by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
In the end, Di Long, Yu Xiaoyun, and that expert from the Xuan Beasts conversed secretly for a while before saying that they would definitely investigate this matter.
Qu Jianying smiled, knowing that the three of them were trying to find a way out of this predicament for themselves. She also said that the Martial Heaven Continent would do a full investigation.
After that, Yu Xiaoyun and the others scattered. The Xuantian Dao Sect returned to its original calm.
Upon returning to the Xuantian Tower, Qu Jianying, whose expression had been calm, suddenly tried to grab Long Chen’s ear and twist it.
“You little brat!”
Chapter 1718 Duan Tianya
As soon as Di Long, Yu Xiaoyun, and the others left, Long Chen had felt that Qu Jianying’s gaze was a bit off, and so he had been on guard.
As soon as Qu Jianying’s arm had reached toward him, he had turned and dodged behind the patriarch, hiding.
“You little brat, you dare to dodge?!” raged Qu Jianying.
“Alliance head, if there’s anything to say, we can talk about it properly. Long Chen is already grown up, and treating him like this is a bit unsuitable,” said the patriarch. Since the patriarch was the only one whose cultivation base and seniority were high enough to say such things to Qu Jianying, he could only thicken his face.
“What? Once he’s grown up, I can’t beat him? Just because he obtained first place on the Devil Slaughter Rankings, I can’t admonish him? You little scoundrel, I was in the midst of thinking how to reward you when you stirred up such trouble! He gave me that much trouble so quickly, why can’t I set him straight?!” raged Qu Jianying.
“This matter can’t be blamed on Long Chen. It was entirely those people who went too far. Even the Xuantian Tower couldn’t bear it,” explained the patriarch hastily.
“Don’t bring up such useless things. I’m more aware of Di Long and Yu Xiaoyun’s intentions than you are. I simply find this little scoundrel to be displeasing. So what if I want to vent?” Qu Jianying glared at Long Chen.
“Alliance head, I worked so hard to get first place for you! How can you find me displeasing?” said Long Chen in an aggrieved manner.
“Do you still not realize that these two matters are unrelated? You’re a typical case of a child who will start tearing out roof tiles if you aren’t disciplined every day. If I let you off so easily, sooner or later you’ll cause such trouble that even I won’t be able to handle it.” Casting Long Chen a sideways glance, Qu Jianying added, “As for that woman, you should be careful. As soon as anyone catches solid proof, you will immediately become the enemy of the world. Your enemies won’t let that opportunity go. When the time comes, even if I were to sacrifice my own life, I wouldn’t be able to protect you.”
Qu Jianying’s words gravely emphasized the danger. Long Chen’s argument clearly hadn’t tricked her, nor could it trick Di Long, Yu Xiaoyun, and the others.
The only reason Yu Xiaoyun and the others had left was because they had no solid proof, and with Qu Jianying and the Xuantian Dao Sect fully supporting Long Chen, there was no way for them to use force against him.
Just because they had left now didn’t mean that they had given up. It was the opposite. They would be keeping a close eye on him in the future, and if he slipped up, then the venomous viper that had been lying in wait for so long would strike, killing him in one bite. So Qu Jianying had to admonish him, or it would be too late if Long Chen were to act without thinking of the consequences.
However, even Qu Jianying did not ask the truth about Yue Xiaoqian. Clearly, this topic was taboo even for her.
“I understand.” Long Chen knew that Qu Jianying was doing this for his own good.
The four of them sat down. Long Chen once more told the whole story of what had happened. Although that matter had passed, Long Chen’s fury still ignited when he explained how someone from Heavenly Fate Island had sabotaged them.
“Alliance head, I don’t understand. Why would Heavenly Fate Island do so much to target Long Chen? That’s not their usual style,” asked Li Tianxuan.
“Because the old master of Heavenly Fate Island went into seclusion eight hundred years ago, and during this time Duan Tianya is in charge of Heavenly Fate Island. You know Duan Tianya’s relationship with Xuan Jizi, correct?” said Qu Jianying.
Li Tianxuan was startled. “You mean the rumors are true? Xuan Jizi is Duan Tianya’s secret bastard child?”
“It’s most likely true. Otherwise, considering how Xuan Jizi harmed others in the past, then according to Heavenly Fate Island’s rules, he’d have been executed. The fact that he was only expelled and even managed to establish the grand Heavenly Fate Pavilion in the Grand Han definitely has Duan Tianya’s shadow behind it. Then Xuan Jizi suddenly vanished, while that matter of ‘Long San’ suddenly appeared in Pill Valley right while Xuan Jizi was there. Even without the ability to read fate, I know this matter was done by Long Chen. Duan Tianya has hundreds of ways to determine the true cause of Xuan Jizi’s death. Long Chen, tell me, am I correct?” Qu Jianying looked at Long Chen.
“Cough, actually, it wasn’t done by just me. I did it with the Pill Fairy. If we were splitting the merit, she would be the main culprit,” said Long Chen awkwardly.
He really hadn’t known that Xuan Jizi had such a background. He guessed that the Pill Fairy also hadn’t known. It must be a secret only the senior generation knew.
After a moment’s hesitation, Long Chen finally decided to ask. He greatly longed to know the secret of the original devil race and why they had become enemies with the entire world. “Alliance head, when it comes the original-”
“This isn’t a question you should ask. It’s taboo. It would be best if you never mentioned it.”
Qu Jianying immediately interrupted him. She then profoundly added, “There are no absolute rights or wrongs in this world. You’ve already grown up, and you know your responsibility. The reason I normally admonish you is in hopes that you will be more cautious in the future instead of always leaving a pile of crap for your seniors to clean up after you. After all, you’ve also grown into a large tree capable of blocking the wind and rain. You have to consider the big picture instead of being hot-tempered and charging forward blindly. However, when it comes to your choice, both myself and your sect leader support you. You must form your own opinion and determine your own responsibility. As long as you think your choice is right, then you do it. However, in that process, it would be best if you left yourself a path out so that you can survive while you still haven’t grown to your peak state. Otherwise, the next time Heavenly Fate Island sneak attacks you, you won’t be this lucky.”
Qu Jianying reached out and straightened Long Chen’s collar. The current Qu Jianying didn’t have any of the imposing dignity of the leader of the Martial Heaven Alliance. Instead, she seemed like an elder kindly teaching a child.
“Many thanks, alliance head.” Long Chen was moved inside. From the start, Qu Jianying had viewed him as her own child.
“What is there to thank? If that old man heard you thank me, he’d break your leg.” Qu Jianying smiled faintly, but that smile contained a trace of worry.
The odds of failure when attempting to break through the Netherpassage realm were extremely high. No one was guaranteed to pass. Right now, all she could do was wait.
“Senior Qu, how should we handle Heavenly Fate Island?” asked Li Tianxuan.
“There’s no need for us to do anything. Let them continue. They are interfering with the Heavenly Daos, so they won’t have a good end. People like them walk the precipice between the inside and the outside of the Heavenly Daos. Having made such a huge movement that interferes with the natural order of the Heavenly Daos, the Heavenly Daos will definitely not let them off easily. Hmph, when the time comes, their deaths will definitely be miserable ones.” Qu Jianying shook her head.
Heavenly Fate Island cultivated the ability to see through the heavens. This kind of profession seemed amaz
ing, but it was like dancing on the tip of a blade.
If they only viewed things from the perspective of a bystander, perhaps it would be better. However, if they tried to interfere with fate, the Heavenly Daos would immediately lock onto them.
That was why Heavenly Fate Island didn’t have many true disciples. Many of them died to heavenly tribulation because once you were locked onto by the Heavenly Daos, when the time for your tribulation came, your heavenly tribulation would turn into heavenly punishment.
Countless experts longed to be able to know the future while not imagining the danger involved. Each year, millions of disciples would enter Heavenly Fate Island to cultivate, but the number that could become core disciples was less than one in ten thousand.
Heavenly Fate Island didn’t even need trials to wash out their disciples. If they could survive their tribulations, then they could continue studying the way to peer into the heavens.
Many disciples committed a taboo of the Heavenly Daos without even realizing it. When their tribulation transformed into heavenly punishment, they were turned to dust.
So training in heaven-peering arts was like standing on a raised pole above a thirty-thousand-meter cliff. Whether you went left or right, if you went past a limit, you would fall.
An old monster like Duan Tianya definitely wouldn’t be so foolish as to personally do anything to Long Chen. Most likely, he had used a large number of disciples to collect information about Long Chen from many different angles. That was the only possibility as to how he had made such a perfect scheme.
He might not be as affected, but all those people who obeyed his orders would definitely die when their tribulations came.
“However, if Heavenly Fate Island wants to, can’t they reuse these people?” asked Li Tianxuan.
After all, they would die in any case. Using them once meant they died, but using them ten times also meant that they died. Why not use the same people over and over again?
“You’re overthinking it. They will only have one chance to do such large-scale calculations against Long Chen. Such large movements will definitely draw the attention of the Heavenly Daos. The Heavenly Daos will protect themselves, screening the lines of fate from those people. Duan Tianya would have to use another batch of people, however, if he does that, ignoring whether or not he cares if there will be any disciples left to carry out Heavenly Fate Island’s inheritance, he himself will not get off lightly. If he tries to undergo such a large movement again, with him in charge twice, the Heavenly Daos will lock onto him. Although he’s at the Netherpassage realm and has no hope of further advancements, the heavens have other ways to punish people. His longevity will shorten by hundreds or even thousands of times. Do you think he would dare?” Qu Jianying smiled.
“So that’s the case.” Li Tianxuan and Long Chen understood now. No wonder Qu Jianying dared to say that they wouldn’t be able to pull off such a scheme again.
In truth, Heavenly Fate Island was just a group of people that were full of tricks. But the Heavenly Daos were merciless, and if they interfered with the Heavenly Daos, they would invoke karma.
“However, even if Heavenly Fate Island does not try to read your fate again, you can’t be careless. They have great influence, so be careful of them setting you up for something. In any case, just make sure not to give them anything they can use against you. You can leave the rest to me. As long as there’s no proof, you can mess around as much as you want. I’ll handle them,” said Qu Jianying.
Long Chen smiled. The feeling of having someone supporting him was truly good. However, some enmities had to be avenged personally. He had to give Heavenly Fate Island a painful lesson.
“Alright, let’s not talk about these things. Aren’t you interested in the reward for this battle?” As soon as Qu Jianying said this, Long Chen’s eyes began to shine. Money!
Chapter 1719 Terrifying Dong Mingyu
The Martial Heaven Alliance controlled a huge part of the entire continent’s wealth. The Martial Heaven Alliance had its own mines and businesses.
Originally, the Martial Heaven Alliance was established by all the continent’s Righteous sects. Although the Martial Heaven Alliance had such a huge amount of wealth, they were only in charge of overseeing it. They did not have the authority to directly use it.
A portion of the Martial Heaven Alliance’s wealth came from a yearly tax each large sect had to pay. Another portion came from the Martial Heaven Alliance’s own mines and businesses, and another portion came from battle spoils won in battles against the Corrupt path.
This wealth was jointly owned, and each sect would pay tax according to its scale. Considering just how many Righteous sects there were, the total sum was an astonishing amount.
After all these years, the amount of wealth that it had accumulated could only be described as terrifying. However, this wealth had to be spent on defending the Righteous path, raising geniuses, and rewarding merit. Furthermore, any large expenditures had to have the alliance head’s personal nod of approval, as well as the Elders’. That was to avoid anyone being selfish or corrupt and abusing that wealth.
Now, Long Chen had led the Xuantian Dao Sect’s disciples to defend the entire Eastern Xuan Region’s Devil Abyss. That meant that the Xuantian Dao Sect was receiving all the Eastern Xuan Region’s reward.
In the past, each time the Devil Abyss erupted, it would mean the sacrifices of countless disciples. The compensation for these disciples went to their sects.
A single region’s sects numbered in the tens of thousands. Each sect was given a reward based on their accomplishments, and just those rewards were extremely plentiful. Because the rest of the Eastern Xuan Region’s sects had been instigated by others to not participate in the Devil Abyss, all their rewards were going to the Xuantian Dao Sect.
What shocked Long Chen was that the reward set for the Eastern Xuan Region was a staggering sum of fifteen billion spirit crystals.
However, thinking about it, when fifteen billion spirit crystals were split between tens of thousands of sects, just how much could each sect get?
It wasn’t just the sum that was shocking, but it also allowed Long Chen to see the power of the Martial Heaven Alliance. After all, the Eastern Xuan Region was just one of the four weaker regions.
The Central Xuan Region’s reward was definitely even greater because it had more sects and more devil creatures.
“Long Chen, I actually have to apologize for this matter of the rewards. Because the rewards for the eastern, western, southern, and northern regions always have to stay the same according to the rules…” Qu Jianying couldn’t help apologizing. This rule was based on the Devil Abyss’s formation that split the devil creatures into several channels. The Central Xuan Region was always the main force, so it got a larger reward, while the rest of the devil creatures were split between the other four regions equally, so the reward was split equally as well.
However, Long Chen had killed an even larger number of the devil creatures due to Heavenly Fate Island’s sabotage. According to reason, he should obtain an even greater reward.
Unfortunately, that matter was an accident, something unexpected. So if she wanted to reward Long Chen, she would have to go through the Elders and have this matter fully investigated first.
Heavenly Fate Island was so crafty, and they couldn’t have left behind any evidence. Since this matter would remain murky and unclear, it would be very difficult to give Long Chen his big reward.
Furthermore, Long Chen’s kill points had explosively grown, to the point where there was no longer a number. That was also something that had not occurred in the history of the Devil Slaughtering Rankings.
Qu Jianying was clearer than anyone just how strict the reward system of the Martial Heaven Alliance was. Without bringing out all the evidence, obtaining the reward was very, very difficult.
That was why Long Chen’s current reward was just the base reward. The aftermath of Heavenly Fate Island was not taken into acc
ount, so those Life Star level winged devils he had slain were not counted.
If Long Chen wished to persevere in chasing after that reward, the Elder Hall of the Martial Heaven Alliance would send experts to investigate this matter, but with their strict rules, the chances of him obtaining the reward were slim.
Qu Jianying disliked these strict and unbending rules, but there was nothing she could do about them, as they were passed down from countless years ago. Furthermore, without these strict rules, many people would be able to pull tricks with the reward, leading to greater corruption and greed. At that time, the day of the Martial Heaven Alliance’s collapse would not be far.
So despite how much Long Chen had done, she couldn’t help him, making her feel guilty.
“It’s fine. In any case, this is enough money for me.” Long Chen smiled. The reason he lacked money was because he needed to rebuild the Xuantian Dao Sect. Fifteen billion spirit crystals was more than enough.
After discussing it with Li Tianxuan, they decided to split the fifteen billion spirit crystals into three even portions. One portion would go to the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect.
Li Tianxuan told Long Chen that in truth, the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect was so poor that they had nothing to eat. They had been reducing the number of disciples they were recruiting with each passing year.
However, the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect cared far too much about face. If Li Tianxuan were to give them this money, they definitely wouldn’t accept it. It would be up to Long Chen to handle that.
Both the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect and the Xuantian Dao Sect were united, and they were like Long Chen’s family. Considering their absolute trust in him, Long Chen wouldn’t let them suffer.
Of course, there was no way that he could give his own money to the Heaven Splitting Battle Sect. With the old man’s character, he would definitely beat Long Chen. However, when it came to splitting this reward after all the hard work had been done, there was no reason for the old man to refuse.
