Chapter 225: The Hit List
Translator: chuchutrain Editor: DavidT , Rock
Ling Chen nodded once, then immediately left to deliver the message.
Ling Tian had a grave expression as he looked at Ling Jian, "Ah’Jian, who is the fourth target?"
An expression of not knowing whether to laugh or cry appeared on Ling Jian’s face as he stuttered, "Cough… actually, the fourth target is of nearly negligible strength, so he’s used mainly as a backup. Because General Ling is heavily guarded, the assassins might not be able to execute their task. They decided that in the event they couldn't assassinate the general, then they would settle for someone else, then push the blame to another family to create chaos. However, because this person is too easily killed, the rewards are divided in half!"
Ling Tian opened his eyes wide in astonishment, finally bursting into crazed laughter, "So… the fourth target, isn’t it the Ling’s young noble, which is me?"
Ling JIan let out a bout of laughter as well. "That’s right, the target is you, young noble! To think the young noble not only isn't important enough to be in the top three, but also…"
"... and also has the reward cut in half!" Ling Tian replied a little grumpily. "Is this young noble really not worth anything?" He felt a little depressed in his heart. All of them were worth ten thousand taels of gold, but he alone was only worth five thousand! And the worst part was that he didn't even make it into the first three targets, but was just a backup plan. They were looking down on him too much!"
Ling Jian held onto his stomach as he laughed non-stop, gasping for breath. When he had first received this news, he had collapsed on the floor in laughter, together with the other Ling brothers. Upon hearing this again, he couldn't help but let out another bout of crazed laughter.
Ling Tian cursed, followed by helplessly laughing as he said, "This plan isn't bad. I just realized that I’m actually such an important figure! To think that my influence could actually be so huge, I should feel honored! Too honored! When the time comes, I want to see who is the person who has the honors to actually try to assassinate me!"
At this moment, Ling Chen walked in, and after hearing Ling Jian describe the situation to her, she also couldn't help but to double over in laughter, saying, "This Crown Prince from Northern Wei is really too funny. Young Noble, your life is actually only worth half of theirs, hahaha, this is going to kill me!"
"Just from the perspective of their plan, this isn’t funny for them!" Ling Tian’s face grew grave as he commented, "While this plan sounds insane, if they actually succeed in killing Yu ManTian and Yu BingYan, then all the major powers in Sky Bearing would be dragged into the muddied waters, unable to escape! As for my side, once something happens to my father, chaos will ensue in the entire Sky Bearing internal section! If they assassinate my father, then the troops will be like a group of dragons without a head, and it will lead to a mess. However, if they kill me, my father would also have no heart for the upcoming battle. If they managed to use the Yang Family as scapegoats, then without Northern Wei’s interference, Sky Bearing would immediately split up into numerous factions! At that time, with all the different factions embroiled in conflict, Northern Wei just has to swoop in from the side and it can completely swallow up Sky Bearing!"
"What a sinister plan!" Hearing Ling Tian break it out for them, Ling Jian couldn't help but be tongue-tied.
"While it is sinister and vicious," Ling Chen’s face took on a pondering expression, "this plan has a heavenly huge loophole. How could Wei ChengPing have neglected it? If he were such a person, then how could he even talk about victory?"
"Oh? Tell me more." Ling Tian’s eyes hid a glimpse of happiness as he looked towards Ling Chen, encouraging her to voice her thoughts.
"The linchpin of this entire plan lies in the Yu Family! The Northern Wei crown princes schemes to assassinate Yu ManTian as well as Yu BingYan, to incite the entire community into chaos. This is their strongest point, but also their weakest link, the central axis at which the whole plan revolves around!"
"For such a huge plan, if even people like us can get the intelligence, then the Yu Family who has a millennium of history and lives within Northern Wei itself would definitely have caught wind of it! The moment they receive news of the Northern Wei crown prince planning the assassination, even before the plan starts, the entire imperial family would have been razed to the ground! For the Yu Family, this is nothing difficult! Thus, to leave such an obvious loophole, why is this so?" Ling Chen frowned as she put out the facts.
"That’s right, I’m also pondering this very same question!" Ling Tian clapped his hands together as he stood up, "Since even a small organization like us can receive the intelligence, how could the Yu's not have received anything! And as such, how would Wei ChengPing dare to proceed with such an insane plan on his own? There is probably only one reason," Ling Tian turned to face them with a glint in his eyes, "Wei ChengPing has a backer! And this backer has the power to go against the Yu's! But such major powers are few and between, so who could it be? We have yet to get to the bottom of this!"
"Could there be other factors at play here?" Ling Jian furrowed his brows and replied, "I think that the Yu Family might be unaware of this news! After all, think of how much effort and resources we spent just to send someone into the Northern Wei Imperial Palace that year. In order for us to receive intelligence at a quicker pace, we unhesitatingly spent so many taels of silver just to pave his road to a higher position! As such, it could very well be possible that the Yu Family doesn't have a spy inside and so is unaware!"
"It’s not that they might not be aware, but rather that they definitely know about this!" Ling Tian refuted. "Never look down on the Yu Family! A heritage of a thousand years is not just some ordinary power that you see on the streets! The scenario where the Yu Family has no clue about this can definitely be ruled out, so it is strange that Wei ChengPing dared to go ahead with this plan, despite the possibility of bringing the wrath of the Yu Family upon themselves! However, whether the Yu Family is aware of this plan or not, we have to treat the Yu members here as though they have no idea regarding this! If we approach this the wrong way, the Wei's would have the advantage and it would result in a scene of chaos all the same!"
"Hehe, no matter how huge the backer from Northern Wei is, or whether the Yu Family is aware of this news or not, as long as young noble you are seated here at Sky Bearing, the assassination would be bound to fail! As for this point, I can guarantee it!" Ling Jian spoke with utmost confidence. Assassinating young noble? Were they joking? Even if the family head from the Yu Family came out, he might not even have the certainty to succeed!
Hearing such haughty words from Ling Jian, Ling Tian couldn't help but frown, wanting to lecture him, but unexpectedly he saw Ling Chen nodding her head seriously as well. This left him completely dumbstruck.
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. These people were so confident in him that it bordered on zealotry! Wasn't this just blind faith?
Honestly speaking, before he had met Ye QingChen, Ling Tian was also unbridled, looking down on all martial experts, but after that incident he realized that there would always be a heaven above the heavens, and a person above all people! While Ye QingChen had a higher cultivation than him, he was fully able to strike Ye QingChen dead! So what if there was a person with an even higher cultivation than Ye Qingchen hiding in this world?
"Send my second command!" Ling Tian stepped forward, "Order Ling Liu, to report all the news from the north area in detail, especially news about the Yu Family at the fastest possible time!"
"Ling Jian! I’ll find a way to monitor the whereabouts of Yu ManTian, and will keep you updated. The moment there are any changes, you have to prevent Yu ManTian from being injured. This bloke has a good character, unless you are hard pressed to even save yourself, don’t abandon him! Additionally, don’t waste any minute we have of our time with Yu ManTian, make sure the brat Ling Chi and the rest squeeze as much of their potential out as possible!" Letting out a sigh, he continued, "While Yu ManTian doesn't need any protection, he has two weak points: He is too kind-hearted, and his moves are not vicious enough! Every battle for him is a spar, so the moment he faces an actual assassin he will easily fall for their traps!"
"So long as they grasp these two points of Yu ManTian, to kill him is as easy as flipping their palms! Thus we have to be cautious about this!" Ling Jian added in. While he didn't know how his young noble was going to monitor Yu ManTian’s movements, he had absolute trust in his young noble’s words!
Nobody knew that Ling Tian was planning to make full use of Gu XiYan; since Yu ManTian was staying in Smoky Thea Tower, it would be a piece of cake to allow her to observe Yu ManTian!
Right now, Ling Tian couldn't confirm that Ye BaiFei and his gang were the people sent from the Blood Slaughter Pavilion. If they were, then things would definitely get troublesome. Since Ye BaiFei was heavily wounded by Ling Tian, he would be out of action for the time being, but that was not a guaranteed case!
"Chen’er, you will be in charge of Yu BingYan!" Ling Tian commanded. Ling Chen smiled and nodded in response.
"As for my father’s side, hehehe… let those people Blood Slaughter Pavilion try to hit that tough nail! We don’t even need to worry."
Ling Jian meaningfully smirked.
One had to know that Ling Xiao was the general of a country’s troops and that he spent his life roaming battlefields, hovering between life and death. As a result, how could his son Ling Tian not worry about him? After going through some arrangements with Old Madam Ling, he had assigned many guards to create an impenetrable defense around Ling Xiao. The safety was such that even if Ling Xiao lost the war, he still had an eighty percent chance of leaving the battlefield alive! In terms of martial arts, even if those placed near Ling Xiao couldn't be compared to Ling Jian's First Pavilion, they wouldn't be too far off!