Chapter 169: Settling Score-Final

Wei Chen crossed his legs and began.

“First, burning the Ximen Clan’s ancestral grounds. According to your wish for a hundredfold revenge, burning the entire ancestral ground would be far more than a hundredfold. Your cottage, from what I know, was only a small shack about three by five meters.”

“But the area of the entire Ximen Clan ancestral ground is more than eight hundred to one thousand square kilometers. In order to fulfill your revenge of burning down a home so that Ximen Hao would have no roof over his head and would need to live on the streets like you once did, it would create a dilemma,” Wei Chen explained.

“What kind of dilemma?” Yun Feng asked.

“The area of the Ximen Clan ancestral ground is far more than one hundred times the size of your humble shack. If you burn it down, even if you claim it includes interest or whatever resentful nonsense you want to say, it would still be far too much. Do you have any property for me to burn in return as the change?”

Yun Feng fell silent.

“No, right? Furthermore, the Ximen Clan ancestral ground is not only the residence of the Ximen family. There are at least ten thousand families living there. Servants, warriors, dancers, kitchen workers, chefs, and many others. All of them live there and depend on the wealth of the Ximen Clan.”

“By burning it down, you would not only destroy Ximen Hao’s property. You would also destroy the livelihoods of countless other people.”

“People who have nothing to do with the grudge between you and Ximen Hao. Do you really think that kind of revenge is justified?” Wei Chen asked.

Wei Chen waited for Yun Feng to respond, but the latter seemed too stunned to say anything, so he continued.

“Let us say you go through with it. Fine. Let us burn the Ximen Clan ancestral ground to ashes. You do not care about the little people you talked about. The little people with the same struggles as you, the people who worry about their next meal.”

“But f*ck em. Who told them to be weak? Who told them to work under the Ximen Clan? And especially, who told them not to be Heaven’s Chosen? After all, strength is all that matters, right? If you do not have strength, the dragon will not even acknowledge your existence.”

“So here we are. The Ximen Clan ancestral ground has been burned to the ground. But here is the dilemma.”

“You want Ximen Hao to become a homeless man who must sleep on the streets. But the wealth of the Ximen Clan is immeasurable. Their entire fortune is said to be enough to buy the Heavenly Sword Sect ten times over, if the sect were ever willing to sell.”

“And here is the reality. Ximen Hao would not sleep on the streets. He has enough wealth to stay in the most luxurious inns for his entire cultivation lifespan. You would fail to achieve your goal, of your so-called true revenge.”

“Or would you prefer to burn down all the banks and exchange shops where the Ximen Clan keeps their wealth? If that is the case, there is also the Thousand Treasure Exchange Shop over at the headquarters of the Thousand Treasure Pavilion. You could start there. But if you do that, you will start a grudge with the Sky Severing Demon Valley.”

“And I sure as hell would definitely get involved. Mo Xingyao is my fiancee, after all. Do you think you could survive being hunted by both the Sky Severing Demon Valley and me? Even if we did not kill you, I am certain that that money loving girl would force you to work for her to repay the damage you caused. And the amount would be so large that you would never finish paying it off in your entire lifetime.”

Wei Chen paused and took a sip of tea to wet his throat while watching Yun Feng’s reaction. When he looked into Yun Feng’s eyes, he saw reluctance and unwillingness. So he continued.

“Let us pause the topic of burning the Ximen Clan ancestral ground for now. We will come back to it later. Let us talk about the arm severing that you wanted to do. Do you think that is only between you and Ximen Hao?”

“It is not?” Yun Feng asked. Some of the disdain had disappeared from his face. He had begun to think about things from Wei Chen’s perspective.

Wei Chen did not answer directly. He simply smiled before continuing.

“As you know, a human only has four limbs and one head. At most, you could cut off his four limbs. But that would not be ideal either. Ideally, you would need to cut off his right arm one hundred times. There are pills that can regenerate lost limbs, and I believe the Ximen Clan has them in stock.”

“But here is the problem. Those pills are expensive. Even if they have enough pills to perform this ridiculous revenge, they would not waste them like that. Yes, the Ximen Clan is wealthy, but that does not mean they will squander valuable resources on something that brings them no benefit, like your revenge.”

“So the most likely scenario is that they would loan those pills to you, hoping that you would repay them with money, materials, or other valuable resources. But think about it. At least ninety nine of those pills would be wasted on your revenge. And if the Ximen Clan were to give you a loan, do you really think they would not charge interest?”

“I assure you, they would charge extremely high interest, especially because you caused trouble for their people. That means they would also make the loan difficult for you. You would never be able to repay them, even if you worked like an ox for your entire life.”

Wei Chen stopped and looked at Yun Feng, who still seemed unconvinced.

“You still look unconvinced. So let us say I am not here, and you manage to carry out your revenge perfectly. Let us talk about the ideal situation.”

“You successfully burn down the entire Ximen Clan ancestral ground, and you successfully kill Ximen Hao. Everything goes exactly the way you want.”

“But here is something you might be forgetting.” Wei Chen raised a finger to emphasize the importance of his point.

“Your childhood sweetheart would have to live a life on the run with you. The Ximen Clan is enormous. They have hundreds of branch families. If you kill Ximen Hao, it will not end there. It will become a long chain of revenge and pursuit.”

“What do you think the next heir of the Ximen Clan would need to do in order to secure their position?” Wei Chen asked.

“Kill me?” Yun Feng answered. That part was obvious.

“Exactly. They would definitely come after you. And if you also burned down banks or exchange shops under the Thousand Treasure Pavilion, I would come after you as well.”

“If you think you would be able to live peacefully with your childhood sweetheart after your revenge is complete, then you are naive. Your revenge may be finished, but for the new heir of the Ximen Clan to prove their authority, they would need to kill you to wash away the clan’s shame. Even if you had a friendship with the new heir, they would not stop the pursuit.”

“Because at that point it would not be personal anymore. What you did would be an offense against the clan itself, against the entire entity known as the Ximen Clan, not just against Ximen Hao.”

Wei Chen paused to let Yun Feng process everything he had said.

“So let us return to the first topic. If you burn down the Ximen Clan ancestral ground, it becomes a grievance against the entire clan. The people who live there and rely on the clan for their survival will never accept it unless they see your blood. And how many people are in the Ximen Clan?”

“My rough estimate is about one million. They are practically a kingdom of their own. If you carry out your revenge, you can forget about a peaceful life forever. You and your childhood sweetheart would never know peace. You would likely run from place to place and never stay anywhere longer than a month.”

“And if someone in the Ximen Clan loses their mind and cannot reach you, the one who dies will not be you. It could be your childhood sweetheart’s father, or even your childhood sweetheart herself if you make a single mistake. Because I am certain you would not be able to stay with them twenty four hours a day.”

“If that happens,” Wei Chen said as he looked deeply at Yun Feng, as if trying to see into his heart.

“Then you would be a selfish bastard even toward the person you love. You would trade her peaceful life just to satisfy the vanity of your stupid pride.” Wei Chen’s tone became heavy.

“I know there is a common mindset that cultivators are people who walk against the will of heaven. If cultivators become cowards and do not dare to move forward, they will never reach the apex. But let me ask you something.”

“Is your goal to reach the apex, or do you simply want a peaceful life with the person you love?”

“So…” Yun Feng gritted his teeth and looked at Wei Chen. “Am I supposed to suppress all of this? All of my grievances?”

“That is for you to decide,” Wei Chen replied bluntly. “If you think venting your grievances is worth everything, then go ahead. Even if the person you love has to pay the price, do not let it stop you. Just be a man and accept the consequences when they arrive. Do not regret it later.”

Yun Feng clenched his teeth. He was prideful, yes, but he was not heartless. Especially now that Xiao Mei was still alive. He could not simply throw everything away.

Seeing that Yun Feng had fallen into deep thought, Wei Chen delivered his final argument.

“Also, to make you feel better, we can now discuss the compensation for the matters I deliberately left out. That way you will still gain something from this. Use it for your life. Improve your cultivation. Train the person you love. Improve her cultivation as well so she can stay by your side longer.”

Yun Feng was shaken. He looked at Xiao Mei, who was watching him. Her eyes seemed to say that even if he chose revenge, she would still follow him through hell.

Seeing that look made Yun Feng feel as if someone had squeezed his heart. It became difficult for him to breathe.

“I understand, Brother Wei… let us negotiate the compensation.” Yun Feng finally agreed. The dominant momentum and arrogant aura around him had mostly disappeared.

In Xiao Mei’s eyes, she smiled.

That was because her little Feng had returned. The old Yun Feng, the silly and wide eyed country boy she had always known, had come back.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep