Chapter 397: Fishing In Troubled Waters (3)

Xia Yunji paused to let out another cough. His face paled somewhat as he said, "But you need to be careful lest you get yourself assassinated. Is that fellow...the same bastard from back then?"

"Definitely." Hong Tan nodded, "That Fatty Xia is still trying to smooth things over. First Divine Sect? Sect master? If I am that sect master, I would go and dig up the Xia Family's ancestral tombs in anger. He is being made a scapegoat for everything that is happening."

Right that moment, Marquis Xia landed beside them.

With a dark expression, he said, "What else could I have done? So all of you are not completely in the dark, are you? So you're aware that there is an Invincible keeping an eye on all of you? Is the Xia Family really so unworthy of trust? Not even Yunji has told us anything about this."

Xia Yunji smiled, "Xiao'er..."

"Do you want to spar with me?"

Marquis Xia's face fell.

"Cough, cough. Second Brother, yes, this is the right way to address you, right?"

Marquis Xia was actually two years older than him. Xia Yunji had merely been used to calling him Xiao'er since their childhood. After correcting himself, Xia Yunji said, "It's not that I don't trust you or Uncle. I believe a lot of people have their doubts about this matter. But...there is no way to resolve this."

Xia Yunji helplessly said, "How can we resolve this? Investigate every single Invincible in existence? We won't be able to find anything. This person had only moved once 50 years ago and had gone silent since then. During the incident, a lot of Invincibles were moving from their posts. Some were in seclusion, some were in the Allheaven Battlefield, and some were carrying out missions in the various minor realms. How are we supposed to find the truth?"

"He said that he has a grudge with the fifth principal."

Xia Yunji smiled bitterly, "It's not like you don't know the fifth principal. He has plenty of enemies. Apart from the multiple character faction and a small number of single character faction cultivators, he has offended way too many people."

"But not many of his enemies are Invincibles."

"Yes, but how do you know if that person was telling the truth?" Xia Yunji shook his head, "And if we really want to pursue this line of thought, the fifth principal did not even have an enemy among the Invincibles with a grudge serious enough to kill. We don't know if that is merely a misdirection. Have you discovered no new clues from this battle?"

Marquis Xia shook his head.

"Then what's even the point of forcing Wenyan to leave Nanyuan?"

Marquis Xia frowned, "What do you mean? That wasn't even me! I don't have the time to do something like that. And this grave digging idea wasn't even mine. I had merely pushed it along. I suspect Wan Tiansheng is the actual culprit who had pushed for this battle to happen."

Xia Yunji frowned, "Wan Tiansheng? What is he trying to do? Even if that fellow really did show up, who among you could even deal with him? Is Uncle in the prefecture?"

His uncle was none other than Great Xia KIng. But even with Great Xia King around, it still wasn't enough. An Invincible was basically impossible to capture.

"No. But we have Longwu here. The fight won't be completely hopeless with Longwu around."

Marquis Xia explained, "The old man is in charge of keeping his eyes on some suspects to further reduce the list of suspects. Over these years, we have been able to greatly reduce the list. We can't investigate openly, but we can still do it secretly. The old man has been acting senile for a couple of years now, challenging people to a spar randomly all the time. With that excuse, he has been able to force some people to fight him with their full strength. If his opponent this time is really the person we're looking for, no clones would have been sent here. The old man still has sharp eyes. He will be able to notice that."

He said, "It's not like this is completely unexpected. That person won't be so careless. He definitely won't come personally."

He sighed, "But that person is really not holding anything back. Three whole Eternal characters have been sacrificed for this. Even for an Invincible, this would be quite a big loss as well."

Wu Yuehua furiously said, "Since you're unsure if that person would come, why still set this up? Are you trying to kill Wenyan?"

Marquis Xia merely rolled his eyes and mumbled something about women under his breath.

"I told you, I wasn't the mastermind! I only helped the plan along! Also, if Liu Wenyan continues hiding himself, that person would probably lose patience and head over to Nanyuan himself. The old man has been busy lately and can't keep watching Liu Wenyan from the dark."

"Even if we will end up alerting that person, there is still a need to scare him somewhat so that he would stay patient for a while longer. Also, is Liu Wenyan supposed to keep hiding away?"

In the beginning, Great Xia King would frequently return to the prefecture. And back then, the Liu Family was still powerful. Thus, Liu Wenyan still enjoyed their protection despite his exile.

But now, the Great Xia King had gotten increasingly busy. Thus, alerting the traitor wasn't necessarily a bad idea. That would force the traitor to hold back instead of secretly killing Liu Wenyan in Nanyuan.

With a resentful tone, Marquis Xia said, "There is definitely something different about that character of Liu Wenyan. That person wouldn't have been so fixated on him otherwise, to the point an Invincible is actually trying to kill a much weaker cultivator. I suspect the data he stole back then is incomplete. Perhaps what he lacks is related to this character. That is why he has risked exposing himself to snatch the character."

The others said nothing. That made sense. It was very likely that the stolen data was incomplete. Or perhaps the information wasn't useful without the character. Hence, that person had been so obsessed with Liu Wenyan, to the point where he was willing to spend so many years plotting against Liu Wenyan.

Wu Yuehua said, "Let's ignore that fellow for now. How about Zhou Polong? Just what is he trying to do?"

"Don't ask me." Marquis Xia said, "It's not like I know him that well. Just be careful when it comes to that fellow. He is either aiming to bait that fellow out or trying to destroy your faction. In truth, both options seem acceptable for him. After all, you guys are the reason his father is dead..."

"What did you just say?" Wu Yuehua was furious.

Hong Tan helplessly said, "How is that our fault?"

Marquis Xia shrugged indifferently, "In any case, it has nothing to do with me. To speak the truth, I have a guess at what Zhou Polong's actual goal is. He probably won't let this rest unless Liu Wenyan hands over the character. He might not even need that character for his advancement into the Invincible Realm. That character is simply the perfect tool to bait that person out of hiding."

Indeed, Zhou Polong's goal wasn't too hard to guess. He also wanted the character. With the character, he could use it both for his own advancement and as bait. Either way, the character was very useful for him. And the hidden Invincible also needed that character. Everything that had happened today was proof of that.

Thus, if Zhou Polong couldn't find that person, he would once again set his eyes on the character. If Liu Wenyan was unwilling to hand the character over, then Zhou Polong would simply choose to snatch it.

In any case, he was probably one of the few people with an actual valid reason to snatch the character.

Hong Tan said, "This is all so troublesome. That damn Zhou Polong. We told him long ago that we don't have the data. As for the character, it still can't be materialized. But he still insists on creating trouble. And now, I have exposed my true strength. When he finds out that I have been concealing my strength, he would probably think that I have been lying to him about everything."

"Have you not been lying to him?" Marquis Xia beamed, "Your multiple character faction has quite a lot of secrets. Ability blood essence, character fusion, character technique disassembly..."

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Disassembly what?" Hong Tan said, "My character technique has always existed as a pair. This is a single set of sword and shield. What nonsense are you talking about?"

He thought that Marquis Xia was referring to him. Wu Yuehua and the others merely looked at him with disdain. Why was he still acting?

Hong Tan was astonished, "Why are you looking at me like this? I'm serious. My character technique is really a set!"

"How about Bai Feng?"

"What about him? That stinky brat's character technique is a sword, right?"

"Oh?"

The others laughed. He Ji said, "Stop pretending. One sword? He has revealed four Dragon Slaying Swords so far. But I think a few of them have been destroyed..."

He worriedly asked, "Will Bai Feng be fine? Director Ji took him..."

"Wait!" Hong Tan was alarmed, "Four swords? Several destroyed swords? Taken by Director Ji? What are you talking about? "

The others looked at him again. Was he really unaware or was he pretending? If he was really still pretending, then this would be too excessive. Why was he lying to even his own people?

"Disassembly..." Hong Tan suddenly thought of a possibility and asked, "He disassembled the Dragon Slaying Sword?"

"Yeah..."

"Holy shit!" Hong Tan was alarmed, "That brat was too rash! Was he not afraid of killing himself with his experiments? So is he dead?"

"No. But he was seriously injured with multiple characters destroyed. He was taken away by Director Ji."

They looked sad as they thought about this. They didn't know if recovery was still possible for Bai Feng.

At this time, Hong Tan could no longer spare his senior brother any attention. After thinking about it, he tossed his senior brother to Wu Yuehua before running off. "Take care of my senior brother! I'll go take a look!"

He ran off without any hesitation. Meanwhile, Liu Wenyan was cursing inwardly.

He opened his eyes and coughed a mouthful of blood before saying, "Yunji, I need to heal up. Build a temporary house for me. I need a place to rest..."

Xia Yunji stared at his friend speechlessly. What was the point of building a house? This fellow had clearly recovered enough. Liu Wenyan merely glared at him with threatening eyes.

Hurry up! Without a house to hide himself in, three pairs of eyes would be constantly on him, making him feel uncomfortable.

"Fine. He Ji, you help me build a house..."

When He Ji left to build the requested house, Liu Wenyan coughed a mouthful of blood and fainted once again. He would not regain his consciousness before the house was built. Wu Yuehua and the other two women merely glared at him. But none bothered to say anything.

To the side, Marquis Xia had been silently enjoying the show. At this time, he said, "You guys better stay in the capital temporarily. It will be even better if you enter seclusion. Or else, this matter will be very hard to resolve. Also, your incomplete assimilation of those characters are too embarrassing. You guys better take some time to stabilize your cultivation after that exertion."

After throwing the watermelon skin in his hand on the ground, he said, "Also, remember to pay up for the things you broke today."

"And Liu Wenyan, you killed two Mountainseas. Stop pretending to be unconscious. You need to kill 20 enemy Mountainseas as punishment. If you can't do that, then just stay in the Vanguard Regiment for life."

"In truth, this is good for you. The eyes of many Invincibles are always on the Vanguard Regiment so you will be much safer there. You can take Bai Feng with you as well. That brat will definitely receive a lot more attention after this. For the two of you, the Allheaven Battlefield is safer than the Human Realm. There are too many Invincibles there. Nobody will dare to act rashly there."

Nobody objected.

Marquis Xia continued, "The Zhou Family will definitely continue looking for trouble. It won't be good for you guys to stay in the Human Realm. In all honesty, nobody can spare the time to look after you guys all the time.

"Yunji, you killed a Mountainsea earlier. And you guys had killed three Mountainseas. The Xia Family won't be able to resolve this without sending you guys to the Allheaven Battlefield."

Xia Yunji nodded, "I understand. I'll leave with Wenyan after recovering from our injuries. Hong Tan needs to stay. If all of us leave, then there won't be any of us left back home. No matter what, we still have a few people here, such as Chen Yong, Chen Yong's student, and Su Yu. We need someone to watch over them."

"Sure."

Marquis Xia did not mind. He had been walking while talking and he had already walked quite far away. Suddenly, he turned around and said, "By the way, you guys might not be aware of this. That Su Yu might be Liu Wenyan's illegitimate child."

Right after saying that, he ran off.

"I—"

Liu Wenyan abruptly opened his eyes and cursed, "Screw you and your ancestors!"

"I'll be sure to pass your words to my old man!" Marquis Xia roared with laughter.

"I..."

Liu Wenyan was so furious that he suddenly coughed a mouthful of blood before fainting for real. Wu Yuehua looked at the others before giving Liu Wenyan's chest a pat with her palm, forcing a mouthful of stuck blood to flow out. With that, Liu Wenyan woke back up.

"Your son?"

But Liu Wenyan insisted on pretending to be unconscious. What a stupid question. That was definitely not his son. But how was he supposed to explain something like that? That was most certainly a slander!

Wu Yuehua coldly said, "No wonder. You have not contacted me for decades. For the sake of Su Yu, you had actually called me before he even entered the academy just so I could watch over him in the academy. That was the second time you have ever called me over the past 50 years."

Liu Wenyan felt extremely sullen. That was not true! Forget it. This woman was unreasonable. It was pointless for him to explain.

Nearby, He Ji had just returned after building a house. He asked in astonishment, "He's Big Brother Liu's son? No wonder he's so talented! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, after all. No wonder he looks like a replica of a younger Big Brother Liu."

"I—"

Liu Wenyan had the urge to open his eyes and hack He Ji to death with his axe. This fellow was actually adding oil to fire! Why was this fellow so good at this?

They started laughing, but suddenly, Wu Yuehua said, "Old Su wasn't here. Anyone know what's up with him?"

Vice Principal Su.

Previously, this person was also one of their supporters. But he had been absent today.

He Ji sighed, "Forget it. Let him be. Xia Yuwen is trying to become the next prefect. To secure his support, Xia Changqing offered to have Su Meng marry Xia Yuwen. That is such a good plan. Xia Yuwen would first take Su Meng as his wife before taking the girl from the Ji Family as his second wife. That way, he would be able to rope in a peak Mountainsea and a Sunmoon. Those two coupled with Xia Changqing would form a rather powerful support base for his struggle over the position of the prefect."

"Hmph!"

Wu Yuehua snorted, "That fellow can keep dreaming. He even set his eyes on Little Qi before. Why doesn't he look into a mirror first?"

They stopped talking about Vice Principal Su.

At this time, He Ji teased, "Yuehua, Bai Feng is a decent young man..."

"He's not good enough to catch Little Qi's attention." Wu Yuehua proudly said, "And he's too weak."

"He defeated Xia Yuwen. He's definitely not weak..."

"Who knows what his future would look like? Maybe he's already a cripple." Wu Yuehua then said, "Su Yu would be a good choice. He is both talented and tenacious..."

They all stared at her blankly. Was she serious? Was she only suggesting this after hearing that Su Yu might be the illegitimate child of a certain someone? If so, then that was a truly terrible idea.

After all, if Su Yu was really that someone's illegitimate child, then Su Yu could actually be considered a generation above Wu Qi. The seniority would be all messed up. Liu Wenyan decided to keep pretending to be unconscious.

There was nothing he could say here. He would allow these people to say whatever they wanted. Then again, he was quite surprised to see Su Yu's arrival. That was truly a gutsy kid.

But that had also proved how loyal that kid was toward those close to him. Unfortunately, he would need to leave for the Allheaven Battlefield soon. He would have no chance to spend more time with the kid.