Chapter 337: Returning Triumphant
Translator: chuchutrain Editor: DavidT, Rock
"Yes!" Under the awe-inspiring presence of Yu ManLou, the black-robed elder could only feel as though his back was covered in cold sweat. Three hundred White Jade cultivators, and five hundred Purple Jade cultivators, that was almost 80% of the main force from the Yu Family! To think that their head viewed the Ling Family so highly. However, as though he had thought of something, the elder raised his head to speak, "Head, however, based on the customs in Heavenly Star, the bride has to return to her family after the engagement, and only move over after they were formally married…"
Yu ManLou coldly snorted at this, "I naturally have my own preparations for this. At that time, BingYan will suddenly develop a 'serious illness'. Thus the Ling Family cannot chase her out of their house! Furthermore, the Martial Order Medallion has already been used, so how long does Ling Tian still have? We can't delay this!"
"Family head has foresight!" The old man buttered him up. "This servant will get your matters done now."
Yu ManLou waved his hands, "Be quick!"
Following the old man's departure, a black-robed middle-aged man drifted in the window like a specter. This was the expert bodyguard that never left Yu ManLou's side.
"Wu Po, how goes things at Western Han?" Yu ManLou slowly walked to his desk and picked up his teacup, savoring a mouthful of tea.
"The latest news from Western Han is that the country is celebrating the victory in battle. Han TieXuan has been conferred the title of North Marquis. He has effectively pressed down all the other generals, only leaving a minor influence under the XiMen." The black-robed man replied. Even when facing Yu ManLou, his voice remained dead, not carrying any hint of emotion.
Yu ManLou was already well accustomed to his speaking and wasn't bothered by it. However, he was surprised by the content of the intelligence, "Eh? With such a large merit obtained, why was so little conferred to him? This does not make sense!"
"The problem lies with the young noble of the XiMen Family. That kid somehow made his way to the battlefield after the war ended, and chatted up Ling Tian. It seems like he made a good impression with Ling Tian, and with his tacit consent, that kid collected all the spoils of war, making him the second greatest contributor after Han TieXuan!"
"XiMen Sa?!" Yu ManLou slapped the table and stood up, unable to restrain his anger. "Another scheme from Ling Tian! He knows that Han TieXuan is under the command of my Yu Family and is unwilling to allow him to get the full credit, so he's even willing to let his enemies take advantage in order to spoil my plans! Ling Tian, what vicious methods you have! What an insane scheme, what foresight!"
Suddenly, he started to laugh instead, jubilantly saying, "While you might have intelligence beyond that of a mortal, but even you won't be able to escape from the pursuit of the unrivaled expert of this generation! That is something this old man, whom even if I overturn the Yu Family, would not even dare to try. Ling Tian, you're dead!"
Thinking about that, Yu ManLou suddenly felt as though he was refreshed. When compared to the death of Ling Tian, Han TieXuan's matter suddenly seemed unimportant! Yu ManLou also felt a little smug at this point. If I can obtain the influence created by Ling Tian, then how could anyone be a match for the Yu Family? What Water of Heavenly Wind? Hehehe…
As for Ling Tian who originally wanted to have a good rest, he never expected himself to be immediately swamped with work to the point where he estimated even if he had four arms he would be hard-pressed to cope!
So god-d*mned busy! He had never been so busy even in his past life!
When Ling Tian was still twenty kilometers away from Sky Bearing, he could already see the people from his family coming over to greet him on horseback. However, before he could feel any relief or happiness at this, he was almost scared silly by the words that came out of Ling Dian's mouth.
"Aii, young noble, it's good luck you're back. If you hadn't returned by now, we probably would have collapsed!" Seeing Ling Dian crying in such an exaggerated manner, Ling Tian only felt depressed. Did something out of his expectations actually happen?
He heard Ling Dian continue, "The house is about to flip, and we're waiting all this while for you to make a decision. Finally, you're back!"
"What happened exactly? Was there a complication?" Ling Tian frowned as he got off his horse, rubbing his sore butt after all the hours of riding on horseback. While this young noble Ling had martial arts that surpassed all mortal ability, the fact was that he was only fifteen or sixteen years of age. His body might be similar to that of an adult, but there were still places which were obviously more tender as compared to a grown man. These few days, his smooth thighs had been completely rubbed raw by the chaffing between his pants and the saddle. Clenching his teeth and enduring his abrasions, he asked, "There's my grandparents, my mother and Ling Chen in the house, so how could it be chaotic?"
In his heart, Ling Tian never treated the problem in Sky Bearing as something of this magnitude. He knew that many officials, as well as his family members, probably could not wait to display all the abilities that would be locked down on a normal day, so how could there still be a problem?
"Cough cough, actually, the majority of our affairs have already been cleared up. This is all thanks to Old Master Ling!" Ling Dian gave a thumbs-up in praise. "He indeed is a veteran in war! Just that same day, he had already cleared the entire area and arranged everything thoroughly. If Old Master Ling did not appear, let's not talk about the Sky Bearing army, even Shen RuHu would not have been handled so easily by us! The greatest problem actually lies in the now ex-Emperor Long Xiang. Because of conflicting thoughts, Old Master and the Old Madam actually began to quarrel, and even after two days, they still do not want to give way!"
"Ehhh…" Ling Tian scratched his head in confusion. In his entire life, he had never seen his grandparents being at loggerheads with each other, with his grandfather usually giving way to his wife. Even that year, after he threw Xiao FengHan's face so badly, his grandfather's temper was immediately appeased when his wife stepped into the scene. So what was wrong this time? "Where's that dog Long Xiang right now?"
Ling Dian sighed, "He's still locked in the prison of our residence. That rabid dog had long been paralyzed with fear, begging and pleading all day. When we had taken him down, he almost peed his pants, what a shameful person! Old Master Ling had always been one who valued sentimentality and thus wanted to take care of him properly since he also received news that the Master was unharmed and well. However, the Old Madam said that such a vicious person should not be left alive and should be pulled from the roots as soon as possible! Thus the residence has now split into two sides, both sides mutually confronting each other. Consort Ling is crying up a fuss every day after knowing that her husband has been captured, and Princess JiaoYue is also washing her face with her tears every single day. Madam Chu Ting'er could not take it anymore and already ran away to the Ling Family Courtyard. If not for her handling our affairs, we would be hard pressed…" The muscles in Ling Dian's forehead continuously twitched, obviously, he did not have it easy the last few days either.
"Oh my f**king god!" Ling Tian covered his face with his palm and screamed out in misery. What followed next were his flames of wrath. "You bunch of useless, brainless fools! Why couldn't you guys use a bit more brains, and quickly silence him among the confusion of the crowd? Why do you have to leave his dog life up till now? For me to handle? Making me the evil person, are you guys not thinking at all? He is the nephew of my grandfather and my only uncle, how do you think I can handle this situation by myself! You think I will want to release him? And do you think I can kill him?! F**k me!" Ling Tian was so depressed that he spat out vulgarities like saliva.
This matter, no matter how one looked at it, would not have a satisfactory outcome. Even with two lifetimes of experience, and with the penchant of vicious methods, Ling Tian was still, in the end, a junior in the family. Even if Long Xiang had committed some heaven-defying crime, it still wasn't his place to say anything! If he suggested having Long Xiang killed, most likely, he would only end up with the tag of being heartless! This was him looking at the bigger picture because there was still his aunt Ling Ran on the scene!
"We definitely had that thought! Ling Chen had long told us to take advantage of the chaos at that time to kill that b*st*rd!" Ling Dian wailed in frustration. "However, the whole plan went so smoothly that there was no chaos at all! The moment we were done with our jobs, the whole place was already under lockdown by our people! The moment Ling Seventeen placed his sword on the neck of Shen RuHu, Old Master Ling had already appeared, and with a few sentences, already settled the invading Sky Bearing army! Where would there still be a chance for us? And Long Xiang that coward, he had already started peeing when he saw this scene, hais, we had zero chance from the very beginning!"
"Idiots! You and Ling Lei, are really two pig-headed fools!" Ling Tian glared at them. Since the outcome was already set in stone, he could not change anything no matter what he said. However, he paused for a while, and with a roll of his eyeballs, he immediately formulated a plan. Ling Tian immediately whispered to Ling Dian, saying, "In a while, the carriage of General Ling will arrive. I'll escape first and say that I'm going to make a report. You will... say it like this, understand?"
Ling Dian's mouth curled up, and he had an expression that looked as though he was about to cry and laugh at the same time. "If… If I were to say it like that… then General Ling will definitely tear me apart… young noble, it's not like you don't know his temper…"
Ling Tian smirked a little, "My father is now riddled with wounds and definitely will not be able to tear you apart. The most he could do would be to beat you up a bit. Ok, let's fix it so. I'll move ahead first!" Ling Tian harshly slapped the rump of his horse, disappearing like a bolt of lightning.
Ling Dian stared at Ling Tian vanishing like a cloud of smoke, having an expression as though he wanted to cry but had no tears. Young noble, you, are you riding on a dragon? How could you disappear so quickly?
Seeing the carriage of Ling Xiao slowly approaching from afar, Ling Dian could only clench his teeth and move up to meet them. It was unknown what he told Ling Xiao, but everyone definitely heard the roar of fury coming from within the carriage. Ling Dian was seen staggering out, and mounting his horse, he immediately retreated. However, he got hit in the head by a black thing before he could even turn his horse around. Ling Chi and the rest stared at the offending object, it turned out to be General Ling's leather boot...
Immediately, they were further greeted with his helmet, his other boot, even the pillows, teacups and the sandalwood tea table were thrown out one by one!
Ling Dian screamed, and in his disheveled state, he did not even bother with his horse any longer. He leaped off from horseback, initiating his movement skills and disappearing in a flash. The speed he used was even faster than that of his peers! From the carriage came curses and shouts from General Ling, "Call that bastard back! This old man hasn't understood what he's saying!"
Ling Jian, Ling Feng, Ling Yun, Ling Chi, and Ling Nineteen exchanged glances, and at this point revealed surprising chemistry. All five immediately urged their horses forward, pulling away from Ling Xiao's carriage, ignoring all the shouting and cursing from him...