152: Chapter 152 Rapidly Expanding Power

"Alright, can you all stop arguing? It's giving me a headache. We are all part of the same Family, after all. Is this any way to behave?!"

Seeing that the verbal dispute was about to escalate into a physical fight, Patriarch Fang Hong, as the Family head, had to step forward.

As soon as he spoke, the other Elders immediately turned their gazes toward him. One Elder suddenly spoke up in a low voice.

"If the Family head and the Grand Elder go to the temple, what about our Fang Family's head? Remote control? Are you even sure you'll come back..."

Not expecting the fire to suddenly spread to himself, Patriarch Fang Hong felt a sudden, slight embarrassment.

However, this slight embarrassment was absolutely nothing in the face of promotion.

"This is indeed a problem. If this old man goes to Lord Lin's side, it really wouldn't be appropriate for me to remain as the Family head. After all, the Lord will be going to an external domain to attend university in the future."

"In that case, once the slots are finalized in a moment, we might as well discuss the candidate for the next Family head as well..."

Patriarch Fang Hong appeared very indifferent regarding the position of Family head. If he could promote to the third-order, or even higher, after joining the Lord...

...then he could easily establish another Family like the Fang Family, or even several of them, at any time.

As a qualified Family head, it was actually very tiring if one didn't indulge in corruption. He had to manage every matter, big and small, within the Family daily.

He had to balance the relationships between the Elders, carefully consider the distribution of benefits, and also guard against external forces spying on the Fang Family.

To ensure the Family's status and interests were not shaken, he even had to make social rounds during festivals to curry favor with higher-order existences.

Even when the third-generation juniors of the Family bickered, it would sometimes be brought before him to mediate. Yet, the resources he received each year were not much more than what the Elders got.

He had long envied the Grand Elder, who did absolutely nothing all day but received his full share of resources, only showing his face when the Family faced a major disaster.

If it weren't for the fact that there had been no newly promoted second-order deities in the Family, he would have resigned from this position long ago. Having worked diligently for the Family for hundreds of years, this opportunity should rightfully be his turn.

As for the return date they asked about? If he could stay by the Lord's side forever, he would naturally be willing to follow him indefinitely.

After all, when you can promote just by lying down, why go out and struggle on your own? Besides, currying favor with one person was obviously much easier and lighter than currying favor with a whole group of people!

No one expected the Family head to just quit like that. Was it really worth it for just one slot?

Thinking this way, the Elders fought even more fiercely. Seeing the influential Elders looking like they were ready to start a physical brawl...

The ordinary Elders were scratching their heads in anxiety. If they missed this opportunity, they didn't know if they would ever encounter it again in this lifetime. As the saying goes, desperation breeds ingenuity.

And indeed, an ordinary Elder spotted a blind spot. He shouted out loud with a look of joy on his face.

"Don't we still have slots for demigods and Divine Beings? Deities, in the end, are promoted from below. When it comes to transactions, people only feel unhappy if they think they got a bad deal."

"No one is ever unhappy because they got too good of a deal. In that case, we don't need to keep staring at the deity slots."

"Don't we still have five demigod slots and five Divine Being slots?"

At this moment, outside the meeting room, a crowd of second- and third-generation demigods and Divine Beings of the Family were looking at the tightly shut door with faces full of hope.

"I heard that guy Fang Yuan has promoted to a demigod! Before, his progress in strength wasn't even as fast as mine, but now he's actually a demigod..."

"Don't even mention him; at least that kid Fang Yuan has a B-grade talent. Haven't you seen those people from other families? I know one who clearly only had a C-grade talent."

"Yet now he's also a demigod. It's simply preposterous! With a C-grade talent, it wasn't even certain if he could promote to a demigod in this lifetime. Yet how long has it been since that kid awakened?"

"At this rate, won't he become a deity straight upon graduating from university?! If I had known about this treatment, I would have gone to join Lord Lin too!"

The third-generation Divine Beings were filled with regret, and quite a few demigods among the second generation also had looks of regret on their faces.

They clearly had the opportunity before, but now they could only wait outside for the Elders to announce the candidates. With only five slots, how could they be enough to divide among the thousands of demigods in the Family?!

Just as they were eagerly anticipating the announcement of the slots, wanting to know if they had been chosen, the expressions of everyone inside the meeting room turned strange because of what that Elder had said earlier.

"Hiss... you're a freaking Genius! That's right! There are still demigod and Divine Being slots. Who among us wasn't once a Divine Being?"

"We didn't set a rule during our bet that these couldn't be given to people of higher Realms. After all, the Family head and the Grand Elder can take the deity slots."

"Why can't we take the demigod and Divine Being slots?"

Although ten more slots had suddenly appeared, it was obviously still not enough to divide among the Elders. Even excluding the consecrated Elders of other surnames, there were still over seven hundred deity Elders of their own clan.

Over seven hundred people scrambling for ten slots—it was clearly a case of too many mouths and too little food.

In the end, Law Enforcement Elder Fang Liang, Fang Yuanming, and an influential Elder, being the top three in strength, each obtained a slot.

As for the ten extra slots that came later, the ordinary Elders specially went to the Family's Martial Arts Hall to fight a match for them.

Compared to the ten bruised and swollen but smiling Elders who had won, those Elders who were forced to be promoted due to the vacancies of the influential Elders and the Family head showed no joy at all.

The newly appointed Family head grabbed Law Enforcement Elder Fang Liang's hand, earnestly and tearfully instructing him.

"Former Family Head, please do not forget us in the future. Remember to come back and visit often when you have time. The doors of the Fang Family will always be open to you!"

Not only him, but the other Elders were also surrounding the Elders who had obtained the slots with smiles all over their faces.

"Elder Yuanming, my sincerity toward you is absolute. If there are any good tasks in the future, you must not forget me..."

"Elder Liang, rest assured, I will definitely pass down your teachings and perseverance. In the future, if there are any blind fools on the Lord's side, just give the word."

"I will definitely lead the Law Enforcement Team to flatten them! You must remember, we at home are still thinking of you..."

A total of fifteen Family Elders—even if they only all promoted to the second-order, their strength would already far surpass all the wealthy clans in Anping County.

It was precisely because of this that the Elders who were left behind wanted to build connections.

If they established another Fang Family in a high-order Star Domain in the future, relying on this bond of past relations, they might have the opportunity to migrate over.

When the fifteen of them left, they took a lot of precious resources stored in the Family treasury, intending to give them to Lin Xiao as a meeting gift. The Elders who remained behind had no objections at all.

They even kept urging them to take more.

Meanwhile, the crowd of Divine Beings and demigods who had learned of the results were looking at these Elders with faces full of disbelief.

"Wait, what?! Do you have no shame at all?! You even snatched the demigod and Divine Being slots?! Then what about us! You were the ones who told us not to join them in the first place!"

"How come you've joined them yourselves now? What did those words you said before even mean! What was the point of our persistence?!"

*Sob, sob, sob, sob, sob...*

Meng Ning and the others naturally did not know what happened in the Fang Family after they left. Upon returning to the Divine Temple, he went up to the second floor first to report the events of the trip to Lin Xiao.

After quietly listening to the entire report, Lin Xiao smiled and shook his head.

"Aren't you being a bit too overbearing? Just because they addressed you a certain way, you destroyed one of their eyes. Don't do this in the future..."

Although he had long guessed that the Lord would not be angry, actually confirming it now still made Meng Ning quietly breathe a sigh of relief. He also chuckled along.

"It was mainly because that Fang Family Elder was too arrogant and lacked the respect he should have for you, Lord. That is why this subordinate taught him a lesson."

"If they were powerful or had a strong backing, this subordinate would have endured it. But the Fang Family only has two Second-order Deities. As for the remaining nearly one thousand first-order... Hehe."

Meng Ning chuckled and shook his head. Soon, over three hundred top graduates from Star Academy would arrive. With their strength, fighting ten against one in Anping County would be a breeze.

In fact, even without counting these classmates who were about to arrive, Lin Xiao also had a full thousand County Divine Guards in his hands.

These one thousand people were professional combat deities dedicated to slaughter. If needed, these one thousand people would be enough to completely massacre the entire Fang Family.

Not to mention there was also the third-order county magistrate who was always eager to perform.

Furthermore, in a few days, two [True God Spirit Puppets] were also about to arrive. In less than a short fifty days since the Golden Finger was unlocked...

...Lin Xiao's forces had already expanded to a terrifying level that he himself hadn't even noticed.

He hadn't noticed it, but his subordinates below, like Meng Ning, were constantly paying attention to these things. Although Meng Ning did not know about the county magistrate and the Divine Guards...

...just the three hundred classmates who were about to arrive had already caused his mindset to shift rapidly.

Before, when the Lord's forces were not yet strong, he temporarily endured the disrespect of these people. Now that the Lord's forces had been established, as a subordinate, he naturally had to make outsiders understand...

...exactly what kind of attitude they should have toward his Lord!

Not to mention, he also knew that the Lord was currently in contact with an Intermediate God. If...

Although Lin Xiao claimed that Meng Ning's defense of him was a bit overbearing, he actually appreciated it in his heart. This showed that his resources had not been spent in vain.