Chapter 1140: Chapter 715: Slicing White to Black

The Xuan Gate closed, sealing off all external noise.

Six people took their seats according to hierarchy, but there were only three chairs in the room, including the main seat behind the case records desk. Xu Changge sat on the left side of the desk, while Lou Ji occupied the right. Without available chairs, the three juniors from the Feng Family clearly had no choice but to stand.

After the prior exchanges, the sibling pair seemed decently experienced, but the youngest girl appeared extremely uneasy.

Silence exerted an oppressive force, but there was no need to use it on these three little brats. Xu Yuan fixed his gaze on the white-clad boy and said:

“I’m a busy man. Let’s keep this brief—state your purpose.”

Feng Xianru froze momentarily. Given the status of this man, it was impossible he hadn’t already deduced their intentions. Confusion flickered in his heart, but he still clasped his hands respectfully and said:

“Young Master, my sister Fang Ming’s constitution has begun to awaken.”

“So?”

“…”

Feng Xianru’s heart sank, instinctively sensing a rejection. He quickly added:

“Young Master, without the support of the Prime Minister’s Mansion, Fang Ming is sure to face certain death…”

“A minor young master from the collateral branch~”

Lou Ji’s voice chimed in from the side, her enchanting eyes curving into crescent moons. Her tone carried a teasing smile: “What does the fate of this little girl have to do with us?”

Feng Xianru’s expression grew somewhat panicked. Glancing at the timid girl behind him, he gritted his teeth and said:

“Young Master, could you permit us to meet the Family Head in person?”

“……”

Xu Yuan felt speechless. More than that, he felt a twinge of resignation.

The seed he had casually sown during his journey to the Western Desert had now grown into the fruit of their pleas for help. However, that didn’t mean he was bound to offer assistance unconditionally to this collateral branch genius of the Feng Family.

Years upon years had long eroded the ties between the collateral and direct bloodlines. In terms of affiliation, while the Feng Family at the ancestral land still nominally revered Feng Jiuxuan as Family Head, such respect was largely symbolic.

The Feng Family in the Capital City had already severed ties with the ancestral land.

The split had been orchestrated years ago by his mother and uncle.

In case the Prime Minister’s Mansion failed, the Feng Family could retain a bloodline as a fallback.

Without bonds of affection, seeking help naturally required an exchange of something tangible.

Both his and Lou Ji’s remarks aimed to elicit loyalty from these three juniors of the Feng Family, but this boy truly seemed like an oblivious young master with little understanding of human relationships.

Sighing lightly, Xu Yuan shifted his gaze to the girl dressed in martial attire, only to find her timidly sneaking glances at him.

A brief moment of eye contact sent Feng Fang Ming into a frenzy. She hastily lowered her head, clutching at the hem of her clothes.

Slightly amusing.

It seemed the suppression she experienced under Feng Xianru had instilled a subconscious inferiority complex when facing others:

“Even if you meet him, he won’t help you.”

Feng Xianru remained stubborn on this matter:

“It’s still worth a try.”

Xu Yuan raised a sudden question:

“Boy, do you know the two methods to treat a Yin-Yang Mysterious Pattern Body?”

Feng Xianru’s expression brightened:

“I don’t know. The clan elders only mentioned the Family Head might have a solution. I beseech Young Master to enlighten me.”

Xu Yuan lightly tapped on the case records before him, maintaining the same steady tone:

“The first method: take one Taiyuan Rejuvenation Pill every three days to suppress the Dao Charm within her body. The second: have a Saint personally intervene and continuously infuse her with Sacred Origin.”

Feng Xianru instinctively stepped forward, his tone tinged with excitement:

“In that case, Fang Ming truly can be saved…”

“Of course she can be saved.”

Xu Yuan interrupted the boy’s noisy enthusiasm: “But a single Taiyuan Rejuvenation Pill costs no less than ten thousand snowflake silver just for the raw materials. Boy, you can calculate how many years of cultivation she would need to break through to the Integration Body Realm—and how much silver would be required by then.”

A Grandmaster at the Prime Minister’s Mansion earns a yearly stipend of merely around ten million taels. In contrast, treating Feng Fang Ming would cost over a million taels annually. The investment far exceeds the foreseeable return, which is precisely why the Yin-Yang Mysterious Pattern Body is typically treated as a cauldron rather than cultivated as a prodigy.

Upon hearing this, Feng Xianru’s expression dimmed. He remained silent for a while before probing cautiously:

“What about the second option…?”

“No Saint would willingly deplete their Sacred Origin to save an outsider.”

Silence followed those words.

Feng Xianru lowered his gaze, staring at the luxurious black brick floor. A sense of helplessness consumed him, suffocating his breath.

She could be saved, yet he couldn’t save her.

All he could do was watch his beloved perish.

Feng Fang Ming’s slender frame trembled slightly. Yet, having learned of her approaching fate, she seemed oddly more relaxed—a release of the inferiority complex rooted deep within her. She tugged at a tree-sloth-like girl beside her and whispered:

“Sister Xunhua, let’s go home. Don’t… don’t trouble the Young Master anymore.”

Feng Xunhua glanced at the girl beside her who forced a smile, then turned to their trembling brother. Suddenly, she addressed Xu Yuan:

“Third Young Master… what would you have us do?”

Oh?

Xu Yuan was slightly surprised.

Looking at these grief-stricken teens, he had been ready to speak his mind outright. However, this gloomy tree-sloth turned out to be the only perceptive one among them.

After a brief pause for thought, Xu Yuan scrutinized her, chuckled, and replied:

“What can you do for me?”

Feng Xunhua tilted her head, pondering briefly. Her beautiful eyes half-lidded, eyelashes fluttering gently, she answered leisurely:

“…Become a concubine?”

“…..”

Xu Yuan’s expression immediately turned peculiar. He studied her face and, realizing she wasn’t joking, couldn’t suppress a laugh, asking:

“Why would you think that?”

Feng Xunhua, her head covered by a coarse hood, with jet-black hair hanging down from both sides, blinked and replied:

“…Because apart from our bodies, our cultivation cannot help you, Young Master.”

“You can’t help me now, but don’t you still have a future?”

“But that would be so exhausting…”

“……” Xu Yuan’s temple twitched slightly.

“Sister!”

Feng Xianru suddenly transmitted a message, his tone a mix of confusion and astonishment: “What are you doing?! You are a core member of the Feng Family! How can you debase yourself like this? It’s disgraceful!”

Feng Xunhua turned and opened her mouth.

“Don’t speak. Reply through transmission!”

Feng Xianru hastily reminded her.

He was genuinely afraid his idiotic elder sister might say it out loud.

“Oh…”

Feng Xunhua belatedly responded, transmitting her explanation at a leisurely pace:

“Little Brother… if the Third Young Master is to save Fang Ming, we’d need to work for him. Working requires cultivation. Sister doesn’t want to cultivate… cultivation is truly exhausting. So… just sell me off…”

“….” Feng Xianru.

“….” Xu Yuan.

After a prolonged silence,

Feng Xianru took a deep breath, finally grasping the Third Young Master’s intentions. Stepping forward, he solemnly bowed before Xu Yuan:

“Third Young Master, as the son of a prior generation Family Head, Feng Xianru is willing to serve under you. I implore you to save Fang Ming.”

“…..”

Xu Yuan leaned back against his chair, silent, his eyes reflecting contemplation:

“I did consider that, but now I find your sister far more intriguing.”

Feng Xianru’s expression froze momentarily, wanting to speak, yet his sister replied without hesitation:

“Alright, Third Young Master… When does Your Excellency require me physically…?”

“Don’t misunderstand.”

Xu Yuan cut off the tree-sloth girl’s bizarre spiel, smiling: “What I’m interested in isn’t your body—it’s who you are as a person.”

“….Ah.”

Feng Xunhua shrank her neck upon hearing this.

Xu Yuan slowly straightened himself, clasping his fingers on the desk, and asked in a slow voice:

“First, answer me this: was that remark intentional?”

The one where the collateral branch’s Great Elder said Hua Hong’s actions amounted to currying favor with superiors.

Feng Xunhua’s pitch-black eyes blinked once. She nodded:

“…Yes, it was.”

Xu Yuan mulled over her answer briefly before asking:

“Does he personally know about this?”

If he knew, it would mean the collateral branch’s Great Elder intended to sacrifice his own life to give these three juniors an opportunity to reach a higher platform.

But unexpectedly,

The tree-sloth girl across from him gently shook her head, her crystalline strands of hair beneath the hood swaying lightly:

“He doesn’t know…”

Xu Yuan raised a brow, intrigued, and asked:

“Did he ever wrong you?”

“Not really…”

“So you’re purely using him to pave a path for yourselves?”

“Yes…”

“….”

After a brief silence,

Xu Yuan smiled and asked his final question:

“Why?”

Under everyone’s gaze,

Feng Xunhua answered slowly, her tone completely matter-of-fact:

“Third Young Master… The Great Elder has little time left to live and lacks the power to break through. His life should be put to good use.”