Chapter 155: Reconciliation

Just as the entourage from the Ye came out to the entrance, three figures could be seen walking in through the gates.

Bai Yunfei recognized two of them straight away. While his entire head was wrapped as heavily as a mummy, the peculiar shape of the body could still be seen quite clearly. It was the the second son of the Zhao, fatty Zhao Liang. The other person had a slightly worse-for-wear middle-aged face, but Bai Yunfei could recognize him to be the one he had slapped unconscious, Zhao Ye.

The one leading the two from the front was a young man with robes of blue and a straight back. His face was adorned with a kind and modest smile, giving off an amiable impression to whoever saw him—it was the long lost son of the house of Zhao, Zhao Xiluo.

It didn’t seem like Zhao Xiluo was hiding back any malicious intent, so when Ye Ting and the others drew close to being able to see him, they were all able to sense the tremendous power that radiated from him. It was infact a power that was stronger than Ye Ting himself.

“Mid-stage Soul Ancestor!”

Bai Yunfei’s eyes widened at that. He could see that this man wasn’t past the thirties, and yet, he was still a person who reached the Mid-stage Soul Ancestor realm. Being called the “Number One Genius of Gaoyi City” was not for naught it would seem.

Everyone came to a stop along with Zhao Xiluo and the other two just several meters apart. From there, Zhao Xiluo bowed respectfully to Ye Ting and spoke equally respectfully, “Uncle Ye, it has been many years since we last met. Perhaps you still remember this nephew?”

Ye Ting had been in a state of shock when he first registered Zhao Xiluo’s strength. It had been transparent on his face as well. He who had finally made the breakthrough to become a Soul Ancestor could be said to be an expert of the area. It was with this strength that Ye Ting had planned on fighting the Zhao. But then someone of the next generation had suddenly arrived out of nowhere with the strength of a mid-stage Soul Ancestor. An arrival like that had evaporated his confidence and left him in a state of mourning—Perhaps the Ye really would be subjugated by the Zhao?

But when those words of Zhao Xiluo was said, Ye Ting relaxed just slightly. From what it looked like, Zhao Xiluo wasn’t here to seek trouble.

Adjusting his emotions, Ye Ting smiled and nodded his head, “Nephew Xiluo, it’s been ten years! Having a youngster like you reach such a realm like that; why, you could leave us older folks blushing in shame!”

After exchanging several words of conversation with Ye Ting, Zhao Xiluo then spoke one by one with the other members. Based off of how he was speaking, he seemed as if he wasn’t aware of the resentment between both the Zhao and Ye.

Though Zhao Xiluo had been rather surprised himself. He had been told beforehand that Ye Ting was only a late-stage Soul Sprite, but from the looks of things, he was clearly an early-stage Soul Ancestor.

“Nephew Xiluo, your parents must be happy to see your safe return, right? What business might you have today with my household?” Ye Ting looked to behind Zhao Xiluo at Zhao Liang and Zhao Ye. He hadn’t spoken at all to invite the three into the receiving room as he was after all, the lord of a household. Furthermore, he was a Soul Ancestor. He could not so simply be bullied by an even stronger Soul Ancestor so easily. The meaning behind his words had been clear as well; Why aren’t you home with your parents? What reason do you have to run off to here for?

But Zhao Xiluo had continued to smile as if he didn’t mind the unspoken meaning. Turning his head to look at Zhao Liang to his left, Zhao Xiluo signaled to him with a stare.

“Brother….” Because of the fact that Zhao Liang’s face was heavily bandaged like a mummy, his facial expression was hard to see. But from his voice alone, it was clear to hear that he sounded reluctant to do whatever it was that his brother told him to do.

Zhao Xiluo’s eyebrows furrowed together. “What? Are you going to ignore your older brother?”

“N-no….” The fatty spoke as if cowed by Zhao Xiluo. Even if it had been ten years since they last met, he was still afraid. Bowing his head and taking two steps forward, he bowed deeply to Ye Ting. “Uncle Ye, this nephew was acting silly before and offended miss Ye Yan. Furthermore, this nephew started a feud between our two families—all due to my mistake. Your nephew hopes that uncle Ye will forgive this one. Whatever punishment uncle Ye has, this nephew will receive it without a word of complaint.”

“……”

This sudden ‘honest’ apology from Zhao Liang had caught everyone from the house of Ye off guard. From how Zhao Liang was haunched, it felt as if he wouldn’t dare to move until someone forgave him. Hesitating for a brief moment, Ye Ting turned to Zhao Xiluo as if unsure how to respond, “Nephew Xiluo, what is….”

“It is exactly what little Liang is saying. Your nephew came here with this express purpose to apologize. Little Liang has done wrong by offending miss Ye Yan. And because of his pampered nature, he created friction between the house of Zhao and the house of Ye which led to a greater conflict between our two houses with a third party instigating even more discord. With my return, I’ve already shooed away those people who would do us harm. I hope uncle Ye will be kind and not bother about someone like little Liang. I also hope that the conflict between our two households will cease here and live in peaceful coexistence.”

His words were spoken in earnest, but it had still sounded rather funny when it was spoken. The two houses were practically ready to tear the faces of one another off—did he really believe that words would solve such a conflict so easily?

But Ye Ting did not smile. And it had been because of a small tidbit of information he heard from Zhao Xiluo—those ‘instigators’ had been chased away by him!

He knew that Zhao Xiluo was talking about the Beast Taming School. He could confirm that the Beast Taming School left already as well, and now, he had confirmation that it was Zhao Xiluo that did it!

So these words had caused him to consider and think more heavily into the meaning behind Zhao Xiluo’s words. Ye Ting was more than aware that Zhao Xiluo was capable and bold enough to ‘shoo away” the Beast Taming School. This had meant that he was strong enough to do so. In the past, he perhaps could not, but right now, the Xiluo of today was definitely either someone capable or had an even great patron behind him.

Having thought about it, Ye Ting spoke carefully without having his words promising anything, “Nephew Xiluo. If I may be so bold to ask. In these past ten years, might you have joined with some sort of school?”

Nodding his head calmly without bothering to hide the facts, Zhao Xiluo replied, “Uncle Ye is correct. I have joined the Water School as a disciple under the great teacher Yang Linhao.”

“The vice-headmaster of the Water School!” Ye Ting’s heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t expected that Zhao Xiluo had joined with one of the five elemental schools and became a disciple of the vice-headmaster himself. What this meant was that Zhao Xiluo had indeed the power to shoo away the Beast Taming School. The Beast Taming School wouldn’t start conflict with the Water School over an insignificant house either, so they had bowed out.

“No wonder they were so confident….Alas! The Liu has the Wood, and the Zhao has finally managed to win over the Water. It would appear that the Ye will sing its swan song in this city. But….for what reason is Zhao Xiluo speaking so politely and offering his apologies then?”

As Ye Ting’s mind raced furiously in thought, he could only sigh at his inability to understand. What he did understand however, was that the house of Zhao was finally laying out all of their cards on the table. The Ye had no other choice but to accept this ‘apology’. If he didn’t, then a war between the two houses would be inevitable, and the Ye would only lose as a result. Could he even count on Bai Yunfei for assistance? Ye Ting wasn’t so foolish as to pass over the fate of his house over to an ‘outsider’.

“Haha! So nephew Xiluo has joined with the Water School! Your achievements and potential surely are limitless then! I presume brother Zhao would be gratified to have a child like you as his son? Haha, it’s true, there was conflict between our two houses, but if nephew Zhao is so honest in trying to resolve it, I shall be honest too. There is no way I would want my house to be involved in such a meaningless war, let us resolve our differences then….”

Zhao Xiluo revealed a pleased smile as he slapped the head of his younger brother. “Hurry up and thank uncle Ye!”

“Tha-thank you, uncle Ye.”

“……”

Bai Yunfei had been rather dumbfounded from where he stood and his face was scrunched together in confusion.

“Is...is it really ending like this so quickly?”