"Goodbye, Brother..." But Yinping didn't give Xiaoyao a chance and directly skipped away, leaving Xiaoyao wanting to bang his head against the wall.

"Forget it, it's just a child's way of thinking. Don't take it too seriously. Today I'll go finish that puppet," Xiaoyao could only throw himself into work to shake off these matters.

No one knew that Xiaoyao was going to make mechanical puppets. Those who wanted to know could only watch Xiaoyao enter the mechanical workshop, then see nothing more, because Xiaoyao had locked the door tight, not letting anyone in.

There weren't many people in the Luo family who played with mechanisms, so his behavior didn't cause much indignation, just everyone's curiosity about what Xiaoyao was trying to do.

In fact, Xiaoyao's mechanical puppet could no longer be considered a mechanical puppet, it was an application of mechanical puppets, which could be considered a type of mechanical arts.

While Xiaoyao was researching these mechanical arts, the Luo family also began conducting certain matters, secret matters that only some people knew about. Some people might only know at the final moment, the purpose being to usurp the throne.

The Luo family could actually carry out this matter at any time, but they didn't want to suffer too great losses, as those losses would be their own in the future. Therefore, they wanted to use the method with the least harm, and this timing required waiting.

This matter was almost ready to begin on this day. Because they considered that Xiaoyao was already Emperor Level, they prepared to bring him along. There weren't any particularly strong people here, so it was perfect for preventing others from playing dirty tricks, Xiaoyao could handle them.

...

...

"Hmm? He just went out? No matter, it's an afternoon affair anyway," When Luo Yunqing was preparing to call Xiaoyao over, Xiaoyao had just gone out. He didn't mind too much, even if Xiaoyao didn't participate, it didn't matter, which made it even less of a problem.

At this time, Xiaoyao was walking on the street. Today he came out not for anything particular, just strolling around, relaxing his mood. Whenever there was a chance, he would give himself a chance to relax, and now there was nothing to do.

The pills he refined would last a year without problems, the mechanisms were completed, sword forging was finished, Yinping didn't need his guidance, Guxing and the others were all doing their own things, and although Luo Yuntian's matter hadn't been clearly investigated, the progress was quite good.

At this time, it seemed there was nothing at all to do, just time to play. Since that was the case, naturally he'd go play, listen to opera at the theater, listen to storytellers at teahouses, buy little things at street stalls...

Before long, it was noon. At this time, of course it was time to eat. Let's go to our family's restaurant, to be precise, the restaurant operating on our family's land.

Just then, a carriage whizzed past Xiaoyao at very high speed. However, since they were galloping in the vehicle lane, there was nothing to criticize about it.

Regular roads didn't have separate vehicle and pedestrian lanes, but in some large cities, on some important roads, vehicle and pedestrian lanes would be separated. People generally wouldn't walk in the vehicle lanes. With galloping carriages in the vehicle lanes, if pedestrians had problems there, they couldn't appeal to anyone. Even if they were killed, they would die in vain.

Think about it, those riding in carriages were all wealthy and noble people. Even when they were wrong, they might not admit it, let alone when they weren't wrong. Each keeping to their own lane was the rule. If you violated regulations, it was equivalent to infringing on others' rights, this matter was no one else's fault.

Of course, besides carriages, cargo vehicles like ox carts also traveled in the vehicle lanes. Part of the reason these cargo vehicles existed was precisely why vehicle lanes were specially carved out. Pedestrians originally didn't need such wide roads, but if vehicle lanes weren't specially carved out, no matter how wide the road, people would walk in the middle.

When an unknown number of carriages had whizzed past Xiaoyao, this carriage suddenly stopped, then began backing up. The trained horses walked backward quite orderly, though controlling this was somewhat difficult, but this carriage's driver seemed quite skilled, without any problems.

"??" Xiaoyao was somewhat puzzled. What was this carriage doing? Why was it backing up? This wasn't an intersection, and there was nothing worth backing up for.

Just as Xiaoyao was puzzled, the carriage stopped beside him, and the door opened...

"Ah, how are you here?" Xiaoyao looked at the person in the carriage, very surprised. Afterward, he got into this carriage, and the carriage whizzed away.

...

Evening time...

"Xiaoyao still hasn't returned?" Luo Yunqing looked at Third Master and asked.

"He hasn't returned. You know this better than I do, why are you looking at me?" Third Master said helplessly. He had been here the whole time. How would he know if Xiaoyao had come or not? If he had come, the people below would definitely tell Luo Yunqing. Therefore, Luo Yunqing was the most informed.

Luo Yunqing was just asking. He also knew Xiaoyao hadn't returned yet. Frowning, he said: "Since he hasn't come, then forget it. Let's depart."

"Let's depart. If we're late, we'll be misunderstood," Third Master said.

"Yes, everyone prepare. Depart," Luo Yunqing said.

At this time, other people from the Luo family were already waiting outside. This time, younger generation members like Luo Junjie and Luo Baochai were also going, as well as the Luo Yuntian couple. They had to appear, but didn't know what Luo Yunqing and others were going to do, just routinely attending a banquet.

This banquet was hosted by the royal family. There was one every year, a gathering between the royal family and their subjects. Many people attended this banquet, and they were all core members of Flowing Stone Kingdom. Basically, controlling these people meant controlling all of Flowing Stone Kingdom; others could be ignored.

Among these people, more than half belonged to the Luo family, while another portion were people close to the Luo family, and another portion remained neutral.

In other words, the Luo family actually only needed to deal with a small portion of people, then this matter would be completed without any trouble. The most crucial part was dealing with the royal family.

Peacefully resolving this matter was what the Luo family most wanted to see.

Luo Yuntian came to attend this banquet only because he was still a relatively important figure in the Luo family. Although Luo Yuntian always said he wasn't currently a Luo family member, others didn't think so. Even Luo Yunqing still cared about Luo Yuntian's affairs and hoped Luo Yuntian could pull himself together again.

Luo Yuntian was the most promising person among his generation, possibly becoming a genius who could reach God Level. What the Luo family currently lacked was God Level existence, otherwise the Luo family would have already expanded their influence openly long ago.

But this genius had somehow suddenly become a drunkard, which pained Luo Yunqing immensely. The pain might not only be because of this, but also partly because they were cousins from the same grandfather.

In the Luo family, the people closest to Luo Yunqing, besides Third Master, was Luo Yuntian. Other people might be another generation removed.

Of course, originally they had blood brothers and many cousins, but the problem was this cruel world had eliminated quite a few people. They had all once wanted to become martial artists, but most died on the martial artist's path. Being a martial artist was an extremely dangerous profession.

Like the current generation of Luo Junjie, they seemed to have quite a few people now, but only because they hadn't truly grown up yet and hadn't gone to handle matters independently. Later, there would be casualties among them. If they chose to become strong, chose to do great things for the family, then some would inevitably sacrifice themselves.

For a family to have reached this point, the sacrifices along the way were countless, this was also an inevitable process!

"Luo Yunqing, is that old fellow in your family still alive?"

Not long after the Luo family was seated, someone asked Luo Yunqing. There weren't many people who could directly call Luo Yunqing by name like this. Even the king only called him "Minister Luo," while others called him "Family Head Luo."

Not only calling him directly by name, but asking such a question, even fewer people could do this. However, the person before him had the qualifications, leaving Luo Yunqing unable to say anything.

"Elder Di, my father's health is still quite good. He's been recuperating in Peach Blossom Valley with my grandfather. If you have time, please go talk with him, he's been thinking of you," Luo Yunqing replied with a smile.

Luo Yunqing's father and grandfather weren't dead yet, they had just abdicated. First, they were getting older and couldn't bear such matters anymore. Second, they needed time to cultivate, and being family head would greatly reduce cultivation time.

In fact, Luo Yunqing had only taken over the Luo family head position in recent years. Previously, his father still held the title, although Luo Yunqing had already been handling matters.

This situation was similar to Luo Junjie's case. Luo Yunqing was cultivating Luo Junjie's abilities, gradually handing over family head matters to Luo Junjie, hoping he could be competent for the family head position.

The family head wasn't necessarily the strongest person in the family, but definitely had to have the ability to develop the family. Otherwise, even if they fought their way to power, they would be kicked down. However, generally those who could fight their way to power were also capable people.

A family head's abdication was generally either because their abilities were insufficient or to quietly cultivate. Martial force was the foundation for protecting the family, everyone understood this point.

If a family head had ordinary abilities, at most the family just wouldn't develop. But if they lacked martial force, the family would be devoured by others, no matter how much power or money they had.

Therefore, whether merchant families or official families, as long as they survived, they all had corresponding martial force foundations.

Back to the matter at hand...

"Very good. Tomorrow I'll go see that immortal old thing, and I'll go find several other immortal old things to continue chatting," Elder Di said with a smile.

(End of Chapter)