Chapter 76: The Aristocratic Families

Chapter 76: The Aristocratic Families

Within the Xingyu Center, Su Chiming massaged his temples, feeling exhaustion hit him. He had just finished a meeting with the chairman of the Yushan Electricity Group and had successfully arranged a position for Su Huaigu within the company.

Lately, he had been so busy that it felt as if he had returned to the early, grueling days of founding the Buzhou Group. There was hardly a moment to rest, and his aging body, now in its seventies, was beginning to struggle under the strain.

However, as he considered the gravity of his current actions, a sharp, spirited light quickly returned to his eyes.

Why was an aristocratic family called an aristocratic family? It was because they had woven their influence deep into every corner of the people's livelihood. From grains and oils to clothing, housing, and transportation, everything was held within their grasp.

Because of this, any outside force that dared to strike at them would face a backlash from every industry across the city, or even the entire province. Tactics like following orders but ignoring secret decrees, being publicly compliant while secretly defiant, or isolating and marginalizing opponents were merely child’s play for true aristocratic families. At the milder end, they could send tens of thousands of workers into the streets to protest; at the extreme, they could incite riots or even seize total control.

What Su Chiming was doing was taking the first step toward transforming the Su family into a true aristocratic family.

Just then, Lin Xia walked over to seek instructions. "Chairman, Young Master Su just had Lei Yun call. He wants to borrow the main conference room on the sixth floor. However, you were scheduled to meet with the head of Xintai Gas and their team there this afternoon..."

In the current Su family, there was only one person who could be referred to simply as "Young Master Su" without using a full name. That was Yaoguang.

Upon hearing Yaoguang’s name, Su Chiming did not hesitate for a second. "Push my meeting back. Clear out Conference Room 1 for Yaoguang."

"Understood," Lin Xia replied and moved quickly to carry out the order.

Su Chiming then began flipping through a file provided by the Yue family. It contained detailed information on the high-level executives of Xintai Gas, and he was currently considering who should be responsible for overseeing and managing its normal operations after the coup.

A moment later, a knock sounded at the door. Su Chixin walked in.

Seeing him, Su Chiming looked up. "Is the matter with the Water Resources Department settled?"

Su Chixin nodded. "They were very cooperative."

However, a trace of worry flickered in his eyes. "Tell me... What exactly is that child, Yaoguang, doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Su Chiming said with a smile. "He is making us, the Su family, into an aristocratic family."

"But... this method..."

"What are you worried about?" Su Chiming pointed upward. "The royal family?"

He paused and continued, "Since when did one need the royal family's permission to rise to be an aristocratic family? Could such a family even be called aristocratic?"

Su Chixin was momentarily stunned.

"I realized long ago that it's not like Dayu existed first, and then gave rise to the aristocratic families later. Rather, the country was born because the aristocratic families agreed to let the royal family rule over this land."

He leaned back in his chair. "Though I do not know exactly what Yaoguang is doing, I know the weight carried by a nineteen-year-old martial paragon."

He smiled. "Taking control of Tiannan is not asking for too much."

"A nineteen-year-old martial paragon..." Hearing these words, Su Chixin could not help but think all of this felt surreal. A martial paragon! He had wasted his entire life at the martial master realm; now that he was old, even becoming a grandmaster was a hopeless dream. Yet Yaoguang had already shattered the shackles of the human body to reach the transcendent state of a martial paragon. It was truly incredible.

"Go on and take care of the work we have at hand. Act boldly. If anyone dares to ignore your orders, don't be polite. Deal with them directly if you can. If you cannot, call Zhang Tianji or Yue Xingzhou." Su Chiming said.

A fire seemed to burn in Su Chiming's eyes. "To truly rise as an aristocratic family, it is impossible not to take risks or shed blood! What we must do is ensure that the blood spilled is not our own. We must seize this opportunity Yaoguang has given us and soar to the heavens!"

Su Chixin listened and gave a solemn nod. He realized that if the Su family wanted to achieve a leap in social tier, there was no way to avoid bloodshed. How could anything be accomplished if they were constantly looking over their shoulders and acting out of fear?

"Chairman! Chairman!" Suddenly, an urgent voice came from outside. Su Hua rushed in, gasping for breath as he spoke. "Chairman, Lyu Jianfeng is here."

He quickly added, "Jiang Sheng and Li Cunyu came with him."

"Lyu Jianfeng? Jiang Sheng? Li Cunyu?" Hearing these names, Su Chiming stood up abruptly. "Lyu Jianfeng, the foster son of the Lyu family’s martial paragon, Lyu Tianhe? Jiang Sheng, the grandmaster from the Jiang family? And Li Cunyu, the biological younger brother of the Li family's head?"

"Yes," Su Hua said firmly.

The Jiang and Li families were one thing, but the Lyu family was the strongest aristocratic family within Dayu. Their family head was the person who presided over the Dayu National Assembly. Furthermore, Lyu Tianhe was a martial paragon and a titan in the military; he was an army general and commander-in-chief of the Third Army Group, controlling one-sixth of the nation's military power. They were a force that could truly stand as equals against the Liao family.

Over the past century, five of the fourteen great aristocratic families of Dayu had disappeared. Others, like the Yue and Li families, had been suppressed so heavily that their influence could barely leave their home provinces. Yet, no matter how much the royal family tried to suppress them, the Lyu family remained the undisputed leader of the aristocratic families.

Now, Lyu Jianfeng, a man who represented the will of a martial paragon and the entire Lyu family, had personally come to the Buzhou Group.

"Quick! We must go out to meet them—" Su Chiming started to move toward the door to welcome them personally. But after just a few steps, he seemed to think of something and stopped. "Did they say why they are here?"

"No, they went straight to Conference Room 1 on the sixth floor," Su Hua reported.

"Conference Room 1..." Su Chiming pondered the location, connecting it to the phone call Yaoguang had made just a short while ago.

Gradually, the realization seemed to dawn on him. A smile spread across his face.

"Good! Good! Good!" After uttering the word "good" three times in succession, his mood brightened significantly, and he could not help but burst into hearty laughter. "Hahaha! I underestimated it! I truly underestimated the significance of a nineteen-year-old martial paragon! Hahaha!"

"Chairman, we should..."

"No rush." Su Chiming waved his hand, signaling for him to stay calm. "They are here, so they are here. There is no need to make a fuss."

Su Hua was utterly bewildered.

What does he mean by no need to make a fuss? At a time like this, shouldn't we be heading out to welcome them immediately? After all, these are core figures of the Lyu family, the strongest aristocratic family in Dayu. Not to mention the grandmasters from the Jiang and Li families who accompanied them. With so many heavyweights arriving, aren't we going to greet them? When did the family head become so arrogant?

"They are all Yaoguang's guests. Tell the conference team to head over and provide the welcoming service according to the highest standards. Everything else will be left for Yaoguang to handle." Su Chiming sat back down, regaining his composed and unhurried demeanor. However, his right hand, resting on the desk, trembled slightly, betraying the sheer intensity of his current emotions.

***

Powerful figures who might have kept a low profile within Dayu, but who, without exception, could influence the landscape of an entire province, began to arrive at the Xingyu Center one by one. They were quickly escorted to Conference Room 1 on the sixth floor by the Su family's staff members.

Grandmaster Xu Dengfeng of the Xu family was no exception. He entered the conference room accompanied by a group of assistants and subordinates totaling over ten people.

"Grandmaster Xu," Yue Nanxing, who was responsible for the reception, greeted him with a smile.

"Family Head Yue," Xu Dengfeng replied.

However, upon seeing Lyu Jianfeng and Jiang Sheng, who had arrived first, he immediately approached them. "Mr. Jiang and Mr. Lyu, you arrived so early?"

"Have a seat." The one who spoke was not Lyu Jianfeng, the foster son and personal disciple of the Lyu family's martial paragon, whom outsiders assumed held the highest status, but Jiang Sheng. He pointed toward a seat that only core figures of the nine families were qualified to occupy and said with a laugh, "We had to come. If the commotion weren't so large, I'm afraid our old master would have wanted to come personally."

"Old Master Jiang?!" Xu Dengfeng’s heart jolted. He turned his gaze toward Yue Nanxing. "So... Family Head Yue, the news is true?!"

"Haven't you all seen the proof for yourselves already? The video is evidence enough! Besides, who would dare to joke with the life of a martial paragon?" Yue Nanxing said.

The "martial paragon" he referred to was none other than Fang Lu. Although people still debated whether Fang Lu counted as a true martial paragon, it was an undeniable fact that she held a level 10 certificate representing that tier.

"Six years ago, I had the honor of seeing President Ji Pingtian take action. He is indeed a psychic-will martial paragon. With the perfect synergy between his psychic will and his fist techniques, even other martial paragons found it difficult to withstand his edge. According to the video provided by Family Head Yue, he has become even stronger than he was six years ago," Jiang Sheng noted.

"A psychic-will martial paragon!"

"Even stronger... than six years ago?!" Xu Dengfeng and a core member of another aristocratic family both showed looks of shock.

"But..." Jiang Sheng gasped. "A man as powerful as Ji Pingtian was actually unable to do anything against Su Yaoguang, a mere nineteen-year-old martial paragon!"

His eyes were filled with yearning. "I truly cannot imagine what kind of bright and vast future Su Yaoguang will have if he is allowed to continue growing."

At those words, Xu Dengfeng fell silent. One didn't even need to guess to know that the psychic-will realm would definitely not be Yaoguang's limit. He wouldn't even stop at the unified martial paragon tier.

Yaoguang's goal should be to become a heavenly being! If such a figure were to descend upon the world, why would these aristocratic families fear the suppression of the Liao family or the bullying of the Crimson Star Empire?

"So, has everyone made a decision?" Li Cunyu asked with a smile.

"The moment we sat down here, the decision was already made.

"If we don't take action now, the number of vanished aristocratic families won't stop at five. Soon there will be a sixth, a seventh, and an eighth. You should all be able to feel it. Especially in the last ten years, the Liao family has become increasingly unscrupulous. We must do something, no matter what. At the very least, we must let them see the strength of our aristocratic families.

"Originally, we saw no hope and could only let the Liao family stab us in the back while we struggled to survive. But now..."

The core figures of the various families exchanged glances, each understanding the other's meaning.

Yue Tianfeng walked over quickly. "Family Head, Lord Yaoguang has arrived."

Yue Nanxing nodded. Jiang Sheng stood up immediately and addressed the room. "Everyone."

He walked directly toward the door. "Let us go together to welcome Lord Yaoguang."