Ye Wuchen was thrown off and he spewed blood from his mouth. However, his expression remained cold as he looked at the sword at Bai Ze's throat.
Zui Qianchou was seen standing right behind Bai Ze.
Bai Ze extended his hands while shaking all over, holding his throat where blood kept oozing out. His eyes were wide open and almost popping out as he glared at the figure before him. The bloodshot eyes were filled with vile hatred and frustration.
Am I going to die just like this? His body trembled from fear of death. He had never even once thought that Ye Wuchen and the others actually dared kill him within the Holy Zhi Palace. Have they gone insane? He was the second son of White Cloud City, a gifted proud son and a student of the Holy Zhi Palace. How dare they actually kill me? This is vexing.
His eyes went blood-red and his aura dropped sharply. There were tears streaking down from his eyes. Fear, hate, regret, and many other emotions overwhelmed him. He had never thought himself to be one who would die at such a young age. His future should have been one filled with glory.
He had been proud and arrogant as he blazed his way on the Holy Road. But everything changed when he met Ye Futian. His life was completely thrown off-course since from that very day. He ended up dead in the Holy Zhi Palace, by the hands of two people he had despised.
He recalled the scene when he first came to face Ye Futian. He ignored Ye Futian right in front of him and intended to rope Hua Jieyu into the Holy Sage Pavilion to train with him. He despised Ye Futian and the feud between them started there.
At the moment, everything was about to end. The cold sword rendered his blood cold as well. Xu Que glanced behind him and with a flash, he dropped his finger down. Sword aura filled the place there were and struck Bai Ze's body, which was then dissolved into nothing soon after, disappearing alongside his sword flash.
"What are you two standing there for?" Xu Que said, knowing that they had gotten themselves in big trouble.
Zui Qianchou's eyes turned to Ye Wuchen, who then turned around and said, "Why are you two getting involved in this? This is my problem."
Zui Qianchou and Xu Que walked up to him. They knew that even if Zui Qianchou hadn't done what he did, Bai Ze would have died all the same. However, the last move that Bai Ze pulled would have caused Ye Wuchen severe injuries, as such, Zui Qianchou dealt the fatal blow.
"Don't think about it too much. Since we have actually fought, the Holy Zhi Palace will definitely look into it, and it looks we won't be able to hide the incident for long. What we need to do right now is get the hell out of here." Zui Qianchou's voice did not sound like his usual playful, nonchalant self. They had just killed a student of the Holy Sage Pavilion, after all. Worse still, it was the son of the City Lord of White Cloud City and Bai Luli's brother.
Their violation of the rule forbidding the students of the Holy Zhi Palace killing each other was more than enough to convict them. Their predicament was made worse by the fact that the Holy Sage Pavilion treasured Bai Luli, and they would definitely not sit by knowing that his brother was killed. They needed to do something about it one way or another.
They found someone standing before them as soon as they walked out of Valley of Knowledge, a figure exuding imposing bearing just standing around.
Ye Wuchen and the other two were practically frozen seeing the figure before them.
Ye Wuchen then walked up firmly and said to the figure respectfully, "Teacher, I was the one responsible for the matter. It had nothing to do with them."
The Sword Demon glared at the three of them with sharp expression. These three b*stards have actually killed Bai Ze. Are they insane or what?
"What is this matter are you talking about?"
Ye Wuchen was stunned. He went on to stare at the Sword Demon with a dumbfounded expression.
"You all have reached a certain plane in your training and now it is time for you to go out to experience the world," the Sword Demon said and turned around. "This is farewell." He disappeared as soon as he finished talking.
Ye Wuchen bowed to the figure who just left before turning to do the same with Xu Que and Zui Qianchou. Xu Que then said, "Just get out of here."
The three of them headed for Sword Palace like bolts of lightning, bringing Liu Chenyu with them before leaving the Holy Zhi Palace as fast as they could.
After a while, someone found Bai Ze's Spirit Jade Scroll broken. That could only have meant one thing—Bai Ze had perished.
The people of Holy Sage Pavilion went to inform the Assistant Palace Lord, Liu Chan at once of the news. The Holy Sage Pavilion was shaken to its core. Bai Ze had perished within the boundaries of the Holy Zhi Palace. Nothing so dire had happened within the sacred ground for many, many years.
Liu Chan's expression was ashen. Everyone around him busied themselves with one matter or another. Sage Tianxing made it there as well. Bai Ze was a student of the Holy Zhi Palace, Bai Gu's son, and Bai Luli's brother. He had very deep ties with the Holy Zhi Palace, and he was found dead within the Holy Zhi Palace.
"Find out who did this as soon as possible," Liu Chan said coldly.
"We are investigating the matter," Sage Tianxing responded. The entire Holy Zhi Palace was shaken by the incident. Nobody thought Bai Ze would die.
Someone came before Sage Tianxing and Liu Chan and reported after some time, "Bai Ze had deliberately guided Zhan Xiao to Taihang Mountain and the case was feverishly discussed among the students. Many were in the opinion that Bai Ze's action was despicable. Yu Sheng, Hua Jieyu, and the rest of them were on Taihang Mountain.
"And?" Sage Tianxing asked.
"Some saw Ye Wuchen, Zui Qianchoud, and Xu Que leaving the Sword Palace, and they were nowhere to be found after. Even Liu Chenyu disappeared from the Sword Palace. According to the guards, they have been gone from Holy Zhi Palace for quite a while," the person elaborated.
Both Liu Chan and Sage Tianxing wore dire expressions. From what they heard, the three of them were definitely involved in this. It was not known who actually did that for now, but given that all three of them were students of the Sword Palace and shared amicable relations, the other two would have gotten involved somehow.
"Get someone after them, and go fetch me the Sword Demon," Liu Chan said.
The people before them nodded and a group of mighty ones was dispatched outside the Holy Zhi Palace. The Sword Demon was too, summoned to the Holy Sage Pavilion shortly after.
"Sword Demon, Ye Wuchen and the other two were students of the Sword Palace. What do you think of this?" Liu Chan asked.
"If something like that were to happen to my friend, I would have chosen to kill Bai Ze too. He wasn't fit to call himself a student of the Holy Zhi Palace," the Sword Demon looked at Liu Chan and said. Everyone in the Holy Zhi Palace knew of the feud between Bai Ze and Ye Futian. Bai Ze was being put under Ye Futian's shadow all the time. He should have simply gone for Ye Futian on his own if he hated Ye Futian that much. However, he went to guide Zhan Xiao of Zhisheng Cliffs to Taihang Mountain instead. It was an act that damaged the reputation of the Holy Zhi Palace.
Liu Chan stared at the Sword Demon with a somewhat bitter expression. While there was no doubt that what Bai Ze did was despicable, Ye Wuchen and the rest should not have killed him still.
"Killing one's fellow student within the vicinity of the Holy Zhi Palace is the most dire of crimes one can commit within the Holy Zhi Palace." Liu Chan looked at the Sword Demon and said, "If the culprit behind this is found, the Holy Zhi Palace will make sure he is punished appropriately."
The Sword Demon looked at Liu Chan with a calm expression. There was no doubt that he knew it would have turned out as such. It was the very reason why he chose to let them go instead of stopping them. He knew very well that none of them would come out of this alive.
Both sets of eyes remained staring at each other and silence filled the air for a while, before the Sword Demon broke the silence and said, "The Tingxue House has already made their stance clear. If Xu Que is found to be involved in this incident, the stance of Tingxue House will lean towards him. Furthermore, You Chi from Alchemy City also made his stance clear. The incident rocked the entire Barren State, and despite not being a clear state of things, there are now two factions formed on this. Haven't you considered why this has happened?"
"And why indeed?" Liu Chan's expression turned immensely sharp as he stared at the Sword Demon.
The Sword Demon did not hold back at all. He stared at Liu Chan and said, "The Holy Zhi Palace wanted a saint in the Barren State, but there were many who did not actually care whether Barren State had a saint or not, and some did not even want to see it happen. It was because we at the Holy Zhi Palace poured all our hopes into Bai Luli and were willing to do anything for him. Many in the Barren State may have thought that even if a saint were to emerge, it would be a saint of the Holy Zhi Palace, a saint of White Cloud City, instead of a saint of the Barren State. As such, they chose another whom they saw to possess the same hope of achieving such an endeavor."
It might have been a deliberate movement or just some momentum formed due to the times. However, there was no denying the movement formed. It was powerful enough to shake even Kong Yao, White Cloud City, and many other forces.
"What are you trying to say?" Liu Chan felt troubled inside. So even the Lord of Sword Palace began to falter in his beliefs then?
"The Holy Zhi Palace wanted to create a saint for the Barren State, but the Barren State as a whole disagreed with that. The people of the Barren State have their own ideas about things. If the case continues to worsen further, it is anyone's guess what the consequence will be. Wanxiang predicted that the Holy Zhi Palace would be caught in a huge ordeal. But where did said ordeal come from?" The Sword Demon sighed and continued, "Maybe if the Holy Zhi Palace had been more careful with the case between Bai Luli and Zhuge Mingyue, and gone to listen to opinions of more people, things would have turned differently." The Sword Demon then turned around and left.
Liu Chan and Sage Tianxing watched Sword Demon walk away and thought, out of the six, some among them now doubted the Holy Zhi Palace's previous decision. What was more fearsome than external enemies, was a rift within one's own ranks. The divergence in ideology was usually the most terrifying of all such internal rifts. People at their level would often be adamant in carrying out their own ideologies.
The will of the Holy Zhi Palace was no longer one.
Back then when Bail Luli was to be engaged to Zhuge Mingyue, no one cared what the nobles of the younger generations within the Holy Zhi Palace thought. Nobody had anticipated that it was those nobles back then from the Holy Zhi Palace who had come to be instrumental in steering the way things would go in the Barren State.
…
Someone who claimed to be from Tingxue House came to look for Ye Futian at Crouching Mountain Dragon. Ye Futian saw the one who came and they left a message: Zhan Xiao was heading for Taihang Mountain with his people. Ye Futian's expression changed drastically hearing the news. Cold murderous intent was seen his star-like eyes.
With the war at hand and Crouching Dragon Mountain being surrounded by mighty ones, Zhan Xiao had actually brought his men to Taihang Mountain. The very reason he had Yu Sheng, Hua Jieyu, Loulan Xue and the others stay at Taihang Mountain was because things were too dangerous at Crouching Dragon Mountain. However, they now found that Taihang Mountain was caught in a similar predicament instead.
Both Taihang Mountain and Crouching Dragon Mountain were in trouble. Danger lied everywhere and Ye Futian had a hard time making decisions. If he had Yuan Hong and the ones from Taihang Mountain pulled from Crouching Dragon Mountain, there was no doubt that Crouching Dragon Mountain's days would be numbered. It was not something he wanted to see. But, if he did not call on Yuan Hong, what could he do about the trouble that was to come to Taihang Mountain?