The Lien Clan’s ancestral worship ceremony was a complete mess.

Not only did Jiang Wuyong lose face, but due to Lien Que’s fierce response, the Lien family itself did not come out looking good.

Spectators from various places departed one after another, and gossip spread.

But these were not things that Jiang Wang needed to consider.

At this moment, in the most luxurious restaurant in Nanyao City, Jiang Wang was talking with Chong Xuansheng.

“You’ve offended the Fourteenth Prince so badly, will it really not affect you?” Jiang Wang asked.

This time he owed Chong Xuansheng a great favor. Chong Xuansheng’s gains and losses were the only things he was considering.

“Of course there will be an impact, but overall, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.”

Chong Xuansheng carefully analyzed for him: “The current Emperor has a total of seventeen sons and nine daughters. The eldest prince has already been deposed and is now imprisoned in the palace. The Crown Prince is the second son. Apart from that, only the Third Princess, the Ninth Prince, and the Eleventh Prince are extremely powerful and qualified to compete for the throne.”

“Families like our Chongxuan family will never get involved in the struggle for the throne. It’s not worth the cost. No matter who succeeds to the throne, they will not treat my Chongxuan family poorly. So, I don’t have to give face to the other princes and princesses at all, and the family won’t say anything. Spreading the word will only further prove that the Chongxuan family is only loyal to the Emperor and has no intention of participating in the dragon race.”

The fatty was very pleased, his eyes narrowed with laughter: “And for us. You got a lot of benefits from the gambling fight, and our reputation has risen even more.”

“Do you know what defeating Jiang Wuyong means? It means that you are already among the strongest in the Tongtian realm, and many people will compare you to Wang Yiwu. And you are my retainer, how strong do you think I should be? I pulled out my family fortune today to suppress Jiang Wuyong, just to tell those people that they should reconsider which side to stand on!”

Chong Xuansheng only mentioned the benefits and did not mention the disadvantages, but Jiang Wang certainly knew.

He listened quietly and just nodded: “It’s good that you’ve considered it carefully.”

After speaking, he picked up the long sword across his lap, got up and walked out: “We’ll leave later. Lien Que asked me to go to him, he has something else to say to me.”

“That extremely ugly blacksmith boy?”

Jiang Wang gave him a helpless look, meaning, please don’t say that about Lien Que. Also, are you much stronger?

“Go ahead, go ahead.” Chong Xuansheng waved his hand dismissively.

When Jiang Wang reached the door, he twisted and turned and said, “Um, apologize to him for me.”

Lien Que was forced to commit suicide to prove his innocence. Although the Lien family was mainly responsible, Chong Xuansheng’s sarcasm also played a big role.

From the bottom of his heart, he really respected such a staunch person.

Of course, it was impossible for the dignified future head of the Chongxuan family (self-proclaimed) to apologize in person. Unless there was a benefit.

As one of the most outstanding ten of the younger generation of the Lien clan, Lien Que naturally also had his own industry in Nanyao City.

Such as this wine shop.

Vats of strong liquor were placed in the hall, and bowl after bowl was scooped out for the guests. There were only a few private rooms on the second floor for entertaining guests.

These industries, including the wine shop, were mainly used for family expenses.

But it wasn’t much, because Lien Que had never been very interested in power and wealth.

Going to the Heavenly Mansion Secret Realm was to become stronger, and becoming stronger was to forge better weapons, that’s all.

Originally, after driving away Jiang Wuyong, Jiang Wang was ready to leave directly with Chong Xuansheng. But he couldn’t resist Lien Que’s retention, and the Lien family’s high-level officials also wanted to repair their relationship with the Chongxuan family after the cooperation with Jiang Wuyong broke down, so he stayed temporarily.

Chong Xuansheng would not necessarily put on a life-and-death posture just because he had a bad impression of these people. He had basically achieved all his goals in this trip to Nanyao City, and there was nothing to be angry about.

If you want to plot great things, you can’t let personal preferences dictate your decisions. There are plenty of people who want to help you withdraw the steps if you don’t take them. Those competitors can’t wait for you to fall and break your head.

Jiang Wang communicated with Chong Xuansheng and came to the wine shop.

Walking into the private room, Lien Que had been waiting for a long time.

Apart from forging weapons, he was not a careful person, but he asked first: “Is your hand okay?”

“Just a little injury.” Jiang Wang smiled, his hand was wrapped in several layers of gauze, but it didn’t affect his movements: “When you forge weapons, you must have suffered a lot of this kind of injury.”

“Yes.” Lien Que sighed, and stretched out his hand for Jiang Wang to see, his hand was full of dense scars and calluses.

Jiang Wang also had calluses on his hands, but they were mainly concentrated on the part of the hand that held the sword, at the knuckles. It wasn’t as scarred as Lien Que’s hand at all.

“I have a friend, a few years ago, when he was forging a weapon, he didn’t control the heat well, and the furnace exploded. Because he was too tired, he couldn’t avoid it, and his eyes were gone. It’s not that his eyes were blind, if he was blind, there was still a chance to cure him, go to Dongwang Valley or some other place, spend more money, there’s always a way. It’s that both eyes were gone.”

“You must have had a deep relationship with him?”

“Ah, yes. He’s my only friend.”

“Then he… how is he now?”

“He couldn’t stand the blow, and committed suicide that day.” Lien Que said calmly.

The profession of blacksmith is indeed not so easy. It’s both hard and dangerous, and it’s easy to be coveted. The divine weapons and sharp weapons that are forged are often used by those who use those divine weapons and sharp weapons, and the blacksmiths are mostly unknown.

The world knows that the master of Overthrow Army and Kill Generals is Jiang Mengxiong, but how many people remember who forged this pair of finger tigers for him?

The situation of blacksmith holy places like the Lien family is still good, they have status and respect, and they themselves are not lacking in strength. But there are more ordinary craftsmen in the world who are humble, hard-working, and complain-free.

This is also one of the reasons why Lien Que was willing to die, and the Lien family’s high-level officials immediately softened. Lien Que, who forged the famous weapon, Longing for You, could no longer be an insignificant family junior to the Lien family, but an important factor for them to maintain the position of blacksmith holy land.

Even if they didn’t understand it before, they should have understood it after this incident.

Jiang Wang was slightly silent.

Because Lien Que was not a person who needed comfort.

Lien Que’s calloused hand rested on the table and said, “Actually, the reason I specially asked you to stay is because I have something to discuss with you.”

“Just say it.” Jiang Wang said.

“This matter has to start with Lien Shao, do you remember Lien Shao?”

That guy who sneered at Lien Que in front of the sword furnace…

Jiang Wang nodded.

“I said, he’s actually a pitiful person.” Lien Que said slowly, “As for the reason, it’s in the life token you returned to me…”

In Lien Que’s narration, Jiang Wang learned about the Lien family’s dusty history.

In those years, the Lien family’s old country was destroyed, and the Lien family fled and migrated as a family.

Because the Lien family’s blacksmith inheritance was already quite famous at that time, they were chased and betrayed in various ways along the way.

In order to preserve the family, to ensure that the family’s blacksmithing secrets were not leaked, and to prevent anyone from defecting…

The Lien family’s patriarch at that time decided to refine life tokens for the entire Lien family and hand them over to the family elders who were absolutely loyal to the family for safekeeping. If there was any betrayal, they would be killed without mercy.

These family elders rarely deal with worldly affairs, but they control the power of life and death of the clansmen.

This regulation did ensure the preservation of the Lien family’s inheritance. At that time, it united the Lien family’s strength and allowed the Lien family to take root in the State of Qi. From scratch, they built a prosperous Nanyao City, and even became one of the five holy lands of blacksmithing.

But hundreds of years have passed, and the temporary emergency measures have become foul and corrupt family rules.

Every newborn in the Lien family has to refine a life token at birth. Before they have their own will, their life and death are already in the hands of others.

The earliest family elders were all loyal to the family, but the situation changed. There were always a few family elders who could not be trusted, and there were always a few scoundrels who swelled up because of this.

Many people didn’t recognize the problem with this kind of rule, but those who controlled the power and vested interests could no longer let go of the power in their hands.

Looking back from the present time, a hundred years ago, there was a talented Lien family child. Because he was dissatisfied with the fact that his life was controlled by others from birth, he secretly harbored rebellious intentions. He operated silently for many years, colluded with various parties, and laid out a big plan.

In the end, he led various forces to encircle and hunt down the Lien family.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that the Qi Emperor at that time wanted to plan a big battle and urgently needed the Lien family to contribute to the forging of weapons, and mobilized a large army to maintain it. The Lien family would have been exterminated in that disaster.

Despite this, the Lien family’s reputation plummeted after the disaster, and less than one in a hundred of their industries remained.

The Lien family was rebuilt after the disaster.

But even after experiencing such a thing, those Lien family elders were still unwilling to give up the power to kill and seize.

They were used to being high above, they had walked this way themselves, suffered from the rules, and slowly became a part of the rules themselves.

It’s just that since then, the Lien family has selected ten of the most outstanding family children every generation. The family recognizes that they have the ability to control their own destiny and returns their life tokens.

Lien Que was one of them.

The way to control floods is to dredge rather than block. These ten people seem to be an honor, but in essence, they are just a vent.

Why did Lien Zhuping and Lien Luyue think that the personal honor of a family child was not worth mentioning, and even didn’t consider it at all? Because in their thinking, family children have no possibility of disobeying them at all.

They never imagined that Lien Que would oppose them.

This kind of outdated and corrupt rule has continued in the Lien family for too long. So long that it seems to be innate, so long that few people think it’s wrong.

And Lien Shao is one of those Lien family members who cannot control their own life tokens.

They are the majority whose lives and deaths are not their own.

He had also tried desperately to work hard for those ten free places. But everyone was working so hard, he was a step behind, and from then on he lived in two worlds with those ten people.

It was precisely because he was born unable to control himself, and could not obtain it no matter how hard he tried, that he was particularly angry about Lien Que’s behavior of handing over the life token to Jiang Wang in the Heavenly Mansion Secret Realm.

For him, if he could get his own life token, he would rather die than hand it over again.

It’s not that he hates Lien Que.

He is angry that he is not free, and even more angry that Lien Que does not cherish this freedom!

After slowly saying all this, a jar of wine was already empty.

Lien Que held the wine jar upside down, shook it, and only two drops of wine fell.

He put down the wine jar and finally sighed: “Born in the Lien family, a lifetime is controlled by others.”