Book 3: Nirvana Rebirth
Chapter 8: Filtering
Translated by: Princeknife
Edited by: Megumin_Explosion
After half an hour has past, Zhong Mansion, Yi Lan hall.
Yi Lan hall is a guest hall, there are two imperial seats at the upper row and two long rows of seats placed at the side of the hall extending all the way to the hall’s entrance.
Other than Zhong Tian, a total of twenty-three young masters have been waiting in the hall for some time, as they sat at the two long rows of seats by the side of the halls, leaving the two imperial seats empty.
The young masters were engaged in various discussion, some kept talking about the gravity of the situation, some kept thinking about ways to counter the situation and some of them were sighing. There were some that kept silent while most talked loudly, anyway it was extremely chaotic.
At this moment, Zhong Tian and Ying Lan walked in to hall. As Zhong Tian walked in, all the young master stood up.
“Eldest brother”
“Eldest brother”
………
The majority of the young masters cried out anxiously.
Zhong Tian however walked unhurriedly towards the seats at the top row.
Looking at the left seat, Zhong Tian did not sit on it, but choose to sit on the right one instead.
The left seat was Zhong Shan’s seat and only Zhong Shan could seat on it, n.o.body else dares to seat on it, even the eldest child, Zhong Tian did not dare.
“Eldest brother, currently there are eighty thousand troops outside, what should we do?”
“Right, our Zhong Mansion is only a merchant family, but now we are pressured by the army, what…what should we do?”
…………
Zhong Tian looked at the various young master, and if it was two years ago, Zhong Tian would surely lead them, but the Dragon Gate Tournament which happen a year ago, made him understand that some people that received foster father’s grace might not be grateful to foster father, and everything they have is to be expected, and also when they are in the face of great fortune or danger, would forget the goodwill of foster father.
It was similar to how Ying Lan requested for all the young master to return eight days ago, but some chose to disobey the order and flee as they watched the army surrounding the city.
Zhong Tian now had to find those who were like him, treating foster father as their closest relative, and if foster father was present, he would most likely have the same idea.
“Making such a racket, What’s next? Be seated then we will talk.” Zhong Tian spoke with a deep voice.
After being interupted by Zhong Tian’s words, the crowd immediately became silent and sat down and of course, there were some who remained seated since the start.
Ying Lan also walked over to a seat and sat down.
At this moment, the fat man said, “Eldest brother, our Xuan city only have eight thousand troop to defend the city, while Great Kun has gathered an army of eighty thousand troops. As long as they continue to surround us, we will run out of food and firewood, how will the people endure? Our Zhong Mansion also cannot defend much longer.”
“Indeed, eldest brother, what else can we do? Don"t tell me that we have to defend to our deaths?” Another guy said anxiously.
“En, those seated are all our own brothers, actually there are some matters that I have just know about, Ying Lan intends to hide from you, but I cannot do so.” Zhong Tian said abruptly.
As soon as Zhong Tian spoke, the young masters focused as they looked at Zhong Tian, indeed eldest brother is truly their brother while Ying Lan is separated by a generation gap.
Zhong Tian then looked closely at the expression of the young masters.
“Firstly, foster father is greatly injured and is currently recuperating, thus although he heard the commotion outside, he did not come out.” Zhong Tian looked at them and said.
Hearing Zhong Tian’s words, some of them became worried and some became dazed as if they heard some disastrous news.
“Secondly, among the enemy large army, all of the Xiantian experts from the Royal Su family and the four great aristocratic family are personally making a move. A total of twelve Xiantian experts, and also the Old Ancestor of the Royal Su family who is at the pinnacle of Xiantian. “Zhong Tian continued.
Ying Lan kept quiet in the corner as Zhong Tian already told her that he was helping foster father find those worthy of being close to. The human’s heart is unpredictable, also in the future when establishing a country, he would have to unite the people under him, there cannot be any civil unrest, its foundation has to be solid, although there might be some conflict between the foster sons, ultimately, they have to be loyal to foster father.
“How did this happen?”
“Twelve Xiantian experts?”
“The previous time, the four family’s head infiltrated, but wasn"t there eight Xiantian experts? Furthermore, four of them were at the pinnacle of Xiantian, but didn’t foster father still dealt with them, right?” The previous fat man spoke again.
“I also heard about that from Ying Lan, at that time, foster father found two strong external help, furthermore, there was the Eight Ox Crossbow which caught them off-guard, enabling us to obtain victory. However, the external help has left, foster father is gravely injured, all that remained is just us. Moreover, the twelve Xian Tian experts will make a move at the most crucial moment, they will use the life of the eighty thousand troops to bury our Zhong Mansion.” Zhong Tian frowned and said worriedly.
“How did this happen? If foster father cannot recover earlier, then what should we do? Defend till our deaths? At that time, we will only die. If foster father was not injured, he would also choose to surrender.” One of the young master among them spoke out in fear.
The fear then began to spread among the other young masters as if it was like a chain reaction.
“Zhong Jin” Zhong Tian glared angrily at the person who spoke those words.
Being glared by Zhong Tian, Zhong Jin started to tremble.
Zhong Tian stared at him for a while, then proceed to sweep his eyes over the people in the hall and said slowly, “Zhong Jin and those present in the hall, all of you better listen, all of you were beggars previously, some were on the verge of bankrupt, others on the verge of death, it was foster father who gave us food, impart us great amount of knowledge and provided us with wealth, enabling us to enjoy for a lifetime. All of this was given to you by foster father, therefore all of you better remember this.”
As Zhong Tian glared, the young master quickly quietens down. Zhong Tian was giving them the last chance to rouse their hearts, hoping that they will remember the familial bond that they have with Zhong Shan.
“There are eighty thousand troops outside, and indeed, our Zhong Mansion cannot resist against them, death is imminent, however we still have our familial bonds, we still have our foster father, foster father brought us up for all these years, our lives were given to us by him, and at the final moment, is it too much for us to be with foster father during his darkest hour?”
“The family head of the four great aristocratic family died by foster father’s hands, those outside cannot wait to cut his body into a thousand pieces, absolutely not showing any mercy, therefore we have to use all our strength to resist what is about to come and defend to our deaths.” Zhong Tian said.
Hearing Zhong Tian’s words, some of them frowned but covered it up perfectly, not exposing anything.
Looking at the group of people, Zhong Tian thinks it is about time.
“Of course, I am not one devoid of emotions, as a great catastrophe is imminent, everyone having their own thoughts is quite normal, furthermore n.o.body wishes to die.
Foster father is in seclusion to recuperate, now, I will represent foster father as the head, rather than regretting at that point in time, it would be better to make a decision now, those who want to leave, Zhong Tian will not obstruct you, Xuan city will also not stop you, allowing you to go out.” Zhong Tian changed his tone and said.
Hearing what Zhong Tian had said, all the young masters were in a daze, allowing us to leave?
“Eldest brother, are those words true?” The Zhong Jin who spoke previously asked.
“Yes, my Zhong Tian’s reputation, I believe all of you should be clear about it, since I have said it, then I will definitely do it, not restricting you from leaving, I only hope that once you are outside, you do not betray the Zhong Mansion.” Zhong Tian said with a deep tone.
The group of foster sons immediately began to whisper among themselves, n.o.body suspected Zhong Tian as all of them knew that Zhong Tian was like foster father, his promise was like real gold, and would never renege on a promise that he made.
“All of you still have an incense worth of time to decide, n.o.body is allowed to leave this hall, after an incense worth of time, those willingly to abandon the Mansion, I will send people to escort you out of the city, there is only this one chance. If you chose to stay, but when we are resisting the army and you have a change of heart, I will represent foster father to cut our relationship.” Zhong Tian said.
Then, Zhong Tian closed his eyes, not talking any further, soon the time worth of an incense was about to be over.
As the army approach, breaching into the city is definite, as long as the surrounded the city, without attacking Xuan city, it will fall by itself, then as the army of eighty thousand enter the city and surrounds the Zhong Mansion, then it will be possible to wipe out the Zhong Mansion by trading the life of the army for those in the Zhong Mansion.
The young masters continued discussing, some were already afraid and wanted to abandon the mansion and flee
After the time worth of an incense pa.s.sed.
“Have all of you decided?” Zhong Tian asked.
“Eldest brother, we have thought about it, we will leave the Zhong Mansion, perhaps leaving some hope for revenge in the future.” Zhong Jin replied.
The group of people behind Zhong Jin also seemed to have the same thoughts as him.
Zhong Tian narrowed his eyes, staring at Zhong Jin and said, “Fine, all you need to pack your stuff, leave immediately, and also, once you step out of the Zhong Mansion, you are not one of us anymore, so there is no need for you to take revenge, your surnames will not be Zhong anymore, all of you are not worthy.”
Those intending to leave, their faces were flushed red, and n.o.body choose to say anything as they prepared to leave.
“Ying Lan, escort them out of our Zhong Mansion personally, and send them out of Xuan city, and they will no longer have any connections with our Zhong Mansion.” Zhong Tian said emotionally.
“En” Ying Lan nodded.
“Go,go,go”
Under Zhong Jin’s lead, twenty people followed Ying Lan closely as they stepped out of the Zhong Mansion and walked towards the South gate of the city.
Within the hall, only three young master remained, one of them was the fat man previously, while the two others, one of them was around the age of forty, and the other was around the age of thirty and was the youngest one out of the foster sons.
Looking at the trio, Zhong Tian sighed deeply.
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