Towering Cloud City, the Bai family.
Inside the main hall of the Bai family, Bai Qi’s gaze was murderous, and his aura was extremely aggressive.
Out of all the Elders in the Bai family, half of them were direct descendants of the Bai family. They were his brothers, or they were his closest relatives, the generation he would greet as uncles. Right now, none of them said a single word with their heads lowered. They didn’t dare to look Bai Qi in the eye.
Suddenly, one of them raised his head and said cautiously, “Patriarch, we made mistakes because we were forced by Bai Yuan. But none of us has done anything wrong to the Bai family. Moreover, we never harmed the two kids, Bai Lingling and Bai Xiong. When Luo Tian stepped out, we all retreated and didn’t make a move against him…”
“That’s right.”
“Right. We really haven’t wronged the Bai family.”
“We thought you would never come back. The Bai family cannot function without a leader, so we…”
When someone spoke out first, the others started chiming in.
Bai Qi glanced at them coldly and said, “Forget it; this matter is over. But you guys will still have to pay some price for your mistake.”
“We are willing to accept our punishment.”
“Right, we are willing to be punished.”
Several Elders immediately agreed.
Bai Qi then said, “Your salaries will be reduced by half and assigned to the Bai family disciples. Do any of you have any objections?”
They had to be punished, or else how could he establish his authority as the Patriarch?
Of course, the degree of punishment had to be appropriate for the occasion. Otherwise, a punishment could become counterproductive. These Elders were the strongest experts of the Bai family. Without them, Bai Qi would have a difficult time supporting the family alone. However, even if they weren’t here, the Bai family’s elite disciples were still here, so the Bai family wouldn’t fully collapse.
Reducing the salaries of the Elders and increasing the cultivation resources of the elite disciples was considered a very clever move.
The expressions on these Elders faintly changed.
Even though they were unwilling, none of them dared to speak up about it. Once they do speak up against it, that is considered challenging the punishment. At that time, they might cause outrage among the Bai family disciples. What might end up happening was that they wouldn’t be able to stay in the family any longer.
“None, I don’t have any objections.”
“We don’t have any objections.”
Their tones were a bit softer and not as tough as before.
Bai Qi smiled faintly and said, “Good, then it’s decided. There’s one more thing – this time, the Bai family has four places to participate in the Misty Cloud Academy’s disciple selection competition. Do you guys have any thoughts about it?”
“Of course, it’s for Bai Lingling and Bai Xiong. And the other two slots will go to the other disciples of the Bai family.”
“Bai Lingling and Bai Xiong are both quite talented, so I think there’s a good chance that they’ll be selected. The Bai family will be able to catch up with the Deng family, or maybe even surpass them.”
Bai Qi nodded and said, “Even if you guys didn’t mention it, the two slots would have gone to those two. Any thoughts on who the other two slots should go to?”
After asking that, Bai Qi glanced at a certain Elder.
That Elder’s brows tightened as he couldn’t comprehend the hidden meaning of Bai Qi’s look. Therefore, he didn’t speak up.
Another Elder said, “Bai Han is not bad; his cultivation and talent are at the top of the Bai family’s disciples. He should be able to assist both Bai Lingling and Bai Xiong this time around.”
“Bai Han is indeed not bad. But he still lacks the qualifications to participate in the Misty Cloud Academy’s selection.” Bai Qi immediately dismissed it without even thinking about it, and his eyes once again looked at that certain Elder.
In the Bai family, Bai Han’s talent and cultivation were higher than Bai Lingling’s. So, it was reasonable to say that he should be qualified to participate in the selection.
However, one important thing some of them missed out on was that Bai Han was the nephew of Bai Yuan.
Bai Qi wasn’t planning to give the remaining two qualifying spots to any of the Bai family disciples.
Finally, that Elder comprehended the hidden meaning behind Bai Qi’s glance and said, “Everyone, we seem to have forgotten someone who has done the Bai family a huge kindness. I think the qualification should be given to him.”
Bai Qi pretended to show a serious expression and said, “Who is it?”
The Elder then replied, “It’s Luo Tian. If he hadn’t killed Bai Yuan, our Bai family right now might have had a different outcome. The Bai family might be caught in the crisis of fighting all four of the great families. I know that the Ouyang family secretly mobilized all the elites of their family to lurk around the Bai family after the marriage of Ouyang Ye and Bai Lingling. And if it were not for Luo Tian’s appearance, I’m afraid that there would be a river of blood running through the Bai family right now. In order to repay him, I think we should give him a qualification spot.”
Bai Qi’s mouth had an ever-so-faint curve from smiling.
He was the Patriarch of the Bai family. Technically, he had the power to decide anything that was related to the family.
But when it came to this matter, he preferred someone else to bring it up first. Only then would it look more legitimate when he supported it.
Before the other Elders could speak up, Bai Qi said, “Not bad. We should indeed give him a qualification spot. But, I feel that a single qualification is too little. Give him two spots and let him do what he wants with it. This can be considered the Bai family repaying him.”
The qualifications for the Misty Cloud Academy selection were very precious.
There were only twenty spots total for the five great families of Towering Cloud City. If this were to be opened up to the outside world, a single qualification spot would be worth hundreds of thousands of xuan coins.
It was considered a great honor to participate in the selection.
One of the main reasons Bai Qi gave away two qualification spots to Luo Tian was that he didn’t want the disciples of the Bai family Elders to get a chance to participate. He was trying to weaken the power of those Elders in secret.
Bai Yuan usurped his position, and his daughter was captured and almost married off to Ouyang Ye, who couldn’t get his thing up. On the surface, Bai Qi acted like those things were in the past and all had been forgiven, but he was still furious inside. Being tricked by Bai Yuan? Those were all lies! In the face of huge benefits, even his most trusted confidant, Bai Shan, had betrayed him, not to mention these people!
But he was very clear that he couldn’t touch these people. Otherwise, they could band up and overthrow him as the Patriarch. The only thing he could do was gradually weaken their influence.
The expressions of those Elders faintly changed as they all disagreed with the decision.
One qualification spot was enough, so why two? Why does the kid need so many qualification spots?
Wasn’t it a bit too obvious that Bai Qi was trying to weaken them?
Moreover, Bai Qi had already announced to the public that Luo Tian was his son-in-law, which meant that Bai Qi was getting four spots for himself. This was practically being overbearing to the extreme!
Before they could object to it, Bai Qi stood up and said, “It seems that everyone has no objections. Then, this matter is settled. I will go and talk to Luo Tian about it. You all should head out and restore order to the Bai family as soon as possible. We should keep an eye out on the cultivation of the disciples as well. The Bai family just experienced a big shakeup, and the other four families are eyeing us like wolves. We need to quickly increase everyone’s abilities.”
After saying that, Bai Qi walked out of the main hall without looking back.
He left behind a group of stupefied Elders.
They were all dumbstruck!
But no one dared to stand out and could only harbor resentment in secret.
Bai family, another courtyard somewhere.
“Hahaha…”
“You, kid, are really domineering and arrogant! Even the Hai family’s Hai Yulong ended up pissing his pants because of you. Sigh~, if only I could see that scene. It must have been really fun to watch, hahaha…” Dongfang Shuo laughed happily.