Ou Peng said, “Sect master Shui must be joking, blades have no eyes so how can one hold back in a life or death situation? I had used my entire martial prowess in our battle, and it is natural for my second senior brother to have more profound martial arts than me. I have always busied myself with affairs of the sect, and my martial arts have slugged as a result. Martial art is like a boat on water, if one does row forward continuously, he will be left behind. I believe brother Shui would understand my predicament as well.

After he finished his speech, he waved his hands towards Li Jian who understood and kept back his sword and returned to his position.

Shui Yupeng sniffed silently without answering; he thought, “Only a fool would believe your words.”

However, Shui Yupeng no longer had a proud expression on his face anymore. Even though Piaomiao sect had taken advantage of Luoshui sect when they were unaware and scooped them all into a net in one swoop, they were backed by their abilities despite not displaying it during then. Just from Li Jian’s martial art, he could tell that Luoshui sect had no one on par with the man, and if the two sects were to collide head on, the results would still be the same.

Shui Yupeng had already lost all hope in that moment.

Ou Peng saw the color on Shui Yupeng’s face and smiled, he said, “Sect master Shui, I have a present which I hope you will kindly accept.”

After finishing his sentence, he nodded towards fourth elder Shangguan who immediately rushed out of the rule enforcement hall. Shui Yupeng looked strangely at Ou Peng while his heart felt a trace of unsettledness.

Indeed, not long after, fourth elder Shangguan returned to the rule enforcement hall followed by a lady who was dressed elaborately while carrying a vigorous child around three years old. The lady’s complexion was pale and her mentality was slightly agitated whereas the little boy was roving his eyes around in curiosity while sucking deliciously on a candied fruit in his hands.

The two new arrivals followed behind Shangguan Fengliu as they entered through the entrance, and when Shui Yupeng saw these two familiar figures, he immediately shook with irrepressible anger and turned around to lock his gaze towards Ou Peng. He yelled fiercely, “Ou Peng, you…”

Even before Shui Yupeng could finish his sentence, Ou Peng laughed and interrupted, “Sect master Shui, what are you going to say about me?”

Shui Yupeng lowered his voice by several tones and said, “Jianghu people have our own set of rules, my martial art is below yours so you can do whatever you want with my life. However, my wife does not know any martial art so why have you brought them here?”

Towards the end of his sentence, his voice was injected with a tone of pleading.

Ou Peng maintained his smiling expression as he waved his hands and said, “Brother Shui words are too heavy, I am not like what you think.”

While the two people were conversing, the woman and child had already entered the rule enforcement hall, and the boy was looking curiously at the group of strangers. When his gaze pa.s.sed a familiar face, he yelped in happiness and ignored the candied fruit in his hands, throwing it back into his mother’s bosom. The woman continued to hold him tightly not daring to let go, and her eyes looked helplessly at Shui Yupeng. The child’s face turned red as his little body struggled to break free of his mother’s embrace and his hands stretched out towards Shui Yupeng. Right at that moment, Shui Yupeng no longer bothered about the Jianghu, or about any bloodshed, or about the dominance of whatever era, or standing at the apex of Jianghu, all he could think of was the warm feeling of holding on to his son, and using his facial hair to brush against his soft and smooth face, and to see his tender smile when he was within his embrace.

The Shui Yupeng of that moment no longer had any reservations of pride left, he bent his straight waist and extended his hands that were kept at his back to give his son a motion of hugging him, and when the lady saw his actions, she released her grip and carefully placed the child on the floor. The moment the boy’s foot landed on the ground, he immediately giggled and ran over towards Shui Yupeng with the candied fruit still in his hands. When the boy was close enough, Shui Yupeng used his two hands to grab under the boy’s arms and carried him up to above his head level, shaking him left and right until the child laughed his fill before hugging him tighter into his embrace. He stroked the boy’s head and squinted his eyes lovingly to enjoy this moment that will not last for long.

The child seemed to be uncomfortable being hugged so tightly by his father and he struggled while poking his face out of Shui Yupeng’s embrace, then he exerted his strength to thrust the candied fruit in his hands towards his father’s mouth, before saying in an immature voice, “Father, this is for you. It is really sweet.”

Shui Yupeng replied warmly, “Good boy Tiantian, father doesn’t want it, you can eat it yourself.”

The boy did not seem happy and he wriggled his body cutely to say, “Father has to eat it. Tiantian has been saving it for father. If father doesn’t eat, Tiantian will finish it. At that time, Tiantian won’t be happy anymore.”

If it was a normal day, Shui Yupeng would not have eaten the candied fruit and would try to find ways to let the child finish it himself. But at that moment, his eyes turned wet as he looked at the earnest gaze in his child’s eyes and opened his mouth. Seeing that his father finally agreed, the boy became happy again and put the candied fruit into his father’s mouth. On seeing Shui Yupeng bit down on one of the fruits, he smiled sweetly and carefully ate another red candied fruit which was as large as his own mouth happily.

As he ate the fruit, he blabbered, “Elder sister Xue was right, she did not lie to Tiantian. I can really see father here.”

Shui Yupeng was surprised and asked, “Who is elder sister Xue?”

Tiantian replied as he ate, “She is the pretty elder sister who puts on something on her face. Elder sister Xue took Tiantian and mother away, she said that we are coming to find father, and even gave Tiantian this yummy thing to eat. It has been many days already, Tiantian thought that elder sister was lying.”

Shui Yupeng immediately understood the situation.

He then hugged Tiantian and walked to the lady’s side. He said, “Tiantian be a good boy, go play with mother. Father has some more things to do, and will come back to play with you later.”

Upon listening, Tiantian stretched his hands and hugged Shui Yupeng’s neck, wrinkled his small eyebrows and said unhappily, “Then father has to come quick. Don’t be the same as in the past, always not keeping your words.”

Shui Yupeng smiled and kissed Tiantian’s face, he said, “Father will keep his words this time.”

Tiantian gave a small whoop, blobbered a kiss on Shui Yupeng’s face and said, “Then Tiantian will be waiting for father outside.” He then obediently retracted his hands and turned towards his mother who carefully took him over.

The lady’s face has returned some of its color by then, and Shui Yupeng looked at her with complex emotions in his face before nodding his head. The lady’s eyes had expressions of joy and surprise; she did not say anything to Shui Yupeng and turned to walk out of the hall while Tiantian who was in her embrace looked back reluctantly towards him.

When the figures of these two people disappeared, Shui Yupeng turned to face Ou Peng and said, “Sect master Ou…”

Ou Peng understood his intentions and said, “Sect master Shui can be at ease, the fourteen members of your family are unharmed.”

Ou Peng turned towards the other people and said, “Bring a chair over for sect master Shui.”

The people took a chair and brought it over to Shui Yupeng’s side, and Ou Peng said, “Sect master Shui, please take a seat before we talk.”

Shui Yupeng looked at the seat and pondered, he took a death breath and slowly sat down.

Upon seeing his actions, Ou Peng smiled in satisfaction.

He continued, “Since brother Shui has sat down, please listen calmly as I continue our topic from before. From brother Shui’s perspective, there is no difference for Luoshui sect being taken over by my Piaomiao sect or Dalin temple. However, if brother Shui would think more carefully, you would notice the difference between these two scenarios. If Luoshui sect was conquered by Dalin temple or Xinrong sect, it would be due to your attack on Xinrong sect failing or Dalin temple taking revenge for Xinrong sect. Given the difference in power between Luoshui sect and Xinrong sect, the latter is more likely to happen, and by that time, Dalin temple would not be as merciful when they take their revenge, and every member of your sect would face annihilation, not to mention your family. Furthermore, Dalin sect had always been powerful in water warfare, so they would not let Luoshui sect off easily, and the only conclusion would be the destruction of Luoshui sect.”

Shui Yupeng smiled sadly and said, “I have gotten too ahead of myself. If I really went ahead with my a.s.sault, it would be akin to smashing an egg on a rock and the result would probably as you described.”

Ou Peng continued, “But now that the situation has changed, brother Shui has not launched any attack on Xinrong sect before you were captured by our Piaomiao sect, so the knot between you and Dalin temple has not been tied yet.”

Shui Yupeng smiled coldly and said, “But our Luoshui sect has fallen under you, so isn’t the result the same? The only difference is in the casualty number, unless you are willing to let me continue leading the Luoshui sect?”

When he said up to here, he became surprised and raised his head to face Ou Peng, “Could it be that sect master Ou has this intention?”

When Piaomiao sect began their attack on Luoshui sect, he had already arranged his family’s escape before leading the sect elders and hallmaster to battle. When they suffered a complete loss and were captured by the ma.s.ses, Shui Yupeng had already given up on hope and expected that the Luoshui sect could not escape its extermination that day. From that day on, Luoshui sect would cease to exist and he would be killed off. When he was brought to Piaomiao sect, it was most probably to parade his execution to create a larger impact of their victory.

Hence, Shui Yupeng tried to defend the last of his dignity to leave a good name before he departed from this world.

Actually, Shui Yupeng had never considered the scenario where Piaomiao sect would let him stay alive and use him to enable their sect to advance through the waters. When he thought about it, even though Piaomiao sect did not have any influence over the waters, the Luoshui sect had so many elders and hallmasters and they could have simply picked one. Even though the replacement would not have the same prestige he had in his sect, there was no shortage of useable people in the sect, and with the aid of Piaomiao sect’s a.s.sistance, Luoshui sect could still advance without him, whereas if he was kept alive, he would be a hidden danger to them from inside Luoshui sect.

Thus, Shui Yupeng always thought that Piaomiao sect would never let him off.

However, Ou Peng had compared the difference in powers of the two sects, shared information on the background of Xinrong sect, and even hinted the superiority of Piaomiao sect’s martial arts, before bringing out his family. After going through this entire act, could it be.…

Shui Yupeng’s heart lightened slightly, but he still did not dare to believe that Ou Peng would be bold as to keep him alive to lead Luoshui sect again.