Chapter 289: Baili Family’s Elders (2/2)
“You are Xue Wei?” one of the elders asked impolitely, his voice so cold that Xue Wei could instantly guess that he had some close ties to one of the ones he had killed.
Xue Wei did not answer this rude greeting. Instead, he held a mocking smile on his lips as he placed his hands at his waist and looked at the experts high above, waiting to see their reaction.
“Did you not hear the seventeenth elder asking you a question?” one of the men from the team that had brought him back sneered. He had felt slightly fearful towards Xue Wei before, but now that all the elders were here, he was fearless.
Xue Wei looked at him as if he was looking at a dancing monkey, and he snickered but said nothing.
The answer was already in front of them, and they still asked. How pointless. The man who had spoken up was filled with embarrassment, his eyes turning slightly red and his cheeks paling.
The aforementioned seventeenth elder was also very uncomfortable. He was already livid with anger, his breathing heavy.
“Atrocious little brat, you killed our men, and now that you have been brought back, you show no manners within our mansion, you are so preposterous!” the seventeenth elder lashed out, filled with anger, his words harsh and impossible to ignore.
This was what Xue Wei had hoped for. Someone who could not hold back their temper and erupted in front of all of them would cause the cooperation between them to be impossible from the get-go.
The other elders felt annoyed when they heard the seventeenth elder’s outburst. He was not amongst the strongest in the family, and he had already caused the diplomatic talks to become strained almost instantly.
“Young man, although the seventeenth elder has taken it a bit too far, he does have a point,” another elder spoke up. This elder was higher ranked, and his words represented the many elders present.
Hearing him speak, all the others quietened down, and Xue Wei noticed that the people who had brought him here all straightened their backs as he spoke, their behavior indicating that he was a significant figure within the Baili family.
Xue Wei had not wanted to answer the seventeenth elder, but this man had to be answered, so Xue Wei opened his mouth and began in a provocative voice, “The Baili family sure is big, trying to force me to cooperate so many times, and when I defend myself, they send out stronger and stronger experts to capture me. What happened to free will within Yan Dalu?
“It is clear to me that everything you want is to benefit yourself. Even when I killed your men, you did not consider killing me in retaliation. Instead, you continued to scheme about how to gain the knowledge I have in my mind instead of seeking justice for your slain young masters.
“Is this the unbreaking bond between family? Well sorry, but the Baili family has tried to force me to work with them, and if there is one thing I cannot accept, it is someone trying to force me to do something.
“Not to mention threatening my dear ones. I agreed to come here, but that does not mean that I will accept your offer willingly. I am here not to work with you, but to see you bring your worst. Let me know how you will keep your name as the first noble family of Yan Dalu at the same time as you force me to reveal my secrets.”
Xue Wei was grinning as he spoke, his words were direct and honest, but also rude and undoubtedly killed off all chances that were there for peaceful cooperation between them.
The elder who had been speaking before felt slightly annoyed. They had all thought that there would be some leverage to cooperate now that Xue Wei had followed their men here, but it now seemed that the only reason he was here was that he had been threatened.
They could not change the way they had interacted with Xue Wei in the past, and this elder had become aware of Xue Wei’s personality after seeing him just once, so now that Xue Wei had decided against working with them, he could tell that Xue Wei would not change his mind.
Since the peaceful approach was out of the question, there was only one other way to get knowledge out of his mind, and that was through force.
“Lock him in the dungeons,” the elder sighed. He had hoped to get an easy comrade, but it seemed as if Xue Wei was a tougher nut to crack than he had expected.
The group who had brought him there all tightened their surveillance of him and started leading him towards the dungeons.
Xue Wei was walking with a carefree attitude in his steps; he acted casual and did not seem like someone who had just been sent to the dungeons at all. He did not attempt to flee; instead, a simple smile hung on his lips, and his eyes were radiating with the splendor of the Baili family compound as he observed everything on the way.
The dungeons were located underground, and on the surface, the only way in or out was a guard house. This was the place where the family’s guards relaxed when their shift was over but also had plenty of guards on duty too.
When Xue Wei arrived here, he saw guards everywhere. Many of these guards in the family were either from the branch families or were hired experts that the Baili family had taken in and were provided with resources in return for an unbreakable oath of loyalty.
These experts all showed great respect towards the leader of the team, their eyes displaying their honest reverence as he walked by, while many of them looked at Xue Wei with hatred-tinged curiosity.
The bulk of the first group that Xue Wei had killed—the ones following behind the Baili young master, were all guards. They might not have been too prominent in the family just yet, but they still had friends and family. Seeing the culprit behind their death, many of these guards had no other wish than to kill this foreigner to avenge them.