Chapter 1425: The Fog Lifts

At this moment, He Hongsheng was inside the ancestral hall, inserting three sticks of incense before the spirit tablet of his own father.

The He family ancestral hall enshrined nearly a hundred ancestors; basically, only those who had made significant contributions to the He family were qualified to have their spirit tablets placed here.

Among them, the one with the least seniority was He Hongsheng's own father.

Therefore, he offered incense one by one from the highest to the lowest, with his father being the last.

Just as his hand had inserted the lit incense into the burner and before he could withdraw his hands from above it, he heard his youngest son's shout from outside the ancestral hall. He froze instantly, and accidentally snapped all three sticks of incense at once.

He Yingxiu, standing to the side, hurriedly asked with concern, "Dad, are you alright?!"

He Hongsheng closed his eyes and remained silent for a moment before giving a bitter smile and saying, "I'm fine. That my eldest son would do such a thing is not beyond my expectations."

As he spoke, he sighed with emotion, "To borrow a famous quote from a great man: 'Heaven wants to rain, and a mother wants to remarry'—let him go."

He Yingxiu wanted to say something, but the words reached her lips and she swallowed them back down.

Her eldest brother taking away forty or fifty family members this time was almost equivalent to taking away half of the He family. It had to be said that this would inevitably be a major loss for the He family.

Although they were determined to leave, if the Old Master stepped in, with his prestige and strength, he could have kept them all even by force.

However, she thought again.

"Since these people can be seduced by money, what is the point of keeping them by force?"

"Keeping these forty or fifty people is equivalent to keeping forty or fifty powder kegs that could explode at any time."

"It will not be of any benefit to the future of the He family; it will only leave behind more and more hidden dangers."

"On the contrary, using the temptation of money to directly weed out all those who are not sufficiently loyal to the family is actually a good thing for the future of the He family."

For He Yingxiu, she knew very clearly that the current He family, after the upheaval early this morning, was no longer what it used to be.

The Old Master had successfully opened the fourth meridian, his cultivation level now matching that of the ancestor with the highest cultivation in the hundred years of the He family tree, making him an existence unmatched among the four great martial arts families.

Coupled with the support of Young Master Ye, a noble person with vast supernatural powers, the He family would surely develop rapidly in the future.

Before taking off, weeding out those hidden dangers was helping the He family clear out the trash and laying a better foundation for the future.

He Hongsheng actually thought the same.

He spoke to He Yingxiu, "Yingxiu, go tell Yingdong not to interfere with anyone who wants to leave. Whoever wants to go, let them go. Then tell those who remain to all wait for me in the main hall. After I finish paying respects to the ancestors, I have major matters to announce."

"Yingxiu understands!"

He Yingxiu hurriedly left the ancestral hall and said to He Yingdong, who was standing at the entrance with a face full of anxiety, "Yingdong, Dad asked me to tell you: whoever wants to go, let them go. Those who are unwilling to leave, have them all wait in the main hall."

He Yingdong hurriedly said, "Sister! Eldest brother has taken forty or fifty family members this time, which is almost half of our He family! If we just let them go like this, once it gets out, our He family will inevitably fall out of the sequence of the four great martial arts families in the country..."

He Yingxiu smiled slightly and said earnestly, "Yingdong, what you say is not necessarily true. The people leaving today might very well be a good thing for our He family. It's like cancer: once a malignant tumor the size of a fingernail is found in a person's lung, doctors will advise removing the entire lung lobe. Cutting it off is not a bad thing; on the contrary, it is a very good thing."

"But..." He Yingdong became anxious, "Sister, I understand these so-called big principles you're talking about, but you also said that if a tumor is found in the lung, cutting off one lobe is enough. A person has five lung lobes; cutting off one doesn't have much impact. But what if you cut off two or three? Wouldn't they have to rely on oxygen to survive from then on?"

Seeing him being stubborn, He Yingxiu immediately gave up communicating with him normally and scolded directly, "Where do you get so much nonsense? I told you to go back and convey the message, so just go back and convey it obediently. If you talk nonsense again, believe it or not, I'll kick you back!"

Having said that, she made a gesture to kick him.

He Yingdong had originally wanted to argue and debate with his sister, but upon hearing this, he immediately abandoned all such thoughts and hurriedly replied obediently: "I'll go right now, won't that do?"

After saying this, he ran back with his tail between his legs.

At this moment, the forty or fifty members of the He family who were willing to follow He Yingquan to Su Hang had already begun loading their luggage into the vehicles.

Among them were He Hongsheng's second younger brother—that is, He Yingquan's second uncle and his entire family—as well as He Yingquan's own younger brother He Yingfei's family, and He Yingquan's cousin-uncle, who was He Hongsheng's cousin and his family.

After He Yingdong ran back, he did not stop these people from loading the vehicles. Instead, he ran into the house and said to those remaining: "Everyone, my father has said to wait in the main hall. He is currently paying respects to our ancestors and will return to the main hall shortly to announce a major matter to everyone."

Someone asked: "Yingdong, what major matter does the Master have to announce?"

He Yingdong shook his head: "I don't know the specifics either; let's all wait together!"

At ten o'clock in the morning, the Su family's motorcade departed on time, carrying He Yingquan and more than forty other He family members south.

On the road, these He family members were all extremely excited.

This was because Su Anshun had told them that the Su family head, Su Chengfeng, was willing to pay them a remuneration of one billion RMB per year.

In truth, Su Chengfeng felt a sharp pain in his heart for paying this sum.

He hadn't managed to invite a true expert, yet he had invited a bunch of small fry and still had to spend half his budget; it was truly a loss to the extreme.

However, he dared not gamble with his own life at this time; even if it were only a small fraction of the He family, he had to win them over.

In any case, this money would be paid for at most one year. Once the trouble and crisis were resolved, there wouldn't be this price next year, and perhaps after finding better helpers, he might even sweep this bunch out the door.

Not long after the motorcade left the He residence, He Hongsheng finished paying respects to the He family ancestors and returned to the He family mansion.

The remaining seventy or eighty He family members were all waiting anxiously in the main hall.

Everyone was whispering in groups of three or five, discussing the group of He family members who had just left and what important matter the old master was about to announce.

Those who chose to stay did so partly out of immense respect and conviction for He Hongsheng, and partly because they were single-mindedly focused on cultivating the martial Dao and did not care about money.

At this moment, they were all waiting for He Hongsheng's arrival, waiting for him to reveal the answer to the mystery.

At a quarter past ten, He Hongsheng, accompanied by He Yingxiu, stepped into the main hall.

Seeing the seventy or eighty people who remained, He Hongsheng's expression was one of majesty mixed with a touch of gratification.

When everyone saw him, they were all somewhat stunned for a moment.

These people's cultivation was not as high as He Hongsheng's, so they could not tell what his current cultivation level was, but everyone could feel that today's He Hongsheng seemed a bit younger than before and his aura was also more powerful.

At this moment, He Hongsheng looked at the crowd and said indifferently: "Just now, some people left; I presume you all saw it."

Everyone remained silent, not knowing if the old master was happy, sad, or angry.

He Hongsheng, however, smiled calmly and said: "The He family, as a family that strives forward, is like a revolutionary team. In this team, falling behind is allowed, and quitting is allowed, but dragging one's feet is absolutely not allowed. Therefore, the departure of these people is definitely a good thing for those of us who remain, not a bad thing."

After saying this, his tone became a bit more serious as he continued: "Now, I officially announce that the He family officially draws a clear line with those who left today. From this day forward, we will no longer have any involvement or entanglement with them, and in the future, they will never be allowed to return to the He family. You all remember this well; even if I die, my successor must continue to carry out this decision of mine!"

The expressions of the crowd could not help but turn solemn.

Did this mean a complete break of all ties of gratitude and righteousness?

Among those who left were not only the old master's own son, but also his own younger brother and his cousin.

Could it be that the old master didn't feel any heartache at all, or have any desire to win them back?

Just as the crowd had not yet recovered from their shock, He Hongsheng cleared his throat and added: "Next, I want to announce a very important matter!"

The crowd had originally thought that the decision to draw a line with those people was the important matter the old master had mentioned.

They did not expect that there was something else truly important.

Thus, everyone gathered their full attention, waiting for the mystery to be solved.

He Hongsheng, unable to hide his excitement at this moment, said: "Just this morning, I opened my fourth meridian!"

Once these words were spoken, the entire hall was stunned!