The elders of the Lian clan watched in anticipation as they waited for their patriarch to speak.

"Elder Ruanjian will head to the Millennium forest.

" Lian Dajian spoke.

"But… Lian Xiaojian shall accompany you.

" He added.

The elders were surprised, and Elder Ruanjian was even more so. Everyone knew that first son of the patriarch was rather lazy and didn't like to leave his personal palace. In fact, many didn't even know what he did there.

If it were not for the fact that the first son still had some talent for cultivation and didn't slack completely in that aspect, they would have just considered him a waste. Though one aspect the first son lacked in that the elders of the Lian clan disliked the most was business ambitions.

If it were not for the fact that Lian Xiaojian looked very similar to the patriarch, the elders would have, even though if the Patriarch had been cuckolded. For the Lian Dajian was considered to have the greatest business talent and had taken the Lian clan to new heights.

And yet, his first son lacked that. Other than his appearance, there were few things that were similar between the patriarch and his son.

Though, unlike the elders, the siblings of Lian Xiaojian were very happy with it all. To them, as long as Lian Xiaojian kept doing what he was doing, they would have a better chance at getting the position of the patriarch.

Lian Dajian had very clearly stated in the past that the position of the heir of the Lian clan shall only be handed to the offspring who brought the biggest profits to the clan. One didn't even need to be talented in cultivation for this, either.

And since he didn't specify that it needed to be a male child, even the sisters of Lian Xiaojian did their very best to work and learn. Since they could one day become the head of the clan too.

Many of Lian Dajian's daughters dreamed of becoming the first matriarch of the Lian clan since so far there had been none. Out of the six patriarchs the Lian clan has had till now, all of them were men.

The daughters of the clan were instead used as tools for more profit, often being married of in business deals. This was something even the current daughters dreaded, and they certainly did not want to get married to some slob just because of that.

They would rather do their best to learn and bright the best business they could to the Lian clan.

Even the patriarch was fine with it and had tacitly said that the daughters who could bring good profit to the clan, even if it wasn't the highest, could choose their marriage partners later on and wouldn't need to be married against their will.

This was the option that his daughters like the most, as many of them knew they had little chance of becoming the head of the clan. This motivated them to no end and in the current time the one's brining the most profits combined in among the patriarch's children when comparing the daughters and sons was none other than the daughters.

Though there was also the fact that among the seventeen direct offspring that the patriarch had, ten were daughters and seven were sons. Since they outnumbered the sons, they brought a lot of profits with the many businesses they held.

Thus, seeing Lian Xiaojian actually showing some ambition was surprising. This made Lian Dajian give his first son a chance.

"Really, father?

" Lian Xiaojian was surprised too.

He had only did this because he was about to run out of his personal allowance and thought that his father might give him some after hearing of this. But he never expected to be assigned a mission.

Deep down, Lian Xiaojian too didn't want to be like the person he was and wanted to do some business. But his siblings had taken the lead and occupied most territories, leaving him with only a few avenues that were difficult to get into or would need quite a lot of financial power to get into.

Thus he had simply given up on his ambitions and had chosen to live a life of comfort.

He didn't know just how much his siblings were jealous of him, though. The patriarch had named his son after him and had thought that being the first son he had, he would just be like him.

In the past, he had great hope from his son, but it had only turned into disappointment over the years.

Lian Xiaojian was not that young either… at least not in terms of a commoner. He was in fact, over eighty years old!

No one would be able to tell this at all. With the amount of resources he had consumed, he had reached the Nascent soul realm at the age of forty five. It was faster than most people, but it was entirely built on a mountain of spirit fruits and herbs.

But even if he had reached the Nascent soul realm at the age of forty five, he had not progressed past the Child Soul stage of the Nascent soul realm. The limited amount of resources he had gotten over the years had not helped the fact either.

Since he didn't do any bushiness, the clan didn't provide him the same amount of resources like in the past. Thus, his speed of cultivation slowed down.

"Are you sure, Patriarch?

" the other elders asked.

They were really surprised by this decision and didn't know if it was the best one. But they didn't outright reject it either as they had developed confidence in Lian Dajian's decision over the years, as they had almost always been profitable.

"I'm sure of it. I also want Elder Ruanjian to observe this time more than deal with it directly. I'd like to let Xiaojian work this time.

" Lian Dajian stated.

Lian Xiaojian's small eyes curved like the crescent moon as he smiled in response.

"I'll do my best, father!

" he said out loud.