Chapter 182: Yates Mo
Throughout the Eastern Region, no one at the Illuminating Soul Realm would subject themselves to taking direction from anyone who was not an influential master.
There was a rich merchant of G County, and he could afford to employ several nature creatures as his personal bodyguards, which was rare for a man of his station. However, it was pure fantasy to think he could hire any of the masters in the Illuminating Soul Realm.
Still, the members of the Zhang Clan could.
The Zhang Clan employed multiple Illuminating Soul Realm masters.
These masters of the Illuminating Soul Realm willingly remained in the employ of the Zhang Clan to assist with the clan at critical times because they valued the connections along with the resources that the Zhang Clan possessed.
More importantly though, since the Zhang Clan financially supported those same masters of the Illuminating Soul Realm while they were growing up, they served loyally.
This was the biggest reason the masters of the Illuminating Soul Realm remained with the clan.
As the third son in the Zhang Clan, Wurth was raised in the environment which gave him a natural sensitivity to this aspect of how things were.
In Wurth's opinion, if Zen managed to defy the odds and gain entry into the Illuminating Soul Realm someday, his strength would rival any official at the Zhang Clan.
Therefore, Wurth wanted to invest in Zen.
He didn't invest money though because Zen wasn't lacking in that department, even going so far as to commission Wurth in the auctioning of heavenly essence which would in turn earn Wurth some money.
No, Zen had no need of Wurth's money, so, instead, Wurth invested his time, companionship in the form of building a friendship with Zen.
He knew how much Zen valued sentiment, friendship and respect above all other things, and although sometimes Zen would react emotionally, it was evident that he cared about his friends and brothers around him more than others.
For this reason alone Wurth was willing to help Nory and didn't consider the cost immediately.
Even if he put that aspect aside, Wurth would be involved because he viewed Zen and others as his brothers.
He was dwelling on that information, when a group of men and women entered.
A busy servant saw the group as they came in and stopped what he was doing to rush over to them. He nodded as he bowed and greeted them warmly, “Hello, Young Master Yates, welcome back. Please, have a seat here. This table was specially arranged for you and your guests.”
While he spoke, several other servants hurried to set the chairs and table in order. They laid a soft napped tablecloth over the table before laying out fruit and snacks on it.
Young Master Yates smiled, graciously inviting his friends to sit down.
Zen glanced at the young master dressed in a black robe. When he glimpsed the companions, he noticed they too wore black robes.
The Mo Clan might be weaker now, but it wasn't difficult for the children to become inner disciples, and this only illuminated just how low Nory's position was in his clan.
After being seated, the young master Yates looked around the room, and when he saw Nory, he fixated on him. After staring at Nory, he glanced from Nory to Zen, Wurth, and Sean, noticing that the friends accompanying Nory were all outer disciples dressed in white robes.
Raising his thick brows, Yates sneered at Nory and asked, “Well there Nory, what brings you venturing out of Drizzle Peak today?” When he'd finished his mocking inquiry, the young master laughed.
Nory blinked obliviously as he replied, “As the rule, I normally attend family reunions, Yates, why do you ask?”
“Oh,” responded Yates while he shook his head and went on, “I knew with your capabilities, you'd be accepted into the Cloud Sect and have the forte to persevere. But, can I ask you; why have you returned now, and with such loser friends?”
It wasn't news to anyone there how the inner disciples from Cloud Sect looked down on outer disciples, constantly.
Inner and outer disciples that were members of the same peak might get along well, but, inner disciples from any of the other peaks were unwilling to see outer disciples as anything more than their whipping boys.
All the disciples with Yates were from Egret Peak.
Egret Peak was sixteenth ranked peak at Cloud Sect, making it the midway point between the top and bottom.
The inner disciples with Yates noticed the Drizzle Peak logo on Zen's and Wurth's chests and rolled their eyes disdainfully. Considering that Zen and the others were from the peak that was the lowest ranking at the Cloud Sect, and on top of that, they were all outer disciples, Yates' companions saw Nory and his friends as insignificant.
Nory didn't care if he was being insulted, he'd been dealing with worse his entire life. However, he found it difficult to maintain self-control when his friends were, and in a menacing tone said, “Yates, these are my friends, not losers. You would do well to watch how you speak to them.”
“Oh really?” replied Yates, with an inflection in his voice that denoted his growing interest. He stared at Nory's flustered expression, which always amused him, and had heard the exasperation in his voice, which he enjoyed. Yates asked, “So, they're not losers. Maybe you can share why you were placed in Drizzle Peak, the lowest ranking one within the Cloud Sect? Logically speaking, the outer disciples from Drizzle Peak can be the least powerful of all the disciples at the Cloud Sect. At least, in my opinion. It is better not to enter the Cloud Sect than to remain at Drizzle Peak since it's where losers are cultivated.”
“Yates, what is that supposed to mean?” shouted Nory as he jumped to his feet angrily.
Only half of the guests had arrived, and the feast hadn't started yet. When other guests heard Nory shouting loudly, one after another turned to see what was going on, and even the actors up on stage stopped singing to see what was happening.
Yates concentrated on rising from his seat slowly, smirking, and having a tough time restraining the laughter he felt welling up in him. Nory was always such a weak target who Yates thought was easy to bully, until today. Odd that today Nory had been found to have a backbone. Yates wondered why Nory suddenly had the courage to stand up to him. Was Nory relying on these guys to stand against Yates?
Earlier when Yates entered, he had examined Nory's friends.
All the disciples from noble clans had keen vision.
First, he took in the fact that Zen, Wurth, and Sean were attired in white robes, then he scrutinized them to ensure they all came from lower class families without noble ties.
While Yates had assessed the three astutely, he was, in fact, wrong in his overall assessment. Wurth was a member of the Zhang Clan which wasn't a poor family. True, it wasn't one of the top seven noble clans, but, Wurth's family actually held far more power than an ordinary noble clan. After all, the Zhang Clan was the only family able to progress alongside the top seven noble clans, equally. If a rank were required, then the Zhang Clan would be counted as comparable to any of the top seven noble clans.
Of course, wearing his white outer disciple robe was deceptive, so, Yates wasn't at fault for misjudging Wurth as a nobody.
After his initial assessment, Yates had noted that the three weren't very powerful.
While Zen was a nature creature, he was just at grade one, and Wurth and Sean were only at half-step into the nature level.
Yates wasn't worried about their strength because he was at grade four of the nature level, while his friends were grades four and five, respectively. With their cumulative strength, Yates hadn't given Nory's friends a second thought, which led him to refer to Zen and the others as losers to their faces.
“Nory, when did you grow up? How brave of you to deem to talk to me like this today!” said Yates snidely as he frowned unhappily. With so many people in attendance today, Yates needed to teach Nory a lesson and give him a reminder of who he was addressing.
Wurth and Sean glared back at Yates, enraged. They hadn't thought Nory's family members would ignore his devoted enthusiasm, and they would suffer personal disgrace.
One member of Nory's group remained staunchly expressionless, Zen.
With calm, collected mannerisms, Zen picked up a kettle that was dark-red and enameled from the table and slowly poured some of the water over his hands. As he did, life vitality rose from within, to cover his hands. Under the heat of his life vitality, the tea water quickly evaporated into the air as steam.
When he had finished, Zen stood up, a smile plastered across his face. He patted Nory on the shoulder, and asked, “Hey Nory, who's this guy talking to you?”
Nory continued to glare as he ground his teeth, “He's my cousin.”
“Oh, this is your cousin, right?” said Zen in an animated tone. He turned his attention to Yates, continuing to smile, and he said in a bubbly voice, “Since you're Nory's cousin, we're all friends here! I don't see a need for cousins to speak this way between each other. You're relatives. It's unhealthy to shatter the harmony.”
“Us, relatives? Ha-ha!” remarked Yates snidely. After a brief pause he rolled his eyes, huffed and contemptuously added, “How does he deserve to be considered a relative of mine? Which member of the Mo Clan acknowledges that Nory is their relative?”
“Well then, since Nory doesn't merit being considered your relative, it makes this much easier now,” said Zen while a faint gleam flashed briefly in his eyes, and he smiled slightly.
“Excuse me? Just what do you mean? What is easier?” asked a visibly confused Yates. What Zen said baffled Yates, and left him puzzled.
Chuckling, Zen sarcastically said, “Just now, I believe I heard someone refer to us as Nory's loser friends. Since you and he are family, for Nory's sake, we can bear it. However, you said you aren't relatives. Therefore, there is no reason for us to tolerate such insults!” Zen timed his words so that as he finished speaking and the words sank in, his life vitality congealed on his right hand, and at the same time, a fierce power spread from his body to engulf Yates and his companions.
There was a strong force within the momentum that came from deep in Zen, below his soul to where his killing intention was rooted.
From the time Zen and the others had arrived at the Mo mansion with Nory, they had endured every slight that was given. Now though, Zen understood there was no reason to stand on formal ceremony because they didn't need to stand for this mistreatment.
Up until now, Zen hadn't been willing to fight here. After all, this seemed to be a happy reunion for family members and guests at the Mo mansion.
Besides, Nory invited them in the spirit of goodwill and not to fight.
If Zen went too far, it would embarrass Nory and Zen didn't want to do that to his friend.
Consequently, Zen gave Yates a chance. If he acknowledged Nory as his relative, Zen felt they could discuss things, but Yates didn't seem to care about family ties, so, Nory had no reason to worry about the Mo Mansion's reputation. If it were left in shambles today, they wouldn't have gone too far.
Seeing the strong power Zen had suddenly radiated, Yates and his cohorts stood up one after another, all straight-faced.
Zen's momentum was astonishing; nonetheless, Yates and his companions hadn't seen Zen's full strength. They thought Zen was only a grade one in the nature level and accordingly, couldn't possibly be very powerful. With all of Yates friends in the nature level at grades four and five, if they fought now, the gap between the capabilities of each side would be considerable. In the blink of an eye, they might end up killing the outer disciples that Nory brought with him.
Each side prepared for the battle that was about to start.
Most of the guests who were watching possessed ordinary abilities, and because of that, no one dared to stop the fight.
It was at that moment that five, maybe six guests came through the door. They were female disciples in Cloud Sect.
As per the rules of the Cloud Sect, the female disciples wore either black or white robes, depending on their rank, when they stayed at the sect.
Nevertheless, the robes were ugly in the eyes of the disciples, so, whenever they had the opportunity to leave the Cloud Sect, they would change out of their disciple robes hastily to wear beautiful clothes, such as long dresses with patterns of birds in flight, or blouses that were embroidered, paired with skirts that bore designs of flowers on them.
These were the disciples of Lady Peak entering, and they had all changed before they'd arrived, and looked gorgeous.
“Is that you, Yetta?” Even though Yates and his comrades as well as Nory and his friends were at sword points with each other, Yates immediately noticed when the female disciples from Lady Peak entered the room. Excitedly he called out, “Oh, and there's Nina, an honored guest!”
Seeing the ladies, Yates no longer wanted to be at odds with Nory or his friends. He might have returned to attend the family reunion, but, his main reason for coming was that his cousin, Yetta, said she would be bringing some friends home with her, to give them a tour.
One of the friends with Yetta was Nina. Yates had developed a crush on her, and thought about her every day and night.