Chapter 1175: Chapter 738: Visitors from the Xue Family

Li Xiaoyao, the Family Head of the Li family, looked at Tianya behind Chu Mo with a shocked expression. He had already stood up, completely devoid of the composure and calmness he used to have.

Opposite Chu Mo, Li Hongda, the eldest young master of the Li family, wore a confused look. He clearly did not know who this so-called Senior Tianya was, but seeing his father’s reaction, Li Hongda was also confused and looked at the young man behind Chu Mo with puzzled eyes.

As the first in Hua Country to advance to the Half-step Celestial God status, and also a supreme powerhouse who was 137 years old, Tianya had spent the majority of his life in seclusion. Thus, people who knew him were extremely few, and Li Xiaoyao was among them.

Fifty years ago, when Tianya was eighty-seven years old and had just broken through to the Great Grandmaster Realm, Li Xiaoyao was just a seven or eight-year-old mischievous child. At that time, Li Xiaoyao, who was the heir of the Li family, had seen Tianya at his own house.

Tianya, fifty years ago, looked almost unchanged from now, with the only difference being a deeper murkiness in his eyes and a more weathered voice.

Back when he was a young child, Li Xiaoyao had personally seen his father, the then Family Head of the Li family, warmly receiving this young man. Even though he had forgotten the specific details over time, Li Xiaoyao clearly remembered one thing: his father had once invited this individual to be the guardian of the Li family, promising full support, but the offer was declined in the end.

At that time, his father had said if the Li family could obtain the support of Senior Tianya, their position amongst the eight major families could be elevated at least by one rank, from the lower three to the upper three.

Back then, Li Xiaoyao did not understand what his father meant by the lower three and upper three, but now, every time he thought about it, he felt regrets.

Although the eight major families of Hua Country are all equally noble, each being powerful enough to finger the skies, and each family resembling the power of a feudal lord, in fact, these families are also divided into three tiers: upper, middle, and lower based on their assets.

With assets amounting to 37 trillion from the Xiangjiang Long family leading, followed by the 20 trillion assets of the Northeast Wei family, and added to this, the 18 trillion assets of the Capital City Yang family, these three rank as the upper three, owning the most assets and wielding the greatest power.

The next two families own over one trillion but less than 1.5 trillion in assets, making them the middle two families. The last three are families with assets under one trillion.

The Liu family of Zhongzhou and the Li family of Jiangnan rank within the lower three families.

In the eight major families, the stature and esteem of each family head are determined by their family’s assets and influence. Although Li Xiaoyao is one of the eight major family heads, the Li family’s assets are only 800 billion, which is highly esteemed in average families’ eyes, but in the eight major families, they are at the bottom. Therefore, at family head gatherings, he always finds himself at the periphery; because of this, Li Xiaoyao often sighs that if the Li family could have a guardian, their status would definitely rise significantly.

The current Senior Tianya is precisely the one who almost became the guardian of the Li family.

Tianya, as one of Hua Country’s top combat forces, continuously held the second position on Hua Country’s legendary list for twenty years, his strength second only to Abbot Zhishang of Shaolin.

Even among the powerful families like the eight major families of Hua Country, only the Xiangjiang Long family and the Southwest Wu family have Grandmaster-level guardians; the peak strength of the others barely reaches the Half-step Grandmaster status. Had Tianya accepted to be the guardian for the Li family back then, the current status of the Li family would undoubtedly be far greater, perhaps rising to among the upper three families, even if not competing with the Long family.

Because of this, Li Xiaoyao’s impression of Tianya is extremely profound; although fifty years have passed and he saw Tianya only once, he still recognized Tianya’s identity at this moment.

“Senior… It’s been fifty years since we last met. My father once said, Senior has greatly favored our Li family. If Senior has any requests, my descendants and I will surely do our utmost to fulfill them.”

Li Xiaoyao looked solemn and respectful; after finishing his words, the Tianya opposite him remained unmoved, still standing quietly behind Chu Mo, appearing as though he hadn’t heard anything.

Chu Mo did not know about the history between Tianya and the Li family. Initially, he had been considering how to make the Li family comply, even planning to use a Longevity Pill to settle the Li family. However, now it seems, with Tianya’s relationship, it seemingly wouldn’t require much effort.

His gaze sized up the Family Head of the Li family, and after a moment, he smiled and said:

“Since Li Head has an old time connection with Tianya, why not catch up properly here? I’ll have someone prepare food and drinks.”

Li Xiaoyao, who had other schemes in mind, slightly narrowed his eyes; he only pondered for a moment before immediately agreeing:

“Then I’ll trouble Mr. Chu.”

Chu Mo gave a slight nod to Zhan Bingxue, who immediately bowed and went to arrange things.

In just a short while, a table filled with dishes and drinks was set up. However, since Tianya was present and showed no intention to sit, and Li Xiaoyao saw that Tianya was standing, he dared not act presumptuously either.

Feeling somewhat out of place, Chu Mo found an excuse to leave, leaving only Li Xiaoyao, his son, and Tianya in the entire top-level observatory hall.