Chapter 171 - 167: Seeking Help
Southern Noble Manor
“Young Master Mi Hou has arrived—” With the doorman’s announcement. Mi Hou rushed into the Noble Manor, heading straight to the council room and throwing himself at Mi Shen’s desk.
“Brother! You must help me this time.”
Engrossed in his work, Mi Shen did not look up. He finished the task at hand leisurely before finally raising his head to look at the humiliated face of Mi Hou.
“What’s the matter?” Mi Shen asked calmly, a trace of mockery flickering in his eyes that shone like stars.
“Brother!” Before Mi Shen, there was no trace of his tyranny back at the Mi Manor, only the pleading of a younger brother to his elder. “Tang Luo slaughtered all the warriors I painstakingly gathered and even captured my servant!”
Did Tang Luo actually capture Li Shao Yuan? Is he afraid the incident outside of the Fox Immortal Temple would be exposed?
With a raise of his eyebrows, Mi Shen asked calmly, “Wasn’t your servant busy inciting the four smaller families to pressure Tang Sen? How did he end up being captured?”
Upon hearing this, Mi Hou’s face turned pale with embarrassment. “You knew all about it?”
Seeing his brother’s reaction, Mi Shen knew that this was another scheme of Li Shao Yuan, the servant. So he coldly responded, “Not just me. Given the huge commotion, at least a dozen families have their eyes on him.”
Li Shao Yuan had once assured Mi Hou that everything would be done discreetly. Discovering it was instead such a public spectacle made Mi Hou feel more embarrassed. Nevertheless, considering the deep master-servant relationship and that Li Shao Yuan was now in Tang Luo’s hands, he didn’t want to dwell on those minor issues. He earnestly told Mi Shen, “That’s not the point. Tang Luo is mixing with Gong Zheng. He even kidnapped my servant. Brother, you must help me!”
With a shout in the strategizing room, Mi Shen saw several of his strategists furrowing their brows unconsciously. He quietly scolded Mi Hou, “Enough of this embarrassment, come outside with me.”
Promptly, Mi Shen took Mi Hou out of the council room and into the garden.
“Tang Luo could kill all your Mortal Realm warriors, yet only captured Li Shao Yuan. That indicates he wants to exchange something with you. Tell me everything that led up to this.” Mi Shen asked softly, with his back to Mi Hou.
Originally, he didn’t want to get involved since most of his energy was focused on governing the new city. He was already extremely busy managing hundreds of thousands of new citizens, but the situation involving Tang Luo sparked his interest.
Upon noticing Mi Shen’s willingness to negotiate, Mi Hou immediately spilled everything he knew. From his alliance with the Righteous Gang, to his attempt to clear his name after the battle outside the Fox Immortal Temple, to Li Shao Yuan leading the team to capture Gong Zheng and instead being captured himself. He was alarmingly transparent about it all.
Upon hearing his brother’s actions, Mi Shen became increasingly furious.
“As a noble son of the Mi Clan, you conspired with thugs and competed for profit with civilians! If this matter is revealed, where will our father’s face be?” Mi Shen furrowed his brows and rebuked statily.
Warehouses are filled due to knowledge of manners, and with food and clothes aplenty, comes the knowledge of honor and disgrace. The Mi Family differentiate themselves from small clans. Amongst the differences, apart from pursuing their interests, honor is extremely important.
Put simply, as a member of the Mi Clan, one’s actions must carry a certain class, at least on the surface, and should not bring shame to the family. Collaborating with thugs and nurturing beggars to steal – if this incident was to be revealed, the Mi Family would become the laughing stock of Xiling.
Knowing he had done wrong, Mi Hou didn’t bother to refute. He just said, “It’s done. Now I just want to save Shao Yuan and kill Gong Zheng!”
When mentioning Gong Zheng, Mi Hou clenched his teeth in anger. Although the person he really wanted to kill was Tang Luo, he knew it was impossible. Hence, he set his sights on Gong Zheng, who associated with Tang Luo. If Gong Zheng hadn’t mixed up with Tang Luo, how would his warriors have died!
After a moment of pondering, Mi Shen asked Mi Hou, “How far along are you with your collaboration with the four minor families of the West City?”
“Huh?!” Mi Hou’s face was full of confusion. “I’m not clear, all the contact was made by Shao Yuan.”
Seeing the stupidity of his brother, Mi Shen felt a wave of helplessness. He handed over such critical matters entirely to a servant and didn’t even inquire – it was negligent. Originally, if they had reached an agreement of shared hatred with the minor families, this force could have been mobilized immediately for battle. But now, with its status uncertain, actions couldn’t be taken recklessly.
Therefore, it seemed people from the Noble Manor would have to be dispatched. Tomorrow, they would exchange Gong Zheng’s wife and daughter. So, he asked: “How many warriors did Li Shao Yuan take with him to arrest Gong Zheng?”
“Two peak Mortal Realm warriors, and about ten other Mortal Realm warriors.”, Mi Hou replied after some thought.
“How many enemies are there?”
This sudden question made Mi Hou’s face stiffen with embarrassment, followed by him stammering. “I…I did not ask.”
In the panic, he only cared for the safety of Li Shao Yuan and forgot to ask Ding Gaolang how many people the enemy had. At this moment, he wished he could just crawl into a hole.
Mi Shen also realized anew the extent of his brother’s stupidity, losing more than a dozen warriors without even knowing the size of the enemy’s forces. This was simply absurd.
Although they didn’t have accurate information, basic judgment could still be made based on the power exhibited by the enemy. Even though the warriors of the Mi Manor did not understand the Combined Attack Technique, they still constituted a significant force. If Tang Luo could annihilate them, it showed that he had at least one or two Mortal Realm warriors squads at his disposal. Adding Gong Zheng, there was a scale of at least three peak Mortal Realm warriors – was Mi Shen’s initial estimate.
But this kind of guesswork was not accurate, so he told Mi Hou: “Send someone to inquire how many people are on the other side, then we’ll discuss how to rescue your servant.”
Clan Academy
“Headmaster, you’ve got a letter.”
Tang Kuan accepted the envelope handed over by his attendant. It was marked ‘for Headmaster’ and signed by Tang Luo.
This made him extremely curious since this Pride of Xiling was quite a legend. Nevertheless, with no existing animosity between them, he wondered why Tang Luo would write to him.
He opened the envelope and read the letter written by this young clan elder. The more he read, the more astonished he became.
Tang Luo actually wanted to abolish the ban on cultivation and hoped he would support his proposal at the clan meeting two days later.
Though he also had reservations about the ban, it was a crucial moment for Tang Zhi’s plan. Hastily abolishing the ban might give the Mi Clan a golden opportunity.
However, the conditions offered by Tang Luo almost gave him no reason to refuse.
Great Elder’s Manor
Holding the letter in front of him, Tang Siyuan’s hands trembled slightly with uncontrollable excitement.
Abolishing the cultivation ban was something he had no objections to since even if the people of Xiling were allowed to cultivate, it would not affect the Tang Clan. However, the promise made by Tang Luo filled this aging warrior with hope.
Tang Luo claimed he had already developed a single-person fusion martial technique for the Mortal Realm. If he agreed to Tang Luo’s proposal at the end of the month, the technique would be given to him as a gift.
To become a Tang Clan elder, one must possess the cultivation level of the Fierce Realm. Therefore, the clan elders were mostly older people who might have limited knowledge about politics. However, their understanding and acumen in the martial way were unquestionable.
Upon seeing this letter, he immediately understood the significance of this fusion technique. That was why his hands trembled with excitement..