On this day, Xiao Lin was originally teaching his son how to cultivate, but the Clan Leader, Xiao Dongcheng, came looking for him.
"Clan Leader."
"Grandpa Clan Leader!"
As the two spoke, Xiao Dongcheng walked into Xiao Lin's courtyard with a face full of smiles.
It was clear that the rise of the Xiao Clan made him very happy.
Even though it was difficult for his own cultivation to advance any further, seeing the younger generation of the Xiao Clan being so outstanding, how could he, as the Clan Leader, not be happy?
In fact, although Xiao Lin was the Young Clan Leader of the Xiao Clan, he and Xiao Dongcheng were not father and son. Xiao Lin became the Young Clan Leader simply because he was the most outstanding member of the Xiao Clan's current generation.
As for Xiao Dongcheng, he was already over sixty years old. This old man had dedicated his entire life to the Xiao Clan and had no children of his own.
Therefore, back when Xiao Lin had not yet awakened his past life's wisdom but had already shown extraordinary talent, Xiao Dongcheng had pushed past all opposing opinions to establish Xiao Lin as the Young Clan Leader of the Xiao Clan!
Furthermore, from that point on, he treated Xiao Lin like his own son. Later, after Xiao Lin had his son Xiao Zhan, he also treated Xiao Zhan like his own biological grandson.
So, even though Xiao Dongcheng was not Xiao Lin's actual father, Xiao Lin still treated him with great respect. In recent years, due to his advancing age, Xiao Dongcheng's health had been declining.
Fortunately, along with the large amount of resources bestowed by the Imperial Family and the carving up of the Yinter Clan's assets, Xiao Dongcheng managed to break through from a Six-Star Dou Ling to a Seven-Star Dou Ling.
This increase in strength undoubtedly extended the old man's lifespan.
Of course, the subsequent rise of the Xiao Clan to a Dou Wang clan put the old man in such a good mood that it likely allowed him to live even longer without him realizing it.
After all, people with a good mindset naturally live longer. Additionally, Xiao Dongcheng had tried several times to have Xiao Lin directly become the Clan Leader of the Xiao Clan, but he was always refused by the latter.
The truth was that this was a critical period where Xiao Lin's strength was advancing by leaps and bounds. If he were burdened by the clan's administrative affairs, it would undoubtedly slow down his cultivation progress significantly.
Therefore, Xiao Lin could only trouble the old man to continue shining and heating up in the position of Clan Leader.
It wasn't that Xiao Lin didn't want to take on the responsibilities of a Clan Leader. If he truly thought that way, he wouldn't have exposed his Dou Wang cultivation to the outside world so quickly.
Why did he expose his Dou Wang cultivation now?
Wasn't it all so the Xiao Clan could profit?
He just wanted to wait for a transition period for his strength to rise, and then, while settling his own foundation, he would naturally take over the position of Clan Leader of the Xiao Clan.
That day likely wouldn't come too quickly, but it wouldn't be too late either. According to Xiao Lin's own guess, once he reached the Dou Zun realm, he would be just about ready to take over the position of Clan Leader.
Returning to the present, when Xiao Dongcheng saw the father and son pair, Xiao Lin and Xiao Zhan, practicing, a flash of apology crossed his face, but it was quickly masked by a deeper joy.
"Xiao Lin, I'm sorry to interrupt your father-son cultivation session. However, I really do have a matter here that requires you to handle it."
Xiao Dongcheng didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point.
"It requires me to personally handle it?"
Xiao Lin felt a bit surprised.
After all, even though he had exposed his Dou Wang cultivation, Xiao Dongcheng was still the Clan Leader of the Xiao Clan!
Since it required him to handle it, in Xiao Lin's view, it might mean the Xiao Clan had encountered some trouble. To that end, as long as it was within his power, Xiao Lin was naturally duty-bound to help.
After all, you can't write two different "Xiao" characters with one stroke of the pen!
"Sigh, where are your thoughts wandering? It's a good thing. A good thing requires you to step forward, that's all. Just look for yourself."
Shaking his head, Xiao Dongcheng handed a gold-inlaid invitation to Xiao Lin.
"Hm? An invitation?"
After taking the card from Xiao Dongcheng's hand, Xiao Lin could tell at a glance it was an invitation.
For someone to be able to inlay real gold on an invitation, the power that sent it was surely not ordinary. Sure enough, at the bottom of the invitation, Xiao Lin saw the sender, or rather, the power that sent it.
Mittel!
These two characters carried immeasurable weight throughout the entire Jia Ma Empire.
One must know that although busybodies collectively called the newly risen Xiao Clan, Nalan Clan, and Mu Clan—along with the Mittel Clan—the Four Great Clans of the Jia Ma Empire.
But everyone knew that the strength of the other three was actually far inferior to the Mittel Clan. Long before the Yinter Clan was carved up, the Mittel Clan had already promoted from an old-brand Dou Wang clan to a Dou Huang clan.
It was no exaggeration to say that, excluding Xiao Lin, even if the Xiao, Nalan, and Mu Clans combined their strength, they wouldn't be enough to look at in front of the Mittel Clan.
All of this was because of the existence of the newly ascended Dou Huang, Hai Bodong. Moreover, because the Mittel Clan did not participate in politics or the military, they had put all their early energy into developing their commerce.
Over the years, the Mittel Clan's commercial empire occupied at least more than one-third of the entire Jia Ma Empire. The Mittel Clan's auction house was a gold-lettered signboard!
Sometimes, even powers from other countries would come to participate when the Mittel Clan held a large-scale auction. From this, one could see the influence of the Mittel Clan in the Jia Ma Empire.
Of course, in Xiao Lin's impression of the original story, the Mittel Clan was more like an "angel investor." Whether it was Ya Fei or Hai Bodong, they basically staked their entire livelihoods on Xiao Yan.
It had to be said that as merchants, the Mittel Clan's vision could truly be described as "viciously" sharp. This investment was definitely a thousand-fold or ten-thousand-fold return!
In his previous life, there was a joke online saying that when the Xiao Clan hosted a banquet, if Hai Bodong hadn't arrived, no one else dared to start the meal!
Though it was just a joke, it showed just how enviable the returns were after the Mittel Clan bound itself to the Xiao Clan in the later stages.
So, regarding the Mittel Clan, whether from the original story or the good reputation he heard in this life, Xiao Lin had quite a bit of goodwill toward them.
At this moment, after seeing this invitation sent by the Mittel Clan, Xiao Lin had no intention of refusing. Of course, Xiao Lin was actually quite interested in the contents of the invitation.
It stated that the Mittel Clan was about to hold another large-scale auction and sincerely invited the Xiao Clan to participate.
One must know that although the Xiao Clan had participated in large-scale auctions held by the Mittel Clan before, they had never received an invitation of this caliber.
Clearly, along with the Xiao Clan becoming a Dou Wang clan, the Xiao Clan was now sufficient to attract the Mittel Clan's serious attention. In the future, it was even possible for the two clans to launch a deeper level of commercial cooperation!