Chapter 2254 — Visitors from the Clan
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
So no matter how much grief he felt, it was of no avail. The Sixth Elder had come calmly to the Tagan family, intending to find Tagan Gao and Tagan Long and confirm exactly how this had happened—just who was so formidable as to be able to kill the Thirteenth Elder?
After all, the Thirteenth Elder's strength had been considerable; he could even fight above his level against experts of the mid Heaven-Rank. And yet he had actually died here. There must be some hidden, unexplained twist to this affair.
"May I ask, you two gentlemen are...?" The servant had to first confirm the visitors' identities; otherwise he would not dare rashly lead these two in to see the family head.
"We are your Grand Protector's senior fellow disciples!" said the Twelfth Elder.
"Ah... this way, please, gentlemen..." Hearing that they were the Grand Protector's senior fellow disciples, the servant dared say no more, and hastily gestured for them to proceed.
In the Tagan family, although these servants knew nothing of certain secrets among the family's core circles, they did know that the Grand Protector's standing in the family was in no way inferior to that of the old family head, Tagan Gao!
The Sixth Elder and the Twelfth Elder nodded, and followed the servant into the inner courtyard with expressionless faces. In truth, with their skills, entering and leaving the inner courtyard would have been as easy as turning over their palms; they simply could not be bothered to search room by room, and found it more convenient to have someone from the Tagan family lead the way.
Following the servant, they came to a large residence in the inner courtyard. The servant was about to announce them, but the Twelfth Elder waved his hand and said, "No need. We'll go in ourselves."
With that, the Twelfth Elder pushed open the residence's door and walked in together with the Sixth Elder!
The servant followed behind, somewhat worried. He was just about to beg Tagan Gao's pardon when he heard Tagan Gao speak: "Grand Protector, is that you returned?"
"You must be Tagan Gao?" The Twelfth Elder did not answer Tagan Gao's question, but instead eyed the old man in the room and asked in return.
Tagan Gao's heart gave a sudden start. He had not expected that the one entering was not the Grand Protector but a stranger! After all, the only person in the entire Tagan family free to come and go in his residence at will was the Grand Protector, which was why Tagan Gao had not given it much thought before. Now he was badly startled; he sprang to his feet and turned to look toward the doorway: "Who goes there?"
But when Tagan Gao saw the attire of the two strangers, he let out a long breath of relief, and asked tentatively, "Are you... like the Grand Protector, from that place?"
The Twelfth Elder nodded expressionlessly.
Tagan Gao's heart tightened, and he waved a hand at the servant: "You may go. There's nothing more for you here."
"Yes!" Seeing that Tagan Gao and the visitors seemed to know one another, the servant did not linger; he made his salute and turned to take his leave.
Only after the door was shut did Tagan Gao come forward with a chuckle: "So the two lords are from that place—this old one has failed to welcome you from afar, a thousand pardons! But the Grand Protector has gone out and has not yet returned. Shall this old one send someone to signal him?"
There was no communications signal in the Ulanhot Mountains, and some strange interference made communication devices unusable. So for those who went up the mountain, each family had its own unique contact codes—things like signal flares.
"No need! The Thirteenth Elder... he..." Here the Twelfth Elder's voice grew sorrowful. He glanced at the Sixth Elder, then said, "The Grand Protector has already fallen!"