When Ji Muyang heard of what happened outside, she almost coughed up blood. The Bright Ascension Saintess couldn't help but recall the words she said to Longwei a few months ago. She had expected him to cause trouble for the Buzhou Immortal Sect and, by extension, Su Wanyu. Still, she never expected Longwei to be so daring as to murder Buzhou Immortal Sect disciples!
Did he even consider her position? She was the one who recommended him, so if Longwei caused any trouble, she would be held accountable for part of his actions! The more Ji Muyang recalled how attractive she felt Longwei was and the sweet words spoken between them, the more Ji Muyang felt disgusted with him. How blind must have she been!?
"Sister Su, this is..." Ji Muyang said, her throat dry as the stress hammered her heart.
Su Wanyu gave a comforting smile towards Ji Muyang. "Sister Ji, this isn't your fault. Who could have known that Longwei would be so daring as to viciously kill our members for mere material goods? No sane person would make friends with such a greedy fiend. I suggest you distance yourself from him from now on."
"Of course, it is as you say." Ji Muyang said, her expression turning better. But in her heart, she was insulting Su Wanyu. What "No sane person would make friends with such a greedy fiend."? She, Ji Muyang, had recommended him for the Heavenly Connection Gathering, wasn't Su Wanyu indirectly insulting her intelligence? But she couldn't refute Su Wanyu, that bitch, in any way due to her precarious position.
"It's just a pity. Now that such a major matter has occurred. Everyone will have to have immediately returned to our sect and report the matter to the elders." Su Wanyu said with a sigh. If it was just ordinary disciples, although cold, the matter wouldn't have been as big of a deal. But the people Longwei killed were direct descendants of Immortal elders. The ramifications were naturally different.
Ji Muyang's face immediately darkened at those words. San Jiuling, He Luoli, and Hun Jusang all nodded in agreement. None of them felt that Longwei's actions were a small matter. It wasn't that Longwei's act of killing the Buzhou Immortal Sect disciples made them think that way, but other factors compounded.
First, the Buzhou Immortal Sect had near absolute sovereignty over the Heaven Continent. No force or power would outright dare to challenge them. Even less needed to be said of loose cultivators. Buzhou Immortal Sect needed to consider the relationships between forces before acting, but this was not so for loose cultivators. They wouldn't even need to consider much to give loose cultivators the death penalty.
Longwei was a loose cultivator, and his ending could already be pictured. So what if he had heaven-defying talent? Offending the Buzhou Immortal Sect would be his downfall. Even if he did join the Bright Ascension Sect, he would not be safe. If Ji Muyang was the one to commit the deed, there might be room for negotiation. Too bad Longwei wasn't the Bright Ascension Saintess or even a member of the first-rate sects yet.
Second, many of them had doubts concerning Longwei's identity as a loose cultivator. There was a suspicion that he was actually the secret disciple of some force, probably from the Anti-Heaven Alliance. Successfully condensing a saber intent didn't just require terrifying talent in the saber but required extreme honing with a myriad of different saber techniques. It was not something a loose cultivator should be able to accomplish under a hundred years of age, even with a True Immortal's support.
Third, the number of Immortal Realm Artifacts Longwei possessed was astounding. Even a True Immortal would at most possess one Immortal Artifact, but Longwei had three! Three! There was no way Longwei could possess such wealth without special circumstances. This only solidified the people present's guess that Longwei had a strong backing. It could be likely that he was sent to assassinate as many people as possible to prevent Buzhou Immortal Sect and their Vassal Sects from recovering their strength that was lost against the Dragon Emperor.
Of course, there were still many holes in the whole theory. Was it really worth the life of a monstrous genius as Longwei to give up his reputation and risk his life just to delay the Buzhou Immortal Sect and their Vassal Sects?
But the whole matter definitely wasn't simple. At least that was what they all thought. Even Ji Muyang, who interacted the most with Longwei, felt something amiss after Longwei's rampage. There was a great sense of betrayal in Ji Muyang's heart as she calmed down and analyzed the situation.
Even worse would be the discontent from her own junior brothers and sisters. She did not have time to think about the other sect disciples' thoughts of her aside from the Buzhou Immortal Sect. She even blamed Longwei for enticing her to suggest inviting loose cultivators to the Heavenly Connection Gathering. All those happy and sweet moments became schemes in Ji Muyang's eyes.
And Tianyi, who contributed to repelling the scourge and healing all the injured disciples, was also present. Even he felt that Longwei had a major backer. This wasn't the first time he had fought a Dragon Emperor Clone, but Longwei had too many similarities to the Xi Longyi in his memories. Perhaps, Longwei was actually born as the son of some Immortal elder in some sect. And the sect wanted to develop and control a new Dragon Emperor.
But the only thing that troubled Tianyi was that familiar red glow. He remembered seeing such a red light on Lei Jingye before. Tianyi recalled it especially vividly because had it not been for that red light, Lei Jingye would not have been able to escape from his hands.
Did Lei Jingye and Longwei meet up and fought before? Speaking of Lei Jingye, now that I'm a Nascent Soul Grandmaster, I should cut off our grievances with each other. I'll start with the Lei Clan and set up surveillance for him.
The thought of Lei Jingye dying occurred to Tianyi only briefly, before it was dismissed. Someone with the backstory of a protagonist shouldn't have died so easily.
Members of all five sects all started to evacuate the pagoda, intent on leaving the inheritance grotto to return their own sect and report the matter. With the deaths, all the excitement was instantly smothered as a heavy air hung over the group. But before they could leave Ironword's inheritance grotto, several True Immortals flew inside towards the group. Their faces became unsightly the moment they heard of the deaths of the Buzhou Immortal Sect disciples.
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But they didn't have time to stand and worry as the True Immortal Elders all brought their sects' disciples out of the inheritance grotto. Although, there was a slight delay due to Tianyi needing to retrieve something in the inheritance grotto. The True Immortals could only wait for Tianyi with some annoyance, but the majority of the disciples were very willing to let Tianyi act on his own for that brief period.
And so, under the protection of the True Immortals, Tianyi and company were greeted by a savage scenery upon stepping out. It looked like a natural disaster had passed through.
"What happened?" Tianyi couldn't help but let out. He wasn't the only one, as many of the people who came out had the same question.
"Young Master," Tianyi looked to see Elder Meng approaching him. Upon asking, Tianyi finally pieced together the general procedure.
After Longwei came out, he was assaulted by a True Immortal known as Immortal Concubine Chong, and she called him Aotian's spawn. Everyone beside Longwei had died under the woman's saber. The True Immortals of the five sects were stunned at first, but they immediately reacted afterward. They protected Longwei and fought the intruding True Immortal.
Their thought process was that Longwei was still a guest invited to the Heavenly Connection Gathering, and they had to show some superficial effort at least. But who knew that Immortal Concubine Chong would directly scold them? In her words, all the True Immortals present were "filthy animals that were enemy of the world." It didn't end there as she rebuked the Buzhou Immortal Sect as idiots who didn't learn from their lessons, wanting to raise a Dragon Emperor under their control.
This totally enraged the True Immortals present, and so they and Immortal Concubine Chong fought before repelling her off. During this time, Longwei silently snuck off. And it was part of the reason why Immortal Concubine Chong relented, no doubt, to search for Longwei. Tianyi felt his lips twitching upon hearing the series of events. He wonder how green their intestines were when they found out that they protected a murderer of their sects' disciple?
Tianyi imagined that if they didn't have to consider the disciples' safety, they would personally hunt down Longwei. Not only were some disciples dead, but they had also suffered injuries due to clashing Immortal Concubine Chong. Unlike Immortal Concubine Chong, all the True Immortals present were far from reaching the Seamless Immortal Realm. In fact, most of them were longtime True Immortals with no hope of advancing to the Seamless Immortal Realm.
Holding his chin, Tianyi thought of the words Immortal Concubine Chong spoke, especially her first sentence. "Spawn of Aotian, don't think of leaving with your life..."
"Aotian...Aotian...don't tell me the Dragon Emperor's full name was Long Aotian?" Tianyi's cheeks began to twitch madly. "That can't be his real name, right?"
After entertaining such a ridiculous thought for a brief period, he thought back on to the main matters. Why did Immortal Concubine Chong say that the Buzhou Immortal Sect was raising a Dragon Emperor Clone to control? Did news of how he almost became a Dragon Emperor Clone leak out?
If that was the case, Tianyi quirked his lips upward, then Longwei was bearing his pot. In other words, Longwei was attacked because of him. Just thinking about it made Tianyi giddy at how unfortunate Longwei was. Not only did Longwei get beaten up and was forced to flee with his tail tucked between his legs, but he also got implicated because of Tianyi.
Tianyi released a chuckle at that thought.
But he quickly suppressed his laughter as his thoughts returned to the main point. It was a bit too coincidental. He just arrived for the Heavenly Connection Gathering, and not long after, Immortal Concubine Chong came with such an agenda. The only person Tianyi thought who would do such a thing was Immortal Redseal. Thinking of the man made Tianyi's facial expression darken. Was he so doting on his grandson that he would do whatever it took to kill him just because of that one incident?
Reigning in his headache, he felt that it was better to be more careful when moving outside of the sect now. First, Emperor Soulfish wanted to kill him for some reason, but now he can't even be safe within his own sect. Well, that wasn't strictly true. As long as his mother lived, there wouldn't be anyone who dared to harm him within the sect.
But outside was another matter.
From now on, Tianyi would have to be on guard for people who believed that he was the new Dragon Emperor raised by the Buzhou Immortal Sect. This was an open scheme that could not be easily resolved. If the Buzhou Immortal Sect forcibly suppressed the rumors, it would only lead to many people being even more suspicious.
And the worst part was that those blinded by hatred would really attempt to kill him. Tianyi had already experienced how hateful Xi Longyi was, and that was only a clone! The real person must have been even more hateful. It was a wonder how the Dragon Emperor hadn't died before he reached the pinnacle. That was why Tianyi believed that there would be many willing to risk it all to kill him among the Dragon Emperor's enemies. Killing a thousand innocents rather than letting a single guilty man go free, it was entirely possible for the Dragon Emperor's enemies to commit such an act.
Tianyi could only hope that fewer people believed it. He didn't know if Immortal Redseal had explicitly named him as the Dragon Emperor Clone the Buzhou Immortal Sect was raising. Still, he felt that his features were vastly different than the Dragon Emperor's features. Tianyi had to thank his mother for giving him her eyes.
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Days after the Heavenly Connection Gathering participants left to return to their own sects, a woman with flaming-red hair and an equally vibrant dress stepped out of Ironwood's inheritance grotto. Tianyi specifically delayed the group so that he could leave his clone inside the inheritance grotto. Otherwise, he didn't know when he would have another chance to.
"Dong Chifan has already left with San Jiuling to return to the Leakless Sect," Fenghua muttered to herself. "How am I going to catch up and talk to Dong Chifan? Man, main body sure gives hard tasks."
Although Fenghua said that, she still prepared to chase after the Leakless Sect's immortal boat. She was still a clone of Tianyi, and as such, she desired the same things he did. She wanted to discover the truth behind the reincarnators.
Juedai Fenghua didn't use a ship-shaped immortal boat but a shuttle. It bore some resemblance to the jets from Earth. For those that didn't know of jets, they would just think the shape to be strange. But for those that did, it should be enough to tip them off. It was an unexpected side effect of when Tianyi forged the shuttle. He had originally prepared to leave it to settle in the dust, but it was the perfect bait for Fenghua to use.
Spiritual stones could also power the shuttle, so Fenghua didn't have to worry about draining her true qi dry. And Tianyi left Fenghua with enough resources and spiritual stones to last her until she reached the Unity Realm. Like this, the immortal boat chased after the Leakless Sect's immortal boat.