Chapter 247: The Marriage is Settled
The farce of proposing marriage was settled after old man Fei flashed his medallion.
If he hadn’t considered the fact that he was here on Qiao Bais.h.i.+’s behalf, old man Fei wouldn’t even have let those from the Northern Palace leave that easily.
However, when Liu Chengfeng’s group slunk away with downcast heads, old man Fei didn’t forget to warn him, “Liu Chengfeng, you said earlier that you wouldn’t give half a step of ground away if I came to propose marriage. Mm. I’ve remembered these words. Out of consideration for the Southern Palace’s face, I’ll let you go today, but mark my words, I carry a grudge!”
Liu Chengfeng’s heart trembled when he heard these words, but he quickly scuttled off, not daring to even let out a fart. He was both regretful and shocked.
Even now, he still couldn’t make sense of things. How had old man Fei become a senior executive of the Precious Tree Sect?
s.h.i.+ Xiaoyao was in a great mood when he saw Liu Chengfeng slink off. He laughed heartily, “Palace Head Ning, bring out the wine! We saw such a great show today, how can we not drink to our heart’s content?”
This fellow’s alcoholic tendencies were showing again.
Crown Prince Ye Rong also chucked. “Senior Fei, congratulations and much joy to you. You’ve finally left the outer sites and have successfully returned to the sect. You are sure to ride on the winds and part the seas in the future.”
“Congratulations to you, old brother.” Zhou Kai was also rather surprised, since he’d come to reinforce Jiang Chen’s disciple today, but had instead witnessed such an exciting battle. The icing on the cake was that old man Fei, who usually looked rather crazy, had actually made this kind of ultimate comeback in the end!
Dan Fei flicked a glance towards Jiang Chen, and saw that he’d maintained that kind of coolly composed smile through it all. She brought her beautiful face close and murmured softly, “You brat, you arranged all this didn’t you?”
Jiang Chen chuckled, “I didn’t do anything. Old Fei was having a great time so I let him do all that he wanted to do.”
It had been his own disciple who had been proposing marriage, but since old man Fei wanted to make use of this situation to wax eloquently, Jiang Chen was more than happy to relax and let the old man do whatever he wanted.
He also knew that the old man wanted to make use of this opportunity to thoroughly give vent to decades of depressed, anguished feelings, and enjoy his moment in the limelight.
He also wanted to make use of the Northern Palace to issue a challenge to their master, Elder Iron, that he, Fei Xuan, was back!
Fei Xuan had naturally been confident when he’d done all this.
He had been vested with the t.i.tle of senior executive by sect head Xie Tianshu himself.
This had been because the Renewal Purity Pill had made Xie Tianshu greatly indebted to Fei Xuan.
The pill had provided priceless help to the sect head.
It wasn’t that the sect head needed the pill, but that his precious son had wandered into a cultivation deviation once during a breakthrough because he’d been too impatient for success.
Xie Tianshu had used his incredible arts to suppress his son and ensure that his meridians weren’t damaged, but was powerless to do anything about the internal demons that had taken up residence within his son’s consciousness.
Of all the spirit medicines that could sweep away the demons of martial dao training, the Precious Tree Sect only knew of the Peaceful Ruler Pill.
Old man Fei had somehow learnt of this through some channels, and had seen a strand of hope in this- a chance for him to return to the sect.
Therefore, he had been obsessively searching for the ingredients for the Peaceful Ruler Pill all these years, wanting to refine one of these pills.
However, the ingredients for this pill were all treasures of heaven and earth and extremely hard to obtain.
It wasn’t until Jiang Chen had appeared to light the way and point out that the Renewal Purity Pill had the same effects that any progress had made.
This was why old man Fei had done all he could do to fawn over Jiang Chen when he heard of the Renewal Purity Pill.
His efforts had finally paid off when Jiang Chen pa.s.sed on the recipe to him, and he’d finally refined a pill successfully after much trial and error.
He brought this pill to the sect head after using a variety of channels and connections.
This pill did indeed have the ability to reverse the impossible, as it helped Xie Tianshu’s son overcome his internal demons!
Xie Tianshu was naturally overjoyed about this matter and felt a debt of great grat.i.tude towards old man Fei. When he heard of old man Fei’s circ.u.mstances, and learned that he had once been a genius disciple but had been swept out the door by the Iron family, it further reinforced his notion to make great use of Fei Xuan.
After all, within the sect now, the sect head represented the Xie family, whereas the first amongst the esteemed sect elders was from the Iron family. These were the two great powers within the sect.
Although the two powers didn’t engage in open conflict, covert struggles abounded between the two.
Since he was someone who the Iron family was oppressing, there was no reason for Xie Tianshu to not value old man Fei highly!
Even old man Fei himself hadn’t thought that his fortunes would reverse so quickly, so suddenly, and so thoroughly.
Seeing that everyone was saluting him with wine, he hastily waved his hands, “This old man won’t take attention away from today’s main characters. Bais.h.i.+ and Qingyan are the stars of today, while we’re merely the supporting cast”
Old man Fei was well aware that everything he had today had been thanks to Jiang Chen. This was a day in which Jiang Chen’s disciple was proposing marriage, and there was no way he would usurp the host’s place.
Qiao Baos.h.i.+ and Ning Qingyan were finally able to be together amidst everyone’s laughter.
Jiang Chen smiled, ‘Palace Head Ning, it’s been difficult for you to raise a daughter. Although I am young, I appreciate the difficulties of being a parent. Bais.h.i.+ has only me within the Skylaurel Kingdom, so on behalf of the groom’s side, I offer the recipe of the Four Seasons Eternal Spring Pill as a betrothal gift. I will also not inquire after about how the profits of the pill are shared between the Southern Palace and Bais.h.i.+.”
“This… this is too much!” Old woman Ning was at a slight loss for words and didn’t know what to do. She had used the matter of marriage before to throw all sorts of obstacles in Qiao Bais.h.i.+’s way.
But the other side didn’t mind at all and had in fact acted with such generosity.
She felt ashamed, and finally understood why Jiang Chen could have such a name and accomplish so much within the Skylaurel Kingdom.
How many could match up to this gesture and this style, to say nothing of anything else? At the very least, it was something that she as a palace head would never be able to do.
s.h.i.+ Xiaoyao laughed heartily, “Palace Head Ning, I rather envy you for having such a good daughter. Ai, young master Chen, I have a daughter too, do you have anymore unmarried disciples?”
Fei Xuan chuckled, “Old s.h.i.+, don’t you be greedy. You’ve already earned quite a bit from the Nine Magnificence Dew Wine.”
s.h.i.+ Xiaoyao smiled, “Does anyone ever get tired of making money?”
Zhou Kai said ruefully, “So it sounds like I should hurry up and make a daughter so she’ll have enough time to grow up if young master Chen takes in any more disciples!”
Everyone laughed as the atmosphere was the epitome of harmony.
Ning Qingyan’s heart overfilled with sweetness as she laid her head on Qiao Bais.h.i.+’s shoulder, feeling quite content.
She had fretted over this matter everyday, worried that Qiao Bais.h.i.+ wouldn’t be able to hold up beneath the pressures of the Northern Palace.
But, in the end, her beloved hadn’t let her down.
Qiao Bais.h.i.+ had used a marvelous way to completely triumph over Xiao Yu of the Northern Palace, and had used the most perfect way to propose to her.
The banquet lasted until late afternoon before wrapping up.
Jiang Chen left with his personal guard and the others bid farewell, but old man Fei followed behind Jiang Chen.
“What is it old Fei? What are you following me for?”
Old man Fei chuckled, “Young master Chen, do I look like someone that greedy? I’m thinking that the young master has already developed to the peak of your abilities within the Skylaurel Kingdom. Isn’t it time to consider entering the sect?”
There was some sense to the old man’s words.
Although Jiang Chen’s development in the ordinary kingdom wasn’t to the level of absolute authority, there was indeed not much left for him to challenge within these lands.
After all, his aims weren’t for mundane power, but for boundless martial dao.
“Old Fei, are you trying to recruit me now that you’ve become a senior executive within the sect?”
Old man Fei smiled, “It would be an achievement of unparalleled honor if I were able to recruit younger master Chen. With the young master’s potential, you are sure to become a legend within the sect!”
“Don’t put on that front with me. I’ll think about entering the sect. To be honest, my view of sect disciples is more than just a bit negative. Whether it’s the Precious Tree Sect or the Purple Sun Sect I feel that all sect disciples are asking for a beating.”
“Misunderstanding, this is definitely a misunderstanding. Don’t have this kind of prejudice young master. Honestly speaking, the sect disciples you’ve seen are all half wits. They’re not the premier geniuses within the sect. The true geniuses wouldn’t come to a mundane kingdom to strut around. Their time and energy is never diverted by outside matters and they focus on martial dao with no other thoughts whatsoever.”
Jiang Chen smiled, “Old Fei, go and be a happy senior executive. However, Iron Can is not likely to let you off the hook after your show today.”
The muscles on old man Fei’s face started twitching involuntarily when Iron Can was mentioned.
“Iron Can!” A thick sense of hatred shot out of old man Fei’s eyes. “I, Fei Xuan have had half my life destroyed because of you, and my development halted and delayed. Now that I’ve returned to the sect, our grudges will be settled sooner or later!”
Old man Fei wasn’t the sort to bow his head in front of destiny, and was not fodder just waiting for someone to slice and dice.
He had endured humiliation and kept a low profile all these years to the point where he almost faded out of existence. What had he done this for? It was to numb his opponents and have them overlook his existence.
If it wasn’t for this, with Iron Can’s personality, the latter wouldn’t have let up on him even when he escaped to a mundane kingdom.
Of course, Iron Can hadn’t sent anyone to kill old man Fei not because of some lingering sense of guilt and not because old man Fei had kept a low profile. It was because that there was more entertainment and sport in sending someone every now and then to humiliate the old man and make him eke out a living in the face of shame.
It was obvious that Iron Can had never thought that old man Fei would have the chance to make a comeback one day.
Old man Fei wanted to pull Jiang Chen into the sect naturally to make use of Jiang Chen’s potential to further increase his own strength and to find a backer as well.
With the old man’s understanding of Jiang Chen, he was sure to rise to the top with a single, astounding action once he entered the sect.
And if he acted as a matchmaker and enabled the sect head to meet Jiang Chen as early as possible, then if Jiang Chen became the head’s favorite and even his true disciple, then old man Fei would truly become Iron Can’s equal!