All stood still as statues, not breathing, and mouth agape.
The slapped Venerable wobbled then held his swelling face. Despite the rage coursing in his veins, he chose only to give a hateful stare.
“Y-you’re that guest Venerable from Regent Estate, Mad Dipper Li Jingtian! Why are you here? Didn’t Regent Estate choose to stay out of this? More importantly, what’s the meaning of this?”
The others gasped, with Cai Rong and his son appalled.
[No wonder he dared throw his weight around, he’s from Regent Estate, the head of the seven houses. But why would the Regent Estate take an interest in this backwater city?]
[Don’t tell me. That blasted Zhuo Fan went and stepped on Regent Estate’s toes?]
Cai Rong felt woozy. [That filthy mongrel is nothing but trouble! This goes beyond only me dying, my entire clan will be uprooted!]
It suddenly hit him that even if he hadn’t sold out the Luo clan, Zhuo Fan would sooner or later have them disposed of. Two years of hard work and schemes had just gone down the drain.
Of course, Li Jingtian snapped back in a higher tone, “You have the gall to question me? If you weren’t standing around with your hands down your pants Zhuo Fan wouldn’t have sneaked through that array that even my soul sense can’t penetrate!”
“What, Zhuo Fan escaped from six Profound Heaven experts and yourself? You’re saying he’s back? Why haven’t we noticed then?” Another Venerable cried out.
Li Jingtian stared him down, before giving him a resounding slap as well, “Be quiet, or people might think you’re an idiot!”
They were all too shocked to even speak.
Elder Li was just as the rumor painted him to be, a Mad Dipper and had an even worse temper. Especially now that a Bone Tempering cultivator like Zhuo Fan actually slipped through his fingers. Opening one’s mouth now would only make one a target.
[And you went ahead and pointed out his failure. No wonder you got slapped!]
What they didn’t stop to think about, however, was that all of this was part of Zhuo Fan’s cunning plan.
Looking at it from a different angle, Li Jingtian’s sudden arrival in Windgaze City was full of warning signs. Putting aside the fact that Zhuo Fan slipped past a 6th layer Radiant Stage expert like Li Jingtian and returned to Blackwind Mountain, and not even the three Radiant Stage experts felt him. There was clearly something off about this.
In spite of all the glaring faults, Li Jingtian’s venting scared all these suspicions away from their minds. It devolved into taking Li Jingtian’s words as solid gold.
This way, Zhuo Fan had them all follow Li Jingtian into his trap.
“Every abled body is to follow my lead and attack that mountain!” Li Jingtian barked as his cold eyes swept them.
The three Venerables hesitated with a frown, “Elder Li, we have yet to get word from the house lords. We can’t…”
“Cut the crap! Why have the three of them sent you here if not to get that damn Luo clan?”
And Li Jingtian emphasized with another resounding slap, “I am here, so why are you still frickin’ hesitating? I told you to attack that mountain! Do it, and you’ll gain merit for it. Don’t…”
Li Jingtian snorted twice for good measure and flew at Blackwind Mountain.
The three slapped Venerables looked at each other in consternation. They finally gnashed their teeth and followed.
Their reticence was about Regent Estate using the three houses to test the imperial family’s limit. So, the Regent Estate had sent two of their elders to kill Zhuo Fan and not a single one of their men to Windgaze City. It was the same as saying, they had no hand in this if it went belly up.
So, the three Venerables were awaiting their house lords’ orders.
But now, Li Jingtian came, who represented Regent Estate. Since he dared to attack, they had to follow. At worst, the Regent Estate would be leading the charge. This sounded like a solid plan to the three.
As they only had their house’s benefits in mind, they chose to put all the discrepancies aside.
For example, they clearly sensed two more people with Li Jingtian before. They had questions like: ‘Who were they? And if he chased Zhuo Fan all the way here, why was one of them in the Bone Tempering stage?’
However, they chose to ignore all these important and obvious issues. Or more aptly put, they’d never speak up even if they did come to mind. Afterall, were Li Jingtian’s slaps so refreshing that they wanted more?
This way, the three cowardly Venerable came aboard Li Jingtian’s rocky ship.
On the three elders’ side, they could only laugh bitterly and follow as well. Now that their Venerables joined the front, they had no excuse not to!
The only ones left were three people, Cai clan’s father and son, as well as Sun Yufei.
Cai Rong sighed as he followed the experts fly away, “Today opened my eyes. I’ve never seen so many Radiant Stage experts in one place before, and even a Venerable from the great Regent Estate is here. One stronger than the last. Even those three Profound Heaven elders were naught but ants before the four experts.”
“Humph, look who’s talking! Who was it that was shaking in fear earlier?” Sun Yufei made her contempt known.
Cai Xiaoting was annoyed, “Sister Yufei, Cai clan has always been on friendly terms with the Sun clan. Why are you suddenly so antagonistic towards my father?”
“Humph, you’re no different either. A deadbeat!”
“You…” Cai Xiaoting’s face was aflame from rage, his knuckles white. It was obvious he couldn’t put a lid on his anger and wanted to take this former goddess of his down a peg.
But a sudden sound made Sun Clan Head’s arrival known. He turned his attention from the big hole made from Li Jingtian’s landing to the empty yard, “What happened? Where are the elders?”
Sun Yufei chose to ignore Cai Xiaoting and explained to Sun Clan Head what happened.
Sun Clan Head grabbed Sun Yufei and livened his step, “Yufei, we’re going to Blackwind Mountain!”
“Whatever for?” Sun Yufei was stunned.
“Foolish girl, it’s to cheer on the elders and Venerables, of course!” Sun Clan Head laughed, “Remember, if you want any of them to notice you, you have to put on a decent show!”
Cai Rong raised an eyebrow and dragged his son along as well.
“Dad, are we…”
“As if! The Sun clan lorded over us all because they had a relative in Hell Valley. With three elders and four houses Venerables here fighting, it is our best chance at making ties with one of them. the Sun clan had Hell Valley’s backing and, who knows, we might get Regent Estate as a sponsor! We’ll see then how tough they’ll act around us!”
Cai Xiaoting nodded fiercely, “Dad, you’re right. Will that Sun bitch dare look down on me then?”
Cai Xiaoting felt himself filled with the desire to fight, putting more power in his legs and going faster than even his dad.
Cai Rong relaxed seeing him, [My child is all grown up!]
This way, the two clans outdid themselves in kissing the asses of the four houses. They were afraid these backers of theirs might get snatched by someone else…
Inside Blackwind Mountain’s hall, a pale Luo Yunchang sat cross-legged. She had worked hard in her cultivation these last two years but she was still only a peak Qi Condensation cultivator.
For one person to sustain four large arrays day in day out was a heavy burden!
Next to her was Lei Yuntian, as well as Captain Pang and some others. Seeing their usually healthy and energetic young miss now looking haggard, pain laced their hearts.
“Young miss, please take a rest. They arrived in Windgaze City for a month now and still have not attacked. There shouldn’t be a problem if you take a breather.” Captain Pang’s face was filled with black energy as his aura leaked without realizing it. Yet, even so, tears welled in his fierce eyes.
Smiling slightly, Luo Yunchang’s lips seemed pale, yet her smile ever bright, “Sister Lei is still hard at work with scouting right? The enemy has at least three Profound Heaven experts, along with even stronger people among them. All our attempts to find out more about their side have proved fruitless. I’m afraid if they chose to attack, we might not even have the time to activate the array.”
“Girl, you can’t keep this up for much longer!” Lei Yuntian sighed, “It’s all my fault for being powerless and letting you suffer like this. For a girl to shoulder the defense of a clan when disaster strikes, makes me realize how useless this Grand Elder is!”
“Uncle Lei, don’t beat yourself up. You and Captain Pang, along with sister Lei, have worked tirelessly for the Luo clan to thrive. I couldn’t do anything to help you up till now. So allow me to at least do this for our clan. Luo clan is my home, and you are part of it. I saw it laid to ruin once, and I’m not going to stand by and see it happen again… “
Luo Yunchang’s sad tone had them all sighing.
Luo Yunhai looked at his sister, “If only bro Zhuo was here, it would’ve all been fine. He always had a way out of any crisis!”
The eyes of the others trembled and softened.
Lei Yuting bit her lip in, “This damn brat, kicked up a storm for us and still hasn’t come back. He must be living it up out there!”
“Sister Lei, don’t say that. Zhuo Fan must be rushing over as we speak!” Luo Yunchang frowned slightly, “We must defend our clan and await his return!”
“Yunchang, he is actually…”
Captain Pang’s scowl and the shaking of the head had Lei Yuting swallow her words. She had been in charge of intelligence for the Luo clan and knew fully well of Zhuo Fan’s love life, but refrained from sharing it with Luo Yunchang.
Luo Yunchang looked puzzled.
“Ah!” she cried out.
“What’s wrong?” The others were frantic.
Luo Yunchang’s brows quivered as her eyes revealed shock, “I lost control over the Poison Dragon Array in the East…”
[[What?!]]
Everyone’s hearts were in their throats…