ตอน 62: The Power of Prophecy?

Ye Mo looked in a daze. He could not help pinching his nose at the mess he found himself in.

The important guests from the capital were fuming mad, and the disciples of his sect were appalled and in a panic. Although the little boy called Young Master Qing—who was now reintroduced to him as Prince Qing Wu You, a direct descendant of the royal family—was not hurt, there were two assaulted Ye Sect members, and an elder was even seriously injured. Not only that, a rare high-level array never seen before in the city had been launched within the heart of Ye Sect's territory.

Was there an enemy from the outside, or was there a spy from the inside?

When the Purple Plumed General started berating him, Ye Mo could only lower his head because he knew that his sect was indeed to blame. As the hosts, it was indeed their responsibility to keep their guests safe. He felt stuck between a rock and a hard place, and could only secretly complain inside his head.

"I assure you, General Qing. We will get to the bottom of this, or my surname won't be Ye anymore!" he said in a tone that was neither servile nor overbearing.

"Our royal family does not need your assurance. What we want are results--"

Qing Wu You intervened at that moment. "Royal cousin, I am tired."

Perhaps Lady Luck was smiling on him, but the little prince told his people that he wanted to rest and so Ye Mo was pardoned from their anger. At least for now. Ye Mo managed to send them off up to the edge of the forest before he returned to the clearing.

Ye Mo was only thirty-one years old this year, but at this moment, he felt like his hair had grown white overnight, to the point he could pretend he's in his sixties.

Was Little Yin being prophetic when she called her 'Old Fogey Mo'? Because she knew he would be stressed enough to make him look older than his real age?

He had to investigate this situation clearly, at least to ease up the parties involved. However, the fact that an attack happened was already a bad mark on his record. If this doesn't constitute a serious dereliction of duty for him as the elder in charge of security, then nothing will ever be. He would surely not hear the end of this from the other elders.

On the better note, at least his most hardcore hater, Elder Li Yun Tian, was currently unconscious…

'No! No! Damn, I shouldn't think of it this way!'

He wasn't sure which he regretted more--the fact that he became an elder, or the fact that he bothered to come here in the forest in person. If he was given a choice again, he would have turned down the position...well, now that he remembered it, he couldn't afford to. In his family, the only two cultivators left were him and Ye Hua.

It's not like he could shamelessly make his twenty-year-old alchemist of a nephew carry the banner on his own, right?

Ye Mo pocketed the yellow ribbon he found on the forest ground with a sigh.

Although Prince Qing Wu You was adamant in saying he saw no one, Ye Mo knew Little Yin had been here.

Ye Mo had felt her cultivation prowess when he came to 'save' her from inside the pocket dimension of the Ming Yue Sect. That piercing yin qi was something his body could not forget. Just now, Little Yin had dispersed her spiritual energy in a hurry to escape; he could still find traces of her familiar aura.

More importantly, he found the hair ribbon on the ground, a ribbon he knew belonged to his nephew's wife, Wu Xuan'er.

Little Yin was an unexpected gift to his family, and as there were no children in his temporary manor, she only had one set of clothes and accessories--that robe and hairpin he bought for her yesterday after they left the Ming Yue Sect. It wasn't hard to guess what happened next. Wu Xuan'er surely lent that female hooligan some of her stuff.

Ye Mo wasn't sure if she's the one who attacked Elder Li Yun Tian, but she was at least involved. She ought to know something.

With renewed vigor, Ye Mo regained the sharpness of a sword and started firing orders on the Ye Sect disciples around him.

"Bring the Second Elder and this outer sect disciple to the Alchemy Hall. Have the Third Elder personally attend to them!"

"Go to the Li Clan manor and inform Protector Li Xiao Yang about his father's situation!"

"Find one of the Outer Sect managers to find information about this young boy and inform his family of the situation!"

"Battle Court disciples, go patrol in teams of three and search the periphery! Make sure to report even the slightest clues! If you find anyone suspicious, release the emergency code and do not engage until reinforcements arrive as we're not sure how dangerous the opponent is!"

"Everyone, move out!"