Condemning the Heavens

Right after Yuan Bailing had appeared, another wave of people arrived in their courtyard; this time, it was the people from the Gu family.

“Now is not the time to smile,” Gu Bing’er said as she arrived with a stern expression on her face, and after seeing how casual and laid back the people within the courtyard were.

“Will the academy not protect Xue Wei?” Yuan Bailong asked curiously upon seeing Gu Bing’er’s panicked expression, and not completely understanding why she was so scared about what was going on.

“Usually, they would investigate when a murder happens on their grounds and then give a fair response to the people who are involved, but right now they do not have the time to actually do anything like that.

“Did you forget that the Soul Tower has stopped functioning? The elders really do not care about anything other than fixing the tower right now. Since they have no time to deal with this problem, they are going to let the Baili family get their own vengeance this time.

“But even if they were not busy, it is quite likely that they would have sided with the Baili family anyway, even if they had to sacrifice you.

“This continent might be different to yours, although everyone is living life easily, the hierarchy is not to be questioned. One’s number of eyes determines how bright your future is, and even then, it is important to pledge your allegiance to a family.

“The families pretend to be gentle and friendly on the surface, but the truth is that the capital is filled with corruption and schemes. Every official is hired or bribed by the families; even here at the academy, it is the same. The elders and teachers are all bribed or hired to assist the upcoming youngsters within the families.

“I came here late because I was having a conversation with the elders of our Gu family,” Gu Bing’er continued, her face solemn and serious. “We have decided to support you. We were supposed to go against the Baili family eventually, and considering that you have made it possible, we will just have to make it happen faster than expected.”

Yuan Bailong paused and then nodded his head. “I will go contact the Yuan family elders immediately,” he said and sat down in a corner of the lounge area, closing his eyes as he got ready to contact them through his mental connection.

Not long after, Yuan Bailong appeared next to Xue Wei and the others again, his face conflicted with mixed emotions.

“Some of the elders felt that you being in trouble did not have anything to do with our family,” he said hesitantly, his facial expression ugly. “But after convincing the old badgers, they understood that you are our only chance of going against the Baili family.

“Since they understood this now, they agreed to assist you, in case we start an all-out war against the Baili family—but we want to avoid that if at all possible.”

Xue Wei knew that currently, he did not have the strength to go against the entire Baili family on his own, but he had still acted against the young master regardless.

There were some decisions that had to be made, no matter what. Xue Wei understood that he had to stay true to himself, as if he stepped back even just once, it was likely to become a habit. If he became accustomed to stepping back, he would lose sight of who he was, and it would become difficult to advance his cultivation.

No one asked him whether or not it was an option to take a step back; everyone just understood Xue Wei’s personality and knew that doing so would be detrimental to his cultivation.

Still, Gu Bing’er was awash with emotion and sighed. She had never expected that things would evolve to the stage it was at currently.

“Well one good thing has come from this,” Xue Wei smiled gently, as he looked at the many people surrounding him. “If the academy truly washes their hands of us, then the oath we took when we joined the academy is invalid. If they betray us, we will no longer be restricted by the oath to be loyal to the academy either.”

“Do you plan on doing something to the academy?” Yuan Bailong asked with a frown on his face. Although he understood that it was good not to be restrained by an oath, he still valued the academy highly as it was the birthplace of every influential person within his country.

“The academy promised us many things when we agreed to join,” Xue Wei said slowly. “They promised us we could either join the spiritual energy class or the Qi class, but the truth is that no one has helped us join either side. In fact, we have been left all alone, and they haven’t told us anything about this problem we’re supposed to solve. Everything we have gained, apart from the assistance we got from the Soul Tower, we have gained from our very own efforts.

“We have no actual plans on harming the academy,” Xue Wei finally relented when he saw the worry in Yuan Bailong’s expression. “If we do, we will become the sworn enemy of the entire continent.

“However, not being limited by the oath will make things much easier for us. We will be able to move unnoticed and do things that might border on being unacceptable.”

“I see,” Yuan Bailong nodded his head, but he remained worried. Had Xue Wei just relented because he did not want him to worry, or was it the truth?

Gu Bing’er was rather quiet. She said nothing after declaring that the Gu family would support them, but she had been listening intently to the conversation.

No emotions could be discerned from her face. Her hands were crossed above her chest, but her fists were not tightened nor were her muscles tense—there was nothing to hint that she was uncomfortable or in disarray about what Xue Wei would do with the academy.

It was at this point that Xue Wei realized, that amongst Yuan Bailong and Gu Bing’er, Gu Bing’er was the superior one. She was calm no matter what situation she encountered, her face would never betray her emotions, and her ability to keep her thoughts hidden was impressive.

“Fortunately, she is our ally,” Xue Wei muttered to himself, as he took a respectful glance at Gu Bing’er.

“Big Brother, Big Brother!” a childish voice suddenly sounded in the room. as a small child came running towards Xue Wei on unsteady legs, her arms spread wide and gesturing to be carried.

Xue Wei smiled gently and bent down to carry her without a second thought, his face suddenly softening to a warm and doting expression.

Seeing the change in expression, Yuan Bailong’s eyebrows rose dramatically in shock. He scrutinized the small girl that was now adorned in a beautiful purple dress, her hair was tied on top of her head in a bun, but a few stray hairs had fallen down to frame her face.

She seemed to be about five-years-old—not very mature, but she was adorable, and it was impossible to not take a liking to her almost instantly. She seemed so gentle that Yuan Bailong could not help but smile at her, but Luoluo did not return the favor; instead, she stuck out her tongue and grimaced at him.

“Luoluo, be nice,” Xue Wei lovingly scolded. Although he was scolding her, his voice was tender and gentle. “Yuan Bailong is our comrade, our ally. We cannot be rude to him,” he finished, and Luoluo tentatively nodded her head while glancing at the other man.

Gu Bing’er’s brows were furrowed when she saw that Xue Wei suddenly had a child in his custody, a child she had not seen before. She had noticed the child earlier when she entered the room, but she had not realized that she had such close ties to Xue Wei.

Another thing that made Gu Bing’er rather wary was the fact that, although she could see Luoluo right in front of her, she could not sense her. If she did not look at her directly, then she would be incapable of sensing her presence. Was this really normal for a five-year-old child?

After looking deeply at Luoluo, Gu Bing’er turned her gaze towards Bai Tianyi. He was another one that caused her some confusion. She had heard about his feat of reaching the ninth floor on the Soul Tower, so his strength was simply outrageous for a ten-year-old child. Was he also in possession of some secrets?

Gu Bing’er felt that the more she was with Xue Wei, the less she understood him and his friends. They were like a bottomless abyss of mystery that constantly spewed out new and exciting things for them to observe.

Although she was very curious about all the mysteries that were present around Xue Wei, she did not try to pry into his business. She understood that, as long as they were partners, then it was better to not know so that no one could judge their limits.

In fact, the Gu family had been much like the Yuan family, originally. They had not wanted to enter into the fight between Xue Wei and the Baili family; it was only under Gu Bing’er’s continued persistence that they finally saw the benefits of working with Xue Wei.

Unfortunately, Yuan Bailong was not as diligent as Gu Bing’er, and he had not been capable of fully convincing his family of the benefits. Although they had agreed to stand by Xue Wei, they had done so hesitantly and were only willing to step forward if it became the entire Baili family that went against Xue Wei.

“I need to figure out a way to make them motivated to step up before it gets too bad,” Gu Bing’er muttered to herself as she looked around in the room. Xue Wei was busy fussing over the child. Bai Tianyi was observing the child being fussed over with a rather hostile expression. Hei Gou and Lin Xiao were joking with one another, and Yuan Bailong was harboring a rather entertaining expression on his face as he observed the previously hell-bent Xue Wei become an overprotective parent.

Yuan Bailong—that was where the solution lay! Gu Bing’er smirked as she realized that he could become a rather useful chess piece in the current war against the Baili family—even, later on, he could prove to be very useful to her.

“Bailong,” she called out, stumping Yuan Bailong with the way she called him. He turned around and looked at her, his eyes filled with puzzlement.

“I have an idea,” Gu Bing’er said with a quiet voice as Yuan Bailong appeared next to her, her eyes glistening with a cheekiness that caused Yuan Bailong to fill with worry.

“An idea for what?” he asked hesitantly, wondering if he really wanted to know what she was talking about.

“Well, our families are not united right now. We are allies, but nothing more than that. Why don’t we connect our families completely?” She gently clasped her hands together.

“Connect them?” Yuan Bailong responded, not understanding what she meant. Connecting families was not something that was done easily, as the two families found it difficult to trust one another.

Usually, the most common way of merging families would be through marriage, but the Yuan family had many sons, and who would be the heir was still undecided. They did not have many females either; for some reason, most of their children were sons.

The Gu family was in a similar situation. They only had one young miss—Gu Bing’er, and she was not in the running to be the heir of the family. Only sons could become the new head of the family.