Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The person in the air sent a warning and a few people immediately flew out and began to conjure up seals. Red lights shone brightly and a ray of glaring light shot directly at the Protective Mountain Array. A loud cracking sound was heard and immediately a chink was made in the huge array. Those cultivators did not stop attacking, their attacks growing more intense instead, and the entire sky above Blackheaven Sect echoed with clashing noises.
Xi Qiu’s face turned white as a sheet. This group of people had the audacity to directly attack the Protective Mountain Array with the intention to slaughter. The disciples of the Blackheaven Sect all flew out and gathered in front of the hall. They were flustered looking at the sky as all the hall masters also arrived.
“Senior Brother, this is…” Disciplinary Hall Master Xi Chen stepped forward and asked hurriedly.
“I am not sure either.” Xi Qiu’s heart sank as he turned towards a disciple and ordered, “Quickly head over to Ling Xiao Peak to inform the two Supremacies, Ye Xing and Yu Yang, and invite them to immediately come out of seclusion.”
“There’s no need for that!” The moment this voice was heard, two white silhouettes had landed at the hall simultaneously. “We are already here.” They must have noticed such a large happening.
“Greetings to you both, Uncle-Masters.” Everyone saluted them.
Yu Yang nodded and with furrowed brows, asked the people in the sky, “What is going on? Why would the Xuan Yuan Family from the Upper Azure World be here all of a sudden?” Especially with a stance ready to battle?
Everyone present had blank looks but Lonemoon furrowed his brows, stepped forward and said, “Senior Brother, I think they are here for me.”
“Junior Brother Lonemoon…” Both Supremacies were shocked. Just as they were about to ask further, a loud bang was heard at the Protective Mountain Array—it had shattered under the attack of the enemy. The gigantic lotus flower headed towards the main peak’s hall and stopped in the air before the hall.
Upon taking a closer look at the hundreds of cultivators above, everybody sucked in their breath as they realized there were quite a few of them were Soul Formation cultivators, and the five that were leading them were Traveling Immortals. The others were either of the Nascent Soul or Golden Core stage. Not one was below Golden Core.
Such a lineup would not be possible for them even if they rounded up all the cultivators in the Middle Azure World. Xi Qiu’s heart sank as he grew more fearful of the Upper Azure World’s extent of power. Seeing that the other party did not immediately begin to battle, as the sect master, he took a deep breath and went forward to say, “Fellow Daoists of the Upper Azure World, I am sorry for not being able to welcome all of you due to your sudden arrival at the sect, but may I know the reason behind destroying my Protective Mountain Array?”
“Hmph, stop feigning ignorance!” The cultivator on the right came forward. “My three elders of the Xuan Yuan Family came over to this world in good faith to help you explore and check how true the newly surfaced mystic realm was. Yet not only did you guys not appreciate it, you used some despicable means to kill them in the mystic realm. As one of the four largest aristocratic families in the Upper Azure World, should I not have come here to claim blood revenge?”
At those words, not only Xi Qiu’s, but more than half of the Blackheaven Sect cultivators’ faces turned black. He looked over at Lonemoon and immediately guessed at what had happened. Previously, most of the disciples had witnessed the ill conduct of the three people from the Upper Azure World. While they claimed to help explore the mystic realm, they had actually come to fight for the resources and they probably also fought with many of the cultivators of the other sects. But the outcome of that was obvious; apparently, all the fighting backfired and they were killed instead.
There were several mystic realms in the Three Azure Realms, but many of them had restrictions on the people that were allowed to enter which was why mystic realms had been deemed as not under the jurisdiction of laws. Moreover, since the Dharma treasures contained in those realms were all without owners, it was common for a few people to discover them at the same time, and so fighting for resources in a mystic realm was prevalent. The outcome would of course be that the fittest would survive. All the resentment inside a mystic realm would not involve anything outside of it, thus the sects kept a certain mutual understanding.
Yet these actions of the Xuan Yuan Family today seemed ridiculous. Was this to imply that only the people from the Upper Azure World were allowed to kill people while the rest could not even retaliate?
“Fellow Daoists, the mystic realm is treacherous and accidents are commonplace. Is it not possible that you have made a mistake somewhere?” Xi Qiu suppressed the anger in his heart and reminded them in a low voice.
“Hmph, you are still quibbling!” The speaker suddenly raised his hand to manifest two crystallic mirrors and as he produced a seal, he said loudly, “The people of my Xuan Yuan Family plant a Soul Chasing Seal in their Divine Perception. This seal would only be activated upon being destroyed, sending an image of the moment right before their death back to the sect.”
An image appeared above the two crystallic mirrors each. One depicted the moment before Qing Yin’s death and the other before Qing Yi’s death. But both showed the same person’s silhouette with the only difference being that one was standing in shock while the other was holding a long, golden sword with apparent murderous intent. That was… Yi Qing!
Suddenly, all the surrounding gazes were turned onto Yi Qing.
“What else do you have to say? This is the person who killed our three elders!” The speaker turned towards Yi Qing in anger. “Today, if you guys do not hand over the murderer along with all the people who entered the mystic realm that day, your sect will no longer have a purpose to exist.”
“I have seen people who do not reason, but I have never seen such an unreasonable person.” Lonemoon could not hold himself back. “It is clear that your Xuan Yuan Family is greedy of gain and wanted to claim the ancient mystic realm. Now that you could not claim it, you even want to use this opportunity to exact revenge for what happened in the mystic realm. One always has to be responsible for the dangers they encounter in a mystic realm. If you are not skillful enough then you would have to pay the price. How can you come here to seek justice? The Xuan Yuan Family is such a sore loser.”
“Hmph.” The other party suddenly sneered. The suppressive aura of the other side’s Traveling Immortals enveloped the entire sky and engulfed the Main Peak. Lonemoon and a few others were prepared for this and so they were fine, but the lower level disciples immediately fell down and spewed blood.
“You…” Flustered, Lonemoon was just about to go forward, but he was held back by Yu Yang. “Senior Brother!”
“Don’t be rash.” The Blackheaven Sect did not have the means to fight with them.
That suppressive aura only appeared for a while before it was immediately withdrawn. Of the five Traveling Immortals, the middle aged cultivator in the center stepped forward and looked around at the people. His gaze stopped on Yi Qing, a tinge of fear flashing past his eyes, and he then said, “Fellow Daoist, what you said was not illogical. The encounters in the mystic realm are indeed dependent on each person’s fate. There is no reason to seek revenge afterwards.” At least not openly.
“Third Uncle…” The previously shouting Soul Formation cultivator panicked, seemingly trying to say something but was silenced by the look thrown at him by the other.
That Traveling Immortal’s hands were behind his back and he had a strong air of righteousness about him. “This matter has a lot of gray areas which is why we are all here to get a better understanding of it. If it were only a normal fight of fate, we would have not come here with such great fanfare.”
“What do you mean?” Lonemoon’s heart sank with an ominous feeling.
The Traveling Immortal laughed slightly and, narrowing his eyes, he said, “That day, before the three elders entered the mystic realm to aid in the exploration of this mystic realm, they had specially requested for our family’s treasure to be brought in with them. Now that the three of them are dead and this treasure is gone missing, aren’t we supposed to find out what exactly happened?”
“Moreover, out of three of the elders, two of them were Traveling Immortals.” He seemed to be implying something as he looked at Yi Qing and said, “The only person capable of killing the three of them, apart from a Perfected Immortal, would be someone with an extremely unique treasure. Therefore, I would like to ask this Fellow Daoist to return our Xuan Yuan family’s treasure—the Thousand Leaves Vegetation Spirit.”
Holy shit! Lonemoon suddenly understood their motive. Damn it, this Xuan Yuan Family would risk anything to gain something—each one of them was slier than the last.