The person Jiang Chen was most concerned about was the Xiahou family.
Rescuing Huang'er and freeing her from her suffering — the core of that problem was also the Xiahou family. Once the Xiahou family was dealt with, every one of Huang'er's troubles would fall into place.
But dealing with the Xiahou family was far easier said than done.
"Among the seven great families, the Xiahou family is unquestionably the strongest." Yan Qingsang's eyes flickered with a hint of unwillingness as he spoke. "In truth, several hundred years ago, our Yan family was the undisputed leader among the seven. It's a shame that one of our supreme elders failed during a tribulation — an unexpected catastrophe. When the pillar of our family collapsed, it triggered a chain reaction. Our family found ourselves constrained on every front, declining in every regard. Over the course of several hundred years, the Yan family has only grown weaker. Life has been very difficult."
Yan Qingsang's voice carried a note of sorrow as he reached this point.
"So what the Yan family lacks isn't foundation, but a supreme powerhouse — a pillar to hold everything up?" Jiang Chen asked.
"You could put it that way. If our supreme elder hadn't died, even if we couldn't have suppressed the Xiahou family, we certainly wouldn't have ended up at the bottom of the seven. Our standing would never have become so precarious, always worrying about being replaced."
Yan Qingsang smiled bitterly, mocking himself. "You saw what happened at the Nongyu Pavilion. What Yan Jinnan did was ugly and humiliating, but that's genuinely the situation our Yan family is in. It's not just us young people being pushed around in the Eternal Divine Kingdom's circles — the entire Yan family's influence is weakening. Our involvement in major affairs of the kingdom grows less and less with each passing day."
"The heavens have no constant course, and water has no fixed shape. Perhaps these few hundred years are simply a trial — a test the heavens have set for your Yan family. No one can guarantee that the Xiahou family will remain an evergreen tree, enduring as the sun and moon. And no one can say that your Yan family will never recover."
Jiang Chen offered these words of encouragement.
Yan Qingsang slapped the table. "Well said! 'The heavens have no constant course, and water has no fixed shape.' I refuse to believe that my Yan family will simply fade away like this."
Jiang Chen's words swept away Yan Qingsang's low spirits, and he continued introducing Jiang Chen to matters concerning the Eternal Divine Kingdom — especially topics that were relatively confidential, the sort of things only a first-rate power like the Yan family would know. Lesser factions wouldn't even have heard of them.
As the two talked, the sky-boat suddenly began to descend.
"Are we there?" Jiang Chen watched as the vessel dropped with startling momentum, touching the ground in a matter of breaths.
Yan Qingsang looked up with a puzzled expression. "We're not there yet. We haven't arrived."
Just then, two Yan family elders stepped forward and called out, "Everyone stay inside the sky-boat. Don't come out casually. There's an emergency situation ahead that needs to be dealt with."
"What kind of situation?" Yan Qingsang was the restless type and started to rise from his seat to go outside and see for himself.
But the moment he moved, the stern gazes of Elder He and Elder Quan fixed on him, stopping him cold.
Seeing how grave the two elders looked, Jiang Chen tugged at Yan Qingsang's sleeve. "Brother Yan, don't be impulsive."
Yan Qingsang scratched his head and sat back down, though he kept craning his neck to peer outside, clearly itching to find out what sudden emergency had forced the Yan family's sky-boat to land before reaching home.