Chapter 767: Su Family
Su Xiaoyun explained the situation within the eastern region, but after listening, Hui Yue found that it was identical to the western region.
There were certain strongholds for the Blood Demons, but as for where the main ones were, no one had yet to find them.
Smaller temporary strongholds were constantly being found and skirmishes broke out as groups of Blood Demon hunters and human hunters collided.
Sometimes reinforcements from Diyu or the great sects would be sent to the eastern region to help deal with specific hunter groups who had gained a reputation, groups that they were incapable of dealing with on their own.
The Blood Demons and the humans were losing around the same amount of people. Both were being slaughtered daily, and new people were constantly joining the fight.
The rewards for fighting against the demons became better and better as they lured people who had stayed away in the beginning from joining, but none of the hidden experts of the heavenly daos had participated yet. This was a balance that was being kept from both sides.
Hui Yue and his friends had originally intended to join in the skirmishes here and there, but this was now an impossibility since three of them had comprehended a heavenly dao, which put them into a new realm of cultivators.
If they were not careful, then it was possible for them to break this balance, and if the balance broke, then the war was likely to escalate.
Neither side was willing to see that just yet as they needed more time to prepare for the final war. Thus Hui Yue and his friends spent just a bit of time touring the eastern region before they decided that it was time to leave. They did not have lots of free time to look around, a war was ongoing, and they needed to bolster their strength.
"Let’s go to Diyu," Hui Yue decided one morning when everyone had gathered on his shuttle, "We are now a force to be reckoned with, and we can make a difference in the war."
"We also need to help Lin Na and Lin Tian enter Diyu, so they have a place to stay with the other demons," he continued, and the Lin siblings felt gratitude. They truly wished to become just like any other demon.
Su Xiaoyun had followed them for the few months they had been traveling in the eastern region, and she had discovered that they were much more friendly than she had expected.
Not only were they all friendly towards her, none of them had ever mistreated her or doubted her. Su Xiaoyun was used to being mistreated by her family. She was quite low ranked in the Su family, and after being disfigured, they looked down on her even more.
Before she was disfigured, she had quite a few suitors, and although she was not the most doted upon son or daughter of the family, she had been well liked. It was only after her face was disfigured that she realized her status was only due to her appearance, and now that she had lost her only redeeming feature, the Su family saw her as completely useless.
Truth be told, Su Xiaoyun did not feel like she belonged to the Su family. She paid half her wealth to be allowed to attend the auction house with them, and now they had gained a whole million Worldpower Stones from her. She was certain that they would not even bat an eyelid if they were told she had died, but instead celebrate that they could use her death to get some benefits from Hui Yue.
"Uh, Qiao Qiao, do you think that I can come with you?" she asked in a low voice as she pulled Wan Qiao's sleeve. She was looking at the ground, and her eyes were tearing up.
She did not want to go back home; she enjoyed the time she had spent traveling with their group of experts. They had treated her as a human more than anything else, and she had grown especially close to Wan Qiao.
Wan Qiao did not frown when she heard the question. Instead, she looked at Su Xiaoyun with tender eyes and gently patted her head. "You know what we are going to do," she said apologetically. "We will be fighting the Blood Demons, and we have to be a part of the war. For this reason, we cannot guarantee your safety."
Su Xiaoyun shook her head when she heard that, "I would rather live a short, fulfilling life than a long, depressing one."
"If I go back to the Su family, it will just be the same as before. Some men will chase after me because of my appearance, but they will not look at the real me."
"And the war is something all of us have to accept as reality," Su Xiaoyun argued back. "I am a human and all of humanity will have to take up arms against the demons at some point. I would rather do my part now than be protected. I want to be part of this war as I have been during these last couple months!"
Su Xiaoyun had not realized that her voice had gotten louder and louder as she spoke, and currently, everyone was looking at her.
Hearing Su Xiaoyun's dedication all of them laughed, but no one mocked her. They felt that her determination was very similar to their own, and they could imagine her looking for her own place of happiness. Now since it seemed that she had found it, they were not going to be the ones to take it away from her.
Not only that, it was clear that Wan Qiao had grown rather fond of this young woman. The two of them had spent quite a lot of time together chatting with one another about everything and nothing.
"I swear, I will never betray you!" Su Xiaoyun said as she cut her arm and blood dripped to the floor. "I make my blood oath here and now to always to be faithful and never let you down!"
She had made the blood oath before anyone could stop her, and her determination was enough to shock everyone. Seeing her determination, Hui Yue stepped forward and used the heavenly dao of life to heal her while he gently rubbed her head.
"You did not need to make an oath," he said. "I do not think I am a poor judge of character, and I was the one who allowed for you to join us. If you then ended up betraying us, then I could only blame myself and my own inability to guess what you were really like."
"It was different for Lin Na and Lin Tian," he continued to explain as he knew that she had remembered how he had forced them to make blood oaths.
"I met them in the middle of an ambush, and it was hard to say whose side they were on; they might have been spies. You are a human, and I doubt you would betray humanity."
"Anyways, let’s leave it for now," he sighed. "What is done is done. We can move on from now on. Do you wish for us to go to the Su family so you can say goodbye to your parents, or do you have any lingering attachments you would like to finish before we head to Diyu?"
"I am an orphan," she sighed. "My father and mother died on a mission for the Su family, and I was raised by my aunt."
"My aunt had her own family to look after and did not have a lot of time or Worldpower Stones to spend on me, so I had to look after myself."
"I would like to say goodbye to her, but she should already have been informed that I am with you, thus it is not something that I have to do."
Hui Yue contemplated for a short while, and then he shook his head, "We will be going to the Su family first," he sighed.
"When we leave the eastern region, we will go to Diyu. When we are in Diyu, sooner or later we will be fighting when the real war starts."
"Since we will be fighting the demons supreme experts from now on, there is a chance that we will fall in battle or be wounded seriously during the fighting."
"So far we have been through battles rather painlessly, but we can't expect to continue being so lucky."
"Because of the high chance of death, or severe injuries, not just to our bodies but also our souls, then I think it is best to say your goodbyes."
Having said that, the shuttle started moving at lightning speed towards the Su family’s residence. Su Xiaoyun was tasked with informing the Su family that they were arriving, and Hui Yue wanted to use his rank and background as a way to raise the rank of Su Xiaoyun's aunt.
Usually, Hui Yue would be wary of using his background to intimidate others, but his impression of the Su family was continually dropping, and he had already paid them a fortune. It was only natural that he asked for something in return.
Having reached a decision, no one questioned Hui Yue; instead, they started looking forward to what shenanigans he would pull when they were at the Su family. It was clear that he was acting up every time he met people from the eastern region, acting completely different from normal. His new air of arrogance that he was pretending made things much more interesting for his friends who watched him.
It took them around a week to reach the Su family, and by then Su Xiaoyun had already informed them of their appearance. Having had notice ahead of time, the Su family spent the last week preparing for the sudden appearance of a great figure.
When they made it to the world where the Su family resided, they were met by a delegation of young experts and elders of the family.
All of them were incredibly polite and humble, but their eyes widened in surprise when they saw that Hui Yue was coming with a group of over twenty people. When they had met him at the auction hall he had only had three people by his side, the elderly man and two women, but now he had a whole entourage of people and beasts, something that shocked them silly.
While the elders were unhappy with the fact that there were way more people than they had expected, the youths were stunned by the sight of the shuttle that Hui Yue was traveling in.
The speed of it was too fast, and it had stationary formations and inscriptions layered over it!
This shuttle was a true fortress, and the size of it was magnificent. These young men kept wishing that they were able to have as brilliant a future where they too would be able to possess such a shuttle.
"Young master, it is our honor to have you visit our small family," one of the elders awoke from his stupor and realized that he needed to say something. The young man was standing there, looking at them with a small smile on his lips.
"I apologize for the suddenness of my visit," Hui Yue said with a voice that sounded anything but sorry, in fact, it sounded rather upbeat, but no one dared mention it to him as the others also slowly returned to their senses.
The young members of the Su family were all glaring daggers at Su Xiaoyun who was moving with Hui Yue's group as if she had integrated herself with them completely.
Jealousy and hate flashed in the hearts of all the younger members of the family, while the elders were also rather uncomfortable. But despite this, they were sly old foxes and dared not show their emotions on the surface.
Smiling, Hui Yue could not help but think that this was going to be interesting. It was clear that the Su family truly was a place where few good people lived.