As soon as the old man announced that the meeting had begun, everybody took a seat around the large conference table and the large hall-like conference room immediately became silent.
The guardians stood behind their masters that had taken a seat and Angela sat close to the head of the family, which made Adam who stood behind her feel quite nervous.
With a single glance, the old man could tell that Adam was merely a rank 4 Novice that had cultivated both internally and externally, but he was confused as to why Anglea had bought him.
He wouldn't be of any use as a guardian, since she had Wayde with her and Angela didn't need any money, so a low-level cultivator like Adam wouldn't be of much use to her.
There didn't seem to be a reason for his presence, however since the meeting had begun, he decided to ignore it and ask afterwards.
If Angela gave him a valid reason as to why Angela had bought Adam, he wouldn't mind and was glad that Angela was finally making connections, even if they were quite useless ones. However, if she couldn't explain it, he would have to kill Adam and bury what he heard in the meeting with him.
After everybody had taken a seat, the old man began the family meeting.
"I have sent out multiple family members to different areas where the other large cultivation families are trying to take over our territory, and ordered them to kill anybody that they found from other families. This is us now openly declaring war on other families that are trying to take over our territory, but none of them are willing to directly battle us apart from the Lin Family" stated the old man.
"All members that I sent out, give a report to the rest of the family" instructed the family head.
Different Maxwell family members stood up and gave a short report about what they came across while following their orders, until it was Angela's turn.
Angela was calm and collected as she stood up. Although she was quite naive and ignorant to how the world was for ordinary people, she was confident and had been spoilt by her grandfather, the family head, along with being protected by the strongest guardian, so had nothing to fear.
"I was sent to the Buddakan in the newly built Chinatown in our territory and came across 7 triad members. They were acting very arrogantly as if it had become their territory and were merely mid-level Novice Cultivators. They were all killed and we left the scene before the Illusion Barrier went down" stated Angela before sitting back down.
She was the last person that needed to give their report and most of the family members in the room had looks of hate on their faces.
"As we can see, the other large families were merely trying to benefit from our battle with the Lin Family, but the Lin Family seems to be making us our first target to expand their territory. They are most likely planning to completely take over New York, and feel like they are finally ready to do so" summarised the family head.
"In a direct battle between our families, we will lose because of our lack of manpower and their powerful cultivators, however, if we slowly eat away at their forces we should be able to weaken them enough to defeat them. We do not have many options and we must act immediately on whatever we decide. I am the family head, but this decision affects the future of our entire family and could be what destroys us, so everybody can voice their opinion and we can agree at the end on what we think is the best course of action. Although I must say, if you all agree on something I disagree with, I might have to disallow it" said the family head.
What he proposed was fair and all the present family members agreed with him, and respected him enough to trust whatever decision he made.
"I believe that our family has enough power to face them off and we cannot shy away from this battle. It is the perfect opportunity for us to build our manpower and boost our strength through a war" voiced Damian.
He was one of the young candidates for being the next family head, and was engaged to Martha. Out of all the young candidates, he had the most supporters in the family and was also engaged to the strongest young female fighter in the family.
Some in the conference room voiced their opinions while others merely reacted to what was said, with most agreeing with Damian's suggestion.
Adam who had gathered quite a lot of information about the large families from Elizabeth knew that Damian's plan was suicidal and the Maxwell Family wouldn't make it past a few days if they decided to do so.
The only reason they hadn't been crushed yet was because of the few powerful figures in the family and because they were united in a small area. However if they started a war between cultivators, it would be extremely quick and they would be crushed.
Once their forces and numbers are spread out over the area, the Lin Family would be able to easily deal with them and the Maxwell Family would basically be giving themselves up to the Lin Family.
Angela didn't speak, while Adam and Wayde stood silently behind her and observed everything that was occurring.
"Currently it seems that most are in agreement with Damian's suggestion. Are there any objections to it or counter suggestions" asked the family head, who wanted the entire family to agree on one thing.
He could order one thing and make everybody follow what he decided, but that would make it so that he forced them to do as he said and most wouldn't unleash their true potential when being forced to do something. However, if he allowed them to choose something that they all believed in, they would all work harder towards that idea.
Angela disagreed with Damian's idea and knew that they wouldn't have a chance against the Lin Family in a direct battle, but couldn't think of anything that would solve their predicament quickly, smoothly and without many casualties.
She didn't want her family to follow Damian's suicide plan, so without any other options, she turned to her masked friend that stood behind her.