Chapter 78 The Third Branch of the Cao Family

"Yuen Long is already so big? When I got married, I was still stumbling around when I walked."

Although Xu Yuanhui was a woman, she had a fiery personality and had the style of a big sister in Wuliang Mountain. Therefore, both Xu Yuankun and Xu Yuanlang actually grew up following in her footsteps.

Looking at her carefree second sister now, the two of them feel as if they have returned to the past.

"That was more than 20 years ago, Second Sister. I heard that my little nephew and niece are quite talented. When the news reached the family, everyone was overjoyed for a long time."

Xu Yuanhui led them to a courtyard halfway up the mountain, and the group talked as they pushed open the courtyard gate.

Several wintersweet trees were in bloom. Along the winding paths and corridors, Xu Yuanlang's eyes welled up with tears as he looked at the courtyard with emotion.

"This place is the same as the one on Wuliang Mountain."

Xu Yuanlang still remembered that his second sister's courtyard on Wuliang Mountain was just like that back then, and for a moment he even felt like he had returned to the past.

"People are still nostalgic!"

As they walked inside, two ordinary-looking mortal women saw Xu Yuanhui and hurriedly bowed in greeting.

"lady……"

Madam? Xu Yuanlang was taken aback and looked at Xu Yuankun, but the other party had a calm expression.

"Qingmei, go to the school and call the young lady. Qingguo, go find the young master. If there's nothing urgent, tell them to come back quickly."

"yes!"

The two maids quickly nodded and then stepped back.

"Come on, let's talk about what happened on the mountain. I also heard that the clan leader's injuries have healed. I spent a lot of effort trying to find healing pills, but in the end I didn't help much."

And how is the Grand Elder? Is he still in good health?

Xu Yuanlang looked at his second sister's incessant chatter with a wry smile and quickly spoke up.

"Slow down, slow down, I'll explain one by one..."

The three chatted happily for half an hour when the door was suddenly flung open with a bang.

"Mother, Mother, are we having guests?"

A little girl with pigtails, still looking very young, burst through the door and rushed in.

"This must be our niece, Cao Nanxing."

The second sister clapped her hands, and the little girl happily jumped into her arms.

"Our little devil has just started his studies, and I heard from the clansmen at the school that he's about to begin cultivating internal energy."

"Nanxing, these are your uncles, come and greet them."

Cao Nanxing obediently jumped down from her second sister's arms, straightened her robes with her chubby little hands, and clasped her hands in a fist salute to Xu Yuanlang and the other woman.

"Hello, both of you uncles!"

Xu Yuanlang looked surprised and glanced at his fifth brother beside him, who looked at him with an expression of utter astonishment.

"Our little niece is exceptionally talented. She possesses both fire and wood spiritual roots and is also remarkably intelligent and precocious. It is said that she is a promising candidate for alchemy, and the entire Cao family highly values ​​Nanxing."

They even regarded her as a future seed for achieving the Golden Core. Over the years, our second sister has been able to gain a foothold in the Cao family, and her status has risen accordingly, all thanks to this girl, Nanxing.

No wonder the maids were calling his second sister "Madam" just now; he had been wondering why.

The Cao family is a Golden Core clan, and the Xu family is fortunate to have formed a marriage alliance with the Cao family.

Xu Yuanhui married Cao Xucheng, a direct descendant of the Cao family's patriarch, and held an even more prestigious position. Xu Yuanhui had initially married into the Cao family as a concubine.

Concubines in the Cao family cannot be called wives, which means that my second sister is now a true daughter-in-law of the Cao family.

"Nanxing, come here, I have some medium-grade water chestnuts here. They're nothing special, just eat them as a snack."

Xu Yuanlang took out a pound of medium-grade water chestnuts that he had obtained from the He family of Bai Lian. Cao Nanxing's eyes lit up, and she thanked him and hurriedly accepted them.

"No need, no need, Yuen Long, Nam Hang has plenty of food, you just..."

The second sister refused to accept it no matter what, so Xu Yuanlang quickly stuffed it into Cao Nanxing's hands. After some back and forth, she sighed and told her daughter to accept it.

"Thank you so much, Uncle!"

He smiled and nodded, gently patting the little girl's head.

It wasn't until evening, when the second sister was busy preparing a feast, that a maid appeared with a young man who was not yet twenty.

"Nanning, come say hello to your uncles!"

Cao Nanning is the son of his second sister. His talent is slightly inferior to that of his younger sister, but he is still one of the best among the three spiritual roots. In a family like the Cao family, which is at the Golden Core stage, he has a high chance of achieving Foundation Establishment.

"Hello, Uncle!"

Cao Nanning bowed to the two of them obediently yet awkwardly. Xu Yuanlang didn't mind; it was normal for the two to feel distant since they were meeting for the first time and weren't familiar with each other.

"Seventh level of Qi Refining? Nanning, your cultivation speed is quite fast. Even in the Cao family, there aren't many people with such a cultivation speed. You are much faster than your uncle was back then."

Xu Yuanlang knew exactly how to get closer to such a person. He first praised him loudly, and then took advantage of the other party's embarrassment to ask about his cultivation experience. Before long, they became familiar with each other.

Cao Nanning quickly became very close to the two men, sharing everything with them.

"Your brother-in-law is currently in seclusion honing his nine Foundation Establishment techniques, so he doesn't have much time. Don't worry, I'm here for you."

The second sister organized a family feast, and the group reminisced about the past.

Taking this opportunity, Xu Yuanlang mentioned that the Xu family was not doing well. The Li family was pressing forward step by step, the Jiang family was wiped out, and only the Dian family and the Xu family remained, but the situation was also getting worse.

"Second sister, are the Cao family just going to stand by and watch the Li family grow stronger? I heard that someone in the Li family is seeking the Golden Elixir."

Xu Yuanhui sighed and looked at Xu Yuanlang.

"There are some things you don't know. The Cao family is not stable internally. The direct descendants of the Cao family patriarch are now in a three-way power struggle."

The eldest branch of the family, headed by the clan leader, had the largest number of members. Because of their position as clan leader, they were extremely powerful and arrogant, looking down on everyone else and completely disregarding the Cao family's vassal families.

The one who fought them hard was the clan leader's brother, who was also the eldest elder of the Cao family. One of the eldest elder's concubines was a member of the Li family, and he was actually happy to see the Li family become stronger.

If the Li family becomes stronger, he can bring them in as external aid to fight against the clan leader. In fact, they are supporting the Li family to annex other families from behind the scenes.

As for whether they will raise a tiger that will turn out to be a threat, they don't care, and it's not their place to worry about it.

The remaining branch is the third branch. Your brother-in-law's father is a kind-hearted man who doesn't fight or compete, so many marginal people have come to join him. Although it's called a force, it's not actually very strong.

It's practically impossible to get them to take action against the Li family, so the only way to save the family from crisis is for the eldest branch of the family to step in.

However, it's impossible for the three parties to completely break off relations, since the Golden Core Ancestor is still alive, and no one dares to anger him.

Just then, Cao Nanning, who had been eating obediently, suddenly spoke up.

"Uncle, our ancestor can see through any little scheme!"