Chapter 399: Contract Ceremony
Chapter 399: Chapter 399: Contract Ceremony
"If he’s so outstanding, you can just cultivate him yourselves. What’s the point of sending him here? Nine-tailed, see our guests out. Chairman Lan, when Lan Xin and Nine-tailed came to me, they both signed a Contract. They belong to me now. You have no need to visit them in the future." After speaking, Ning Xuan drifted away.
Lan Yu had originally planned to pretend to fall and land in her arms as Ning Xuan passed him.
But Ning Xuan moved too fast. One moment she was right before him, and the next she had silently reappeared ten meters away. Lan Yu, already committed to his fall in her direction, crashed right onto the floor with a THUD.
Lan Yu kept his head down, a flicker of annoyance passing through his clear blue eyes. By the time he looked up, his expression was calm again.
"This way, Chairman Lan. I will escort you out." Nine-tailed gestured for him to proceed.
Seeing that Ning Xuan was gone, Chairman Lan knew there was no point in pressing the matter further. He could only depart in resignation.
"Ah Yu, you saw Ning Xuan’s attitude. We should give up on her as a candidate," Chairman Lan urged.
"No, Seventh Uncle, I don’t want to give up. Ning Xuan’s spiritual power Level must have already surpassed SS-level. An SS-level Controller her age is the first in the history of the Federation. She is the most suitable choice. I can’t give up," Lan Yu said, his voice firm.
"So you don’t want to give up. What can you do? Miss Ning isn’t some commoner girl with no background, nor is she an unvalued daughter from a minor family who can be traded away. She’s incredibly powerful in her own right, and she has Yu Mingche, Five Maples City, and the Seven Star Divine Mountain behind her. Even Lan Xin has now become a force to be reckoned with. With all that backing, what are you going to do? Take her by force?" the young man named Qing Jiu taunted.
His own background was far from simple. He had accompanied Chairman Lan on this trip hoping to get noticed by Ning Xuan. If he were lucky enough for her to take an interest in him, it would have been a great boon. But being thrown out now, he wasn’t too disappointed.
After all, if Ning Xuan were that easy to fool, people like Mo Yan, Mo Yu, and Ji Wuchen wouldn’t have been so helpless against her.
"I... Besides, my brother is still by Miss Ning’s side. My father will definitely find a way to help me." Lan Yu scoffed and turned his head away.
"Your father is also Lan Xin’s father. Are you planning to leverage the relationship between your father and your brother? I heard Lan Xin grew up in the Half-Beastman Tribe. Does he even have a bond with your father?" Qing Jiu asked, fishing for information.
"Of course he does. He’s Father’s son, after all. Besides, Father has even taken me to visit him before," Lan Yu replied with complete confidence.
Hearing Lan Yu’s words, Chairman Lan frowned, his expression deeply worried.
The Family Heads of the Lan Family have always been male, all of whom possess high levels of talent and potential. By family tradition, the men of the Lan Family do not become subservient Contractors. Instead, they seek out commoner women from Low-class Stars, women with excellent bloodline potential but much lower Levels than their own. They form a Contract with these women for the sole purpose of having them bear children of their bloodline.
Once the woman became pregnant with their child, they send her far away to await the birth.
Then, they would find a new target, form another Contract, and continue to produce new heirs. Because their Level is so much higher than the woman’s, they hold the dominant position in the bond. This allows the connection channel to be overwritten, so the woman never detects anything unusual.
The Lan Family relied on this method to expand and strengthen their clan. But in the end, their actions brought retribution. Starting a hundred years ago, half, or even more, of the children born into the Lan family began to exhibit Half-beastman traits.
Looking at Lan Yu, who seemed convinced that Lan Xin would be forced to help him as long as his father intervened, Chairman Lan couldn’t help but sigh.
"Seventh Uncle, why are you sighing?" Lan Yu asked.
"Lan Xin’s mother didn’t want to send him to the Half-Beastman Tribe, but your father insisted on sending him away. In the ensuing struggle, Lan Xin’s mother struck her head on the doorframe and died. Lan Xin was only three years old at the time." Chairman Lan gave Lan Yu a meaningful look, said nothing more, and walked on ahead.
For years, Father Lan had been trying to find out if Lan Xin remembered what had happened and whether he harbored any hatred toward him. He had even bribed the caretakers in the Half-Beastman Tribe, specifically instructing them to make Lan Xin suffer, hoping to mold him into someone submissive and timid.
When Qing Jiu heard Chairman Lan’s words, he stopped paying any mind to Lan Yu. ’Looks like I can’t count on Lan Yu to get close to Ning Xuan,’ he thought. ’I’ll have to find another way.’
Once Ning Xuan had Nine-tailed send Chairman Lan and his party away, she went straight to Yu Mingche’s courtyard. His residence was not far from Ning Xuan’s and was one of the main courtyards in the villa complex.
When Ning Xuan entered Yu Mingche’s courtyard, she saw him sitting outside. Lan Xin, dressed in the standard light-blue uniform of a Contractor, stood respectfully to the side with his hands lowered, apparently reporting something to Yu Mingche.
When Yu Mingche saw Ning Xuan arrive, he quickly stood up to welcome her, while Lan Xin silently knelt to the side.
"Lord Contract Master, thanks to you, I was able to throw my weight around in front of a Federation Admiral," Yu Mingche said, looking at Ning Xuan with a grin.
"Here at home, there’s no such thing as an Admiral. You’re the one in charge here, so you can throw your weight around as much as you please," Ning Xuan said, wrapping an arm around Yu Mingche’s waist and looking at him with adoration.
"Are you sure? You won’t feel bad for him?" Yu Mingche asked, glancing nonchalantly at Lan Xin.
"Of course. You’re the only one I care about right now. Lan Xin, go and pour a cup of tea for our head husband," Ning Xuan commanded.
Lan Xin immediately complied and went to pour the tea.
When Yu Mingche heard Ning Xuan say those two words, "head husband," he fell silent and looked at her. In the past, Ning Xuan had only said she would let him manage the household, giving him authority over the other Contractors, but she had never explicitly offered him the title of husband.
’For her to suddenly bring it up today... does she have something planned?’
Yu Mingche’s heart leaped into his throat.
"Ming Che, let’s pick a date for a Contract ceremony. I wish to form a Contract with you for the position of husband," Ning Xuan said to Yu Mingche with great solemnity.
Ning Xuan had made a point to learn about this. Registering a Contract at the information center was like getting an official marriage license. Holding a Contract ceremony, on the other hand, was like having an actual wedding—it was a public announcement to inform relatives, friends, and the outside world of their relationship.
’Originally, I didn’t want to hold the Contract ceremony this soon,’ Ning Xuan thought. ’But I don’t want the child I’m carrying to be slighted in any way.’
Hearing Ning Xuan’s words, Yu Mingche was stunned for a moment before breaking into a wide grin. "Xuanyuan, are you serious? If you give me the position of husband, won’t Ying Yaoshi cause trouble for you?"
After all, the status of a husband was vastly different from that of an ordinary Contractor.
Typically, a female Spirit Controller was only allowed to have one husband.