Third Elder and Jin Hua looked at each other as they pondered the same thing, Fifth Elder’s name was Su Jian and since he was young he was known as one of the most talented cultivators in his era, only a few people in the Misty Lake clan could match him and among that few people were the Third Elder even so The Third Elder had to admit that The Fifth Elder’s abilities were still slightly above him, therefore it was not strange that Fifth Elder position is a bit higher than the other Elder even Jin Gu, who was the leader of the Misty Lake Clan, respected Su Jian more than the other elders.

Hence, Jin Hua and the third elder thought Jin kai wanted the fifth elder to be on his side and support him as the future leader of the Misty Lake Clan, but it turned out that Jin Kai had instead resorted to violent means to get the fifth elder to comply.

‘Why?’

Jin Hua and Fifth Elder couldn’t stop thinking about what Jin Kai wanted to do, this would be the same as angering Fifth Elder and the entire Su family, wasn’t Jin Kai afraid of division within the Misty Lake Clan?

“What do you think Jin Kai wants to do?” The third elder’s face was filled with worry, nothing was scarier than not being able to read your opponent’s moves.

Jin Hua shook her head weakly “I don’t understand either, but maybe this has something to do with Lao Min Na”

“That woman again,” he said with utter disdain as he clenched his fist tightly “Since she comes to the Misty Lake I could feel there something off about her but I could never pointing out, the woman very good masquerading herself, she was polite, cultured, smart, cunning, strong and above else she has the beauty that could ruin a country so everyone mesmerized by her including Jin Kai himself,” he said with sickening feeling and regret.

Jin Hua felt a bit hesitant but nevertheless, she brace herself to ask, and then with a nervous tone she ask “May I know what happened to Chi Zu, I know since Chi Zu died you isolated yourself from everyone at first I thought you were devastated by losing Miss Chi Zu but now I have a feeling that you have another reason why you stay away from the Misty Lake clan’s affairs.

The Third Elder fell silent, his face turning into an inexplicable expression as darkness gathered in his eyes and fill his eyes with pain and sorrow. 

Jin Hua had never seen the venerable Third elder look so vulnerable and weak, instantly she felt a pang of regret then she quickly said, “If you don’t want to talk about it….”

“No” Third Elder interrupted, he took a deep breath then threw his head into the dark sky, then he sighed deeply and sadly.

“I took Chi Zu as my disciple out of pity, sympathy if you may say or maybe just a whim…. at that time I was old and lonely and most of my students had made a name for themselves and they didn’t need me like it used to be and so are my children and grandchildren since they already have their own family so I brought Chi Zu to accompany me my old days, that’s why I don’t really care if she’s talented or not, smart or not it doesn’t matter the important things is she was kind, loyal and honest, that’s all that matters for me, unfortunately…. things don’t go on my way” his voice turn heavy.

Jin Hua didn’t dare to interrupt, she just sat there listening to the third elder speak his heart out.

“I forgot how competitive life is in the Misty Lake Clan could be, how fierce the competition is within this clan, how much people will scheme and stab each other back to get resources, every single them vying to be strong because only then can bring honored to their family and themselves within the clan and for those women who don’t take the path of cultivation are only allowed if they really don’t have talent and are beautiful enough to depend on their beautiful faces to paved not only their future but also their family however Chi Zu is not very beautiful and she is also not that talented in cultivation at least for Misty lake clan standard because of that people start to criticize er”

“It must be very difficult for Chi Zu…” Jin Hua sympathizes with her because she understands what Chi Zu had gone through, thankfully she is quite talented and also has Beastmaster skills so even without family protection Jin Hua st people can’t bully her excessively simply because she was still useful.

The third elder rubbed his face and took a deep breath while saying bitterly, “Yes, but Chi Zu doesn’t care about that because she knows I don’t mind it and I’ve conveyed that to her over and over again so she should understand but the problem is that people are starting to badmouth me and criticizing me behind my back, they started saying how stupid I was to raise a disciple like Chi Zu, that I must be felt regret for wasting my time and effort for raising someone like Chi Zu and that’s when Chi Zu really got hurt” his voice was hoarse from holding back anger.

The third elder suddenly stood up from his seat and paced back and forth while stomping his feet to vent his anger and then he grumbled in a muffled voice, “I kept telling her not to listen to their words, I told her the most important thing as humans is to have integrity and dignity obviously most  people in this clan had none, I thought she would listen to me, I thought she understood, heck, I’m so stupid! how can a young girl like her ignore so many cruel words thrown at her every day, yet I underestimated the pain she felt…”

Jin Hua feels sad for Chi Zu as well as the third elder, their relationship is not only student and teacher but also grandfather and granddaughter, how can Chi Zu accept that the only family she has is being vilified because of her inadequate ability, Chi Zu must be drowning in guilt, shammed and anger at herself.

Jin Hua understood that feeling because she also felt the same way when he lost Jin Hao. She remembers she can only stand there watching people all say all those hurtful words toward her brother, the unfair accusation, the mockery they said with big grins on their faces, she couldn’t say anything….she was helpless and weak and that’s the worst feeling she ever felt in her life and she refused to ever felt that way again so she hardened herself to be stronger, smarter, thicker than everyone around her.

“Then what happens?” Jin Hua’s voice slightly crack as she recalled her dark past.

The third elder stop his pace, his shoulders slumped weakly then he look down in resignation, Her face crumples like a used paper, he turns gray. slowly he raised his head and he turn his head toward Jin Hua and say with a quiet voice “Then Lao Min Na came…..”

Jin Hua’s breath suddenly hitched, his heart pounding like the sound of war drums as his hands were sweaty and wet, a chill ran down his spine, he struggled to voice his words “Lao…Min Na”

The third elder sat back down with his wine and sighed “Lao Min Na was still Zhao Yi Chen’s fiancé and his reputation at that time was very good but Jiang Wei’s royal citation became unstable due to problems with Long Ming which turned out to be Zhao Li Xin who was the sixth prince. At that time the dispute between the three princes for the throne was getting fiercer by the day and Zhao Yi Chen suddenly fell ill then Lao Min Na seeking for help from the Misty Lake clan but what people didn’t know was that Jin Kai and Lao Min Na knew each other long before she came to the Misty lake territory”

“How did you know about that?” Jin Hua was surprised.

“Since Chi Zu told me, at that time she didn’t say the woman’s name was Lao Min Na but from the description, it looked so much like Lao Min Na” The third elder gritted his teeth.

Jin Hua’s body stiffened, he didn’t expect Jin Kai and Lao Min Na to have known each other for so long even before he came to the Misty Lake Clan “Then what happened…”

“Jin Kai and Chi Zu started to interact more but at that time I didn’t feel anything strange because I felt Jin Kai approached Chi Zu to build a connection with me and I didn’t feel there was anything wrong with that hence he wasn’t the first Jin family who try to curry my favor, I don’t mind cause I thought it would benefit Chi Zu …” The third Elder shook his head in regret, he truly underestimated the whole situation perhaps he was too conceited thinking none would dare hurt his disciple under his nose, the truth shows how foolish he was.

“Then one day Chi Zu’s cultivation suddenly grew rapidly…” he immediately held his breath and his whole face turned as black as charcoal.

Jin Hua’s eyes widened “Shee… could it be that Chi Zu took the Lao Min Na pill?” Jin Hua gasped in horror.