Volume One, Chapter 15: Ye Ziying’s Speculation
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Staring in disbelief, Zhou Ziyin was holding a chicken drumstick up at the three of them and even threatened to kill them. The Master of the Tang Sect’s Enforcement Hall was so furious that his beard bristled: “Zhou Ziyin, how dare you insult us!”
“Prepare to die!”
With that, the Enforcement Hall Master stepped forward, his true energy surging and causing the space around them to ripple instantly.
His palm technique was like the wind, unleashing the Tang Sect’s Jade Palm with a thunderous roar.
Zhou Ziyin’s expression changed sharply. The opponent was a profound realm expert, while he had only just reached the transcendence stage. There was no way he could match this old thief, and to make matters worse, his greatest asset—the Thousand-Life Ghost Lotus—was nowhere in his grasp!
His first instinct was to flee, but as soon as he turned, the Third and Fourth Elders appeared behind him like phantoms. Their palms pressed directly onto his shoulders, their thick true energy suppressing him so heavily he could barely breathe!
Bang!
The Jade Palm struck Zhou Ziyin’s back, causing him to spit a mouthful of fresh blood on the spot.
All the meridians throughout his body shattered from the force of the blow!
“Zhou Ziyin, hand over the Thousand-Life Ghost Lotus!” the Enforcement Hall Master roared angrily.
At that moment, Zhou Ziyin gritted his teeth tightly. His eyes fixed on the chicken drumstick in his hand. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t understand how the Thousand-Life Ghost Lotus in his storage pouch had inexplicably turned into a chicken leg.
“I hate—”
Zhou Ziyin shouted fiercely.
“Speak quickly!”
The Third Elder’s hand turned into a claw, grabbing Zhou Ziyin’s shoulder. With a crack, his collarbone was crushed under the Elder’s grip.
Zhou Ziyin was drenched in sweat from the pain.
He still couldn’t understand how things had turned out this way. According to his original plan, once he obtained the Thousand-Life Ghost Lotus, he wouldn’t fear any Tang Sect expert chasing after him. With the Ghost Lotus in hand, he would kill as many as came his way. Then, once he escaped Tianque and fled into the wilderness, the sky would be his limit, and he and Tang Sect would be forever severed!
But somehow, some bastard had stolen his Thousand-Life Ghost Lotus and replaced it with a chicken drumstick.
What was worse, the chicken leg had been bitten into—an utter insult!
“Kill me if you want!” Zhou Ziyin glared fiercely at the three of them.
He knew full well that if he claimed ignorance of the Ghost Lotus’s whereabouts, those three old men wouldn’t believe him.
The Third and Fourth Elders exchanged a glance, both eyes flashing with fury.
“Take him back,” the Enforcement Hall Master said coldly. “There are countless punishments waiting for him in the Tang Sect. I refuse to believe we can’t break his silence!”
Zhou Ziyin was taken away.
The Tang Sect was already under the watchful eyes of many, so when this incident broke out, it spread quickly throughout the martial world.
Zhou Ziyin had betrayed the sect and stolen the Thousand-Life Ghost Lotus.
This stirred quite a commotion in the martial world.
Yet, thousands of miles away, Li Hanzhou remained unaware of these events. For the past few days, he stuck to his routine—studying books, researching alchemy, and pondering how to help Liu Dongyue improve his strength.
However, Liu Dongyue was gloomy and restless, unable to sleep well, feeling as though Li Hanzhou’s gaze upon him was something like that of a scientist examining a lab rat.
Liu Dongyue was so troubled, he even considered running away from home.
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White Cloud City Lord’s Mansion.
Ye Qingbei sat in the main hall with a dark expression, lost in thought.
“Father.”
At that moment, Ye Ziying entered. “Father, you wanted to see me?”
“Hm,” Ye Qingbei said sternly. “Today’s the day. According to Li Hanzhou, he should be escorting the Ninth Prince out of the city.”
“Father, escorting the Ninth Prince will definitely have to wait until nightfall. There are too many eyes and ears during the day,” Ye Ziying replied.
“I’ve had people surveil the Eternal Life Sect for several days,” Ye Qingbei said. “These past three days, Li Hanzhou hasn’t left the sect at all and hasn’t prepared anything. He’s been just reading in his room every day. I’m beginning to suspect that Li Hanzhou is playing me. He said he needed three days to prepare, but he’s done nothing. Escorting the Ninth Prince out is a major matter. Now, looking back, I was too hasty.”
“Father, there’s nothing we can do about it,” Ye Ziying pondered for a moment. “How about this—I’ll go to the Eternal Life Sect now and see what Li Hanzhou is really up to.”
“Go ahead. If that Li Hanzhou intends to cause trouble, then we’ll deal with it accordingly,” Ye Qingbei said, his resolve hardened.
“Don’t worry.”
Ye Ziying turned and left the City Lord’s Mansion, heading straight to the Eternal Life Sect.
A fast horse carried her there in just half an hour.
“This is the Eternal Life Sect?” Ye Ziying looked at the mountain gate where the three faded characters of the sect’s name were barely visible. She could hardly believe such a place was even a sect.
“Who are you looking for?”
At that moment, a voice called out.
Ye Ziying looked up and saw a young girl standing near the gate.
The girl wore a Taoist robe and looked particularly adorable.
“Hello, I’m looking for Senior Li Hanzhou,” Ye Ziying said as she approached.
“Oh, you’re looking for our Master Uncle. I’ll take you to him,” Yun Qianzhu smiled.
“Thank you,” Ye Ziying smiled back. “Are you also a disciple of the Eternal Life Sect? What’s your name?”
“My name is Yun Qianzhu,” the girl replied as she appraised Ye Ziying carefully. “Sister, you’re very beautiful.”
No woman dislikes compliments, and Ye Ziying was naturally pleased. After a moment’s thought, she took a long sword from her storage pouch at her waist.
“This sword is for you,” Ye Ziying handed it over.
“Wow, such a beautiful sword!” Yun Qianzhu’s eyes were fixed on the blade.
“This sword is forged from Yunjian iron, sharp enough to cut through steel like mud,” Ye Ziying explained. It was a sword specially crafted by her family when she first began cultivating, but now she had no use for it.
“Thank you so much, Sister,” Yun Qianzhu said gratefully.
Seeing Yun Qianzhu’s reaction, Ye Ziying thought to herself: the Eternal Life Sect must be so poor that this girl probably had never even seen a fine weapon.
A sword forged from Yunjian iron would be considered a divine weapon for the Eternal Life Sect.
“Third Senior Brother, look at this sword Sister gave me,” Yun Qianzhu said excitedly as she saw Shi Ming approaching from the opposite direction.
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“Oh, quite pretty,” Shi Ming said with surprise, glancing at Ye Ziying before clasping his fists. “Thanks to this young lady for gifting my junior sister such a divine weapon.”
“You’re welcome,” Ye Ziying replied.
“Third Senior Brother, where are you going?” Yun Qianzhu asked.
“Out of firewood, I’m going to chop some. You can go back first,” Shi Ming said, hoisting his axe and walking off.
“All right, Senior Brother.”
Yun Qianzhu turned to Ye Ziying. “Sister, let’s go. The place ahead is where our Master Uncle lives.”
At that moment, Ye Ziying was stunned. Her gaze was completely fixed on the axe Shi Ming was carrying.
She even rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
“The Prajna Axe?”
“Impossible!”
Ye Ziying could hardly believe her eyes. Wasn’t this the Prajna Axe ranked forty-seventh on the Divine Weapon List?
Hadn’t it been said that the Prajna Axe was previously in the hands of the demon clan? Recently, the Supreme Sage of Tai Xuan personally led a raid on the demon clan and reclaimed the Prajna Axe.
How could it possibly be here at the Eternal Life Sect?
“Qianzhu, where did that axe come from?” Ye Ziying asked suspiciously.
“The axe?” Yun Qianzhu blinked, puzzled why Ye Ziying was so interested in an old axe, but still answered, “It was brought back from the Tai Xuan Holy Land.”
Of course!
Ye Ziying exclaimed, “I heard that recently the Tai Xuan Holy Land held a grand competition for disciples. Your Eternal Life Sect participated too?”
“Yes,” Yun Qianzhu replied. “Second Senior Brother took part. Our Master Uncle sent him.”
Ye Ziying felt deeply shaken.
The Tai Xuan Holy Land’s grand disciple competition was no joke. The higher-ups said it was to pave the way for Lu Tianxing and other strong young talents like Shen Zong’ao.
Unexpectedly, the prize ended up in the hands of a disciple from the Eternal Life Sect.
Was this all propelled by Li Hanzhou behind the scenes?
Why did Li Hanzhou want the Prajna Axe?
Knowing full well that the Tai Xuan Holy Land was grooming its disciples, why would Li Hanzhou intervene so boldly? Did he harbor some secret scheme? Did he have a grudge against the Tai Xuan Holy Land?
At this moment, Ye Ziying was even more convinced that Li Hanzhou was no ordinary figure. Among so many talented disciples, even Lu Tianxing was defeated by a disciple from the Eternal Life Sect!