Chapter 292 - The Plot (2/2)
After a moment, two shadowy figures—Qingluan and Ziyun’er—landed before him in a thud.
“Your command, Master?”
Xiao Chen peered into the darkened sky above them. A glint of malice flashed in his eyes as a single word escaped his lips—”Death.”
…
The entirety of Tianyuan City woke up the next day to a piece of horrifying news. The entire contingent of the Order of the Divine Fire, numbering to several tens of them, had been found gruesomely slaughtered. But strangely, nothing was damaged or broken; everything—the doors, windows, and all other items—were found intact with scarcely any signs of a fight.
A hundred Constables were dispatched to help with the investigation of the grisly murders but to no avail. Whoever it was, the killer had left nothing for which the Constables could work on. Everyone in the estate—the several tens of students and acolytes of the Order, including Zhu Danfeng, whose own soul had all but completely destroyed—was so deftly assassinated and slaughtered that they barely had any time to react at all.
News of the death of the contingent of the Order, which included several members with powers of the Core Forming Realm and a conjurer whose magic neared the Nascent Soul Realm, blazed through the entire city-state in a single day, putting fear into the commons of Tianyuan City. It was not the horrid murders that appalled them, but rather the murderer’s ability to commit the deed without so much as a mouse stirring.
Many came to suspect Xiao Chen, who was only in a fight against the Order the day before. Word traveled fast in the city, and before long, whispers and murmurs rose from every corner of the city with rumors of the city’s most enigmatic young man getting involved in the heinous massacre.
Be that as it might, there was nothing the League could do, not without any definite proof implicating Xiao Chen. But this did not prevent the elders of all schools and sects from issuing a strict warning to their students: Keep away from this man and offend him not!
At the same time, a shrunken old man perched at the top of a precipice high atop the Jade Terrace Mountain. His red robes fluttered and snapped in the wind while the sinews on his neck were taut with veins bulging with anger, him wearing an ugly and hateful look on his face.
“I will avenge you, Brother Zhu…”
Wan Gufeng breathed venomously. The Order of the Divine Fire has suffered losses so huge that their only Tier Four Elixir King was no more, the deaths of tens of students with promising talents to say the least.
There was nothing but only hate and malice for Xiao Chen, he brooded. But he could only sit and watch as long as Xiao Chen remained under the watchful eyes of the League in Tianyuan City.
The crunching of gravel alerted him to the presence of somebody behind him suddenly.
“WHO GOES THERE!” A man in green was walking closer to him from behind. Wan Gufeng regarded the stranger coldly, “Who are you?”
“My name is Ling Yuanshan of Clan Ling,” said the gnarly old man politely.
“Ah? A member of Clan Ling?” Wan Gufeng’s eyes narrowed as he studied the newcomer briefly, “What do you want?” There was hardly a shred of kindness in his voice. Wan Gufeng was confident that his powers trumped the stranger by lengths and miles and the Clan of Ling wielded authority only in the Eastern Continent; there was nothing about this newcomer that he was afraid of.
“Is it not said that the enemy of my enemy is my friend?” Ling Yuanshan smiled sardonically.
Out of the factions that professed no love for Xiao Chen, the Clan of Ling harbored the deepest loathing and contempt for him. The deaths of Ling Yuxuan and Ling Yingfeng, among many others, and most prominently, the near-destruction of the lord of Clan Ling, Ling Ruoxu’s soul at Canglan City had all but set into stone the never-wavering bitterness the clan reserved for Xiao Chen.
“You know the origins of this boy?” Wan Gufeng asked curtly.
“He’s not of the Jade Qing Sect, nor is he the heir of the Ancient Immortal Clans. My best guess is that he comes from the Human World.”
The news brought Wan Gufeng whirling to face his newfound ally with shock and disbelief on his face. But he quickly recollected himself, cracking his knuckles as he growled deeply, “I see… He’s been sent here by the schools of sorcery and magic in the Human World.”
Ling Yuanshan nodded.
“Very well! I’ll destroy the school from whence this wretched cur comes from!”
“Patience. There’s yet any end to the promising potential we’ve seen from him. What’s more, he has the support of both the Jade Qing Sect and the Xianyong Sect behind him. I dare say it’s nothing short of foolhardy to act now and allow them to find out that we are the ones behind the destruction of his former school.”
Wan Gufeng’s forehead wrinkled as he squinted in thought, finding himself agreeing with Ling Yuanshan. “I’d hope that you have something good then. I’m all ears.”
Ling Yuanshan merely grinned wickedly as a hint of rancor gleamed in his eyes. “We’ll have to hatch a plot; one that would make him a pariah. Make him an outlaw of the Violet Manor. It would be for the best if the League arrests him and seals his soul. As far as I’m concerned, this boy seems to share certain connections with members of the Devil’s Path…”
…
Faraway in the bowels of Tianyuan City, Xiao Chen was in his room, watching the still-unconscious Zhiluan. His face was tensed with concern for his friend when he felt a cold shudder, a premonitory dread as if a storm was coming, just when a voice from behind broke the still silence in the room.
“Master.”