Chapter 63: Marching to Demand Justice
At this very moment, the Guo family still knew nothing. They had no idea that the Li Clan was about to come to their door and demand an explanation.
A few days later...
In Dong County, within the Guo family’s ancestral grounds, inside the Family Head’s study,
an old man in a red robe, with a long face and sword-like brows, was raging furiously at the current Guo Family Head, Guo Yulong.
This old man was Guo Yulong’s father, Guo Taichang.
“I had thought that after serving as Family Head for so many years, you ought to have grown somewhat. But Yulong, you have truly disappointed me beyond measure!”
Spittle sprayed onto Guo Yulong’s face, yet he did not even dare wipe it away. He only kept his head lowered, though deep in his eyes there was already a faint trace of resentment.
Guo Taichang, however, did not notice it in the slightest.
“The Li Clan and my Guo family have been close for generations. Back then, it was you yourself who agreed to marry Xuling. Without Xuling, you would never have sat upon the Family Head’s seat. Why then have you done something as shameless as doting on a concubine while crushing your wife? Are you not slapping the Li Clan across the face? How am I supposed to give the Li Clan an explanation with this old face of mine?”
“This is a private matter of my Guo family. What does it have to do with the Li Clan?”
Guo Yulong replied calmly.
Guo Taichang’s face flushed red with anger. He pointed at Guo Yulong with a trembling hand and shouted, “You unfilial wretch! Since I could establish you as Family Head, I can also strip you of the position!”
Guo Yulong let out a mocking laugh and said disdainfully, “Father, do you still not know? While you were in seclusion, second brother suffered qi and blood reversal while cultivating and died from cultivation deviation. If you strip me of the Family Head’s seat, are you planning to hand it over to a collateral branch?”
Hearing those words, Guo Taichang was struck like a bolt from the blue.
He stared at Guo Yulong in complete shock.
At that moment, he felt that he had never truly seen through this eldest son of his.
“What fine methods you have.”
Guo Taichang said through gritted teeth.
“With Father as my example, naturally my methods would not fall short either.”
Guo Yulong sneered.
Guo Taichang collapsed into his chair.
Only after a long while did he draw a deep breath and say slowly, “I can no longer control you now. But I do have one bottom line. The future Family Head of my Guo family can only be a legitimate son, not the son of that lowly maid! Otherwise, even if the Family Head’s seat falls into the hands of a collateral branch, I will drag you down with it. And one more thing—handle this matter cleanly. Do not let the Li Clan find out.”
Guo Taichang had only just emerged from seclusion and did not yet know that the Li Clan’s envoy had already come to the Guo family and been driven away.
Guo Yulong answered him perfunctorily. In his eyes, the old man did not have many decades left to live anyway. Once he died, would not the Guo family still be his to command? At that point, whoever he wanted to establish, he would establish. Why should the child he had with Wan’er be unfit to become Family Head?
While father and son were locked in intrigue and mutual calculation,
outside Dong County City, dozens of riders were galloping wildly down the official road, kicking up clouds of dust.
The passing pedestrians all hurried to avoid them, fearing they might be trampled beneath those tall horses.
At the city gate, a dozen or so soldiers stood there lazily holding red-tasseled spears, checking the merchants coming and going.
Suddenly, they seemed to feel a faint tremor running through the ground beneath their feet.
They quickly turned to look into the distance, only to see dozens of riders charging toward them with fierce momentum.
One young foot soldier, newly enlisted, saw the group charging in so aggressively and immediately raised his red-tasseled spear, preparing to stop them.
But a middle-aged soldier grabbed him hard and pulled him back. Meeting the young soldier’s confused gaze, he hurriedly said, “Are you tired of living? One look is enough to tell these people are not to be trifled with. How much are you paid in a month, that you’d stake your life on it?”
The young soldier snorted disdainfully. He had long since found these slippery old hands, who spent every day loafing and shirking, unbearable to look at.
At once, he barked, “If we take the court’s pay, then naturally we owe loyal service to the court!”
With that, he forcefully shook off the middle-aged soldier’s hand, stepped forward, and shouted loudly, “No riding horses within the city! Dismount at once and submit to inspection!”
But the riders did not slow in the slightest.
Within the space of barely three breaths, they had already charged right up to the young soldier.
Under his disbelieving gaze, one of the tall horses moving at terrifying speed crashed directly into him.
The immense force sent him flying several zhang through the air on the spot.
The young soldier felt all his internal organs shaking violently. Just as he struggled to rise from the ground, he lifted his head, and his pupils contracted sharply.
“No!!!”
An iron hoof came crashing down onto his head, bursting it open like a smashed watermelon. Red and white splattered everywhere.
By the time the riders had passed, the young soldier had already been trampled into a slab of mangled flesh.
The remaining soldiers all stared at the scene with parched mouths and dry tongues, a chill running down their backs.
“If you refuse to heed old advice, then the loss lies before your eyes.”
The middle-aged soldier looked at that pile of pulp on the ground and shook his head with lingering fear.
Young man, you were still too naive.
Did you really think this world still belonged to the Great Zhou Dynasty?
Having casually trampled to death an ant who failed to recognize his place, the riders did not feel so much as a ripple in their hearts.
Under the guidance of Li Xuling’s maidservant A-Lian, the Li Clan party soon arrived before the great gates of the Guo residence.
The group reined in their horses there and raised their heads to look at the two golden characters on the plaque overhead—【Guo Residence】.
Second Elder Li Xuanzhong waved his hand, and behind him, two Li Clan cultivators at the Physical Body Realm leapt down from their horses.
For this expedition to Dong County’s Guo family to demand justice, the Li Clan had dispatched two Qi-Blood Realm cultivators, ten Physical Body Realm cultivators, and thirty Body Tempering Realm cultivators at Major Accomplishment.
This terrifying force was enough to destroy an ordinary Qi-Blood Realm family.
The Li Clan’s plan was simple: if the Guo family failed to give the Li Clan a reasonable explanation, then today, the Guo family would be flattened to the ground.
Seeing that the visitors appeared anything but friendly, the two Guo family cultivators guarding the gate drew their sabers, their faces full of vigilance.
One of them shouted sharply, “Halt!”
But the two Li Clan Physical Body Realm cultivators paid them no heed whatsoever.
The two men abruptly accelerated. In an instant, they had already rushed to the gates of the Guo residence.
The two gate guards gritted their teeth and slashed out to stop them, but suddenly felt a violent heaviness in their chests.
The next moment, their bodies were blasted backward by overwhelming force, flying several zhang away.
A mouthful of blood burst from their lips. Their bodies twitched twice, and they never rose again.
After clearing away the watchdogs, Li Xuanzhong and Jiang Dao exchanged a glance.
The two men dismounted, clasped their hands behind their backs, and strode into the Guo residence with expressionless faces.
Behind them, the rest followed closely.
As for the people on the street, the sight of what had just happened outside the Guo residence drew out their natural love of spectacle. They gathered in the distance, pointing and whispering among themselves as they watched.
“Heavens, what kind of ruthless figure has the Guo family offended, that people have actually come knocking at their gates?”
One Dong County townsman said in shock.
The Guo family was one of Dong County’s five Qi-Blood Realm families and wielded tremendous influence there. No one had expected to see the day when others would dare come and smash their way in.
“No idea. They’re all unfamiliar faces. Looks like the Guo family has offended a fierce dragon from beyond their waters. These people have come to settle scores. The Guo family is in real trouble now.”
Someone else said with open schadenfreude. The Guo family had never enjoyed a good reputation in Dong County to begin with.
No one doubted the strength of this mysterious group. Since they dared to march right up to the gates, how could they possibly be weaker than the Guo family?
Within the Guo residence, the crowd had been completely stunned by the sudden turn of events.
When they saw the two gate guards lying on the ground, dead or as good as dead, some of the more timid household servants let out piercing screams and scattered in terror.
The Li Clan men spread out within the courtyard and took up their positions.
Second Elder Li Xuanzhong stepped forward, his face cold as iron, and said, “Guo Taichang, Li Xuanzhong of the Li Clan has come, together with Retainer Jiang Dao, to pay a visit!”
Empowered by qi and blood, Li Xuanzhong’s voice rang through the entire Guo residence like thunder overhead.
In the back courtyard, where Guo Taichang was still speaking with Guo Yulong, Guo Taichang suddenly raised his head, his face turning grim.
He glared fiercely at Guo Yulong and demanded, “What is going on? Why have people from the Li Clan come to our door?”
Guo Yulong’s mouth twitched.
He had not expected that after he drove away the Li Clan’s envoy, the Li Clan would send people straight to his gate not long after. It was only an out-married woman, yet the Li Clan actually cared this much?
“Some time ago, a maidservant escaped and went to the Li Clan to report the matter. Later, the Li Clan sent an envoy, and I drove him away. Why should our Guo family’s private affairs be subject to interference from the Li Clan?”
Facing Guo Taichang’s question, Guo Yulong answered in a low voice.
Hearing this, Guo Taichang flew into a towering rage.
He slapped Guo Yulong hard across the face. Clear finger marks instantly appeared there.
“All my life, I, Guo Taichang, have been known for my brilliance. Why did I have to be saddled with a son as stupid as a pig? The friendship between our Guo family and the Li Clan, built across more than a hundred years, is going to be ruined in your hands!”
Faced with a truly enraged Guo Taichang, Guo Yulong did not dare argue back.
Nor did Guo Taichang have the heart to continue lecturing his son.
The Li Clan had already come to the door. The urgent task now was to first settle matters with them.
Father and son hurried toward the entrance.
At the main gate, the Guo family cultivators who had rushed over upon hearing the disturbance had already gathered together and were locked in a tense standoff with the Li Clan cultivators.
The great battle was on the verge of erupting at any moment when Guo Taichang and his son finally arrived late.
The first thing Guo Taichang saw was the guards lying on the ground, already lifeless.
His face changed.
The Li Clan had truly smashed their way straight to the door.
Although the Guo family was in the wrong, the Li Clan was acting far too overbearingly. Did they really think the Guo family was made of mud?
But the moment he saw Li Xuanzhong and Jiang Dao, and sensed their cultivation, Guo Taichang could not help drawing in a sharp breath.