Chapter 214: The Secret That Year

Out of everyone that Ling Yun had interacted with, other than Miao Xiaomiao, Xiao Meimei, and the deceased Xuan Jiu, only the Nine-tailed Fox Xiao Bai was a cultivator.

But, regardless of Xiaomiao or Xiao Meimei or even the deceased Xuan Jiu, they could not even reach the level of cultivation. Strictly speaking, they were only adept in martial arts.

That is to say, they could only be called elites in martial arts at best, but they were not cultivators.

Now that he heard Cao Shanshan say that she had cultivators at home, and quite a number of them, he could not help but feel emotional.

Looking at Ling Yun’s stunned expression, Cao Shanshan’s eyes shone brightly as both of her cheeks rounded up in a smile. Glancing at him, she thought to herself, “I’ve surprised you this time at least!”

Cao Shanshan pondered for a while. In her heart, she constructed her thoughts into words seriously, then imagined writing “Dummy” on his handsome face as she laughed.

“We have many families here in China that are Worldly Families or Unworldly Families. For Unworldly Families, they’re also called the Hidden Families. Hidden Families usually come from the Traditional China Lineage. These families usually have descendants that focus on cultivating the Traditional Arts. In terms of combat abilities, the Worldly Families can’t be compared with the Hidden Families…

“But Traditional Arts Families are usually hidden away from the world, and many of their descendants spend all their time to indulge themselves in cultivating the Traditional Arts. So even though they have many skilled martial artists in their families, Traditional Arts Families cannot compete against the power and influence that Worldly Families like ours have developed.

“Of course, those from the Traditional Arts Families are unconcerned with the power and wealth in this world. What they pursue is simply the path to become the strongest, and they only focus on cultivation…”

Up to this point, Ling Yun nodded thoughtfully because he himself was such a person. Other than training endlessly to become stronger, he was completely unconcerned with power and wealth from the bottom of his heart.

He asked casually, “What about the Worldly Families then?”

Cao Shanshan smiled knowingly. “For the large families that have entered the world of China, there are far too many. As long as these families have power, money, and authority and they can thrive for at least three generations, they are considered Worldly Families.

“But even with power, money, and authority, they can only be considered a regular Worldly Family. They’re still far from becoming a true Influential Family. Influential Families must meet another two conditions: First, someone in the family must have a position in the government; secondly, they must have the recognition and support of a Traditional Arts Family or someone from a Hidden family!

“These two conditions determine if a family can be a Influential Family in this world, and both must be fulfilled!

“And as for the number of families that have fulfilled these conditions in this world, Yan Jing has seven Influential Families, and my Cao Family is one of the seven Influential Families. So yes, we do train cultivators like you…”

Cao Shanshan was undoubtedly one of the elites from the city’s seven Influential Families. In just the span of a few minutes, she helped Ling Yun grasp the workings of the elite families in China’s golden networking pyramid.

Ling Yun quickly internalised the information that Cao Shanshan had just provided him using his top-class memory. Soon after, he quickly asked, “It seems like you actually know some martial arts too. Did you learn it from those cultivators? What level are they at?”

Cao Shanshan smiled abashedly. “Those little moves that I showed then are probably nothing in your eyes. I just learned it out of interest from a specialist who was at pinnacle of Houtian Stage Level 2 for two years, that’s all.”

Ling Yun thought to himself that it was no wonder that her martial arts were so lousy. So it was because she learned from someone as lousy as Xuan Jiu. It sounded like something that she simply learned on a whim without any real effort.

Cao Shanshan continued, “As to their actual levels, I only know that the experts are sorted into Houtian and Xiantian Realms. I don’t know if there are any higher levels, but I heard that those experts at Xiantian Realm are really terrifying!”

“For the seven Influential Families in Yan Jing, each family has at least one or two Xiantian level experts with them. But I heard my Grandfather say that because the Ling family met with a huge calamity eighteen years ago, they drove away the Xiantian expert in their family. And in that incident, they lost two… or maybe three of their largest and strongest Hidden Family supporters. So, even though the Lin family is still one of the seven Influential Families, they are also the family that is struggling the most. If it weren’t for the pinnacle Houtian Stage Level 9 expert supporting the Ling family tirelessly, their family would have been excommunicated from the seven Influential Families a long time ago…”

“According to my grandfather, that incident was a huge issue at the time, and it involved all of the Hidden Families and Worldly Families in China. That year, if the Ling family had not attained support from Yan Jing’s strongest family, the Long family, the entire family would have definitely been eliminated…”

Cao Shanshan paused dramatically for a while, then continued to reveal the details of her story, “At the time, it was undoubtedly a stormy year for us in China, because at the same time when the Ling family ran into trouble, the largest Hidden Family, the Qin family from Southern China also faced a huge calamity. It was such a huge issue, even comparable to that of the Lin family!”

Cao Shanshan told the story with a lot of flavor, and Ling Yun who was at the side listening suddenly had a dramatic change in his expression!

Ling family? Qin family? These 2 family names sounded so familiar!

Ling Yun thought about this at hyper-speed. In his heart, he had a sudden revelation of sorts, but on his face, he tried to keep his expression calm as he asked Cao Shanshan, “Ling family? What do you mean?”

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Ling Yun suddenly cut into the story while Cao Shanshan was still in the middle of her sentence, causing her to turn and look at him in a distraught manner. A pair of large bright eyes lit up, staring back at him!

Cao Shanshan stared at Ling Yun as though she had seen a ghost. “Aiya, I was only focused on telling my story. I can’t believe I forgot your family name is Ling too!”

But Cao Shanshan ran the idea through her head again and thought, “How could there be such a coincidence in this world?” Giggling slightly, she extended each of her fingers as she counted, “I’ll tell you now, amongst the 7 Influential Families in Yan Jing, there’s the Long, Ling, Cao, Chen, Sun, Ye, and Li families…”

Ling Yun did not have the patience to listen to this. Waving his hand impatiently, he cut into Cao Shanshan’s mundane listing and hurriedly asked, “Then, do you know what happened between the Ling and Qin families that year?”

Cao Shanshan was interrupted rudely by her beloved. With her charming lashes, she glanced at Ling Yun and said, “How would I know that? Those are absolute secrets. Even my grandfather wouldn’t tell me about it. If such things were to spread outside, the lightest consequence would be being assassinated, and the worst would be getting my entire family eliminated and massacred!”

Ling Yun listened up till the most important part, and seeing that Cao Shanshan did not know anything about it, he was just about to use some methods to coax more information out of Cao Shanshan. Suddenly, her phone began to ring.

Cao Shanshan held onto the railing behind her with one hand while she took out the handphone from her purse that was sitting on top of her legs. With only a glance at the caller ID, she furrowed her eyebrows and pressed the reject button immediately.

Ling Yun asked slyly, “Why aren’t you picking up? Is it someone from your family asking you to go back?”

Cao Shanshan frowned. “It’s my cousin. This entire month, he’s been calling me everyday as though he’s gone mad! It’s driving me crazy!”

Ling Yun chuckled. “Cousin? Don’t tell me he has fallen in love with you and wants to marry you.”

As the saying goes, a cousin is as distant as 3000 miles. For her cousin to be courting her, it really was easier for him to succeed.

Cao Shanshan said, “Hmph” in a delicate manner, but did not retort in any other way. She was already an 18-year old woman, and her thoughts were incomparably intelligent. Even without thinking about it, she knew what her cousin was planning.

With a pair of eyes shining brightly at Ling Yun, Cao Shanshan said delicately, “He’s someone from the city from the Chen family. 3 years ago, he went to United States and never returned. I don’t know why, but he’s been harassing me this entire month…”

At this time, even before she could put down her phone, it began to ring again. Evidently, the man that was still in the United States had yet to give up.

Cao Shanshan irritably hmphed again coldly. Using her slender snow-white fingers, she tapped on the pick-up button, then coldly stated, “I’ve told you so many times, stop calling me and harassing me already, alright? I’m busy preparing for my college examinations!”

From the time school ended till then, half an hour had already passed. It was 9pm at night, and most of the lights in the classrooms on the teaching floor were already turned off. Many students had already left for home for the vacation, and the field was dark and quiet.

Thus, Ling Yun could hear the voice from Cao Shanshan’s phone loud and clear.

Of course, because of Ling Yun’s current hearing ability, even if there were a hundred people pounding drums around the both of them, he would still be able to hear the conversation clearly.

From the phone, a man using an unusually feminine voice said, “Shanshan, I’m about to board the flight back home, so I’m calling to tell you first…”

China and United States had a twelve hour time difference. Right now, it was 9 AM in the morning in the United States.

Hearing this, Cao Shanshan froze for a moment, then asked as her brows furrowed further. “Whether or not you come back here has nothing to do with me! Will you please stop calling me already? If you keep doing this, I’ll change my number!”

On the other end of the call, he smiled in a feminine manner. “Dearest Shanshan, I’m only flying over because of you. How can you talk to your cousin like this? Furthermore, since I could find your number now, I can find your new number too…”

Hearing this, Ling Yun immediately frowned and thought that even though his voice was really feminine, his tone was really unreasonable. Reading between the lines, Ling Yun felt that it seemed as though he was threatening Cao Shanshan.

Cao Shanshan’s face turned a shade whiter. First, she turned to look at Ling Yun who was beside her; then, biting her lower lip, she fell deep into thought for a while and coldly replied, “I’ve been talking like this all along. I won’t change my number, but I’m preparing for my college exams now. Please stop calling or harassing me before my exams are over, alright?”

Cao Shanshan actually wanted to say that she already had a boyfriend, but thinking again, she realised that first of all, Ling Yun had not officially said that he was her boyfriend. Secondly, she was worried that Ling Yun would not be able to handle this cousin of hers, so she decided not to say it in the end.

Cao Shanshan’s cousin said, “Alright then. After I get home, I’ll be busy for 2 months too. I’ll wait for your exams to end then… Bye!” At least he did not drag the conversation on.

Ling Yun stared at Cao Shanshan who was still frowning after the call ended and laughed, “Seems like this cousin of yours is quite amazing, he seems to have everything planned in advance…”

Cao Shanshan was frustrated to no end, and her mood was completely obvious. Rolling her eyes, she looked at Ling Yun and said delicately, “Hmph, if it weren’t for you…”