Just as Titan was preparing to use his reputation to subtly persuade Yang Wudi to lower his prices, Tang San directly pulled out the bank card that Ning Fengzhi had given him when ordering hidden weapons.
"This card has 700,000 gold spirit coins remaining after giving Titan senior the 300,000. Since I won't need this money for now, I'll let you use it all, Titan senior. 700,000 should be enough to buy 70 third-level spirit guidance rays."
"No, Little San, how could I, the dignified clan leader of the Strength Clan, possibly take money from a child? Now I actually think your hidden weapons are much more useful than these spirit guidance devices."
Titan was deeply moved by Tang San's gesture. The young master truly had a kind heart, so similar to the old master's character—both were people who valued relationships and loyalty. The more Titan thought about it, the more moved he became, his emotions growing increasingly intense. Without realizing it, he half-knelt before Tang San, cupping his hands respectfully as he said:
"Thank you, young master."
"Young master? Old ape, you're actually calling a child your young master?"
Yang Wudi, who had been delighted to see the two reunited, was suddenly taken aback by this scene. His mind raced with thoughts of what could make the Breaking Clan leader kneel and call someone young master.
"Thud—"
Yang Wudi stomped his foot, cracking the ground beneath. His face was now filled with rage as he roared:
"No wonder he looked familiar to me! Surnamed Tang, and able to make you, old ape, bow down like this—he's that Tang Hao's son! And you, old ape, you're even helping him hide his identity! Both of you get out of here right now! The Breaking Clan doesn't welcome the Clear Sky Clan, and we certainly don't welcome anyone connected to Tang Hao!"
"Get out!"
Yang Wudi's spirit power erupted around him as he gripped his Soul Breaking Spear, speaking with fury.
Only then did Titan realize how serious his earlier behavior had been. He immediately stepped forward, raising his hand to placate:
"Old goat, I know about the disasters your Breaking Clan suffered, but those were matters of the older generation. They have nothing to do with Tang San."
"Precisely because they have nothing to do with him, Tang San—Tang Hao's son—can now stand before me."
Hearing this, Tang San could no longer hold back:
"Senior Yang, may I ask how exactly my father offended you? Why do you keep dwelling on my father's affairs?"
"Why? What did you say?"
Yang Wudi grew more agitated, pointing his Soul Breaking Spear directly at Tang San:
"It seems you don't know anything yet. Since that's the case, I'll tell you everything. Your father Tang Hao became enemies with Spirit Hall because of your mother. The Clear Sky Clan—your father's sect—chose to close themselves off and hide from the world, abandoning us four single-attribute clans in the process. My Breaking Clan lost more than half our members because of this, and for over ten years we've been surviving like ants, barely clinging to life."
"Tell me, shouldn't someone like your father die? It's because of him and the Clear Sky Clan that my Breaking Clan suffered such a tragic fate."
Just as Yang Wudi was about to continue, Titan roared with his ape-like lungs:
"Enough! He's still just a child! What's the point of making him know such hatred?"
"Old ape, your Strength Clan didn't suffer major losses when the Clear Sky Clan abandoned us, so naturally you can favor that Tang Hao. Even now, you can't change the fact that you call him master. Let me ask you this: after we four single-attribute clans were abandoned, didn't you still have thoughts of returning to the Clear Sky Clan?"
Titan answered Yang Wudi's question without hesitation: "No."
"Then why haven't you changed how you address him even now? You call his son young master, which means you definitely call him master."
Titan was completely stumped by Yang Wudi's question. For a moment, he didn't know how to respond. The Breaking Clan had most of their business in Heaven Dou City, so they hadn't suffered major losses when the Clear Sky Clan went into seclusion. And he did indeed still remember the Clear Sky Clan's kindness.
"What? Nothing to say? I hit the mark, didn't I?"
"Old goat, you've said enough! Hao'er was also a devoted man. At its root, all of this should be blamed on Spirit Hall. If they hadn't been so greedy, why would Hao'er have fought with them?"
Tang San, listening to what the two elders were discussing, only caught the general gist without many details. But one thing was clear: his father had done nothing wrong. While the Clear Sky Clan abandoning the four single-attribute clans was indeed problematic, it was essentially a sacrifice made to avoid dragging the single-attribute clans down with them. The root cause was Spirit Hall's greed for something his mother possessed, which ultimately led to the Breaking Clan's current situation.
"Old ape, you've finally revealed your deepest thoughts. There's nothing more to say between us. While I can still restrain myself from attacking, you'd better get out."
Seeing this, Titan was quite resentful. Why should the younger generation suffer for the mistakes of their predecessors?
"Young master, since the old goat doesn't welcome us, let's leave."
Titan turned around with a wave of his hand, taking Tang San back the way they came, angrily departing from the Falling Star Mountain Range.
As Yang Wudi's anger gradually subsided, he noticed Ignaz beside him:
"Alliance Leader, sorry you had to see that."
"No problem, this was all within reason. The Breaking Clan's hatred toward the Clear Sky Clan can't be easily resolved overnight with just words."
Ignaz wasn't surprised by Yang Wudi's performance. Given his relationship with the other three clans, not killing Tang San was already giving Tang Hao enough face. Unfortunately, after this incident, the relationship between the Strength Clan and Breaking Clan was basically shattered. This would make producing the outer shells and inner components for the spirit guidance devices rather troublesome—they'd have to go the long way to Gengxin City for manufacturing.
However, based on the current three batches that had been completed—a full 500 boxes of components—they had enough to assemble at least 260 third-level spirit guidance rays. These spirit guidance devices would be sufficient to equip the entire Breaking Clan.
Seeing this situation, Ignaz immediately took out seven immortal herbs: Eight Petal Immortal Orchid, Infernal Delicate Apricot, Black Jade Divine Bamboo, and others. Yang Wudi, already in a foul mood, completely changed his expression upon seeing so many immortal herbs, walking up to Ignaz with amazement:
"Alliance Leader, these are all extremely precious immortal herbs, once-in-a-century treasures! If I could use these immortal herbs for alchemy in this lifetime, I'd have no regrets."
Ignaz didn't waste words: "No need to think about it—these are all top-tier medicinal materials for your pill refinement."
"However, I have one requirement: don't refine them into pills until you're confident you can fully utilize their medicinal properties, so as not to waste these immortal herbs."
"Good, good, good! No problem, absolutely no problem!"
Yang Wudi's attention was already completely absorbed by the immortal herbs, and he only casually agreed to Ignaz's conditions.
"Alliance Leader, if there's nothing else, I'll go ahead and start refining medicine!"
Just as he was about to happily walk toward the medicine garden with several immortal herbs in his arms, the suddenly neglected Ignaz was somewhat speechless. Yang Wudi was indeed a medicine refining maniac—whenever he had precious medicinal herbs, he completely ignored everyone else and only focused on pill refinement.
For this reason, Ignaz took out another herb: entirely purple in color, with five or six crystal-like yellow fruits at the tip of its flower, emanating a heart-refreshing medicinal fragrance.
"Wait, why do I smell another extremely familiar medicinal scent?"
Yang Wudi turned around to look, his eyes wide as saucers, staring intently at what Ignaz held:
"This—this is Aromatic Silk Beauty, the supreme medicinal herb that can isolate all poisons in the world!!!"
Instantly, the few herbs in Yang Wudi's arms seemed less important. Immortal herbs could be found again, but Aromatic Silk Beauty, this poison-neutralizing herb, was extremely rare. Even if it cost him his life, Yang Wudi wouldn't hesitate for a moment.
His mind was already filled with visions of himself holding Aromatic Silk Beauty in his left hand, frantically refining pills around the medicine cauldron, laughing with delight.
"Senior Yang, Senior Yang..."
Ignaz called several times, but couldn't wake Yang Wudi from his maniacal laughter. He directly swept his leg, striking Yang Wudi's right leg heavily:
"Ah—"
Yang Wudi was jolted awake by the pain. Looking at Ignaz before him, he felt no anger, but instead looked at him with longing:
"Alliance Leader, wouldn't it be a waste to use Aromatic Silk Beauty for pill refinement? It's an object that grants immunity to all poisons, with extremely powerful poison-neutralizing effects. How about lending it to me? In the future, no matter what pills I refine, I'll have at least an eighty to ninety percent success rate."
"This supreme immortal herb was originally meant for you, so that in the future you won't have to suffer from the difficulty of dealing with medicinal toxins during pill refinement."
Hearing this, Yang Wudi was so moved that he half-knelt before Ignaz:
"Alliance Leader, I, Yang Wudi, will remember your great kindness to the Breaking Clan. In the future, the Breaking Clan will never disappoint your expectations and will do our utmost to refine better pills and poisons."
Seeing Yang Wudi's sincere half-kneel, Ignaz understood that the Breaking Clan would now be even more loyal to him.
He helped Yang Wudi up, solemnly placing the Aromatic Silk Beauty in his other hand:
"Since we share the same heart, I naturally won't mistreat my subordinates. Only when the Breaking Clan develops can our future sect be built better."
"Thank you, Alliance Leader."
Yang Wudi looked at Ignaz, who was forty or fifty years younger than him, with tears of gratitude. An unprecedented sense of honor slowly emerged from his heart.
"Go, strive to use the immortal herbs to refine a batch of finished pills as soon as possible."
"Yes."
Yang Wudi walked toward the medicine garden with high spirits, carefully protecting the living Aromatic Silk Beauty in his hands.
Ignaz had all the spirit guidance device components moved to the sect leader's courtyard where he lived. Taking out the spirit guidance device array cores he had inscribed in previous years, he began assembling the spirit guidance devices one by one.
Although this would be very tiring, it had to be done this way. Only thus could he ensure that the technology for the spirit guidance rays wouldn't fall into outsiders' hands. As for why he didn't teach the Breaking Clan, he had discussed this with Yang Wudi before—the Breaking Clan should focus solely on medicine refinement for now. After the sect was established in the future, detailed instruction would be given based on actual circumstances when training sect disciples.