Chapter 369: Deduction

"I hope Brother Ding will give me an answer as soon as possible."

Xu Yang acted as if he very much wanted to become the Ding family's patron, yet could not accept the condition of marrying a stranger.

He kept smiling, watching Ding Xu leave, before turning to enter the courtyard.

"Xu Yang rejected the Ding family's recruitment?"

"Such good conditions; they could even ask me to marry into the family."

"The Ding family has a lineage spanning over a century, optimizing every generation. The women in the clan are all as beautiful as flowers. Beauty is enough; who cares about feelings?"

"He is still too young. When he meets a bitch like Jiang Fan, he will know this stuff is useless. A woman just needs to be beautiful; the rest doesn't matter."

The disciples eavesdropping nearby were dumbfounded to hear Xu Yang was unwilling to marry a Ding family woman. Many of them did not even qualify to marry a Ding family woman to climb the social ladder.

In their eyes, Xu Yang was somewhat ungrateful.

Accepting benefits for free, not to mention being given a wife.

Given Xu Yang's talent, the Ding family's conditions were good enough. Clinging to a powerful clan like the Ding family, he might not be able to strut around the Ziyang Sect, but at least few would dare to provoke him.

Hearing the words from outside the courtyard, Xu Yang shook his head silently.

The Ding family's conditions were indeed good; given the talent he had displayed, the Ding family had not looked down on him.

If he did not have the panel, he would very likely have agreed immediately.

The Su family!

Su Jie, with a grim expression, found his Master Su Su Qiming and said, "Master, there is bad news. Xu Yang's Yang Energy has reached great perfection, and the Ding family is trying to recruit him."

Xu Yang's Yang Energy has reached great perfection? The Ding family still wants to recruit him?

Su Su Qiming's expression darkened. If Xu Yang became the Ding family's patron, he would not dare to touch Xu Yang.

Compared to the Ding family, the Su family, while not like ants, was still someone they could not provoke.

"Did Xu Yang agree?" Su Su Qiming asked in a deep voice.

Su Jie shook his head: "They just started contacting him. It is said they did not reach an agreement. Xu Yang is unwilling to marry a Ding family woman. I do not know if the Ding family will compromise."

Hearing this, Su Su Qiming's expression improved considerably: "It is good that they did not reach an agreement. Keep watching him closely. If he becomes the Ding family's patron, tell me immediately."

The Ding family!

"Xu Yang is unwilling to form an alliance through marriage."

Ding Xu found the Second Elder who had tasked him with recruiting Xu Yang and reported the matter for a final decision.

The Second Elder, Ding Yuan, sneered: "He guarantees he will not let the Ding family down? What use is such a guarantee? Without a wife or daughter to bind him, if one day the Ding family needs his help and he finds it difficult, he can simply refuse."

For a great clan like theirs, they trusted loyalty and righteousness the least, because they had seen too many disloyal and unrighteous people. Even they themselves would turn their backs at any moment, so naturally, they would not believe others truly possessed loyal hearts.

"Just right. The First Elder thinks the conditions I offered were too high, that his talent does not match these conditions. It is good that he refused. If he had truly agreed, I would have had a hard time explaining it to the First Elder."

Ding Xu shook his head silently, knowing the Ding family was also recruiting other geniuses from the Top Ten Heroes List. Someone else must have agreed to become the Ding family's patron, so they felt the conditions offered to Xu Yang were too high.

"Then how should this disciple reply to Xu Yang?" Ding Xu asked with clasped hands.

Ding Yuan shook his head: "Do not worry about him. Leave him hanging for a few days, and he will understand."

In the following days, Xu Yang cultivated while taking the Gathering Yuan Elixir, and also studied the Initial Explanation of Elixirs.

At the same time, families from Qingyang City continued to come to recruit him, but no matter which family it was, none offered conditions as good as the Ding family.

Of course, their power was also inferior to the Ding family.

Xu Yang rejected them all, citing that he was currently negotiating with the Ding family.

Ding Xu did not return to find him again. Clearly, the Ding family did not agree to his condition of refusing marriage.

The Ding family did not need him to do anything right now. Marriage and bearing children were the only ways to constrain him. Without marriage, the Ding family would not trust him.

In fact, he had expected this long ago. Even Han Feng, ranked fourth on the Top Ten Heroes List, had to agree to marriage after accepting recruitment from a great family.

If he were ranked first on the Top Ten Heroes List, he might have had room to negotiate. But being ranked tenth, he had absolutely no room to negotiate with the Ding family.

"Junior Brother Xu, do you want to go to the canteen together?"

Xu Yang pushed the door open and saw Sun Tao, Jiang Ping, and Zhang Yong were just about to go to the canteen together.

After the three of them broke into the Yunling Mountain Range twice together, their relationship was very good.

"Let's go together. I was just planning to go."

Xu Yang smiled and walked out of the courtyard with the three of them.

"By the way, we plan to set off for the Yunling Mountain Range in two days," Sun Tao said.

Xu Yang asked in surprise: "You do not plan to participate in the Outer Sect Grand Competition?"

Judging by the timeline, there was just over a month left until the annual Outer Sect Grand Competition. Only after the competition ended would the disciples of this year's Imperial Examination who ascended the Dragon come to the Ziyang Sect.

Sun Tao smiled: "Isn't there still more than a month? We will try our best to return in time."

Zhang Yong said: "It is mainly Zhang Hong. He came to Qingyang City and can't wait to enter the Yunling Mountain Range."

Xu Yang then learned that during this return to Liu Qingyuan County, Zhang Yong had asked Sun Tao to find Zhang Hong and invited Zhang Hong to come to Qingyang City to explore for treasures in the Yunling Mountain Range with them.

The three of them were still a bit weak in the Yunling Mountain Range. Since Xu Yang was unwilling to participate, they had to find someone else.

But they could not trust others in the Ziyang Sect, so they had to go find Zhang Hong.

Zhang Hong had already reached the Qi Refining stage with Yang Energy. If he continued to stay cooped up in Liu Qingyuan County, he might never reach the minor perfection of Yang Energy in his lifetime. He also wanted to go out to seek opportunities, so the few of them were perfectly matched.

"It is a pity you are willing to take risks. Otherwise, the three of us could fight side by side again," Zhang Yong sighed.

He knew that although Xu Yang spoke to him as usual, in Xu Yang's eyes, he was not much different from Jiang Ping.

The reason was that he and Zhang Hong had once distanced themselves from Xu Yang in order to squeeze in with Jiang Ping and Zhao Zhao Zhifei.

Even though he had tried his best to mend their relationship, Xu Yang's attitude had not changed at all.

Chatting and exchanging words was no problem, but becoming true friends was impossible.

Xu Yang shook his head and said nothing.

"Junior Brother Xu has no need to take risks at all," Sun Tao thought silently.

After learning Xu Yang's true strength, he had already abandoned the thought of persuading Xu Yang to take risks; for someone with Xu Yang's talent, hiding within the Ziyang Sect and cultivating slowly was the correct path.