"Muyu, don’t be sad." Chunfeng shook his head, "I’m lucky in comparison to others. Our clan has stood for 240 years, do you know why?" he sighed softly and asked with a smile.
Muyu shook his head and lowered it, willing to listen.
"It’s because the clan is sincere," Chunfeng explained, "the clan doesn’t take much but gives a lot. As long as you have the chance to continue cultivating, the clan will nourish you. Only when you’ve passed the optimal age of Foundation Building will the clan assign those heavy and consuming tasks.
Becoming a head of one of the Three Gardens was the greatest accomplishment in my life after failing my foundation, at least that was until my daughter was born. She was talented, and I raised her with all my might until she was twenty, thinking I could leave behind a lineage in the clan.
But who knew?
When she turned twenty, she said she wanted a child. The dream of a lineage was no longer a dream, and the clan was truly sincere.
Someone like Huiyue wouldn’t be allowed to wantonly form relationships in other clans or sects, but our Fu Clan not only didn’t stop her, they even helped her find a husband worthy of her talent, and finally... you were born!
When your talent was tested, you shouldn’t have been able to become a direct descendant, requiring arduous cultivation until you proved yourself worthy of being one, but the clan directly made you one.
It turned its eyes when we gave you many resources, even allocating you some rare resources usable for children, allowing you to cultivate peacefully until the age of sixteen.
The clan is truly sincere, so I can’t fail the clan and selfishly keep this wisp of hope.
Now you have inherited the inheritance of spiritual planting, and you will be designated as the heir of the Verdant Grove among the Three Gardens.
In the future, you will either have to become a Foundation Building cultivator, or you will have to take the responsibility...
My grandson, I’m giving you this responsibility even though I know you desire to learn talismans.
If you wish to resent someone, please resent me and not the clan!" Chunfeng lowered his head deeply in apology.
Huiyue, who was listening to this, also teared up. How could she not know? Her father was doing this for her. Her wish to have a child wasn’t for him, it was for herself—she wanted to have a child before it would become impossible. Now, she should have taken the responsibility to become the garden head, but her father didn’t want to burden her with this... isn’t this because he still hopes she would leave the clan and enter the sect to have better chances of cultivation?
"Grandpa, mom," Muyu stood up from his chair and fell to the ground, kneeling deeply, "I have burdened you! Grandfather, taking care of the plants is a hobby of mine, and if I fail to even do two things at the same time, then I won’t be worth grandfather’s and the clan’s cultivation! The Verdant Grove will be my home, and I will fulfil the responsibility to payback the clan!"
He then turned to his mother, "Mother, please—"
A moment of hesitation emerged in his mind, but he only knelt deeper, his head touching the ground, "Please don’t leave the clan!" he shouted.
Chunfeng and Huiyue were stunned when they heard it.
Did they... hear it right?
He was willing to take the responsibility, but this...?
"Mother, please stay! The sect is full of schemes and plans, moving there—" Muyu’s reddened eyes looked at his mother, "mother’s heights will be limited to the sect’s intentions!"
Turning back to the clan, to the entrance of their courtyard, he continued, "The clan will put every resource onto mother if she is willing—please mother, do not leave!
The path to immortality is arduous, but together, we can emerge at the end!
Mother, please, become the Fu Matriarch and don’t leave!"
Muyu’s eyes were red, but his mind was calm and his words were sound.
His words weren’t of ignorance or arrogance. The Sun Glow Sect—seemingly a fourth stage sect, but it was littered with factions. Even he, a mere early stage Qi Refining cultivator, knew of it.
The sect was extremely strong, but they were bound to have countless difficulties. And what was the benefit? Resources were out of question—only cultivation methods.
But were they impossible to gain for them?
No!
Their background was the same, if they, the Fu Clan, one day reached the third stage, couldn’t they find a way to obtain the inheritance from the sect?
By then, controlling the clan was equally to controlling a major lineage in the sect, with a deep foundation and countless cultivators on your side.
On the other hand, even if you reach the third stage in the sect, if you’re not a disciple of the two fourth stage supreme elders, then your lineage will always be secondary.
He was also selfish—even among these thoughts for his mother, he still hoped that by staying in the clan, with the clan growing, he could be protected for longer—but he truly didn’t wish for his mother to become some weak elder with no power, inevitably spending her life in the sect with no chance to continue cultvating.
With her own force, at least she could fight to grow further!
Huiyue’s eyes became serious. This was about her own path. She had considered what Muyu said previously already, but coming from him, the words held greater wealth. Even his son knew about the difficulties she would face... did this mean her path to the sect would be bad? Would she waste her years there?
For a long time, she thought reaching the third stage was the end of her path, fulfilling her goal.
But now... why stop?
The path to immortality was great, why stop at the third stage?
At least... at least reach the fourth stage, equalling the Sun Glow Sect Supreme Elder, right?!
She turned to her father, her gaze serious.
At one point Chunfeng had stood up, his hands behind his back, facing the moon and contemplating.
"The young are ambitious," he said with a soft voice, "while the old are humble.
Huiyue, Muyu, both of your choices contain a desire for immortality, while my own path has already ended. Dictating your path is selfish, my hope for fulfilling the dreams I can’t pursue, but I no longer have the power to even dream of what lay beyond."
He turned to Muyu and nodded slightly, "If the garden has an inheritor, then whatever choice you wish to make, Huiyue, your choice should be your own. Whether clan or sect—the choice lays solely with you, neither the clan nor the sect have the right to ask you for something now."
Huiyue stood up, walking to her son, and pulling him up, before turning to her father and said, "I will become the Fu Matriarch!"