Chapter 2 - Assembly of the Drawing of Lots

Assembly of the Drawing of Lots

The next day. 

In the Nie Family, people's voices and noises boiled, sounding abnormally loud.

The Nie Family gathered around Lingyun Sect’s ancestor, Liu Yan, discussing many topics and asking about Liu Yan’s health in goodwill, as they strove to let Liu Yan have a good impression of them. In doing so they would be able to allow their children and grandchildren to garner even a few more shreds of opportunities for the future. 

The robed Liu Yan, who was positioned in the center of the room, wore a slight smile on his face. However, he was indifferent to the Nie Family’s words and actually had a slight look of impatience in his eyes.

From the start till the end, Liu Yan had not stood up. To his side were the Nie Family’s clansmen, with their backs bowed in an extremely humble manner. 

In the palace doorway, the Nie Family’s clansmen had brought one child after the other, who had just passed the age of one, inside. 

Every person that came in would first take their child to see Liu Yan. After the child had faced Liu Yan, with smiles and after giving a brief introduction, the child would then turn and give the same greeting and respects to the three Elders of the Nie Family who stood next to Liu Yan. 

The self-confident Nie Donghai, Second Brother Nie Beichuan, and Third Brother Nie Nanshan, did not go and fawn over Liu Yan, however, at every instance, Liu Yan had a splendid smile on his face. 

Also, this day wasn’t like other days. Today, Nie Donghai’s face was covered in a red glow; so vigorous and energetic, one could not see the slightest bit of harm on his body. 

“Nie Qian? Why did you bring Nie Tian over?” a voice suddenly rang out at the worst time. At that moment, Nie Qian, who had been smilingly greeting and introducing the child to Liu Yan, heard Nie Lan and knit her eyebrows as she looked unhappily in the direction of the palace’s doors. 

Nie Lan was the Second Brother of Nie Beichuan’s son, the oldest of the Nie Family’s second generation. His cultivation talent wasn’t very high, as his Lianqi level had only reached the ninth level and it seemed like he wasn’t able to break through the bottleneck and enter the Houtian stage.

It was mainly because of this, that he had decided to give up on his cultivation long ago, thus placing all of his hopes and aspirations on his three sons. 

Now, his eldest son was eleven years old and had already reached the seventh level of Lianqi. As long as he was able to reach the ninth level within the next 4 years, then he would be able to earn Lingyun Sect’s favor and become a disciple. In doing so, he would also be able to enter the Houtian stage with the aid of the Lingyun sect and thus become really successful and have a bright future. 

His second son was six years old and had already reached the fourth level of Lianqi. His talent was also far from ordinary and his future potential was highly anticipated. 

Today, Beichuan had brought his barely one year old son Nie Hong. 

The birthdate of his three sons had all each gone through careful calculations so that at about one year, each would coincide with the Nie Family’s quinquennial General Assembly drawing of lots. And on both occasions, there were remarkable gains.

This time, it was Nie Hong’s turn. 

As soon as Nie Lan gave a slight grunt, all the eyes of the Nie Family, young and old, turned to stare at Nie Qian and Nie Tian who had just entered.

“Eldest Brother, I brought Nie Tian to attend the drawing of lots for the General Assembly,” Nie Qian said. 

Next to her, Nie Tian looked around confusedly. He was around the same age as the other seven children, who were participating in the drawing of the lots. Yet, in comparison, he was clearly taller and sturdier. 

Under the gazes of the crowd, even though the sound of her voice was very loud, she still felt somewhat uneasy.

Nie Tian, on the contrary, had a face full of smiles and laughter and was completely unaware of the eyes that kept glaring at them. 

“Nie Tian?” Nie Lan snorted disdainfully, as his face looked gloomy. 

“Although his last name is indeed ‘Nie’, it is only ‘Nie’ because we do not know who his father is. According to the Nie Family rules, technically, he isn’t allowed to participate because he isn’t part of our family. He may be a Nie grandson, however that is, in itself, not a proper qualification to allow him to participate in this general drawing. You shouldn’t stir up trouble, quickly take Nie Tian and leave. Don’t waste Mr. Liu Yan and everybody else’s time.”

“Daddy!” Nie Qian quickly looked at Nie Donghai.

“It doesn’t matter who my son-in-law is, or that Jin-er (Nie Tian’s mother) is dead, once Nie Tian was adopted into my Nie family, Nie Tian became this Nie Family’s child.” Nie Donghai replied forcefully, yet calmly


“Eldest Brother, I know you hate to be unable to devour the unknown guy alive. These days, all you talk about is finding him and killing him at all costs,” the third child, Nie Nanshan, said with a dark smile. “Why is it that all of a sudden, you’ve changed your attitude and acknowledged his status as a son-in-law? Furthermore, becoming a member of the bride’s family... This also needs to happen according to the rules, does it not? I do not remember that, that person has set foot in the Nie Family’s ancestral hall to swear the oath”

“Yeah, they didn’t exchange vows in front of the ancestral shrine, nor did they perform the ceremonial ritual. It’s obvious that this son-in-law did not marry into the family and thus isn’t a part of our family.” 

“Housemaster, you shouldn’t allow Nie Tian to participate in this year’s grand assembly drawing and carelessly allow a you harbor deep hatred for to become your son-in-law. You should know that he could have done harm to Nie Jin!”

“Even if you are the master of the house, we cannot disregard the clan’s regulations and act recklessly, right?”

“......”

“......”

Inside the hall.

The members of the Nie Family that had brought their children all stood up, to angrily accuse Nie Donghai of acting recklessly.

Every additional child participating in the general assembly drawing meant a smaller chance of gaining an opportunity, so naturally, other people weren’t willing to allow Nie Tian to join in the drawing. 

If this had occurred in the past, when Nie Donghai was not suffering from severe injuries, and when his prestige was still renown, they would not have dared to act this way. 

However, now that they knew about Nie Donghai’s situation they were certain that, soon, Nie Donghai would reach his boundaries and start declining. And then, eventually, he would have to give up his position as a Housemaster, naturally they wouldn’t continue to give him face.

Nie Family’s Second Brother, Nie Beichuan, sat straight in his chair, unmoving, while listening to the hubbub in the hall, yet he did not try to stop the tumult. 

As the shouting became fiercer and fiercer, a soft cough came from Lingyun sect’s ancestor, Liu Yan.

At once, only silence remained. 

Even the Third Brother Nie Nanshan that originally wanted to ask continuous difficult questions, quickly held his tongue and embarrassedly faced Liu Yan. 

The gentle and jade-like faced Liu Yan had a slight change in expression, as a trace of seriousness emerged. He then looked towards Nie Tian, who stood next to Nie Qian. “This is… The son of junior sister apprentice?” 

As Liu Yan spoke, his eyes flashed with a subtle thread of anguish.

With his remark, the Nie family members suddenly remembered an extremely talented person. Nie Family’s second generation Nie Jin was the most talented, naturally gifted person. At the early age of ten, she had already cultivated to the ninth level of Lianqi, which had led her to become a Lingyun Sect disciple much earlier than originally expected.

Liu Yan was Nie Jin’s senior brother apprentice. 

“Sir, Nie Tian is my poor sister’s only son,” Nie Qian sadly said.

Liu Yan gently nodded, before he looked at Nie Tian with a complex and deep expression and warmly said, “This time, I’ve originally brought five different types of small toys. However, junior sister apprentice and I had some relations, so for Nie Tian, I will make an exception and use my own two spirit skills to test him along with the others, how does this sound?”

He turned around to look at Nie Beichuan and Nie Nanshan.

“Since Mr. Liu has said so, we will naturally follow,” Nie Beichuan hurriedly replied. 

Nie Nanshan also hurriedly nodded, saying, “We will listen to Mr. Liu’s words.”

The rest of the people also had no objection. 

“Since this is the case, this Nie Family general assembly drawing will now begin.” Liu Yan, without further ado, dispersed the general assembly and calmly waved his left hand, after which seven precious-looking lights flew out of his sleeves.

The seven precious lights, each with a different color, lit up the Nie Family’s Hall, illuminating everything around them.

The precious lights scattered throughout the Hall’s center stone floor, changing into glistening divine implements. They turned respectively into a sword, a saber, a fan, a glove, a wooden staff, a pearl and a animal skeleton.

Every member of Nie family, whether young or old, in the instant the seven spirit weapon fell on the ground, all took the initiative to clear a space in the center of the hall. After which, everyone immediately gathered around the seven artifacts. 

Everyone's gazes were fixed on the collection of beautiful spirit weapons, as they no longer spared Nie Tian another glance.

Even Nie Donghai and the three brothers, all subconsciously stood up. Their bodies emitted a slight spirit fluctuation from within as they tried to gauge the seven spirit weapons’ attributes and grade.

The other Nie Family family members, with shining eyes, also tried to use their own inner spirit force to measure up the spirit skills. 

Turquoise, amethyst, red, blue, there was a variety of colors of glittering spirit aura. In the Nie Family, under the powerful sense of the Nie family Lianqi warriors, these seven spirit weapons, one after the other, shone brightly.

“Elementary Level Five!”

Nie Lan, with bulging eyes, unwaveringly looked at the turquoise round pearl in Liu Yan’s hand, as his breathing became slightly more hurried. 

“Old Tian, this is actually of the fifth level?”

“According to tradition, shouldn’t all spirit skills be at the third elementary level? A spirit weapon at the fifth level… Even though it’s still at the elementary level, it’s still valuable. Then if the Lingyun sect rewards a genuine disciple, this time…” 

“Mr. Liu’s magnanimity!” 

The turquoise pearl, at the probing of many people’s spirit force, seemed to have strands of thunderbolts inside flickering about. It appeared that this bead was more unique than previously thought, making the Nie family’s eyes go red. 

Nie family’s Second Brother Nie Beichuan, fixed his eyes and stared at the pearl, as a strange aura flashed through his eyes. 

Nie Lan’s son, Nie Hong, was naturally his grandson. At first, shortly after Nie Hong was born, he had quietly activated his secret skill, measuring Nie Hong’s innate talent. 

Because he had reached his limit, he had even used a dan to confirm the results seven times that Nie Hong had at least a strand of lightning attribute within himself. 

Thus this elementary level five turquoise pearl, which obviously contained lightning, was exactly the same as Nie Hong’s cultivation attribute and completely matched with him as a spirit weapon. 

Nie Beichuan, his mind shaken, hurriedly faced the busy Liu Yan, bent and gave his thanks saying, “Thank you so much Mr. Liu for your great generosity.” 

This brought everyone back to reality as they also, like Nie Beichuan, one after another, gave their thanks to Liu Yan and his great generosity. 

Liu Yan waved his hands, motioning everyone to quiet down. He then announced, “From now on, no one is allowed to to use their spirit force to continue probing the spirit weapons. As of now, everything is to be given to these eight children to see how good their luck is.”

“Let the eight children enter the arena!” Nie Donghai deeply proclaimed.

“Go!” Nie Qian secretly loosed a breath, finally letting Nie Tian go. 

Ever since the seven spirit weapons had landed next to Nie Qian, Nie Tian’s eyes shone brightly, impatiently waiting to rush into the arena. Were it not for Nie Qian tightly holding Nie Tian’s arm, Nie Tian probably wouldn’t have waited for everyone to finish talking and instead would’ve already went. 

- Deng! Deng! Deng! - 

Now that she had let go, Nie Tian, sure enough, opened his arms with an embracing-the-world type of attitude and rushed into the arena.

……