Doesn't Look Good . . .
"The problem lies in the absence of your son. What you're saying is difficult to prove," Gramp Cha retorted in anger, but soon, he couldn't contain his excitement. "Nantian, is my grandson really that extraordinary?"
"Absolutely! Just look at whose son he is," Cha Nantian replied with a solemn expression, which soon gave way to an indulgent smile.
It was the smile of a doting grandfather.
Gramp Cha half-closed his eyes, lost in the imagined visage of his grandson. A wistful smile played across his face.
"Ah, without Xiao Xiao present, it won't matter how formidable he is. Nantian, you've been instructing the young ones in the clan lately. You know them best. How many lotuses do you think... we can secure this time?"
Despite their earlier criticisms of the clan, Gramp Cha still couldn't help but care about the clan's well-being.
"The arena..." Cha Nantian didn't particularly relish the thought of being embroiled in this affair. He hesitated to offer any input, but his father's inquiry required a response.
After some contemplation, he spoke in a measured tone, "Approximately ten of our clan members have an eighty percent chance of winning if they don't encounter extraordinary adversaries. Another ten have a fifty percent chance. As for the remaining twenty, they may try their luck, but their odds are only about thirty percent. With some luck, a few from this group may secure victory."
"In your estimation, we can potentially gain about thirty lotuses in this arena event. Is that accurate?" Gramp Cha's face paled.
"Yes, and that's an optimistic estimate. It aligns roughly with your earlier projection," Cha Nantian replied as he mentally assessed the strengths of all the participating clans. "However, if the other clans decide to target us, we may not acquire more than twenty. Battling the average contender with our best, matching the worst with the average, and suffering defeat at the hands of the best with our worst – it's an old strategy of war. I believe you understand."
Gramp Cha remained silent, fully aware that other clans would indeed focus their efforts on Cha Clan during the tournament. He also knew that this tactical approach, as mentioned by Cha Nantian, would be employed.
Ultimately, Cha Clan was in for a challenging contest. They could never prevail against the combined might of all the clans within a ten-thousand-mile radius.
Cha Clan had been fortunate to have withstood previous confrontations with these clans. Now, they had no choice but to participate in the arena and do their utmost to secure as many lotuses as possible.
"If the age restriction weren't in place," Cha Nantian remarked matter-of-factly, "If I could join the fights, I could guarantee that none of those lotuses would end up in anyone else's hands."
"Unfortunately, you can't," Gramp Cha lamented deeply.
"I wouldn't attend the fights even if I could," Cha Nantian retorted, rolling his eyes. "They murdered my brother, and my son can't come home because of them. I'm no fool; I won't dedicate myself to this clan. I'm not naive."
In reality, he hadn't revealed everything. Regeneration Ink Lotuses held no significance to him. He possessed an abundance of supreme dan beads, a treasure his son had bestowed upon him. Each of these beads was a magnificent gem, capable of dazzling everyone in the clan. But he wouldn't use them to save the clan.
"My son gave these to me. Why should I use them for this heartless clan?" He had little regard for their worth. Although the lotuses were highly prized by the Misty Cloud Palace, they held no significant value for those not affiliated with the palace.
Cha Nantian could easily approach a dominant sect, one of the Seven Great Sects, and offer them some supreme dan beads. This would certainly lead to Cha Clan being accepted as an ally by a major sect in the Oracle District.
The scarcity of supreme dan was a long-standing issue in the Qing-Yun Realm, and it held tremendous value for any sect. The dan-makers serving the great sects possessed extraordinary abilities. In contrast to Cha Xiao, a fraudulent dan-maker, they faced a bottleneck in their dan-making path. They merely needed the opportunity to advance to the next level, and supreme dan was precisely the opportunity they had longed for.
Supreme dan was a dream come true for all the sects, and a treasure worth pursuing!
If they could acquire a supreme dan bead and dissect its composition, it would undoubtedly serve as an immediate wellspring of inspiration for their cultivation!
Cha Eun Xiao had bestowed upon Han Bingxue a Heaven Climbing Dan bead. Although this was undoubtedly a valuable gift, it held limited significance for the major sects. Typically, a cultivator could ingest only one of these beads in their lifetime. While it did provide thirty years' worth of cultivation, the energy it contained was impure, necessitating significant time for refinement and digestion. This process not only proved time-consuming but also carried the risk of adverse effects on the cultivator.
In the higher echelons, the Heaven Climbing Dan could provide fifty years of cultivation and offered a purer essence. However, it demanded a more extended period for complete absorption.
Regrettably, even the most advanced cultivators could still ingest only one bead. To take more would yield no additional benefits.
The Heaven Climbing Dan with dan glow represented the most exceptional achievement, crafted by only a select few dan-makers in the history of the Qing-Yun Realm. This version extended a hundred years of high-purity cultivation and required minimal digestion time. Importantly, it was possible for cultivators to ingest multiple beads, although each additional bead yielded only half the effectiveness of the previous one. This limitation meant that, ultimately, no more than three hundred years of additional cultivation could be achieved by consuming Heaven Climbing Dan with dan glow.
In the realm of higher-level Heaven Climbing Dan, not to mention supreme dan beads with dan cloud, even dan beads with dan mist had never been successfully produced in the Qing-Yun Realm. It was no wonder that Han Bingxue felt astonished and disbelieving when Cha Eun Xiao presented him with these exceptional dan beads!
One hundred supreme-level Heaven Climbing Dan beads could not bestow ten thousand years of cultivation upon him, but they could undoubtedly provide at least nine thousand!
After hearing the revelations from Cha Nantian, Gramp Cha remained silent.
As the father and son exchanged wordless glances, hurried footsteps approached their location.
A guard rushed in, addressing them urgently.
"Gramp Cha, Brother Cha, there are two individuals outside the door. One of them claims to be..." The guard hesitated and glanced at Cha Nantian, struggling to convey the message effectively.
"To be what?" Cha Nantian frowned, visibly irked by the guard's hesitation.
Having previously served as a commanding officer in the Land of Han-Yang for an extended period, Cha Nantian was known for his decisiveness and aversion to unnecessary delays. In the past, he would have swiftly apprehended the guard and administered a series of punishments for the disrupted report.
The guard continued hesitantly, "One of them claims to be Brother Cha's son."