"This place is really nice..."
Han Xuanji stepped inside and nodded inwardly.
On both sides of the entrance stood two half-human-tall jade statues of Vicious Beasts. The statues were lustrous and carved with complex Soul-gathering patterns, faintly emitting a gentle Soul power. They not only served as guardians but also assisted in nourishing a Cultivator's Soul power.
The interior of the Immortal Cave was spacious and open, divided into multiple areas: a rest area, a Cultivation area, a storage area, a planting area, an activity area, and so on.
Han Xuanji stepped into the rest area, where there were many luxuriously built pavilions and courtyards. Walking into the main room of the main courtyard, he saw several rows of carved rosewood storage racks. The shelves were already neatly stocked with some Cultivation resources, including well-sealed Eternal Spirit Liquid. Beside the storage racks was a primitive crystal cabinet, specially used for storing precious treasures. The cabinet was engraved with Restrictions to isolate aura, preventing the Spiritual Qi of the treasures from leaking out.
On the table was a booklet containing a lot of information about this Immortal Cave.
Han Xuanji read it carefully and learned that this Immortal Cave was originally created by an Eternal True God. This True God was also a Guest Elder of the Hun Family. He was powerful and had left a hundred years ago in pursuit of a Breakthrough, so this Immortal Cave was sold cheaply to the Hun Family.
Han Xuanji was quite lucky; he had been assigned this Advanced Immortal Cave as soon as he arrived, saving him ten thousand years of hard work.
"The Hun Family is truly generous, or perhaps Hun Qianxue has quite a lot of say as the head of the Family."
Han Xuanji nodded inwardly.
With such a luxurious Cultivation environment and such abundant supporting resources, if the Hun Family treated all S-rank talents this way, there would be no shortage of people coming to join them.
However, it was very likely that Hun Qianxue had given him better treatment than others out of consideration for Hun Qianling's Face.
Originally, Han Xuanji thought that even with Hun Qianling's Face, getting A-rank treatment would be enough, but he didn't expect to get such a big benefit.
"It feels like it came a bit too easily..."
For some reason, Han Xuanji felt a vague sense of unease.
But he quickly pushed it to the back of his mind. If Hun Qianxue could arrange this, it meant that the head of the Family definitely held real power. Although it was impossible for him to be as arbitrary as the previous Saint head of the Family, he at least held real power.
No matter what, the moment he came to the Hun Family with Hun Qianling, he had already taken her side. Since that was the case, there was no need to think too much about it. Han Xuanji then slowly walked to the Cultivation area, arrived at a main Quiet Room, and sat cross-legged. His eyes closed slowly, and the aura around his body instantly became steady. He completely discarded all distractions from the outside world and devoted himself entirely to Cultivation.
He didn't need to think too much now; he would just quietly maintain a low profile and Cultivate, then wait for the System to successfully upgrade before making further plans.
...
On the other side, in a side hall on the east side of the Hun Family, it was a different scene.
"Elder, that girl Hun Qianling has returned, and she even brought an outsider Cultivator. I don't know where he came from, but he looks quite ordinary. Perhaps he is that girl's little lover. How shameless, bringing people back like this."
A member of the Hun Family dressed in black robes spoke first, his tone filled with disdain.
The person called Elder was named Hun Cangfeng, and he just said indifferently:
"That is an irrelevant matter, not worth mentioning."
Hun Cangfeng wore a brocade robe embroidered with black Soul patterns. He was thin and withered, with sunken cheeks and a pair of triangular eyes that shone with sharp, piercing light. Most striking was that his left index finger was missing, replaced by a black metal finger sleeve. The finger sleeve was engraved with ferocious Vicious Beast patterns, emitting a faint, sinister aura. That was a scar left from his early years of training outside. After that battle, he had also achieved a Breakthrough to Eternal True God, and he deliberately kept this injury to warn himself.
"The top priority is to find the flaw in Hun Qianxue. This Hun Qianling might be a good target."
Hun Cangfeng was ambitious and had always coveted the position of the head of the Family. It was only because of the suppression by the previous head of the Family that he had been enduring it. Now that the previous head of the Family was missing and Hun Qianxue had succeeded as the head of the Family, he was secretly plotting to push the Third Young Master, Hun Qianchen, to the position while he held power from behind the scenes.
"Elder Cangfeng!"
A sturdy man wearing armor strode in.
"Qianchen, you're back from hunting?"
Hun Cangfeng looked at Hun Qianchen's return and showed a somewhat creepy smile.
"Elder, you don't know, this Hun Qianxue is truly acting with great authority. He didn't even notify us and just casually gave away the treatment for an S-rank talent!"
Hun Qianchen said indignantly:
"How could he make such a decision so easily!"
The fact that Han Xuanji became an S-rank talent was not a big secret; at least the upper echelons of the Hun Family could easily know about it.
"Oh?"
Hun Cangfeng was a little surprised.
The Hun Family had always attached great importance to the cultivation of talent, giving potential ratings from high to low: S, A, B, and C.
S-rank talents had a high possibility of becoming an Eternal True God, and even had a chance to impact the Saint Realm, which was rare in the Hun Family.
At this time, someone in the hall said weakly:
"Brother Qianchen, the head of the Family has this power."
"...Don't you talk too much."
Hun Qianchen glared fiercely at the person who spoke, and then complained to Hun Cangfeng:
"That may be so, but this power shouldn't be used so casually."
"Do you have any intelligence on him?"
Hun Cangfeng regarded Hun Qianxue as an opponent, but he did not underestimate him.
"No."
Hun Qianchen shook his head and said:
"At least he is not from the Nine Profound Prefecture, or even the Saint Radiance Domain, otherwise it's impossible to have no intelligence at all."
"I heard he is a Genius of the Way of Laws, but he is only at the Eternal Dao Master Realm. That guy, Hun Qianxue, actually values him quite a bit."
Hun Qianchen revealed the intelligence he had obtained, then said:
"There was no test, and no notification to us. He really doesn't put us in his eyes at all. Does he really think the Hun Family is run by him alone?"
Hun Qianchen continued to complain incessantly. It was obvious that he felt that although this matter was not big, it was not small either. To bypass him completely to make a decision was too disrespectful to them.
Although Hun Qianchen had good strength, he did not hold much power in the Hun Family. He only had his own trusted hunting team. Although he was quite famous in the Hun Family and had established friendly relations with many strong Loose Cultivators, and had also recruited many connections for himself, most people thought he did not have the ability to serve as the head of the Family.
However, Hun Qianchen obviously didn't think so. He believed that he was a hero in his own right and that there was no problem for him to manage the Hun Family. Unfortunately, Hun Qianxue was more popular, and he could only suppress this dissatisfaction.
"Eternal Dao Lord, even if his talent is good, he can't make any big waves and is not to be feared at all."
At this time, others in the hall also expressed their opinions one after another.
"That's right, what kind of Way of Laws Genius? Maybe it's the head of the Family abusing his power to seek benefits for his sister's man."
"If that's the case, wouldn't it be sacrificing our Hun Family's interests? I think we can make a fuss about this. It might greatly affect his prestige, and the Third Young Master can use this to make a move and establish prestige."
Everyone spoke one after another, making Hun Qianchen quite happy. He even began to fantasize about himself standing out to strongly accuse Hun Qianxue of such behavior, then becoming famous, and all the Elders of the Hun Family re-recognizing him.
As for Han Xuanji's fate?
Naturally, it was to serve as a stepping stone for his rise, which was irrelevant.
If he obediently surrendered and acted like a dog for him, perhaps his life could be spared.