Chapter 94: Never Give Up
While one might think that ordinary people wouldn’t necessarily care if an envoy from a higher empire paid Grand Xia a visit, that wasn’t actually entirely true. After all, even an ordinary citizen from a higher empire should be treated with extreme caution; a higher empire had the ability to easily raze lower-tiered empires. A careless action, or even a word, here or there, could potentially bring destruction upon the empire.
Xu Ge sucked in a cold breath, then he asked, "Daoye, are you for real? You are really from a sixth-tier empire?” He seemed to find it hard to believe.
"Why would I lie to you?” muttered Li Daoye in discontent. “Actually, a sixth-tier empire isn’t even anything special; there are fifth-tier and even fourth-tier empires above us. If you look at it from a certain angle, you’ll find that we’re not too different from you guys.”
But Xu Ge didn’t buy that, and he was pleasantly surprised. "The difference is huge! At the very least, now the Frost Water Empire will have to think twice before they try to apprehend the lord!”
It was then that a sudden commotion broke out outside, and shortly later, a figure rushed into the courtyard, anxiously yelling, "Second Master, Xiao Shence from the Valiant Saber Guards came together with Yan Beihan of the Imperial Guards! They’ve brought their men with them, and they wish to bring everyone from the manor back for questioning!”
Hearing that, Fang Cangyou blew his top; he was so enraged, he almost stood up from his wheelchair. Thankfully, he managed to settle down his jerky feet. "Do they have a death wish? Are they trying to overturn my Fang Manor?" he bellowed.
"The madam and the young lady have already been arrested!” the guard said urgently. “We are no match for the Valiant Saber Guards and the Imperial Guards; they outnumber us greatly. Please tell us what to do, Second Master!”
The moment Huang Sihai heard that both Fang Chen’s mother and sister had been arrested, he couldn’t control his fury and slapped the tea set in front of him, causing it to explode into bits. “Fuck!”
Xu Ge was also smoldering in anger as rage flashed through his eyes.
Tie Ma’s face sank.
Li Daoye was also greatly taken aback; the situation had escalated out of nowhere.
"I'll go and kill them all!" Huang Sihai roared and was about to rush out, but he was stopped by Fang Cangyou.
As Fang Cangyou held him back, he said, "Don't act recklessly, Ol’ Huang. Wait until Chen’er returns. We shouldn’t continue to stir up more trouble before he comes back!”
"Second Master, should we just let them ride roughshod all over us and arrest everyone in the manor?" Huang Sihai said angrily.
"Chen’er’s motto is to remain calm in the face of challenges. Ol’ Huang, you need to control your temper better.” Fang Cangyou reminded him before snorting heavily. “Let’s go. We’ll head out to take a look. Let’s see what sort of shenanigans Xiao Shence and Yan Beihan are up to.”
Outside, the Fang Manor was already in chaos. Fang Chen’s mother, along with Fang Zhixue, were surrounded by the Valiant Saber Guards in the martial arts arena, as went for the younger disciples in the manor, servants, maids, and housekeepers.
Yan Beihan looked at the hundreds of people before him, then he sighed softly while staring at Xiao Shence. “We’ve completely offended Fang Chen now that we have done this.”
"Who dares to defy His Majesty’s decree? Our entire families will be sentenced to death if we refuse to follow his orders,” said Xiao Shence with indifference.
“Fortunately, Fang Chen has left the capital city. Otherwise, I have no idea how this would’ve played out. I can only hope that we deal with this before he returns,” muttered Yan Beihan
It was then that Fang Chen’s mother suddenly yelled at the two. "What are you trying to do?" she hollered, her eyes cold. "This is the Fang Manor. If you wish to capture anyone, you need to give us a proper reason!”
Yan Beihan cupped his fist toward her and explained, "Lady Fang, we apologize for this. We didn’t want this to happen either. But the lord from the Frost Water Empire requested for us to capture you all for questioning immediately.”
Frost Water Empire?
The crowd was surprised; that was a higher empire they were talking about. The Frost Water Empire controlled the Guhe, Yizhou, Longdu, and Grand Xia Empires! In fact, Grand Xia had to send a large amount of tributes to the Frost Water Empire each year.
Xiao Shenace broke the silent atmosphere that ensued briefly. "Simply put; your Fang Manor is in big trouble. Viscount Zhou Xiu, who was killed by Fang Chen, had connections to the Ji Family in the Frost Water Empire,” he said, his voice deep. "Now that the Frost Water Empire is seeking justice, His Majesty has to do something. I hope you can cooperate with us.”
"How did the Frost Water Empire..."
"Hmph, how do they still have the gall to step into our Grand Xia! They refused to intervene with the battle between our Grand Xia and the Qingsong Empire. All they do is collect massive amounts of tribute from our Grand Xia Empire year after year, and yet they ignore our problems when we actually need help?”
The young disciples of the Fang Family were furious; most of them were orphans, their fathers buried in the Eternal Cemetery. While the outside world criticized Fang Chen, only they knew what sacrifices the Fang Family had made for Grand Xia.
If the Frost Water Empire had been willing to mediate back then, Grand Xia would not have fought such a massive battle against the Qingsong Empire. Now that they arrived to seek justice on behalf of the Longdu Empire, how could anyone not feel angry?!
"Lady Fang, they better be careful of what they say. If the Frost Water Empire envoy catches wind of these statements, your family might be exterminated,” Xiao Shence said indifferently.
Fang Cangyou arrived at that very moment, with Xu Ge pushing his wheelchair. He bellowed, "Such audacity! Exterminate my Fang Family? This is our Grand Xia empire, not the Frost Water Empire!”
Huang Sihai, Tie Ma, and the others were following him closely. They were like a bunch of wolves as they glared at the Valiant Saber Guards and the Imperial Guards.
It went without saying that the Valiant Saber Guards and the Imperial Guards didn’t dare approach Huang Sihai and the other top martial artists.
Fang Cangyou sighed in anger. “All of you really don’t know how to act with decency. Couldn’t you have sent your men over after my older brother returned to the manor?”
Xiao Shence replied, “Second Master Fang, it’s not that we weren’t willing to do that; it’s just that the lord from the Frost Water Empire isn’t willing to wait.”
“Whatever.” Fang Cangyou swept his gaze across those present and he continued, “Now that everyone of the Fang Manor is here, why don’t you tell us what you wish to do? Are you planning on throwing us all to the wolves?”
“General Fang has already been summoned into the imperial palace,” said Xiao Shence offhandedly. “We’ve also heard that Divine General Fang is out of the capital city, so we’ll wait for him till he returns. But even so, there is still someone from the Fang Family who’s absent,” Xiao Shence grumbled.
“Someone is absent, you say?”
Everyone was taken aback.
The next moment, Fang Cangyou’s expression sank and his tone turned frosty. “Are you referring to the old master? Old Master Fang has been in seclusion for several years and he’s attempting to break through the bottleneck of the Qi Manipulation Stage! We obviously won’t be disturbing him over such a measly matter! What do you think you’re doing?”
Fang Chen’s mother also snapped at them. “No one is allowed to trouble Old Master Fang! Anyone who does so will become the mortal enemy of my Fang Family. As long as there’s someone left in my Fang Family, we’ll never let you off!”
“We’ll fight you to the death!” roared the young disciples and guards of the Fang Family in unison.
“Sigh...” Xiao Shence exhaled a long breath. “I’ve already told you guys; we’re not responsible for any of this. We’re just following orders.” After he spoke, he signaled to a group of guards beside him. When the commanders of the Valiant Saber Guards saw his cue, they brought their men and rushed into the depths of the Fang Manor, heading toward the serene courtyard inside the manor, which everyone knew to be the place in which Old Master Fang had entered seclusion. There was always someone posted near the courtyard all year round, not allowing anyone to step inside.
Seeing that, Fang Cangyou couldn’t handle it anymore and went berserk. “Xiao Shence, you’re going too far!” he bellowed. “If your men dare so as to take a single step into the courtyard and disturb the old master, none of you will be leaving today!”
A sinister smile appeared on Huang Sihai’s face as he cracked his knuckles, his joints resounding with murderous pops.
Xu Ge and Tie Ma drew their swords as they glared at Xiao Shence.
A light flashed in Xiao Shence’s eyes. “Don’t tell me you guys are going to rebel?”
Yan Beihan sighed in his heart. He truly hadn’t wished for things to escalate to this point.
“Listen to my order! If anyone dares to go against the decree, kill them!” Xiao Shence growled.
Swish!
The Valiant Saber Guards drew their weapons, and both sides glared at each other, ready to duke it out to the death.
It was then that an aged voice rang through the air. “What’s the matter? Is there a need to cause such a ruckus?”
An elder who wore ordinarily-looking robes appeared and looks of shock flashed through the eyes of everyone present.
Old Master Fang had actually emerged from seclusion!
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