Immortality and cultivation begin at age forty, starting with Foundation Establishment.

"On the surface, it seems the Liu family's days are numbered."

"But in reality, the current head of the Liu family should know that as long as they give up the third-tier spiritual veins and some second-tier spiritual veins they control, all the attacks on the Liu family by the sect will stop."

"The reason why people in the sect want to deal with the Liu family is to seize the Liu family's spiritual vein resources."

"The Liu family, lacking resources, is not worth seizing, nor is there any need to exterminate them."

"When dealing with such matters, sects usually leave room for maneuver, giving both sides a way out."

"The non-direct descendants of the Golden Core cultivators will not truly destroy the Liu family."

"Because they know that if other Golden Core families encounter the same situation in the future, they may also be wiped out. Leaving a way out for the Liu family is also leaving a way out for other Golden Core families."

"For example, many Foundation Establishment families in the sect have ancestors who were Golden Core cultivators. They were once glorious. After the Golden Core cultivators perished due to internal strife within the sect, these Foundation Establishment families were still able to develop steadily within the sect."

"Of course, the rules I mentioned above are all for ordinary Golden Core families."

"The direct line families of the Xuan Yang Sect are not subject to any restrictions. Our Yu family, the Shangguan family, and the Song family, among other direct line families, possess complete inheritances in weapon crafting and alchemy. In any era, there would be no shortage of Golden Core cultivators."

"A direct descendant family can wipe out any ordinary Golden Core family."

"If the Liu family really chooses to give up the spiritual vein, the other families may not stop the Liu family from producing a new Golden Core cultivator. At the very least, the next generation of the Liu family will have a Demon Core cultivator."

"Without the spiritual vein, the Liu family has completely lost its qualification to become the core of the Xuan Yang Sect."

"The power struggle between Golden Core families is not as bloody and cruel as it appears on the surface. Rather, it is a process in which each family cuts at the other with a dull knife, piece by piece, until the family feels the pain and feels rejected, before giving an answer that satisfies everyone."

As Yu Peiyao spoke, Chen An listened silently. He lived at the bottom of the sect and his understanding of the sect was mostly through ordinary Qi Refining stage disciples. He couldn't see what the real Xuan Yang Sect was like.

Through Yu Peiyao, Chen An gained a glimpse into the Xuan Yang Sect's true nature by observing the Liu family's situation.

The Yu Peiyao of the past was not qualified to know these things, but the Yu Peiyao of today is not the Yu Peiyao of the first encounter. She has a large amount of wealth in her hands and is no longer a vase that only needs to be supported by the family, but a real hen that can produce golden eggs.

The Yu family members valued Yu Peiyao even more, so she was able to obtain more information from her elders.

The story of the Liu family cannot be separated from the initial trigger, which was Liu Xu, who betrayed the Liu family and went to the Hehuan Tower.

Her existence, seemingly without any concrete meaning, was actually the beginning of all the contradictions.

Without conflict, there is no point of attack. Without a point of attack, other Golden Core families cannot find a way to attack, nor can they find an excuse to attack the Liu family.

The Liu family is a declining Golden Core family, but its former power cannot be denied.

Each era has only one Golden Core cultivator in charge, yet they control two third-tier spiritual veins and a wealth of spiritual resources, surpassing most Golden Core families in the sect.

Meanwhile, within the Liu family, there have been multiple marriages with direct descendants of the sect, establishing close ties between the two sides.

The reason the Liu family survived despite facing numerous setbacks is largely because they extended their influence into various clans, forming a community of shared interests.

Yu Peiyao brought up the Liu family to remind Chen An that if he couldn't quickly become stronger and gain more influence within the Yu family, he might face retribution once the Liu family recovered.

"Senior Brother Chen, you'll be in great danger if you don't have the Yu family's support regarding your relationship with Senior Sister Ye."

The danger is not the apparent fighting and killing, but the internal conflicts within the cultivator society that concern Chen An's future path.

For example, the stability that Chen An wanted could no longer be achieved after he took Ye Hongyi as a concubine.

Chen An could understand Yu Peiyao. She said these things hoping that Chen An would cooperate with her on a deeper level, achieve greater merit, and help her accumulate more resources.

Yu Peiyao wanted to make Chen An feel a sense of crisis.

Yu Peiyao was unaware that Chen An could see through everyone's favorability rating. Yu Peiyao's favorability rating had risen to seventy, and although it fluctuated occasionally, it never showed a downward trend.

Even when he hit Yu Peiyao on the back with a willow branch, she seemed embarrassed and annoyed, but in reality, her affection for him increased.

After several rounds of reinforcements, the team included many members of the Yu family, most of whom were friendly towards Chen Ancun.

This shows that the Yu family's influence over Chen An is much higher than Yu Peiyao said. Unless the Liu family's Golden Core cultivators intervene, dealing with Chen An will not be easy.

If the Liu family's Golden Core cultivators were to appear and fight against Chen An, then the Liu family would be truly foolish, and they would lose face in the sect.

At a critical moment for the survival of the family, the Liu family would not dare to deal with the Yu family's vassals unless they did not want to produce another Golden Core cultivator.

Chen An doesn't know how to lead troops or fight battles, and he's not as skilled at hunting demons as Yan Gang and others, but Chen An also has his strengths; he knows how to judge people.

The stable operation of the Demon Wolf Legion may seem to be handled by others and has no direct relationship with Chen An, but in reality, everyone involved is connected to Chen An.

It is rare for a cultivator to delegate the power they hold to someone else.

The issue of trust is a problem that can never be solved.

Yu Peiyao is weak; if she were to work with someone else, she wouldn't have such power.

Yu Lanhua is powerful, but lower-level cultivators may not necessarily trust strong people. She has no way to gather low-level rogue cultivators, and even if she has spirit stones and resources, she cannot make them obey.

In interpersonal communication, trust is the most difficult link to overcome. Chen An can tell a person's level of likability at a glance, and through this level of likability, he can easily judge whether a person is usable.

Back then, Wang Rulong was a notorious ruthless figure in the sect. Disciples who followed him on missions died one after another. But Chen An was willing to do missions with Wang Rulong because he knew that those people's deaths were not entirely due to Wang Rulong; it was simply that they were not as skilled as him.

Liu Hao is seen as a kind senior brother by the new disciples, having helped many new disciples learn the art of spiritual plants and broaden their horizons. However, in the eyes of the older disciples, he is a hypocrite. Chen An easily judged that Liu Hao was not an evil person based on his favorability rating.

Zheng Ping was the same. He cultivated the Blood Refining Scripture, which made him a monster in the eyes of many disciples of the Hundred Refinement Peak lineage. But in fact, he was just a hard-working cultivator struggling to cross the threshold of enlightenment. If he were a monster, he wouldn't use the blood of demon beasts to refine his skills.

The four vice-captains, Yan Gang, Liu Feng, Zhu Zizai, and Shangguan Changqing, may not be the best in the team in terms of strength and management experience, but their popularity is definitely the most stable.

The Shangguan family, or rather Shangguan Changqing himself, genuinely intended to befriend Chen An and plan to walk the path of greatness together in the future.

Trust and goodwill are the cornerstones of Chen An's exploration of immortality.

Taking risks for resources and harming the interests of those trusted by Chen An is to undermine Chen An's foundation of virtue.

Yu Peiyao's advice still failed.

The price he paid was that, as he was leaving, he was hit on the back with a willow branch and left in shame and indignation.