Chapter 308 Delicate Situation
While Qin Longyuan and his son were discussing Qin Ziling and family matters, Qin Ziling had already settled down in a house west of the Qin Mansion under the arrangement of the steward.
The house has three entrances and exits and is equipped with maids and servants. If Qin Ziling needs anything, he only needs to give orders.
After Qin Ziling settled down, he remembered what Qin Xingbao said before he left, so he asked his servant to take him to "Yingwu Courtyard".
Yingwu Courtyard is also located to the west of the Qin Mansion. It is a large building complex with more than 200 houses and courtyards.
Every house has a house number written on it.
Qin Ziling asked the guard for Qin Xingbao's house number and easily found Qin Xingbao.
"Uncle, you are here. Please take a seat. Please take a seat." Qin Xingbao's face lit up when he saw Qin Ziling coming to see him. He quickly asked Qin Ziling to take a seat and ordered the servants to prepare tea and snacks.
"The environment here is nice!" Qin Ziling looked around and said with a smile.
"Hehe, when your uncle's true identity is determined tomorrow, you will know that my house is not worth mentioning." Qin Xingbao said.
"Didn't you say that you have broken through this time and become a great martial artist in the middle stage of Bone Refining, and that you should have hope of becoming a key disciple? From your tone, it seems that you don't have much confidence!" Qin Ziling said.
"I am different from you, my uncle. You started as a key disciple and maybe you can even become a core disciple. If I want to be among the key disciples, I have to compete with other clan members for a ranking. I just took the time to inquire about it. This year, the Qin family and other branches in various places have produced many outstanding children. I'm afraid it will be difficult to compete for this position." Qin Xingbao said.
"The path of martial arts training is to be brave and diligent, to cut through thorns and confront challenges head-on. How can you lose confidence just because of the emergence of strong competitors? On the contrary, you should be happy about the emergence of so many strong competitors. They are all whetstones on your path of martial arts training." Qin Ziling said with a serious face when he heard this.
"My uncle is right. Xingbao has learned from his teachings!" Qin Xingbao said quickly with a stern look on his face.
Seeing that Qin Xingbao was willing to humbly accept the teachings of his young uncle, Qin Ziling nodded with a hint of approval in his eyes .
At this time, the servants brought tea and snacks.
Qin Xingbao stood up and poured tea for Qin Ziling himself, then said, "Just now, the steward should have taken my uncle to meet the elders in charge of receiving foreign disciples, right?"
"I met my great-grandfather and the head of the family." Qin Ziling replied.
Qin Xingbao couldn't help but shudder when he heard this, and then he said with envy and excitement: "You just arrived, and the ancestors and the head of the family actually met you. It seems that your uncle is highly regarded by them, and there is a great hope for him to become a core disciple!"
Qin Ziling smiled without comment when he heard this.
He came here mainly to practice martial arts, and actually didn't want to attract too much attention.
"However, uncle, you have to be mentally prepared. The number of core disciple spots is extremely small and precious. Even direct descendants of the main line need to go through fierce competition if they want to be selected. As for descendants of the main lineage like you, as well as descendants of family branches, if they want to be selected as core disciples, they must go through family meetings and be assessed by the elders. The head of the family cannot make the decision directly." Qin Xingbao said immediately.
"It's okay, I know what I'm doing." Qin Ziling said.
"Uncle, I know you started from scratch and are a very capable person. But in addition to your own efforts, the support of external forces is also very important. It can help us avoid many detours and save a lot of time. You should know that the most important thing for a warrior is time.
The status of the core disciples in the family is second only to the elders, and the investment in resources is even much greater than that of some elders who have run out of room for breakthrough. If you are among the core disciples, you will have the blood and flesh of fifth-grade exotic beasts to nourish yourself every now and then. With your talent, you may be able to become a martial arts junior master before the age of thirty. If you become a martial arts junior master at the age of thirty, you generally have a great hope of becoming a middle master, and even a glimmer of hope of becoming a grand master. "
Seeing that Qin Ziling looked indifferent, Qin Xingbao hesitated for a moment and reminded him seriously.
"Okay Xingbao, thank you for your reminder." Qin Ziling nodded, then changed the subject. After chatting for a while, he stood up and said goodbye.
After returning to his residence, Qin Ziling instructed his servants and closed the door alone. He took out a portion of cooked fifth-grade exotic beast meat from the storage ring, ate a full meal, and then began to practice his skills to slowly refine his qi, blood and strength into the deepest part of the skull.
Soon, the muscles on Qin Ziling's face began to twist, he was sweating all over, and his body was trembling slightly.
The skull is the most difficult place to practice, and the deep part of the skull is even more difficult. Even though Qin Ziling practiced the five attributes of gold, wood, water, fire and earth, the fusion of the five forces also gave birth to a trace of yin and yang life and death power, and he had a powerful soul to help, but it was still difficult and painful to practice to this step.
It was not until late at night that Qin Ziling stopped refining his bones, took out the magic crystal stone and started refining his Qi.
The energy of the magic crystal stone is pure. Qin Ziling only needs to practice for an hour before his meridians and dantian feel swollen and painful, reaching saturation.
After putting away the magic crystal stone, Qin Ziling began to visualize the "Eternal Galaxy".
After such practice, at the beginning of the Yin hour, Qin Ziling closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
The next day, after breakfast, Qin Ziling, led by the steward, came to the meeting hall of the Qin Mansion.
The meeting hall is grand and majestic, facing north and south.
The head of the family, Qin Zaixin, sat high up in the seat of the head of the family, with eighteen people sitting on his left and right sides.
These eighteen people are of different ages, basically all men, with only two women.
These people all had a powerful aura and surging blood. They were all martial arts masters. Qin Xingjun, the prodigy of the Qin family whom Qin Ziling saw outside the Qin Mansion yesterday, was also present.
However, most of them are minor masters of martial arts, and there are only three intermediate masters including the head of the family.
"What the teacher said is indeed true. There are many martial artists. As long as there are enough resources, it is relatively easy to train some junior martial arts masters. However, due to the limitations of qi, blood and age, it is difficult to produce intermediate martial arts masters, and it is even more difficult to produce grand masters. They are extremely rare.
The Qin family is one of the most wealthy and prestigious families in Wuzhou. They can easily produce more than ten martial arts masters. Such a force can directly sweep the entire Xiyunzhou. However, there are only three masters in martial arts, and there is no grand master.
No wonder no matter how warriors compete for supremacy in the world, no matter which family sits on the throne, the Qi Refining Sect always stands out from the world, above the court and the country, and monitors the world. "
Qin Ziling walked into the meeting hall. Although he didn't scan the room with his eyes, he basically had a clear idea of the cultivation level of everyone present.
"Zi Ling greets the head of the family and all the elders!" Qin Zi Ling bowed and greeted everyone with a dignified manner. At the same time, he tried his best to restrain himself, revealing only a part of the blood and energy fluctuations of the Cold Iron Skill.
"You have reached the late stage of bone refining at the age of 26, which is considered very talented. Moreover, your character is also good. You are qualified to be selected as a core disciple. But the Qin family is different now than it was 20 years ago. At that time, our Qin family had a grandmaster sitting in the house, powerful people like clouds, and controlled resources like mountains and seas.
But in the past twenty years, our Qin family has lost too much, especially in the fight for the position of crown prince. We misjudged the situation. After the Sixth Prince took the position of crown prince, he often targeted our Qin family. For this reason, our Qin family has transported many resources to the capital over the years.
Therefore, in my opinion, the number of core disciples should be reduced as appropriate, and the qualifications for selection should be assessed more strictly, so that the best resources can be used where they are needed most, and there can be no more waste. What do you think, Patriarch?" A bald old man sitting on the left side of the Patriarch's seat looked at Qin Ziling and said to Qin Zaixin with a fist.
Qin Zaixin glanced at the bald old man, nodded, and then said earnestly: "What the elder said makes sense. But it is precisely because our Qin family is now on the decline that we must be more attentive in cultivating the young descendants. Warriors are too restricted by their blood and age, and young descendants are the hope of our Qin family!"
"That's true, but the best resources are limited!" The great elder shook his head and sighed.
Qin Zaixin saw the Great Elder shaking his head and sighing, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and soon returned to normal. He slowly glanced at the rest of the people below and asked, "What do you think?"
"It's actually simple. Qin Ziling is qualified in terms of age and realm, so it all depends on his strength!" said Qin Xingjun, the youngest person in the hall.
Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.
"Then Xingjun, let you fight Ziling." Qin Zaixin said.
Qin Xingjun was about to stand up to receive the order when a man with big ears, a friendly face and a smiling face, who looked only about 40 years old, stood up and said, "Master, let me do it."
After that, the big-eared man walked out of the line and said to Qin Ziling with a smile on his face: "Ziling, my name is Qin Zirong. You and I are of the same generation, so it's more appropriate for me to fight with you."
Qin Ziling did not respond to Qin Zirong, but looked up at the head of the family.
"Then you can fight with Elder Zirong. Just use all your strength. Elder Zirong has been training at the junior grandmaster level for ten years. He is very powerful and you can't hurt him." Qin Zaixin nodded when he saw Qin Ziling looking at him.
"Yes, the head of the family!" Qin Ziling bowed and replied, but he sighed secretly in his heart.
How could he not see that the head of the family and that great-uncle probably still wanted to cultivate him vigorously? However, Qin Zaixin's lineage was the one that had just taken the position after an accident happened to the main branch of the Qin family twenty years ago. His strength and prestige were not enough to intimidate the entire clan, which led to the controversial scene in the meeting room.
It was even obvious that Qin Zirong was worried that Qin Xingjun would let him go, so he rushed forward.
Logically speaking, Qin Ziling should fight back for the way Qin Zaixin treated him, but he didn't want to. Moreover, from the conversation just now, it was not difficult for Qin Ziling to hear that the Qin family had stood on the wrong side in the competition for the crown prince that year, and the situation was not very good now.
It can be seen that at the level of the Qin family, the power struggle involved has risen to a very high level.
In this situation, Qin Ziling must not stand out and must keep a low profile. This way, if the Qin family really gets into trouble, he will have room to maneuver.
Otherwise, he would have been spotted and targeted early on, and he would have been completely tied to the Qin family's warship, without any room for maneuver.
