Chapter 805: Modifying Family Rules

Coral Sea, Sea Cucumber Island. In the council hall, Wang Qiuling sat in the main seat with a respectful expression. A ruddy-faced old man in a red robe sat beside her, and several Foundation Establishment cultivators stood behind him.

During the Sword-Fighting Competition, Wang Qingshan comprehended Sword Heart Transcendent during his match, thus becoming renowned throughout the South Sea immortal cultivation world.

Recently, many factions have visited the Wang family. Many immortal cultivation families wish to form marriage alliances with the Wang family, including several major families with Nascent Soul cultivators presiding over them. As Wang Qingshan was away and Wang Qingqing was in secluded cultivation, Wang Qiuling was the only one available to receive them.

The red-robed old man introduced himself as Dugu Lie. He represented the Dugu family and sought to establish a cooperative relationship with the Wang family.

To be frank, the Dugu family was not interested in Wang Qingshan himself, but rather in the power behind him: the Taiyi Immortal Sect.

The Dugu family was one of the ten great immortal cultivation families in the South Sea, though it had declined. The ten great sects of the South Sea had to both cooperate with and guard against these immortal cultivation families. This was because the families wielded significant power; if a sect found itself in a weakened position, the families could easily usurp control and annex the sect. Such occurrences were not uncommon in the South Sea immortal cultivation world.

The difference between the ten great immortal cultivation families and the ten great sects in the South Sea lay in the size of their territories and the number of high-level cultivators. If a sect experienced internal strife or a decline in talent, an immortal cultivation family could easily take over. The Dugu family, in fact, had previously absorbed two major immortal cultivation sects.

Therefore, the ten great sects of the South Sea had to both guard against the immortal cultivation families and cooperate with them, to prevent the families from growing too strong or aligning with enemies, which could threaten the sects' own positions.

In this situation, the Dugu family, wishing to restore its ancestral glory, could only seek external forces. The Taiyi Immortal Sect was a relatively good target. The Dugu family had previously contacted the Taiyi Immortal Sect, but the sect had little regard for the Dugu family and instead chose to cooperate with the Ximen family.

The Ximen family's influence ranked among the top three of the ten great immortal cultivation families. By cooperating with the Ximen family, the Taiyi Immortal Sect could secure greater benefits.

The Dugu family actually wanted to form a marriage alliance with the Wang family, but Wang Qingshan, the desired candidate for the alliance, was absent, and there was little benefit in marrying an ordinary Wang family member.

The Wang family was still relatively weak. By offering only a small portion of benefits, the Dugu family could draw the two families closer. This was a win-win situation.

The Dugu family's main influence was in the Seven Star Sea. The Seven Star Sea and the Coral Sea were hundreds of millions of li apart. Even with a large teleportation array, it would take Golden Core cultivators several months to travel there and back. After all, large teleportation arrays did not directly connect to the Seven Star Sea, and some areas lacked direct arrays, requiring travel by flight.

Consequently, the Dugu family had to station personnel in the Coral Sea to manage transactions and communications with the Wang family, and also to facilitate contact with the Taiyi Immortal Sect.

"Young Friend Wang," Dugu Lie said with a pleasant expression, "then it's settled. From now on, our two families will be in a cooperative relationship. If Fellow Daoist Wang Qingshan returns, please ask him to visit Divine Condor Island. Our Dugu family would welcome him most warmly."

Frankly, the Dugu family had stationed personnel in both the Eastern Barren Lands and the Central Plains, primarily to collect local immortal cultivation resources and transport them back to the South Sea. This served two purposes: to expand their sphere of activity, and to prevent their entire family from being wiped out. Immortal cultivation families, relying on bloodline for their continuation, had strong cohesion. Even if the main family line was severed, scattered clansmen could still rebuild the family if given the opportunity.

The Dugu family also had partners in the Eastern Barren Lands; the Wang family was merely the weakest among these immortal cultivation forces. The Dugu family would sell some resources collected from other sea regions to the Wang family, allowing the Wang family to acquire immortal cultivation resources from other sea regions, saving a significant amount of manpower and resources. In return, the Wang family would collect immortal cultivation resources in the Eastern Barren Lands and sell them to the Dugu family, saving the Dugu family some manpower and resources.

Overall, this was a win-win situation, though the Wang family's gains would be greater, and the Dugu family's somewhat smaller.

Wang Qiuling's face showed delight, and she agreed with a smile. She was well aware that without Wang Qingshan, the Dugu family would not have proactively sought cooperation with the Wang family; there were far more influential immortal cultivation forces than the Wang family.

After seeing off Dugu Lie, Wang Qiuling immediately dispatched someone to contact Wang Tianqi and also sent someone to report to Wang Qingkai.

The Dugu family was one of the ten great immortal cultivation families in the South Sea. With the Wang family establishing a cooperative relationship with them, their future development prospects would be even better.

Eastern Barren Lands, Green Lotus Villa.

In the council hall, Wang Qingkai was holding a clan elders' meeting, discussing the matter of Wang Tianle.

Wang Tianle was Wang Changsheng's great-grandson. He had been confined for verbally harassing multiple female cultivators, which had negatively impacted the family, and he had not yet been released.

Of course, Wang Tianle was, after all, Wang Changsheng's great-grandson, and his offense was merely verbal harassment. The family still provided him with immortal cultivation resources on time each month. After several years of confinement, Wang Tianle had settled down, cultivated diligently, and was now at the fifth level of Foundation Establishment.

In chaotic times, strict laws were necessary. Previously, when the family was too weak, severe punishments were needed to discipline clan members. After the family expanded to the South Sea, its strength greatly increased, and its population continuously grew, rendering the old family rules obsolete.

Previously, the Wang family's activities were mainly confined to the Wei State. The family rules were relatively simple, and the punishments for many stipulations were no longer applicable. In Wang Mingyuan's era, embezzling one hundred spirit stones was a significant amount, but now, cases of embezzling several thousand spirit stones were not uncommon.

Wang Qingkai intended to revise the family rules, clarifying punishments. At the same time, this would pave the way for Wang Qiuhua's release. After all, Wang Qiuhua was Wang Qingkai's most beloved son; he did not wish for Wang Qiuhua to be imprisoned in the Hall of Punishment for life.

Before this, Wang Qingkai's grandson had also been severely punished for embezzlement. Wang Qingkai had numerous descendants, dozens of grandsons, and he couldn't possibly remember them all, so their punishments were simply carried out. However, Wang Qiuhua was deeply loved by Wang Qingkai, who was unwilling to imprison him for life.

To be honest, there had long been calls within the Wang family to revise the family rules, but they had not received Wang Qingkai's attention. Now, for Wang Qiuhua's sake, Wang Qingkai planned to revise the family rules. His proposal received the approval of several clan elders. Whose sons and grandsons wouldn't make mistakes? Making mistakes was not an issue, and they accepted the punishments, but the penalties were too severe. For instance, Wang Tianle was to be imprisoned for life for merely verbally harassing female cultivators, which they felt was unfair to him.

"Do you all agree to release Tianle?" Wang Qingkai said with a smile. "Alright, let's all sign this and report to Ninth Uncle." Revising the family rules would require releasing Wang Tianle, who had been imprisoned for decades, as the first step; otherwise, the rules could not be changed.

Over the years, many clan members had committed offenses. The Hall of Punishment held hundreds of cultivators, nearly half of whom were sentenced to life imprisonment.

"Report what to Ninth Uncle?" a man's voice suddenly rang out.

As soon as the words fell, Wang Qingshan strode in, a look of profound joy on his face.

He had returned to the Eastern Barren Lands with a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Taiyi Immortal Sect. He intended to stay with his family for a few days before heading to the Taiyi Immortal Sect, and the Nascent Soul cultivator from the Taiyi Immortal Sect had agreed to this.

"Seventh Brother, you're back!"

Wang Qingkai's face showed delight upon seeing Wang Qingshan.

The other clan elders stood up one after another to greet Wang Qingshan. The elders came from different generations, and few were of the same generation as Wang Qingshan. Many had never met him before and looked somewhat nervous.