Chapter 2393 — The Kang Family's Surprise

"Hmm... but if we insist on marrying Wang Xinyan to Kang Zhaolong, won't Wei Zhao push back? Even if he doesn't lift a finger, won't the Hidden Pi family?" Xiao Ji asked, somewhat worried.

"This business actually has nothing to do with our Xiao family at all. We can simply kick the ball into the Kang family's court—surely the Kang family won't agree to break off the engagement, will they?" Xiao Ben smiled darkly. "Of course, we need to fan the flames and stir up the Kang family's emotions. Right now the Kang family has the Hidden You family as their backer, and they're utterly puffed up with self-importance. When the time comes, our Xiao family will throw in our lot with the Hidden You family too—the Hidden Pi family is definitely finished as a backer..."

"Fine, then we'll do it Second Brother's way!" Xiao Ji nodded and said.

What Xiao Ji said was actually quite true. Over this period, the Kang family's self-confidence had indeed swelled tremendously, almost to its peak!

The reason was simple. Kang Zhaoming, who had previously been said to be working for the Hidden You family, had suddenly sent word that he was in fact not working for the Hidden You family at all—rather, he had been chosen by the ancient sect, the Xuandan Sect, to go and help them with a certain matter!

Although Kang Zhaoming had not made clear in that brief phone call exactly what he was doing for the Xuandan Sect, Old Master Kang had heard that note of superiority in Kang Zhaoming's voice! Kang Zhaoming must be doing quite well for himself now—otherwise he wouldn't have been able to make such a call home!

Kang Zhaoming was indeed doing well. After being taken back to the Xuandan Sect, the sect's old master, Tian Diren, had personally examined his physique and found that it was indeed suited to refining the Marrow-Cleansing Bone-Tempering Pill. So on one hand he had the Fifth Elder begin instructing him in the art of pill refinement, while on the other he personally opened the furnace to refine the Flame-Scorching Sun Pill for Kang Zhaoming, to transform his physique!

The Flame-Scorching Sun Pill was a third-grade pill. Refining it was extremely difficult—several attempts might not yield a single success—and it consumed an enormous amount of stamina. This was also why Tian Diren would not lightly agree to refine the Ice-Heart Jade-Bone Pill for Bing Tang!

With that kind of time and energy, he couldn't even refine enough third-grade pills for his own family's needs—refining pills for others? Naturally that was out of the question!

Even the Xuandan Sect's trial rewards made it explicitly clear: the prize could be any single finished third-grade pill currently in the Xuandan Sect's possession, but one could not demand that the Xuandan Sect refine a third-grade pill on one's behalf. If the Sect had no third-grade pill that the trial-taker needed, other rare treasures and heavenly materials would be substituted!

That alone was enough to show just how difficult third-grade pills were to refine!

Of course, most of the Xuandan Sect's stock of third-grade pills had not actually been refined by Tian Diren, but by the senior fellow disciple of Ancestor Xuanchen, from that place! Ancestor Xuanchen's senior fellow disciple was a pill refiner of a higher level than Tian Diren—but just how high, Tian Diren did not dare to ask.

Of course, if Ancestor Xuanchen's senior fellow disciple had not been in secluded cultivation, Tian Diren would certainly have begged him for help in refining third-grade pills. But now there was no help for it—he would have to wield the ladle himself.

Once the matter was settled, Kang Zhaoming was permitted to make a phone call home. And when he told Divine Doctor Kang all of this, Divine Doctor Kang was both astonished and overjoyed! He had never expected that this grandson of his, whom he had always looked down on, would once again bring him an incomparable surprise!

At once, Divine Doctor Kang summoned every member of the family and convened a Kang family council!

When Divine Doctor Kang laid out Kang Zhaoming's current situation before Kang Guifeng, Kang Cuipu, and Kang Zhaolong, the three of them were somewhat dumbfounded, finding it hard to believe! They had never imagined that Kang Zhaoming had actually been chosen by the Xuandan Sect to go and do work for them!

This was a glory of the highest order! No one in the Kang family was a fool. The Hidden You family, a pill-refining clan of such power, had never had a single member chosen by the Xuandan Sect to help—yet Kang Zhaoming had been taken away to help. That told them one thing: the help required must be no simple matter, and Kang Zhaoming alone was capable of providing it!

So every member of the Kang family understood one thing clearly: the Kang family's rise to glory was at hand! With an ancient sect behind them, it was not even impossible for the Kang family to be upgraded directly to a Hidden family!

"Although Zhaoming didn't say so outright this time, his hints were obvious enough. He is highly valued in the Xuandan Sect and is learning the art of pill refinement under the Sect's Fifth Elder. He said only that he was helping the Xuandan Sect with a matter and didn't specify what—but his status as the Fifth Elder's disciple alone is enough to make his position illustrious beyond compare!" Divine Doctor Kang said. "Think about it, everyone—even the Hidden You family has never enjoyed such treatment, yet Zhaoming has achieved it. We in the Kang family truly need to work hard and plan our path ahead carefully!"

"Yes, who would have thought it—that boy Zhaoming has brought us surprise after surprise lately!" Kang Guifeng said, his feelings somewhat complicated—envy and joy together, but more than anything, a quiet breath of relief in his heart!

Kang Zhaoming had gone to the Xuandan Sect and become a disciple there; it was essentially impossible that he would ever return to the Kang family. The tiny Kang family, even if upgraded to a Hidden family, would mean nothing to Kang Zhaoming—his position in the Xuandan Sect and the position of Kang family head were two entirely different concepts!

And so, Kang Zhaoming could absolutely never again contend with Kang Zhaolong for the position of family head—that at least was a good thing!

Kang Zhaolong had naturally worked this out as well. He thought to himself that Kang Zhaoming's luck was simply explosive—here he was, working so hard, and yet in the future he would still have to live at his mercy. Even as Kang family head, the whole Kang family would still have to defer to Kang Zhaoming!

"Grandfather, this is a great opportunity for our Kang family. If we handle it well, we can forge a connection with the Xuandan Sect, and becoming a Hidden family in one stroke is not impossible!" Kang Zhaolong said, eager to try. Although he would still have to depend on Kang Zhaoming in the future, if he could become the young head of a Hidden family, that would be an entirely different thing from his current status.

"Zhaolong is right. Our pharmaceutical company has taken quite a hit lately, but if we can forge a connection with the Xuandan Sect and, through the Sect's channels, act like the Hidden You family as an agent for selling pills and rare treasures, then money will pour in. The profits those pharmaceutical companies made before really were small change," Divine Doctor Kang nodded. "Guifeng, let's wind down the business of our Divine Doctor Kang Pharmaceutical Company—it hardly turns a profit these days anyway. Sell what we can. For a while now, our Kang family will plan carefully for the future!"