Built in a traditional style with wings on three sides and a front courtyard, the spacious, two-story, tile-roofed old house had been bought by the Yu family long ago.
Back then, when Yu Yindou's father, Yu Jinkui, was still alive, he had taken the initiative to sell some silver dollars and antiques and hired an intermediary to handle the transaction, all to prepare for the day when the Yu clan might need to re-enter the secular world.
Not long ago, after the Yu clan relocated their entire village, they arranged for part of their people to settle deeper into the mountains, while the rest who could serve as fighting strength were practically all gathered here—amounting to roughly thirty-odd people.
Old-style houses of this kind typically featured a spacious central hall in the middle, something Yu Yindou valued immensely. No matter where he went, there had to be room to set up the patriarch's seat.
Standing before that seat at this moment, Yu Yindou stroked the beard on his chin. The scheme brewing in his mind was roughly to use Wu Xu as an angle to target another Azure supply station or garrison post.
He had pulled it off once already and tasted the sweet reward, and he had already crossed Azure anyway. While Azure was undeniably vast and powerful, it was also widely dispersed, which created opportunities to exploit.
Moreover, the Yu clan was currently at its best-supplied and most formidable state in twenty to thirty years.
Therefore, upon hearing news that Wu Xu was with Azure, far from being enraged, Yu Yindou was actually rather pleased. He knew Wu Xu too well, both in character and in strength.
"Father, let's not provoke them! Father!"
Yu Fengzi blurted this out almost instinctively. Uttered right as her elderly father was laying out his grand strategy before a hall full of attentive listeners, her words sounded jarringly abrupt and clear.
Even the panic and dread in her voice were unmistakable.
She could not stop herself from thinking that if Wu Xu was truly with Azure, he was bound to be alongside Han Qingyu... And Han Qingyu, what kind of person was he?!
Yu Fengzi's memories of that canyon in Nepal had always remained far too vivid; the terror had long been seared into her soul.
Yu Yindou instantly knitted his brows, turning to look at his daughter with displeasure. "Fengzi, what did you just say?!"
"I... I said..."
"You spineless thing!"
"Father, this really isn't about me being spineless! There's someone there... Father, please let's really not provoke him, all right?! Let's pick somewhere else to strike."
Yu Fengzi panicked completely. Her sheer terror of that grim reaper drove her to spill everything that had happened in the canyon in Nepal in one breathless rush.
Much of this she had previously concealed or distorted, but now, the eldest young miss held nothing back, casting aside all pride, just to dispel her father's dangerous notion.
"You're saying he was the one who killed Yuan Qing?!" In the silence that fell over the hall after Yu Fengzi finished her account, Yu Yindou spoke up.
Yu Fengzi nodded repeatedly. "Yes, and not just Yuan Qing, but many others as well..."
"Yet Yuan Qing was the strongest among them?" Yu Yindou asked.
"Mhm, yes." Yu Fengzi nodded.
Thirteen years in Grade A armor... Although degree of fusion and time spent wearing armor were not directly equivalent to combat prowess, they still indicated a great deal. Even if Yuan Qing's combat strength was on the weaker side for his grade, by ordinary standards, he was undeniably an expert.
Naturally, Yu Yindou had met Yuan Qing before; during that earlier expedition to Nepal, it was Yuan Qing who had come to the village to fetch Yu Fengzi and Wu Xu. Stroking his beard, Yu Yindou said slowly:
"Nevertheless, if this old man were the one killing Yuan Qing, he would not last three moves."
"R-really?! Father." Yu Fengzi's eyes lit up with pleasant surprise. She remembered back then that Han Qingyu had slain Yuan Qing with immense difficulty, fighting all the way to the bitter end before finally killing him.
"Nonsense."
This daughter of his was simply too foolish. Yet Yu Yindou never considered that since he had raised her in a secluded little mountain village from childhood, indulging her as an imperious young lady, how clever could she possibly be?
After a moment of exasperation, the old man rallied his spirits and declared in a resonant voice, "As for the rest, hearing your description of the battle, it was merely that they were a bunch of cowardly incompetents who fed themselves to him piecemeal, letting a callow youth make a name for himself!"
"Our Yu clan, on the other hand, consists entirely of loyal and brave warriors. Where would we ever have such cowards afraid of dying?!" With a flourish of both arms, Yu Yindou rallied their morale once again.
Yu Fengzi stood there, silently turning her father's words over in her mind.
Suddenly—*SMACK!*
A savage slap whipped across her face, knocking her clean to the floor.
Yu Fengzi was completely dazed. Struggling to sit up, she clutched her cheek, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, and looked up at her father in shock. "Father, you?!"
The blow had come from Yu Yindou, struck with considerable force.
"Cowardly and afraid to die! You, you useless trash... You ruined my boy Wu Xu!" Having spat out this curse, Yu Yindou beat his chest and stamped his feet, tears welling in his eyes.
***
Later that evening.
Father and daughter met in private.
"My daughter, how could you be so utterly foolish?" As Yu Yindou applied medicinal ointment to her face, he looked at her with exasperation. His Yu family was cursed with misfortune: when it came to his generation, despite all his painstaking efforts, he had only managed to sire one child, and a girl at that.
This was actually one of the crucial reasons Yu Yindou had taken the risk of attacking an Azure supply station earlier and then led his family into the secular world. The last time Yuan Qing visited, he had told him that source energy might be linked to longevity.
"Father, I... I'm your daughter! Yet over a war slave, you hit me and called me foolish," Yu Fengzi complained aggrievedly.
"Yes, you are my daughter, and Wu Xu is merely a war slave of our Yu clan. In truth, trading a dog's life for your own survival wasn't wrong at all. If I knew, far from blaming you, I would have praised you."
"Then why did you still hit me, Father?"
"I hit you because how could you say those words in front of so many people?! You fool!" Yu Yindou's hands trembled with anger, nearly poking the medicinal alcohol into his daughter's eye.
Regaining his composure, he taught her sternly, "Under the current circumstances, our Yu family has just migrated out from the mountains into the outside world, while being hunted by Azure. What Father needs most to win over and control are those war slaves down below... Do you understand now when I put it this way, Fengzi?"
Yu Fengzi looked at her father and blinked. "Father, you put on a show for them on purpose, just like Liu Xuande dashing Ah Dou in the opera."
"Mhm." Yu Yindou nodded.
"Then what about Wu Xu? Father, you're not planning to win him over too, are you? It won't work. Father, you don't understand. Back then, even when we clearly had the upper hand, he stubbornly refused to lift a finger against that Han Qingyu. Because I tried to force him... I was humiliated by them afterwards." By the end, Yu Fengzi was grinding her teeth.
"Regarding this, Father plans to send men out to locate them first and observe before making any decisions." Yu Yindou turned his head, musing for a moment before adding, "Since they stopped in a nearby town to purchase goods, their garrison surely can't be far."
Azure garrisons and supply stations were usually located deep in the mountains.
Over the second and third days, four of the men Yu Yindou dispatched went missing.
Chapter 188