Chapter 849: A Wedding Debt
Wang Xiong’s words were only confirmation Lin Wu’s initial doubts and his guess that there was something additional at play was also confirmed.
“A Wedding Debt? Why would the Frozen Cloud sect have a wedding debt to another sect, that too the number one ranked Cang Lan sect?” Lin Wu asked further.
“I didn’t know about it at all at first. And neither did patriarch Bing. We had to literally search the old sect records to find out that it is indeed true. The wedding debt is very old, and according to the records, was decided during the initial years of the Frozen Cloud sect.
Frozen Cloud sect was not a top sect back then and was only starting up. Somehow, one of the elders of the Cang Lan sect and the Frozen Cloud sect fell in love and got married. This union turned out to be a beneficial to the factions these two elders belonged to within the sect.
Thus, they decided that the sects would have a proper marriage alliance sometime in the future. Of course, this was only when the Frozen Cloud sect was still small and not one of the top sects as well.
Being in the top sects means that they would have to negotiate the terms and would probably lose out on some level. Thus, the Frozen Cloud sect had not attempted it and neither had the Cang Lan sect done anything about it since they didn’t desire it either.
Normally, this debt should have been forgotten and never acted on upon.
But something happened that made the Cang Lan sect at this time senior.” Wang Xiong explained in detail.
“And what was that?” Lin Wu asked, feeling really curious now.
“You, senior. The close alliance between the Frozen Cloud sect, and the benefits obtained from the Millennium forest are now too tempting for the Cang Lan sect to resist. They know that obtaining them forcefully is out of the option, so they decided to take a soft approach.
Something more… Diplomatic.” Wang Xiong replied.
“I see…” Lin Wu replied, finding it a little flattering that his presence alone was causing the powers of the Ming Dao world to act like this now.
‘Hmm.. If the Cang Lan sect wanted to have some deal they would have sent someone to talk to me directly, but since they haven’t it probably means they don’t want anything particularly as of now but also don’t want me to be out of their reach.
Having an alliance and not needing it is far better than needing it when they don’t have it.’ Lin Wu thought to himself.
These were just some momentary thoughts he had, as he soon focused back on the main topic.
“So the Cang Lan Sect asked your hand in marriage? I thought the original agreement was between elders. Isn’t this a little too high a value for the original debt?” Lin Wu asked curiously.
“That’s what we were confused about, too. Until I asked Guardian Yun about the original elders who decided this. The wedding debt was between the elders whose descendants are now supreme elders or sect patriarchs.
The current patriarch of the Cang Lan sect and the lineage of the former supreme elder of the Frozen Cloud sect are the parties originally involved.” Wang Xiong said in a slightly helpless tone.
“So the dead supreme elder causes problem for us even now…” Lin Wu couldn’t help but shake his head. “And you are the one having to fulfill this role?”
“Yes… I’m the only one ranking wise that qualifies for it. We could have used Supreme elder Weizhe’s descendants… if he had any. But since he doesn’t we are left with me as the marring needs to be between equal ranked or at least close to that.” Wang Xiong answered.
“Equal ranks? Does that mean you are marrying the chief disciple of the Cang Lan sect?” Lin Wu was surprised.
‘Wasn’t the chief disciple of the Cang Lan sect a man too?’ Lin Wu recalled the information that he had read.
“No senior. That’s not possible. The one I’m marrying though is no less in ranking. It is the daughter of the Cang Lan sect patriarch.” Wang Xiong replied.
Hearing this, Lin Wu was now truly surprised. Even if the other person was not the chief disciple, being the daughter of a current patriarch basically meant the girl was no less than a princess. And considering that this was the top sect of Long continent, the girl was way better than most princesses.
“Hmm… that doesn’t seem like a bad offer… Unless there are specific conditions they are setting?” Lin Wu asked.
“That’s the thing… they aren’t really asking anything of us, other than to fulfill the wedding debt and forge an alliance. Thus, we can’t give a rightful rejection either. After all, the debt has been on hold for a long time and if we reject now, the loss of face would be the least of our concerns.
The Long clan might have to interfere in such a high leveled issue. The cost we would have to pay for a long standing debt like this would be too much.” Wang Xiong explained.
“Ahh! So that’s their intention huh… they want you to reject it, or know that you will reject it since you already have a Dao companion. And once you reject, they can ask for judgment from the Long clan and get benefits that way.” Lin Wu understood.
“Exactly senior.” Wang Xiong nodded his head. “But that is not something we want to happen. I’ve been discussing this with patriarch, and the supreme elder for a long time, trying to find a workaround but there was none.
In the end, Ye Jin herself said to do it so that we all could have peace. She said… she said she was willing to be a concubine later.” Wang Xiong said, his tone sorrowful.
“Hmm… that is generous of Ye Jin to do. And also the smarter decision.” Lin Wu praised. “So then, when exactly is the wedding?”
