Chapter 276 – Pursuit
Yue Clan Village.
The current Yue Clan Village was completely different than last time.
After being wrecked by the numerous experts from Xue Clan, although it had been rebuilt later on, due to Elder Yue Hai being taken hostage and the substitute Clan Leader Yue Shan running away, the new substitute Clan Leader Yue Qiu who had taken control had ordered the Yue Clan Village to be built into a defensive fort. The previously level ground had been barricaded with walls. The walls were much shorter than Castle walls but had just about the same thickness. The walls were made up of of a mud layer on the outside, a brick layer in the middle and a layer of wood right inside. As it had only been built not long ago, the wall wasn’t very stable at the moment. There were some places that even required huge pillars of wood for support in order to bear the weight of the guards patrolling back and forth on top of the wall and not crack.
One of the Yue Clan branch family member, Lin Miao, and his cousin Lin Lei were doing day patrol duty together.
Under the blazing sun, they rounded the perimeter again and again.
Lin Miao had small guts, he did not dare to be like his cousin Lin Lei who had smuggled a bottle of beer under his clothes, drinking it as they continued their patrol.
Although they obviously know no one would come, they still need to pretend they were patrolling.
The Second Butler who had just been promoted had an extremely bad temper. Furthermore, he was very petty and arrogant. He would often ride his fast horses and rode down from the Yue Clan Castle to the Yue Clan Village, intimidating and shouting at the branch families member like a fox in a tiger’s fur.
(Shiro: Second Butler – Butler from the Second Branch of the family)
If the Second Butler caught them drinking beers when they should be patrolling, it wouldn’t end by having their whole month’s pay cut off, they would probably be caned too.
Of course, that dog’s lackey would normally not check on them in this kind of blazing hot weather. His white and fat body that looked like a pig wouldn’t be able to endure such torture.
“It was so much better last time, sigh!” Lin Miao sighed. Last time, before the Yue Clan Master was taken prisoner and the Substitute Clan Master escaping Yue Clan, although the status of the members of the Yue Clan branch families wasn’t high, they didn’t fall as low as slaves.
Even amongst the few young masters of the Yue Clan, other than Yue Bao who was a little irritating, the rest were still alright.
For example, Yue Tian and Yue Yan were only arrogant. Although it would be impossible to talk to them like equals, when they paid respects to them, Yue Tian and Yue Yan would still at least nod in response. The Fifth Young Master Yue Ting was more welcoming. He would greet each of them by their seniority warmly, without any arrogance at all. Sometimes, he would even introduce them to his friends when they saw him outside. These are the Lin Brothers from my branch family, these are the Three Shi Brothers, and so on…
As for that abnormal Third Young Master, although he killed people like they were ants, as long as they did not provoke him first, he would not meddle in other’s business.
Last time he was mocked by a lot of the branch family members too, but he didn’t pursue it further.
More accurately speaking, one might still be alive if they provoke this abnormal Third Young Master. If they provoked the Fourth Mistress that the abnormal Third Young Master respect the most or the Seventh Miss Yue Bing and Eighth Miss Yue Shuang that he adored the most, they would definitely be a goner.
The Third Young Master wouldn’t discriminate against the people that he attacked. Forget about members of the branch families, he even dared to attack the previous substitute clan master Yue Shan.
That day, Lin Miao had personally watched the whole scene when the Third Young Master was pulling the Fourth Mistress up to the Yue Clan Castle, his clothes soaked with blood.
At that time, Lin Miao was so scared that he almost peed his pants.
That was because he was one of the three guards that had attacked the Third Young Master at that time, and he was almost bitten to death by the Third Young Master’s Iron-backed Demon Wolf. Fortunately he managed to dodge in a stroke of luck and wasn’t attacked head-on. His colleague behind him, on the other hand, bore the brunt of the attack intended for him. Otherwise, Lin Miao’s grave would probably be filled with weeds by now.
“Shh,” Lin Lei humphed coldly, “The matters in the main family is not something you can discuss about!”
“There’s no one here.” Of course Lin Miao understood Lin Lei’s logic, but he was in a bad mood, he didn’t want to admit his mistake.
“Just do your patrol duty properly. If there’s any problems, ring the alarm bell. If there are no problems, just continue to patrol. When it’s time to switch, go home and rest. You can sleep or eat if you want. Otherwise you can find someone to vent your anger to. Why do you have so many complaints?” Lin Lei patted his younger cousin’s shoulders and warned him, “If you want to live a long life, the only thing you need to do is to pretend you are blind, deaf and mute. Don’t even dream that you can save the day! Even the Third Young Master who is an Innate didn’t care about this matter, why are you, a Level 2 Braveman, putting your nose into other people’s business? Do you have the capabilities to back you up?”
“Brother Lie, I was wrong.” Lin Miao was afraid of this older cousin of his. It was not only because he was a Level 3 Hero, he also had a pretty sharp mind.
If Lin Lei had flaws, that would be his love for alcohol.
Actually, the current Substitute Clan Master Yue Qiu had thought of promoting him to Sentinel Captain of a hundred men team. However, he didn’t do it because he hated the smell of alcohol from Lin Lei’s mouth.
Lin Lei gulped another mouthful of beer and patted heavily on Lin Miao’s shoulders again. “Let’s go, we only need to do this for one more hour. Let’s patrol one more round. Fucking weather, it’s so freaking hot!”
However, Lin Miao was rooted on the spot. He was looking at a small black dot in a far distance, with a blank expression on his face.
Lin Lei was confused, what now?
He curiously turned around too and followed the direction that Lin Miao was looking at. When he see what his younger cousin saw, his expression immediately changed. The alcohol in his hands dropped to the ground and broke to pieces.
“E, Enemies! Quick, ring the alarm bell!” Lin Miao discovered that the black dot was very quickly approaching them. It turned out to be two giant humanoid puppet beasts that were pulling a luxurious horse cart with a rope. They ran with great strides towards the Yue Clan Castle. Although they weren’t very near yet, the killing intent they were emitting could even be clearly felt by Lin Miao, a Level 2 Braveman. Seemed like this was the person that the substitute clan master Yue Qiu was trying to defend against. He must ring the alarm bell now.
“Idiot, ring your head! Can’t you see that the Third Young Master has returned?” Lin Lei sent a flying kick and kicked at Lin Miao’s butt, easily knocking him to the ground.
“But isn’t the Third Young Master fake?” Lin Miao actually wished that the Third Young Master was the real deal.
But he didn’t have a choice.
Who would ever believe that there was a 20-year-old Innate?
Even if one started cultivating in one’s mother’s womb, one wouldn’t be able to become an Innate in twenty years. If people said that the Third Young Master was fake, it was said with a valid and logical reason. No matter how much of a genius one was, being able to reach Level 6 Elder at 20 years old was already a frightening existence. The Third Young Master had reached Innate straight away instead, how could anyone ever believe that he was the real Third Young Master?
Lin Lei sent another kick to Lin Miao’s legs, “Why do you care if he’s real or fake, you just need to recognize him as the Yue Clan Third Young Master!”
Lin Miao understood that Lin Lei meant well. He brushed off the dust on his butt and stood up, asking a little uncertainly, “Is it really okay not to ring the alarm bell? If the Second Butler found out about it, we would need to skin at least a layer of our skin!”
Lin Lei had already sobered up from his alcohol. He stretched his body like a panther and humphed, his forehead covered with cold sweat, “Even if we might be skinned in the future, it will be much better than getting our head chopped off right now!”
Below the walls, those two Iron Giants that were more than six metres tall had arrived with a boom, pulling along the horse carriage.
Yue Yang was sitting on top of that horse carriage.
He looked extremely calm and relaxed, as if he was coming for a holiday. However, the killing intent shown in his eyes could even make Lin Lei, who had almost gotten heat stroke from the blazing sun, shiver in coldness, as if he had been thrown into Antarctica. Goosebumps rose on his arms. As if he did not see the two people guarding the front gate, Yue Yang yawned as the two iron giants raised their iron fists and punched at the walls. They destroyed a part of the wall that the guards had painstakingly and arduously built in over a month, then leisuredly attacked the neighbouring semi-completed Castle walls as they strolled in, pulling the horse carriage.
There was also an Iron-backed Demon Wolf following behind them, looking as if it was bored as it nodded its head and wagged its tail as it walked… Lin Miao remembered that it was the Demon Wolf that had almost killed him. Its name and appearance was etched forever into Lin Miao’s memories. Hui Tai Lang!
When the group entered into the wall perimeter, Hui Tai Lang glanced around and saw Lin Miao by accident.
Lin Miao immediately felt like he was about to pee in his pants.
That kind of Death Reaper like gaze was really all too familiar… He often see it in his dreams…
“Clang clang clang clang!” The alarm bell was rung by other patrol duty guards who were frozen in fear. Lin Miao and Lin Lei watched in horror as Hui Tai Lang leapt a hundred metres in distance in less than three seconds, then ripped the two Shi Brothers who had rung the alarm bell into shreds. They were killed in an instant. Lin Miao and Lin Lei looked at each other and saw the horror in each other’s eyes. If they were the ones who had rung the alarm bell just now, they would probably be… This was definitely not an alarm bell, it was a funeral bell!
“Third Young Master, you finally returned!” Lin Lei trembling lips spoke out a sentence. Other than fear, his voice had a tinge of joy.
“Bro, Brother Lei, what are you doing?” When Lin Miao saw that Lin Lei was running down the wall and towards the horse carriage, he even thought that Lin Lei wanted to fight to his death with the Third Young Master. Lin Miao hurriedly held him down with all his might.
“I won’t do anything, I just want to follow them and watch.” When Lin Lei saw Yue Yang turning back from his seat, he suddenly felt this burning passion in his heart and made a decision that he wouldn’t even think of doing a minute ago. This decision was extremely crazy, although Lin Lei wouldn’t think of doing it a minute ago, the current him would. He had actually put his life on stake for this gamble as he followed the Third Young Master’s horse carriage.
He knew that this battle would be a war between two beasts.
Yue Qiu and Yue Yang. This pair of father and son were just like two tigers. When they fight against each other, one of them would definitely die.
Right now, the most important thing was to stand on the correct team. If he tried to choose teams after the victor has emerged, it would already be too late. He must make a decision and follow his goal before the battle started, otherwise he would be finished. No one liked an easily swayed person, and no one would think that a person sitting on the fence was important.
Lin Lei had made a decision to support the slightly weaker Yue Clan Third Young Master.
This move was extremely crazy, he could lose his life anytime.
However, if he had chosen correctly, his life would be thoroughly changed. At least, he wouldn’t need to bow his head in respect to the elders in the Yue Clan anymore. He could walk like a hero sticking out his chest and live as a person, instead of living as a dog that he currently was.
“Have you gone mad?!” Lin Miao thought that his elder cousin had gone starking mad.
“No, I’m not mad, and I’m not drunk. I am more sober than ever right now. Ah Miao, listen to me. Either you follow me along right now, or just kill me right here!” Lin Lei glared at Lin Miao, his gaze almost like a madman, shocking Lin Miao that he almost break out in sweat. Lin Miao thought about it and shook his head, “Brother Lei, I shall stay behind and continue to be a patrol guard here!”
“Bullshit. You obviously know that that is impossible. No matter who wins or loses, you wouldn’t need to be a patrol guard anymore. The Third Young Master had breached into the Castle through our area, do you think nothing would happen to you if you stayed?” Lin Lei gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. He then turned around and dashed forward, chasing after the horse carriage.
Hui Tai Lang warned him not to get any closer, but it did not attack.
Of course, this was also because Lin Lei had raised his arms to show his surrender, otherwise his neck would probably have been chomped off by Hui Tai Lang long ago.
Lin Miao was extremely anxious. He shouted idiot, idiot, for quite a long while, but when he saw a few hundreds guards who had heard the alarm surrounding the horse carriage, he painfully gritted his teeth as he punched his own chest a few times. After giving himself two hard slaps on his cheeks, he finally shrieked out with a hoarse voice, “Brother Lei, wait for me! Dammit I’m gonna bet my life too!”
Lin Lei didn’t praise him, but Lin Miao could see the look of praise in his eyes. Lin Miao couldn’t remember when he had last seen that kind of look on his elder cousin’s eyes.
Yue Yang who was sitting on top of the horse carriage also looked at them accidentally.
His lips curled up extremely slightly.
It was a smile but not smile.
“Wait a minute, how dare you! As a little brother, how could you not let this boss know? Instead, you just came here to fight all alone. How could you come out without this boss’ protection? I AM your big boss. If this matter was made known to the public, how could I show this Master Hai’s handsome face out to the world anymore!” Fatty Hai rode his Iron Rhinoceros and burst out from behind. Before he even arrived, his voice had thundered across the air.
“We are also here!” The people who appeared together with Fatty Hai were Ye Kong and the Li Brothers.