"Father, it is good to see you healthy even at such age" with this statement a smile curled up in the corner of Li Wei's mouth. Hearing this from his second son Li Qian frowned. His greetings was a backhanded compliment. Regardless of how unsettling it could be Li Qian maintained his demeanour before speaking out "Welcome back home little Wei. How was your experience in Starlake city?"
"It was a pleasant experience father. Your grand son was admitted at Mystical Phoenix feather Academy"
Hearing the name of academy Li Qian warmed up a bit. Afterall families like Li family needs descendants who can join elite forces to flourish the family. If his grandchild can bring support from Starlake city it might be a good addition to their already existing power structure. If his grandson has the fortune to become one of the platoon leaders of Starlake city then he can rest easy knowing that at least in immediate timeline their family won't be harassed by other families.
"Oh is that so? It's indeed a good news for our Li family" replied Li Qian
"Indeed father. I, your son, Li Wei has proven in every aspect from gaining riches to producing a fine hier that no one can match my feats. Considering your age I think we should appoint the next family head soon."
People from branch families showed excitement at Li Wei's proposal. It was apparent that the struggle for Li family's throne is on the brink of breaking out. If such chaos were to occur people like them can gain benefits by supporting various fractions that they didn't had before. With just one simple statement Li Wei caused an uproar. While various people were busy calculating how they would play their roles in such struggle Li Wei smiled pleasantly. Things were going exactly how he had planned them to be. If his understanding of Li Qian is right then the next move Li patriarch would play is going to be a card of postponing. Although postponing the situation might help temporarily things would be still within Li Wei's control. This gave him a proud confidence look.
Witnessing the scene infront Li Ren showed further disgust for his second brother. It was known to everyone that Li Wei was going to be the next family head and Li Ren had no complaints about it but taking the chair of family head when their father was still alive? It was utter disrespect towards Li Qian. Before Li Ren's thoughts could flourish futher he was interrupted with a voice transmission. Transmitting voice at a short range can be performed by most of the average cultivators. Thus Li Qian had no trouble transmitting his thoughts to Li Ren.
"My child, your older brother's bearing is too crude. If this continues then the family might breakup. You too are one of the candidates for this chair. As long as you veto the idea of immediate succession I can handle the rest. For your family's sake would you do so?"
Li Ren who was an honest and straightforward man usually never disobeyed his father. This time he even shared the same sentiments as his father. Without further thinking he vetoed the immediate succession plan. As his words rang out everyone present in Li family's main hall were stunned. Li Wei himself was no exception. He had considered so many moves from various elders and branch family leaders but he never thought his own brother Li Ren would speak up. Li Ren was no better than a fool infront of Li Wei's eyes. He lived a very simple life, a short tempered battle junkie who only knows how to brawl and drink with his friends. Li Ren was so out of touch that he met his own child and wife once or twice a year. There were some irregularities but that was basically how Li Ren was. The sudden change of Li Ren made Li Wei hostile towards his younger brother. He understood it very well that Li Qian has done something for this to happen, yet he felt like slaying Li Ren's head right now for destroying the board he has been working on for so long. The seed of hatred was born. Regardless of how much anger Li Wei felt he was a cautious man who played with strategies. He knew when to retreat and when to take back everything. Today he had lost to his brain rotten younger brother and to his cunning father. He would remember it well. All gazes were fixed on Li Wei. With a smile Li Wei once again spoke up,
"Definitely you are one of the candidates for the chair brother. Who knows you might be the actual winner in this competition. I'll take your offer to delay the succession and enjoy some perks of being one of the candidates before losing to you then" with that he laughed out loud and slowly exited main hall after some general fair wells. After Li Wei's departure everyone was seizing up Li Qian's demeanour. Sensing the gazes of everyone present Li Qian strategically pretended as if nothing major happened and announced a bouquet for his grand child's enrolment at academy. With that Li family's annual meeting finally came to an end. The servants present were busy with all their preparations for upcoming bouquet. Seeing such festive atmosphere Li Shihou thought everything went smoothly and completely focused on the breathing technique he had received from Li patriarch. Little Li ran straight towards his room deciding not to attend the bouquet.
Under the moonlight within a manor a young child was seen running. He ran until a big shiny door appeared on the corridor. This was little Li's room. To avoid any distractions little Li closed the lock of his door before sitting on his bed in a lotus position. He brought out the red parchment paper and started to glare at different images present within it. There were in total three positions demonstrated. The main principle of all the actions performed was to sense the pure energy particles present within one's surrounding and then slowly drive them towards one's body. Slowly adding up pure energy particles will later help form a spiritual bead within one's body. The color and size of the bead might predict one's future achievement thus the purity of one's bead is one of the judgment factor in today's world. Starting breathing exercises from a young age may even enhance physical attributes for geniuses. This will later become a great advantage against the same generation fighters. There were few other instructions written on the parchment paper but young Li avoided all of it before directly starting to meditate.
[ Author note : This is just the beginning. Wait till you see the combination of various mythical histories and their bloody tales. Unlike most authors I'm here to dedicate this entire tale to my readers. Comment all the thoughts you got on your mind and I'll blend them together for you to explore a new world. Cheers to one of the longest journeys ]