Chapter 789 - Traitor? (2/2)

Within the tortoiseshell, the bone chips rattled frantically. As if the yard was in a world of its own, all insect chirps, leaf rustles and human breaths disappeared. The rattling bones were the only sound in the world.

Rattle—

The bone chips rattled more urgently, then finally stopped.

“Open!”

As if an ancient beast had swallowed the yard whole, all the surrounding buildings, people and plants disappeared. All that was left was an illusory space.

Of course, that was what the sitting one hundred people saw. The people surrounding the yard only saw a large totem and strong ripples from the red flames.

In the illusory space, everyone’s silhouettes turned blurry. They could see a glowing person, though this person’s silhouette flickered inconsistently and his face was too blurry to be seen.

Yi Tuan sensed that the person they waited for would soon appear. The person coined as The Unlucky One a thousand years ago would appear right in front of them very soon.

Very quickly, a few more people appeared in the space nearby. They were Yi family members who could not make it home.

With the appearance of the Yi totem, another two figures appeared.

“Yi Qi, Yi Cong?” Someone recognised them. Although their faces were blurry, their auras were distinguishable.

The Yi family did not ask them about their mission. With the coming battle, everything was unimportant. Why should they waste time talking about irrelevant matters?

As everyone gathered, the three elders gave time for them to acclimatise to the space. Some newer members were not used to this so they had arrived earlier.

After waiting a while, Yi Tuan’s eyebrow twitched as he looked at a spot in the illusory space.

Not just Yi Tuan, the two other elders were looking at the same spot cautiously.

Everyone was stunned. Was another person coming?

The patriarch was thinking hard. He could not think of anyone out of town that had not appeared yet. Even if that was the case, they were quite late- about a few days late in real-time? A Yi family member would not make a mistake like this. Eliminating this possibility, could this newcomer be an enemy?

“Knot divination?!” Yi Tuan could not suppress his shock.

The elders were skilled enough to sense what method a person not from within the residence used to enter the space. This energy ripple did not look like a common Yi technique either. Knot divination had been lost a long time ago, even he was not familiar with it and only knew enough to recognise it.

Knot divination?! Everyone else was shocked.

Didn’t that lineage of knot divination readers die off a long time ago? How could it be? No, there was one. Yi Xiang knew knot divination too. That meant that the person about to appear must be related to Yi Xiang if they were not Yi Xiang himself!

Knot Divination was a type of Grass Reading.

Grass readings, tortoiseshell readings and bone readings used to be the three strongest abilities of the Yi family. Legends described the founder of grass readings to be able to know anything just by plucking a blade of mountain grass. It was unfortunate that the knowledgeable Grass Readings lineage slowly died off, and in the end, only Knot Divination remained. The other lineages transformed with the times, often adding supplementary materials for better results. Some people extracted the essence of tortoiseshell and bones to invent new reading methods. However, the Knot Divination lineage remained as the most conservative, stubborn and prideful lineage- at the same time poorest. These disciples never understood the need for money nor had material desires. If people they disliked came asking for help, they would never offer their assistance despite great monetary compensation. Over time, they were shunned and ultimately declined into nothing.

The last master of the Knot Divination lineage died a thousand years ago. The most frustrating part to the Yi family was that this master took in only one disciple before his death, and this was the fishbone stuck stubbornly in their throats— Yi Xiang.

When Yi Xiang left, he took with him the knowledge of the last knot divination master. Since then, no true knot divination practitioners remained in the family. This technique disappeared but it did not affect the family because their descendants proceeded to create more powerful methods.

When they realised this newcomer used knot divination, their first thought was: “Is that a traitor?!”

“Yi Qi, Yi Cong, who was with you before you two came?” asked Yi Tuan suddenly.

Yi Qi and Yi Cong were stunned by the question, puzzled why Yi Tuan would ask such a thing. Did Yi Tuan suspect them of something? That they were traitors? That’s not right. While Yi Tuan sounded stern, its hostility was not directed at them. It did not sound like he was talking to traitors.

Several people flashed across Yi Qi’s mind, including Shao Xuan in the end but he stubbornly denied this possibility. Definitely not that tribesman. Tribesmen cannot master the core arts of the Yi family.

Yi Cong was thinking the same thing. His first thought had been ‘Shao Xuan of Flaming Horn’ but he too did not believe this so he could not answer the question.

Very soon, the ripples became obvious and sparks flew, meaning a person was about to arrive. What differed from the Yi family members was that no Yi totem appeared.

Before Yi Cong and Yi Qi appeared, a Yi totem formed from their fire seed’s flames would appear beneath their feet. What did the lack of totem mean? It meant this was not one of them!

Yi Xiang had Yi blood, hence this would not happen either. Who Was this person?

The possibility of Yi Cong’s first guess rose to eighty percent. “Shao Xuan? Could it be the Flaming Horn Tribe’s Shao Xuan?!”

What?!

A tribesman?!

And Flaming Horn Tribe too?!

All three elders’ figures flickered. If one could see their expressions, they would be filled with shock and disbelief.

If the person speaking was not Yi Cong, they would have been scolded. But this was the genius of the young generation, Yi Cong. He was never one to spout nonsense and random guesses either.

While they were in disbelief, the same spot glowed brighter, burning red- which was different from their fire seed’s flames. The totem still had not appeared.

The fiery glow finally condensed into a very blurry figure, much blurrier than any Yi member as if it would disappear at any second.

“This aura…” Yi Qi looked over, and the realisation struck him hard. “Shao Xuan… of Flaming Horn!”