Chapter 17 - Toy making? (1/2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ye Chen cast his gaze into the distance where the Lianyun Mountains stretched like a row of endless waves into the horizon, never breaking apart; watching how their peaks soared into the sky while their barren cliffs stood commandingly, Ye Chen could somehow feel his mind expanding almost as much as the distance the mountains stretched.

Southeast of where he was standing, about six or seven miles away, on top of one the towering silhouette of the mountains, was a building complex. It assumed a wavy design to complement the mountainous terrain it based itself on while laying half-hidden from sight with the help of thick leaves in the woods. Just by a rough estimation using sight, one could easily see that this complex was far larger and wider than the Ye Castle could ever be.

That complex was the Yun Castle.

Among the Eighteen Houses of Lianyun, The House of Yun had always come first in terms of combative force. Hence, the Chair of the Eighteen Houses had always been no one but the Patriarch of the House of Yun itself.

This mining mountain was only a few miles away from Yun Castle. Despite the perilous rocky roads and endless slippery slopes where one could easily fall to their instant demise, any martial art savant would only need about a few hours at most to travel that road to-and-fro. The only reason why the House of Yun had not yet resorted to raiding and claiming the mining mountain as their own — despite the distance and their well-known cupidity — was only because of their high-profile position as the Chair of the Eighteen Houses of Lianyun.

Another hindrance that they had to put up with was that the House of Ye was not an easy target. Even though the House of Ye may ultimately be weaker than the House of Yun, if every member of the Ye clan was to put up a fight, the Yun would suffer from a heavy blow. This was why the Yun would not want a direct conflict.

Ye Chen took a quick patrol around the mining mountain but he dared not enter the mountains alone. There were vast areas within the Lianyun mountains that were off-limits to people — powerful mystical beasts roamed freely in large numbers there. Hence, the entire area could be incredibly dangerous.

It was almost time for lunch. Ye Chen started treading up a small path leading back to his home.

It was then Ye Chen spotted two men coming from the thickets in a distance. His eyebrows raised and in a flash. He dove behind some shrubs to hide.

The two men were dressed in grey and looked to be in their thirties. As they did not see Ye Chen, they continued down their path and chattered.

“For crying out loud, the lord of the House is really demanding, isn’t he? Can you believe we have to travel this stinking path and walk to the Ye Castle every day, to-and-fro?”

“God dang, my legs are gonna give way one of these days!” One of them fell on his butt and sat slumping onto a soft patch of grass. “Anyway, how long do you think this House of Ye’s gonna last? I’ll bet not long — just like grasshoppers after the autumn!”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, we can start from the fact that Ye Zhantian used up every single resource he had just to save his precious darling son. Look at how much he had used up, and how much he had demanded from his own clan members to contribute. That’s how you get a House to start looking shabby and bereft of resources.”

“Hey, but I’ve heard something different. I heard that Ye Zhantian’s son had his meridian channels healed…!”

“Oh, yea? Any credible sources?”

“I don’t know who started saying it.”

“Well, it wouldn’t ultimately matter, would it? Even if his son’s meridian channels had already recovered, I don’t know when the Lord of Yun would finally show his hand, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he attacked the House of Ye any time soon. I mean, why else would he keep sending us off to do watchdog duties?”

Watching the two fading into the distance, a cold glint of light flashed in Ye Chen’s eyes. ‘You think you’re all set to overpower the House of Ye now, don’t you? Do you think you’ll be able to return home with a full set of teeth still intact after picking a fight with us?’

Granted, there was no reason to detain these two men as they seemed to be from a distant family who were unlikely to be privy to any important news. However, if the Yun had been keeping tabs on the House of Ye’s every move, then surely something was already in their bag.

Ye Chen lapsed into silence for some time before springing toward the direction of Ye Castle.

He resumed his normal attire as soon as he returned to his quarters and went to the family canteen for his lunch. While on his way there, he came face to face with Ye Moyang.

The man’s eyes were cold and filled with malice as he stared straight into Ye Chen with the vigor of a viper. In return, Ye Chen shot him a ruthless scowl until the two of them brushed past each other on their way.

“Big Brother Ye Chen,” A playful voice rang next to his ear.

Ye Chen turned and his gaze instinctively softened at the sight of Ye Rou’s adorable, beautiful face.

“Snuck out of the Castle today, didn’t you?”

“How did you–?” Ye Chen froze.