Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 186 - 156: I Treated You as My Big Brother, but You Just Fed Me Chicken Soup

Evening of November 20, 2017

Central District, Qingyun City, Lu Family Mansion.

In a spacious and bright conference room, the heavyweight elders of the Lu Family's Qingyun branch were mostly present. Accompanied by more than ten expressionless faces, the atmosphere in the conference room became quite serious.

However, it was merely serious, as there wasn't too much pessimism in the room. People were just looking at the reports in their hands and showing bitter smiles.

After reading the report in his hand, Lu Xin knocked on the conference table, pondered for a moment, and then spoke: "So, the Qian Family is ready to withdraw? Ha, worthy of businesspeople, they sure make swift decisions. What do you all think?"

"I think, since the trend is irreversible, we should go with the flow," an elder suggested, "The Qian Family's actions are quite honest; they informed us of the arrangements and plans in advance, and assured that the signed contracts are still valid, and the research on Bone Marrow Cleansing Spiritual Liquid will not be interrupted, so we actually haven't suffered any loss."

An elder laughed upon hearing this: "Yes, the real expenses are on the Qian Family's side. We just lose a little time and effort, which is not enough to cause serious harm."

"It's a pity our mobile funds are too limited. Otherwise, if we could participate in the Qian Family's plan, not only would we have no loss, but we could make a big profit. Heh, although we lost the championship this time at the Qingyun Competition, we gained quite a bit of tangible benefits."

Some elders sighed: "The Li Family really was favored by destiny this time. One Li Wanqing was enough, but then appeared Wang Jiu, making this competition truly devoid of suspense."

Several elders agreed and cautiously expressed their optimistic spirit in finding joy amid the sorrow of losing the championship, then began discussing various technical details.

The Lu Family's mobile funds are limited, and the research on Bone Marrow Cleansing Spiritual Liquid cannot stop, so even though it's clear that this plan of the Qian Family is quite advantageous, the lack of funds makes it difficult to participate—of course, if there were too many funds, it would seriously affect the execution of the Qian Family's plan, which would be another matter. Therefore, after exchanging views, the elders then started considering options on setting up peripheral gambling.

Seeing the content of the meeting was essentially finalized, Lu Xin turned to the big brother, who seemed lost in thought, and with a somewhat bitter smile, patted his shoulder.

"Big brother, what do you think?"

Lu Fang seemed to wake from a dream, shook his head: "What? If it's not important, you just handle it yourselves. Get the minutes and let me sign them, then distribute. I need to retreat later."

Lu Xin knew the temperament of his big brother, a hands-off manager even worse than Li Fengyun, usually throwing everything to the Elder Council, only concerned with signing and stamping, even wanting to give the Patriarch seal to Lu Xin for safekeeping.

If it were a regular meeting, Lu Xin would indeed have just followed what Lu Fang said, letting him act as a rubber stamp, but since the Qingyun Competition was involved, caution was needed, so he coughed and, braving Lu Fang's impatience, handed over the compiled meeting minutes and explained the background of the issue.

"Big brother, what do you think?" Saying this, Lu Xin already chuckled softly.

Because Lu Fang didn't actually look carefully at the meeting minutes, just glanced at it and set it aside.

Apparently, he didn't care about the Qingyun Competition at all.

From past experience, no matter how big the issue, unless there's a disagreement among the attending elders, his brother would just wave his hand and say casually, then eagerly sign off and end the meeting.

Yet this time, the situation was somewhat different from Lu Xin's expectations.

Lu Fang said nothing for a long time, causing a rather prolonged silence in the conference room, so long that everyone noticed something unusual and became slightly uneasy.

After a while, Lu Fang furrowed his brows tightly, stared at Lu Xin with a chilling gaze, and then swept his eyes around: "What are you bunch doing!?"

Lu Fang's words stunned the many elders in the conference room, and Lu Xin was even more bewildered: "Big brother, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Lu Fang sneered, "Ha, you're asking me what's wrong? I would rather ask you what's wrong! Look at this meeting minute you wrote; what are the key words? Expenses, losses, benefits, what the hell is all this!"

Facing the bewildered gazes, Lu Fang snorted and said: "I ask you, is the gold paint on the pillars of this conference room made from Blue Gold Shards from the Celestial Craft Institute?"

The elders exchanged glances, and then one elder responsible for internal affairs at the Lu Family Mansion said: "Reporting to the Patriarch, the Blue Gold Shards from the Celestial Craft Institute are too extravagant; we almost never use them. We use royal copper paint now, the overall effect is only one or two tenths worse, but the price is only a tenth of Blue Gold Shards."

"Oh, one tenth," Lu Fang nodded and then raised his teacup beside him, "Is the tribute tea for our family meetings the Immortal Robe tea?"

The internal affairs elder smiled wryly, "The Immortal Robe... in the past, it was occasionally provided only to a few Supreme Elders of the family and for you during festive occasions. Recently, the family's funds have been tight, and it has long been discontinued. If you find this batch of tea leaves unsatisfactory, we can try to replace them."

Lu Fang was noncommittal and added, "I heard that quite a bit of the disciples' monthly stipend has been deducted."

Several of the elders present immediately felt a bit uneasy, "Well, the stipend wasn't directly deducted, we just reduced some of the excessive benefits."

Lu Xin added, "Of course, it wasn't done directly or roughly. Instead, we had the disciples return to the Eight Ancestral Teachings left by the Lu Family when they developed Cyan Cloud with the Li Family two thousand years ago. We launched activities to revive excellent traditional culture and advocated for a life of austerity and simplicity..."

"A good austerity and simplicity," Lu Fang chuckled and said, "No Blue Gold Shards, no Immortal Robe, no various subsidies or benefits, advocating austerity and simplicity. It seems I am not attending a Qian Family meeting, after all."

"Huh?"

"Since it's not a Qian Family meeting, why is the meeting memo written just like the Qian Family?!" As Lu Fang spoke, he tossed the memo, and it scattered in the air like Celestial Maidens Scattering Flowers.

"It's been a long time since I managed things, because I thought you guys were smarter and better at managing the family than I am! My only focus besides cultivation is managing my own affairs, leaving the rest for you to handle. But now, when did our Lu Family fall to the level of bickering over trivial monetary matters like those nouveau riche? Is the Cyan Cloud Competition an opportunity for you to get rich? A day to exploit others? Using dozens of pages of meeting memos to figure out how to take advantage of the Qian Family, look at how capable you are!"

Lu Fang seldom stepped out from his place of retreat, yet his words left everyone present feeling a bit ashamed.

"Brother, we were just..."

"No need for just," Lu Fang waved his hand, interrupting Qian Jing's explanation, "Even though I haven't participated much in the past, I can guess what you want to say. You probably just want to say, since we can't win the championship, we'll settle for less, right?"

Lu Xin was stunned but then nodded, "Yes, since the championship seems unlikely, we should plan ahead..."

"Why is it unlikely?!" Lu Fang interrupted sternly, "There is still more than a month until the regular competition! And more than a month and a half until the finals. How can you say it's unlikely to win the championship? A month and a half ago, you were still discussing how Fang Chen should deal with Qian Ye. Later, Li Wanqing appeared out of nowhere, and then there was Wang Jiu. In a little more than a month, so many changes have happened. Which one did you correctly predict? And on what basis are you determined that the Lu Family has no chance in a month and a half?"

"Well..." Lu Xin pondered for a moment before saying, "Such things are indeed unpredictable, but..."

"But what? Twenty years ago, when Lu Huang won the championship, who anticipated that the Lu Family could win twice consecutively? Ten years ago, who anticipated that the masters of the three great clans would be eliminated one by one by an independent cultivator like Li Tingshu? And now you tell me, you already predict that the Lu Family has no chance this time, don't you find it laughable!"

Lu Xin could only shake his head and say, "At least, the hope is small, rationally speaking..."

"A slim chance, so rationally, it would be better to withdraw? Ha ha ha!" Lu Fang laughed in anger, "Don't you feel that rationality has become your excuse and a fig leaf?!"

Lu Xin lowered his head, remaining silent for a long time, and did not argue with his brother any further.

"I know you are not convinced. I usually don't pay attention to family matters. Now, you all have painstakingly calculated a rational plan, yet I devalue it as worthless," Lu Fang said, gesturing, and the scattered plan came together again.

"So if you don't want the trouble, I can continue being an idle shopkeeper. This memo, I can sign right now and let you proceed with your loss-cutting schemes with the Qian Family. Everything I just said can be considered as not heard by you."

After finishing, Lu Fang heaved a long sigh, "Our Lu Family, over a thousand years ago, mentioned the rise strategy of separating lines in internal meetings. Our ancestors ambitiously set many grand plans, using the separation line as a starting point, to keep developing over hundreds or even thousands of years to eventually overthrow the main family and replace it. Now, a thousand years have passed, and I don't know if anyone really believes the ancestors' blueprints can be realized."

The conference room was silent.

Lu Fang said, "I believe."

"I, personally, have no other strengths. In terms of talent for Immortal Cultivation, I cannot compare to the Lu Yin and Lu Huang brothers, not even to you, Lu Xin. I'm probably just slightly stronger than Xin'Er. In terms of management skills, everyone here far surpasses me. I hold the Patriarch's seat not for anything else, but because I had a good father, and I possess the undisputed strongest power within the Lu Family Mansion. And my power is certainly not due to my poor talent, nor is it supported by the Lu Family's gradually depleting wealth."

"I have only one thing to be proud of in my lifetime: I am willing to believe in miracles and pour everything into them. From the moment I broke the Wind Barrier, every step on the path of Immortal Cultivation has been a fight against the heavens. During my retreat, I don't know how many times I crossed the gates of death to win maybe a one percent or even a ten-thousandth chance. Then, I walked all the way to where I am today."

"However, if I'm the only one dreaming of the family's rise, it would be too uninteresting."

"I don't demand you accompany me in madness. So how you choose is up to you."