Chapter 90: All Four Children Are Five-Element Roots

“No wonder!” sighed Su Clan Chief. “I’ve heard that even among today’s Wood Witch Tribe, there are hardly any direct-line descendants who can hatch a companion witch spirit at such a young age.”

“The current environment is growing increasingly hostile toward witch tribes. It’s already good enough if their direct-line descendants can hatch a companion witch spirit,” said Su Changyin.

Upon hearing this, Su Clan Chief gave Su Changyin an irritated side-eye.

“Your eldest granddaughter is called Su Jin, right? I already know she hatched Xue Chi Luo. No need to emphasize it again.”

“Hehe, I was just afraid you might forget about her, Uncle Clan Chief,” Su Changyin said with excessive flattery.

“How could I forget her? Her Xue Chi Luo ate an entire mother insect,” Su Clan Chief said, speechless.

“Cough, cough!” Su Changyin quickly cleared his throat.

“Was that mother insect you caught? And then fed to Xue Chi Luo?” Su Clan Chief asked.

Su Changyin immediately shook his head. “That mother insect was found by Su Jin on her way home from school. After catching it, she thought it looked plump and tasty, so she brought it home to feed Xue Chi Luo.”

Though the insect swarm is powerful and terrifying, the mother insect itself has almost no combat ability—any child like Su Jin could easily catch it.

“Xue Chi Luo eats insects? Oh, right—I remember now, Xue Chi Luo companion witch spirits do eat insects,” Su Clan Chief sighed helplessly. “Damn it, I’ll have to clean up your mess later.”

“Huh?” Su Changyin stared at his uncle in surprise.

“Do you think only our Su family is searching for mother insects? The entire Dongcheng district will be searched—multiple times. This is already set in stone.

Otherwise, Xue Chi Luo will be exposed to our enemies,” Su Clan Chief said irritably. “I’ll have to go to Xiancheng’s Mayor Xu and clean up your mess. I hope Mayor Xu will remember our past favors and reduce the resource penalties on our Su family.”

“Still penalize our Su family’s resources?” Su Changyin was stunned.

“How else could it be? Do you know how much manpower and material it takes to conduct a full-city search—and multiple times? Because of your Xue Chi Luo, we have to pretend to search even more times. We even need to assign people to impersonate enemy forces and carry a fake mother insect out of the city!

Don’t you think all this requires spirit stones?” Su Clan Chief grumbled. In his mind, he already calculated he’d need to pay back even more spirit stones to settle this.

“But now we’ve got one more Xue Chi Luo to raise,” Su Changyin said sheepishly.

“It’s just one more Xue Chi Luo to raise—so even if we lose more resources, it’s worth it. Do you think I’d willingly clean up your mess otherwise?” Su Clan Chief snapped.

“Thank you, Uncle Clan Chief.”

“Next time, warn me in advance before you spring another surprise on me!” Su Clan Chief grumbled. “I can’t take your random big surprises.”

Su Changyin thought: I don’t want this either—it was them who sprung a surprise on me. I had no choice but to surprise you.

“By the way, your daughter-in-law Lin Linghua gave birth to four children. What are their cultivation aptitudes?” Su Clan Chief asked urgently.

“All five-element roots,” said Su Changyin.

Su Clan Chief froze.

“How did you test them? Shouldn’t we have the clan retest them?”

“I’ve tested them over and over again—always five-element roots. Lin Linghua herself has a single Wood element root, but all four kids are five-element roots. Still, I plan to have them all study Wood-element cultivation in the clan school.”

“How is Su Jin performing in the clan school?”

“Always top three in her class, studying three methods simultaneously, and she hatched Xue Chi Luo,” Su Changyin said, a grin spreading unconsciously across his face.

He grinned with pure delight.

“Damn it, when she reaches Nascent Soul, our sect will have another master who ruins the five-element root stereotype,” Su Clan Chief said bluntly.

Cough, cough—Su Changyin nearly choked.

“Alright, I know Su Jin’s situation. Now go back to your cave and lie low. I’m heading to the mayor’s mansion.”

“Uncle Clan Chief, this is my cave,” Su Changyin said, exasperated.

“Cough, cough. Fine, I’m leaving. Happy?” Su Clan Chief gave him an irritated side-eye, then vanished in a flash.

Su Chengzong quickly arrived at the Xiancheng mayor’s mansion.

Mayor Xu Shichang looked puzzled at Su Clan Chief, who came knocking late at night instead of cultivating.

“You wouldn’t come to me at this hour unless you had something urgent.”

Su Clan Chief nodded immediately.

Then he explained how a younger clan member had hatched a Xue Chi Luo—and that this Xue Chi Luo had eaten a mother insect.

Before Su Clan Chief finished, Xu Shichang nearly spat out his fresh tea.

“Was that Xue Chi Luo just hatched?”

Su Clan Chief nodded.

“You’re insane. Feeding it a mother insect now—soon it’ll treat mother insects as its staple food,” Xu Shichang said, dumbfounded. He thought: Where are you going to find enough mother insects later?

“The child is young, didn’t know about mother insects. She found it on her way home from school, saw it was plump, and brought it home to feed Xue Chi Luo!” Su Clan Chief sighed helplessly.

“This is truly…” Xu Shichang sighed. “Still, at least the mother insect didn’t escape. But the full-city search must still proceed—and multiple times. I’ve also received reports about the other mother insects.

We might as well use these searches to catch them too.

But your family can’t go unpunished.

After all, that mother insect was eaten.

Can you pull it out of its stomach?”

“Yes, yes, we accept the penalty,” Su Clan Chief nodded immediately.

“Capturing mother insects is a mission issued by Xiancheng. No mother insect can remain unaccounted for. So say you led the team that captured it—but used too much magic power and incinerated both the insect and the enemy.

Therefore, I fine you five thousand spirit stones.

You’ll need to fabricate evidence—keep footage of the mother insect being incinerated,” Xu Shichang advised.

“I understand. I’ll make one when I get back,” Su Clan Chief exhaled in relief. Five thousand spirit stones wasn’t too heavy a penalty—Mayor Xu was clearly showing favor. And his suggestion was far cleaner than what Su Clan Chief had originally planned.

“What’s the name of the child in your family who hatched the Xue Chi Luo? How old are they?”

“Her name is Su Jin. She’s six years old. A girl.”

“Is she attending the Su clan school?” Xu Shichang asked.

“Yes.”

“Would you consider transferring her to a Dao Academy? You may choose any of the four academies,” Xu Shichang said.

Su Clan Chief immediately hesitated. “Technically, our Su family should send the child to a Dao Academy—after all, their resources far surpass ours. But then the Xue Chi Luo couldn’t be hidden.”

Xu Shichang nodded. “Then let her stay in your Su clan school.”