Chapter 307: Small Characters

Ning Zhuo's expression was heavy. After discussing with the two, he decided to agree to this ransom again and let Ning Xiangguo make another trip.

Ning Zhuo comforted his uncle and aunt well, then immediately paid a visit to the Ning clan ancestor Ning Jiufan to explain the situation to him.

Ning Jiufan asked Ning Zhuo what he thought.

Ning Zhuo said: "I think this is because I participated in the palace examination and my performance was quite good. Clearly, many people don't want to see me continue to win like this. So, they used despicable means to drag out my energy and time."

Ning Jiufan stroked his beard, his gaze containing a hint of appreciation as he looked at Ning Zhuo.

In his view, Ning Zhuo's performance was more than just "quite good"; it was excellent beyond imagination. The latter could win in duels with many Jin Dan cultivators, achieving more victories than defeats. This was unique among Qi Refining cultivators, and even Meng Chong could not compare to Ning Zhuo.

"It is quite normal for you to be targeted. It is also quite good that you can see this essence." Ning Jiufan said, "So, there is no hope of redeeming your cousin with a ransom. What do you plan to do?"

Ning Jiufan was still testing Ning Zhuo.

Ning Zhuo sighed, looking at Ning Jiufan with a worried face: "Old Ancestor, although I am not close to my uncle's family. To be honest, I lived under someone else's roof for a long time, and they gave me many cold looks and thin treatment."

"But firstly, they are, after all, my closest blood relatives in this world. Secondly, I did grow up partly under their protection."

"In terms of emotion and reason, I cannot ignore them."

"When poor, one should improve oneself; when successful, one should help the world. Therefore, having achieved a little, I thought of repaying them and repaying this kindness."

"In the current situation, even though I know this is the enemy's conspiracy, I can only fall into the trap."

After hearing these words, Ning Jiufan couldn't help but stroke his beard again and sighed: "Sigh, you child..."

He stopped abruptly, but in his heart, he was very satisfied with Ning Zhuo.

Ning Zhuo was usually unreliable, always shouting about splitting the family, but he was, after all, a member of the Ning clan and very persistent about family affection.

Ning Jiufan had already reviewed Ning Zhuo's information and knew well that Ning Ze's family's treatment of Ning Zhuo was more than just thin treatment and cold looks; it was indifference, treating him as a burden. This could be seen from the fact that "Ning Zhuo lost his mother at two, but it was only years later that he was adopted by Ning Ze's family."

Even so, Ning Zhuo still treated Ning Ze's family so generously. At the critical juncture of the palace examination, he was still unwilling to give up on Ning Ji and was willing to fall into the trap.

Such a "yielding" posture moved Ning Jiufan quite a bit.

"To recognize a person, one must not only look at what they say, but also what they do."

"This child Ning Zhuo is not bad; he is pure and kind at heart."

"He is a good seedling!"

"With such capacity and vision, if he were to serve as the clan head in the future, perhaps it would be a good thing for the entire clan."

Ning Jiufan had long accumulated more and more disappointment and dissatisfaction with the current Ning clan main lineage.

Every time Ning Zhuo mentioned splitting the family in front of him, quantitative changes led to qualitative changes, and he began to really imagine Ning Zhuo being in charge in the future.

Ning Jiufan said: "You don't need to worry about this matter. I will arrange it."

Ning Zhuo became nervous: "Old Ancestor, are you going to do it yourself? That won't do!"

"You are the greatest hope of our Ning clan."

"For the upcoming palace examination, I can be missing, but you absolutely cannot!"

"The reason I was able to perform well was just because I took advantage of the palace examination rules."

"I would rather my energy and time be dragged out, but you absolutely must not. If you do this, the enemy will probably laugh even in their sleep!"

Seeing Ning Zhuo nervous for him, Ning Jiufan was greatly comforted and couldn't help but reach out and touch Ning Zhuo's head.

This was the first time Ning Jiufan had done such an intimate gesture.

And to say the least, the feel of this big head was quite good!

"Old Ancestor has his own sense of proportion, Little Zhuo, you don't need to worry."

"You also don't need to belittle yourself. The second round of the palace examination has progressed to now, and anyone can see that the Lava Immortal Palace's palace examination is very biased toward the trial disciples."

"You have switched to the Five Elements Qi Law, so you are one of the Lava Immortal Palace's own people. In the upcoming palace examination, this identity advantage cannot be ignored."

"Next, our Ning clan will inevitably only have the two of us participating in the palace examination. We must advance together, and even if we cannot obtain the position of Palace Master, we can seek other high-grade positions to lay a solid foundation for the Ning clan to gain a foothold in Fire Persimmon Immortal City in the future!"

"I will take on this little wind and rain for you. Next, you must go all out and not be distracted by trivial matters outside."

Ning Zhuo was moved to tears and immediately bowed deeply.

Ning Zhuo was not surprised to receive Ning Jiufan's protection. The latter's performance was also one of the situations he had estimated.

After he withdrew, he immediately summoned Ning Xiangguo and told the latter that he had received the protection of the ancestor and would go all out in the palace examination, no longer asking about external trivial matters.

Ning Xiangguo immediately revealed a trace of joy, congratulating Ning Zhuo on being so recognized and cherished by his ancestor, with broad prospects and a bright future. He strongly agreed with Ning Jiufan's view; this must be the enemy's conspiracy to drag Ning Zhuo out. If Ning Zhuo were affected, the entire Ning clan would be affected, and the enemy must never be allowed to succeed!

Despite Ning Xiangguo's flowery words, Ning Zhuo understood the latter's identity as an internal traitor.

The person Ning Xiangguo secretly defected to was the City Lord's Mansion.

And according to the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit's subsequent intelligence, Ning Zhuo also already knew that the masked man's group was the City Lord's Mansion's black glove.

The masked assassin was good at using Gu worms and had once taken action to secretly harm the genius cultivators of the three families.

Ning Xiangguo himself did not know the true camp of the masked man's group. But this did not prevent him from sending his own information to the dark line at a fixed time.

The City Lord's Mansion's dark line received this information and immediately presented it to the superior.

The superior took one look and immediately became anxious.

They had finally found a way to interfere with Ning Zhuo, only to have it broken by Ning Jiufan.

This immediately caused the superior to harbor strong malice, wanting to squeeze out all of Ning Ji's value while he was still effective, so that his death would cause a major impact on Ning Zhuo's mind!

"Although Ning Zhuo is a genius, he is still just a sixteen-year-old child after all."

"Even if his relationship with his uncle's family is thin, as long as Ning Ji dies, I still have a backup plan to spread rumors and ruin Ning Zhuo's righteous reputation, making him stifled and irritable."

The superior quickly reported his opinion upward.

The action plan was finally sent to Fei Si's hands.

"Ning Zhuo..." Fei Si sighed, and the image of Ning Zhuo bowing to him respectfully appeared before his eyes again.

But Fei Si could perceive the fire burning in the depths of Ning Zhuo's eyes.

"You brat, you have ultimately blocked the path of my Meng family."

No matter how much Fei Si appreciated Ning Zhuo, he could not sacrifice his own interests for him.

Fei Si was attached to Meng Kui; if the Meng family's interests were damaged, his interests were damaged.

Therefore, he used his vicious and ruthless wisdom to improve the entire action plan.

After the superior received Fei Si's instructions, the more he pondered, the more exquisite he felt it was, sighing "As expected of Lord Fei Si" while executing it with all his might.

Soon, the masked man received the order to take action and came before Ning Ji.

"You are going to die!"

"Ning Zhuo is ignoring your life."

"Before you die, do you have anything you want to say?"

Ning Ji was shocked, shouting that it was impossible, begging bitterly.

The masked man tortured him greatly, and Ning Ji was tortured to the point of wishing he were dead, cursing Ning Zhuo and the masked man, venting the wild rage and regret in his heart before he died.

Ning Jiufan issued instructions, ordering a group of clan experts to raid the kidnappers' location and forcibly rescue Ning Ji, not giving the enemy room to play tricks.

Ning Xiangguo also received secret orders from the City Lord's Mansion. Through the operation of other dark lines, he led a group of trusted aides and successfully mixed into the rescue team.

Ning Ji died.

The rescue mission failed.

But Ning Xiangguo succeeded!

He intercepted Grandma Xiaohui, who was attempting to flee, and captured her. He sent the evidence of her kidnapping Ning Ji, along with the person, to Ning Zhuo.

Ning Zhuo saw the evidence, and in front of Ning Xiangguo, his face was as heavy as water, so angry that he crushed the cup in his hand.

When there was no one around, his gaze was deep, and his heart felt cold.

He felt the coldness, the coldness from the superiors.

Ning Jiufan didn't care about Ning Ji's safety at all; he cared about the Ning clan's interests. Therefore, he deliberately asked Ning Zhuo, and after understanding Ning Zhuo's "true feelings," he had no scruples and took action directly. Regardless of success or failure, he wanted to settle the matter once and for all.

Fei Si was not only cold but also vicious. He decisively activated the chess piece Ning Xiangguo and sent Grandma Xiaohui to Ning Zhuo. Because he knew: Ning Zhuo was extremely disgusted with the Ning clan's main lineage and had deep hatred. Now, when he knew that Grandma Xiaohui was the culprit who kidnapped his cousin Ning Ji, what would Ning Zhuo do?

Ning Zhuo would likely make a scene! He would be angry, excited, unstable in his state of mind, and at the same time, his environment would be unstable.

Ning Zhuo would become a bomb in the Ning clan's camp!

Fei Si's poison could be seen from this.

And he only sent one demented old woman, while still holding Ning Xiaoren as a backup. Using a strategy without exhausting it, he was truly a master of strategy.

As for Ning Ji?

Heh.

Such a small character, who really cares about his life or death?

Perhaps, only his biological parents.

"The life of a small character is really too fragile." In the room, in the dim light, Ning Zhuo's eyes flickered.

Ning Ji's life took a sharp turn for the worse; one moment he was glorious, with people fawning over him, and the next he became a hostage, tortured to death.

Just because he was dragged into the dark struggle of the high-level figures.

He was like a crumb, crushed to pieces by the millstones of two factions.

Ning Zhuo thought of himself.

He knew very well that the reason he could gain Ning Jiufan's favor was largely because he showed his value, especially after Ning Xiaohui's death.

Compared to Ning Jiufan and Fei Si, he was a small character. Compared to the Meng family and the Southern Bean Kingdom's royal Zhu family, he was also a small character.

If he was not careful, he would also be ruthlessly crushed.

Just like Ning Ji.

The only difference might be that Ning Ji didn't know the truth until he died. While Ning Zhuo might know a little, dying with understanding.

Such a situation, for Ning Zhuo, was actually even better than in his plan.

He acted quickly.

The Ning clan cultivators arranged in the Lava Immortal Palace included representatives from all the main lineages of the Ning clan.

Ning Zhuo first negotiated with them secretly, and after reaching a consensus, he contacted the Ning clan head's lineage.

Such a sudden situation shocked the Ning clan head into using an emergency teleportation route to rush to the Lava Immortal Palace and meet Ning Zhuo in secret.

Ning Zhuo's statement was very direct: Grandma Xiaohui, a member of the main lineage, kidnapped a junior of the branch lineage to threaten a young genius among the clan's juniors. If this matter were exposed, the blow to the main lineage and to you, the clan head, would be huge!

But I, Ning Zhuo, for the sake of the clan and the overall situation, do not want to expose this matter. But if you main lineage want to cover this up, you have to pay a price!!

The Ning clan head's face turned livid: "This price is agreeing to let you split the family? This is absolutely impossible!"

Ning Zhuo smiled: "The other lineages of the main lineage have all agreed. What is the point of you insisting alone?"

The Ning clan head's attitude was firm; during his tenure, causing a split in the family was absolutely a major stain on his governing process!

But Ning Zhuo had already pinned him down: "The so-called price can be negotiated."

"Clan Head, don't you want your son to return to the clan?"