Chapter 14 : Chapter 14
Chapter 14: Hao Zhongli
An hour later,
in the Li family plaza courtyard, more than two hundred elite members of the Li family stood with sabers at their sides.
The weakest among them was at least at Minor Accomplishment in the Body Tempering Realm.
At the very front stood the Li family’s six great elders.
Several hundred people stood together in silence, waiting without a sound.
The atmosphere was extraordinarily grim.
A few breaths later,
a figure in green robes appeared atop the central high platform at some unknown moment.
The instant they saw that figure, reverence and fervor lit up every face.
“We greet the Family Head!”
Li Xingge looked down at the many elite members of the clan.
A surge of passion rose in his heart.
Then he shouted, “Clansmen, I will not waste words. This journey is to exterminate the Mangshan Su Clan and wash away my Li family’s century of hatred!”
The gathered clansmen became as stirred as if they had been injected with hot blood.
Waving the weapons in their hands, they roared,
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
The sky-piercing cries of slaughter rang through all of Qingfeng Valley. The birds within the valley were startled into flight, circling in midair for a long time, not daring to return to the woods.
Over the past hundred years, the Li and Su families had clashed without cease.
No one knew how much of the other side’s blood had stained their hands.
This was hatred engraved into the bone itself.
And now, the time had finally come to settle it.
The more than two hundred elite members of the Li family set out at full speed toward Mangshan without making any effort to conceal themselves.
When the informants of the various powers saw this, all of them sucked in cold breaths and hurried back at full speed to deliver the news to the forces behind them.
...
Dongjiang Zheng Clan.
Having just received the news, Zheng Lingjun, the Zheng family’s Family Head, exclaimed in admiration, “As expected of youth. Such boldness!”
But one elder of the Zheng family at his side looked unconcerned.
“The young are always hot-blooded and impatient. Su family’s old one is still alive. That man has remained in the Qi-Blood Realm for more than twenty years and is only one step away from Minor Accomplishment in Qi-Blood. Li Xingge only just broke through. He may not necessarily be that man’s match.”
His words won the agreement of many Zheng family elders.
But Zheng Lingjun shook his head.
“I do not think so. This young Family Head is no simple person.”
Seeing how highly their Family Head regarded Li Xingge, the Zheng family elders were all somewhat puzzled.
Unfortunately, Zheng Lingjun offered no explanation.
He recalled the words his Old Ancestor had spoken that day.
He felt that Li Xingge was precisely the kind of man of great fortune his Old Ancestor had described.
He had already made up his mind.
If the Li family won, then he would go with the flow and build ties with them.
If the Li family lost, that would be even better—he could then step in to save Li Xingge and gain the friendship of a future powerhouse.
As for the Su family—
heh, a family with failing succession and only a single aging Qi-Blood Realm cultivator—what could it possibly do to the Zheng family?
As the saying went, bully the old, not the young.
Zheng Lingjun applied that principle to perfection.
At this thought, Zheng Lingjun laughed and said, “Gentlemen, do you have any interest in accompanying me to Mangshan to watch the battle?”
Naturally, no one refused.
After all, today the Qi-Blood Realm cultivators of the Li and Su families were certain to engage in a battle to the death.
Watching a battle between such experts would also benefit their own cultivation.
...
County Yamen.
When County Magistrate Gu Zhiting, who was in the middle of enjoying songs and dances, heard the news that the two families had gone to war,
he sighed somewhat helplessly.
“What troubled times these are.”
Then he tossed the matter aside once more.
“Close the gates. Resume the music. Resume the dancing!”
The great gates of the yamen slowly shut.
Inside, song and revelry flourished in peace.
...
Baibo Song Clan.
The Song family’s Family Head looked up at the sky.
Murmuring to himself, he said, “Perhaps this is an opportunity for my Song family.”
...
For a time,
Baihe County surged with hidden currents, and storm clouds gathered.
Meanwhile,
the Li family force was speeding toward Mangshan.
“Family Head, there is a group of people ahead blocking the road. They wish to request an audience with the Family Head.”
One of the Li family elites scouting ahead reported respectfully.
“Who are they?”
“In reply to the Family Head, they are from the Hao family.”
“The Hao family?”
Li Xingge frowned slightly.
Soon, he recalled exactly what kind of force this Hao family was.
The Hao family, together with the already-destroyed Jin family and Great Saber Sect, had once been one of the Li family’s subordinate forces.
Only, after Li Xuanfeng died and the Li family declined in strength, the Jin family and Great Saber Sect had chosen outright rebellion without hesitation, joining forces with the Zhang and Zou families.
The Hao family, however, had not possessed such courage—or rather, it had been more cautious and prudent. It had merely stopped offering tribute to the Li family and chosen to wait and see.
Even so...
that was still something Li Xingge could not tolerate. He had long wanted to settle accounts with the Hao family after the autumn harvest, only he had not yet found the time.
Looking at the Grand Elder beside him, he let out a cold laugh.
“I haven’t even gone to find trouble with the Hao family yet, and they’ve already delivered themselves to my door. Bring the Hao family’s Family Head to me. I want to see what exactly they are plotting.”
A short while later,
a middle-aged man of about thirty or forty came trotting over under the guidance of a Li family elite, carrying a box in his hands.
“So you are the Hao family’s Family Head?”
Seated on horseback, Li Xingge looked down at the middle-aged man before him and spoke coldly.
With his thin frame and dark complexion, he looked less like the head of a family and more like a farmer from the countryside.
That left Li Xingge somewhat puzzled.
The Hao family’s Family Head in his memory should have been a plump, prosperous-looking middle-aged man.
“Greetings, Patriarch. In reply to the Patriarch, this subordinate is the Hao family’s new Family Head, Hao Ergou.”
The middle-aged man answered with the utmost respect.
“Pfft...”
Hearing the Hao family Family Head’s name, the others could not help laughing out loud.
But the moment they saw the icy look in Li Xingge’s eyes, they quickly suppressed their smiles.
“Patriarch? Heh, I dare not accept such a title. And since you are the Hao family’s new Family Head, what became of the previous Hao family’s Family Head?”
“In here.”
Hao Ergou pointed to the box in his hands, then opened it.
Inside lay a pale, hideously twisted human head.
Its eyes were wide open, the gray-white pupils full of disbelief.
“Hao Cheng colluded with outsiders and intended to betray the main family. This subordinate has already executed family law upon him!”
Li Xingge’s pupils contracted slightly.
“What relation are you to Hao Cheng?”
“He was my elder half-brother of the same father.”
When Hao Ergou said this, his face did not change in the slightest, as though the head in his hand belonged to a stranger.
Li Xingge nodded thoughtfully.
“And why have you stopped the road of my Li family?”
Hao Ergou replied respectfully, “I have come with the traitor’s head to beg forgiveness from the Patriarch. Along the way, I also heard that the Patriarch intends to campaign against the Mangshan Su Clan, so I specially gathered the elites of my clan and came to die in service of the Patriarch.”
Li Xingge gave Hao Ergou a long, deep look.
Then suddenly, he smiled.
“Well done, Hao Ergou. As for your Hao family’s matter, this Patriarch will let bygones be bygones. But there will not be a next time. If you offend again, the Hao family will be exterminated.”
Hearing this, Hao Ergou felt a chill run down his back, but he also let out a long breath, the stone hanging over his heart finally dropping.
During this period, the Hao family had been like ants on a hot pan, suffering in torment.
The wretched end of the Jin family and Great Saber Sect was still vivid before their eyes.
Though the Hao family had not rebelled, who could say whether the Li family would not still blame them for what they had done before?
“Hao Ergou swears to heaven that, generation after generation, the Hao family is willing to be the hawks and hounds of the Li family. If we ever betray this oath, may heaven itself destroy us!”
Dropping to one knee, Hao Ergou pointed to the sky and swore.
In a world where the Heavenly Dao manifested itself, swearing to heaven carried grave consequences if one later broke that oath.
At that moment, even Li Xingge was somewhat moved.
He gave Hao Ergou a meaningful look.
Then he said slowly, “The name Hao Ergou is not a good one. From today onward, your name will be Hao Zhongli.”
Hao Ergou—or rather, Hao Zhongli—suddenly lifted his head.
Then, just as heavily, he knelt once more.
“Hao Zhongli thanks the Family Head for bestowing a name!”
In the unseen shadow, Hao Zhongli’s eyes gradually reddened with tears.