Chapter : 42 : Engagement Promise Cancellation : ( Part : 1 ) :
Location : Yu Shan Kingdom : The Feather City :
At this moment outside the usually empty streets of the feather city a huge caravan was parked in a row .
This was not a usual trade caravan that came to the city to trade for their feather craft .
After all the mayor of the city himself was standing at the gate to welcome these people .
" Welcome to our small feather City estimed guests from Xiao clan . Please forgive us for this modest welcome . " - the mayor of the city came forward and quickly greeted the guests .
From his introduction it became clear that these people were non other than the group led by Xiao Lin the first elder of the Xiao clan .
It took them 6 days at their speed to arrive at the feather City from Glory City .
Obviously if they had used there cultivation strength they could have arrived here in a matter of a minutes .
But they didn't do that because this was a personal diplomatic meeting not a battle field .
There are various informal rules and regulations that needed to be followed before their arrival .
For example at least 2 days before the arriving side must give a notice to the one's they are going to meet .
Here in this case it was the Xiao clan who had to send a message to the Zhau clan before their group arrived at the feather city .
But even after delivering the message the first elder made sure to take her time while travelling .
This was not because of her laziness as she was one of the most eager person who just wanted to get this entire ordeal over with .
But some other incidents had to take her time .
As said before the area had scene a rize in dark cultivator activities in recent months .
And even though it was almost suppressed by the forces of the mythical Dragon sect and the Xiao clan, the people in question are still a little shaken up .
So in order to increase the morale among the people and reassert the dominance and name of the Xiao clan the first elder decided to visit through various towns and cities while going towards the Zhau clan .
She made sure to visit the areas and the villages which were most affected by the dark cultivators and assure everyone that the Xiao clan was always there for their safety .
At the same time she also took out a lot of resources to give to the local population .
It was to help them rebuild their lost farmlands and other material losses , so that they can restart their life again .
It would show to the people that they were not just giving them empty promises .
In fact this idea was proposed by the clan head Xiao Fang himself .
He wanted the first elder to make this visit long because this could allow them to connect with the people on the ground .
And by helping them in their need it will also strengthen the clan's position as the supreme power of the area .
At the same time this also had another reason to it .
And that reason was actually proposed by the fourth elder Xiao Fu .
By delaying the visit to the Zhao clan for almost around a week after sending the message of that arrival it would put indirect pressure on the Zhau clan .
This should that they were the one at the control and everything will be done under their terms .
It's a silent tactic but a most commonly used one .
If the other side was equally strong or more important then this tactic would have been a double aged sword as such delays would be seen with the eyes of an insult .
But in this situation it was a very good show of power for the Zhau clan who were indirectly told to know their limits .
And at the same time a message for the Gu clan so that they don't have any ideas of interfering in this matter .
" It's quite alright Mr Mayor . We are here only for the day . " - Xiao Lin who was at front of the group spoke up as she politely declined the invitation given to them .
To be honest she had no intentions of staying in this place more than she is needed .
Afterall much more important matters are awaiting at the clan for her take part in .
" If that's your decision first elder than I can only accept it but please do tell me if you need anything . " - the mayor of the city seeing that he had no way of convincing the first elder to stay quietly gave up .
He always understood that while he asked the first elder to stay in the city for a while it was not going to happen .
After all the feather city was just a small city with no real attraction for such big shots to come in and stay .
Normally people of her standard would not even look at a small city like the feather City .
But this time things were a little different and as the mayor of the city obviously knew the reason for such a sudden visit from the Xiao clan .
' Hehe ! It seems that the luck of those arrogant Zhao clan people is about to get a huge blow again . ' - the mayor gave a small smirk of approval in his mind .
Yes ! everyone in the City even the commoners knew the reason for this sudden visit by the Xiao clan had certainly something to do with the engagement promise with the Zhau clan .
And considering the fact that the Young Master of the Zhau clan had lost his cultivation talents .
Certainly the Xiao clan isn't here to visit there in law's house .
If anything everyone clearly understood that this trip was certainly about the engagement promise cancellation .
Well to be honest the mayor had no sympathy for the Zhau clan.
It was because since the talent of Zhau Xuan was discovered along with the news of the engagement promise the attitude of the Zhau clan had been very bad towards others .
They did not even consider his face as the mayor before starting to cause trouble with the other clans in the area .
Normally such direct violation would be followed by a punishment or action against the clan but since the rise of the reputation of the Zhau clan especially their name being connected with the Xiao clan the mayor could not do anything .
The one thing that people must understand in this situation is that while often the clans holds the most power in the city it is the mayor who is the real incharge of the administrative functions .
They are not cultivators from any Clan but they are actually civilian authority selected by the royal families to administrate the city on their name .
Imfact the position of a Mayor and such civilian administrative positions are not hereditary .
And it is entirely a job like system where they will be chosen to look over a city for a specific period of time .
And while they are send to monitor and administer the city they are given a force by royal government .
These forces are specifically given for their protection and to manage some less than subordinate cultivation clans .
This process are specialised to suppress rebellions and work with the clans in the City to fight outside enemy invasion or at least hold them long enough for reinforcements to come .
However due to the vast territories of the Yu Shan Kingdom the number of soldiers and resources given to the mayors are limited .
So sometimes this forces are vastly insufficient to totally dominate their position over the local cultivation clans .
And this was exactly the case for the feather city .
Well normally with the help of the Su clan they should have been strong enough to deal with the Zhau clan .
However both of them feared any counter interference by the Xiao clan .
Because with their influence and power removing a small clan like the Su clan and a mayor of a small city like the feather city is just as easy as blinking their eyes .
Moreover if they failed to decisively defeat the Zhau clan in one go and the young talented Zhao Xuan with his cultivation talent will certainly surpassed in the future .
And at that time they would most likely become his target of vengeance .
But now with Zhau Xuan lossing his talents that the second possibility was gone .
And now it seems even the Xiao clan wants to cancel the engagement promise so they don't have anything to fear about the Zhau clan anymore .
With that thought the mayor led the first elder and her people inside the city .
The city itself was decorated in every corner for this event with many people standing around the road side with flowers in their hands to welcome the guests from the Xiao clan .
" Wow ! look at them they look so dignified and strong nothing like the clans here . "
" Hehe ! what do you expect they are from the Xiao clan the strongest in our Kingdom . So obviously they are far ahead . "
" Wait that must be the first elder Xiao Lin right ? she looks really young for her age . "
" You really need to work on your speaking habit young man you don't talk about a ladies age like that . "
" Well ! Aside from that do you think their here to cancel the engagement promise with the Zhau clan . "
" Duh ! Obviously why else would they be here . "
" Exactly ! if even after all this the engagement promise goes through I will go round the town giving away free meals to everyone for an entire day . "
" Hahaha ! Well for your wallet's sake I hope you are right . "
Such discussions were going on among the people watching the caravan pass through .
But even in their conversation it was quite clear to see that not many held any good faith towards the Zhau clan .
And most of them understood that today might be one of the saddest day for the Zhau clan .
" Welcome to our small City respected first elder Xiao Lin . " - at this moment suddenly a group of people who were standing in front of the road came forward .
This group of people were led by a middle aged man who had a big scar on his left cheek .
" Oh ! If I may ask who are you gentlemen ? " - the elder who was standing beside the first elder who forward asked .
" Oh my ! How irresponsible of me not to introduce myself first . " - hearing this question the man gave a awkward smile understanding his fault .
" Allow me to introduce myself I am Su Yuze the leader of the Su clan and it would be my greatest honour if the first elder excepts the small gifts I have brought today . "
The middle aged man who now was introduced to be the leader of the Su clan gave a respectful bow as the elders standing behind him came forward with the gifts .
The moment he was informed by the mayor that the people from the Xiao clan had arrived outside the city gates he quickly formed a core group of elders and went outside to meet them .
After all who wouldn't want to have some good connections with such powerful figures .
However one interesting thing to notice here is that while the mayor informed the Su clan about the Xiao Clan's arrival , they didn't say anything to the Zhau clan .
This was a deliberate action so that Zhau clan would be the last one to know of the matter and by the time they come it would be too late .
Obviously even the first elder who saw the absence of the Zhau clan understood the situation very well .
All though it was a little irritating but still this local elites could be of some help to them when she cancels the engagement promise .
With that she gave a nod of approval to the elder beside him who then came forward with some people to accept the gifts .
Seeing that their gifts were accepted the Su clan were truly glad and released a secret sigh of relief .
" Well then ! I won't disturb you anymore but please if you have time then do come to our small clan before leaving the city . " - with his part done Su Yuze quickly move the way after giving a polite invitation .
After all the real show was about to begin at the Zhao clan .
To Be Continued .