Chapter 194: What’s Holding You Back
A cunning smile crossed James' face. As expected, his nephew was so easy to fool. He resumed his usual noble manner and gracefully said, “Then, today... ”
“Wait!” Nina stepped forward and cut James off.
James frowned at the sight of Nina. Since he became the master of the Mo Clan, he had never met anyone who dared to interrupt him, until today. He was already quite annoyed when he was interrupted by these young people earlier. But at the sight of Nina, he tried to stay calm and asked, “Miss Zhu, what's the matter?”
“You almost killed Zen. Do you want to explain that?”
Most of the women tended to be petty and vengeful if they were offended. And Nina wasn't a gentle one and it was impossible for her not to bear grudges.
It was true that James almost killed Zen, and it was something that Nina would never tolerate.
James' face darkened. He already lost his face today, but Nina was still pushing and had no intention to stop. James looked sullen. “Miss Zhu, I stand with what I said earlier that we were all to blame for what happened. It was a misunderstanding, and if you really think that I overdid it, please don't take it to heart,” said he.
Nina sneered, “I have warned you not to do anything rashly, but have you taken it to heart? If it wasn't for Uncle Chand, would you really stop? So tell me, do you really think that I could just shake it off?”
“Does Miss Zhu really want to dwell on it?” James retorted sullenly, feeling cornered.
“Yes, I do,” Nina replied calmly.
“You really want to push it too far!” James had put up with her for so long but finally burst into anger as he couldn't hold his temper anymore. As the master of the Mo Clan, he had never felt so humiliated and he couldn't just let a young woman have her way all the time. He couldn't just tolerate her pushing him to this extent.
At this moment, Chand who was floating in the air said with a gentle smile, “Since Nina is still not satisfied with it, I'm here to help her.” He then looked at Nina and continued, “Nina, please tell me what you want me to do.”
Nina was about to tell Chand to give James a lesson, but she was stopped by Yetta who stood beside her and dragged her cuff.
Yetta's face looked pale as she pleaded in a faint voice, “Nina, please let my uncle go. Could you drop this matter and let it be?”
Yetta was the niece of James and Nina's best friend. She was caught in the middle of this situation.
Nina's heart softened by Yetta's pleading face. Finally, Nina sighed and said to Chand, “Uncle Chand, forget it. Let's not further discuss this matter.”
Chand bore no resentment towards James. Since Nina gave the word, he had no reason to disagree. He flashed a cunning smile, then the ice crystals around him began to float until they covered all his body and he soon flew away.
Nory had gotten his father's blood jade bracelet, thus there was no reason for him to stay here any longer. He said, “Zen, it's time to go!”
Zen nodded and motioned for Wurth and Sean to leave.
Wurth said something to Tyson, and then Tyson followed him with the wood cutter in his hand.
Nina was the last one to leave. Earlier, she was determined to give Yetta's uncle a lesson but was stopped by Yetta. After she consoled her friend, she shot a cold stare at James, as if telling him, 'If it were not for my friendship with your niece, I would have definitely made you pay today!"
She followed behind them and yelled, “Hey! Wait for me!”
After Zen and all the others left, James sighed and waved his hand. The wooden armchair automatically came to his side and he slid into the chair as if he was paralyzed.
He had never been disgraced like this since he became the master of Mo Clan.
The other people of Mo Clan remained silent as they were afraid to taste the wrath of James if they dared to speak up.
But Yates, James' son, didn't hold back. He stepped forward and said to his father, “Dad, are you just letting them go like that?”
James sighed and said, “What else could I do?”
He knew that there was no way the Mo Clan could fight the Zhu Clan or the Zhang Clan. Mo Clan couldn't even hold a candle for the two clans, let alone act against them.
Yates gritted his teeth and his eyes turned red with anger. He felt like a trapped beast because they couldn't do anything. Thinking that it was Nory who started all this, he swore in his heart to make the latter pay.
But for Zen who beat him, he knew that there was no way he could return the favor. He was certainly not a match for Zen, even his father could do nothing to Zen. Thus, he could only drop his hatred towards Zen.
At that time, a steward suddenly rushed to them.
The steward intended to report something to James when he saw the other members of the Mo Clan wink at him, giving him the hint that the news could wait.
It was not the right time to disturb James with some trivial matters. And if he dared to do so, he would find himself in serious trouble.
But despite the consequences, the steward felt that James needed to hear the report. He looked anxious as he paced restlessly beside.
Yates noticed the steward's strange behavior and walked up to him. He then asked, “What's the matter?”
The steward looked at Yates and sadly said, “I just checked the mansion and found that three hundred and thirty-six rooms of the house were destroyed by that man.”
“What?” Yates' face suddenly darkened.
Earlier, he had heard a loud explosion and assumed that it had caused great damage.
The Mo mansion had five hundred and sixty-one rooms altogether. To any clan, repairing the damage of their house and its rooms was not the problem. But the repairs done would greatly change the features of the house and would diminish the heritage value.
The mansion was inherited from the Mo Clan's ancestors. He didn't expect that the fight would damage over three hundred rooms. That was about half of the mansion and it was undoubtedly a great loss for the Mo Clan.
Upon hearing this news from the steward, Yates became more vengeful. Staring at the gate of the mansion where Nory went out, he murmured, “Nory, I swear that I will kill you myself!”
Despite retrieving the bloody jade bracelet, Nory was still feeling under the weather.
The usual jovial young man was looking depressed as he led the group outside.
Seeing Nory's sad face, Wurth and Sean could only exchange glances as they didn't know how to console their friend.
The fact that Nory's father was probably killed by his uncle was a hard blow on Nory's face.
With this revelation, they assumed that Nory would never come back to the Mo Mansion again.
Wurth and Sean didn't know how it felt to be betrayed by their own clan. But Zen could relate to Nory's feeling at that time, though he wasn't saying anything, He had a similar experience with Nory.
His father was killed by his uncles. After his father was killed, he was degraded to a slave, suffered all kinds of humiliations in the clan, and almost lost his life.
Zen suddenly quickened his pace to catch up to Nory. He gently patted Nory's shoulder and said, “Nory, do you want to know what really happened to your father and take revenge?”
Nory drooped his head and nodded, “Yes, I do. But I don't think I can take it.”
“What do you mean you can't take it?” Zen smiled with derision, “How can you even live in this world? You better just jump into the Gold River and die.”
The young men walked along the Gold River–the largest inner-city river in the imperial capital. The glistening water reflected irregular golden light under the sunset, making the whole river look as if it was plated with gold.
Glancing at the Gold River, Nory felt frustrated and said, “Yes! My father died in a frame-up and I can't even investigate it. Even if I found out the truth, I can't avenge his death with my own hands. I'd rather die now. Hundreds of people drowned in this river every year so it wouldn't matter if I drown myself in here. People won't care to see another body floating on the river.”
Wurth and Sean were caught off guard by what Zen just said. He wasn't trying to console Nory. Was Zen trying to connive Nory to just commit suicide out of self-pity? They knew Zen wouldn't have such an absurd idea and he had his own ways of doing things. So, they put their trust in Zen and didn't interrupt. They chose to remain silent and watch how things would turn out. But if Nory would take Zen's words literally and decide to kill himself, they wouldn't just stand there and watch. They would stop him from committing suicide.
At this time, Zen smiled and said, “I was starting to think that you're a coward. Turned out you have more courage than I thought!”
Nory glanced at Zen in confusion and asked curiously, “Courage? When did you see me have that courage?”
“You're not afraid to die. You're not even afraid to kill yourself. What else would you fear? What's holding you back? If you dared to ask James in his face, he could try and kill you with his sword. But what could be worse than that?” Zen fired a battery of questions at him. “If you are not afraid of death, you'd better go all out to improve yourself. When you are strong enough, you can confront James and ask him. What else could he do to you? Since you already didn't care whether you live or die, why not die trying?”
Nory's heart suddenly beat faster after hearing Zen's homily.
He might be a soft young man who rolled up with punches, but he was full of stamina and determination to succeed. Otherwise, he wouldn't have entered the Cloud Sect even with Zen's help.
Nory knew that Zen was right all along. Life was a long and miserable journey. It was a pity if he would die in misery. He'd rather try and fail than fail without trying. The worst that could happen to him was death.
Those words were like a door of hope to Nory. He was not an ambitious man. In fact, he entered the Cloud Sect only to fulfill his daily task in practice perfunctorily and didn't even put on much effort during his free time.
But things had changed for Nory. His goal now was to trample Yates underfoot and question James in the face about his father's death. And the success of his goal heavily relied on his strength.
His eyes brightened with determination as he thought more about it. He clenched his fist, and his body trembled with excitement.