Chapter 5
As Jiang Chen was recovering his meridians, the winter hunt was coming closer and closer.
The quarrel between the west and east courtyard had been known in the whole Southwind Ridge. Many rumors had arisen.
Fan Tu’s recovery had made the east courtyard less passive. And many people loyal to the east courtyard felt greatly eased.
However, Fan Tu was only one man. It was far from enough just relying on him. Huge amounts of people were needed in the east courtyard.
Since they suffered such a great loss in the Black Dragon City that day…
As a result, Gao Yue went in person to the Sus living in the Whitewater City to ask for help.
The Sus was a family from the Hundred Thousand Mountains, not as powerful as the Jiang Mansion, but powerful enough to lend them a hand for an extreme urgency.
…
The winter hunt was an annual tradition of the Jiang Mansion. All adult disciples had to participate in it. Different awards would be given according to their performance.
The mountain behind the Jiang Mansion was where the hunt took place. All disciples had to gather on the lawn at the foot of the mountain before noon.
When Jiang Chen arrived, many disciples of the Jiang Mansion were already there.
Although we were talking about the disciples of the Jiang Mansion, actually they were the excellent youngsters of the whole Southwind Ridge. They were all from ordinary families. As a result they didn’t dress in such a fancy way like the children and young ladies from the mansion.
These disciples were very surprised to see Jiang Chen. Recently there were many rumors about what had happened to the east courtyard, among which Jiang Chen was the center of people’s attention.
As people already knew, most of his meridians were damaged and his state went back to the Cloud Two. In their eyes he had no chance to rally for his whole life.
The awkward thing was that he had to take part in the winter hunt since he had turned adult this year.
The hunting result usually represents one’s status in the mansion.
In addition, Jiang Chen was the child of the east courtyard.
Considering the current situation of the east courtyard, Jiang Chen was in an awkward dilemma as to whether to come or not.
But he had chosen to come, which was quite admiring.
However, some people were quite scornful of him.
“I cannot believe he has really come.”
“After all, he is an adult now. If he doesn’t come, it only means that he is a disabled man.”
“But what’s the point to push himself to come? He was brought back like a dead dog.”
Unpleasant gossips kept cropping up around him. The harsh words were all coming from the disciples of the west courtyard. As to the east courtyard, the disciples were suffering a low morale. Some of them were looking at Jiang Chen in a blaming manner.
Probably they were thinking that if Jiang Chen hadn’t been found to have a holy pulse, no disasters would have happened to the east courtyard, let alone his father’s imprisonment.
…
In previous years it was the lord of the mansion who hosted the hunt. Sometimes there were special occasions in which one of the four lords of the courtyard would host on behalf of him.
However, this time it was the Second Elder of the Jiang Mansion who host the hunt.
He was an old man over 50, with an experienced face, a pair of deep, bright and piercing eyes.
He was very well respected in the Jiang Mansion, famous for his rigidity. All of the disciples of the Jiang Mansion there were standing far away from him.
In addition, a team of Wind Move Guard was also on the lawn. They were the elite forces of Jiang Mansion. Each and every one of them was tall and strong, in black armour and having a cloak hanging down from the shoulder until the floor.
They were fully armed, with longbows and arrow bags on back and long knives in hand.