Chapter 344: Whatever
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Such a drastic move could only have originated from the Four Seasons Tower, and the one leading the charge was the head of the Four Seasons Tower’s Five Venerable Lords, Venerable Lord Sword.
Amidst the snow, Venerable Lord Sword’s gaze was as sharp as a fine blade; any snowflakes that fell through his line of sight quietly shattered, leaving nothing behind. His stare was almost solid; it was like his very gaze was a sword in itself. There was also something in his voice that was sonorous like a sword’s cry, tinged with a hint of the screams of tormented souls.
"Who are you? Why do you block the way?"
The tone was all impatience and agitation like he was spoiling for a fight.
A ninth-peak expert from the Chun Family was terrified and puzzled at the same time, "What did we do? How could we possibly be blocking the way? You’re obviously finding fault, speaking like this!"
However, it was obvious that the other party’s strength was much stronger than theirs and they could not afford to offend them. They could only endure their insults and hope that their tolerance held.
"We’re a group of people impatient to be home and are rushing all the way there. Unfortunately, snow has blocked our way when we reached, so we could only rest and wait for a later departure; there isn’t anything we can do about it. If we’ve interrupted your journey, I apologize on behalf of everyone here."
The ninth-peak expert of the Chun Family had tried as much as he could to be subservient and as amicable as possible; he even said humbly, "For you not to stop at such weather, you must have something urgent to accomplish. We dare not hold you up any longer, please feel free to be on your way."
Venerable Lord Sword snorted and stared at them for a while doubtfully before he suddenly bellowed, "So many high-level practitioners gathering together and in a rush? Do you think I’m blind? Spit out your identities and background quickly! Why are you really stopping here?"
Faced with Venerable Lord Sword’s sudden hostility, the experts from all four families fell speechless simultaneously.
We know you people from the Four Seasons Tower are great, no one can afford to offend you fellows. Still, we haven’t met at all before, and you interrogate us like we’re criminals – where's the logic in this?
Of course, there was no logic to speak of. The stronger the other party was, the more logical they were; how could the experienced experts of the four families not understand this principle?
"We’re from the Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter Family. We’ve come out for an interfamily issue." The expert of Chun Family said pleasantly, "We only have respect for Venerable Lord Sword, we would not dare to offend."
"Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter? Four Great Families?" Venerable Lord Sword said coldly, "I hear all of you are pretty well off these days, very jaunty, are we? No wonder you can hog the road on such a snowy day and block our way. Did you hit a jackpot, or did you find some people to be at your cowardly backs?"
Beside him, Venerable Lord Ice said irritably, "Eldest, there’s no point to this. Why are we even troubling these people? Better for us to find the one called Lei in Tiantang City quickly!"
"Hmph!" Venerable Lord Sword scowled reluctantly and said, "Let’s go!"
The terrible news was still fresh for Venerable Lord Sword, so he was now filled with anguish and anger with nowhere to vent them. Initially, he had wanted to kill these people to extinguish the agitation he felt inside. What matter if he killed anyone he saw when the Four Seasons Tower was already announcing that it would subdue the world by force and bathe the martial world in blood?
It would only be their bad luck to meet him, especially when his mood was not at it's best. Of course, their bad luck would involve blood!
In spite of this, he could not rob his own brother of dignity when Venerable Lord Ice had spoken, so he uttered, "Fine, I shall let you all go today. You would do well to offer some incense to thank your ancestors for being able to return alive this time."
Was this assuming Venerable Lord Ice was their ancestor? The men from the four noble families were all quietly fuming inside, but they had to maintain the humble front docilely. They would never dare speak of their anger. seeing that the four merciless men had passed by, yet the chilling, murderous threat still enveloped them.
Venerable Lord Sword, who was already several hundred feet away, snorted and said, "They actually have tents with them even when they’re outside and were actually drinking wine. What grandeur."
With a simple wave of a hand, a beam of sword energy shot out. With a soft hiss, it slit Dong Tiangleng and gang’s tent into halves.
Dong Tianleng and the other three were drinking and paid no attention to what was happening outside. Upon the sudden action, they only felt their heads exposed to the cold. When they lifted their heads to see the source of the swooshing sound, the top of their tent had flown away and heavy snow fell upon them.
"What the actual f*ck..."
Dong Tianleng swore out loud, but before he could finish, his mouth was covered and he could only hear his own guard speaking with a quivering voice, "My little ancestor… keep quiet, please… If you make another noise, I guarantee you’ll be worse off than the last time. You were injured the last time but this time you won’t even be hurt because you will be dead before you can even feel the pain."
Dong Tianleng was dumbstruck for a moment as he looked at the other guards and was greeted by with gazes filled with fear. Some of them were even breaking out in cold sweat, frozen as they were, as they listened to his curses.
"What has happened?" Dong Tianleng felt a sudden sense of petrification as his mind spun.
It was definitely something dire when the four families had so many men but they had still reacted this way… What strange thing had just taken place?
"Those were the four Venerable Lords of the Four Seasons Tower…" The guard from Dong Family was pale. "Let us leave quickly and be away from this dangerous place!"
"The Four Seasons Tower’s four Venerable Lords?" Dong Tianleng was shocked as well, turning as white as a sheet. "F*ck me! This is indeed a dangerous place, we can’t stay for long… It’s important that we leave quickly!"
The group, who was now scared out of their wits, resumed their journey despite the snow storm, feeling the lingering fear as they made their way.
"Why did the senior ones of the Four Seasons Tower come?" Dong Tianleng’s face was still white. "Did you fellows offend them? Why did they cut our tent apart?"
"How dare we offend them? For some reason, the head of Five Venerable Lords, Venerable Lord Sword, was extremely grouchy and came close to killing us, to vent his anger..." An expert from the Dong Family narrated what had happened just now to Dong Tianleng and was still feeling the after-effects of fear.
"Whoa, all four Venerable Lords acting in concert? Isn’t this disposition too grand? Could they be going against someone like Ling Xiaozui and Jun Moyan?" Dong Tianleng questioned curiously.
"I don't believe so. They let slip that their target is someone with the surname Lei."
The Dong Family guard pondered for a good while before saying, "I’m guessing that other than Lei Dongtian, no one else with the family name Lei in Tiantang City could make the Four Seasons Tower exert such effort."
"Are you’re saying that they’re going to find fault with Lei Dongtian?"
Dong Tianleng was delighted and said, "That’s a good thing. Trouble beseeches trouble, it’s a good thing, no matter who gets it worse."
Chun Wanfeng, Xia Bingchuan, and Qiu Yunsan all heaved sighs of relief from the side. Four of them even felt that it was best if the Four Seasons Tower could do away with Lei Dongtian.
"Lei is so full of himself and arrogant, not regarding anyone at all. I didn’t expect him to have this day too!" Dong Tianleng felt very much gladdened and said, "The Four Seasons Tower sent such a mighty force this time with so many experts. Lei Dongtian is destined to be the grasshopper after autumn – he won’t have too many days of ease now."
"That’s right! Heaven will naturally take care of the unscrupulous one. We must have a good drink later on to celebrate it!"
They had made a dozen of miles of progress by then.
Dong Tianleng contemplated as he walked, but the more he mused the more he felt that something was wrong. He abruptly came to a halt.
Chun Wanfeng, Xia Bingchuan, and Qiu Yunsan who walked shoulder to shoulder with him stopped as well, puzzled to see his hesitation. "What is it? What joyous thing have you thought of again?"
"Joyous my *ss, something is wrong!"
Dong Tianleng frowned and said, "Why can't you see it? The Four Seasons Tower has gone to find fault with Lei Dongtian, and we’d be happy to see whoever perishes when they really fight, but the situation now is that Lei Dongtian is staying at boss’ place…"
Chun Wanfeng and the other two turned pale.
"Figured it out yet? We’ve stayed on for so long and boss had said nothing about asking us to leave. Now, he suddenly gives us things and medicines and increases our cultivation base, even giving me a sword then he chased us out. He wanted us gone immediately."
Chun Wanfeng sucked in a cold breath and said, "Do you think that boss has long known that the Four Seasons Tower’s men are fast approaching?"
Qiu Yunsan’s face was grim. "It should be so. Boss must have known that Lei Dongtian has provoked someone he shouldn’t but he’s in Yun’s home now. Boss prioritizes brotherhood and won’t stay out of it while the danger will definitely involve us since we were staying there. That’s why boss was so impatient in sending us away…"
"If so, then isn’t boss in danger now?"
Dong Tianleng’s pupils shrunk at once, his tasteless, frivolous manner vanishing without a trace; it was like seeing two completely different people.
Xia Bingchuan took a breath in, inhaling a mouthful of snow, as he said unblinkingly, "This also means that boss already knew that he was in a tricky situation, but didn’t want to implicate us. That was why he did what he did."
Chun Wanfeng frowned as he asked the question that was on everyone's mind, "So, what do we do now?"
Silence.
Dong Tianleng inhaled deeply and replied, "Say, will boss die?"
The other three were speechless. Would he die? How could one be sure? Judging by how things were going there, his chances of surviving were slim.
Even the Unrivaled Expert Ling Xiaozui had not been able to wipe out the forces of the Four Seasons Tower. Even if their boss had two mighty ones, namely Lei Dongtian and Old Mu, by his side, there was nothing optimistic about the situation. Besides, what was most important was the single question; would Lei Dongtian and Old Mu protect Yun Yang with all they could?
With the bit of cultivation base their boss had and the battle Lei Dongtian, Old Mu, and the four Venerable Lords were about to engage in, he would be injured the moment he was touched, and dead when flung; any worse, his soul might just shatter into pieces, with no hope of salvation!
Dong Tianleng rubbed his face and suddenly said very calmly, "I want to go back to check on him."
The guards from Dong Family were anxious. "Young master, it’s already dangerous there, with all sorts of threats underway. Young Master Yun is considerate of your safety, that was why he sent you all away. You… this…"
"You fellows go home." Dong Tianleng decided instantly. "You don’t have to do foolish things with me. I want to go back because… I’d be worried if I wasn't sure of our boss’ safety."
Xia Bingchuan asked, "If the Four Seasons Tower were to really go against boss’ Residence of Yun, what could you do?"
"I could…" Dong Tianleng paused abruptly after spitting the two words.
"What could you do?" Qiu Yunsan questioned with gritted teeth. His face was pale from exerting too much force.
Qiu Yunsan’s words were cold, merciless; but they were the honest truth. Yun Yang would only be an ant in the battle of top-leveled cultivators while Dong Tianleng, whose cultivation base was much weaker, would be lesser than an ant. His presence would make no difference nor would it benefit the situation!
"I can’t do anything!"
Dong Tianleng suddenly said hysterically, "F*cking hell, at least I can still die with boss!"
"Awesome!"
Chun Wanfeng cheered and then said in a somber tone, "Then I’ll accompany you back. Once you and boss both die, I’ll be in charge of collecting your bodies."
Both of their eyes met, but they did not say anything before they turned to leave.
"Young master!"
Guards from both the Chun and Dong Family were petrified.
Young masters, you can't treat us like this. This will cost lives!
Just as they wanted to go forward to block their paths, a silhouette flashed across their sight. Qiu Yunsan and Xia Bingchun stood before them and said faintly, "Don’t worry so much, we’ll go back together."
The Xia Family and Qiu Family’s men almost fainted from exasperation.
"Bingchuan and I will go too." Qiu Yunsan smiled serenely, "To think about it, this young master seems to never have done anything loyal, of any significance before, in my life. I shall be dumb for once today and go along with the code of the brotherhood."
Xia Bingchuan chortled. "Let us go, let us go! Brotherhood, we come!"
Both of them turned, chasing after Dong Tianleng and Chun Wanfeng, who were already concealed by the snow.
The experts from all four families were dumbfounded, rooted to the spot like statues.
"Why have you come too?"
Dong Tianleng’s voice carried amidst the flurry of snow.
"I’m afraid if no one will collect your corpses, so I’m following. Don’t you wish that I’d die with you fellows? I’m not as dumb as that."
"Haha."
"Haha your *ss."
"Xia Bingchuan, then you go back. You’re rather well thought of at home, why are you following us?"
"Your father is happy to go watch the fun. Why do you care?"
The four of them bickered all along their way, attacking each other with sharp words relentlessly, but the corners of their lips were lifted in the ghost of a smile.
They said nothing but the warmth in their heart increased several times.
"Let’s go!"
"Boss would be shocked to see us!"
"Let him be shocked!"
"Sigh… Say, how big a possibility is there for us to be dead?"
"… Who’d think about this now?"
"Are you scared of death?"
"Of course!"
"Me too!"
"I’m most afraid of death!"
"Hey, but we’ll definitely die, going there this time!"
"Whatever. Since you are all going, I can’t lose my dignity!"
"Me neither."
"Then let’s go! So what if we die?"
The four of them guffawed loudly as they spoke. Laughter rang through the snow as they waved their arms about and wiggled them like four lunatics.