172: Adults only consider pros and cons

Inside the great hall, there was a deathly silence.

The seven Patriarchs slumped in their chairs, their Faces ashen. Cold sweat had almost soaked through their luxurious robes.

The relief of surviving a disaster, coupled with the lingering fear of Han Qing's terrifying schemes, felt like two invisible hands tightly gripping their hearts, making it impossible for them to calm down for a long time.

After all, they were all shrewd and calculating figures who controlled top-tier forces and had clawed their way through countless bloodbaths.

Once the initial fear subsided, their minds began to race at an unprecedented speed.

"Everyone."

It was the Patriarch of the Li Family who was the first to recover from that lingering fear. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Though his voice was still somewhat raspy, his eyes had regained their usual shrewdness and rationality.

He used his Divine Thought to communicate rapidly within everyone's minds.

"As things stand, we must re-evaluate the current situation, and... our attitude toward that Celestial Venerable Han."

"Evaluate? What is there left to evaluate?"

The Patriarch of the Wang Family sent a message with lingering fear, "That guy is a Devil Head who eats people without spitting out the bones! We are currently meat on his cutting board, at his mercy!"

"Brother Wang, calm down," the Patriarch of the Li Family said deeply. "The more it is like this, the more we need to stay calm. Anger and fear won't solve any problems."

He paused and began to analyze the situation methodically.

"First, let's weigh the pros and cons."

"What do we gain by making an enemy of Han Qing? Nothing more than some properties that originally belonged to the Lu Family and some dignity for our Face. But what price would we have to pay for that?"

"The price is that our families' Void Refining Old Ancestors, who have little Lifespan left and are working hard to extend it, will be treated like pigs, lured out and slaughtered by him! Then, our Seven Great Families will likely follow in the Lu Family's footsteps and be uprooted by him!"

These words caused the hearts of all the Patriarchs to sink suddenly.

"Conversely, what if we choose to... cooperate, or even submit?"

The Patriarch of the Li Family continued, "At most, we lose some interests in terms of property and stand a head shorter than him in name. But our Families can be preserved. Our clansmen can survive. Most importantly, we won't have to Face that unfathomable, terrifying Devil Head again!"

After this analysis of pros and cons, the answer was already self-evident.

"I agree with Brother Li's view."

The Patriarch of the Sun Family immediately echoed, "It is better to resolve an enmity than to keep it. Moreover, this is no longer a common grudge; this is a major matter concerning the life and death of our Families!"

Another Patriarch also sighed and sent a message: "Have you thought about it? In just a few short years, that Han Qing rose from an obscure Golden Core Realm all the way to a terrifying level where he can scheme against and even slaughter the Void Refining Realm! How could such a person be ordinary? This is clearly a peerless Prodigy blessed with Luck!"

"Provoking such a Prodigy is truly unwise! Unless we are one hundred percent certain we can kill him in one blow so he can never recover! Otherwise, offending such an enemy would be a total catastrophe for any of our Families!"

At this moment, a sentence once spoken by an Enshrined Expert who had followed Lu Jinbei to the Zhilan Domain suddenly surfaced in the mind of one of the Patriarchs.

"I... I just remembered something!"

That Patriarch's voice carried a hint of trembling. "Back then, the Enshrined Expert we sent to the Zhilan Domain returned and reported that they had learned a piece of news from Black Wind Demon Venerable of the Misty Forest..."

"That Han Qing possesses a terrifying Divine Ability: he can break through the Void Realm at any time and come and go as he pleases. It is simply impossible to surround and kill him!"

This news, which they had treated as a joke at the time, now made them shudder when they thought about it!

"We were too impulsive, brothers!" The Patriarch of the Wang Family slapped his thigh, his Face full of regret. "We were truly too impulsive!"

"Indeed! For a tiny bit of petty profit, we almost gambled away the fate of our entire Families. It was truly shouldn't have happened!"

"Fortunately, fortunately we've realized it early. It's still not too late!"

"Exactly! Absolutely! We must not give him any more opportunities or reasons to fly into a rage and take action!"

"Giving up a little profit is nothing. How much is Face worth? Compared to the survival of the Family, it's all bullshit!"

In just a short moment, the seven Patriarchs reached a startling consensus through their Divine Thought communication.

Their core objective was only one—

Appease this Old Devil Han at any cost!

Whatever he says, we listen! Whatever he wants us to do, we do!

Whether it's a public apology, renegotiating contracts, or even ceding more interests, none of it matters!

A great man knows when to yield and when to stand tall!

They were Patriarchs burdened with the survival of hundreds of thousands of clansmen, not hot-blooded fools who would draw their swords at the slightest disagreement.

In the world of adults, there are only pros and cons, not right and wrong.

Once they realized this, the seven Patriarchs felt their hearts suddenly clear, and the previous frustration and fear vanished into thin air.

Relaxed smiles even returned to their Faces.

It was as if the previous tense atmosphere had never existed.

They even calmly took out their treasured spiritual tea and tea sets from their respective storage bracelets. In this great hall that had felt like an execution ground just moments ago, they leisurely sipped tea and chatted... When Han Qing and Ying Rushi finished discussing the details and walked out of the back hall, this was the harmonious and congenial scene they saw.

He was slightly stunned.

This was completely different from the tense, life-and-death atmosphere when he had left.

How did these guys look like detained hostages?

If one didn't know better, they would think they were here for a tea party.

As soon as they saw Han Qing return, all seven Patriarchs immediately stood up.

Their Faces were covered in enthusiastic and incredibly sincere smiles, and their attitude was exceedingly polite.

"Alliance Leader Han! You've returned!"

The Patriarch of the Li Family stepped forward first and said with a Face full of guilt, "Alliance Leader Han, before, it was all our fault! We were too petty. Please, you must not lower yourself to our level!"

"Yes, yes!"

The Patriarch of the Wang Family followed suit, looking like he had suddenly seen the light. "Thanks to Alliance Leader Han's stern warning just now, we have finally woken up from our misguided ways!"

"Our Seven Great Families and the Lu Family are originally of the same root; we should help each other and overcome difficulties together!"

"Now that you, Alliance Leader Han, are willing to step forward and take charge of the Lu Family, it is truly a blessing for our entire Tianxuan Domain! From now on, we will be just like before—the eight families will be one entity! If there's trouble, we'll discuss it together! If there's money, we'll earn it together!"

"Alliance Leader Han!"

The Patriarch of the Sun Family was even more direct. "The few of us just discussed it! From now on, you shall be the spokesman for our eight families! As for how we cooperate in the future, one word from you and we will have no objections!"

Han Qing looked at this group of old foxes.

Every one of them had a sincere attitude and spoke earnest words, as if the people who had just threatened to call out their Void Refining Old Ancestors to grind his bones to ash were not them at all.

This change in attitude was a bit too fast.

He looked at the group with a half-smile and said, "Patriarchs, your attitude before and after is quite different. Could it be that you've secretly prepared some new trap for This humble one Han?"

"Oh! Alliance Leader Han, please don't joke with us like that!"

"Yes, yes, even if we were given a hundred times the courage, we wouldn't dare play tricks in front of you!"

Several people immediately laughed it off, waving their hands repeatedly.

"That's right, this time, we are absolutely sincere and speaking from the bottom of our hearts, without the slightest duplicity!"

Han Qing eyed them suspiciously, still unconvinced: "Truly?"

"Truer than pearls!" the seven people said in unison, swearing solemnly.

"Oh..."

Han Qing pondered for a moment and decided to test them again.

He deliberately proposed a harsh demand that, in his view, the other party would almost certainly find impossible to agree to.

"Since you are so sincere, fine."

"Then let your Seven Great Families merge into my Four Seas Immortal Alliance. From now on, you will be under the unified command of Steward Ying."

He thought these words would once again enrage these proud Patriarchs.

However... "No problem!"

"We agree!"

"Everything is as Alliance Leader Han arranges!"

The seven Patriarchs agreed in unison again, with almost no hesitation!

Their decisive manner was as if they weren't deciding the fate of their families, but were instead discussing what to eat for dinner.

This time, it was Han Qing's turn to be frustrated.

He scratched his head, feeling like he had punched a bale of cotton—plenty of power but nowhere for it to land.

What was wrong with these old guys?

He looked at the seven sincere smiling Faces and pointed at them.

"Fine, fine, fine, playing it like this, are we?"

"You'd better not let me catch you slipping."

He didn't bother to argue further with this group of slippery old foxes and simply waved his hand.

"As for the specific regulations, go handle the handover with Steward Ying yourselves."

With that, his figure flickered and he vanished directly from the hall.

He had to go back and carefully figure out what kind of medicine these old guys were selling in their gourds.

After Han Qing left.

Inside the great hall, the seven Patriarchs looked at each other.

The next second, everyone couldn't help but burst into a long-suppressed, hearty laugh.

"Hahahaha!"

"We dodged it! We finally dodged it!"

"Did you see that just now? That Old Devil Han couldn't find a reason to fly into a rage, so he left in a huff!"

"It seems we made the right move! That was close! Truly close!"

"Hehe, joining his Four Seas Immortal Alliance might seem like we're taking a huge loss, but if you think about it carefully..."

One Patriarch stroked his chin, his eyes flashing with sharp light. "Given this Alliance Leader Han's terrifying speed of rise, why do I feel like we weren't compromising for survival, but rather... grabbing onto a super thick leg in advance?"

Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned for a moment, and then the smiles on their Faces became even more sincere.

"Yes! That makes sense!"

"This man's future is limitless! Now is the perfect time to join him!"

"Hahaha! In that case, haven't we..."

The seven people once again spoke in unison, sighing with the relief of having survived a disaster.

"Turned a misfortune into a blessing! Haha!"