Chapter 310. The Grand Design

Many great families tended to leave their younger generation to fend for themselves, letting them compete freely, much like raising gu worms. If a genius emerged who could absolutely dominate all the others, the family would spare no effort, pouring every resource into cultivating that person to inherit the family's power and position. The rest would eventually give up the competition and find suitable roles within the family.

In the Long Seal Family, Long Tianming was precisely that kind of person! Although others technically qualified as potential heirs, none of them could truly compete with him.

In the Gu Family, Gu Heng had decent talent, but he couldn't absolutely suppress everyone. When people thought of Gu Lan, every Gu family disciple felt a twinge of regret — only Gu Lan's talent had been worthy of becoming the Gu Family's guiding light!

But Gu Lan's cultivation had gone wrong. Her younger brother, Gu Bei, had once also been the subject of great expectations. After all, as siblings, their talents and abilities were bound to be somewhat similar. Yet to everyone's disappointment, Gu Bei turned out to be a profligate young master. Despite possessing a Heavenly Spirit Root, he was utterly undisciplined in his personal life — having taken over twenty wives at a young age — and showed no ambition in his cultivation. Everyone could only write him off.

But now, these Gu family disciples were beginning to suspect that things might not be so simple. Gu Bei might very well be hiding his true abilities!

Even Long Tianming couldn't help but glance over. He recalled that the young man was called Gu Bei, a Gu family disciple. His family allowance alone couldn't possibly account for that much money — could Gu Bei be running some business of his own?

Among the younger generation of the Gu Family, apart from Gu Heng, none of the others seemed to have particularly impressive talent. But even Gu Heng wasn't someone Long Tianming cared much about. In the entire Azure God Sect, there were only a handful of people who truly caught his eye.

Li Yufeng of the Cangyan Family was one. And then there was *that* person! A cold glint flashed through Long Tianming's eyes — that person was the greatest threat to his path toward becoming Azure God Sect Master!

As for Gu Bei, he only warranted a brief moment of surprise. Long Tianming soon turned back to chatting with the others.

On the stage, they were auctioning yet another Outstanding-grade growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirit.

"There sure are a lot of Outstanding-grade growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirits at this year's auction!" someone in a nearby seat exclaimed in surprise.

In previous years' auctions, having one or two Outstanding-grade growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirits appear was already remarkable. This year, they had auctioned off more than a dozen in a row — and it didn't seem like it was going to stop. That was truly extraordinary.

Hearing this, Gu Bei and Nie Li exchanged a knowing smile. Gu Bei had put up twenty Outstanding-grade growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirits for auction all at once — of course there were a lot.

"But what good is merely an Outstanding-grade growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirit?" Li Xingyun looked frustrated, downing his wine in one gulp. Even if his talent wasn't on par with Long Tianming's or Li Yufeng's, it wasn't far behind. Yet because of his status as an illegitimate son, he had never been taken seriously in the Cangyan Family. Without a God-level growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirit, he would always be a head shorter than the others!

Getting the family to give him a God-level growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirit was simply too difficult — it filled him with bitterness.

It wasn't just Li Xingyun. Murong Yu, Ye Xuan, and the others were also in no position to receive God-level growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirits, and they couldn't help but fall silent. Once someone obtained a God-level growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirit, their status would be entirely different — whether within the family or in the sect.

Nie Li glanced at Li Xingyun. In his previous life, Li Xingyun had eventually risen to become a dominant figure, and naturally he had obtained a God-level growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirit in the end. But right now, he was still stuck in a state of frustrated obscurity. While Nie Li could potentially get his hands on a God-level growth-type ordinary Demon Spirit, Li Xingyun would never have believed that Nie Li could acquire a God-level growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirit, so the matter had never come up between them.

Nie Li transmitted his voice to Li Xingyun: "Brother Li, I have a proposition — not sure if you'd be interested."

"What proposition?" Li Xingyun couldn't help but look up at Nie Li.

"If Brother Li is interested, I might be able to get my hands on a God-level growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirit!" Nie Li said with a faint smile. Over their recent interactions, Nie Li had found that Li Xingyun's character was indeed the same as what he remembered from his previous life — a deeply loyal person. That was what had sparked the idea.

"You can get a God-level growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirit?" Li Xingyun transmitted back, his hand trembling slightly around his wine cup. Though his heart raced with excitement, he managed to steady himself.

"It'll take some time, but it's not impossible," Nie Li replied.

"Then what's the trade? As long as I can get a God-level growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirit, name your price!" Li Xingyun said. He thought about it — a God-level growth-type Dragon Blood Demon Spirit was indeed worth a fortune. But if he sold off all his assets, he could scrape together a considerable sum. It might not be enough to buy one outright, but it wouldn't be far off.