Chapter 3909 — T020 Double Eleven Special Chapter 7: At Our Age, We Are All Smart People

He Dantou scoffed. "No wonder the Iron-Robed Sect got wiped out by Wei Zhao. You took a beating that hard and never even dared to let out a fart. And you still call yourselves an ancient sect? More like a sect of turtles!"

"What did you say! President He, don't push us too far!" The faces of the Iron-Robed Ancestor and the others flushed scarlet. However accommodating they might be, they were seasoned Heaven-Tier Great Perfection masters of long standing. To be mocked and humiliated to their faces like this—no amount of levelheadedness could make them swallow it any longer. They were not ninja turtles, after all.

"My apologies, my apologies—a slip of the tongue." He Dantou laughed as though nothing had happened, then all at once his expression turned grave. "Gentlemen, if I can pull a few more reinforcements over here, will you still want to back down?"

"Reinforcements? How many?" The Iron-Robed Ancestor and the others suppressed their displeasure, and their spirits rose together.

"I won't boast of numbers, but three Heaven-Tier Great Perfection masters is no trouble at all," He Dantou said with studied profundity.

His words were no idle boast. The Heart had formidable resources at its back, and finding three more Heaven-Tier Great Perfection masters would be no difficult matter.

The eyes of the Iron-Robed Ancestor and the others lit up at once. Eight Heaven-Tier Great Perfection masters were already gathered here; if He Dantou could bring three more, that would make eleven in all—more than enough to deal with Wei Zhao's underlings!

"And one more thing. You gentlemen have surely heard of the Black Horse Society. They are enemies of Wei Zhao as well. A word to them, and they would not pass up such a fine chance for revenge." He Dantou tossed out another piece of bait.

After all, Wei Zhao had only a handful of Heaven-Tier Great Perfection underlings who had the rank but not the substance. Even with the Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect sticking its hand in, the eleven of them could just about cope. Once they managed to join forces and kill a few of the weaker ones first to establish their authority, their odds would not be small.

And if they could bring in the Black Horse Society's finest as well, then this battle of vengeance would be a sure thing.

After all, the Black Horse Society was a sect on par with the Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect, its members just as rich in combat experience. With the two holding each other in check, victory would be all but certain!

"Then it's settled. So long as President He can bring more men, we wouldn't mind risking our lives alongside you and throwing ourselves into one bloody fight!" the Iron-Robed Ancestor and the others declared righteously on the spot.

Their earlier urge to back down had been a choice forced upon them by circumstance. Now that a chance for revenge had appeared, how could they be willing to play the ninja turtle?

They might hold the Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect's old ancestors in considerable dread, but they must not forget that they themselves were no pushovers either. So long as they did not come up short in numbers, they had at least an eighty percent chance of killing Wei Zhao's underlings—men who had the rank but no real combat experience!

"Good, then. Let us find somewhere to rest and recover for a while, and wait for me to call my men over." He Dantou chuckled slyly. This time, Wei Zhao's underlings would be rooted out, every last one.

And just as storm clouds gathered over East Sea City, the peaceful village of West Star Mountain welcomed an uninvited guest—one who held in hand a photograph, the very one of Wei Zhao and Lin Dongfang together.

Sensing someone behind him, Lin Dongfang, who had been tending his flowers and plants, suddenly froze. Then a plaintive voice came from behind him: "An old thing like you—even if you can't leave the village yourself, couldn't you at least have sent word to me?"

Lin Dongfang turned around. At the sight of the newcomer's face, he was struck dumb with shock. "Xiao... Xiao Qing!"

Time froze in that instant. The two gazed at each other and for a long while said nothing. And this uninvited guest was none other than Aunt Qing.

Back then, Lin Dongfang and Xiao Qing had met and come to know each other in the Ice Palace, and Xiao Qing had fallen for him at first sight. Yet Lin Dongfang, because of his peculiar circumstances, was fated never to remain in the Ice Palace. In the end he could only refuse this beauty and tell her that he had to go on a very long mission—asking not that they stay together, only that they forget each other in the wide world.

In the blink of an eye, many years had passed. Aunt Qing remained in the Ice Palace, yet her heart never for a moment ceased to dwell on the man who haunted her dreams. She asked everywhere, exhausted her wits, tried every means, and never let slip a single chance to find Lin Dongfang—yet time and again she came up empty, time and again she was disappointed, and still there was no word of him at all.

It was not until she saw the photograph of Wei Zhao and Lin Dongfang together that she finally learned where Lin Dongfang was. So she had come—come without a second thought.

The two looked at each other for a long while. Aunt Qing's face was already streaked with tears, and Lin Dongfang's old eyes brimmed over as well. His heart, once as still as an old well, was stirred once more by Aunt Qing's arrival into ripples that made the heart drunk.

In the end, a thousand words came down to one. Lin Dongfang smiled faintly. "You came."

"I came." Aunt Qing nodded firmly and stepped forward to gently take Lin Dongfang's hand. There were no sentimental, cloying words—between her and Lin Dongfang, such things were no longer needed.

Though they had not met for many years, at this moment of reunion there was not the slightest sense of strangeness or distance between them. Rather, they were like an old married couple who had lived together for decades—in perfect unspoken accord, in harmony.

It gave one the feeling that Aunt Qing had been the mistress of this house all these years, and had merely stepped out for a stroll, and now returned to wash Lin Dongfang's clothes and cook his meals—everything so natural, so ordinary.

"Wei Zhao has gone to Cloud Terrace Island now, and I hear all those wives of his, his inheritances, have fallen into a coma. As his grandfather, aren't you going to show some concern?" Several days later, after their secluded days of warmth, Aunt Qing suddenly spoke up.

Over these few days she had become the true mistress of the house, living as an old couple leaning on each other with Lin Dongfang. That feeling of growing old together made her heart drunk—yet she could not forget the affairs of the outside world.

Unlike the isolated village of West Star Mountain, Aunt Qing, before she came here, had always kept her ear to the ground about what happened in the world of cultivation.

Now Wei Zhao had gone to Cloud Terrace Island, while his women lay in a coma. It was said that a whole retinue of underlings guarded them, but Aunt Qing could not quite set her mind at ease. After all, that fellow Wei Zhao truly deserved the name of one who made enemies on all sides; even with many underlings, an accident was still quite possible.

Hearing this, Lin Dongfang reached out and smoothed Aunt Qing's hair, smiling gently. "Truth be told, after so many years in seclusion here, I have long wanted to go out and take a good walk about. Especially with the boy having made such a name for himself and incurred so many debts of the heart—did you think I truly did not care at all? The trouble is, the Power-God Gu in my body is in conflict, and I cannot leave the spirit spring water here."

"But aren't you a Heaven-Tier Great Perfection now? Didn't they say the spiritual energy in your body can take the place of the spirit spring water?" Aunt Qing asked, puzzled. (To be continued...)