Chapter 312: Returning Home to All Bad News
"Old Ancestor," Master Tian said, his tone tinged with disapproval, "punishment shouldn’t extend to the family..."
Officially, Tian Shu had done nothing wrong on the surface, so his family shouldn’t be implicated. Privately, Master Tian didn’t want Tian Fu to get his way and was looking to frustrate him.
Tian Fu’s gaze turned sinister. "Punishment shouldn’t extend to the family? Fine. Tian Shu was one of Tian Heng’s people, and Tian Heng’s poor management means he should be the one punished."
Tian Heng was the Young Master. He stood to the side, his expression darkening slightly.
A smirk played on Tian Fu’s lips. "Forget it. I won’t stoop to arguing with a junior. How about this? Give me Tian Shu’s parents, and we’ll wipe the slate clean on our past issues. How about it?"
"The boy, Tian Heng, is exceptionally talented. He is indeed a worthy choice for Young Master."
’Is he... really willing to let it go? The matter of them tricking him into going to the Beastman World while he was unconscious?’
Master Tian fell silent.
’That undying bastard, Tian Fu... In every generation, he chooses a talented junior to possess. The previous Family Heads willingly submitted, but Master Tian refused to live under someone else’s thumb.’
’He and his descendants could also fulfill the family’s grand destiny. Why should they have to listen to Tian Fu?’
And so, over a decade ago, the ancestral hall was bombed. With Tian Fu gravely injured and unconscious, he had seized the opportunity to trick him into going to the Beastman World. His plan was to use Yu An, who was also heading there for experience, to eliminate Tian Fu for good.
Unfortunately, the plan failed, and Tian Fu had managed to escape and return.
If he refused Tian Fu’s demand, they would both suffer heavy losses. But if he agreed...
A look of conflict appeared on Master Tian’s face. Tian Fu, sitting in his seat, looked as though victory was already in his grasp.
He was certain Master Tian would hand over Tian Shu’s parents. Then, he could use them to threaten Tian Shu.
’Tian Shu has already become Yu An’s lackey. When the time comes, he can be used to deal a vicious blow to Yu An!’
"This..."
In the end, Master Tian relented. "Sigh... Tian Heng, take some men and bring them here. Hand them over for the Old Ancestor to deal with."
"Old Ancestor," he sighed, "in the eyes of our clansmen, Tian Shu went to assist you. No one would have expected him to turn traitor."
"But there’s no proof he betrayed the family. The clansmen will find it hard to believe based on one person’s word alone. When you deal with them, please do it away from prying eyes."
Tian Fu was displeased. "With my status, would I spout baseless nonsense?"
’My words should be treated as an imperial edict in the Tian Family!’
’Even if I dealt with Tian Shu’s parents openly, no one should have the slightest doubt!’
Master Tian gave a bitter smile. "But the clansmen don’t know your identity. In everyone else’s eyes, Tian Shu’s parents are elders. What reason would a junior have to punish an elder?"
He paused, then asked probingly, "Are you suggesting that we should announce your identity to the public?"
Tian Fu refused without a second thought.
Announcing his identity would do more harm than good. If the Tian clansmen knew he survived by possessing others, he would become their primary enemy.
"Fine," Tian Fu changed his tune. "We’ll do it your way."
A flicker of regret passed through Master Tian’s heart, but he showed no sign of it on his face, dispatching Tian Heng to bring them over.
After a short wait, Tian Heng returned in a hurry, but there was no one behind him.
"Old Ancestor, Father, this is bad!"
He said breathlessly, "Tian Rong and his wife have escaped! They left a letter saying their family’s wealth was not enough to repay the family’s losses, so... so..."
So, they had simply decided not to repay the debt at all, gathered their valuables, and fled.
Tian Fu didn’t know the full story, only understanding after Master Tian explained it to him.
"Go after them! Find them and bring them back!"
’What terrible timing for them to run!’
Tian Fu wasn’t suspicious, however. Master Tian couldn’t have predicted today’s events, so it was impossible for him to have planned this in advance.
They had lost supplies, and Blood Crystals at that. Tian Rong and his wife truly couldn’t afford to repay such a loss.
Not only had they failed to bring back the couple, but there was more bad news. Most of the beastmen’s Blood Crystals had already fallen into Yu An’s hands, and they hadn’t even managed to secure the few that were left.
"You’re saying the Blood Crystals were stolen by bandits? What bandits would dare to rob my Tian Family!"
"They’re from a mountain called Overlord Mountain, Old Ancestor. A den of bandits has appeared there. There are five thousand of them, and their stronghold is easy to defend but difficult to assault."
Master Tian sighed. "Most importantly, the chieftain of Overlord Mountain has Divine level Spiritual Power. The men the family sent were all stopped at the foot of the mountain; they couldn’t even make it halfway up."
As a top-tier family in the Upper Realm, the Tian Family wasn’t so weak, but the area was close to the Heaven and Earth Illusion Realm, so Master Tian didn’t dare to make a big move.
Tian Fu was about to call Master Tian useless, but after seeing the map of Overlord Mountain and the Heaven and Earth Illusion Realm, he held his tongue.
In truth, he too feared the Heaven and Earth Stone. At least for now, he couldn’t afford to offend it.
"Forget it. Find Tian Rong and his wife first. As for Overlord Mountain... I’ll make a trip there when I have time and probe that chieftain’s strength."
Having successfully outsourced this difficult problem to Tian Fu, Master Tian breathed a sigh of relief. "Old Ancestor, I’ve already had your courtyard cleaned. Why don’t you go and rest for now? We can hold a proper welcome for you tomorrow."
"Very well."
After being away for so many years, the Tian residence hadn’t changed much. A servant led Tian Fu to his former courtyard.
The place where he lived as a child was quite dilapidated. Only after growing up and revealing his true identity to Master Tian did he move to a different residence.
The courtyard he was now living in was second only to Master Tian’s residence and was comparable to that of the Young Master, Tian Heng. Tian Fu was barely satisfied.
He dismissed the servant and was about to go inside when he felt a gaze fall upon him.
He followed the gaze and froze.
It was the Second Master of the Tian Family, Tian Pingyue—the biological father of his current body.
Only Master Tian, the Young Master, and a few elders knew Tian Fu’s true identity. Tian Pingyue was not privy to this information.
Though reluctant, he still had to call Tian Pingyue "Father."
"Hmph!"
Before he could speak, Tian Pingyue let out a cold scoff and turned to leave.
’How baffling.’
’I have no idea what that little scene was about, but it’s for the best. How can I, the great Old Ancestor of the Tian Family, call a junior ’Father’?’
He put the incident to the back of his mind. Meanwhile, after returning to his own residence, Tian Pingyue locked himself in his study, refusing to see anyone.
In his earlier years, he had more than ten concubines, but later, as if he’d grown tired of it, he kept only one and sent the rest away.
"Yin’er..."
Caressing the portrait of a beautiful woman, Tian Pingyue’s face was filled with anguish.
’If only I had trusted my wife without reservation... If only I had stood firmly by her side... would we have been separated by death?’
’His investigation suggested that his son, Tian Fu, might have been involved in what happened back then, but he couldn’t bring himself to believe that Tian Fu could be so malicious at such a young age.’
’What benefit was there for him in framing his own mother?!’
Tian Pingyue wracked his brains but couldn’t make any sense of it. He wanted to investigate, to force the truth out of Tian Fu, but Master Tian had approached him in secret, warning him to stay away from Tian Fu and strictly forbidding him from digging into the events of that year.
Master Tian was his own brother, born of the same mother, and Tian Pingyue had always heeded his words.
Back when Meng Fanxin was framed, it was Master Tian and the Meng Family who had joined forces to save her life.
Unfortunately, he had been too dispirited to face the situation back then. In the year the ancestral hall was destroyed, Meng Fanxin passed away.