Chapter 3212: Xu Yang City
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
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A seven-colored sword ray flashed briefly before it vanished into thin air and reappeared near Zhang Jin Yi who was holding his Ident.i.ty Jade Token. Alas, before he could crush it, the seven-colored sword ray had cleaved him into two from his head down. Even his purely defensive Royal Grade Celestial Weapon was cleaved into two. With that, the direct descendant from the main Phantom Fox Clan died in the grade-three secret realm of the upper realm of the Southern Heaven Ancient Realm after spending 100 years in the Southern Heaven Territory. Even he would not have expected that he would meet such an end.
“Huan’er, let’s go.” After collecting Zhang Jin Yi’s Celestial Weapons and Spatial Ring, Duan Ling Tian beckoned Huan’er over. Before they left, he turned to look at the two entrances that were still closed. Obviously, the battles still had not concluded.
…
In the Zhang Clan of the main Phantom Fox Clan located in the Seven Upper Province’s Heavenly Territory.
“Grand Elder! Jin Yi’s Soul Pearl has shattered!”
Very soon after Zhang Jin Yi’s death, a member of the Phantom Fox Clan reported his death to the Grand Elder of the Zhang Clan upon discovering Zhang Jin Yi’s shattered Soul Pearl.
“What?!” The Grand Elder of the Zhang Clan rose to his feet, shocked. “What’s happened? Wasn’t he in the Southern Heaven Territory? How dare the people of the Southern Heaven Territory kill him!”
Shortly afterward, an elder, the person in charge of liaising with the Phantom Fox Clan’s branch in the Southern Heaven Territory, was summoned before the grand elder.
“Jin Yi is dead.”
The elder was shocked by the grand elder’s words. “What? Jin Yi is dead?”
“Speak to the Branch Leader of the Phantom Fox Clan in the Southern Heaven Territory. Tell him that only death awaits him if he can’t give us an explanation of what happened,” the grand elder said grimly.
With that, a special Communication Celestial Talisman was sent out of the Zhang Clan across the Riot Star Sea to the Phantom Fox Clan’s branch in the Southern Heaven Territory.
…
“What?!” Zhang Dong Nan, the Branch Leader of the Phantom Fox Clan in the Southern Heaven Territory, was similarly shocked when he received news of Zhang Jin Yi’s death. “Lord envoy is dead? Isn’t he in the upper realm? Did he leave after the upper realm’s scoreboard was refreshed and was killed by a Celestial Lord?”
Zhang Dong Nan was eager to know what happened as well. However, despite pulling all the strings he could, his investigation did not yield any results.
“Based on his ranking, he should’ve entered the grade-three secret realm. What could threaten him in there? Was he killed by Formation spirits in the secret realm?”
However, after a while, he dismissed that thought. Although there were Formation spirits in the grade-three secret realm that could threaten Zhang Jin Yi’s life, Zhang Jin Yi should have been able to easily escape. There was no Formation spirit in the grade-three secret realm powerful enough to restrain Zhang Jin Yi.
“Duan Ling Tian and Huan’er have entered the grade-three secret realm as well?” Zhang Jin Yi’s expression turned grim when he later discovered Duan Ling Tian and Huan’er had entered the grade-three secret realm as well. “100 years ago, Huan’er was already powerful even though she wasn’t even 100 years old. It’s not impossible for her to be able to kill Lord Envoy now that 100 years have pa.s.sed.”
With that, he reported back to the main Phantom Fox Clan in the Heavenly Territory.
…
After the elder, the person in charge of liaising with Zhang Dong Nan, relayed the message to the Grand Elder of the Zhang Clan, the grand elder said, “Go to the Southern Heaven Territory and investigate this matter… I don’t care who it is, but they should pay with their lives for killing a direct descendant of the Zhang Clan!”
“Yes, grand elder!”
Thus, the elder was sent to the Southern Heaven Territory through a Transporting Formation.
…
Meanwhile, Duan Ling Tian and Huan’er finally ran into their first Spirit Formation in the grade-three secret realm. However, the Formation spirit was so weak that Duan Ling Tian destroyed it with just a punch.
Following that, the duo continued to search for the next Spirit Formation.
“The main Phantom Fox Clan will undoubtedly send someone to investigate Zhang Jin Yi’s death, and Huan’er and I will certainly become the biggest suspects. However, it’s likely that there’s nothing they can do to the Profound Nether Mansion since they haven’t confirmed Huan’er’s ident.i.ty. Moreover, Zhang Dong Nan’s under the impression that we left the Profound Nether Mansion years ago. Zhang Dong Nan’s rather smart so he’ll avoid involving the Profound Nether Mansion in fear of offending Huan’er and me unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Zhang Dong Nan, whom Duan Ling Tian had met twice, left a deep impression on Duan Ling Tian during their first meeting. Duan Ling Tian could tell Zhang Dong Nan was an intelligent man. If anything were to happen to the Profound Nether Mansion, Zhang Dong Nan should know he would have to face the consequences and answer to him and Huan’er. 100 years ago, they might not be a match for Zhang Dong Nan, but what about 100 years later? With Zhang Dong Nan’s level of intelligence, he was sure Zhang Dong Nan must have thought about this as well.
After thinking about this, Duan Ling Tian felt more at ease and wandered the grade-three secret realm carefreely with Huan’er.
After encountering many Spirit Formation, including those that needed Huan’er to unleash her full strength to deal with, she did not have a breakthrough and become a Celestial Lord.
At this time, half a day was left before they would be transported out of the grade-three secret realm.
“Huan’er, let’s leave the upper realm… It’s about time for us to leave the Spirit Overarching Heaven for the Jade Emperor Heaven.” Duan Ling Tian decided to shatter their Ident.i.ty Jade Tokens instead of waiting to be transported out.
…
When Duan Ling Tian and Huan’er returned to the Imperial Tutor Pavilion, they did not waste time and bade farewell to the Pavilion Master of the Imperial Tutor Pavilion before they left the Profound Nether Mansion.
The duo was clad head to toe in black robes to disguise themselves when they left the Profound Nether Mansion to avoid people connecting them to the Profound Nether Mansion.
…
When Duan Ling Tian and Huan’er were leaving the Spirit Overarching Heaven through the Transporting Formation located in a city under the Profound Nether Mansion, the people in the grade-three secret realms were transported out one after another now that their time there was up.
Following that, Zhang Dong Nan began to look for those who had left the grade-three secret realm to uncover what had happened to Zhang Jin Yi. Then, he and the elder from the main Phantom Fox Clan interrogated them.
“He’s very strong. Before entering the grade-three secret realm, he killed a man who offended him. However, after the entrance to the secret realm opened, he didn’t leave immediately. He was standing guard outside the other three entrances as though he was waiting for someone…”
With this, Zhang Dong Nan and the elder confirmed that Zhang Jin Yi had indeed entered the grade-three secret realm.
The elder asked Zhang Dong Nan solemnly, “Do you think that woman Huan’er whom we suspect to be the Thousands Phantom Ice Fox is capable of killing Jin Yi?”
“It’s possible… However, if she’s that strong, I don’t see a reason why she would enter the grade-three secret realm… I have a strong feeling that someone entered the grade-three realm using Huan’er’s name. Even Lord Envoy was suspicious about her ident.i.ty and thought it might be an impostor. There’s a possibility that after Lord Envoy confirmed that ‘Huan’er’ was an impostor, he had left after crus.h.i.+ng his Ident.i.ty Jade Token. After all, the treasures in the secret realm didn’t hold his interest at all. With this, there’s a possibility he was killed outside of the upper realm. Over the past decades, Lord Envoy didn’t enter the upper realm using our branch’s Transporting Formation so I’m not sure about his whereabouts as well… Under such circ.u.mstances, it’d be like searching for a needle in a haystack if we want to find his murderer…” Zhang Dong Nan speculated out loud.
From the beginning until the end, Zhang Dong Nan tried his best to convince the elder from the main Phantom Fox Clan that Zhang Dong Nan was killed by a Celestial Lord after leaving the upper realm of the Southern Heaven Ancient Realm in an attempt to misdirect the elder and the main clan.
It was just as Duan Ling Tian had expected, Zhang Dong Nan did not bring up the Profound Nether Mansion in fear of attracting trouble to himself. Even if he was punished by the main Phantom Fox Clan, it was not a big deal. After all, as one of the branch leaders of the Phantom Fox Clan, the main clan would not punish him too heavily unless they had evidence that he had committed a grave mistake. Moreover, since Zhang Jin Yi was rarely in the branch estate, he could not be held accountable for Zhang Jin Yi’s disappearance and death.
“Continue investigating Jin Yi’s death. If you’re able to find the murderer, the main clan will definitely handsomely reward you after avenging him,” the elder from the main clan said before leaving the Southern Heaven Territory.
Zhang Dong Nan did not think much of the elder’s words. He was convinced that Huan’er was the one who killed Zhang Jin Yi. Based on her strength previously, he believed she must have grown incredibly strong. In fact, he would not find it surprising if her strength was on par with his now. Therefore, he had no intention of voicing his suspicion to the main clan. All he wanted was to secure his life and his position as a branch leader. It was true that he was rather ambitious in the past. However, now that so much time had pa.s.sed and he was certain that Huan’er was very strong, he did not want to attract trouble to himself.
Duan Ling Tian would never have expected that Zhang Dong Nan was much smarter than he had thought.
…
In the Jade Emperor Heaven.
Duan Ling Tian brought Huan’er to a place called the Nan Dou Territory instead of the Equal Heaven Territory he had gone to previously.
The Nan Dou Territory and another seven territories were collectively known as the Eight Upper Provinces in the Jade Emperor Heaven.
“Huan’er, we’ll settle down temporarily in this city… After we obtain enough information, we’ll decide on our next move,” Duan Ling Tian said after he and Huan’er decided to settle down in a city called Xu Yang City that was located not far from the Transporting Formation they had arrived in.