7: Chapter 7: Exorbitant Dowry, Only If the Child Can Be Born.

In the corner, Third Master Lin Changqing stared fixedly at the center of the main hall, his brows tightly furrowed.

He was the Third Master of the Lin Family and the biological father of Lin Yueyao.

Two years ago, his daughter encountered a great disaster while training in the Qingyun Sect Secret Realm, and her Spiritual Root was completely destroyed.

The Qingyun Sect showed no mercy, unceremoniously treating her like waste and throwing her directly back to the Lin Family.

From that day on, Third Master Lin Changqing's branch completely lost its influence in the Lin Family.

Those clansmen who used to surround him, shouting "Third Master" at the top of their lungs, changed their attitudes in the blink of an eye.

The Family resources allocated to him were completely withheld.

With open and secret exclusion and mockery, Third Master Lin Changqing didn't even have the right to sit down during Family meetings.

Just now, the main hall was in complete chaos; Young Master Jiang Chen had led people to forcefully break in, causing the Clan Head Lin Cang's branch to lose all face.

Third Master Lin Changqing had been hiding at the very back of the crowd, watching all of this with cold eyes, watching Lin Qingxue's arrogant and domineering demeanor shattered by a single slap from Young Master Jiang Chen.

He watched as Clan Head Lin Cang was struck, vomiting blood and staggering backward.

In his heart, he even felt a faint sense of gratification.

The stifled anger that had accumulated in his chest over these past few years had finally been vented a little through the hands of the Jiang Family.

But he never dreamed that this absurd farce of a marriage proposal would, after all the twists and turns, end up falling squarely on his own daughter.

Marry Jiang Feng?

That Second Master of the Jiang Family, who was over sixty, whose life force was exhausted, and who had been stuck at Level 5 Qi Refining his whole life?

An old man with one foot already in the grave.

A surge of fury, accompanied by extreme humiliation, rushed straight to Third Master Lin Changqing's head, burning his eyes red.

His daughter, Yue Yao, even though her Spiritual Root was now destroyed, had once been a Prodigy with dual Metal-Water Spiritual Roots who had stunned all of Jiangyuan City, and was a Disciple of the high and mighty Qingyun Sect.

Even if she had fallen into the mud, she should never be forced to become a concubine for an old man who was about to die.

This was simply throwing Yue Yao's past glory onto the ground and trampling it fiercely with the soles of their shoes.

But what could Third Master Lin Changqing use to resist?

The Jiang Family's influence was overwhelming, and Young Master Jiang Chen had even displayed the terrifying cultivation of Level 8 Qi Refining.

With that one palm strike just now, Lin Hu, who was at Qi Refining Stage 6, had become a corpse without even letting out a scream.

The pungent smell of blood still permeated the main hall.

Young Master Jiang Chen's pressure tightly shrouded the entire room.

As a sidelined elder from a branch Family, he couldn't even muster a shred of confidence to resist; he had to swallow his immense unwillingness and stood there trembling all over.

Meanwhile, the members of the Lin Family were so embarrassed they wished they could dig a hole in the ground and crawl into it; they all hung their heads, not daring to make a sound.

Their cheeks felt incredibly humiliated and burned with intense, stinging pain.

Just moments ago, they had been arrogant and high-handed, spitting as they hurled all sorts of insults at Jiang Feng.

They had been certain that the Jiang Family was delusional and lacked self-awareness, attempting to climb high to reach the Lin Family's beloved daughter, Lin Qingxue.

After all that fuss, it was all their own damn wishful thinking.

From beginning to end, the Jiang Family hadn't even spared Lin Qingxue a single glance.

After a brief silence, strange and burning gazes were cast in unison toward Third Master Lin Changqing.

There was no sympathy in those eyes, only naked urging and coercion.

As things stood, it was clear that the Jiang Family would marry no one but Lin Yueyao.

The betrothal gifts had been brought to the door, people had been killed, and their might had been established.

Refuse?

To refuse would mean the destruction of their clan; the Lin Family had no choice but to agree.

Third Master Lin Changqing understood the thoughts of these clansmen, and a wave of extremely bitter self-mockery welled up in his heart.

He had intended to watch from the sidelines and enjoy others' jokes.

In the end, he himself had become the most pathetic clown in this joke.

He shook his head helplessly, his spine hunched, and he seemed to age ten years in an instant.

In the end, he took heavy steps, braced himself, walked forward, and bowed with hands cupped toward the high-and-mighty Young Master Jiang Chen.

His tone carried a father's final, humble plea.

"Young Master Jiang Chen..."

"My daughter, Yue Yao, has had her Spiritual Root completely destroyed; she is now a Mortal, a useless person."

"She is truly unworthy of the noble status of Jiang Feng. If you were to marry her, I fear it would tarnish Second Master's reputation..."

Before he could finish speaking, Young Master Jiang Chen impatiently raised his hand to interrupt.

The intense, biting killing intent that had been all over him just moments ago vanished without a trace the moment Jiang Feng was mentioned.

A hint of a peaceful smile even appeared on Young Master Jiang Chen's face.

But the words that tumbled from his mouth were so blunt and crude that they made people feel incomparably desperate.

They struck the heads of everyone present like a heavy blow.

"Third Master Lin, you worry too much."

"Young Miss Yue Yao is the woman my Second Master personally named to marry."

"Whether her Spiritual Root is destroyed, whether her Aptitude is good, or even whether she can Cultivate—my Second Master does not care at all."

Young Master Jiang Chen's gaze swept indifferently across the hall, a sneer playing on his lips.

His tone was open and unmasked, every word ringing clear and firm.

"As long as she is a woman and can bear children for my Second Master, that is enough."

A thunderous roar.

This sentence triggered an unimaginably huge shock.

The entire Lin Family main hall instantly fell into a profound silence.

Third Master Lin Changqing froze on the spot, his head buzzing, his eyes filled with bewilderment and dullness.

He even dug at his ear with his hand, suspecting he was having auditory hallucinations.

The clan elders and Disciples of the Lin Family were all dumbfounded.

Their mouths were wide open, completely unable to close.

Just needing to be able to bear children?

The Jiang Family had made such a huge spectacle, beating drums and gongs, forcefully proposing marriage, and even going so far as to kill someone in public to establish their might, pulling out all the stops.

It wasn't because they valued the Lin Family's status.

It was simply because they wanted a woman who could bear children.

They treated the once high-and-mighty Fairy Prodigy entirely as a tool for reproduction.

Then what about Lin Qingxue, whom they had been holding in their palms and protecting so preciously just now?

Could it be that in the eyes of the Jiang Family, Lin Qingxue didn't even have the qualifications to be a reproduction tool for Jiang Feng?

Absurd.

Outrageous.

The biggest joke in the world.

Yet, Young Master Jiang Chen's expression was open, his gaze firm, without a hint of mockery.

That high-and-mighty power allowed for no questioning from anyone.

Lin Qingxue, who was slumped on the ground, shuddered violently upon hearing this sentence.

She trembled violently with anger, the red swelling and pain on her cheeks intertwining crazily with the sense of humiliation in her heart.

"I... I am not even as good as a useless person?"

"I don't even have the qualifications to bear his children?!"

Lin Qingxue's eyes were red, and she bit her lip until it bled.

Her appearance, which she was so proud of.

Her Aptitude at twenty years old, at Level 4 Qi Refining.

Her status as the daughter of the Clan Head.

In the eyes of that old Trash Jiang Feng, she was not even comparable to a fallen, useless woman whose Spiritual Root had been destroyed.

This extreme humiliation of being completely ignored and greatly belittled made everything go black before her eyes.

Her blood surged in her chest, and with a "wah," she spat out a large mouthful of blood.

Lin Qingxue stumbled and crawled toward her father, Clan Head Lin Cang, gripping his hem tightly.

"Father! They are humiliating me!"

"Hurry and drive them out!"

Clan Head Lin Cang, however, very quickly and forcefully flung Lin Qingxue's hand away, not even glancing at his daughter, and instead sternly scolded her.

"Shut up!"

"Are you not embarrassed enough already!"

Clan Head Lin Cang's mind was entirely focused on preserving the Family; how could he care about his daughter's face?

Lin Qingxue remained dazed on the spot.

The pride of being the center of attention in the past was completely shattered at this moment.

Young Master Jiang Chen couldn't even be bothered to spare Lin Qingxue a glance from the corner of his eye.

He snorted coldly and flicked his wrist lightly.

A betrothal gift booklet with gold-stamped vermilion, embroidered with exquisite auspicious cloud patterns on the edges, turned into a streak of red light, flew through the air, and landed in front of Third Master Lin Changqing.

Although the booklet was light, in Third Master Lin Changqing's hands, it felt extremely heavy.

"This is the betrothal gift my Second Master has prepared for Young Miss Yue Yao."

"Third Master, why don't you take a look."

Third Master Lin Changqing subconsciously reached out to catch it, his fingertips touching the cold, gold-stamped cover.

With a heart full of trepidation and humiliation, he slowly opened the first page.

First page: One hundred bolts of High Grade Suzhou-embroidered Spirit Silk, ten chests of top-quality pearls and agates.

Shimmering with light, dazzling to the eyes.

Next page: Ten shi of century-old Spirit Rice, twenty stalks of rare, nourishing Spirit Medicine.

The lines were permeated with a rich medicinal fragrance.

Every time he turned a page, Third Master Lin Changqing's expression changed, his breathing became more rapid, and his hands couldn't stop trembling slightly.

Any one of these betrothal gifts, if picked out at random, far exceeded the specifications for a primary wife in a marriage alliance between the three major families of Jiangyuan City.

For the Lin Family, which was currently so poor they could barely put food on the table and couldn't even pay the rent for the market, this was absolutely an incredibly huge gift.

When he turned to the last two pages of the booklet with trembling hands.

Third Master Lin Changqing's hands shook violently, and the booklet nearly slipped from his grasp.

His pupils contracted sharply until they were tiny, he completely lost his composure, and he exclaimed with a cracked voice.

At the end of the booklet, two shocking betrothal gifts were written in large cinnabar characters.

1. One Low Grade abandoned Spiritual Vein under the Jiang Family's name, permanently handed over to the Lin Family to manage and mine.

2. Ten High Grade spirit gathering pills.