Three days later, the Qin family clan meeting was held as scheduled.

Such a high-level clan meeting was very important and was only held once a month by the Qin family to discuss significant matters.

Usually, the clan leader convened these meetings—rightfully so, as he was the routine initiator of the clan gatherings.

However, there were special situation; if urgent matters arose, the elders could also initiate the meeting.

Additionally, there was a unique case where the Ancestor could call a clan meeting anytime.

Today’s clan meeting was special because it was initiated by the Ancestor.

Because the Ancestor had summoned it, everyone attended.

All the elders, members of the main house, the second house, the third house…

There weren’t many people, but they were the elite core members of the Qin family.

Qin Deming arrived a bit late.

When he got there, the meeting hall was almost full, with people quietly drinking tea or talking in low voices.

The atmosphere was very calm.

Qin Deming looked ahead, feeling a bit uneasy because he was followed by a little girl—Qin Ruqing.

Qin Deming only found out in the morning that Qingqing would be coming to the clan meeting with him.

When he asked why, Qin Ruqing confidently said, “The Ancestor asked me to go.”

“The matter the Ancestor will announce today is related to me,” she added intentionally.

This left Qin Deming feeling very anxious, wondering what matter concerning Qingqing was so important that it warranted a clan meeting.

As he took his seat, he thought of telling Qingqing to stand behind him since she didn’t have an official seat.

But to his surprise, the little girl took out a small stool from her storage bag and boldly placed it next to his seat, sitting down confidently.

Qin Deming felt helpless…

This girl was always so thick-skinned, and she managed to sit calmly in such a setting.

Oh well, he thought, let’s see what this is about.

Qin Deming bringing Qin Ruqing to the meeting naturally attracted attention from others.

They were surprised but didn’t say anything.

Since Qin Deming dared to do this without fearing the Ancestor’s reprimand, he must have had his reasons.

Qin Dehao, sitting opposite Qin Deming, glanced in his direction with a mocking smile, curious to see what trick he was playing.

Qin Dexin, now elevated to the position of the fifth elder, sat in a prominent spot.

This was due to her status as an elder and because she was one of the only two people in the clan, besides the Ancestor, who had reached the Foundation Establishment stage, making her position extraordinary.

Qin Dexin sat with a cold expression, hugging her sword, looking indifferent.

Everyone had different thoughts, and after a while, the Ancestor finally appeared.

Everyone stood up, watching as Ancestor Wenxuan, dressed in a white robe and wearing a jade pendant carved with the Qin family emblem at her waist, walked to the central seat at the head of the hall and sat down.

Ancestor Wenxuan raised her hand and said in a calm voice, “Sit down.”

The clan meeting thus began.

The Ancestor had no intention of beating around the bush or making any polite small talk.

She got straight to the point: “The reason I called you here today is for one matter… my strength has a chance to be restored to the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.”

What!

Everyone in the hall looked at the Ancestor in unison, almost jumping out of their seats in shock.

Everyone jumped up.

They knew the Ancestor must have had something important to say, but they never expected it to be this significant.

Whether the Ancestor could restore her peak strength was indeed a matter of life and death for the Qin family’s development and survival!

The Grand Elder managed to maintain his composure and, holding back his excitement, asked, “Ancestor, has your injury healed?”

However, the Ancestor shook her head.

What?

How could this be?

If the injury wasn’t healed, how could the Ancestor’s strength be restored to its peak?

The Ancestor explained, “The injury hasn’t healed yet, but I’ve found a heavenly treasure that can greatly alleviate it, the Heart of Frigid Ice.”

Everyone was first astonished and then understood.

It was the Heart of Frigid Ice.

Most of the Qin family elders knew that the Ancestor needed two extremely precious heavenly treasures to heal her injury.

One of them, the Dual Ice-Fire Grass, was guarded by a Golden Core stage beast, making it too difficult to obtain with the current strength of the Qin family.

The other treasure, the Heart of Frigid Ice, was incredibly rare and well-hidden.

Now, the Ancestor said that the Heart of Frigid Ice had been found.

How could this not excite them?

Everyone leaned forward, ready to offer a barrage of congratulations, but the Ancestor raised her hand, causing them to swallow their words.

They decided to wait for the Ancestor to finish speaking.

The Ancestor calmly dropped a bombshell: “The person who found the Heart of Frigid Ice for me is Qin Ruqing.”

Silence… absolute silence.

In the midst of the silence, the Ancestor continued with complete calmness: “One day while meditating, I received a revelation that the Heart of Frigid Ice was in our Qin family’s Secret Realm.

However, the Secret Realm is vast, and the Heart of Frigid Ice is adept at hiding, so I instructed Qin Ruqing to search for it.”

“She possesses the Perfect Innate Body, extremely sensitive and compatible with spiritual energy, making her the best candidate to find the Heart of Frigid Ice. And Qin Ruqing did not disappoint, successfully finding the Heart of Frigid Ice in Mirror Lake for me.”

“You all know what happened afterward… that day, Qingqing had just woken up from her severe injuries. Since it wasn’t confirmed whether she had found the Heart of Frigid Ice, I didn’t explain clearly.”

Everyone was silent.

They indeed knew what happened next.

Qin Ruqing had unfortunately encountered Zhang Li, who had sneaked into the Secret Realm.

After battling Zhang Li and severely injuring him, she also collapsed.

No wonder the Ancestor had said that he sent Qin Ruqing to Mirror Lake that day but was vague about the reason.

It was for the Heart of Frigid Ice.

Such an important item should indeed only be announced after confirmation.

Everything connected, cause and effect, logical and reasonable.

Everyone sighed inwardly, understanding that the Ancestor mentioning Qin Ruqing finding the Heart of Frigid Ice in front of them likely meant she was going to be richly rewarded.

This was only right.

She had indeed done a great service and had been seriously injured because of it.

Although she had fully recovered, thanks to her special physique, her achievements should not be overlooked just because she healed quickly.

Reward and compensation were indeed deserved.

Everyone had their own thoughts, while Qin Ruqing sat on her small stool, chin raised, back straight, appearing to sit properly but secretly holding back laughter inside.

“Meditating one day… received a revelation,” she thought. “My goodness, this sounds exactly like something I would say.”

‘Do you mean that you, Ancestor, also find this reason convenient? Or is it a common practice in the cultivation world to use ‘one day I received a revelation’ when there’s something inconvenient to explain?’Qin Ruqing pondered silently.

Moreover, the Ancestor was a master of words.

In reality, Qin Ruqing had told the Ancestor that she could sense the location of heavenly treasures, but the Ancestor had rephrased it to attribute everything to her innate perfect body, emphasizing her spirit body’s sensitivity to spiritual energy to detect anomalies.

Although both explanations sounded similar, the latter was of a much higher rarity and peculiarity.

The Ancestor said it this way to protect her.

While Qin Ruqing analyzed this in her mind, she noticed her father turning his head, looking at her with a jaw-dropped expression.

Why are you so shocked?

Qin Ruqing pretended to be confused as she looked back at him.

Qin Deming felt helpless.

This silly child probably didn’t understand yet.

People weren’t shocked that she found the Heart of Frigid Ice but that the Ancestor mentioned it during the clan meeting.

This was a clan meeting! Bringing up this matter meant rewarding her greatly!

As expected, the Ancestor continued, “Since Qin Ruqing successfully helped me find the Heart of Ice and was seriously injured because of it, she deserves a significant reward.”

“She reported to me that there is a large ice cave formed by ten-thousand-year-old profound ice at the bottom of Mirror Lake, where she found the Heart of Ice.”

“Since she found it, I’ve decided that the ownership of this ice cave will belong to Qin Ruqing.

However, according to clan rules, the clan still has the right to develop and use this ice cave.

Clan members can continue to train there, but the cave’s produce belongs to Qin Ruqing.

If anyone in the clan needs anything from the cave, they must negotiate with Qin Ruqing.”

Everyone was stunned: ?!

What, awarding the ownership of an ice cave directly?

They had anticipated that the Ancestor would reward Qin Ruqing generously, but the extent of the reward far exceeded their expectations.

That was a ten-thousand-year-old profound ice cave!

Ordinary ten-thousand-year-old profound ice had the effect of calming the mind and assisting in cultivation, and an ice cave formed by such ice would have even greater benefits!

Although it wasn’t as valuable as a stalactite spirit cave, its preciousness couldn’t be measured by ordinary spirit stones.

And now, the Old Ancestor had awarded the entire ice cave to Qin Ruqing?!

Moreover, not only the ice cave but also all its produce would belong to Qin Ruqing.

If anyone needed anything from the cave, they would have to negotiate with her?

This meant that all the visible and hidden benefits were truly in her hands.

Qin Deming, as her father, was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped.

This… the Ancestor was so generous that even he felt overwhelmed.

Although he was pleased, wouldn’t the clan members oppose this?

Indeed, the Grand Elder cautiously raised a point, “Ancestor, this move might be somewhat against the rules!”

The Grand Elder’s comment was appropriate and echoed the thoughts of many present.

Every family had its rules.

It wasn’t typical for a clan member to discover something and claim it as their own.

Normally, such discoveries were shared with the clan.

After reporting to the family, the family would verify and then exchange it for contribution points, giving rewards.

But now, the ancestor had indirectly given all the rights to the ice cave to Qin Ruqing.

These people looked eagerly at the ancestor, hoping for a reasonable explanation.

The ancestor did explain.

She asked in return, “How is it not following the rules?

Can’t the Qin family still develop and use this ice cave?

Even if Qin Ruqing handed over this ice cave to the Qin family, couldn’t I then reward it back to her?

The greater the contribution, the greater the reward. Or do you think that Qin Ruqing finding the Heart of Frigid Ice for me doesn’t deserve such a reward?”

Everyone was silent.

This straightforward questioning was really hitting them hard!

It was like the ancestor was asking: Do you think my importance is less than an ice cave?

Of course, she was more important.

It could be said that the ancestor was the most important person in the Qin family.

Now, thinking carefully, rewarding an ice cave to restore the ancestor’s power to its peak didn’t seem unreasonable…

Moreover, the ancestor wasn’t being overly harsh.

She left a bottom line: the Qin family could still develop and use the ice cave, and the family members could still benefit.

So, in this sense, it wasn’t completely against the rules…

Qin Ruqing sat on a small stool, happily watching the expressions of these people.

So, these dignified elders acted like scaredy-cats in front of the ancestor.

Look at Second Uncle’s face, it had at least three different colors.

The Great Elder stopped opposing, probably unable to argue with the ancestor and gradually yielding.