Chapter : 19 : Situation At The Zhau Clan :
Location : Yu Shan Kingdom : Feather City :
In the remote regions of the Yu Shan Kingdom far away from the glory city lies the Feather City .
Known for its feather craft and a variety of birds this city is in the remote regions of the kingdom and is not very big .
But what it does have special is not something significant for the city but is significant for this story .
It is the home of the Zhau clan .
The Zhau clan estate was far different from the Xiao clan estate and it was reflected on every corner of it's existence .
The Xiao clan estate was build on a mountain peak with few of the best craftsmen in the Yu Shan Kingdom designing each part of it's walls .
The huge size of Xiao clan estate made it look like a mini city in it's self .
On the other hand the Zhau clan estate was the exact opposite .
While it didn't look poor as it was of considerable size .
But infront of the Xiao clan estate it looked like a storage house .
The Zhau clan was essentially a clan in the outskirts of the Yu Shan Kingdom.
And even in the Feather City the Xiao clan had rivals .
The Su clan who lived in the same city often fought with them for the bigger share in the market leading to arrivalry where both of them had clashed multiple times .
And even though the Zhau clan had existed in the city before the Su clan the power between them had always been equal.
The strongest cultivators in both the Su clan and the Zhau clan where they are clan head's respectively .
And both of them were 4th Star Dou Deciple making the equilibrium between their clans even more solid .
And while the Dou Disciple was not considered a major power house in cities like the glory city in this remote region of the Yu Shan Kingdom this was an apex power house .
But recently a new cultivation genius had risen in the Zhau clan which became a major concern for the Su clan .
He was the second son of the Zhau clan's head .
Zhau Xuan's talents was something they had never seen in their life .
Not only in their city they have not heard of someone this talented from any nearby cities as well .
For a moment some even started considering Zhao Xuan's a genius on the same level as the famous Xiao Yun from the Xiao clan .
This however meant nothing good for the Su clan .
While Xiao Xuan was week right now how long would it take for him to surpass them ?
And when he does what will happen to them .
And just when they were dealing with the situation the news came from the Zhau clan that apparently there was a engagement promise of Zhau Xuan with non other than Xiao Yun of the Xiao clan .
This news was deliberately spread by the Zhau clan projecting there power and stating that there influence was about to grow very soon .
And after going through some of their own information gathering the Su clan and others in the region found out that this story was indeed true and not just some made up fantasy by the Zhau clan .
After all if they had lied about something like this and that too publicly announcing it everywhere they wouldn't get a single day of rest if the Xiao clan demands answers .
But there were no actions from the Xiao clan and some of their connections in the glory City also confirmed that there was indeed an engagement promise like this .
It's just that since this matter was never brought so before and not many knew about this .
But after this this situation completely changed in the Feather city as the Xiao clan continued to rise in dominance .
The Su clan on the other hand could not do much but go on the defensive .
Even when fights were started by the Zhau clan members it was often the members of the Su clan who had to apologize at the end .
After all while they were equals for now but that was just an illusion waiting to shutter in the future .
Some elders and member started considering leaving the feather city all together after all when the official engagement between Zhao Xuan and Xiao Yun happens they won't have any room left .
But at this time something unexpected happened .
The so called genius of the Zhau clan Zhau Xuan suddenly lost his cultivation talents.
Not only that even his cultivation base had fallen to Mid Qi sensing stage .
Was this the genius they were afraid off ? What's this the genius compared to Xiao Yun ?
What a joke ! He wasn't a genius he was a joke .
At first no one believed in this news but after sometime when it became clear that the so called genius of Zhau clan had fallen this became a joke around the city .
People talked and joked about this matter in markets in home and even in restaurants .
Suddenly the greatest genius of the Zhau clan had become the greatest joke of the Feather City .
Location Change : Zhao Clan Estate : Clan Training Ground :
At this moment this situation within the Zhau clan was also very complicated .
With Zhau Xuan losing his talents it became quite apparent to everyone within the clan that their hopes of becoming a major cultivation power has also crashed .
And while the clan head had to deal with most of the troubles the ordinary members of the clan had a different outlook all together.
Because now not only to the outsider's even for the ordinary members of the Zhau clan Zhau Xuan had become a matter of shame and joke .
" Did you hear ? the clan head's second son Zhao Xuan had lost his cultivation talent . "
" Yes I know ! And not only that apprently he had also regressed in his cultivation as well . "
" Good ! I never liked his attitude towards us anyway . "
" Yeah ! We always tried to talk to him politely but he always ignored us with arrogance . "
" Siss ! Be careful don't forget his is still the clan head's second son if they hear it you will be in trouble . "
" But more importantly do you think that engagement promise with the Xiao clan you still be there ? "
" Are you joking ? It would be in our interest that people from the Xiao clan leave this matter alone peacefully . "
" Yes ! Why would the Xiao clan continue the engagement between Xiao Yun and Zhau Xuan when Zhau Xuan has become a joke . "
" Sigh ! But this incident really put our clan's reputation go through the mud . "
" Yes ! You are right but there is nothing we can do about it . "
Such discussions were common everywhere in the clan especially among the young cultivators of Zhau Xuan's generation .
While most of them understood that this situation was not good for there clan but they still didn't hold back there words when it came to insult Zhau Xuan .
And this just goes to show how unpopular he was among his own clan members .
When he was a genius it's true that everyone tried to get close to him .
This is a common occurrence for most people as they would always try to get close to the ones with power .
At the same time many also envied and hated him for his talent .
But due to his strength , growing reputation and position as the second son of the clan head they couldn't say anything.
Moreover Zhao Xuan's attitude was distant and perhaps unable to take such glory at his age his turned attitude was also arrogant .
Unlike Xiao Yun who was also cold and distant but still looked after her clan members , Zhau Xuan let himself believe that he was indeed the best .
So now that suddenly Zhau Xuan lost his cultivation and the the situation turned for him in a complete flip .
Now he was no longer the young master of the clan anymore now he was the target of everyone's glare .
" Don't worry Xuan they don't know what they are talking about . " - at this moment away from the gossiping clan members two people were standing behind a big tree .
One of them was a young man of the same age as Xiao Ming .
He had a somewhat handsome face but his eyes were full of anger looking at the people talking infront of him .
The second person who spoke was a middle aged man had black hair and tired eyes as if he had spent the last few days with little to no sleep .
This was Zhau Bo the current clan head of the Zhau clan and a four Star Dou Deciple stage cultivator and the person beside him was his second son Zhau Xuan .
For the last few days Zhau Bo had been quite tired dealing with the precarious situation the clan was facing right now .
When he discovered his second son's talent he was quite esthetic .
He used all his strength and connections to make sure that Zhau Xuan would get the best treatment possible for his better cultivation .
At the same time he also knew about the engagement promise made by his late father with the late father of the current Xiao clan head Xiao Fang .
Hence under his orders the clan started spreading the word about this engagement promise .
This way he wanted to make his son's reputation go higher and at the same time put pressure on their rivals in the region .
But recently when his son lost his talent in cultivation the situation changed upside down .
Now everything he did before had became a waste of time .
And not only that it has backfired because now people who knew about the engagement promise started to openly mock them .
It was bad enough that outsider's were doing it before .
But now even the Zhau clan members especially the ones who were the same generation as Zhau Xuan were also throwing insults at him .
' Don't these idiots understand that Zhau Xuan's talent is a good thing for our clan as a whole . ' - he could only think bitterly to himself .
But in all this he forgot that while Zhau Xuan's talent was indeed a treasure to the clan it came with the cost .
In order for Zhau Xuan's cultivation to grow Zhau Bo personally used the clans treasures to buy a lot of precious cultivation materials .
This intern affected the budget which was felt clearly by these normal cultivators .
The resources given to them before were cut by half including there monthly allowance .
The Zhau clan was not a big clan like the Xiao clan so there income was very low compared to the Xiao clan .
Hence the monthly allowance and the resources given to the cultivators of the clan were also very small .
And when this small amount of resources were also cut by half the tensions grew .
And the fact that Zhau Bo did so without properly consulting anyone else including the elders of the clan made this situation even more complicated .
By Zhau Bo's thinking what he did was not for his second son but for the clan's future and perhaps he was right.
But he failed to see that those from which the resources were cut did not see it in that manner .
Coupled with Zhau Xuan's distant and cold attitude it felt too many members that they were not sacrificing their resources for a precious brother of the clan but a distant genius who wouldn't even look at them properly .
And now when his talent was gone all of them felt as if the resources put by the clan had gone to waste .
The same resources that could have been given to them to improve their cultivation strength but now it was gone for nothing .
Not only that now the engagement promise with the Xiao clan was also not a sure thing .
Especially considering that Zhau Xuan had lost his cultivation talents and there was no way that the Xiao clan would continue with this engagement promise anymore .
All this factors led to this current tension between the clan members as the anger and frustration finally started to boil over .
But Zhau Bo still didn't fully grasp the situation and was more worried about his son's situation thinking that all this would put too much pressure on him .
When he looked down at his son who was by his side he could see his hand clinching in a fist .
" Sigh ! Don't worry Xuan their still hope for your cultivation to increase I will go and find some better Alchemist tomorrow and if not we can still ask for assistance from the Xiao clan . " - Zhau Bo said as he comforted his son .
" Thank you father . " - seeing his father's assurance Zhau Xuan gave a small smile and thanked him .
With that both the father and the son left the area towards their house still in the delusion that everything was fine and would be okay .
But soon in a few days a visit from the Xiao clan would show just how long they were .
To Be Continued .