Chapter 120: Trouble at Home
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The manor house was built in between hills. It had a large area and an imposing grandeur. It was surrounded by both mountains and bodies of water, so its environment was very charming and pleasant. There was some construction on the mountain peaks, some on the mid-mountain regions, and even on the precipice of the cliff.
Although the area of the Zhou Clan’s Manor house was very big, there was only one road that allowed entry in. Moreover, the road was protected by someone all the time.
The reason why Gu Jingman’s helicopter had not flown directly into the Zhou Clan Manor house was because of the security monitoring system. Hence, besides the strict and heavily-guarded mountain road, it was nearly impossible to secretly infiltrate the Zhou Clan’s Manor House. Maybe if someone was able to fly high in the air above the area of the security system, and then cross over to enter.
To Mo Wen, this was naturally not an issue. Those strict checkpoints were as good as nothing. Within a short five minutes, he had already infiltrated into the Zhou Clan’s Manor house. The sight before him was a whole bunch of construction.
He casually knocked a servant out and demonstrated the hypnosis technique to fish out information on the location of the Zhou Clan’s eldest young master, Zhou Chonglong. Afterwards, he stripped the servant of his clothes and wore them himself.
In broad daylight, wearing such incompatible clothing would make it difficult to move around in the manor house. However, it was fortunate that the attire of all the servants in the Zhou Clan’s Manor house consisted of a long jacket and long pants, which managed to hide his outfit well.
After leisurely making his way around the manor house, Mo Wen finally found the main villa, which was the center of the manor house. It was huge and glamorous, just like a castle. Only people of the Zhou Clan with a certain status could stay inside.
“This Zhou Clan: although their family business is not big, they are really particular about things,” Mo Wen whispered under his breath. He noticed that all the servants in the Zhou Clan’s Manor house even had a hierarchy. Only the high-ranking servants could enter the main villa. Even the attires of the servants were split into three ranks.
In order to prevent the people guarding the doors from seeing through him, he could only sneakily jump onto the window of the second level and sneak into the villa through the window.
Just as he had predicted, there was nobody in the room. The Western style renovation was very luxurious. Mo Wen opened the door and quietly went in the corridor. Perhaps because it was in the afternoon, but there were not many people walking about in the villa.
He followed as the servant had said. Zhou Chonglong’s room should be located on the fifth level of the villa. When he had just walked up to the fourth level, his ear twitched as he caught a subtle sound.
In one of the living halls he heard, “Brother Gu, I hope we have a pleasant collaboration. The benefits we reap afterwards will include you. The Gu Clan Fort will also be maintained as one of Yuntai Mountain’s three main clan leaders,” an Old man in Tang Suit said while laughing. His eyes were squinty.
Opposite him sat an old man, who based on appearances, was about 70 to 80 years-old. His eyes were small and he gave off a dark aura.
That old man nodded his head darkly, “Clan Leader Zhou, don’t worry. There is no doubt that Gu Xicheng will die for sure this time. However, don’t forget the promise between us.”
On the other side of the sofa sat a slightly chubby, round-faced, bald old man with a white beard and a fortunate-looking face who laughed and said, “Don’t worry Brother Gu, we are not interested in the Gu Clan Fort. We are only interested in the relics of the Ming Clan that the Gu Clan Fort is keeping.”
“Since that is so, I will take my leave first then,” said Old Man Gu as he got up and walked out the door, almost as if he did not get along very well with the other two men.
“Trouble at home, this Gu Xifu’s hatred has blinded his heart,” the chubby man looked at the back view of Old Man Gu and waited until he had left completely, before laughing mockingly. He continued, “He and Gu Xicheng have fought for tens of years. Now that one of his is in the grave, he is thinking of causing internal conflict. It is such a pity though that he is still ultimately a notch below Gu Xicheng.”
The Zhou Clan leader stroked his beard and squinted his eyes as he laughed, “Old man Tang, it’s also good this way. It benefits us anyway.”
“He is indulging in wild fantasies and hoping to get someone killed on his behalf. He even wishes to take over the Gu Clan Fort. We’re not such fools to be played round with,” Old Man Tang had his lips curled up in a sinister smile.
…
Outside the window of the living hall in a dark corner, Mo Wen raised his eyebrows. Although he had only caught on to bits and pieces of the three old men’s conversation, he understood the gist of it. It was nothing but scheming against the Gu Clan Fort.
Amongst the three old men inside, the short and plump one should be the Tang Clan’s leader. As for the one wearing the Tang Suit, he should be the Zhou Clan’s leader.
Meanwhile, that horse-faced Old man should be Gu Xifu, the elder brother of Gu Xicheng, the Gu Clan’s Clan leader.
At this point, he was already filled with a little admiration for Gu Xicheng. Just based on the small actions of the Zhou and Tang Clans, he had managed to guess that Gu Xifu had a hand in things.
It was no wonder that the old man, Gu Xicheng, had already arranged for an alternative escape route before the battle had begun. It’d be a hard battle since there would be three ancient martial arts practitioners with the Qi Nucleation realm attacking the Gu Clan Fort at once.
“Who is that?” the Zhou Clan’s Clan leader who was drinking tea had suddenly lifted his head and his gaze was fiercely directed outside the window. In the next moment, his figure had moved over and appeared by the window. He fiercely lifted up the curtain. However, it was empty outside and there was nobody.
“What happened?” the Tang Clan’s Clan leader had a shock and appeared by the window in a flash. He gazed outside but there was not even a shadow of a person. He looked over to the Zhou Clan’s Clan leader, a look of confusion flashing through his eyes.
“You didn’t notice that there was someone outside just now?” the Zhou Clan’s Clan leader said with his eyebrows knitted.
“I didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary, why? Did you notice something that did not feel right?” the Tang Clan’s Clan leader looked over at the Zhou Clan’s Clan leader, stunned. His skills were about the same as the Zhou Clan’s Clan leader as they were both of the Qi Nucleation realm. Logically speaking, if the Zhou Clan’s Clan leader could detect something off, he should be able to as well.
A person’s perceptiveness was positively correlated to one’s skills. The higher the skill level, the higher the perceptiveness. Hence, two people with similar skill levels should also have similar perceptiveness.
“Perhaps I am overly suspicious,” the Zhou Clan’s Clan leader slowly shook his head. After ascertaining once again that there was nobody secretly listening on them from outside, he placed the curtain back down. Previously, he had gotten up so suddenly because his heart had palpitated with fear ,and he felt like there was someone outside the window. In reality, his perceptiveness was similar to that of the Tang Clan’s leader and was not especially outstanding. With such sudden frights, he had considerably let his status down.
“You have too much on your mind. Could it be because of the issue with the Gu Clan Fort that is making your heart restless?” the Tang Clan leader laughed and said.
How could an outsider infiltrate into the impressive Zhou Clan’s Manor house? Even if someone had entered stood by the window, it would be impossible for the two of them to not notice unless the other party had skills that far surpassed the two of them.
However, those kinds of people would not have to listen in secretly. Even with the two of them combined, they would not be a match for such a person.
Outside the window on the upper side, there was a person hanging, pressing himself to the wall like a lizard.
Previously, the Zhou Clan’s Clan leader had only looked out the window but did not put his head out and look upwards. Hence, he had not noticed Mo Wen.
“Such an acute sixth sense,” Mo Wen marveled. He had almost been caught by that old fellow.
There were not many people who were born with such naturally acute sixth senses. Mo Wen believed that with his concealment techniques, if the distance was not too close, an ancient martial art practitioner with the Qi Nucleation realm would not even notice.
Mo Wen of the past life, had once trained up to the Embryonic Breathing realm and uncovered its mysteries. He could compress his entire body’s breath within. It would screen off everything that was presented externally, just like a dead person.
Under such circumstances, if the other party was not also of the Embryonic Breathing realm, even if they were only separated by a piece of paper, nobody would notice him as long as he was out of sight.