While Yates had assessed the three astutely, he was, in fact, wrong in his overall assessment. Wurth
was a member of the Zhang Clan which wasn't a poor family. True, it wasn't one of the top seven noble
clans, but, Wurth's family actually held far more power than an ordinary noble clan. After all, the Zhang
Clan was the only family able to progress alongside the top seven noble clans, equally. If a rank were
required, then the Zhang Clan would be counted as comparable to any of the top seven noble clans.
Of course, wearing his white outer disciple robe was deceptive, so, Yates wasn't at fault for misjudging
Wurth as a nobody.
After his initial assessment, Yates had noted that the three weren't very powerful.
While Zen was a nature creature, he was just at grade one, and Wurth and Sean were only at half-step
into the nature level.
Yates wasn't worried about their strength because he was at grade four of the nature level, while his
friends were grades four and five, respectively. With their cumulative strength, Yates hadn't given
Nory's friends a second thought, which led him to refer to Zen and the others as losers to their faces.
"Nory, when did you grow up? How brave of you to deem to talk to me like this today!" said Yates
snidely as he frowned unhappily. With so many people in attendance today, Yates needed to teach
Nory a lesson and give him a reminder of who he was addressing.
Wurth and Sean glared back at Yates, enraged. They hadn't thought Nory's family members would
ignore his devoted enthusiasm, and they would suffer personal disgrace.
One member of Nory's group remained staunchly expressionless, Zen.
With calm, collected mannerisms, Zen picked up a kettle that was dark-red and enameled from the
table and slowly poured some of the water over his hands. As he did, life vitality rose from within, to
cover his hands. Under the heat of his life vitality, the tea water quickly evaporated into the air as
steam.
When he had finished, Zen stood up, a smile plastered across his face. He patted Nory on the
shoulder, and asked, "Hey Nory, who's this guy talking to you?"
Nory continued to glare as he ground his teeth, "He's my cousin."
"Oh, this is your cousin, right?" said Zen in an animated tone. He turned his attention to Yates,
continuing to smile, and he said in a bubbly voice, "Since you're Nory's cousin, we're all friends here! I
don't see a need for cousins to speak this way between each other. You're relatives. It's unhealthy to
shatter the harmony."
"Us, relatives? Ha-ha!" remarked Yates snidely. After a brief pause he rolled his eyes, huffed and
contemptuously added, "How does he deserve to be considered a relative of mine? Which member of
the Mo Clan acknowledges that Nory is their relative?"
"Well then, since Nory doesn't merit being considered your relative, it makes this much easier now,"
said Zen while a faint gleam flashed briefly in his eyes, and he smiled slightly.
"Excuse me? Just what do you mean? What is easier?" asked a visibly confused Yates. What Zen said
baffled Yates, and left him puzzled.
Chuckling, Zen sarcastically said, "Just now, I believe I heard someone refer to us as Nory's loser
friends. Since you and he are family, for Nory's sake, we can bear it. However, you said you aren't
relatives. Therefore, there is no reason for us to tolerate such insults!" Zen timed his words so that as
he finished speaking and the words sank in, his life vitality congealed on his right hand, and at the
same time, a fierce power spread from his body to engulf Yates and his companions.
There was a strong force within the momentum that came from deep in Zen, below his soul to where
his killing intention was rooted.
From the time Zen and the others had arrived at the Mo mansion with Nory, they had endured every
slight that was given. Now though, Zen understood there was no reason to stand on formal ceremony
because they didn't need to stand for this mistreatment.
Up until now, Zen hadn't been willing to fight here. After all, this seemed to be a happy reunion for
family members and guests at the Mo mansion.
Besides, Nory invited them in the spirit of goodwill and not to fight.
If Zen went too far, it would embarrass Nory and Zen didn't want to do that to his friend.
Consequently, Zen gave Yates a chance. If he acknowledged Nory as his relative, Zen felt they could
discuss things, but Yates didn't seem to care about family ties, so, Nory had no reason to worry about
the Mo Mansion's reputation. If it were left in shambles today, they wouldn't have gone too far.
Seeing the strong power Zen had suddenly radiated, Yates and his cohorts stood up one after another,
all straight-faced.
Zen's momentum was astonishing; nonetheless, Yates and his companions hadn't seen Zen's full
strength. They thought Zen was only a grade one in the nature level and accordingly, couldn't possibly
be very powerful. With all of Yates friends in the nature level at grades four and five, if they fought now,
the gap between the capabilities of each side would be considerable. In the blink of an eye, they might
end up killing the outer disciples that Nory brought with him.
Each side prepared for the battle that was about to start.
Most of the guests who were watching possessed ordinary abilities, and because of that, no one dared
to stop the fight.
It was at that moment that five, maybe six guests came through the door. They were female disciples in
Cloud Sect.
As per the rules of the Cloud Sect, the female disciples wore either black or white robes, depending on
their rank, when they stayed at the sect.
Nevertheless, the robes were ugly in the eyes of the disciples, so, whenever they had the opportunity
to leave the Cloud Sect, they would change out of their disciple robes hastily to wear beautiful clothes,
such as long dresses with patterns of birds in flight, or blouses that were embroidered, paired with
skirts that bore designs of flowers on them.
These were the disciples of Lady Peak entering, and they had all changed before they'd arrived, and
looked gorgeous.
"Is that you, Yetta?" Even though Yates and his comrades as well as Nory and his friends were at
sword points with each other, Yates immediately noticed when the female disciples from Lady Peak
entered the room. Excitedly he called out, "Oh, and there's Nina, an honored guest!"
Seeing the ladies, Yates no longer wanted to be at odds with Nory or his friends. He might have
returned to attend the family reunion, but, his main reason for coming was that his cousin, Yetta, said
she would be bringing some friends home with her, to give them a tour.
One of the friends with Yetta was Nina. Yates had developed a crush on her, and thought about her
every day and night.
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