Realms In The Firmament

”What should we do, Chief?”

”What do you think can I do? The only thing we can do is not to waste any more time. Urge our people to work harder on medicine collection. If the situation lasts till after this year, we will totally lose hope.” Song Wuyang sighed. ”It is late autumn now. No matter what, we have to find at least one Regeneration Ink Lotus before the snow covers the mountains, or a Heaven Scent Flower. Either of these… can bring us to a better situation.”

”Chief, what do you say if we send Song Jue out to do collection too…” It was a middle-aged man who had mouse whiskers on his mouth. He was trying to probe about what the chief had in mind. As he spoke, he squinted at the chief’s face.

”Song Jue…” Song Wuyang frowned and sighed. He shook his head and said, ”Forget it. Who can command that man, though? I am already satisfied that he doesn’t make any more troubles for the clan. We don’t have much time now. I can’t risk it…”

He seemed quite upset about it. Song Jue truly didn’t have a good temper in the clan. It had been less than a year since he had returned to the clan, yet he had already brought lots of troubles in the house.

When Song Jue was told that his older brother got rejected and his nephew became a useless man, he nearly burned the entire house because of fury.

Luckily, the gramps of the clan solved the problem. Otherwise, Song Clan’s house might have already become a ruin… Song Jue had truly spilled lots of fuels around the house.

Nobody really liked Song Jue. He was such a troublemaker… Nobody knew what to do about him.

They would all sigh and think, [Why can’t you just stay in the lower world? You can be king down there. You can do whatever you want. Why do you have to come back? Don’t you know that nobody likes you here in the clan…]

In fact, not all of them disliked Song Jue.

Song Jue’s elder brother, Song Sheng, who used to be the one who should become chief, was definitely supporting Song Jue. Song Jue made a mistake in the old days and he did make a big trouble for the clan. Song Sheng got involved so he lost the inheritance.

Song Sheng was innocent. That was true.

People in Song Clan had divided into two groups because of what Song Jue did. They were hostile to each other.

Song Jue made a mistake. That was true. However, they could just punish Song Jue. Yet they deprived Song Sheng’s right to inherit the clan.

Song Xuan used to be a young talented cultivator in the clan. Now he suddenly became a useless man. There was no evidence, but people knew who did this to Song Xuan. That sharpened the discord between the two groups. Somebody destroyed a young man who could have brought a better future to the clan just for power?

Song Jue was a powerful cultivator. He was fairly qualified to attend the clan’s meeting, however, he refused to. He even said something impertinent. ’My brother is not the chief! I won’t attend the meeting without him being the chief!’ He just wouldn’t give in to the other group.

In his eyes, they were all traitors!

He turned against all of them!

People in the clan were all provoked.

But they could do nothing.

Song Jue was level seven of Dream Origin Stage now. He was one of the best cultivators in the clan. Song Clan was lacking powerful men at the moment. They couldn’t just give him up.

While the meeting was ongoing, urgent footsteps suddenly came over. A man rushed into the meeting hall and said, ”Chief… We got a problem…”

”What makes you terrified like this!” Song Wuyang frowned, ”No matter what it is, you shouldn’t just rush into the meeting like this! Don’t you know that?”

”I know… But… Our young lord, Song Fei, is captured in the south entrance by some powerful men… Our guards… three of our guards are dead…”

The man looked panic. He was sweating.

”What?”

With an exclamation, people in the meeting hall all stood up.

[Song Fei is captured? Three of our men died?]

[How is that possible?]

”Who are they? Audacious! Did they eat a leopard’s gall?” [1] Song Wuyang slapped on the table angrily, ”This is Song Clan’s place! Who dare to be so audacious?”

”They are from the outside world… Two men and a woman. They didn’t try to leave… It seems they are waiting for us to send people over…” The man was sweating. It wasn’t far from the south entrance, but he nearly exhausted himself to run back.

”Let’s go!” Song Wuyang was pissed when he was told the three murderers didn’t even run away after killing their men. ”There are all kinds of weird people in the world. I wonder who they are to dare play such a scene in Song Clan’s place!”

People all prepared to go.

”What led to such a situation?”

”Why would they kill our men?”

”What’s the reason?”

Some of them started to ask the question while they were getting out of the meeting hall.

However, the man who reported didn’t witness it. He didn’t really know what it was about, so he didn’t give them answers. However, some of them, who were in the opposite group of Song Wuyang, had the same thought in their minds.

[It must be Song Wuyang’s stupid son. He must have made trouble again.]

[Otherwise, such a thing could never happen.]

They all knew Song Fei’s temper.

He was an arrogant, rude and selfish coward.

Three cultivators killed Song Clan’s people and actually didn’t try to leave this district…

They must have a good reason!

Some reckoned that these three people must be powerful since they were from the outside world!

If what Song Fei did wasn’t too unacceptable, the three superior cultivators might just ignore him. After all, they were powerful cultivators. They didn’t need to bother.

Yet they stayed… That meant Song Fei had made quite a big trouble this time.

They guessed the three outsiders must be waiting for an explanation.

They were almost correct. What they guessed was almost the truth.

Some of them sighed and thought, [Song Fei is son of our chief. Compared to Song Xuan in the old days, he was just like the dirt on the ground. Song Xuan is like the cloud in the sky.]

Song Xuan used to be a talented and polite young man with perseverance. He should have been a perfect heir. The heir they had now, Song Fei, was just like mud that could never be held up to the wall. [2]

[To destroy a talented man and replace him with an idiot just for his own interests. Song Clan is bound to collapse for that.] Many of them had the same thought.

People of Song Clan walked to the south entrance fast.

Before they even arrived, they heard somebody shouting and yelling from distance.

…

———

[1] When you say somebody eat leopard’s gall, it means he or she is too audacious.

[2] To describe somebody who is useless and hopeless to change.