Chapter 586 — The Zhao Family Patriarch

To deal with Wei Zhao, they first had to ascertain exactly who he was; they could not afford to strike rashly. If Wei Zhao truly was a prodigy whom some hidden family had raised with all its resources, and they killed him, that family would likely come at the Zhaos with everything it had, sparing no cost.

Twenty years old and already Profound Rank — his future would be boundless; late Earth Rank, even Heaven Rank, might lie ahead of him. If the Zhao family killed such a man, the clan behind Wei Zhao would surely go mad.

But they could not rule out the chance that Wei Zhao had merely stumbled onto his fortune — a blind cat landing on a dead mouse — by swallowing some miraculous elixir or breaking through in a moment of luck. And if that were the case, then they could simply wipe him out and spare themselves a future scourge.

It was the first time Li Cihua had heard the patriarch speak in that tone. He was briefly startled, but he answered all the same: "Yes, I understand."

When the ambulance arrived, Li Cihua first had the young master and Uncle Zhu taken to the hospital for basic treatment, then waited for the Medicine King to come in person and tend to them.

Zhao Guangyin put down the phone and brooded for a moment. Then, his face grave, he rose, walked briskly out of the room into the open air, and made for a detached villa.

"Young Patriarch, you have come." No sooner had Zhao Guangyin reached the villa's gate than an old man appeared out of nowhere and barred his way. Courteous as the old man's words were, there was not the least intention of letting him in.

"Elder Bi, I wish to see my father." Zhao Guangyin took no offense whatever; instead he addressed the old man with the utmost respect. For this Elder Bi was one of the few experts the Zhao family had left, a guardian of the house — a man who had carved out their domain at Zhao Guangyin's father's side, his right arm. Only he was a bachelor, never married, with no children; and in his old age he still stayed by the old master's side, dutiful as ever.

"One moment, Young Patriarch. I will announce you to the Patriarch." Elder Bi nodded and turned into the villa, while Zhao Guangyin stood at the gate, reverent and still, not daring to do anything else.

After a while Elder Bi emerged again and nodded to him. "Young Patriarch, the Patriarch bids you enter."

In truth, Zhao Guangyin was already the head of the Zhao family. Old Master Zhao had stepped down from the seat years ago to devote himself to cultivation and the pursuit of a higher realm. But in Elder Bi's eyes, Old Master Zhao would always be the Zhao family's patriarch, and Zhao Guangyin only the young patriarch.

Zhao Guangyin, for his part, had no complaints about the title. After all, though he was the patriarch, there were many matters on which he still had to seek his father's instruction. The Profound Rank experts of the family he could command; but Earth Rank ones like Elder Bi were beyond his reach.

Zhao Guangyin walked into the villa with the deepest deference, and saw that the old master was already seated in the reception hall, quietly savoring a cup of fragrant tea. He bowed at once. "Father!"

"Mm. What have you come to see me about?" Old Master Zhao had been wholly given over to cultivation, searching for the moment of breakthrough to Earth Rank, and rarely concerned himself with family affairs. Unless something of consequence had happened, Zhao Guangyin would not have disturbed him.

In fact, the hidden families had never meddled in the affairs of the mundane world. Though they all, to one degree or another, kept companies, spokesmen, and collateral descendants out in the mundane realm, their influence was nothing like so vast as that of the four great families and the five minor ones.

Those people were only there to earn a little money for the family. Their material wants were modest, and with the wealth accumulated over generations, they could have sustained themselves without running any company at all.

Keeping companies on the outside was simply a way of avoiding the slow eating away of their capital — using the profits to support the household, while the ancestral estate was left untouched wherever possible. Only thus could a family remain prosperous through the ages.

Above all, the great hidden families had long ago agreed among themselves not to involve themselves lightly in the mundane world. Otherwise, if the mundane realm were overrun with martial experts, the rules would fall into chaos; and if they all came out, would the great families have any room left to live?

Besides, what they pursued was the highest reach of the martial arts; their desires were for the summit and for immortality. As for the gaudy world outside, they had scarcely any interest in it at all.

"Father, Little Bing's legs have been ruined, and Mr. Zhu has been gravely wounded..." With such a calamity befalling the family, Zhao Guangyin naturally had to report it to the old master.

"Oh?" Old Master Zhao's gaze sharpened. "Little Zhu is an early Profound Rank expert, is he not? How was he gravely wounded? In the mundane world, apart from the Yu family's branch, whose house keeps such an expert?"

Old Master Zhao's words woke the dreamer. It struck Zhao Guangyin all at once — was not his wife's natal family the Yu family? Could it be that she had learned of his bastard son out in the world, and hired someone to deal with Zhao Qibing?

At the thought, Zhao Guangyin's expression changed, and he grew a little tense. "You mean the Yu family? That Yu Xiaojin has learned of Little Bing's affair?"

Yu Xiaojin was Zhao Qibing's wife, a daughter of the Yu family — the Yu patriarch's youngest daughter, and the old man doted on her. If Yu Xiaojin was the one who had made the move, it was more than possible.

"Xiaojin has known about Little Bing for a long time. That she never made a scene with you is because she is a woman who understands what matters. Since you would not bring Zhao Qibing home, she chose to turn a blind eye. As for hiring someone to deal with Little Bing, that is out of the question," said Old Master Zhao. "Unless Little Bing threatened the standing of her son — that is, your younger son."

"So you mean it was not the Yu family?" Zhao Guangyin was taken aback. He had not expected his wife to have known about Zhao Qibing all along; he had thought her ignorant of it. At that, he could only smile bitterly. The women of the Yu family were truly not simple.

Theirs had been a marriage of interests, yet over the years she had been gentle and refined, sensible and well-mannered, tending to his daily life without fail. It was hard to imagine she had once been the eldest young lady of the Yu family.

"I did not say that. Old Yu is not a man to swallow a loss, and he dotes on Xiaojin more than anything; for her sake, he might well have sent someone to deal with Little Bing," Old Master Zhao shook his head. "As for that boy Little Bing, do not pin too much hope on him. I am not optimistic about him — he is nothing but a spoiled young master. Still, the Zhao family is not to be bullied at will. I have heard the matter; now put out the word. Circulate a notice among the great hidden families, calling for this man. If some other family speaks up, we will weigh the matter and act accordingly. If no one speaks, then it means this man did not come from any hidden family!"

Zhao Guangyin was briefly startled, then could not help admiring his father's shrewdness. Yes — first put out a notice among the hidden families seeking this Wei Zhao. If he truly was an elite bred by another family, someone would certainly step forward to stop the Zhaos from moving against him.

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