Chapter 80: Resolved
When Ling Bo saw Chang De and the other shixiong, she pulled her shidi and flew over like an infant sparrow returning to nest. She reacted so quickly as if she was finally released from hardship.
When he saw Ling Bo and the young shidi appear, Chang De"s gaze scanned them and then his gaze softened. No matter how tiring the children were, when their safety was unknown, the shixiong would still worry. Fortunately, both were well and had not been attacked. They also… should not have attacked others.
When the five disciples met, they were slightly excited. Chang De looked into the sky and saw Spirit Master Huan Zhong standing on the flying sword, and Kong Hou behind him who was looking towards them. Noticing his gaze, Miss Kong Hou smiled and waved at him.
Chang De smiled and bowed slightly to the two.
The four nomad cultivators saw Ling Bo and the others appear. They felt slightly conflicted. They rejoiced that they had not descended into fighting with the Clear Dawn Sect members, but hated that they could not vent their discontent in front of these sect disciples.
“Shixiong, this is…” Ling Bo noticed the corpse nearby and her expression changed slightly.
Someone had died here? Thinking about what they had encountered in the secret realm, Ling Bo felt slightly puzzled. “Who is the victim?”
“A path friend of the nomad alliance.” With the people of the nomad alliance present, Chang De did not say much.
Ling Bo looked back at the four from the nomad alliance and nodded slightly at them.
The young nomad cultivator who had pressured Chang De did not say anything displeasing in front of Ling Bo and returned the greeting.
“What happened here?” Kong Hou flew down. The secret realm was full of spirit energy, and almost no odor came from the corpse being exposed to the elements. Other than the exposed skin being slightly unusual and the clothing wet, the corpse had not started to swell.
The victim did not appear to have died long ago, unless the spirit energy in the secret realm could affect the speed at which the corpse changed.
“Celestial Kong Hou.” The four nomad cultivators saw Kong Hou. The elder of the nomad alliance bowed to her. “The victim is a nomad cultivator from our nomad alliance. Not long ago, Path Friend Celestial found his corpse in the lake. He has two sword injuries and the culprit is unknown.”
Kong Hou returned the bow and circled around the corpse. After bowing to the victim, she lifted off the white cloth. This was an average-looking man. Unless he was a very skilled talker and had many tactics to win over women, this should not be a crime of pa.s.sion.
The two sword wounds were both fast and vicious. If it was a powerful cultivator, they could make two holes in his body in a blink.
The ones most skilled with a sword in the secret realm were the disciples of Clear Dawn Sect and Radiance Sect. Adding on the fact that Clear Dawn Sect disciples were the ones who found the corpse, Kong Hou realized that the nomad cultivators suspected the Clear Dawn Sect members. However, due to their few numbers, they did not dare to say it out loud.
But if this matter was not cleared up, more conflicts would acc.u.mulate, and it would be harder to resolve in the future.
Kong Hou stood and looked around. “I suspect the culprit may not have gone far.”
The elder of the nomad alliance told this matter to Kong Hou in order to spread the news. Even if these sect disciples were not willing to help them, Clear Dawn Sect would not do something like kill them all in front of other sects.
So when he heard Kong Hou say this, he was puzzled. Did Kong Hou want to protect Clear Dawn Sect or actually found the culprit?
“The victim should have died within two hours. The culprit killed him and would not have left on a flying talisman out of fear of being found. They will choose to travel on foot.” Lin Hu, who had descended, glanced at the corpse and said calmly, “The culprit is a sword expert. But if sword cultivators like me want to kill, we can kill with a blow. There is no need for the second attack.”
Lin Hu stood and looked towards the members of the nomad alliance. “The culprit and the victim most likely had old grudges.”
“This…” The elder of the nomad alliance did not know what conflicts the members of the alliance had so he frowned and remained silent.
“Elder.” The middle-aged nomad cultivator who had been saved, Lu Yi, saw the members of the nomad alliance. He had been happy but his mood dropped at seeing a nomad cultivator dead. If not for encounter these sect path friends on his way, he might have turned into a corpse like this.
“Lu Yi?” The elder of the nomd alliance saw Lu Yi appear behind the sect disciples and showed surprise in his gaze. “Why are you with Celestial Kong Hou?”
“Path Friend w.a.n.g Jia and I entered the secret realm together. Fortunately, with the help of Clear Dawn Sect"s path friends and later Celestial Kong Hou"s help, I survived. When we were attacked by succubi previously, I thought I would die, so I had Path Friend w.a.n.g Jia leave first. If he encountered you, he could tell you about the event. I do not know what happened to him when he was alone.”
If he had known beforehand he would encounter sect disciples, he should not have let Path Friend w.a.n.g Jia leave alone.
Hearing Lu Yi say that the disciples of Clear Dawn Sect had rescued him, the elder of the nomad alliance was even more certain the culprit was not a member of Clear Dawn Sect. At a dangerous time, the disciples of Clear Dawn Sect could rescue the members of the nomad alliance. They were not people who would kill nomad cultivators without any cause. Hearing Lu Yi mention w.a.n.g Jia, the elder of the nomad alliance pointed at the corpse on the ground and sighed.
The person on the ground was w.a.n.g Jia.
Lu Yi immediately understood. He murmured in shock, “How could it be so?” He had w.a.n.g Jia leave in order to protect him. But that became his death knell.
“This is not your fault. Do not overthink this.” The young disciple from Clear Dawn Sect patted his shoulder and sighed, “You could not have expected this.”
Lu Yi forced a smile and stopped talking.
The nomad cultivator who had been arguing with Clear Dawn Sect had an embarra.s.sed expression. Seeing Lu Yi who had been helped by Clear Dawn Sect, and the Clear Dawn Sect disciple comforting Lu Yi, the young nomad cultivator slowly felt, despite his impulsiveness, that Clear Dawn Sect had nothing to do with w.a.n.g Jia"s death.
“Just now, from the opposite sh.o.r.e, I smelled blood.” Chang De was a meticulous person and quickly thought of another possibility. “But the spirit energy in the secret realm is so dense—how could the blood scent spread so far?”
Maybe the culprit had already found members of the nomad alliance coming close and deliberately used a way so he would find the corpse. But why did the culprit do this? Did they want to target Clear Dawn Sect, or try to sow discord between Clear Dawn Sect and the nomad cultivators?
The nomad alliance was only a place for the nomad cultivators to exchange resources and interact. They were not as united as sect disciples. Even if it was to sow discord, Clear Dawn Sect, with their status, would not fear the power of the nomad alliance. Also, with the strength of the nomad alliance, they would not dare to make trouble for Clear Dawn Sect when they had no evidence.
What did the culprit intend with all this?
“This culprit is so vicious. He wants to sow discord between the sect and the nomad cultivators?” Kong Hou realized. “Tactics like blaming others is something that a villainous person would do?”
In the storybooks, villains would frequently use these tactics to harm others. If the victim did not discover this, more things would occur.
Chang De looked sideways at Kong Hou and immediately understood what the culprit intended. He was not targeting Clear Dawn Sect, but the conflict between sects and nomad cultivators.
“Lin Hu.” Huan Zhong flew off his flying sword and walked to stand next to Kong Hou, coincidentally using his body to block Chang De"s gaze.
“Yes.” Lin Hu bowed and threw the flying sword into the air before he flew up.
“Where is Elder Lin going?” Kong Hou saw Lin Hu disappear in the blink of an eye and felt slightly envious. She did not know how long she would have to cultivate to reach Elder Lin"s speed.
“To find him.” Huan Zhong guessed Kong Hou"s thoughts and laughed. “Lin Hu is faster than me.” This was a talent of the bloodline, and could not be made up through cultivation. It was not luck that Lin Hu managed to find them in two days after being transported to another place.
As a cultivator discriminated against by the secret realm due to his bloodline, Lin Hu did not have any luck here.
“Spirit Master Huan Zhong, the secret realm is complicated and variable. Will it be troublesome having this path friend go search?” The elder of the nomad alliance knew Lin Hu went to search for the culprit, but this place was filled with formations. The geography frequently changed and it would not be easy to find someone who wanted to hide.
“No matter.” Huan Zhong"s tone was calm. “Just a try.”
The nomad alliance cultivator closed his mouth awkwardly. He felt if he continued chatting with this Spirit Master Huan Zhong, the atmosphere would become even more awkward. He turned and found a storage bag to put w.a.n.g Jia"s body into.
Kong Hou saw everyone remain silent and took out a bunch of fruit from her storage ring. “Everyone is tired—do you want any fruit?”
The nomad cultivators were silent and remained motionless as they looked at Kong Hou"s red fruits.
“Thanks.” A fine-boned hand reached towards Kong Hou"s hand and took a fruit.
“You are welcome, Path Friend Chang De.” Kong Hou gave half to Chang De, and the other half to the nomad alliance elder. “We should clear up any misunderstanding, and not damage the peace.”
The young nomad cultivator flushed and bowed to Chang De. “Just now, this one has offended you greatly. Path Friend, please forgive me.”
“No need for this.” Chang De held a bunch of spirit fruits without any visible expression. “The matter is too much of a coincidence, and it is usual you have suspicions. But when travelling, you have to control your temper. If you encounter a narrow-minded person, it may cause great trouble.”
“Yes, thank you Path Friend Chang De, for your reminder.” The young nomad cultivator"s face was red and burning. Seeing Chang De hold no hate for him, he shrunk back into the corner. His opinions on sect disciples completely changed. An hour before, the sect disciples were fake gentlemen, now they were true honorable and generous people.
Changing people"s minds would sometimes occur in a blink.
The relationship between the Clear Dawn Sect disciples and the nomad cultivators became good. At the side, Huan Zhong stared at Kong Hou"s empty hands silently.
Kong Hou did not notice his gaze. She took out some gold spirit fruits from her storage bag and shoved them into his hand. She said with a sound art, “This golden fruit is beneficial to nurturing the spirit platform. However, they are few, and I cannot split them with others.”
Seeing the young girl pull on his sleeve and push several small spirit fruits to him, Huan Zhong"s eyes became lighter.
She gave good things secretly to him and did not want to share them with others?
“All right.” Huan Zhong put a spirit fruit into his mouth.
As expected, it was sweet from the tip of his tongue to his heart.
In precisely that moment, two people fell from the sky and pulverized a rock on the ground.