Chapter 945 Who is the Patriarch (4)
Qingsang Cave is the core of the Qingsang Yunlu's earth veins and the true lifeline of the Linghu family.
The emerald green divine light enveloped the huge cave, and the dense spiritual energy of heaven and earth turned into rolling mist, surging and rolling in the cave. The Taoism and spiritual energy in this cave were agile and active, and were not at all bound by the heavenly rules and regulations set by the Supreme Heavenly Court in the outside world.
That is, in this cave, the Linghu clan members can fully comprehend the great Dao, breathe in and out spiritual energy, and can improve their cultivation without restriction... That is, the Linghu clan has found a source of income outside the imperial money system, an uncontrolled "source of income" independent of the imperial money system jointly established by the emperors.
If this news were to leak out, the Linghu family would surely be reduced to ashes, no one would be able to save them, and no one would help them!
Therefore, this secret is only mastered by the nine great elders, and only known by the nine great elders.
Every old ancestor who left the position of clan elder would use a secret method to cut off this part of their memory when they left office, leaving no trace.
Therefore, Qingsang Cave connects to the hub of Qingsang Yuncheng’s formation and is the real main energy source of the entire city defense formation. The nine elders control Qingsang Cave, which means they control the entire Qingsang Yuncheng’s city defense formation on another level... However, none of the nine elders are willing, or even dare to use this to communicate with Lu Yi who has seized control of the hub of the formation.
Even if the key to the formation is controlled by an "outsider", we can still negotiate.
There will be no more talk if "outsiders" know the existence of Qingsang Cave.
In the middle of the huge cave, there was a jade platform that was a hundred feet high, carved out of flawless emerald green jade. On the huge jade platform, there were piles of white flowers, and the remains of a nine-tailed fox was curled up quietly among the flowers, with nine long tails, which were white and jagged and shone with thick rays of light, spread out evenly behind it like fan bones.
Nine high-backed chairs were placed in a circle around the jade platform.
The nine elders of the Linghu clan, Heaven, Earth, Man, Sun, Moon, Stars, Rivers, and Seas, sat on high-backed chairs, you looked at me, I looked at you, and none of us said a word.
After a long, long time, Linghu Tiancai said quietly: "Shall we discuss this?"
After another period of silence, voices began to ring out.
"Linghu Wuyou is dead. I am very sad. But, it's okay. There are many talented people in the clan. Even if I am sad, it is nothing compared to the fate of the family."
"That's right. There are many young people in the clan, and some of them are as talented as others. If one is lost, we can just train more. It will only cost us more imperial money and more effort... Now the key to everything lies in what happened at Loulan Pass that day. What is the truth that caused such a big disturbance?"
"Combining the current intelligence analysis, the three great emperors, Taichu, Taimi, and Taiyi, have already paid attention to this matter. We all know that it is not without benefits to cultivate to the level of a great emperor... If there are not enough benefits, is it worth it for those three to go to war?"
"Let Fox Shadow go all out. No matter what, we must find out, thoroughly understand what happened inside Loulan Pass that day. Did a disciple die? Did a foreign king rebel? Did the Patrolling Divine Guards and the Five Military Offices get involved? Even..."
"There are also dishonest members in our clan. What happened to Linghu Xiong? Why did he cause such an explosion on the way back to the Supreme Primordial Heaven at Loulan Pass? With the clone of Tianshu Laojun in charge, why couldn't even he stop such an explosion?"
"Is my clan involved?"
"Linghu Ku, is he involved?"
"I suspect it is... Otherwise, how could Linghu Ku, who is usually such a smart kid and as slippery as an oiled loach, fight so fiercely at Tiemen Pass? So ruthless? Even killed a great celestial monarch!"
"He doesn't look like he's going there to investigate or anything. Instead, he looks like he's going there to kill someone and silence them!"
"So, we are indeed involved? Then, how deeply involved are we? Is this involvement worthy of Emperor Taiyu disregarding his own dignity and borrowing Emperor Taichu's knife to hit us? Or even... purge us?"
"Purge? Not really? After all, our Linghu clan has also been serving us diligently and conscientiously..."
"Serving the master diligently and conscientiously, what's the point? We are just hawks and dogs, hawks and dogs... If we are obedient, we will have meat to eat... If the hawks and dogs are disobedient, have other ideas, and surrender to other masters, then the hawks and dogs should be killed and eaten directly!"
"If we don't speak up, who would dare to say that we have surrendered to a new master?"
"The problem is, when Linghu Ku and the others did these things, we didn't stop them... We can say that we were deceived by the younger generations and we have no idea what they did... But, will our master believe it?"
"It's me. I don't believe it. Instead of worrying about your own hawk dog biting back at its master, it's better to chop it off and train a new, loyal hawk dog that works harder, is more positive, more enthusiastic, and more proactive!"
"So, our Linghu clan is indeed facing a disaster?"
"Let's discuss, let's discuss, how to get out of this difficult situation..." After listening to the analysis of a bunch of brothers, Linghu Tian became more and more terrified. He was a smart man, but smart people have too many ideas, and if they think too much, they are prone to making mistakes.
A few beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
Linghu Tian stood up and walked around the remains of a nine-tailed fox that was several miles long among the flowers for a few times. Then he knelt on the ground solemnly and paid homage to the remains. Then he walked to the fox's tail and carefully plucked out three strands of fox hair that were crystal clear and looked like they were carved from crystal, but with colorful divine light oozing out from the inside.
Holding the fox hair in both hands and chanting some incantations, Linghu Tian exhaled a breath of light blue flame, just like lighting incense to offer to Buddha, and ignited three thin and long fox hairs.
Three fox hairs burned slowly, and wisps of colorful smoke rose up, slowly flowing and outlining in the air, drawing an extremely impressionistic and bizarre painting. It looked like mountains and rivers, like people, and like countless twisted characters pieced together. There was a faint and timeless fresh air flowing in the air, and Linghu Tian and the other nine people only felt that their minds were bright, and every pore on their bodies seemed to be emitting a faint, clear and pure light.
The nine people knelt down and bowed to the fox's remains at the same time.
Then they returned to their seats.
After a long silence, Linghu Tian murmured, "Misfortunes come from within... and it's a yang number. In other words, this trouble was caused by the men in the clan. In other words, it has nothing to do with Linghu Jun's little girls."
"The situation is full of crises and dark clouds. The future is bleak and things are going badly." Linghu Tian bit the white beard hanging from his upper lip and muttered fiercely, "Don't let me know which family this brat is from. If I find out, I will kill his father and grandfather as well."
"Ahem, ahem, you can deal with any of them." Linghu Di stroked his neatly groomed white beard and said softly, "Now, let's think about what we should do next. Well... we all know the temper of the one we serve now. She... she... she... she tolerated the warships of the Heavenly Court entering our Linghu territory, so it is obvious..."
Linghu Ren said softly, "You are narrow-minded. We all know that. Ahem."
The nine elders looked at each other and then began to discuss in low voices. They lowered their voices so low that only words like "benefits", "powerful", "face", and "reasonable" could be heard faintly.
All night, no words.
Anyway, apart from Yin Yuan being severely tortured by his six fathers-in-law and six mothers-in-law, there was nothing else that happened that night. The whole Linghuyun City was quiet and peaceful, and even the brothers from the various families who usually went out of the city to fight stopped.
Early the next morning, after Lu Yi enjoyed a delicious breakfast, the group went straight to the Linghu family's ancestral temple.
In the secular world, the six sisters of Linghu Jun had not yet married, but they had already returned home with big bellies. This was such a dishonorable act, and the people involved would be beaten to death or thrown into a pig cage.
But in the Linghu clan, perhaps they really have the legendary nine-tailed fox bloodline. The status of women in their clan is extremely high, and there have even been many female clan leaders in history... Therefore, the six daughters of Linghu Qing were able to enter the ancestral temple and the ancestral temple hall very smoothly, and even considering that they were pregnant, they each got an armchair!
This... is the treatment given to the Linghu clan's elders, clan elders, and deacons of each branch!
Lu Yi complained in his heart - in the eyes of the Linghu clan members, this was probably equivalent to a rich young man in the secular world accidentally having an illegitimate child outside, and then leisurely bringing the illegitimate child back to recognize his ancestors, right?
Well, that's about it.
Therefore, the six daughters of Linghu Lun just sat in the ancestral temple. The looks that the clan members from all the surrounding families gave them were much more serious than yesterday.
After a while, Linghu Tian spoke.
"The one in charge of Room 12, please come out."
There was a commotion in the hall. After a while, three men in brocade robes walked out, stood side by side in the middle of the hall, and saluted solemnly to the nine elders sitting above.
"Well, today's events may be a bit too much. So, tell me, why has the family industry that your twelfth branch is responsible for had such a large deficit over the years?" Linghu Tian said calmly: "The account book is well done and well balanced. If you calculate it normally, you won't find a missing amount of imperial money."
"But it was still discovered."
"For example, the mine of Nine-aperture Wind Element Stone that you are responsible for has an average annual output of 3.8 million cubic meters over the past thousand years... and you used excuses such as flooding in the mine, plague among the miners, and demonic erosion as an excuse for poor production. Over the past thousand years, you have only handed over an average of 1.3 million cubic meters to the clan each year, and 2.5 million cubic meters are missing."
"Nine-aperture wind essence stone, that is a necessary material for forging a top-grade warship floating formation."
"The Nine-aperture Wind Element Stones needed to build a standard warship of the Heavenly Court that is a hundred miles long are only ten thousand cubic meters. That is to say, the Nine-aperture Wind Element Stones you have taken from that vein over the years are enough to build 250,000 standard warships of the Heavenly Court's Five Military Offices!"
"If you sell it for money, where's the money?"
"If it is used to build a ship, where is the ship?"
Linghu Tian said calmly, "Your Twelve Houses have been quite prosperous in recent years, so you have many industries in your hands. There are no less than 100,000 industries similar to this Nine-aperture Wind Element Stone Mine. You are very good at reporting your spending. What have you done with the money or things you have saved over the years?"
The three deacons of the twelve chambers looked at the nine elders with indifference.
After a long silence, the deacon in the middle sighed and said, "It's easy to find a pretext to accuse someone of something. We didn't do it."
"Bang!"
A bolt of green lightning exploded in the deacon's chest, knocking him back dozens of feet, and the flesh and blood on his chest turned to ashes.
Linghu Tian, who had made the move, slapped the armrest of the seat and shouted, "You didn't do it? Then, who did it?"
