Chapter 356: Chapter 73: Jin’s Chief! The Strongest 8th Grade Noble Family_2

And some ordinary clansmen who were not involved, the elderly, women, and children will be scattered and sent to remote areas to survive.

There, far from home, life will not be as good as in Changning Guard.

Moreover, they will be under strict jurisdiction of the local City Guard’s Mansion, often unable to turn their situation around for hundreds of years.

The Daqian has a history of over seven thousand years, and the Noble Families colluding with foreign Evil Sects to stir up trouble domestically, the Qianma Huangfu Family is neither the first nor the last. Naturally, there are precedents to follow. Everything is handled according to established procedures.

Besides.

Is the handling of the seized assets of the Qianma Huangfu Family, for such matters, Daqian also has a complete set of procedures.

Usually, it’s the City Guard’s Mansion that intervenes to auction off all their fixed assets. Three-tenths of the proceeds are returned as settlement money to innocent clansmen for their survival in a new place. The remaining seven-tenths are collected into the City Guard’s Mansion’s official treasury and, after application and approval from superiors, can be used for public facilities construction, city wall maintenance, disaster relief, etc.

Of course, only the local families in Changning Guard are eligible to participate in the auction.

Families in the Outer City Guard, even if eligible, would encounter unanimous opposition from local forces.

The day the City Guard’s Mansion hosted the auction, the entrance was bustling with people.

To ensure fairness, the auction was held in the square at the entrance of the City Guard’s Mansion. This way, not only could various Noble Families come to watch, but even civilians and Loose Cultivators could join the fun.

However, there were no seats for those merely watching the fun.

Only representatives sent by the major Noble Families had the privilege to take a seat.

And at this rare scene seen once in a century, most families, even if not planning to bid, would still come to join in the excitement.

Some Ninth-Grade Noble Families came early and, under the arrangement of City Guard’s Mansion officials, were seated in their designated places.

Followed then by the Eighth-Grade Noble Families.

Nowadays, Changning Guard has only seven Eighth-Grade Noble Families remaining, namely: Shanyin Liu Family, Shanyang Gongsun Family, East Port Chen Family, Westpeace Dang Family, Wangxia Lei Family, Ping’an Wang Family, and Changning Xu Family.

Originally, the recognized strongest Eighth-Grade Noble Family was the Changning Xu Family.

It is said that the Changning Xu Family altogether has six Spirit Platform Realm cultivators, with one even being a Spirit Platform Realm Household General.

And now, seemingly on the surface, the Changning Xu Family is still the strongest.

However, internally within the Marriage Alliance, privately everyone believes that the Ping’an Wang Family has become increasingly dominant.

The Ancestors and Patriarchs of the Marriage Alliance all know that the Wang Family now has Spirit Platform Realm cultivators, aside from Ancestor Longyan, including Wang Shouzhe and his wife, the Big Girl Wang Lici, Patrol Second Battalion Leader Wang Ding Race, Ancestor Xiaohan, plus a Tier Three Primordial Water Spirit Turtle.

Just these on the surface amount to seven Spirit Platform Realm combat forces, and given Wang Shouzhe’s usual nature, it’s hard to say if he doesn’t have any Spirit Platform Realm hidden away.

Moreover, those in the know understand that Wang Shouzhe and his wife are both extraordinary.

Especially Liua Ruolan, back in the Qi Refining Realm, once transformed, she could directly fight and kill Spirit Platform Realm Demon Puppets. Now that she’s reached Spirit Platform Realm, she’s even more fathomless.

It’s said that after reaching Spirit Platform Realm, no one has seen her Qiushui Sword unsheathed until now.

In the last battle at Golden Beach, she casually made a move and blasted Huangfu Kangping along with his bird down.

Several friendly Ancestors privately discussed but never confirmed her true power.

In short, even now as Ancestor Ruhong in the late stage of Spirit Platform Realm, who always thought himself not much worse than the core disciples of the Academy, he still admitted that facing Liua Ruolan at the initial tier of Spirit Platform Realm, he wasn’t certain of victory, believing it was at most a forty-sixty chance.

And it’s Liua Ruolan sixty...

Mrs. Wang, unfathomable!

Furthermore, the younger generation of the Wang Family is also extremely excellent, with a high chance of advancing to Spirit Platform Realm in the future, even those in the Ding generation like Wang Dinghai, the Shou generation among them, are all striving for progress, with a great inclination towards collectively aiming for Spirit Platform Realm.

It won’t take long before the Wang Family enters a Spirit Platform Realm boom period.

That’s also why the Marriage Alliance subtly positions Ping’an Wang Family at the forefront, because, even without mentioning scheming and methods, the potential shown by Ping’an Wang Family after years of careful management by Wang Shouzhe is really intimidating.

On the square.

Representatives of Eighth-Grade Noble Families arrived one after another.

Finally, Wang Shouzhe and Xu Anbang appeared together, naturally drawing a stir of attention.

According to past customs, officials arranged for Changning Xu Family to sit in the chief seat.

But Xu Anbang did not take the seat. Instead, he looked at Wang Shouzhe beside him: "Shouzhe~ you should sit in this Eighth-Grade chief seat."

"Fifth Uncle is joking." Wang Shouzhe directly declined, saying, "You are an elder and from an established Eighth-Grade family, naturally it’s your seat."

"I dare not take it, I dare not take it." Xu Anbang said solemnly, "As the saying goes, those who are capable should take the seat. In the past, you kept a low profile not wanting to attract attention from certain families, but now there’s no need. When it’s time to build up reputation, you should do so to accumulate more resources to oppose certain families."

"Besides, our family’s Ancestor Beichen is in seclusion heading towards the Celestial Human Realm at the ancestral hall. If successful, we’ll be Seventh-Grade. If not, what qualification do we have to sit above you?"

Wang Shouzhe thought it over, found the reasoning sound, and stopped being stubborn, courteously saying, "Then, thank you Fifth Uncle for yielding."

Afterward, under Xu Anbang’s negotiation with the hosting official, despite showing a peculiar expression, the official still switched the seating accordingly and then smiled broadly to Wang Shouzhe: "Patriarch of Wang Family, please take the Eighth-Grade chief seat."

"Thank you."

Wang Shouzhe gracefully returned the salutation, then sat in the Eighth-Grade chief seat under the watchful eyes of all.

This seating arrangement was not surprising within the Marriage Alliance, as everyone gradually got used to following Wang Shouzhe’s lead.

But it was entirely different for other Eighth and Ninth-Grade families.

Their eyes uncontrollably revealed shock. The Ping’an Wang Family has already developed to this extent?

Even the veteran third family, Changning Xu, voluntarily gave up the chief seat?

Unless they truly thought themselves inferior, who would willingly forfeit their seating position. While there’s seen tussles over seating between families of similar strength, never seen a stronger family conceding their seat.

Briefly, discussions buzzed among the Ninth-Grade families, and when looking at the Wang Family, their gaze had changed.

The Eighth-Grade chief seat was second only to the two Celestial Human Families. Even when Ancestor Zhou Xuan was alive, it wasn’t as auspicious.

When Wang Shouzhe’s gaze swept over those Eighth and Ninth-Grade families, most patriarchs smiled at him, their eyes involuntarily filled with friendliness.

Subsequently.

Two Celestial Human Families’ patriarchs, Huangfu Jinhuan and Lei Yangyu, nearly mutually agreed to enter simultaneously.

In terms of overall strength, the Celestial Human Huangfu Family is actually half a step stronger than the Celestial Human Lei Family. But the Lei Family never submits to the Huangfu Family, always competing to be ahead, at least unwilling to lag behind.

Their seats were higher, divided left and right, regardless of precedence and stature, to prevent their disputes.

With the entrance of the Celestial Families, there’s naturally a different atmosphere, many patriarchs subconsciously stood up to show respect.

"Patriarch Shouzhe." Lei Yangyu upon seeing Wang Shouzhe, proactively approached with a warm greeting, "After such a hurried half-month separation, I’ve missed you terribly."

Seeing him thus, Wang Shouzhe also rose to greet and gracefully returned the gesture: "Seeing Patriarch Yangyu brings Shouzhe great excitement as well."

The two drew closer, Lei Yangyu directly grasped Wang Shouzhe’s hand and in a low voice said: "Younger Brother Shouzhe, foolish brother supports you, we absolutely cannot let the old bandit Huangfu seize advantage. Many industries in Qianma Town are about Spirit Pasture Grass and Spiritual Feed, belonging to the upstream industry of Huangfu Family’s pasture. By securing this part, it’s like seizing Huangfu Family’s throat."

Wang Shouzhe naturally understood, also knowing his intentions aren’t purely kind, at least harboring a strategy to incite conflict and leverage forces.

But, such goodwill is also what Wang Shouzhe needs.

You Celestial Human Lei Family intend to suppress Huangfu Family, I can cooperate naturally, however, you cannot shirk your efforts.

He immediately whispered a few words into his ear.

Upon listening, Lei Yangyu squinted his eyes, nodded knowingly with a cooperative expression: "Younger Brother Shouzhe, I find you’re truly unyielding. Alright, I’ll act per your plans."