan household, the Qin clan was in no less tension.

“Wentian, you need to go over and get that marriage engagement cancelled!” Qin Wu spoke softly as he stared out into the open pavilion.

“Of course father, it’s just Cheng’er is not very willing to agree to it, and I don’t know how to convince her. She wants to keep the marriage engagement with Hai Yun. When I spoke to her about it, she was adamantly convinced that Hai Yun’s awakening would cause an even bigger spectacle than hers.” Qin Wentian was bowing to his waist. In his father’s current mood, it would be best to be polite to the utmost.

“That foolish girl…” Qin Wu sighed. If she had qualified to become Elder Nan Gong’s apprentice, then they would certainly not have been trying to break of this engagement. However, right now she had shown unsurpassed talent, but just as the Hai clan was aware that the main branch would make a move on her, so was the Qin clan.

They were not too concerned with Qin Cheng marrying Hai Yun, but they knew the main branch would try to utilize these loopholes in their agreement to get someone from the main branch to marry her. This would simply force them to be absorbed into the Hai clan, but being absorbed this way, was far worse than working up the ladder by merging with the Hai clan branch family.

To put it into perspective, if they merged with the Hai clan branch family, then it would be like merging all of their resources together, with some additional support coming from the main branch, but no real direct interference. They would then be able to slowly rise in standing, and when they had enough power to back themselves up, they could start participating in larger events.

If the main branch were to suddenly absorb the current Qin clan, then they would probably be completely ruined due to too much power, too quickly. They would essentially be figureheads, and be greatly bullied. Because Qin Cheng would be married to the direct heir, then they would also be forced to act as foot soldiers whenever necessary. They would have to participate in these larger conflicts, simply because their sole heiress is married to the Hai Clan main family’s sole heir. Like this, they would be much worse off and probably become a burden to the entire Hai Clan. If Qin Cheng was like other Holy Beast physiques and turned out to be unable to bear children, then the moment she passed away, they would be much worse off than the current them!

Thus, the smartest decision would definitely be to break off this engagement before the Hai Clan main branch arrived and use Elder Nan Gong to make any conflict with them worthless for the Hai clan main branch. This was their only hope!

As Qin Cheng had just finished her awakening ceremony, fusing her soul with a Samsara Cycle Beast: the Samsara Flame Tigress she was busy adapting to her new soul strength.

As she slowly used her soul force to explore her body she noticed that she was able to identify things outside of her body as well. Most people didn’t have any sense of perception when they were still at the Nascent Spirit stage! According to some memory fragments she acquired from the Samsara Flame Tigress, she began to busily adapt to this new soul domain.

When the Samsara Flame tigress had been going through its tribulation of samsara, to determine if it would be reborn anew or achieve nirvana, a strike of heavenly Lightning struck it. It was hit a total of 9 times before it could no longer hold on, thus forcefully transmigrating to Qin Cheng’s body. However, as it was in the middle of fusing with Qin Cheng, another bolt of lightning hit it, fragmenting its memories.

If these memory fragments had not been jumbled, then Qin Cheng would have probably become completely controlled by the Samsara Flame Tigress. However now, Qin Cheng was left in control due to the extremely wounded state of the Samsara Flame Tigress' consciousness.

This soul domain, was just one of the perks. It should be noted that a martial practitioner can usually develop an aura sense, during the spirit aura stage. This aura is an extension of their internal energy which can be expanded to sense objects in the periphery. However, a soul domain was an extension of ones soul, thus if she extended it, someone without a soul domain of their own, would definitely be unable to sense it.

Thus she extended it into her grandfather’s room without hesitation. Thus she naturally heard the entire conversation.

Unfortunately gaining a memory fragment from the Samsara flame tigress only gave her an understanding of her abilities, without really improving the maturity of her mind. As she realized that her existence could be a danger to her Brother Hai, the first thing she thought of was naturally, agreeing to her family's request and breaking off the engagement. Since she had overheard them without their notice, she knew that they were actually thinking of her best interest, as well as trying to be good to her brother Hai. If it had been any other reason, she would not have agreed no matter what.

Hai Yun on the other hand, had a completely different form of thinking. His idea, completing the engagement ceremony ahead of time. That way they wouldn’t dare touch Hai Yun. In this world, when a man dies after becoming engaged, then it is because his fiancé brought about a calamity for him. Thus, his fiancé becomes a calamity star and no one is willing to marry her. Hence, if Hai Yun were to be engaged to her, then the Hai Clan main branch wouldn’t dare to kill him, because then they couldn’t marry her either!

Besides, the current Qin Cheng had long exceeded the status of someone he needed to repay for the old owner of this body. She was now a high demand cultivation tool which could speed up his revenge!

“Yuntao, take me to a jeweler, I need some jade.” Hai Yun demanded.

“Young Master, right this way!” Yuntao bowed and turned before leading Hai Yun into the city.

As they passed by shops, Hai Yun didn’t not even spare a single glance at any merchandise. He only had one goal in mind. Protect this marriage!

50 meters behind him, an old man slowly glanced in their direction. Just what is this brat up to?

“Kid, your grandfather is following you,” ‘Almighty Divinity who is my Benevolent Master’ said flatly.

“I know, do you think someone who takes a can fool me, I have used it an almost infinite number of times myself.” Hai Yun smirked.

“Young Master, this is old master Ling’s shop. He is the best jeweler in the city.” Yuntao introduced an old, white haired man whose hair was incredibly disheveled and stone shavings littered his robes.

“This humble jeweler greets the young master.”

“No need to stand on ceremony,” Hai Yun waved his sleeved, “I need a block of jade about 1 meter long, a steel pot which it can fit in and enough mercury to submerge it for a month.”

“This…” Old Ling was left speechless. Never would he have imagined that this little 13 year old child would come to his jewelry and ask for such ridiculous materials. oh how the young had no respect for others careers...

“May I implore young master what he might require these materials for? I have finely crafted jade pendants, rings, bangles and any other accessories!” Old Ling attempted to make a sales pitch. It was rare for him to get such a fat customer, but he only ordered raw jade!

“What I want, is not these pieces of jewelry, only those raw materials, please pack them and send them to my house with Yuntao. Yuntao, bring them to the second floor of the library.” As Hai Yun gave out his instructions, he turned and departed, heading home.

...

Yuntao, what did Yun’er buy at old Ling’s shop?” Hai Duan asked in a soft voice.

“Reporting to the Patriarch, young master ordered a meter long block of jade, a pot which it would fit in and enough mercury to submerge it for a month.”

Hai Duan wrinkled his brows, “What exactly is that brat up to?” he mumbled.

...

It took almost 6 hours before Hai Yun received his requested materials in the 2nd floor of the library.

“Yuntao, you don’t have to stand guard outside the door anymore. From now on you can stand guard inside the door,” Hai Yun stated. “Oh, and I do ask for al of my grandfather’s other spies to please kindly reveal yourselves and step out now, I do not wish to have this creepy feeling of being observed in secret as I work!”

14, that’s how many people were hiding on the 2nd floor of the library today. Usually there would only be one or two, then ‘Almighty Divinity who is my Benevolent Master’ could easily pull them into an illusion where Hai Yun was simply reading catalogs, instead of creating herbal slobs which he was applying.

“Young master is quite observant. We feel much more assured that your talent will be heaven defying now!” a young man’s voice softly echoed through the floor. Nearly a meter from Hai Yun’s feet, the shelves in the library began to distort and a young man in his late teens walked out. He had a gentle smile which forced his eyes into a squinting position, making him appear with a bubbly personality.

“Indeed, the young master is naturally gifted from heaven,” another, much older voice chimed in. This person was slowly dropped down from the ceiling. “May I implore young master how exactly these servants failed to keep our presences hidden?”

“I am naturally willing to help all of you improve, but first I would like all the remaining 12 of you to come out,” Hai Yun smiled.

The two spies’ faces immediately changed. There was vision was incomparably shaken as they stared at the boy who seemed to be only 13 years old. How could this person, who was clearly a child, see through all fourteen of their disguises?!?!

One by one the remaining 12 people appeared. This time, not a single one dared to look down on this 13 year old brat, for they were incomparably clear on their failure. Nor did they dare to meet his gaze, for they simply felt too ashamed to be bested by someone less than half their age!

“You all can leave now, don’t worry about offending my grandfather, I will give him a full explanation of everything I did today as long as he stops sending spies into the library. Yuntao should be sufficient, no?” Hai Yun’s face never stopped smiling throughout the entire ordeal, as if everything was going exactly as he had planned.

It was simply too fearful. How could he possibly considered human?!?! Wasn’t he simply a monster? If it were any other clans agents sent to spy on him, they might end up being led in circles to the point of being driven into madness if he planned things right!

Now, if you factor in the ‘Almighty Divinity who is my benevolent master’s divine sense, then yes, those spies could certainly be driven to insanity. It should be noted that the ‘Almighty Divinity who is my benevolent master’ was the primordial god king of poison and medicine. Coupled with Hai Yun being a divine ranked alchemist in his past life, creating some basic poison powder while hiding his hand in a sleeve was far from difficult.

Obviously, this was unknown to the 14 spies, they only guessed that they had been very careless. Each and every one of them had already come up with a reason for being discovered. However they were still no less alarmed by the young master’s ability to see through these mistakes. If Hai Yun was aware of their self-deprecating thoughts he would probably nod in satisfaction. It has long been his life’s motto to not blame others for your failure, knowing their attitudes would certainly make him appreciate their value more.

However, as they left, he only silently counted them while maintaining his sly smile.