Death… and me

Once Ao Xie Yun finished speaking, the entire room turned suspicious. Ji Zhu rolled his eyes, but Gu Yan Yang and Gu Yan Yue's gazes flashed sharply. The young masters who were on good terms with Ao Xie Yun became cautious.

Ao Xie Yun's words bore a huge weight. Ever since they came down to Lower Three Heavens, Mo Tian Yun was always finding the opportunity to gain equal grounds with Ao Xie Yun. Right now, everyone could clearly see that Ao Xie Yun was superior to Mo Tian Yun.

And he had targeted Mo Tian Yun's weakness!

Everyone was uneasy. If these two young masters were to turn against each other, all the great clans that were present had to choose a side.

Other than the insignificant people, everyone else had to make their choice.

This was too sudden!

In terms of morals, Ao Xie Yun had the upper hand. What he had just said had placed Mo Tian Yun at an absolute low point.

Mo Tian Yun stared at Ao Xie Yun silently for a long time. The atmosphere became stifling and tense. Mo Tian Yun suddenly smiled and said, "Brother Ao, you should not have said those things."

"Why not?" questioned Ao Xie Yun who was not even looking at him. Instead, he was staring at a finely made ceramic cup in his hand. The teacup was filled, but no matter how he turned it over, not a single drop fell out.

"You and I are both descendants of great clans." Mo Tian Yun sighed. His gaze sharpened, with a hint of oppression, "Brother Ao, you are well aware of what tactics great clans like ours use to keep a foothold in Middle Three Heavens."

"Haha, do we use fratricidal tactics? Or immoral means?" mocked Ao Xie Yun. His eyes were flashing brightly.

"Yes we do! But not exactly," agreed Mo Tian Yun, much to the surprise of everyone. Even Ao Xie Yun looked up at him upon hearing it.

"For each clan to rise, it has to suffer first." Mo Tian Yun sat down opposite of Ao Xie Yun. Looking at him, Mo Tian Yun said, "Be it your own tragedy or your enemies' tragedy."

"Yes," agreed Ao Xie Yun in a low voice.

"Everyone here are talents of the great clans in Middle Three Heavens. We are also the future leaders of Middle Three Heavens. Each of us here is extremely important in their respective clans. Even you, Ao Xie Yun, cannot deny this." Mo Tian Yun said slowly.

"Ok…" said a now gloomy Ao Xie Yun.

"On a slightly harsher note, how did we attain these positions? Let's not discuss the heavenly talent, or about the efforts we made. These are all false. We are in our current positions purely because we have our powerful clans supporting us!"

"Among us, the ninth grade Revered Martial Master is the highest cultivation level," sneered Mo Tian Yun. "This cultivation level can easily be wiped out by just one King level master in Middle Three Heavens! But how much of the clans' resources were used to cultivate to this level? What is there to be proud of?"

"If we were born into ordinary families, what would we be with heavenly talents? We will just be ordinary." Mo Tian Yun insisted, "Don't be so harsh on me for being impolite. From my point of view, all of us, including Brother Ao and Brother Dong, are all the same. If we lose our clans, we would be nothing! Not even dogs!"

Everyone was silent!

Ao Xie Yun's eyes flashed, but he remained silent. It was the truth and if he argued, he would just seem petty.

"It is because of massive entities like the Ao clan that Evil Young Master exists! It is because of the Mo clan's immense strength that I, Mo Tian Yun, exist." Mo Tian Yun declared. "Our first and foremost duty is to preserve the clans' interest and protect the clan. Protecting ourselves should be our second priority."

"These are Middle Three Heavens clans!" a grave Mo Tian Yun continued. "The reason why a clan would fall is not because of enemies but because of fighting within itself! Brothers would fight brothers in a bid to seize power, and that is the most fearful reason for disaster."

When Mo Tian Yun said this, everyone finally understood his point. They could not help but feel a sense of admiration.

He had gone on a lengthy explanation to counter Ao Xie Yun. He managed to make everyone think and sympathize. And he also managed to use words to overpower Ao Xie Yun's current moral high ground.

Most importantly, his reasoning was sound. Even if Ao Xie Yun intended to argue back, he could not.

"Ao Xie Yun from Ao clan has a solid position. The two brothers, Ji Zhu and Ji Mo, from the Ji clan both do not desire any power so everything is peaceful. Although the Luo clan is an opponent of the Mo clan, the two brothers have a very strong relationship. Don't even mention the Dong clan. As long as nothing unexpected happens, there will be many years of peace."

Mo Tian Yun had now shifted his topic to the great clans of Middle Three Heavens and all the young masters were listening intently.

When he mentioned the descendants of the great clans, Mo Tian Yun only referred to two brothers because everyone knew that only the eldest and the second young masters held the greatest power in each clan. Everyone else was insignificant.

Only the second young master had the power to replace the eldest young master. This was an irrefutable law.

"Other clans have their own internal problems, but the problems in my Mo clan are most urgent!" Mo Tian Yun smiled bitterly and said, "Everyone knows that I have a talented younger brother! His talent is on par with mine, and in no way is it below anyone else's. I am sure you are all aware of this."

Even young masters of opposing clans like Luo Ke Wu were nodding in agreement to Mo Tian Ji's ability. He had suffered losses at the hands of Mo Tian Ji, how could he not know how powerful Mo Tian Ji was?

"If my younger brother is comfortable with his current situation and his position as second young master, he could work with me… Ao Xie Yun, even you would not be a match for us two brothers…" These words of Mo Tian Yun was arrogant and cold.

Ao Xie Yun pondered over what Mo Tian Yun had said and weighed his words carefully in his mind. A while after, he sighed and said in a low voice, "Yes, if you two work as one, even I cannot beat you. I would choose not to be your rival. However, you two are not working together. Both of you are enemies. It's lucky that you are not united…"

"Yes, I, Mo Tian Yun, will not bow down to anyone. Furthermore, the entire clan has already recognized my status these past few years," laughed Mo Tian Yun. "But no one has ever thought that there would be a genius younger brother with great ambitions of reaching the heavens. He is too calculative and idealistic."

"Ao Xie Yun, if it were you, would you give up your current position?" Mo Tian Yun asked menacingly.

Ao Xie Yun remained silent for a long time before declaring, "I would not!"

"Yes, you would not! And more so for me! My greed for power is much stronger than yours! That is my greatest weakness." Mo Tian Yun scoffed to himself.

"If the Mo clan only has me, I would be able to exist peacefully and not fear any other clans." Mo Tian Yun said resolutely, "My younger brother, Mo Tian Ji would not be any less than you guys! Both of us brothers are capable of making the clan more powerful. I am confident that none of you would dispute this point…"

Everyone nodded solemnly.

The two brothers, Mo Tian Yun and Mo Tian Ji, were both powerful. They were talents of the generation.

"If Tian Ji and I had come from two different clans, and if we were mortal enemies, we would not stop battling each other. Or we could agree to join forces and become allies. However, the unfortunate thing is that my talented brother and I exist in the same clan! And what is worse is the fact that there can only be one leader in each clan," sneered Mo Tian Yun. "Both my brother and I have the potential to become the clan leader."

"A few years ago, I realized that Tian Ji's ability was on par with mine. And his ambition was also no less." Mo Tian Yun said quietly. "When that happens… what would you do if you were in my shoes, Ao Xie Yun?"

Ao Xie Yun sighed! He closed his eyes and contemplated. "If I were you, I would use every means available to suppress that talent."

"But that talent could not be controlled. The more you try to control it, the more powerful he gets!" Mo Tian Yun smiled, "At that time, I was like you. I suppressed him with every means possible because I recognized his danger to the clan. If I allowed him to grow, the Mo clan would eventually suffer from internal strife between two powerful people!"

"As soon as Mo Tian Ji's power has fully developed, we would have fought without anyone willing to concede. The Mo clan would be finished! Everything will end in the fight between us. Even if there was to be a winner, the victory would certainly be tragic. The strength of the clan would suffer greatly and there would be no love left in it!"

"However, I failed in my attempt to suppress him!" Mo Tian Yun sighed helplessly. "Each time I repressed him, he fought back. It has thus led us to this current situation."

"When I intended to resort to gentle tactics… another talent appeared in our clan! It was my younger sister, Mo Qing Wu." Mo Tian Yun smiled wistfully. "Those two talents were on very good terms with each other. It was as if they were one person."

"The appearance of my little sister resulted in the clan to split into three factions. If my little sister had grown up, she would have joined forces with her second brother."

"If that were to happen, the Mo clan would be done for. How could I allow our clan to fall like that?" Mo Tian Yun said, "And I am unable to let go. So… I have to fight."

Mo Tian Yun finally finished his lengthy explanation, "Ao Xie Yun, you are chiding me for wanting to kill my own brother and harm my own sister. Am I still a gentleman?"

"I am not a gentleman." Mo Tian Yun announced quietly, "But if I intended to kill them, I could have done so for more than a ten thousand times in the past few years!"

Mo Tian Yun counterattack was certainly extremely aggressive!