After Ancestor Wenxuan finished speaking, she turned to look at the two Ancestor from the Zhang family and asked, “Do you two have any objections?”

Objections? Naturally, they had none.

The Han Ancestor had surrendered to save his life, willingly withdrawing from the secret realm and conceding development rights to the Qin family.

Moreover, with Ancestor Wenxuan’s chilling intent to kill them if they didn’t agree, it seemed that if they didn’t consent, she could just as easily strike them down as she did the Han Ancestor.

Already unsettled by the news that Ancestor Qin Wenxuan might be nearing peak foundational stage, the two Zhang family Ancestor were further pressured by the cold gaze of the younger Qin family member who had just reached foundational stage.

It seemed that any disagreement could lead to them being attacked alongside their elder.

Thinking of the immense benefits of the secret realm, they reluctantly acquiesced.

The head Ancestor of the Zhang family closed and reopened his eyes several times before finally unwillingly saying, “So be it…”

Thus, from that moment on, the development rights of the secret realm were divided into thirds, with the Qin family taking two portions.

The Qin family celebrated a great victory and returned joyfully to their ancestral grounds.

However, before they could fully celebrate, Ancestor Wenxuan announced with a pale face, “I will go into seclusion.”

“As for the development matters of the secret realm, it’s up to you to discuss and handle.”

“After this battle, the Zhang and Han families will fear our Qin family and dare not act recklessly again.”

The fiery hearts of the Qin family members were instantly cooled by these three statements from Ancestor Wenxuan.

Leaving those words behind, Ancestor Wenxuan said no more and went directly into seclusion.

The mood in the council chamber was somewhat solemn as everyone gathered.

The four senior elders who had been stationed at the secret realm for half a year finally returned to the clan.

One of them couldn’t help but ask in confusion, “What exactly happened? How did Qin Dexin quietly reach foundational stage? It startled me when she assisted the Ancestor earlier…”

Qin Deming sighed and, setting aside his worries about the Ancestor, explained everything from the discovery of the Four-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma in the medicinal garden to the Ancestor’s alchemy, and finally Qin Dexin’s advancement to foundational stage.

The expressions of the four senior elders shifted from amazement to realization, and finally, they sighed, saying, “So that’s what happened.”

They looked somewhat strangely at Qin Deming. “Clan Leader, I didn’t expect you to have such magnanimity, actually willing to give up the opportunity to obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill…”

Qin Deming’s beard twitched slightly, clearly caught off guard.

How was he supposed to respond to that? Should he say that if he wasn’t lacking in strength, he wouldn’t have been willing to give it up either?

But that was just how the four senior elders were — straightforward in their speech.

Besides the elder, there was no one in the Qin family they wouldn’t jest with.

However, despite his straightforward manner, the four senior elders were meticulous and cautious in their actions, which was why they had been sent to guard the reciprocal secret realm in the first place.

Ignoring their comments, Qin Deming moved on, asking, “So, how are things today? Why did the Zhang and Han families willingly relinquish half of the development rights to the secret realm?”

One of the four senior elders raised an eyebrow and glanced at him. “What choice did they have? The situation forced their hand. Just like how they once jointly blocked us from entering the reciprocal secret realm, now the tables have turned.”

“Previously, because of Ancestor’s injuries, she could only display mid-foundation stage strength at most. Now it appears that this was just right. They thought Ancestor’s strength was only mid-foundation stage, but they didn’t expect her to unleash her full power in an instant — reaching Peak Foundation Building stage…”

“Peak Foundation Building Stage, heh, that really scared them! And with little Dexin also reaching foundation building stage, they must be trembling in fear, wondering if our Qin family still has a third foundation cultivator hidden away! Let them speculate!”

Qin Deming nodded.

The fear the Zhang and Han families now held towards the Qin family would give them some time to recuperate.

However, another worry crossed his mind, “The Ancestor’s injury…” It was a major issue.

His expression turned serious. “We must expedite the development of the secret realm, see if we can find some spiritual herbs inside to help the Ancestor recover from her injuries…”

On the other hand, Qin Ruqing had also learned from her own mother that the Qin family had gained half of the development rights to the secret realm.

However, as a consequence, the Ancestor was now seriously injured and in seclusion, with no certainty of when she would emerge.

After hearing this, Qin Ruqing sighed, feeling oddly uncomfortable.

The Ancestor truly devoted herself to the Qin family…

Quickly, Qin Ruqing adjusted her thoughts.

The cultivation world was a place where “lagging behind means getting beaten”.

This time, if it weren’t for the addition of a foundation building cultivator to the Qin family and the Ancestor’s formidable strength, the outcome might have been the Qin family being expelled from the secret realm.

The Qin family’s foundation was still somewhat weak; they needed to use the system to upgrade as soon as possible.

By the way, Qin Ruqing was also somewhat shocked by the true strength of the Ancestor being at the perfect foundation building stage.

She couldn’t help but imagine that achieving such a level in the Southern Ridge County was indeed a high level of cultivation.

On one hand, it showed that the Ancestor was a genuine genius, with talent and qualifications that were at least mid to high-level Silver-grade, if not Gold-grade.

On the other hand, it seemed that the Qin family might indeed have some background.

What was said before about the Qin family’s ancestors having been glorious might not have been mere boasting…

Setting aside these thoughts, Qin Ruqing began to focus on checking the rewards from the system settlement this time.

To her surprise, the prosperity value of the clan had surged forward again.

During the clan inspection earlier, Qin Ruqing’s Gold-grade aptitude and Qin Qirong’s Silver-grade aptitude had added 60 points to this prosperity value.

This had alleviated Qin Ruqing’s crisis of imminent death at the time.

However, Qin Ruqing later discovered that, after that wave, the clan’s prosperity value had actually been steadily decreasing…

Although it was dropping slowly, at this rate, she still had concerns about her future.

So, Qin Ruqing had been anxious all along.

However, regardless of what she did later, the system only rewarded her with points for side tasks, and the clan’s prosperity value remained unchanged.

Until this time, the system unexpectedly deviated from its usual behavior and generously added 40 points to her prosperity value.

Combined with the original 60 points, it now reached 100 points, already filling up the second bar of the progress bar.

This made Qin Ruqing feel a great relief.

The two full bars of progress gave her a great sense of security.

Analyzing it, she attributed this increase in prosperity value to Aunt Dexin’s foundational cultivation.

With one more foundation building cultivator in the Qin family, it was equivalent to having another top-level combat force.

In the cultivation world where strength represented everything, this was crucial.

Therefore, the system’s addition of 40 points to her prosperity value was reasonable and justified.

In addition to the prosperity value, the side task of “Increase the prestige of Clan Leader Qin Deming” also made progress.

Qin Ruqing nodded; this was within her expectations.

She had previously reminded her father to actively reconcile with Aunt Dexin and give up the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Now that Aunt Dexin had successfully reached foundation building stage, her father had probably consolidated his power and naturally gained more prestige.

With the advancement of side tasks and progress in prosperity value, the system not only rewarded her with points but also gave her an additional chance to draw from the shop lottery.

Rubbing her hands together, Qin Ruqing thought… it was time for an exciting lottery draw again.

Accumulating points was too slow, and waiting to exchange things from the shop would take who knows how long. But with a lottery draw… maybe she could turn things around.

Though being a gambler wasn’t respectable, the excitement was real!

With a solemn expression, Qin Ruqing bathed and changed her clothes, burned incense and purified herself…

In short, she went through all the mystical practices she had heard of.

After completing all this, she finally tightened her face and crisply said to the system, “System, initiate the lottery draw!”

Show me the good stuff!

The system flashed white light, and a line of text slowly appeared on the screen.

“[Restorative Pill x3]”

Qin Ruqing’s face turned dark.

Restorative Pill?? The most basic pill in this trashy game of the first family??

Even in the real cultivation world, the Restorative Pill was still the most basic type of recovery pill.

She was still in the Qi Refining Period, hadn’t gone out for training, so what use were these three Restorative Pills to her?

Dizzy, Qin Ruqing collapsed onto the bed.

Indeed, without saving the world, the light of hope only briefly shone in the last moment.

She was essentially just an ultimate and invincible little black hand…

Being a gambler truly had no future!

Damn it!