Chapter 241
Chapter 241: Cleansing the Ling Family
Translator: chuchutrain Editor: DavidT , Rock
However, this way of doing things left Third Master Yu extremely unsatisfied. Thus, he suggested to Ling Jian to allow all five of them to go against him alone! Ling Jian happily agreed and thus began the dishevelled days of Third Master Yu. While the sparring gave him endless joy, it also made him extremely bedraggled! Because of Third Master Yu's profound cultivation and internal energy, the five brothers were unable to do a thing to him. However, their mischievous minds soon found a way around it, which was to target his clothes! From then on, Third Master Yu had to seriously stress the fact that they were not allowed to lay a finger on his clothes, at the expense of him using his full strength against them! After all, nobody would like having the cloth around their buttocks completely torn off!
Yu ManTian was always stamping the ground in anger after every battle, but he couldn't do anything either! Yu ManTian was already at the XianTian realm and had immense internal energy storage. Together with the fact that he was already familiar with the fighting styles of the five kids, he would definitely be able to annihilate them without paying the ultimate price if they were to clash head on! However, he was also painfully aware that the other party had the exact same thoughts! To fight all out and clash head-on, the five of them had the utmost confidence of putting Yu ManTian at an absolute disadvantage! If it were an assassination, Ling Jian even felt that only three of them would do, and at most one of them would sacrifice their life to seal the deal! After all, the five of them were originally coached in assassination techniques with little training on fighting head on!
After repeated battles, Yu ManTian began to really appreciate their talents, and hence would rather be on the losing side than injure them. The five of them naturally felt it, and hence also reciprocated by not using any killing moves.
However, for the originally disadvantaged third master to give leeway, it would be more difficult than ascending to the heavens for him to win this battle! When experts exchange pointers, the slightest error can allow a blow to land. While the five of them couldn't compare to the third master individually and were unable to pierce the internal energy surrounding his skin, that didn't mean that they weren't able to give him superficial wounds! This few days, Third Master Yu looked as though he had mysteriously developed bruises on his face, with his head resembling that of the Sakyamuni Buddha 1 , let alone his clothes remaining intact!
Ling Tian originally told Ling Jian to inform them not to go overboard, but who would have expected that the Third Master Yu would grumble about it but not actually care about it? In the end, he still stayed his hand at crucial times, not even caring about his clothes at those points! After a while, Ling Tian could only helplessly turn a blind eye to it!
Because Ling Chi and the group were already close to making breakthroughs, under Yu ManTian's 'coaching', they all made significant progress! This was further facilitated by Ling Jian's 'torture' every time they returned back to their base, so who would dare to take it easy? This also resulted in Yu ManTian's increasing unease when battling against the five of them!
In the previous few days, Yu ManTian was extremely pleased with his success, but what made him speechless was that the five brats improved as quickly as he did! Third Master Yu could still keep his clothes intact in the first few days of sparring, but recently, he was forced to return with fewer and fewer strips of cloth on his body!
Every day, Third Master Yu would start the battle with a holler, "This Third Master is here! Little brats, hurry and meet your maker!" After the battle, he would end with a resentful statement saying, "You brats have improved again, not bad not bad, this Third Master will settle you the next day!" Then he would arrange the strips of cloth that still remained on his body before running off. This sort of attitude showed that he was truly a martial arts fanatic!
There was, however, one point that the six of them found incredibly funny. Even after being ridiculed and laughed at by the people of Smoky Thea Tower whenever he walked in after a battle, he didn't have the thought to take off his robe and put it elsewhere before starting the battle! He would merely tuck his robes in his belt before starting the fight!
Ling Chi once asked if they should remind him about setting aside his robes, but Ling Chi was beaten up by the rest of them for this suggestion. The reason? It would make the battle much less interesting!
When Ling Tian heard the news, he froze on the spot for a good few seconds, before laughing so hard that he had to hold on to his stomach! He was deeply respectful to Third Master Yu's mental willpower as he was able to withstand the glances of everyone in Smoky Thea while looking like a monkey every day!
This wasn't sarcasm. Ling Tian had asked himself, and he was sure that even he wouldn't be willing to allow the five of them to be so unbridled as to do the same to him. Because of that he couldn't help but be filled with respect for Third Master Yu.
It was also because of this that Yu BingYan, heartbroken at the state of her uncle when he came back to Smoky Thea Tower every day, ran over to Ling Tian and squeezed out a huge purple bruise on Ling Tian's body! Ling Tian could only shout out his innocence; after all, it was her uncle that willingly chose this path!
***
In front of the Ling Family Courtyard, more than hundred odd tents were built. All the business partners of the Ling Family were standing around them respectfully as they waited for the arrival of the Ling Family members.
All the people here could be considered major partners in the Ling Family business. They were well fed and dressed richly, so how could they lower themselves to squeeze into a crude tent? Especially since there was the opulent villa in front of them, but the Ling Family actually didn't allow anyone to enter! All the people were furious to the point of exploding!
But this fury only lasted for half a day, as the sound of prisoner cages rattling along the road woke them out of their reverie. Seeing some of their partners inside the cages in miserable conditions, all of them immediately kept quiet out of fear! Some of the weaker ones even vomited out their dinner from the previous night! Escorting the cages was a group of black-robed people, all tall and sturdy, looking like steel towers. Their bodies exuded a cold killing intent, their eyes looking like bottomless pits that could devour anyone whom they looked at. It gave everyone the shivers when they cast their eyes on them!
This was especially so given that inside the car was actually seated the adopted son of Duke Ling, the fourth important person in the family, Ling Kong! This gave everyone a sense of danger to themselves! Everyone was shocked beyond words seeing the plaintive look of the person who used to hold great authority and decide life and death! All of them only agreed on one point: the Ling Family was undergoing huge changes!
Ling Tian's people could be said to have perfect timing, as all the prisoners traveling from north, south, east, and west all arrived in front of the gates at the same time!
A cloud of smoke rolled up from afar!
The people with real authority in the Ling Family were here!
Following an order, all the horses let out a neigh and stopped perfectly at the same spot. The cloud of dust kicked up made it look like a heaven obscuring sandstorm was passing by. Everyone was immediately splattered with earthy dust, but no one even dared to move to wipe it off or cough!
Duke Ling dismounted from his horse and vigorously walked over. His eyes looked as though he was about to eat them whole! Those he stared at lowered their heads, unwilling to look directly at him.
"Good!" A face of fury on his face, Ling Zhan walked past one vehicle after another, the fury on his face becoming ever so apparent. He walked from bottom to top, and back to bottom. All he fixed his gaze on shrank away.
"This is very good!!" Ling Zhan hollered out loud in fury! Everyone flinched at the sudden outburst!
"All of you are great people! So many people here, and many I even personally guided!" Ling Zhan had a mournful expression. "I, Ling Zhan, or I should say the Ling Family, what have we ever done to you? All of you were given the best of food and clothes, a life of luxury! I believe you do not pale in comparison to the other nobles from the aristocrats! All of you have a plot of land, houses, whatever can be given I've given! What the other aristocrats are mindful about, I've still given! Why? Why did you have to betray me? WHY? Give me a reason! I WANT A REASON!!"
The white hair of Duke Ling flew wildly as his piercing shout filled the sky, echoing loud and without end!
The grounds were eerily silent, no one dared to speak a word!
Ling Tian sighed inwardly, his own grandfather was already nearing his sixties, but was still so emotional. He couldn't think how the Ling Family was actually built up! If not for Old Madam Ling, most likely there wouldn't be the Ling Clan name now, right?
"No one wants to talk?" Ling Zhan sorrowfully laughed, "Good, then I'll ask all of you one by one!"
He stopped in front of the first cage, hollering, "Du ZhongXin! Raise your head and look at this old man!"
The man in question trembled, before burrowing his head even more.
Ling Zhan solemnly asked, "Du ZhongXin, this old man asks you! Remember that day, when your family of three was about to die of hunger by the side of the road? This old man couldn't bear it and took you under my wing; treating your wife's illness, fixing your son's leg. At that time, you were overwhelmed with gratitude, and swore to be loyal forever to me, even changing your name from Du QiHui to Du ZhongXin, which meant loyalty! I still remember your words: from today onwards, this man's body only has a heart of loyalty to you the family head! Twenty years later, where has your loyalty flown to?"
Ling Zhan's chest heaved up and down constantly, "Du ZhongXin, that's what you said that year! Du ZhongXin, raise your d**ned head! Did you treat the words you spoke that year as nothing? HUH?!!!"