One of the two reasons why He family stood out from other families of cultivators was that members of He family were born exorcists. All descendants of the ancestors of He family were endowed with extraordinary apt.i.tude for practicing exorcism. The other one was that the first son of the patriarch of He family was eligible to inherit the Welkin Upender, a magical seal, their family heirloom, which was rumored to contain energy enough to overpower all ghosts and demons. It was with this magic treasure that He family consolidated its position as one of the leading families of exorcists, matched by very few.

However, the days when the Welkin Upender brought honor and glory to He family seemed to have been doomed to come to an end by the birth of the first son of the present patriarch.

When He Zheng was born, he bore no pattern of the Welkin Upender on him. Worse still, the apt.i.tude test, which was carried out on the hundredth day after his birth, showed that He Zheng was destined to be a mediocrity whose likes were rarely seen, that he had no cultivation endowment at all and he wouldn"t be able to achieve anything in any other field either. If he tried to learn geomantic exorcism, there was a high risk that he would die from senilism at a very young age.

At first, n.o.body believed the result of the test, but after the test was performed three times in a row yet the results remained unchanged, they had no choice but to accept this cruel truth.

Everybody believed that it was because He Changchun had had an affair before his wife was pregnant, which ruined the geomantic omen of the family, but no matter what, in a family of exorcists, a member with no apt.i.tude for exorcism was no different from someone with inborn disability.

All other members of He family laid reproach on He Zheng, but his father turned a blind eye. If it weren"t for that his mother"s family was powerful enough, life might have been unimaginably tougher for him and his mother.

When He Zheng cut his wisdom teeth, compet.i.tiveness and self-esteem began to grow in him. He didn"t believe that he was doomed to be a n.o.body.

At the age of four, He Zheng once insisted that elders of He family teach him exorcism skills. However, at the very night of the first day when he learned the Qi-gathering technique, which was of the lowest difficulty, he spat blood to pains in his heart and nearly got himself killed.

From then on, He Zheng had been bearing the shameful nickname "Good-for-nothing" all along.

People of He family regarded He Zheng as a humiliation for the name of the house. This matter was also a knot in He Changchun"s mind.

As soon as He Zheng named his price, He Changchun"s expression changed. "You"re not capable of cultivating. Why do you want our cultivation method?"

Upon saying this, He Changchun flicked a vigilant glance at He Zheng. "Do you by any chance want to give the cultivation method of He family to Li Zong so as to curry favor with him?"

"Hha... you"ve got to be kidding me." It really had never crossed He Zheng"s mind that his father would be so stupid. He suspected that what had struck his father was not Phantom Peach Blossom Spell but some kind of brain-damaging spell.

"It"s just an elementary-level cultivation method. By no means can it take Li Zong"s fancy."

Carrying two bowls of lotus seeds congee, a smile on her face, Qiao Peiyu pushed the door open, walked inside and said in a sinister tone of voice, "Zheng hasn"t been married to that man yet, but he"s already taken up cudgels on behalf of that man."

Qiao Peiyu emphasized the words "been married to" in an effort to infuriate this good-for-nothing.

He Zheng showed a total disregard of Qiao Peiyu"s existence. Watching He Changchun with a calm look, he observed, "It"s not me who is in dire need of the dragon scale."

Apart from anything else, He Zheng was a member of He family. It would be good news for He Changchun if his son somehow managed to find a way to become a cultivator. In addition, those phantom-face sores on his body began to itch again. Therefore, there was nothing He Changchun wouldn"t give up to have He Zheng willingly agree to marry Li Zong.

Trying hard to subdue the itches, He Changchun replied in a somewhat anxious tone of voice, "Fine. You have my consent. Marry him as soon as possible!"

As if eager to bring this conversation to an end, he added, "I"ll contact people of Li family. You must stay at home during the next two days." With that he quickly went upstairs.

At this moment, Qiao Peiyu and He Zheng were the only ones in the hall.

Since He Changchun was no longer present, Qiao Peiyu no longer needed to keep up the pretence. With a venomous expression on her face, she stared at He Zheng. "Actually, this was not Master"s original intention. Do you know why I want you to marry Li Zong?"

He Zheng was expressionless. It was not difficult for him to guess Qiao Peiyu"s thoughts. If he married Li Zong, he would no longer count as a member of He family to some extent, which meant that he would have less claim to the property of He family.

But He Zheng didn"t care. He was fully aware of what choice he should make between He family more than half of which was under Qiao Peiyu"s control and Li Zong who would make a powerful helper of his in the future. Moreover, currently, he could use a credible reason to leave He family, and a marriage to Li Zong was his best choice.

In Qiao Peiyu"s eyes, he was forced to leave, but in fact, who would have the last laugh remained unknown.

He Zheng showed no sign of being angered, which greatly disappointed Qiao Peiyu.

Coldness gleaming in her eyes, Qiao Peiyu walked up to him and gave a soft smile. "I still have a vivid recollection of you kneeling down before a man at Master"s birthday, which was such a shameful sight."

He Zheng"s face changed and his mind involuntarily traveled back to that day.