Even as Nie Tian was lost in thought, the angry roars of Nie Nanshan, Nie Kan, and the others rang out from off in the distance.
“Who dares to trespa.s.s in the Nie clan?”
“Stop!”
Li Fan’s expression flickered briefly, as if he knew the anomalies here had attracted the attention of some powerful expert.
“Scram! You stupid guards!” The charming voice of a woman rose up the distance, and soon after that, a red-garbed figure suddenly appeared in front of them.
It was a tender and charming woman dressed in fiery red garments. Her earrings, the heart-shaped pendant hanging from her snow-white neck, and the bracelet on her slender jade arm all reflected precious lights of various colors.
She was incredibly beautiful to begin with, but with the addition of all the precious jewelry, she seemed even more graceful and elegant.
The moment the charming red-garbed woman landed and saw Li Fan of the Cloudsoaring sect, she couldn’t help but grin. “Li Fan? Why are you here?”
Li Fan snorted. Sounding irritated, he replied, “This is the Nie clan, one of our subordinate clans. Isn’t it normal for me to be here? This isn’t the An clan. How come you’ve completely ignored the owner’s defenses and barged in?”
Nie Tian was astounded as he subconsciously fixed his eyes on that charming women in red. “An s.h.i.+yi?”
Having lived in Black Cloud City for so many years, he could instantly identify all of the powerful figures of the three major clans in Black Cloud City: the An clan, the Nie clan, and the Yun clan.
Over the years, the weakening of the Nie clan had allowed the comparative strength of the Yun clan to grow. Now they ranked second among the three major clans of Black Cloud City.
However, the An clan had always been the strongest, and it was they who managed the Spiritual Treasure Pavilion in Black Cloud City.
Just like the Cloudsoaring sect, the Spiritual Treasure sect was a powerful Qi warrior sect, and also the owner of the jewelry shop known as the Spiritual Treasure Pavilion. The An clan represented them in Black Cloud City.
According to the rumors, it was all because of An s.h.i.+yi that the An clan could maintain such a position in Black Cloud City.
Supposedly, the reason that the woman held such an important post in the Spiritual Treasure sect was that not only did she possess extraordinary power, but she was also very good at sect politics and had made numerous contributions to the Spiritual Treasure sect. Hence, she was highly regarded by the sectmaster.
Ever since she stepped out of the An clan and become an important figure in the Spiritual Treasure sect, she had scarcely visited Black Cloud City.
Nie Tian was surprised by the fact that one of the biggest names in Black Cloud City had suddenly showed up right there in front of him.
Feeling Nie Tian’s gaze, An s.h.i.+yi intentionally ignored Li Fan. Instead, she immediately smiled at Nie Tian and threw him a flirtatious wink. “Am I pretty, young man?”
Nie Tian, who was about to walk out of the debris, was stunned for a moment. He took a closer look at An s.h.i.+yi, before he grinned and said, “Big sister, if I marry a woman in the future, I’ll marry one exactly like you."
“Hahaha!” An s.h.i.+yi chuckled charmingly. “You’ve such a mouth on you! If I haven’t married anyone by the time you’ve grown up, then I’ll marry you.”
“Okay!” Nie Tian didn’t think before promising.
Nie Donghai stared blankly at Nie Tian, finding their conversation ridiculous and Nie Tian completely imprudent.
“Watch yourself!” Nie Beichuan said with a harrumph.
“Miss An!” Li Fan reminded her, “You haven’t answered my question yet!”
An s.h.i.+yi still didn’t bother to look at Li Fan. Instead she took out a crimson dagger from her pocket and threw it toward Nie Tian, saying with a flirtatious smile, “It’s yours now!”
As the crimson dagger arced through the air toward him, it suddenly burst out in flames.
Nie Tian didn’t dare to catch it. He let the dagger drop to the ground, and then waited for the flames to go out. Then he winked at An s.h.i.+yi and said, “Thank you for the token of love, big sister!"
“Hahaha! Such an interesting kid!” An s.h.i.+yi turned to Nie Donghai and smiled. “Consider that dagger my token of apology for trespa.s.sing into the Nie clan."
Nie Donghai’s face turned grim. Shaking his head, he said, “I’m no longer the master of the Nie clan.”
“Oh." An s.h.i.+yi gently nodded, and then began to mutter in a voice that was completely audible to Nie Beichuan. “After so many secret moves, someone has finally got what he wanted. Unfortunately, I don’t think he’ll be able to keep his position for long. He’s too narrow-minded..."
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nie Beichuan said angrily.
An s.h.i.+yi glanced at him with a face full of disdain and slowly said, “I meant that the Nie clan may never prosper again with you as their master.”
“You!” Nie Beichuan fumed, his eyes glaring. However, in fear of An s.h.i.+yi’s status, he didn’t dare to do anything further.
“Alright, enough jokes.” An s.h.i.+yi raised her eyebrow and finally looked over at Li Fan. Expression serious, she said, “Some things can not be hidden. I noticed the the strong fluctuations and the glaring spatial rifts from far away. Also, the magnetic field here is still obviously abnormal, so an unstable s.p.a.ce disruption zone must have been formed here.
“Both you and I understand what it means when a s.p.a.ce disruption zone is formed.
“If the Cloudsoaring sect intends to take it as their own and explore it by themselves, I’m afraid it won’t be that easy!
“Anyone who sees it should have a share of it, so we, the Spiritual Treasure sect, demand our share!”
“This is the Nie clan!” Li Fan replied indignantly. “And the Nie clan belongs to us. Since the s.p.a.ce disruption zone showed up here, it ought to belong to us, the Cloudsoaring sect!”
“The Nie clan is also a part of Black Cloud City,” An s.h.i.+yi argued. “Since it showed up in Black Cloud City, the An clan should obviously have the right to part of it!”
As of this moment, Nie Tian had already extracted himself from the pile of rubble and walked over to Nie Donghai’s side, holding the dagger An s.h.i.+yi had gifted him.
Nie Donghai didn’t pay any attention to the quarrel between Li Fan and An s.h.i.+yi. Instead he pulled Nie Tian closer and asked in a low voice, “Are you okay?”
He didn’t ask Nie Tian where he had been, but asked whether he was alright. Clearly, all he cared about was Nie Tian’s safety.
“Grandpa, sorry for making you worry about me,” Nie Tian replied quietly. “I’m fine.”
Nie Donghai nodded and held back from asking any more questions, refocusing his attention on Li Fan and An s.h.i.+yi.
At this moment, the greetings of Nie Nanshan and other members of the Nie clan came from the distance.
“Sectmaster Jiang!”
“Greetings, sectmaster!”
Hearing that Jiang Zhisu had arrived, An s.h.i.+yi instantly stopped arguing with Li Fan, and her expression grew calm yet serious.
Nie Donghai turned to Nie Tian. Voice low, he said, “The sectmaster is here. Think twice before you speak.” Nie Tian nodded.
In a few seconds, the green-garbed Jiang Zhisu, accompanied by Nie Nanshan, appeared right there in front of Nie Tian.
As the master of the Cloudsoaring sect, Jiang Zhisu appeared to be only around forty-years-old, with a righteous face and a plain expression that probably wouldn’t change under any pressure or difficulty.
Looking over at An s.h.i.+yi, he calmly said, “So, you’re here too, kiddo.”
“Greetings, uncle Jiang.” An s.h.i.+yi smoothed away all her sharp edges when facing him and pretended to be modest and virtuous. “I happened to be in Black Cloud City when I sensed the changes caused by the spatial rifts appearing in the Nie clan. That’s why I decided to come over and see what was going on.”
After pondering for a moment, she continued, “Before I arrived, I didn’t expect your honorable disciple Li Fan to be here. I was worried that members of the Nie clan wouldn’t understand the dangers of the spatial rifts, and might make unadvised moves to hurt themselves. I’m only here to help.
“Fortunately, the s.p.a.ce disruption zone wasn’t fully formed. Apparently my worries were unfounded.”
After hearing her explanation, Jiang Zhisu nodded. “I also happened to overhear what you just said to Li Fan. If a s.p.a.ce disruption zone were to be completely formed in this place, our Cloudsoaring sect would surely invite the Spiritual Treasure sect to explore it with us.”
“Thank you, uncle Jiang.” An s.h.i.+yi bowed to express her grat.i.tude, and then she smiled at Nie Donghai. “Sorry to have disturbed you.”
After finis.h.i.+ng these words, she winked at Nie Tian again and then left without a moment’s hesitation.
It seemed all she had been waiting for was Jiang Zhisu’s promise. After getting it, she simply walked out of the Nie clan, her mind settled.
Jiang Zhisu looked at Li Fan and asked, “Tell me what you’ve seen, and don’t leave out any details.”
Li Fan held nothing back, thoroughly explaining all the anomalies that he had witnessed in the Nie clan.
After he finished, Jiang Zhisu closed his eyes in thought for a while. Then he suddenly turned to Nie Tian and ordered, “This child stays. All the other members of the Nie clan may leave us for now.”
Upon his order, Nie Donghai and his two brothers all bowed and then left, each with their own thoughts.
After all of them were gone, Jiang Zhisu gazed at Nie Tian and asked with a warm tone, “Child, I heard that you disappeared for ten days. Where were you during that time?”
Nie Tian took a breath and answered with a serious face, “Ten days ago, some similar spatial rifts appeared just like they did today. Then, I was sucked into one of them..."
“Sucked into it?” A strange light flashed in Jiang Zhisu’s eyes. “Then what? What did you see? And how did you come back?”
Nie Tian described everything with a fascinated look on his face, as if he were immersed in a dream. “I saw a sky full of dazzling lights, as if there were countless meteors flying past me. It seemed like a magnificent dreamland, with sparks of light everywhere, and raining meteors of various colors. It felt like I stayed there for a long time, but at the same time it also felt like I was there only for a short while.
“Then, for unknown reasons, I was dragged out and returned to the Nie clan.
“I would’ve never expected that ten days would have pa.s.sed. It’s all so weird.”
Nie Tian had confusion written across his face, as if he truly had no idea of what had happened to him.
Jiang Zhisu looked at him and listened to his story carefully. After quite a while, he nodded and gently said, “Alright, you may go to your grandfather now.”
Nie Tian awkwardly mimicked Nie Donghai’s previous actions, bowing towards Jiang Zhisu, and then left.
“Master, do you think the child told the truth?" Li Fan asked.
Jiang Zhisu’s expression didn’t change at all. “No.”
“That little punk dared to lie to you?” Li Fan said angrily. “I’ll call him back right now!”
Jiang Zhisu shook his head, a strange look in his eyes. It seemed he also felt that Nie Tian had some guts. “It doesn’t matter if he was telling the truth. What matters the most is that something extraordinary indeed happened to him, right here."
“If we don’t find out the truth, what should we do next?” Li Fan said indignantly.
Jiang Zhisu rubbed his chin in thought and added, “If it really was a s.p.a.ce disruption zone that was on its way to being formed, it will show itself in the future. If it wasn’t, then... there has to be something unusual about that child. I actually hope it was the child."
“What?!” Li Fan said, puzzled.
Jiang Zisu continued to explain, profound meaning filling his words, “Someone in our sect has already spotted him. Sooner or later, Nie Tian will be admitted into the Cloudsoaring sect. If it really was something on him that triggered the change, then after he becomes a disciple of our sect, he will naturally be a powerful a.s.set. In the following period of time, you will stay in the Nie clan and see whether any more anomalies occur."
“I understand,” said Li Fan.