Chapter 3281 — A Strange Move

Lin Dongfang said nothing further and hung up. The Sinister Ancestor, meanwhile, relayed Old Man Wei's words to the Bloody Garment Ancestor and the Yellow Springs Ancestor.

"Bloody Garment Ancestor, Yellow Springs Ancestor, both of you—with the Master here, there is no longer any doubt that we shall survive this calamity. Still, to keep the blow from falling on our sect, I suggest we act openly. Let us announce plainly that we are bound for West Star Mountain Village. That way, when the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Cult, the Dongfang Family, and the Black Horse Association come, they will head straight for West Star Mountain Village to find us." So the Sinister Ancestor advised.

"An excellent proposal," the Bloody Garment Ancestor said with a nod of approval. "Then let us set out at once."

Off the three ancestors went, there and then. Yet before departing, if they did not spread the word far and wide, they made no secret of it either—they marched toward West Star Mountain Village with banners flying. Their move did not escape the ears of the three parties preparing to take vengeance upon them: the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Cult and the others.

Once more those families and sects gathered together. This time they had meant to go to the Bloody Garment Yellow Springs Sect as one, but on the eve of setting out they received a piece of news that left them somewhat taken aback: the three ancestors of the Bloody Garment Yellow Springs Sect had gone to West Star Mountain Village?

What kind of place was that?

"Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable, your Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Cult is wide of experience and knowledge. Do you know what this place is?" asked Chairman Qian Puguang of the Black Horse Association, rather puzzled.

"I do not. But it cannot be any great place—how large can a village be?" The Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable shook his head. "Never mind what kind of place it is for now. We should first make clear what those three ancestors of the Bloody Garment Yellow Springs Sect are doing there!"

"I wonder," Dongfang Badao said after a moment's thought, "whether they have caught wind that we mean to retaliate, and have purposely hidden themselves in some godforsaken hole?" That was the only guess he could come up with. After all, the three ancestors of the Bloody Garment Yellow Springs Sect had gone to a strange place no one had even heard of, and had set out on the sudden—there was something uncanny about it however one looked at it.

Especially now, when those three ancestors must surely have received word that the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Cult, the Dongfang Family, and the Black Horse Association were preparing to join hands against them.

"That is possible," the Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable said with a nod. "Patriarch Mad Bull, what do you think?"

Patriarch Mad Bull was a man of high prestige, yet he spent his days in seclusion and had no bent for cunning schemes. He thought for a while, and in the end did not speak, but turned instead to Zhong Yongliang at his side and asked in a low voice, "Mr. Zhong, what do you think?"

Zhong Yongliang had joined this revenge plot this time in order to temper himself. For one thing, he bore Wei Zhao a hatred deep as the sea; for another, after consuming countless rare treasures and miraculous elixirs, his strength had at last risen to the peak of the late Earth Rank, a single step now from the Heaven Rank. To break through, he needed an opportunity. Though the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Cult possessed elixirs such as the Qi-Gathering Pill, Zhong Yongliang was a man set on advancing to the Heavenly Way, and would not lightly stoop to taking any Qi-Gathering Pill.

Yet Zhong Yongliang's true identity could not be exposed for now; it was known only to the disciples within the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Cult. To the outside world he was a strategist at Patriarch Mad Bull's side—and that the patriarch showed him a measure of respect was only natural.

Through history many an emperor had treated his strategists with courtesy and deference, and an ancient sect that followed the old rites would hardly find it strange. So it roused no one's suspicion.

"I believe the several of us have wandered into a blind alley," Zhong Yongliang said, mild yet commanding. "Must we know what those three ancestors of the Bloody Garment Yellow Springs Sect have gone to do? Why must we know? What they do is no concern of ours whatsoever. Our aim is simply to find them, to slay them or force them to submit. And vast as heaven and earth are, apart from Cloud Rank Island, where is there that a company such as ours cannot go?"

"Truly, one word from you wakes the dreamer—Mr. Zhong is a man of rare talent indeed!" Though the Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable found Zhong Yongliang's words reasonable, they hardly struck him as an enlightenment that cleared his mind and opened his eyes. But he was Zhong Yongliang's disciple, and so of course he did not neglect to pat his revered master on the back.

As for Dongfang Badao and Qian Puguang, though they too did not find Zhong Yongliang's words so wondrous, they had to admit he was right. Their purpose was to settle accounts with the three ancestors of the Bloody Garment Yellow Springs Sect—what did it matter what those men were doing in West Star Mountain Village?

At that thought, Dongfang Badao nodded as well. "Mr. Zhong speaks truly. Let us gather our things and make ready to set out!"

And so the little revenge party made its way toward West Star Mountain Village, following the direction of their navigational device. Yet by the time they set out, the Bloody Garment Ancestor and his two companions had already arrived at West Star Mountain Village.

For experts at the peak of the late Heaven Rank, and for a master at the Great Perfection of the late Heaven Rank, running to West Star Mountain Village on their own two legs in truth took little time at all.

In the courtyard from before, the Bloody Garment Ancestor, the Yellow Springs Ancestor, and Patriarch Mad Bull once more set eyes upon the Master who filled them with both reverence and dread—Lin Dongfang.

"Bloody Garment (Yellow Springs, Sinister), pays respects to the Master!" The three ancestors, men of high prestige and great renown throughout the ancient stratum, now stood before Lin Dongfang and bowed in greeting as meekly as children.

"Mm. You have come." Lin Dongfang glanced at the three before him and nodded.

"Master, your subordinates have failed in their duty. Not only did we fail to aid the young master, we brought great trouble down upon him. Now the three of us can scarcely protect ourselves..." The Sinister Ancestor, his face pinched with misery, offered his apologies with the utmost caution.

Lin Dongfang waved a hand as though it were nothing. Though he had received no clear reply from Mo Kongwu, he knew well enough by now that Wei Zhao would not be in any great danger—that he should pull through, as the saying goes, the cart will find its way up the hill when it reaches it.

So Lin Dongfang did not reproach the three before him. In any case, all they had done before had been born of good intent; without their intervention, Wei Zhao could never have resolved those several crises so easily.

One might say it was all the will of Heaven—or rather, all within the grasp of Mo Kongwu.