Chapter 3111 — The Shocked Eastern Jinxing

It was plain that the Grand Elder of the Dark Night Palace was a different sort from the Grand Elder of Snow Valley. The Dark Night elder had changed somewhat, true, but a domineering temperament formed over so many years was not something that could be changed just because one willed it.

Nor did the Grand Elder intervene in the sweet talk between Wei Zhao and Gu Mengyao. Her attitude toward Gu Mengyao and her attitude toward Ye Rou'er were two entirely different things. There was no help for it—the two women's natures were simply different.

Of course, she still looked down on Wei Zhao a great deal, regarding him as nothing more than a wandering cultivator. So from the moment she arrived at Gu Mengyao's side, she had not spoken a single extra word to him.

Wei Zhao did not mind in the least. So long as the Grand Elder treated Gu Mengyao well, the rest did not matter to him. To get along with a person like the Grand Elder, one either had to be like Gu Mengyao—holding some leverage over her in certain matters—or be stronger than she was, like Mr. Yang in years past.

Mr. Yang. In truth, Wei Zhao had been puzzled ever since Gu Pengzhan first mentioned the man. Who on earth was this Mr. Yang, to possess such ability that he did not even place a Grand Elder of peak late Heaven-rank in his eyes?

Of course, Wei Zhao would never have connected the man to his own master. After all, he had no inkling of the great deeds his master and Lin Dongfang had once performed, and Lin Dongfang had not mentioned any of it to Wei Zhao even once.

Had it not been for the domineering air Lin Dongfang had inadvertently revealed of late, which made Wei Zhao suspect his master's strength was out of the ordinary, he would never have thought of anything else. Such matters were, after all, utterly unfamiliar to him.

"Oh-ho-ho, Xiaoshu is finally a concubine now!" Once Gu Mengyao had gone, Shen Yushu suddenly spoke up.

"Eh?" Wei Zhao was caught off guard by this baffling remark, though it took him only a moment to understand. He could not help but smile bitterly. "Xiaoshu, Yaoyao has already left, and you're still making trouble?"

"But I'm leaving too..." Shen Yushu said faintly.

At her words, it struck Wei Zhao all at once—yes, Shen Yushu was leaving too. In the blink of an eye, everyone around him would depart one by one... Perhaps, in the not-too-distant future, they would meet again. Wei Zhao looked forward to that day.

Back in the villa's living room, Wei Zhao sat on the sofa in silence. Everything felt like a dream—the eldest miss had simply up and left, and the villa suddenly seemed to be missing something.

"Earlier, Dongfang Buruo was probably coming for me. I never expected it to drag Yaoyao into it..." Xu Shilan was the first to break the silence. She felt it necessary to say something to Wei Zhao.

"I thought of that too," Wei Zhao said with a smile.

Xu Shilan was slightly taken aback. She thought to herself: of course. If she had thought of it, how could Wei Zhao not have? After all, it was Wei Zhao who had told her about her own origins and the Dongfang family's designs on her.

"This time they sent a mid Heaven-rank expert. Next time they may send someone even more formidable—could that drag you in as well?" Xu Shilan asked with some worry. "We can't very well go asking the Grand Elder for help, can we? Yaoyao has gone to the Dark Night Palace and is its new Palace Master, but in truth she hasn't yet secured her footing..."

"I know that. But... we'll meet force with force and flood with earth," Wei Zhao said. In truth, he too was worried. If the Dongfang family went home this time and let the matter drop and lowered their banners, all the better. But if they sent another, more formidable expert, Wei Zhao truly would have no way to cope...

"I'm sorry... I've brought you trouble..." Xu Shilan said apologetically.

"Ha, what are you saying? I'm your close guard—take a man's money and spare him his disasters. That's an old saying." Wei Zhao laughed carelessly, but inwardly he was turning matters over. He was a Heaven-rank expert now; one of these days he ought to find Han Jingyi and run a test, to see whether the two of them together could refine a Qi-Gathering Pill. If they could, then Wei Zhao would be able to break through and advance again and again. It was just that Han Jingyi seemed very busy lately. He had asked Han Xiaochao to tell her to contact him, but her call had not yet come. It seemed she was still in secluded cultivation.

That evening, Wei Zhao went to his room to cultivate, while Shen Yushu and Xu Shilan went upstairs to rest.

Dongfang Buruo carried Dongfang Song's corpse back to the hotel, though he did not dare bring it out, leaving it instead in the trunk of the car. The first thing he did after driving back to the hotel was to call his father, Dongfang Jinxing.

"Buruo, how did it go? All settled?" In Dongfang Jinxing's view, with a mid Heaven-rank expert like Dongfang Song on the job, dealing with a Xu Shilan was a simple matter.

"Dad, he's dead... Dongfang Song... he was beaten to death!" Dongfang Buruo said, rather nervously. Even now he had not recovered; clearly he had been badly frightened.

"Dead?" Dongfang Jinxing nearly flung the phone away. Dongfang Song dead too? How had he died? "Buruo, what are you saying? Xu Shilan's close guard is that formidable? He could even kill a mid Heaven-rank expert like Dongfang Song?"

"Dad, no—it wasn't Xu Shilan's close guard. It was the Grand Elder of the Dark Night Palace..." Dongfang Buruo said hurriedly.

"The Dark Night Palace? The Grand Elder? What? She's come to trouble you again?" This time Dongfang Jinxing was thoroughly enraged. Earlier, because the Dongfang family had been in the wrong, Dongfang Cha's death had been left at that, and he had not gone straightaway to make trouble for the Dark Night Palace. But surely the Dark Night Palace could not push its luck?

Was this a campaign to wipe them out root and branch? We send another mid Heaven-rank expert, and you simply beat him to death?

"Dad, it wasn't us going to trouble her... it's... it's like this..." This time Dongfang Buruo did not dare conceal anything. The Grand Elder would likely issue a statement, after all, and if he lied he would easily be exposed. So he came out with the truth and told Dongfang Jinxing all about how he had not recognized Xu Shilan.

Dongfang Buruo's account left Dongfang Jinxing utterly dumbstruck. You went to seize their inheritance bearer again? Then you really can't blame the Dark Night Palace's Grand Elder! What kind of people are you? Seizing once, and then seizing a second time? It was sheer luck that Dongfang Buruo had been spared at all this time!

So though Dongfang Jinxing was furious beyond measure, he could not utter a single word of protest. There was no way to make trouble over this! Still, he was deeply disgruntled, and given the slightest opportunity he would surely reclaim his justice. (To be continued.)