Chapter 269 (1/2)

Early morning the next day, the stage had long been cleared and removed. All those who stayed in Smoky Thea Tower had opened their windows wide without prior discussion, as though the disgusting atmosphere was still present inside the place and they wanted to let the wind sweep it away.

None of those who had personally witnessed the scene last night had any appet.i.te for breakfast. This also gave everyone some reverence and fear towards Ling Tian living in Heavenly Fragrance Chamber. The second in command of the XiMen Family had brought their experts and two young n.o.bles, as well as their Blood Iron Death Troops, to Sky Bearing. Such a strength was actually comparable to or even better than the strength of the other great families. To think that it only took one night for all of them to be swept away, and those alive to be involved in such a humiliating scandal!

And the person who had orchestrated the entire destruction of the XiMen Family, Ling Tian, seemed to be untainted by even a speck of it, as though he had lost nothing, nor did he look tired! What sort of strength was this? How could any family not based in Sky Bearing resist?

Everyone thought that they had to be a little more careful in Sky Bearing. If they were to accidentally provoke this malignant star, then they wouldn't even have a place to cry in!

The scholarly meet wasn't concluded yet, but now the organizers of the meet, the XiMen Family, didn't have even a single person alive anymore. Furthermore, with that disgusting and b.l.o.o.d.y scenario yesterday, it seemed like there would be no way for the scholarly meet to continue.

Ling Tian was currently happily chatting with Yu BingYan when the curtains parted and a person walked in. He was w.a.n.g Tong, head of Ling Tian's bodyguards.

”Young n.o.ble, the Grand Marshal will be going to the battlefield today. Madam has already rushed down to the military drill ground, and wants me to inform young n.o.ble to rush over at the fastest possible time.” w.a.n.g Tong's sentence left Ling Tian in a daze. The fact about Ling Xiao leaving for war was a common occurrence the past few years, but every time he did, there would be a preparation of close to a fortnight. Since when would it be such a rushed affair?

While the border station was in a bad situation and needed reinforcements badly, to arrange the troops and logistics needed time. How could they just decide to run off to the battlefield without any advance warning?

This matter seemed fishy! Ling Tian immediately stood up, saying, ”Ling Chen, follow me. Yan'er, I'll need you to stay with your third uncle for the moment, I'll look for you when I'm back, okay?” After making a few hurried preparations he left with Ling Chen.

Yu BingYan let out a meek sound of a.s.sent, staring in a daze at Ling Tian's retreating shadow. She was perfectly clear of the situation. The fact that the army was setting out in such a rush would mean that they were going to resist the Northern Wei, there were no other reasons! Whether the Yu Family was allied with the Northern Wei didn't matter. They were in the end part of the empire, and while the Yu Family wasn't afraid of the Northern Wei, they couldn't be so blatant as to appear in the enemy's army. This is why Ling Tian wasn't able to bring her along.

The other reason was that Ling Xiao's setting off was a Ling Family affair. If Yu BingYan were to appear, what would that signify? The world would think that Yu BingYan was Ling Tian's princ.i.p.al wife! While the two of them had feelings for each other, such a matter involved the politics of two different great families, so how could they take it lightly?

Indeed, if Ling Tian were to bring Yu BingYan along, when that matter spread it would definitely incite disharmony between Northern Wei and the Yu Family. But Ling Tian was unwilling to resort to such measures, and besides, what was one Northern Wei to him?

To deal with his enemies, Ling Tian never needed to resort to any unscrupulous methods to achieve his objective. But even if he were to do so, he had a bottom line, and that was to never use his woman! No matter if it was to use the love or reputation of a woman, Ling Tian would definitely be unwilling to use such a method!

Ling Tian was willing to use any sort of psychological method, even the cruelest and most despicable methods to go against his enemies. Towards his family members, especially his own woman, he wouldn't even think about it. It was a sort of principle, and it was Ling Tian's own moral compa.s.s.

Ling Tian hurriedly bid farewell to the audience present and jumped on w.a.n.g Tong's horse, nudging the horse and speeding away.

From afar, one could already hear that the entrance of the Imperial Palace was filled with a hubbub of noise. The never-ending wave of noise made it sound like there was a tsunami approaching.

Once he neared the palace, Ling Tian didn't stop his speed, but rather urged his horse to leap over the crowd. On the stage was Ling Xiao, dressed in full metal armor, looking imposing and proud as he loftily stood there.

Underneath the stage stood Old Madam Ling together with Chu Ting'er and the rest, all with neutral faces. Ling Xiao setting off to war was an occurrence similar to having a family dinner together. Besides, with the Northern Wei's monarch ill and the crown prince ruling on his behalf, mobilizing the Northern Wei forces for war was akin to the saying 'if the speech is not in order then nothing can be accomplished'. Mobilizing all of Sky Bearing Empire's troops was actually without justification, merely throwing the country into chaos. As such, Ling Xiao was actually not allowed to blindly slaughter the opponent's soldiers, but only to focus on defense. Old Madam Ling and Chu Ting'er were not that worried, but rather it was Long Xiang the emperor that seemed to be taking this a little too seriously. Sending the Sky Bearing's G.o.d of War to watch over the defense, wasn't this akin to using a war-blade to slaughter a chicken?

Seeing his son rush over on horseback as he stood on the stage, Ling Xiao felt a sense of gratification. While this time there was no danger involved whatsoever, seeing his son urgently hurrying over still gave him a warm feeling in his heart. However, on the surface, his expression still showed displeasure, scolding, ”Why are you here? Making your horse leap past the citizens, what would happen if you hurt them accidentally? Why are you so ignorant!”

Ling Tian stepped up, and bowed, ”This son is here to send Lord Father off to battle. I wish you success in battle, and to return soon!”