This time Jin Liuli finally relaxed for real. Since the Ancestor had agreed, there would be no reversal. Her smile turned genuine. "Thank you, Ancestor, for looking after my aunt."
She bowed, then lifted her head. "The clan blocked news from me, so I feared for Aunt and begged the Zūnshàngs to return with me."
"You asked them because you knew the Patriarch would make things hard for her?" Ancestor Jin glanced at her and spoke.
"Yes." There was nothing to hide now, so Jin Liuli admitted it directly.
"It seems I have been too absorbed in alchemy and neglected the clan's affairs, so that our juniors would rather seek outsiders than come to me."
Jin Liuli dropped to her knees and said crisply, "Ancestor, you devote yourself to alchemy to raise the Jin clan higher. The Patriarch used that as an excuse to bar us from your place of cultivation. Aunt has been almost confined to her residence. This time, because of the spirit plant supply, the Patriarch finally thought of her.
Ancestor, you may not know. In two hundred years, the insect race will break the spatial nodes of Lingyun Continent and launch an invasion of the cultivation world. In the last hundred years, our continent's cultivators have already clashed many times with insects and evil cultivators.
Aunt is willing to trade herself for greater spirit plant supplies from the Yao clan. That may be the last thing she can do for the Jin clan."
Ancestor Jin did not interrupt. He listened as Jin Liuli laid out information he had not known.
"This time I took a gamble. I only dared alarm you by bringing the Zūnshàngs to the clan. I will accept any punishment."
"You calculated the Patriarch's attitude and deliberately concealed the three seniors' true cultivation and status from him?"
"Yes."
"So, at Heavenly Sword Sect you learned more than just cultivation."
"I was fortunate that Jian Lu Zūnshàng did not cast me aside. She transferred me into the Enforcement Hall and taught me at her side. I have benefited greatly." Her answer rang out firm and clear.
"Enough. I will handle the rest. Go tell your aunt my decision. Tomorrow, take my greeting card to the Yao clan."
"Yes, Ancestor." Jin Liuli rose, saluted again, and left the study.
After she departed, Ancestor Jin's face sank. His earlier decisions had clearly planted resentment in some hearts. He looked at the unconscious Patriarch on the floor and flicked a fireball to wake him.
Outside the study, Jin Liuli walked with light, happy steps toward her aunt's courtyard.
Jin Ai had been in the courtyard the whole time. When Jin Liuli tapped the restriction, she waved it open at once.
"Liuli, what is going on? I felt a powerful pressure earlier. Has something happened in the clan?" Jin Ai's face remained calm, but her slightly hurried tone betrayed her true feelings.
"Aunt, be at ease. The Ancestor himself has intervened. There is room to turn this around." Smiling, Jin Liuli pulled her aunt to sit and recounted everything from start to finish.
As she spoke, Jin Ai's hands slowly clenched into fists. When she closed her eyes and opened them again, they were filled with resolve. "Liuli, thank you for all you have done for me, even rousing the Ancestor. If there is punishment, I will bear it."
"There is no need to thank me. When I lost my mother as a child, you took care of me. What I have done does not measure up to your kindness." Jin Liuli reached out, took Jin Ai's fist, and gently eased it open. She knew that after she joined the sect, her aunt had grown lonelier. This decision had cost Jin Ai great resolve.
While a gentle breeze blew in Jin Liuli's courtyard, a storm raged on the Patriarch's side.
Ancestor Jin summoned the clan Elders and erupted in fury, directly revoking the Patriarch's position and taking charge himself for the time being.
Clearly, the Patriarch was not beloved. Under the Ancestor's anger, not one person dared speak for him. All five Elders stood to the side and accepted the reprimand.
"Jin De, is this how you serve as Patriarch? Not a single person will speak for you. Jin Ai at least has Jin Liuli willing to stand up for her. And you?" The Ancestor's words cut to the heart. Even those who might have helped Jin De dared not now.
Jin De drooped his head. From the moment the Ancestor was startled out of seclusion, he knew he could only take the blows. He had never imagined that little Jin Liuli could invite high-level cultivators from Heavenly Sword Sect.
He also overlooked that the day before, when Jin Liuli came and said she had invited seniors who might purge Young Master Yao's poison, he had brushed her off. He had never intended to treat those people with respect. His aim was to drive them away so that Jin Ai would still have to form a pair with the Yao clan.
He also forgot that "seniors" does not mean only skilled in detoxification. It also means profound cultivation. His end today was nothing but the fruit of his own deeds.
Jian Jing brought Jian Dan and Jian Po quietly back to Feixian Pavilion without disturbing anyone.
After the two Zūnshàngs sat, Jian Po's peach blossom eyes held a smile as she said, "Liuli has what she wanted. I would wager she never told that Jin Patriarch who we really are."
Jian Dan nodded, flicking her sleeve to set spirit fruits, spirit pastries, and spirit tea on the jade table. As she poured, she said, "Liuli was cornered and resorted to a last measure. Even when this ends, the clan will not value her highly. Family shame should not be aired. She has laid it bare before outsiders."
"Hee hee. Zūnshàng, you knew all along that Liuli hid our cultivation and identity, and you accompanied her in the little play."
Jian Dan poured a cup of bamboo-leaf green tea for Jian Jing and tossed a purple-heart fruit to Jian Po before speaking unhurriedly, "If you want a certain outcome, you pay the price. For her aunt, she lanced the clan's boil and showed it to the world. Her aunt escapes the fire pit, but the clan will dislike it. The sect will be her support from now on."
"So Zūnshàng intends to nurture her?" Jian Po's eyes turned, catching the key point.
"Why not? There is a rift now. Even if the clan changes later, they will never be wholehearted toward her. Her focus will shift to the sect and the Law Enforcement Hall.
She works hard at cultivation. If she pushes for two hundred years and becomes a high-level cultivator, the clan may even have to rely on her."
Jian Jing listened with interest, then asked, "Junior Sister, did you plan all of this?"
"Not at all. We simply encountered it and went with the current."
Jian Dan smiled as she answered.
Jian Po pressed her lips together in a grin and said no more.
She knew Jian Lu Zūnshàng kept a low profile, but everyone in the Law Enforcement Hall recognized her. Zūnshàng always thought ahead, avoided needless sacrifice, and fought to win them resources. The good mood of Hall Master Meng said it all.
Their rising combat strength and the captains' realm breakthroughs were the best proof. She had followed this trip to walk in Zūnshàng's footsteps and hoped to enter a trial illusion once. Strength is the ultimate truth.
As the three were speaking, the courtyard restriction rippled.