Chapter 253 The Hong Family's Aftermath

The Hong family naturally saw the updated Sky Ranking immediately.

Similarly, the Hong family also recognized Wu Shaogan—how could they not investigate after being ridiculed like that?

Despite their investigation, the Hong family could only find out what Wu Shaogan looked like; they couldn't find any further details. Unable to ascertain the origins of Wu Shaogan and his Daoist partner, the Hong family could only deduce that they must have come from a very distant region, which explained why their information was difficult to transmit.

While the turmoil in the large Hong family has subsided, it is only superficial.

Many elders were very disgusted with Wu Shaogan. Even though they had cursed Hong Shaoling as a good-for-nothing several times, in their opinion, the counterattack given by Wu Shaogan and his partner was too much. Although Hong Shaoling had provoked them first, the two of them were too disrespectful to the Hong family!

The Hong family's original plan was to write down the names of the two people and investigate all their information—if the Hong family couldn't find anything, they wouldn't hesitate to buy information from the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion.

Once no one mentions the matter anymore, the Hong family will secretly carry it out based on the information they have received.

As long as it's feasible, Wu Shaogan and his Daoist partner are on the Hong family's kill list!

The father and son on White Fish Island will indeed be the target of the Hong family's anger... and will probably be suppressed casually.

·

But now...

The Hong family head and the clan elders looked at each other, their faces grim.

"It's actually—the third-ranked Battle King!"

"Where did he come from? His battle record is so meager, could he be a beginner in the Fusion stage?"

"My Hong family has actually achieved a record of defeating a Battle King!"

"That Shaoling brat is utterly useless!"

"Useless thing!"

Despite the outbursts of anger and resentment from many high-ranking members of the Hong family, they knew that the personnel investigating the outside world were all being recalled.

One of the elders couldn't help but say, "If it's just someone at the bottom of the list, we could go and invite them..."

The Hong family head sighed, "Sixth Ancestor, let's not say such things again."

The Sixth Elder shook his head slightly and said no more.

Although all the Dou Wangs, regardless of their origins, could quickly find a ninth-level backer after being listed, who could directly suppress the Hong family... everyone present understood that what the Sixth Elder was referring to was that the Hong family was related to a fifth-level Dou Wang who was currently on the Sky Ranking.

·

One of the Hong family's daughters married into a level-nine power in a distant region. Although her relationship with the Hong family was so-so, and she hadn't had much contact with them for hundreds of years, one of her descendants became a Dou Wang—consistently ranking in the forties or fifties on the Sky List.

The rankings at the bottom of the Sky List change rapidly—the next fifty people are all counted at the bottom.

The Fighting Kings at the bottom of the list have always been fluctuating in and out of the Sky Ranking, with their rankings constantly changing and never settling down.

Once you get past fifty, the changes become smaller and smaller.

Once you get to the top ten, the rankings are almost impossible to change within a year or two, and the top three have remained unchanged ever since they were determined!

If Wu Shaogan is truly at the bottom of the rankings, the Hong family should invite that mid-level Dou Wang (a high-ranking fighter) to befriend Wu Shaogan, and when they "spar," they should be ruthless...

But Wu Shaogan completely broke the top three pattern!

A mid-level fighting king could not possibly be a match for Wu Shaogan.

·

A hint of disgust flashed across the face of the Hong family head.

This dislike is directed at Wu Shaogan—because the Hong family can no longer do anything to Wu Shaogan, and those level-nine forces will not allow it—unless Wu Shaogan is stupid enough not to join any level-nine force.

It's also about Hong Shaoling—because if this good-for-nothing could handle things properly, he could befriend Wu Shaogan like that little island guy! Instead of making enemies.

The elders of Hong Shaoling's lineage all had their brows furrowed.

If they hadn't completely given up on Hong Shaoling before, they were no longer going to waste their energy on him now.

The Hong family members instantly reached a decision—from now on, there would be no more plans to target Wu Shaogan and his Daoist partner.

This feud is now over.

·

After the contemporary geniuses of the Hong family returned, they were all indignant and complained to the elders of each branch of the family.

But they also understood that they couldn't vent their resentment on Wu Shaogan.

Then, the only option left is to go to Hong Shaoling.

·

Hong Shaoling has suffered for many days.

Since his return from poisoning, many alchemists and physicians in the family have gathered at the Medicine King's Residence within the clan to conduct research—this is also where they usually gather in groups of three or five to study elixirs and prescriptions.

In order to cure Hong Shaoling, they observed his reactions at different times, drew blood from his body, and finally found more than ten kinds of medicinal materials that could cause similar reactions.

But that's all.

The alchemists and physicians of the Hong family were disappointed, but they became even more interested in this poison and studied it with greater enthusiasm.

Of course, these alchemists and healers weren't just sitting around doing nothing; they were able to concoct some harmless medicines that, when taken by Hong Shaoling, could reduce... his pain by ten percent.

But what does this one percent of suffering matter?

Hong Shaoling's biggest problem is that he can't cultivate!

Yes, Hong Shaoling had been given special training, so he had a strong will and he worked hard to persist in his cultivation.

However, during this cultivation, he discovered that he was unable to continue fusing souls.

Hong Shaoling's heart clenched in disbelief!

Seeing that many alchemists and healers had failed to resolve the "pain of cultivation" in a short period of time, he subconsciously dared not delve deeper into cultivation.

Every time the alchemists and healers came to draw blood, he was extremely careful, not daring to let them find out...

Hong Shaoling was very worried that once the Hong family found out about this, he would be quickly abandoned. If it was just a little painful, the Hong family might still be willing to give him a chance, but if he could only stay at the initial stage of integration, then the Hong family might not be willing to spend more effort.

Or perhaps, these alchemists and healers will no longer be so careful when they attack him.

As time went on, the Hong family was still unable to find a cure, and Hong Shaoling fell into a state of anxiety.

At this moment, the Heavenly Ranking was refreshed!

Hong Shaoling stared blankly at the name that had suddenly appeared—he had long since memorized the Sky Ranking by heart—he was almost dizzy!

Why!

He was plunged into immense anguish...

if……

If only I had known...

The torment of these past few days has deepened Hong Shaoling's resentment towards Wu Shaogan and his Daoist partner.

He even hated Wu Shaogan's Daoist partner more because of this poison.

But now...

Hong Shaoling knew he was finished.

Regardless of whether he reveals his inability to break through, the Hong family will abandon him.

And what happened next proved this point.

When those Hong family geniuses returned, they did everything in their power to suppress Hong Shaoling and his lineage, quickly decimating his forces.

In order to stabilize the hearts of the people, Hong Shaoling has spent countless resources to treat the eighteen members of the Hong family since he returned, and has taken out most of his family's wealth. If everything goes well, he can rebuild it in the future, but now it will be difficult.

For those eighteen to be able to regenerate their flesh and blood... it will take a long time, and by then, even if they come back to life, they will probably be taken away by other geniuses from the Hong family.

The Hong family will not allow the Eighteen Passes to continue to be wasted in Hong Shaoling's hands.

·

The alchemists and physicians of the Hong family all received instructions from the family head.

Their gaze toward Hong Shaoling changed—of course, they still wouldn't actually harm Hong Shaoling, but they could certainly gather more materials.

The seventh-level alchemist from the Hong family smoothed his hair and said with a smile, "I wrote to Alchemist Qian earlier, and also sent him some poisoned blood, detailing the situation of this child, Shaoling. Alchemist Qian was also quite interested and wrote back to tell me that he actually saw some traces of eighth-level alchemy in it!"

The other alchemists and healers had never heard of it before, and they were all curious upon hearing this.

The seventh-level alchemist smiled gently: "It's not a true eighth-level alchemy technique, but rather that the alchemist who prepared this poison must have observed it and extracted a method that they could comprehend, which they then used in the preparation of the poison..." She sighed softly, "What a clever and ruthless genius!"

None of the alchemists or healers interrupted her.

The seventh-level alchemist continued, "Alchemist Qian said that this formula involves about seventy or eighty kinds of medicinal materials, and because it is poisonous, most of them should be poisonous, or even more so—all of them should be poisonous!"

"But according to Master Qian's research, it's estimated that it can't achieve the full effect. After all, the level of this poison is still a bit low, only at level five and only effective against level five. The consequences are certainly extremely terrible, but regardless of its quality... it will have no effect on cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage or above." She curled her lips. "That child Shaoling is probably hiding other uses. But it doesn't matter, we can wait and see in the future, no need to rush."

The alchemists and physicians all suddenly realized that the concealed medicinal effects were probably so severe that Hong Shaoling had no choice but to hide them!

The seventh-level alchemist smiled and said, "Alchemist Qian is also very interested in this poison. We can exchange ideas with him more in the future. If there are any results, Alchemist Qian will be willing to share them."

The other alchemists and healers laughed and said, "Then we'd better work even harder!"

·

Master Qian is an eighth-level Pill King. Although he didn't make it onto the Heavenly Ranking, he's still an extremely powerful figure. If even he's interested, how could the Hong family be stingy?

It's not enough to rely solely on the past relationship between a seventh-level alchemist and the other party; we must not give up while we can continue to win them over.

Master Qian peeked out some pointers from between his fingers, which were of great help to them!

The Hong family is simply offering up a junior they've already abandoned.

Shaoling has received careful nurturing and preferential treatment from the family, so he should naturally contribute to the family.

Besides, it's not like they're going to kill him. If you think about it more deeply, they did invite an eighth-level Dan Emperor to treat him, didn't they?

With Master Qian here, it shouldn't be long before he can detoxify Shaoling.

By then, Shaoling should be able to pull himself together...

·

The Hong family was ridiculed and talked about for quite some time, but they did not react in any way.

Many cultivators who were hoping to see a joke also lost interest after witnessing the Hong family's lackluster performance and eventually gave up.

As for the Hong family... after a period of time, they breathed a sigh of relief when they found that there was no more related news outside.

Much later, they heard a lot of news about Wu Shaogan and his Daoist partner—at that time, the entire Hong family was also somewhat frightened.

It was still incredibly frustrating, but thankfully, we managed to cut our losses in time.