"The Matriarch arrogantly promised us a miraculous solution within a week, yet our storehouses remain completely empty!" Elder Gu Ming roared furiously as he slammed his carved walking cane heavily against the polished stone floor

His voice echoed harshly through the tense room.

The heavy, oppressive atmosphere inside the Gu Clan’s grand Audience Hall was entirely suffocating. Gu Yangtian gripped the armrests of his seat so tightly that his knuckles turned completely white.

Gu Yangtian’s head was throbbing with a massive, blinding migraine while the dozen angry elders standing below him continued to scream and spit in absolute panic.

Over the past few days, their poison refinement halls and alchemy cauldrons were entirely shut down from a total lack of raw medicinal materials.

And on top of that, the disciples had already started violently rioting over non allocation of monthly allowances.

"We are completely out of time, Patriarch!" Elder Gu Ming continued to spit with contempt. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"What sort of a man you are? You allowed your wife to make an arrogant promise to solve this catastrophic resource drought, but her deadline has officially expired today with absolutely zero results, and we do not have even have a single mortal-grade weed left!"

"She lied to us just to buy time and save her own face!" another elder shouted aggressively while waving his arms in the air.

"The Bai Clan might be suffering as well, but they at least have their treasuries flowing."

"You might have won the Spirit mines back, but we are still to get anything from there. You don’t even have the deeds for them."

"We cannot afford to let a delusional woman string us along while the entire martial foundation of our clan rots from the inside!"

"Elders... I understand," Gu Yangtian rubbed his temples forcefully because he knew the furious elders were completely right. He had absolutely no counterarguments to offer them.

His authority as the Patriarch was rapidly being questioned.

"Madam Li has clearly failed, Patriarch!" Elder Gu Ming sneered, stepping closer to Gu Yangtian’s seat as he fully intended to strip the Matriarch of all her administrative power so he could violently seize control of the clan’s remaining emergency spirit stones.

"She has brought nothing but shame and empty promises to this sacred Council Hall, so we formally demand that she steps down from all internal clan affairs immediately and hands over her administrative seals, because we need real men to step up and negotiate for emergency spiritual resources before our disciples all starve to death!"

"Elder Gu Ming speaks the absolute truth!" shouted the Fifth Elder, his voice ringing with righteous indignation as he stepped forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the ambitious old man.

"The Matriarch’s incompetence has dragged our martial foundation through the mud, so it is time for the main branch to step aside and let true leadership take over!" yelled the Seventh Elder, fully supporting Gu Ming’s blatant rebellion.

It was because old man Gu Ming was actually Gu Yangtian’s uncle, the younger cousin of the previous Patriarch, Gu Yangtian’s father.

And Gu Ming wanted to use this catastrophic crisis to completely overthrow the current regime so he could smoothly install his own son as the new Clan Head.

"Uncle... You don’t have to be to harsh on..." The Patriarch opened his mouth to try and calm the furious mob of elders, but before he could even form a defence for his absent wife, a massive, deafening commotion suddenly erupted from outside the Audience Hall.

"What in the heavens is that noise?!" Elder Gu Ming frowned instantly, drawing his spirit sword, "Is the Bai Clan attacking us for a desperate, final suicide assault?"

But before they could understand what was happening, the heavy bronze doors of the Audience Hall violently burst open, and a clan guard sprinted into the room while practically tripping over his own steps in absolute shock.

"Patriarch! Elders! Come quickly!" the guard panted frantically, pointing his finger back toward the open doorway as his eyes bulged out of his skull.

"What happened? Are we under attack?" Gu Yangtian asked in urgency, pulling out his sword as well.

"It is not an attack, but over fifty heavy arts have just driven straight through our main gates and parked right in the central courtyard!"

"Over fifty carts?!" Gu Yangtian looked at him in confusion, "Who dares to drive their carts into my courtyard without permission?!"

The entire Audience Hall fell completely, terrifyingly silent as the elders looked at each other and processed the absurd report.

Finally all of them quickly started scrambling toward the doorway to see what was happening for themselves, but just as they moved, another group walked through the bronze doors.

The crowd of desperate old men was forcefully shoved aside by a inner-court guards who marched into the hall with uncanny discipline.

Behind the guards, Madam Li walked confidently through the parted sea of elite soldiers, wearing a stunning, blood-red dress that perfectly hugged her massive curves, which Gu Fan could not stop admiring.

But her beautiful face carried an expression of such supreme, haughty arrogance that the dissenting elders instinctively took a step back.

However apart from the sudden entrance of Madam Li, the elders were far more shocked by the people walking directly behind the Matriarch.

The Third Elder, the Fourth Elder, and several other highly prominent elders who had previously been the Patriarch’s biggest political opponents were now following Madam Li with their heads bowed in complete, terrified submission.

"Li Hua? What are you doing here? And what is the meaning of this martial display?!" Elder Gu Ming narrowed his eyes as he pointed his trembling cane at her.

"Why have you brought your personal maids and guards into the Council Hall?"

"And why are these elders walking behind you like whipped dogs instead of standing with their brothers?!"

"Shut your damn mouth, you useless, barking old fool!" the Third Elder suddenly roared as he stepped out from behind Madam Li,"

"Who are you calling whipped dogs?" The third elder yelled aggressively pointing his finger directly at Gu Ming’s face while releasing his cultivation aura, "Do you want to step out and test who is the whose bitch?"

"You... Shut up, old third!" Gu Ming gritted his teeth, but chose to focus on his target, Madam Li.

"You have some nerve showing up here, Li Hua," Gu Ming continued, "After all that big talk. You stand in front of us empty handed."

"Have you come here to finally give up?" Gu Ming sneered. He was absolutely sure that he had finally played his cards right. Both Gu Yangtian and Li Hua are cornered.

But while he had expected Li Hua to tremble, look at him with teary eyes and ask for forgiveness. Madam Li looked at him for a second longer than she would look an old man and than turning her face away, she walked past him.

"I have no time for an old man."

"My son is waiting for me."