Chapter 714: Ling Family
Hui Yue sighed as he understood her emotions. The last thing she remembered before her soul was sealed was fearing that she was going to die afterwhich she awoke to some stranger sitting by her bedside staring at her.
It was not before she got to see her grandfather that she felt secure enough to let go of all her emotions and cry out all the pent up fear she had lived through previously.
She cried her eyes out for a full half hour before she was finally too exhausted to cry anymore and fell asleep.
The old man exited the room and gave Hui Yue a grateful glance. “Thank you for waiting,” he said, and he truly meant it. Many would have been too impatient to wait for a young girl to finish crying, but this time it was different. Hui Yue had waited and said nothing bad about it.
“Don’t worry,” Hui Yue smiled at him. “We are immortals, waiting a few hours is not a problem. We are already partners, don’t worry about it.”
“So tell me, who exactly are you?” Hui Yue continued to smile, but the question was rather important to him. This old man had been able to talk on behalf of the entire Ling family, and the young girl had referred to him as grandfather. He was clearly not just some steward in charge of the home, but as for his real identity, Hui Yue still did not know.
The old man gave a meaningful smile and nodded his head, “I ought to introduce myself,” he said as he looked straight at Hui Yue.
“I am the ancestor of the Ling family. I founded the family roughly ten thousand years ago and have seen it flourish every day since. I transcended mortality and stepped into the world of immortals; I built everything you see around you with my own two hands.”
“Although I am not the current patriarch, my words carry the greatest weight in the entire Ling family, and if I give an order, it will be followed.”
Hui Yue finally understood why it had taken so long for someone to appear at the gates to welcome him. The servant had likely gone to see the patriarch, something that must have taken a bit of time. He probably had to restate to different people time and time again who was here and for what reason he needed to see the patriarch, and then the patriarch must have gone to the ancestor to tell him that someone had arrived.
“As for you,” the old man Ling smiled and shook his head. “There is no need for an introduction. Pei Yue. The newest King of Hell, albeit only in name now that King Chujiang has returned. The most outstanding member of the younger generation and from what I can see, someone who has quite a lot of secrets and hidden strength, even more than what people say about you.”
“Before I met you, I would have laughed at anyone who claimed that this Pei Yue was an outstanding cultivator, but now, after seeing for myself, I cannot help but laugh at my own ignorance. It is indeed true that there is always a higher mountain and a deeper lake.”
“Now, that this old man knows who you are, I admit that I fail to understand why exactly such a renowned and favored son of the heavens would appear in our small city in the far western edges of the galaxy wearing nothing but rags and pretending to be a poor mercenary?”
“The Ling family has already sworn to assist you, so now is your chance to make use of us. What exactly do you need and what is your purpose? Perhaps we can be of help.”
“It is actually quite simple,” Hui Yue scratched his head as he wasn’t completely sure how to explain everything. “We are here for two reasons,” he began. “The first and main reason we came to the western reaches instead of somewhere else is because of a mercenary in this area called the Western Tiger.”
“We believe she is the martial sister of my good martial brother, and we would like to reconnect them.” Hui Yue did not mention about the spirit that was residing within the Western Tiger, and he did not feel the need to do so, but he did tell the honest truth. Since their souls were connected, she was indeed Lan Feng and Little Dragon’s martial sister.
“The second reason, and the main reason for us to come out from the Celestial Sword Sect is even simpler,” he smiled as he looked at the ceiling. “We are here to eradicate the Blood Demon’s forces in this sector of the galaxy.”
His voice was completely calm and collected, yet the words he spoke were so ruthless that old man Ling’s eyes widened slightly.
“Finding the Western Tiger is no issue. As I said earlier, we have branches of the family all over the western region, so she will be located very soon. She is famous, and it’s highly unlikely she is hiding; hence she should be easy to find.”
“But eradicating the Blood Demons?” the old man was shocked. “Was this mission given to you by King Yanluo or another authority in Diyu?”
Hui Yue shook his head, “Although Diyu and the Blood Demons have some enmity, they have not sent us. We have come on our own because of someone whom I cannot let live.”
“This is an individual who has given up his humanity to become a Blood Demon, and before this, he caused great chaos and disaster in the world where I am the Crowned Sovereign. He has also hurt my best friends and their brothers. It is a grudge which cannot be resolved unless one of us dies.”
“We are here to slay one group after another of the Blood Demons; we will wipe them off the face of the worlds we visit and constantly force out stronger and stronger experts to kill. Eventually, even if he is a prince to the Blood Demons, he will be dispatched to deal with us, and then we can get rid of him.”
Old man Ling was silent for some time as he stroked his long beard again and again. Suddenly a light shone in his previously dim eyes and the lips that had been turned downwards suddenly curled into a sneer.
“I am happy that you are going to kill those disgusting demons that do not value human life,” he finally said. “We have families all over the western sector of the galaxy, and some places have not been as fortunate as us to survive their onslaught. Some have won their battles, but the losses have been high.”
“Although these families might just be branch families, they were still apart of my Ling family, and I wish to avenge them. Helping you fight against the Blood Demons will indeed be a great revenge,” Old man Ling started speaking faster and faster. His eyes gleamed with a fanatic light, and he was visibly agitated.
Hui Yue understood him. He had built the Ling family over ten thousand arduous years. He had seen it grow from a small family of him, his wife and children, to now be so all-encompassing that no one would overlook it in the entire western region.
To see this family which he had spent so much time building and nurturing being mercilessly cut down by Blood Demons, that was definitely a painful thing, however, to single-handedly fight the Blood Demons on his own was something that the old man knew was just a lost cause. He was aware of his family’s strength, and he knew that it was not enough to confront such a pervasive and powerful race.
But now things had changed! Hui Yue, a King of Hell, had shown up, and Old Man Ling was not stupid. He had already guessed that Hui Yue had a small army of his own with him, unfortunately, he vastly overestimated Hui Yue’s army.
“Bring your men here,” Old Man Ling said with a magnanimous wave of his hand. “We can house everyone, so there is no need to find an inn; I would gladly like to get to know you all.”
Hui Yue did not fear that this family would betray them. While he had not made a blood oath, an oath to the heavenly dao was as powerful for all cultivators, and thus he knew that it would not be broken. The Ling family would truly do everything in their power to be helpful to Hui Yue and his friends.
“I see, in that case, I will take up your offer,” Hui Yue said with a smile on his face. He waved his hand after which a communication orb appeared in his hand, and he started contacting his friends one after another.
Some of them he got in touch with while others he could not, but he was not too worried about this. They had all gone out to deal with missions; it was natural that some of them would be busy.
In the end, Wan Qiao, Xiao She, and Sha Yun were the only ones who could not be contacted, but Hui Yue knew that they would contact him as soon as possible. The rest had finished their missions, and all of them were on their way towards the Ling family mansion.
“Let’s go to the library,” Old Man Ling said with a smile, and with a final glance at the door behind which the young girl was sleeping, they moved towards another part of the mansion.
This part of the mansion was filled with large halls and ballrooms. It was filled with libraries and private studies.
This was the part of the mansion where guests were led to. Hui Yue was led to a large library where thousands of books were neatly arranged on bookshelves that lined the walls, and in the middle, there was a round table with ten chairs.
“Bring us some tea and snacks,” Old Man Ling ordered a maid that was standing next to the door, and she curtseyed politely before vanishing out into the hallway.
Old Man Ling and Hui Yue started speaking about everything and nothing at all. “The woman you healed is my only granddaughter,” he explained. “She has always been my most beloved grandchild, and I was against her joining in on helping defend, but she refused to listen and said that she had to do her part in the fight to save the city.”
“It pained me, and when I saw her soul become injured, I was so hurt that I did not know what to do.”
“I am truly grateful that you have saved her life. I will not ask about how you saved her; I am just grateful that you did.”
“You flatter me,” Hui Yue said with a carefree smile on his lips. “I did what anyone would have done in my situation, especially after hearing your heated plea for help.”
Old Man Ling nodded his head. He knew that his plea and oath was the most convincing argument that he could have made, but he did not regret it. His grandchild’s life was worth it, and especially after hearing what Hui Yue had planned did he actually start to feel excited about the whole affair.
The maid appeared with tea and snacks, and the two men, one young, one old, sat in the comfortable silence. They drank tea while waiting for Hui Yue’s friends to arrive.
“Go to the gate and inform them that all of Pei Yue’s friends are to be brought directly to this library,” he gave another order to the maid who once more bowed and left.
Silence once more descended onto the room, but the silence was comfortable. Hui Yue had many questions about the demon attacks, but he decided to wait for his friends to arrive, and Old Man Ling was not going to start a conversation. He knew that Hui Yue was currently ordering his mind and thoughts.