Chapter 531: Crisis of the Shui Family 

Translator: DavidT Editor: DavidT, Rock

The six elders let out a sigh together. The moment this matter erupted, it would definitely incite the biggest internal conflict within the Shui Family in the past couple of decades! Perhaps the upper echelons of the Shui Family would be completely changed after this incident! However, the most important thing right now was not the life and death of the three Shui brothers. Instead, it was to inform the Second and Third Master in Heavenly Wind about what had just happened here. The Second and Third Masters were in the same faction as the Elder's Hall. If their Family Head, Shui ManKong were to find out about the matters here, who knows what would happen? At that time, even if Shui WoBo wanted to suppress this matter, it would be completely useless!

Losing his only son at such an old age! What kind of a blow would that be? No matter how good Shui ManKong was at controlling himself, it would be impossible for him to suppress his anger!

Right when Shui QianRou entered the room, a black hawk flew up into the sky with a loud cry. Shui QianRou stared at the departing hawk with a dazed look.

Ling Chi then explained slowly, "I have already informed big sister about this incident and asked her to find a good physician. Even if we aren't able to save young noble Shui's life, we should try to reduce his pain."

Shui QianRou slumped into a chair with fatigue as tears rolled down her cheeks and said with a choking voice, "I am no longer in the right state of mind and cannot be bothered with anything else. I will have to trouble you for everything. Thank you."

Ling Chi let out a sigh.

At this moment, Shui QianRou was like a living zombie with her heart completely cold and all hope lost. All of a sudden, she felt an endless sense of fatigue and grief.

Family! This word suddenly made Shui QianRou feel an endless anger! This was the so-called family?! This was the family which she was willing to sacrifice everything to protect? This was the prestigious thousand-year-old family in the eyes of the world?!

All of a sudden, Shui QianRou could imagine Ling Tian standing in front of her and reprimanding her with his stern and merciless tone. Shui QianRou covered her face with her hands and began sobbing in grief. While the sound of her sobbing wasn't loud, the dense grief and emotions of her tears could be clearly felt!

As the princess of the Shui Family, a top-notch XianTian expert in the world who had everything her way since she was born, Shui QianRou suddenly felt as though she was the only one left in the world. Everything which she had depended and relied on in the past had disappeared completely at this moment! From now on, there was no longer anyone left for her to rely on and she would be left alone in the world!

"Ling Chi, with your skills, how could you allow someone to harm my brother in front of you? I need an explanation. Give me an explanation!" Shui QianRou suddenly stopped sobbing and asked this question. She finally regained her cool and reverted back to her usual self. At the very first moment, she immediately realized the biggest question.

This was the final pride of a talented lady like her and also her only doubt. She could not ignore this question and even if she were to lose her only support after this, she would still have to ask this question. She had already lost far too much, and being in this state of hopelessness she was no longer afraid of losing this final alliance mate of hers!

Ling Chi stared at her coldly and stood up. Without saying a word, he walked out of the room. At this moment, any form of explanation would only make Shui QianRou doubt him more. Instead, not giving her any explanation would help alleviate her doubts.

"Stop there!" Shui QianRou roared. However, she did not turn around as she said, "When they were arguing, the three Shui brothers had insulted elder sister Ling Chen. Why didn't you say anything at that moment? As Ling Tian's subordinate and Ling Chen's underling, why didn't you voice a single word of retort? Do you think that is very normal?! Was all of this an intentional arrangement on your part?! To make use of a dying man to sow discord within our Shui Family?! That's right, my brother is also deeply in love with elder sister Ling Chen. What a good plan of yours to kill two birds with one stone! Was that your motive?!" At this moment, Shui QianRou's voice was extremely calm but a simmering anger could be heard hiding within the calmness. In Shui QianRou's eyes, this was Ling Chi's biggest flaw! If Ling Chi wasn't able to give her an appropriate explanation, then Shui QianRou was certain that this whole incident was caused by Ling Chi! At the same time, Ling Chen and the others may even be accomplices!

However, was it possible for Ling Chi to give Shui QianRou a reasonable explanation?

A dense killing intent suddenly burst forth in the room. Die'er looked towards Shui QianRou and Ling Chi with fear and worry in her eyes. She wanted to help be the mediator between the two of them but just did not know what to say. She truly did not want to see her young miss argue with Ling Chi.

At this moment, Ling Chi was already by the door but suddenly stopped and turned around. He then looked at Shui QianRou with a calm expression and a hint of mockery, "If I said that I wasn't the slightest bit angry at that moment, would Miss Shui believe me?"

"Not angry?! What a fine excuse! So you are trying to say that since you aren't angry, there isn't a need for you to arrange any plans? What a wonderful excuse! Do you think that I will believe you?!" Shui QianRou sneered.

The atmosphere became tense and was about to explode at any moment!

Ling Chi seemed to have ignored Shui QianRou's sneer and said calmly, "Miss Shui, are you interested to know why I wasn't angry?"

"Speak." Shui QianRou said coldly. At the same time, her fists were clenched and she was filled with anger and killing intent towards Ling Chi.

Ling Chi chuckled and said emotionlessly, "Do you know, from the moment the three of them insulted Miss Chen, the three of them were akin to three corpses in my eyes! Even if your Shui Family wants to protect them, it will be completely useless. It is impossible for the three of them to leave Sky Bearing alive! This is the reason why it isn't worth getting angry with them."

Ling Chi smiled coldly, "This incident today only hastened the date of their deaths."

Shui QianRou's voice remained chilly, "Is my brother also a dead person in your eyes?! He is also an admirer of elder sister Chen!"

Ling Chi's eyes glowed. "Miss Shui, if I were to put it in a nasty manner, your brother is already heavily injured and on the edge of death. Even if I have the desire to harm him, there isn't a need for me to do it in such an obvious manner right? Besides that, this doesn't seem relevant to him admiring sister Chen either! In the Sky Bearing territory, there are at least thousands who admire sister Chen. Can I kill them all? It is only natural for your brother to admire sister Chen and even if he is only daydreaming, it doesn't warrant his death. However, the three of them are different. Besides that, on account of Miss Shui's face, even if your brother deserves to die, only our young noble will have the authority to decide that. It wouldn't be my place to make the decision. Beyond that, sowing discord within the Shui Family?"

Ling Chi smiled with mockery, "Is Miss Shui still unaware about the situation in the Shui Family? Is there a need for me to sow discord within your Shui Family? I will only say these words. May Miss Shui consider them on your own!"

"If I wanted to kill your brother, does Miss Shui think that he would still be breathing?"

After saying those words, Ling Chi's figure disappeared.

Shui QianRou's back still faced the door and she did not turn around even once when Ling Chi was saying. Her slender back was filled with desolation and loneliness. A long while later, Shui QianRou suddenly said, "Die'er, come here and explain the situation to me again in detail. Including the position of everyone present, explain the situation to me again!"

Following Die'er's explanation, a clear picture surfaced in Shui QianRou's mind. Shui QianHuan, Shui Seven, Shui QianJiang, Shui QianHai, Ling Chi and Die'er's position… including the position of the window, Shui QianRou thought through everything in detail and was finally at ease. Ling Chi's position was blocked by Die'er's body and he wouldn't have been able to see what had happened! At the same time, Die'er was the one who walked to the position on her own and after she walked there, Ling Chi did not move from his spot. The truth was that this incident was just far too sudden and unexpected. This accident which wasn't supposed to happen had actually happened. Could it be that the heavens wanted the death of her brother?!

"It seems like this incident wasn't intentionally planned by Ling Chi. If that's the case…" Shui QianRou's body could finally relax and for some reason, she felt relief in her heart. If this incident was engineered by the Ling Family, she really wouldn't know what to do…

At the very least, her only alliance mate was still trustworthy and could be relied upon! At the same time, it was also because of her own maiden's heart…

"Little princess, Miss Ling Chen is here." Following a report, Ling Chen entered the room with a wave of fragrant wind.

"Elder sister is here." Shui QianRou hurriedly stood up. Since she was sure that it was impossible for Ling Chi to engineer the matter, Shui QianRou's expression was much better than before.

"Mmm." Ling Chen nodded her head and walked forward to Shui QianHuan. She then investigated his injuries carefully before letting out a dull sigh. Raising her head up, she said with hesitation, "Younger sister Rou, please forgive me for being direct… your brother's injuries… haiz, I'm afraid… there isn't any hope…"

While Shui QianRou was already mentally prepared, she still held onto a trace of hope in her heart. She was hoping for some otherworldly medical herb or physician to appear and save her brother's life. Hearing Ling Chen telling her so truthfully, her body trembled and she leaned on the table weeping.

Ling Chen sighed and said with a trace of pity, "Younger sister Rou, with your brother's injuries, if we… it would only be unnecessarily adding on to his pain. Why don't we…"

"No!" Shui QianRou roared in agitation, "No matter what, my elder brother cannot die! He cannot die!"

Ling Chen sighed and looked at Shui QianRou gently but did not say a thing.

"Elder brother cannot die, he cannot die…" Shui QianRou muttered under her breath with a pair of hopeless eyes and suddenly burst out crying. As a martial arts practitioner who was extremely familiar with the construct of a human body, she naturally knew that even a celestial might not be able to save Shui QianHuan! However, if she were to drag the matter on further, Shui QianHuan would only grow more and more miserable by the day. In her heart, this was something that she would never be able to accept! Seeing her brother breathing weakly but being able to do nothing at all or even to lessen his pain by a little bit, Shui QianRou felt as though there were a thousand knives slicing through her body.

"I heard that Shui QianHuan has a final unfulfilled wish," Ling Chen muttered, "I have a method to protect his life for seven days. In fact, I can ensure that he will not feel any pain in these seven days but I will need your approval for this matter."

"What method?" Shui QianRou was elated and seemed to have grabbed onto a life saving herb. She grabbed onto Ling Chen's hand and shook it, "My good sister, as long as you can save my elder brother, I can do anything. My whole family would also be grateful to elder sister's kindness."

Ling Chen shook her head and said with a helpless expression, "It is impossible to protect his life with such injuries. However, I can imbue my special Divine Ice inner qi into his chest and freeze up the fractures of his ribs with my extreme cold qi. The benefit of this would be that he wouldn't feel any pain in his wounds but he will only be able to stay alive for seven days. After seven days, the frozen up injury would have become rotten and all of his organs would be destroyed. At that time, your brother would be dead for sure… Doing this would only be enough to reduce his pain by seven days and it is akin to drinking poison to quench his thirst! Beheading him to treat the poison!"

"Drinking poison to quench thirst! Beheading him to treat the poison!" Shui QianRou exclaimed and released Ling Chen's hands before stumbling back by two steps. Ling Chen's meaning was clear. She would be able to stop Shui QianHuan from feeling any pain but at the end of the seven days, the Divine Ice inner qi would lose its effect and Shui QianHuan would die on the spot! There wouldn't be any turning back!

Ling Chen took a step forward and a tinge of anxiousness could be heard in her voice, "Younger sister Rou, you cannot hesitate at this moment. Your brother's injuries cannot be delayed any further and his life would be lost at any moment. Can you bear to look at your brother die a painful death in front of you? The situation is extremely dire at the moment and your brother is only able to remain alive because of Ling Chi's inner qi. If you were to hesitate any longer, even seven days may be…"

"If we don't do as you said, he may not even survive for seven days?" Shui QianRou lifted up her head and looked at Ling Chen with tears in her eyes.

Ling Chen sighed before nodding silently, "It isn't just these seven days. He may not even be able to go past tonight…"

Shui QianRou stood in a daze for a long while before being able to regain her senses. Shui QianHuan's aura was truly becoming weaker and weaker by the minute. Shui QianRou then looked at Ling Chen and took a deep breath, "Then I will trouble elder sister Chen." After finishing those words, all of her energy seemed to have been sapped dry and she felt everything in front of her turn blurry.

Seven days! Her biological brother who had grown up together with her only had seven days left! It was a mere 168 hours left! How was this enough? How was this enough?!

When Shui QianRou finally came to her senses, Shui QianHuan's breathing finally stabilized and the look of pain could no longer be seen on his face. In fact, he even looked to be at ease as he fell into a deep sleep. However, when one approached him, a dense bone-chilling cold could be felt! Especially at the chest position, a thick layer of ice that didn't melt could be seen! However, Shui QianHuan's breathing became smooth and his heartbeat consistent. Ling Chen's control of the Divine Ice qi was already at an unfathomable level!

Shui QianRou then looked at Ling Chen with a questioning gaze.

Ling Chen's face was full of fatigue. After unleashing almost all of her inner qi, she was completely exhausted. Replying Shui QianRou with a silent nod, she quickly closed her eyes to adjust her condition.

A figure appeared and Ling Chi walked into the room. Ling Chen opened her eyes and asked calmly, "Have you found them?"

Ling Chi shook his head and a trace of fatigue could be seen on his face, "The three of them should have been hidden by the six Shui Elders. Although I haven't found them yet, I am sure that they can't be outside of this manor. Sky Bearing isn't their territory after all and apart from here, there wouldn't be anywhere capable of hiding them! At the same time, this is also where the Shui Family members are concentrated and also where they are strongest."

Ling Chen smiled, "Apart from this place that we have loaned them temporarily, I doubt they would have the guts to go anywhere else."

"That's right. The brothers outside have not found the three of them either." Ling Chi smiled.

Shui QianRou who was hearing the conversation by the side turned completely pale! She never imagined that the elders' plan of 'discussing the matter further' was actually to hide the three of them. Although she knew that these elders were already in cahoots with the three brothers, she was still angered to the point she almost could not breath upon hearing those words.

What should she do now? If she were to force her way in to find the three brothers, she would be completely outnumbered and outclassed by the elders' martial arts. She would not be a match for them alone. Besides that, could it be that she had to fight her Shui Family members today?

Seeing Shui QianRou's pale expression, Ling Chen sighed in her heart. Even if Shui QianRou was thoroughly disappointed with her family, it was impossible for her to go against her upbringing of the past ten-odd years. Ling Chen was certain that if the one being injured was Ling Jian or the other five Ling brothers, she would definitely seek revenge immediately without any hesitation!

If their enemy didn't die, how would this vengeance be resolved! At this moment, even though Shui QianRou was already angered to the extreme, when she heard about the interference of her family in this matter, she was still accustomed to thinking about the benefits of her family first.

Although Shui QianRou had already decided to kill the three Shui brothers, if she were to continue acting in such an apprehensive manner, not to mention taking revenge for Shui QianHuan, she herself might also perish.

"What is a family?" Ling Chen said softly as though she was talking to herself. But in this silent room, everyone could hear what Ling Chen was saying, "I remember young noble saying this before. Just what is a family? Young noble had once said that a family is a bunch of people with similar bloodline gathering together for the same goal and fighting together for their future. This was what a family is. Young noble had also said that if a family is filled with internal strife and filled with individuals only fighting for their own benefits, a family would not be considered a family at that point but only a pile of loose sand! That is because they no longer have any values and are no different from the organizations in the pugilistic world! At that time, no matter how glorious the past of the family is, the family would already be slowly walking to its demise."

"The young noble had said before. In the world today, there are only three true families in the world: the Yu Family, Ling Family, and BeiMing Family. This is because the Family Heads of these three families have absolute authority over their family! As compared to the other families like the DongFang, XiMen, Xiao… every other family is filled with internal problems and is no longer fit to be called a family! This includes your Shui Family. The Shui Family which was once so glorious."

"With things deteriorating to such a state, there are only two ways to solve this problem. First, the family will be destroyed and become the sunset of yesterday. Second, a heaven-defying genius will emerge in the family to unite the family with thunderous methods. Bearing with the pain of removing the bone-deep poison, those who should be killed must be killed and those who should be abandoned should be abandoned. After that, they should get an empire or a more powerful organization to protect them. After a long period of rest, they can then rise up from the ashes. Apart from these two paths, there isn't a third one."

"When the situation of the Shui Family had spread to Sky Bearing, young noble only said a single phrase after seeing it." Ling Chen then looked at Shui QianRou, "The young noble said that the Shui Family was finished!"

Shui QianRou listened silently with a complicated expression on her face.

"The situation in the Shui Family has deteriorated to the point that a servant would dare to bully his master. Furthermore, the situation is deteriorating further and despite your father, Yu ManKong, being a wise individual, he is restricted by the number one elder, Shui WuBo. Even though Shui WuBo's martial arts is high, he is a foolish man. However, he still thinks that all of his actions are done in the interest of the Shui Family and that he is absolutely loyal to the Shui Family. Even if such a person is an absolute expert, he is being made use of by your father's opponent. As long as Shui WuBo died, all the problems of your Shui Family would be resolved, but your father doesn't have the heart to do so. He also knows that Shui WuBo is absolutely loyal to the family and does not have any evil intentions!"

"After such a long time, the Shui Family is already on the verge of destruction! Even if your father can bear to sacrifice Shui WuBo right now, the outcome wouldn't change. The poison has already seeped too deeply into your Shui Family and is already incurable! Even if they are able to quell the internal strife within the family, the impact of this matter would mean that they would be reduced to a second-rate family or even worse." Ling Chen sighed, "The rise of a family would be reliant on the unity of the family after all. Even though a martial arts genius and unparalleled expert is important, there would only be harm if one were to place too much of an importance on such matters. There would only be harm and not a single benefit!"

"Sacrifice when necessary, killing when necessary, and breaking off when necessary. Despite the dire situation, your father is still acting in such a hesitant manner. However, he doesn't know that the chance to salvage the situation is already gone and there is no longer any hope! The Shui Family is destined to become a part of history. So what if they have a thousand years of foundation? They are still going to become the sunset of yesterday!" Ling Chen said coldly and pointed out the crux of the matter accurately!

Within Ling Chen's words were multiple hints to resolve the predicament of the Shui Family! However, Ling Chen's expression was still calm and how much Shui QianRou could understand was up to her.

Shui QianRou's expression was dull and her thoughts were unknown. After a long while, the corner of her lips curled up slightly and a sharp glow could be seen in her eyes as though she had made a difficult decision.

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