"He is dead to me."
The words uttered carried numerous implications. And every Elder interpreted them in their own way. Some thought Ikasa might've been betrayed by Li Fan. Others expected Li Fan had used high-handed means to deal with him.
Xue Ren narrowed his eyes at Ikasa. He was adept at reading people, a trait Xue Mi had inherited.
They noticed the anger and grief that flashed in his eyes when he answered the question. Xue Mi and Xue Ren exchanged glances. They had arrived at the same conclusion.
Ikasa was betrayed by Li Fan. In what way? They had to find out.
They waited for one of the hot-headed elders to take the lead. And as they expected, an Elder, sitting in the 3rd seat on the right, slapped his palm on the table.
"That is a very offensive statement about an heir of one of the prestigious families."
Ikasa looked at him with dead eyes. His face did not show any expression.
"And why do you care about the Li Family's Heir?"
The grey-haired Elder tripped on his words. He was ready to scold and make Ikasa retract his words, but he couldn't justify doing this for the opposing family's child.
The cleverly emphasized 'Li family's Heir', took the wind out of this Elder's sail. Other elders grew cautious when they realized they were dealing with a wolf in sheep's clothes.
"I understand you are aggrieved by him. But he is still the successor of a Prestigious Family equal to ours. You should afford him the same amount of respect you would give our Xue Mi."
The First Elder spoke up to break the awkward silence and defend the Fifth Elder's stance. All the other elders relaxed a bit.
"For me, Young master Li was my friend first before he was a successor to the Li Family. I have copied many forbidden love stories for his pleasure. That's why his betrayal hurt even more. I apologize if I disrespected him and offended any of your sensibilities."
After an agitative rant, he lowered his head to show remorse. Away from the eyes of elders, a small smile had formed on his lips.
'Half-truth + Slander + A white lie + A sincere apology. This combination should be enough to make these old fogies baffled and curious while evoking sympathy.'
He could not raise his head to look at the people in the room, but urgent whispers and barely hushed exclamations let him know his plan had worked as intended.
Ikasa had thrown the elders, who had yet to recover from his first explosive assertion, into disarray with one single juicy piece of information. Alarmed by this, Patriarch Xue watched him with vigilant eyes.
He decided to take the reins into his hands.
"Mr. Ikasa, you say Young Master Li Fan betrayed you. Can you discuss the details of what happened?"
He used the proper titles for both people involved. Ikasa felt like he was facing an interrogation. Unfortunately, it was unavoidable. He had to answer them to their satisfaction till he could win their trust and backing.
When he entered the room, he was nervous because it had been ages since anyone had interviewed him. His anxiety also stemmed from the fact that this was the world of cultivators.
As he got into the flow, he realized this was no different from fooling his board or investors. And now, he was facing the equivalent of his second-largest shareholder. The one whose vote might make or break his deal.
"Patriarch Xue, I would rather not delve into details. The respected personage here, might not believe it and accuse me of maligning Young Master Li Fan."
Rule No.1 of feeding news: Shroud it in secrecy. If you try to publicize the actual news, no one would pay it any heed.
However, the moment it becomes public that you are hiding the information, people become curious and start paying attention.
This was the case with the old fogies before him. They considered themselves knowledgeable in Sal City. Now a piece of information about their rival family's heir was dangling before them. Without any exception, they were hooked.
"You jest, young friend. How could recounting your story of betrayal be considered bad-mouthing someone? Feel free to speak."
The Second Elder issued a free pass to Ikasa. Every other person except the First Elder and the Patriarch were looking at him eagerly.
If not for the attention focused on him, Ikasa would have grinned ear to ear.
"Do not begrudge me for saying this, but Young Master Li Fan has some unique tastes. He prefers men, especially teenagers around the age of his brother, over any beautiful women."
At this shocking piece of news, jaws hit the floor. Even Patriarch Xue was startled by his words. Only the First Elder maintained his composure.
When he took in their reactions, he reaffirmed his guess.
'This world really is prejudiced against Homosexuality. I do not care whether one is homosexual or not, as long as no one has ideas about my chrysanthemum.'
His cheeks clenched at the thought. He continued his story to prevent his mind from wandering.
"As you know, my charges include three young men of a similar age as that of Second Young Master Li Shen. Young Master Li Fan had ideas about them. I dissuaded him numerous times. And yet, today…"
Ikasa drew in a long labored breath to make his story seem more real. It was easy for him to act this way. Just the thought of 'what could've happened if they were not strong enough' made him short of breath.
He told the tale he had rehearsed in his head a thousand times.
"... And today, he decided to make a move on them. Thankfully, the guardian appointed by their Clan rebuffed him."
"Hold on! Guardian? Clans backing the kids?"
The First Elder asked with a dignified expression. He fell into the trap Ikasa had laid in his explanation.
"Yes, A Sense realm martial artist always guards them."
Expressions of everyone in the room grew somber. Out of thousands of Cultivators, there were only Seven who reached Sense Realm in the entire Sal City.
These seven formed the apex of the power pyramid of the Sal City and were the mainstay of their forces.
And someone who was comparable to the top powerhouses of this City was babysitting kids who were supposedly out to experience the world.
Two of the Seven powerhouses sitting in the room, the First Elder and Patriarch Xue, became much more attentive to what Ikasa had to say.
Ikasa noticed the subtle change in mood. Still, he continued to harp about Li Fan, instead of giving the two the information they desired.
"I persuaded Li Fan, many times, to give up on the young lads. I even disclosed their special identity to him. But he did not believe me and did what he did."
Ikasa rubbed his nose bridge in frustration while gauging the reactions of everyone. The old men and women were listening to him seriously instead of treating him as someone to get their latest gossip from.
"If the Chakra Opening Realm Expert, who entrusted me with the kids, got wind of this incident, my life would be forfeit."
At the mention of the Chakra Opening realm expert, everyone let out a collective gasp. The First Elder and Patriarch Xue exchanged glances.
They wanted to dig deeper, but they were afraid of offending the County level powerhouse.
Ikasa recounted the incident as rehearsed.
"I am just grateful that his plan was foiled. Or else not only the Li family, but the entire Sal City might also have to pay the price."
His dreadful words painted the horrifying picture of what might happen if they really did offend that Chakra Opening Realm cultivator.
The entire room was now caught in his rhythm. After all, none of the people present would ever dare to lie about having the backing of a Chakra Opening Expert.
It was time he put forth his real demand. He carefully chose his words. He had to make sure they sounded alarming but not threatening.
"As you know, if one Path Forging Realm faces off against a Sense Realm Expert, he will be crushed. But if ten Path Forgers attack simultaneously, the result will be in question."
Everyone agreed with his statement. He then told the people in the room about the supposed threat he had received.
"When Li Fan left, he threatened to return with the full force of the Li Family to get what he wanted. If that happens, the Sense Realm Guardian alone will not be able to stop them. You can imagine the consequences in case something happens to the kids."
When they heard his words, the Elders were reminded of one important fact. Even though they were Cultivators, they were not much better than the mortals.
Before Cultivators learned to actively use the energy, they are only slightly stronger than ordinary people. As for Sense Realm, they can dominate the battle using their heightened reflexes. But if someone gets in a lucky hit, they would still fall.
This was the reason the so-called big families may suppress people but they did not dare go overboard. If the masses raised their pitchforks against them, there was a real possibility of being overthrown overnight.
Hence, they all had their own militia to deter such attempts. When Ikasa talked about the Li Family's full force, he was talking about this Militia.
Almost everyone in the room had connected the dots. They were waiting for the one with the most authority to speak.
"What do you expect of us?"
Patriarch Xue asked tersely. He was feeling threatened by the backing Ikasa had revealed. But he was still doubting the actual existence of the people he mentioned.
Ikasa smiled with sadness in his eyes. He was immersed in his own tale. But that made his acting seem real.
"The first person to die if anything happens to them is me. So I don't want to alert that person and lower his impression of me."
Patriarch Xue nodded at his reasoning. Still, he had not received the answer to his question.
"The best way for me to avoid confronting Li Fan is to leave this City. So, I would like to take Ms. Xue up on her offer."
In the next instant, everyone trained their eyes on Xue Mi to hear about their deal.
She looked around the room. Her unflinching gaze met each and every Elder as she said,
"I promised Mr. Ikasa and his people a safe passage to Birch City using our fleet of ships."