Gu Shang remained calm without a change in his facial expression.
"I'm sorry father-in-law, but I'm not going anywhere, I'll only leave if my wife wants me to," Gu Shang said calmly.
"This isn't a request, Gu Shang!" Liu Fan said coldly. They were even being considerate to Gu Shang but it looked like he didn't know what was good for him.
"Brother calm down, I think we have to explain things clearly to Gu Shang" Liu Jun said to break off the tension.
"I'm not going to lie to you, but the Liu Clan is not doing so well," Liu Jun said with a sigh.
In the next six months, if the clan head does not make a breakthrough to the foundation establishment realm, the Liu clan is going to fall.
We've been battling the Huang clan for many centuries, but during the last few decades our ancestor lost his life, and our influence has diminished greatly.
We are barely staying afloat now, the Huang clan on the other hand has been enjoying success since their eldest daughter married the first prince.
The first prince is an ambitious and cruel man, over the years he's been trying to get his hands on the twenty-thousand troops under the Liu clan banner, but we've been resisting him.
Now he's using the Huang clan to deal with us and forcibly take control of our troops to strengthen his own army" Liu Jun explained.
"So you want to use Feifei to find a backer that can go against the first prince, is it?" Gu Shang asked.
"That's right, the second prince has taken a fancy to Liu Feiefei, as long as you divorce her and disappear, everything will progress smoothly, we've already laid the necessary steps.
"Have you asked Liu Feiefei about her opinion? Does she want to marry the second prince? Gu Shang asked.
Liu Jun shook her head, "she doesn't fancy him, you are the one standing in the way. As long as you are out of the picture I'm sure Liu Feiefei will agree to the second prince proposal.
"So you'll willingly sacrifice your daughter's happiness, even though you know she will be miserable for the rest of her life?" Gu Shang asked.
"I have to choose between my daughter's happiness or the safety of my entire clan, I'm sorry but I can't choose my daughter over the other thousands of people who depend on us,
I'm willing to bear the responsibilities of my decision so please understand me" saying this he bowed towards Gu Shang.
Liu Fan and Liu Xie couldn't help but sigh, this was probably harder on Liu Jun than it was for anyone, afterall there was no father in the world who would want to watch their daughters suffer.
Gu Shang silently fell into deep thoughts, as much as he would have liked to despise this father-in-law of his, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
He'd also been in such situations and understood how hopeless it was without sufficient strength, so he didn't blame him instead he had a bit of respect for him,after all not every noble clan would be willing to sacrifice their children to protect those under them.
"You want me to take this money and disappear because the old clan head doesn't know your plan, does he?" Gu Shang asked.
Liu Jun nodded.
Typical of the old man, he'll rather die than bend, there was no way he'd sacrifice his granddaughter.
I'm guessing with how tight your clan budget is, there's no way you could have taken this much money from you accounts so I'm guessing this money it's from the second prince, right?!
Gu Shang said as he casually threw the chest back to Liu Xie, "Take this back to him, and inform him that I'm not leaving my wife. Also remind him to stay out of our family affair, I'll handle it. It's just a mere Huang clan.
The three men were stunned upon hearing Gu Shang, where did he even get his confidence from? Besides, they were also shocked with how sharp Gu Shang was.
He had immediately guessed where the money came from and why they wanted him to leave silently.
"Gu Shang this is not the time to mess around. It's either you accept our offer while we're being nice or don't blame me for being cruel" Liu Fan said as he unleashed his aura of an expert in the middle stage of the Qi gathering stage on Gu Shang.
Even Liu Xie began to tremble as the aura spread through the hall, though it was not targeted at him, he was only at the first stage of Qi gathering realm.
In cultivation crossing a single stage was as difficult as ascending the heavens, some remained at a stage for their entire life without being able to take a step further to the next stage. Thus was why, it was very difficult to fight across stages in any realm.
Though Liu Xie was in the same realm as his uncle, they were at two completely different stages, he was merely a beginner whiles his uncle was in the middle stage, so it was no wonder he was finding it hard to deal with the pressure, Gu Shang would probably be having it worst but when he turned to his position he couldn't help but widen his mouth in shock.
Not only him but all the men in the main hall were not any better than him, as they all gazed at Gu Shang in astonishment, this was beyond logical reasoning.
Gu Shang was still standing there calmly without a single discomfort on his body, there was no sign of pressure on him at all, there was even a mocking smile on his face.
Liu Fan didn't know how lucky he was to be Liu Feiefei's uncle, because if even a wisp of his true aura escaped him it might crush Liu Fan to death" Gu Shang thought as he shook his head.
Liu Fan finding it hard to believe increased the pressure, but it was like a pebble falling into an ocean.
Not being able to withstand it anymore these farce anymore "Are you done playing now? Gu Shang asked impatiently.
Liu Fan almost caugthed blood after hearing Gu Shang, did he look like he was playing?
"I know you guys may find it hard to believe, but I'm not the same boy I was when I left seven years ago.
So how about this, I promise that three days from now I'm going to resolve the issue, if I fail I promise to leave without taking anything from the Liu Clan.
What do you guys think about that?" Gu Shang proposed.
"The Huang clan are backed by the first prince. How are you going to deal with them?" Liu Jun asked skeptically.
"Isn't it just the Huang clan and the first prince? Are they that impressive?" Gu Shang asked disdainfully.
Liu Fan was about to retort, Gu Shang was acting too arrogant for someone without any cultivation but Liu Jun stopped him, fine we'll agree with your preposition.
In three days time if you can't deal with the Huang clan then leave this manor silently" Liu Jun agreed with Gu Shang's proposal.
"And also relay my message to the second prince, tell him I don't need his interference''
"Don't worry I'll relay your message to him" Liu Jun replied.
"Then we have a deal"
Gu Shang cupped his hands towards the trio, "if there's nothing else, I'll be taking my leave"
After Gu Shang left Liu Fan couldn't help but ask, "why did you even bother agreeing to this deal?"
Liu Jun still starting at Gu Shang departing figure in the distance couldn't help but reply, "ever since he returned, I can't put my hand to it, but he's changed a lot and nothing like how he was seven years ago"
Besides, didn't you see how he easily dealt with your aura? Even at full strength it still couldn't affect him in the slightest.
What's even more bizarre it's that he's impossible to read through, for a mere mortal without any cultivation, his strength must stem from something.
It's either he has a huge backer supporting him, or he's brazenly stupid.
And this is probably the best outcome for us, if he can't succeed in three days time I believe he'll keep his words and leave.
"Father, what about his message to the second prince?" Liu Xie asked.
"Take the chest back and tell him about everything that transpired here" Liu Jun ordered.
Gu Shang on the other hand returned to his courtyard.
In the courtyard Gu Shang closed his eyes as he began to cultivate, the spiritual qi in the surrounding areas all gushed towards Gu Shang's direction.
If there was a strong cultivator in the Liu clan manor they'll have noticed the movement in the spiritual qi, but alas there was none so this phenomenon went on unnoticed.
After sometime Gu Shang opened his eyes, "I still can't push through the invisible barrier" Gu Shang began to mutter to himself.
He had been stuck in his current realm for a full year, whenever he tries to make a breakthrough an invisible barrier appears and obstruct's him from taking the final step.
So he decided to practice his sword skills. He walked towards the training chamber next to the courtyard and found a wooden sword and several training dummies.
This was probably where Liu Feiefei trained.
Holding the wooden sword Gu Shang began practicing his sword technique.
Sometimes his movements were slow, but graceful, and sometimes they were fast and fierce.
As he continued to practice invisible sword qi began accumulating within his surroundings, anyone who stepped closer to him was going to be shredded into thousands pieces.
Gu Shang's speed kept increasing more and more as his sword moved gracefully in the air, the invisible sword qi at the beginning suddenly started increasing and becoming more visible to the naked eye. The sword qi were like flower petals that hovered in the thousands around Gu Shang.
At this point anyone who saw the scene would only see several Gu Shang clones executing different sword moves, but in truth it was only one Gu Shang, he was just moving too fast.
Gu Shang suddenly came to a stop.
All the wooden dummies in the training chamber had been cut into tiny pieces.
"Not bad, If I use spiritual qi, this technique should be more powerful.
Gu Shang decided to rest for the night, though he was at a level where he didn't sleep, he had made it a habit to always rest at night if he could,
And with that he headed inside the room, unbeknownst to him the Yang clan were on a hunt for him during the entire night.