Everyone in the Nine States paid close attention to the Holy Zhi Palace and the Yue Clan working together to investigate the murders of the Yue Clan cultivators.
Who had dared to do this? What was their goal?
Several days later, the two holy lands discovered the site of the Yue Clan cultivators’ final battle. It was indeed in Zhongzhou City, but it was in a part of the city with no people.
At this moment, Ye Futian and Yue Jiangliu had just arrived there. There were traces of the destruction of battle there, and even some bloodstains. The last place that people had seen the cultivators was not far from here, and the investigators had followed the road to here. There was still some sealing rule power will left over, which was probably a trace left by the Yue Clan cultivators.
The people from the two holy lands blocked off the area. Even Xihua Sacred Mountain and the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty were tactful enough to not use this opportunity to move against Ye Futian.
Many people suspected they were responsible for the deaths of the Yue Clan cultivators. If they attacked now, it would completely force the Yue Clan to run into the arms of the Holy Zhi Palace. It would be disadvantageous for them to do this.
There were traces of the battle, and a rule power aura was left behind, but other than the fact that they knew this was the place where the Yue Clan cultivators had come to grief, there were no other clues.
Ye Futian ran through his Freedom Meditation, looking all around the area, trying to find clues. At this time his perception was extremely sharp, and as he landed in the battle area, he felt that there was a faint aura besides the leftover sealing rule power will.
“It’s so cold,” he whispered and then walked over to a different trace of the battle.
After a while, he looked up at Yue Jiangliu and said, “The aura from the battle has nearly disappeared, but there is still a bit of one left over from the battle between top-level Sages. My perception is extraordinary, so I can still sense it. It seems that one person did this, and they seemed to be skilled at Ice Rule Power.”
“There are many top level Sages in the Nine States who are good at that. Every holy land has one,” said Yue Jiangliu. This meant that Ye Futian’s discovery did not mean too much, and it wouldn’t help them find the killer.
Perhaps the Yue Clan cultivators had been too careless and had fallen afoul of a plot against them. They had probably never thought that someone would assassinate them.
After searching for a while, Yue Jiangliu said, “It looks like we won’t find any more clues. Let’s go back to the palace.”
“Alright,” said Ye Futian, and the group of them returned to the Holy Zhi Palace. They had not found the killer, leaving the situation very clouded. However, the fact that there were Yue Clan cultivators staying in the Holy Zhi Palace, added to the fact that the Yue Clan was working together with them, made it so that Xihua Sacred Mountain and the Great Zhou Sacred Dynasty did not act rashly.
There had been a slaughter at Zhisheng Cliffs by Ye Futian’s army, and now the Yue Clan had come in, upsetting their schemes. They were very unhappy about all this. But even though they were unhappy, all they could do was restrain themselves and continue to wait for a good opportunity.
Saint Xihua and the Great Zhou Sacred King even felt in their hearts that Saint Zhi was a gutless coward. He was lucky he was a Saint, otherwise, he would have been slaughtered along with the rest of his disciples. Everyone mocked him now. He would not recover his former position in a hundred years, and he now did not even have the imposing manner of a dead fish in a broken net.
With Saint Zhi’s power, he could have slaughtered everyone in the Holy Zhi Palace, and not even the two Saints there could have stopped him. After destroying the Holy Zhi Palace he would have had to avoid Emperor Xia’s wrath, but that wasn’t so bad compared to the alternative. Now it looked like there were two more potential Saints among the ranks of the juniors of the Holy Zhi Palace. One of them was the crown jewel of the Nine States, Ye Futian, and the other was number one in the Nine States Forum, Yu Sheng.
Of course, they thought that way, but if Saint Xihua and the Great Zhou Sacred King had done that themselves they would be not worthy of the dignity of Saints. It was not easy to cultivate up to their level.
There was nothing in the world more important than cultivation. If you had that, then it must be fate. If it wasn’t fated, then what use was it to pursue the Great Path?
…
Ye Futian returned to the Holy Zhi Palace, and then took out the file pertaining to the Sages and Saints Ranking to thumb through it.
He did not look at the 72 Saints but at the eighty-one Sages. Of course, a lot of the Sages in the list no longer existed, thanks to him and the Holy Zhi Palace. But he still attentively looked through the rest of them.
There were many people in the Nine States who were good at Ice Rule Power, but someone who was confident enough to kill all those Yue Clan cultivators by themselves must be quite powerful. And they had not given their opponents any chance to escape. Therefore, it was worth taking a look at the Sages Ranking. But Ye Futian did not gain much from looking at it.
Just as Ye Futian was investigating the deaths of the Yue Clan cultivators, a group of uninvited guests came quietly to Zhongzhou City. Zhongzhou City was the largest city in the Barren State, and the Holy Zhi Palace was located on the edge of it.
At that moment, a group of cultivators moved confidently through the ancient city. They all wore a detached attitude. One of them had white hair and a ruddy complexion, and a celestial wind blew across his body. His aura poured out from him carelessly, shocking everyone who felt it. The other cultivators were incredible as well. They seemed to be looking for something as they walked along.
In the center of them stood a young man wearing a beautiful brocade. Beside him was a middle-aged man with a picture scroll floating in front of him with light shining from it. This scroll was actually a map, which guided them through the city.
“We should be almost there,” said the middle-aged man. He looked up with bright and piercing eyes. His face was as sharp as a blade, and there was a hint of power about his form.
“Where are we?” asked the young man.
“In one of the Nine States, the land under Emperor Xia’s jurisdiction,” answered the middle-aged man.
“Previously, Xia Qingyuan brought people to train in our realm. I never would have thought we would have come to Emperor Xia’s realm so soon after. But I’m afraid that it will be inconvenient to act here. Keep things as inconspicuous as possible, we don’t want to cause trouble,” ordered the young man. Everyone nodded. They all knew the purpose of their trip.
If traces of Renhuang really appeared in this remote Barren State, it would be difficult to obtain the benefits. So they would try not to provoke any trouble in Emperor Xia’s lands in possible. They hoped the traces of Renhuang were not hidden too deep, so they had a chance of getting their hands on them. They had paid a high price for this map. They didn’t want to waste it.
The floating map gradually lit up, as if it had sensed something, making everyone’s eyes flash towards it sharply. It looked like they were going the right way.
Not long after, they came to a large household. A palace stood there mightily. It was towering and imposing, and a real dragon’s breath blew out from it.
This must be one of the top forces in the region. However, there was no one there. It was completely empty.
The light from the map grew brighter, but a strange look came over everyone’s faces. There was no one here?
Many people were walking along outside the palace, looking curiously at the group of powerful figures in the sky. Their aura was quite frightening, and they did not know where they had come from. Could they be from one of the holy lands?
As Ye Futian had made the Holy Zhi Palace’s fame rise, the people of Zhongzhou City’s knowledge of the world had grown as well. Now, even seeing people from a holy land did not surprise them.
Up in the sky, the group of people gazed at the empty palace. It seemed like it had belonged to a Clan, but they had all migrated away. There was a dragon-shaped staircase at the entrance, and a single, powerful character was engraved there: Huang!
It seemed that the people who had once lived there had some connection to this character, Huang.
The young man smiled when he saw this character. This was most interesting. He turned and looked at the vigorous old man. “Do you sense anything?”
The old man’s spiritual will was already covering the whole area. He shook his head softly and said, “This Clan was quite imposing, but they were very small. Even though their family name was “Huang,” [1] they weren’t worthy of that title. They can’t be the ones we are looking for.”
Everyone who heard his words felt their hearts grow cold. The palace was empty now, but it had once been the home of one of the most prominent forces in the Barren State. Other than the palace, they were able to command the most power.
The Huang Clan of Zhongzhou City.
But in the old man’s mouth, they sounded like some unimportant family, not worthy of the name “Huang.”
“But the map reacted to it. It can’t be a mistake. There must be another mystery here. Let’s level the palace buildings,” ordered the young man.
“Yes, sir.” Beside him, a well-dressed middle-aged scholar stepped forward. A terrible storm blew out from him. The winds gathered together and slashed forward like the sharpest blade in the world. The weather changed in an instant as the storm covered everything, swallowing up the mighty palace of the Huang Clan.
Those who were watching from afar went pale. They seemed to see the storm sweep out, each of the palace buildings uprooted, turning to dust in the raging wind that was blown far away. Soon, the storm disappeared, and when they looked at the once magnificent palace, all that was left was a ruin.
“A Saint!” Everyone’s hearts beat rapidly. Why would a Saint come to Zhongzhou City? Which of the holy lands was he from? And why had they leveled the Huang Clan’s palace?
Could it be that they had come to attack the Holy Zhi Palace? But if so, there seemed to be no reason to destroy the Huang Clan’s home where nobody lived. What did it mean?
The young man looked at the brightening map beside him and said, “It must be here. Today, even if you have to dig down 1000 meters, you will find it for me.”
“Yes, sir.” Everyone beside him nodded. They had traveled far to find this place. Now they would achieve their goal. They had found the right place, how could they fail?
[1] In Chinese, “Huang” means “Emperor.”