Chapter 28: Various Attitudes

Cloud Central Garrison Manor Council Hall.

Zhang Yuhe sat upright in the uppermost seat, with Qian Lingling carefully attending behind him.

Seated below in order were the heads of various families: Qian Family head Qian Weiguang, Sun Family head Sun Pengcheng, Li Family head Li Jiuming, He Family head He Chifeng, and Wind Whisper Pavilion Master Consort Mingyue.

Everyone looked at the teacups in front of them in silence, but privately probed Zhang Yuhe's aura with caution.

Now Zhang Yuhe had also learned to be smart; he had long concealed his own cultivation realm, keeping his aura at the Nascent Soul Early Stage.

Unless one encountered someone with a higher cultivation realm than him, it would be very difficult to see through.

Zhang Yuhe's gaze swept across the crowd, landing on the Wind Whisper Pavilion Master Consort Mingyue at the very back.

This woman was stunningly beautiful, but that was not his main focus.

Instead, Zhang Yuhe felt that this woman's aura was a bit strange.

It seemed she only had the cultivation of the Nascent Soul Early Stage, yet he clearly sensed that a powerful aura was hidden within this woman.

Although he couldn't figure out the specifics for a moment, it was obviously not the Nascent Soul Early Stage.

"This woman is not simple."

Zhang Yuhe quickly came to a conclusion.

Ming Fuqian had clearly misjudged.

Back then, Ming Fuqian had told him that among these five factions, the Wind Whisper Pavilion was the weakest in strength, and only the Pavilion Master was at the Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivation.

But in Zhang Yuhe's view, the most dangerous one was actually this woman named Consort Mingyue.

Zhang Wuji's mother really wasn't wrong; beautiful women are the best at lying.

Aside from Wind Whisper Pavilion Master Consort Mingyue, the rest of them were nothing special.

The heads of all families were at the Nascent Soul Early Stage.

Of course, as Family heads, their strength wasn't necessarily the strongest one within the Family.

In fact, the Nascent Soul Cultivators in each Family were quite numerous, and it was even possible that Soul Transformation Cultivators were hidden among them.

After sizing each other up, Zhang Yuhe cleared his throat and spoke.

"I have newly arrived at Yunzhong Prefecture to serve as the Guardian Envoy. Today is mainly to meet everyone so that we can look out for each other in the future."

"You are too polite, My Lord. You represent the Dao Saint Sect in garrisoning Yunzhong Prefecture, which is precisely our reliance. If you have any matters, just give the order, and we will surely handle them properly."

Qian Weiguang smiled with his small eyes squinted, and immediately responded politely.

"Indeed, indeed. As long as My Lord gives an order, all of our families will certainly go all out."

The other four also followed up by responding one by one.

Looking at everyone's expressions, Zhang Yuhe couldn't tell what was true and what was false for a moment.

However, to him, these were not important.

Saying nice words a thousand times was useless; the key was still actual actions.

Zhang Yuhe picked up his teacup, took a small sip gently, and then continued speaking.

"It is like this. As you can see, there are not many people in my Guardian Manor. I would like to borrow some manpower from you all to come and serve at the Guardian Manor, how about that?"

"Let me make it clear first: those who come to serve under me will not be paid; I have no money."

In Zhang Yuhe's tone, he deliberately showed a hint of overbearingness and ignorance. He just wanted others to look down on him and lower their guard, so that it would be easier for him to handle matters.

If these people stared at him every day, he wouldn't be able to accomplish anything.

Although he didn't originally have any goals and previously thought coming here was just changing a place to Cultivate.

But what he thought was one thing, and whether it would work was another.

This Yunzhong Prefecture was not simple; he certainly didn't want to fall into a pit and be unable to get out.

Therefore, before Cultivating, he had to sort things out, preferably eliminating threats in advance.

Although there were still no clues right now, it didn't matter; things had to be done step by step.

As soon as Zhang Yuhe's voice fell, He Chifeng spoke indifferently.

"No problem. Tomorrow I will arrange for people to come and serve at the Guardian Manor, but the cultivation of our He Family's Disciple is not high, mostly only at the Qi Refinement Stage. My Lord won't mind, right?"

Hearing this, Zhang Yuhe was quite speechless.

Are you trying to fool ghosts here? The He Family has been passed down in Yunzhong Prefecture for tens of thousands of years, with its influence spread across dozens of cities.

The surface-level Cultivator Disciple in the Family alone numbered over a hundred thousand.

You are telling me to send a few Qi Refining Cultivators over?

Who are you looking down on?

Zhang Yuhe said indifferently.

"Forget about the Qi Refining Cultivators. I am not forcing it either; I was just mentioning it casually."

After saying that, his gaze swept across the other four people. When he saw Li Jiuming,

Li Jiuming immediately stood up and said politely,

"Ah, our Li Family has declined severely in recent years. My Lord, how about I arrange a few Foundation Establishment Disciple to come and serve?"

"Forget it."

Zhang Yuhe replied indifferently, and then swept his gaze toward the remaining three people.

Qian Weiguang immediately stood up, still speaking with his eyes squinted with a smile,

"Serving My Lord is our honor. Tomorrow I will select five Golden Core Disciple from the Family to come over."

Zhang Yuhe nodded.

Sun Pengcheng behind him also chimed in and said,

"Five Golden Core realm, they will be sent over tomorrow."

"Good."

Finally, Zhang Yuhe looked at Wind Whisper Pavilion's Consort Mingyue.

He couldn't quite see through this woman, and it would be better to be a bit cautious.

Consort Mingyue slowly stood up with her graceful figure, and said in a soft voice,

"Our Wind Whisper Pavilion really doesn't have many people. If My Lord doesn't mind, how about I come to serve at the Guardian Manor?"

"Forget it. Let's stop here for today."

Zhang Yuhe raised his teacup and waved his hand to signal. The five people below looked at each other and then walked out of the council hall one after another.

After everyone left, Zhang Yuhe gently tapped his fingers on the table.

Calling them over today was partly to ask for people; he was indeed lacking manpower.

However, this was not the main purpose.

If he really wanted to find people, he only needed to post a notice outside the Guardian Manor, and plenty of people would come to apply; he didn't necessarily have to ask these local tyrants for people.

Zhang Yuhe asking for people was just to see the attitudes of various parties.

Ming Fuqian was right; the He and Li families were indeed very abnormal.

Logically speaking, when an Inner Sect Disciple of the Dao Saint Sect goes out to garrison, even if the local forces don't come up to bootlick, they should at least appear very respectful.

After all, going against the Dao Saint Sect had no future.

As a Guardian Envoy of a region, Zhang Yuhe would stay in Yunzhong Prefecture for over a hundred years.

As long as he was willing, he could make things difficult for the He and Li families at any time. Weren't these two families worried?

But looking at the arrogant attitude of the He and Li families, they clearly didn't put him in their eyes and were completely unafraid of him finding trouble later.

He only wanted to borrow some manpower, yet these two families shirked so resolutely.

When people become arrogant, they must have some capital.

The surface-level strength of these two families was just like that, not enough to make them arrogant.

In other words, there were still people behind these two families, or rather, other forces supporting them, which was why they dared to be arrogant in front of him.

Could there be an Elder of the Dao Saint Sect backing them up from behind?

Or was it something else?

"This matter is a bit difficult to handle."

Zhang Yuhe fell into deep thought.