Chapter 179. Meeting the Ancient tribe people.

Chapter 179: 179. Meeting the Ancient tribe people.

The royal delegation had already passed through the outer courtyard by the time Lin Xuan caught up with Qian Deyu.

The elderly man walked at an unhurried pace, neither looking around too eagerly nor displaying the slightest impatience. The twenty members of the delegation followed behind him in an orderly formation, their eyes quietly observing the Lin Family estate.

Lin Xuan noticed those gazes immediately.

They were openly examining the buildings and the people they passed, as though attempting to determine whether anything within the Lin Family appeared unusual.

Lin Xuan found it amusing.

They had come all this way, yet they were already behaving like thieves entering another family’s home.

"Patriarch Lin," Qian Deyu suddenly called.

Lin Xuan turned toward him.

The old man smiled pleasantly.

"Your estate is rather peaceful."

"Is that unusual?" Lin Xuan asked.

"Not at all."

Qian Deyu chuckled.

"In fact, it is rather pleasant. After spending so much time dealing with matters within the royal court, it is refreshing to visit somewhere without everyone constantly worrying about appearances."

Qian Deyu continued walking, occasionally glancing at the surrounding courtyards.

"When the news about the Blue Whale People spread, I thought Azure Willow City would be in complete disorder. Yet the city seems surprisingly calm."

"Perhaps everyone here is simply accustomed to strange things."

"That must be it."

Qian Deyu laughed lightly.

After walking several more steps, he suddenly stopped beside a courtyard.

He looked at the flowers growing along the edge of the path and smiled.

"Your family seems to take good care of this place."

Lin Xuan glanced at the flowers and replied, "We do what we can."

"Good, good."

Qian Deyu nodded appreciatively.

Then, almost as an afterthought, he said, "By the way, Patriarch Lin, how did those two Blue Whale People happen to come to your family?"

"They arrived by sea."

Qian Deyu blinked.

For the briefest moment, his smile froze and then he laughed.

"Of course they did."

Lin Xuan raised an eyebrow.

Qian Deyu waved his hand dismissively.

"Forgive me. That was a rather foolish question."

He laughed again, completely unconcerned.

"After all, where else would people who live by the sea arrive from?"

Lin Xuan stared at him for a moment, before deciding that the old man really was good at pretending.

Qian Deyu’s question had sounded casual, but Lin Xuan understood exactly what lay beneath it.

The royal family was clearly concerned about the relationship between the Lin Family and the Blue Whale People.

After all, why else would they have sent such a delegation?

The royal family was not foolish enough to send twenty people and three enormous caravans merely to satisfy their curiosity.

They wanted to determine what had caused the legendary Blue Whale People to appear in Azure Willow City, and more importantly, whether the Lin Family possessed something capable of influencing them.

That concern was understandable.

As far as the royal family knew, the Lin Family was merely a recently promoted Rank 8 clan.

The promotion itself already said quite a lot about the family’s strength.

To qualify for Rank 8, a cultivation family generally needed either at least two Golden Core experts or a single Golden Core expert accompanied by twenty Qi Refinement cultivators.

The second requirement was technically acceptable, but applications relying on it were often rejected.

After all, a family that possessed only one Golden Core expert was considerably less stable than one with multiple experts at the same realm.

The Lin Family had been promoted only recently.

Therefore, according to the information available to the royal family, there should be no reason for them to possess more than two Golden Core experts at most.

And even that was already assuming the Lin Family had rapidly expanded its strength after receiving the promotion.

Under normal circumstances, sending three Golden Core elders to investigate such a family would already be more than sufficient.

Qian Deyu was at the tenth layer of Golden Core.

Wei Rong and Mo Jian were both at the ninth layer.

Such a lineup could easily suppress an ordinary Rank 8 clan.

It was not necessarily an act of hostility.

Rather, it was a display of authority.

The royal family wanted the Lin Family to understand that although the royal delegation had arrived politely, they had not come without the ability to protect themselves.

If the situation involving the Blue Whale People became troublesome, the royal family possessed enough strength to respond.

Lin Xuan understood the logic behind it.

Unfortunately, their information was flawed.

He was no longer in the Golden Core cultivator and instead was a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Three Golden Core experts, regardless of how powerful they were within their realm, could not create even the slightest pressure upon him.

In fact, Lin Xuan found their arrangement somewhat amusing.

The royal family had probably spent considerable effort selecting these three elders.

Qian Deyu was at the tenth layer.

Wei Rong and Mo Jian were at the ninth.

To the royal family, this was already an extremely powerful combination.

To Lin Xuan, however, it was little different from sending three ordinary cultivators.

He glanced at Qian Deyu walking beside him.

The old man was still wearing that genial smile, completely unaware that the greatest variable in their calculations was walking directly beside him.

Lin Xuan’s lips curved upward slightly.

Perhaps it was better that way.

Mo Jian had been walking several steps behind them, and the more he watched Lin Xuan’s interaction with Qian Deyu, the more unpleasant his expression became.

He could not understand it.

The young Patriarch’s attitude was far too casual.

Qian Deyu was an elder of the royal family, a tenth-layer Golden Core cultivator, and someone who held considerable authority within the kingdom.

Yet Lin Xuan spoke to him without the slightest trace of nervousness.

There was no deliberate disrespect, but there was also none of the reverence.

Worse still, Qian Deyu seemed perfectly comfortable with it.

The old man even laughed along with Lin Xuan as though they were old acquaintances.

Mo Jian’s eyes narrowed.

What exactly was going on between these two?

Beside him, Wei Rong’s expression was similarly unpleasant.

He looked at the young Patriarch’s back.

The man’s posture remained relaxed, his expression calm, and his conversation with Qian Deyu carried none of the stiffness one would expect from someone standing before three senior Golden Core cultivators.

It was almost as though the difference in status did not exist.

Just then, a soft voice suddenly came from behind the delegation.

"Patriach Lin."

Everyone turned simultaneously to notice a woman approaching from the rear of the delegation.