by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
The Huayun Sect’s people were all businessmen at their core. As long as they were facing their clients, the former would view the latter as their livelihood and wouldn’t treat them with the slightest arrogance or airs.
It was precisely because the Huayun Sect was so polite that many people had assumed that their power wasn’t very great. But now their opinions had completely changed.
The five hundred experts that Ma Ruyun had brought weren’t just to support the Martial Heaven Alliance, but they were also a show of power. They were warning those eyeing the Huayun Sect.
Seeing that the Huayun Sect didn’t care if the Corrupt path continued to hunt Long Chen, Xie Wentian cupped his fists. Saying goodbye to Yu Xiaoyun, he turned and left.
Over two hundred Netherpassage experts of the Corrupt path also left with him.
Yu Xiaoyun’s expression was a bit dark. He had already guessed what Xie Wentian was thinking. The current state of affairs was most beneficial to Xie Wentian, so he wanted to maintain it.
“That’s fine, now that things have reached this point, we’ve already won. There’s no way that Long Chen and his Dragonblood Legion will be able to escape the net we have established. Forcing things at this point clearly isn’t wise.” The Unfettered Allseer sent a message to Yu Xiaoyun.
The High Priest and Ma Ruyun’s arrival had caused the board to change. The majority of these people’s anger had faded to be replaced with calm heads. So both of them had lost their chance to use that anger to start a war.
Despite that, they had still won. Once the Dragonblood Legion and Long Chen were eliminated, the Martial Heaven Alliance would be nothing to fear. Without so many genius disciples, it would only be a few years before they declined.
“Don’t forget, they have tens of thousands of people that participated in the life and death tide’s comprehension. Even if we kill Long Chen, they will still be a threat once they grow up,” replied Yu Xiaoyun.
“There’s no need to worry. Apply pressure from the outside and buy them from the inside bit by bit. If they can’t be bought, isn’t the Bloodkill Hall right there? Those talented disciples can disappear one by one, and once the pressure is great enough, they will naturally submit,” said the Unfettered Allseer indifferently.
Yu Xiaoyun nodded. Turning to Ma Ruyun and Qu Jianying, he said, “Since that’s the case, let’s make an agreement. Long Chen and the Dragonblood Legion have colluded with the original devil race to slaughter the disciples of the various powers. They are enemies of the entire continent and must be eliminated. We will hunt them down, and no one is allowed to block us, or they will also be viewed as enemies.”
The other experts that Yu Xiaoyun had brought nodded. They had lost far too many disciples this time. They had to do something, or their morale would crumble.
“Fuck off, my Heaven Splitting Battle Sect doesn’t agree! You want to bully my children? Then you’ll have to step over my corpse first!” shouted the old man.
“Calm down! This is just a stop gap. We have to first ensure that this battle doesn’t occur…” Li Tianxuan hastily sent a message to him. They had to first agree to this. Once this army left, there were still many ways that they could protect Long Chen.
“That's also unacceptable! I’m not going to let the children be wronged like this!” shouted the old man.
Li Tianxuan sighed. The Heaven Splitting Battle Sect’s people were as difficult to talk to as ever.
“Useless cowards, what are you afraid of? You might be afraid, but I’m not!” The old man suddenly pointed the Heaven Splitting Blade at Yu Xiaoyun. “I, Wu Guangyuan, declare that as long as I have breath in my body, no one should even think about bullying my children.”
After saying that, the old man left. It was unknown if he was going to find Long Chen or if he simply didn’t want to keep talking to others here.
If he was threatening an ordinary sect, they definitely wouldn’t dare to target Long Chen. However, Yu Xiaoyun and the others could not be threatened. Although the old man was powerful, he wasn’t smart enough. A good trap could easily kill him. Their main goal was still Long Chen.
“What do we do?” Qu Jianying surprisingly sent Li Tianxuan a question. Li Tianxuan had always been wise, so Qu Jianying wanted to hear his opinion. After all, Long Chen was a disciple of the Xuantian dao Sect.
“Agree to their request. Expel Long Chen and the Dragonblood Legion from the Xuantian Dao Sect and the Martial Heaven Alliance,” said Li Tianxuan without hesitation.
“How am I supposed to do that? It’s completely unfair to Long Chen!” raged Qu Jianying.
“Has your anger clouded your judgment? Weren’t you the one who said it was a stop gap? Today he is expelled, and tomorrow he can rejoin,” said Li Tianxuan. Why did these seniors of his not know how to think in a roundabout manner?
“But they will…”
“Don’t worry, no one can kill Long Chen,” guaranteed Li Tianxuan.
However, inside, he was definitely worried. A Heaven-Defier wouldn’t die to the hands of a human because they never had that chance. But the people beside Long Chen weren’t Heaven-Defiers. If Long Chen would rather die with his Dragonblood Legion, then he would be killing himself.
The reason those Heaven-Defiers of history never died to other people’s hands was because they were always lonely, isolated figures with nothing tying them down. But Long Chen was different, and his weakness was apparent.
However, if they did not accept this condition, this matter would not be left like this. If they did start fighting, they would be going along with Yu Xiaoyun’s plan.
Qu Jianying bitterly smiled. The old man would probably hate her for this, but she was the only one who could play the bad person in this case.
“I hereby announce that Long Chen and the Dragonblood Legion are no longer disciples of the Martial Heaven Alliance,” said Qu Jianying. She felt her own head spinning and her heart dripping blood.
Long Chen had already done so much for the Martial Heaven Alliance, and she was actually forcing Long Chen to carry this burden on his own. She herself felt despicable.
Yu Xiaoyun was surprised that Qu Jianying would do this. That didn’t match her character. Suddenly glancing at Li Tianxuan, he understood.
“Unacceptable! Senior apprentice-brother Long Chen is a righteous and loyal hero! He and his Dragonblood Legion protected us without caring about their own lives! Alliance head, how can we expel them? That is completely unfair!”
The disciples that had come out of the Yin Yang World immediately went crazy.
Chapter 1923 Long Chen’s Crisis
Qu Jianying’s announcement immediately made the Martial Heaven Alliance’s disciples erupt into chaos. They could not accept this.
“Alliance head, you can’t do this! Senior apprentice-brother is the pillar of the Martial Heaven Alliance’s disciples. In the battles against the Corrupt path, just how many of their top experts did he kill? Don’t you think doing so would hurt senior apprentice-brother Long Chen?” shouted a short but thick man. In particular, his legs were especially thick.
This person was the third commander, who had once challenged Long Chen, but had ended up being won over by him. He was the first to oppose Qu Jianying’s decision to expel Long Chen.
“Alliance head, senior apprentice-brother Long Chen led us through a death trap. We might be pressured by powerful enemies, but even if we die, we can’t succumb to their threats!” said the fourth commander.
“Silence. The alliance head’s decisions cannot be changed by you!” shouted one of the elders of the Martial Heaven Alliance.
The disciples were infuriated, but Ye Lingshan held them back. “We have to respect the alliance head’s decisions.”
“Senior apprentice-sister Lingshan, you…” Now, even Qingqing was disappointed.
They were infuriated, but they could only suppress their feelings. They weren’t strong enough and weren’t qualified to participate in such a heavy decision.
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bsp; “Are you satisfied now?” Qu Jianying glared daggers at Yu Xiaoyun.
She knew that what Yu Xiaoyun wanted was this promise. This way, Long Chen would have nowhere to go. They could hunt him down to the ends of the world.
Originally, she couldn’t force herself to make this decision, but Li Tianxuan pushed her to do it. That was the only way to resolve the current situation. However, this was sacrificing Long Chen.
“If you had known this would happen, would you have still acted so willfully from the start? If you hadn’t selfishly tried to protect Long Chen, you wouldn’t have to suffer today, and there wouldn’t be so many geniuses that died such miserable deaths. That’s all the consequences of your own actions.” Yu Xiaoyun shook his head, sighing.
“YU XIAOYUN!”
Having gotten what he wanted, he actually pushed the responsibility onto others. Qu Jianying unsheathed her sword and pointed it at Yu Xiaoyun, longing to cut him into a million pieces. This person was too sinister, too shameless.
“Valley master Yu, it’s still too early to say who is right and who is wrong. In this world, the truth cannot become false, and the false cannot turn true. Even if you can cover it up for a while, the truth will be exposed sooner or later. When that time comes, whose name goes down in history for infamy or fame will be decided,” said Li Tianxuan with a polite smile.
Although amongst these higher-ups, Li Tianxuan was just a junior, he possessed a natural calm to him. His intelligence made others not dare to look down on him.
Although his words were rather ambiguous, everyone present could tell that he was indicating that slandering Long Chen would only work for a while. The truth would come out sooner or later.
It was well said. There was no proof that Long Chen had betrayed the Martial Heaven Continent and colluded with the original devil race. Pill Valley was merely using power to force that reality. They didn’t give Long Chen any chance to explain.
In order to avoid having the entire world destroyed, the Martial Heaven Alliance had submitted. But when the truth revealed itself, the Martial Heaven Alliance would have the power to wash away that disgrace. This was all in preparation for that moment.
“I’ve long since heard that the Xuantian Dao Sect was led by a wise young leader. As expected, he’s not ordinary.” Ma Ruyun looked at Li Tianxuan with a smile.
“That’s correct. Regretfully, he’s not part of our Huayun Sect. Otherwise, we would be able to suppress Pill Valley in less than ten years,” said an elder standing beside Ma Ruyun.
This elder was one of the Huayun Sect’s four assistant sect masters, Hua Mingxiong. He was also Zheng Wenlong’s direct superior.
“However, Wenlong is good as well. He shows promise and is quite daring while having a good head and heart. However, he’s still too young and needs more tempering. Give him some more authority in the future. Don’t stifle his development,” said Ma Ruyun.
“Yes.” Hua Mingxiong smiled. Ma Ruyun rarely paid attention to the matters within the Huayun Sect these days. Although there were four vice sect masters, the other three were in charge of their own businesses, while he, Hua Mingxiong, oversaw the overall development of the Huayun Sect. Many people had come to think that he was the true leader of the Huayun Sect.
Hua Mingxiong was very fond of Zheng Wenlong and treated him like his own apprentice. Hearing that Ma Ruyun also had such a high opinion of Zheng Wenlong, he was delighted.
“True gold isn’t afraid of being tempered by fire. My Pill Valley is simply trying to protect the Martial Heaven Continent. We’re not afraid of being criticized or cursed for our actions,” said Yu Xiaoyun righteously.
However, he didn’t bring up anything about Long Chen’s innocence. He merely stated Pill Valley’s attitude.
In other words, it didn’t matter whether or not Long Chen had colluded with the original devil race. As long as there was a threat to the Martial Heaven Continent, he would rather slay a thousand innocents than let off one criminal. Even if they killed the wrong person, they were still doing it with the Martial Heaven Continent at heart. They had a noble reason, so the people would understand them.
“Then let’s wait and see. I think that time will prove everything.” Li Tianxuan smiled slightly despite Yu Xiaoyun’s shameless quibbling.
“Let’s wait and see!” Yu Xiaoyun snorted, waving his hand and bringing his people away. The other leaders first said some words to Hua Mingxiong before taking their leave as well. After all, they weren’t Pill Valley, and there were many areas where they needed the Huayun Sect’s cooperation. Since a fight hadn’t started, they could continue that cooperation.
Ma Ruyun rarely showed himself, but Hua Mingxiong was someone that many of them knew.
The various experts began to leave one by one. In the end, Clearwind City returned to calm.
Due to the protection of the Netherpassage experts, the battle in the sky hadn’t affected the city. The old man and Yu Xiaoyun’s most powerful exchange had been stopped by the High Priest, so Clearwind City wasn’t damaged.
The experts that had fled from Clearwind City slowly returned.
“Many thanks for your assistance, sect master Ma.” Only now did Qu Jianying have a chance to express her thanks toward Ma Ruyun. If it weren’t for him, with such a power disparity, Yu Xiaoyun wouldn’t have let go of this chance to deal a heavy blow to the Martial Heaven Alliance.
“Alliance head Qu, you’re too courteous. Businessmen like us are most afraid of war. If there was a war, we’d have to beg just to survive. So you shouldn’t thank me, but thank yourselves. If you really want to thank me, then buy a bit more so I can make a bit more money.” Ma Ruyun smiled.
“I will remember this favor,” promised Qu Jianying.
“Then I still have things to do, so I’ll take my leave. Everyone, I hope you can remember this small shop owner when conducting your business in the future.”
Ma Ruyun laughed and brought his five hundred Netherpassage experts away.
Once everyone else had scattered, the Netherpassage experts of the Martial Heaven Alliance gathered in the Martial Heaven Palace. Qu Jianying expressed her thanks to these people that had come at such a time. Only at this time was it possible to see who was truly dependable.
“Sect master Li, don’t you feel like what we’ve done is letting down Long Chen?” Once everyone was seated, Qu Jianying turned to Li Tianxuan.
“There was no other choice. As one grows stronger, so does one’s responsibilities. However, I believe that Long Chen will definitely understand and that he is capable of carrying this burden,” said Li Tianxuan.
“Then what should we do now? Send people to protect Long Chen secretly?” asked Qu Jianying.
“No, it’s already too late for that. Based on Yu Xiaoyun and the Unfettered Allseer’s past schemes, they wouldn’t have come unprepared.” Li Tianxuan shook his head.
That startled everyone. “Then do you mean…”
Li Tianxuan sighed. “First of all, the time at which Yu Xiaoyun came to the Martial Heaven Alliance is off. They arrived half an incense stick’s worth of time later than I expected. They had definitely made some arrangements within that time. Long Chen’s escape should be within their expectations, so running actually puts Long Chen in their trap…”
“What?! Then why did you make him run?!” demanded Qu Jianying.
“If Long Chen didn’t go, then even with the High Priest’s warning and sect master Ma’s reinforcements, there would have been no way to avoid this war. The truth is, while one of their goals is to kill Long Chen, their main goal was to instigate this war. If that happened, the Martial Heaven Alliance would be ruined, and the stragglers wouldn’t have the power to threaten Pill Valley. If that war had started, then no matter who won, both sides would take heavy losses. However, our losses would definitely be greater, because we have only gathered a third of the Martial Heaven Alliance. If our members shrink any more, those Righteous sects still watching from the sidelines will immediately lea
n toward Pill Valley. Our power cannot defeat the sum of the Corrupt path, ancient races, ancient family alliance, Xuan Beasts, and the Bloodkill Hall. Even if everyone lost half their people, it isn’t something we could endure. That’s also why Yu Xiaoyun wanted this battle so badly. So as long as we fought, no matter the result, we would still lose. The only one capable of stopping that worst-case scenario was Long Chen,” said Li Tianxuan.
“But Long Chen is just a Soul Transformation disciple. The ones hunting him down are all Netherpassage experts! Just how is he supposed to do anything?” demanded others.
“That’s another thing I don’t know. But I believe that the fact that Long Chen could reach his current height is no coincidence. I trust him,” said Li Tianxuan.
“That’s no good. I’m not going to let a child carry this burden while we sit here like a tortoise. We’ll just have to change our appearance and cover up our identities.” Quite a few Netherpassage experts immediately stood up. They felt that this was too unjust for Long Chen.
“It’s already too late. The moment Long Chen left Clearwind City, he entered their trap. Right now, the fate of the Martial Heaven Continent is in his hands. As for us, the only thing we can do… is wait for news from Long Chen.” Li Tianxuan muttered as he looked in the direction where Long Chen had run.
Chapter 1924 Intercepted by Netherpassage Experts
The Cloud Chasing Heaven Swallowing Sparrow pierced through space rapidly.
“Long Chen, where are we going?” asked Meng Qi.
“Just go straight toward the eastern sea. Meng Qi, it’ll be hard on you, but maintain your spiritual senses. If you sense any powerful auras, immediately avoid them.” Long Chen’s expression was grave.
“What is the matter?” asked Mo Nian.
“Have you forgotten? The main conspirators behind this scheme are Pill Valley and Heavenly Fate Island. Considering their characters, how could they let us run? We’ll definitely run into obstructions on our way, so everyone should be prepared,” said Long Chen.
