Chapter 1434 — Bidding Farewell to Ergoudan

Yu Ning was at once anxious and furious. Of all the people Wei Zhao could have chosen to make an enemy of, he had to pick the worldly Yu family. Did he not see that this only made the matter between the two of them harder and harder? For years Yu Ning had been fighting her own quiet battle; nothing had come of it, yet hope had never left her heart. But if Wei Zhao and the Yu family became enemies, then even that hope would be gone.

"There can be no reconciling this..." Yu Bing said with a bitter smile. "One dead and one wounded in the worldly Yu family, that is a blood feud, a hatred that outlives life itself. Even as the hidden Yu family, we cannot simply force such hatred down. Keeping out of it ourselves is one thing, but to ask them to give up their vengeance would be asking too much of anyone."

"One dead, one wounded!" Yu Ning had not expected Wei Zhao to be so ruthless, to leave the worldly Yu family with a death and a wound. That was hatred beyond all mediation, even for the hidden Yu family.

Yu Ning understood as well that the hidden great families weighed everything by one measure: profit above all. Personal feeling was merely a footnote, consulted only when interests happened to balance. So this time her own family would certainly not take Wei Zhao's side, and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Don't fret, little sister. I will do my best to persuade Father to keep our hidden Yu family out of it, and then the only ones after Wei Zhao will be the worldly Yu family. He should be able to handle that. He is no fool. If he knew he was no match for them and still offended them, would that not be madness?" Yu Bing said. "It has been so long, and the worldly Yu family still has not managed to do anything to him. That alone proves the point."

"Then that will have to do. Brother, thank you for this." Yu Ning nodded, somewhat relieved. So long as the hidden Yu family kept its hands off, Wei Zhao's danger should be no great matter.

"Between brother and sister there is no need for such courtesy. I will do what I can," Yu Bing said with a nod.

Meanwhile, in the Yu family's council hall, Yu Xiaochen received the returning elder of the clan, Yu Huoxing.

"So you found neither the Qi-Gathering Pill nor the alchemist's notes? And not only did you come back empty-handed, you came back wounded?" Yu Xiaochen asked in a low voice, watching Yu Huoxing.

"Yes... Clan Head... that ancient tomb was far too perilous, and the tomb robbers fell to quarreling among themselves. Several of them died, and in the end no one entered the underground palace..." the elder said cautiously. In the presence of the clan head, Yu Xiaochen, he did not dare the slightest presumption. Yu Xiaochen was a master at the peak of the late Earth-rank, his strength far above the elder's own. And with a guilty conscience besides, Yu Huoxing scarcely dared to breathe.

"Useless!" Yu Xiaochen said, with the tone of one whose iron refuses to become steel. "A simple task, and this is what you make of it? Useless!"

Inwardly, Yu Huoxing nursed his grievance. If you had not refused to cure my poison, why would I ever have handed over the pill? And had I given it up sooner, would you have paid a billion to heal me? You would have left me to live or die on my own! He knew the Yu family's ways all too well.

The clan head, Yu Xiaochen, was a man of boundless self-interest. Ask him to spend a billion on a Qi-Gathering Pill and he would not blink; but to spend a billion healing Yu Huoxing's wounds was utterly out of the question. So Yu Huoxing had simply kept the truth to himself. The Yu family could hardly have any dealings with that band of tomb robbers; as long as he said nothing, how would they ever learn what had really happened?

And the Zhao family, having got the better of the bargain, would surely keep silent as well. On that point Yu Huoxing was fairly easy in his mind.

"Forgive me... Clan Head. I beg the Clan Head to punish me!" Yu Huoxing knew that though he had failed his task, he had neither merit nor fault to his name, and Yu Xiaochen would not do much to him. At worst his standing in the Yu family would remain as low as ever, and each month he would be allotted no great share of the rare treasures used for cultivation.

"Enough. You may go. I will think of another way about the tomb," Yu Xiaochen said, waving a hand with some impatience. He did indeed, as Yu Huoxing had guessed, impose no punishment; he was merely out of sorts. The Qi-Gathering Pill he had longed for so long; word of it had come at last, and yet it had slipped from his grasp. It was like a bundle of fresh grass tied before a horse's head: the eye can see it, but the mouth can never reach it.

"Yes..." Yu Huoxing's heart sank. Would Yu Xiaochen send someone else to rob the tomb? But then he thought of the perils within, and of that formidable tomb-guarding spirit beast, and he was reassured. Without those tomb robbers to lead the way, even a Heaven-rank master would go in and never come out again.

Watching the old man's back as he withdrew, Yu Xiaochen beckoned with a dark expression. One of his trusted men hurried over and asked in a low voice, "Clan Head, your orders?"

"Yu Liu, keep an eye on Yu Huoxing for me," Yu Xiaochen said.

"Yes, Clan Head... You suspect him...?" Yu Liu asked carefully.

"Just so. The old fellow came from the worldly Yu family, after all; his heart is not with us. I fear he may have got his hands on the thing and kept it for himself," Yu Xiaochen said. "Do not beat the grass and startle the snake. Just search quietly."

"Yes, Clan Head!" Yu Liu answered. Do not underestimate Yu Liu: servant though he was, he possessed the strength of the peak of the mid Earth-rank, far above Yu Huoxing's, so if he was set to watch the man, there was no chance of his being discovered.

......

When Yu Yuanyuan received Ergoudan's call, she hesitated not at all: she would go home with him to recover from his wounds. Though Yu Ren and Yu Yuanyuan's mother were reluctant to let their daughter go, her mind was made up, and all Yu Ren could do was tell her to be careful on the road, to look after Zhou Jiaming, and to call home once they arrived.

"A grown daughter is a daughter you cannot keep!" Yu Ren sighed with feeling.

"Dad, why don't you and Mom come out there too? Zhou Jiaming says it is deep in the mountains, and the air and everything are very good," Yu Yuanyuan said.

"Heh, maybe. In a few years, when we are older, we can go as well," Yu Ren said with a nod. With their daughter gone, there was little point in the two of them staying here.

Yu Yuanyuan's mother, however, had tears in her eyes, loath to see her go.

Wei Zhao had come to see them off, along with Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu, and Tang Yun. Ergoudan's wholehearted devotion over these past days had touched them all; though he was Wei Zhao's junior, in that time a friendship had grown between them.

"If anything comes up here, just come to me," Wei Zhao said to Yu Ren with a smile. "Uncle Yu, Ergoudan and I are brothers. If you need anything, come straight to me, just as you would go to him."

"Of course, of course..." Yu Ren said, nodding and smiling. He knew what Wei Zhao was capable of; with such a formidable figure to lend a hand, there was nothing to worry about here.

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