When he heard this, warmth filled Fane's heart. "Don't worry. I'll help to treat your condition," he said, smiling. "Now I’m suspecting that it was Lily who administered the poison. She already sent assassins after me in Middle Province.
Who's to say that she won't do something like this!"
“Ah. She sent assassins after you, and the Ninth Patronum—who are in a good relationship with the Third Elder and the others—was waiting to kill you at the entrance. Furthermore, she joined hands with the Third Elder to take some of the martial art resources for themselves by raising the tithe. They’ve made their linkage clear before us!"
Fane released a sigh. "I'd be a fool to not
believe it even after all this!” he said impatiently.
"What should we do now, Father? I think it’ll be difficult. After all, the Third Elder is a powerful chi practitioner. The only one who can probably match him now is the First Elder! That's why we have no way of weeding them out.
"And Lily is no slouch either. More importantly, she's the first daughter of the Lagorio family. We’ll thoroughly ruin our relations with the Lagorio family if we kill her. The Lagorio family has fallen, but they're not weak. If we get into a war, there are a few elders from the Lagorio family here that might side with them. So.."
Fane frowned when he considered the situation. He truly felt that there was no easy way to go about this.
If they truly fought, there were plenty of servants from the Lagorio family in the Woods family who might take their original family's side. Even if the Woods family emerged victorious from the feud, both sides would take grave blows.
Besides, it had not been easy for the Woods family to have grown so strong—to finally stand among the Eight Reclusive Families. I f they entered a familial war, they would probably drop quite a few ranks in standing, putting all of their previous effort to waste.
Fane nodded his head in approval after he heard this. "You're truly an intelligent man. You’ve understood the situation immediately. Ah, it would probably be better if I were healthy! Honestly, I'm not afraid of killing the Third Elder and Lily— and I'm certainly not afraid of the Woods family losing their reputation and strength. If Lily and the others have already done such deeds, it means that they're eager to see us fight the Lagorio family. But I'm afraid that we'll fight against the branch families!"
Fane never thought that Nash would be able to look at the bigger picture while holding his pain in. It made Fane reevaluate his character.
It must have not been easy for this man to become the master of the Woods family—to be able to guide the family, step by step, until they reached where they were now, and to make difficult choices from time to time.
Now, the branch families were being forced to give 80 percent of their martial resources. If this went on, the anger and hatred stoked within them would only grow deeper—until it reaches a boiling point and explodes. By then, everything would be in chaos.
The branch families were no match for people from the main family, but if they chose to fight the main family without regard for their lives, the main family would be unable to bear the consequences.
More importantly, the members of the branch families, as well as the forces attached to the Woods family, totaled to about six or seventy percent.
"Father, let us not act first. We'll just pretend that we don't know anything. I'll first think of a way to find the antidote for you. Your fighting skills are probably stronger than the Third Elder. So long as you get better, we can at least suppress the Third Elder!"
Fane went silent for a while before continuing, "Or we could hold a meeting to have the responsibility of receiving and making records of the tithes to someone else! What do you think?"
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