Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
At last, Zhan Tianlei took his Uncle Gui’s advice. Just as Uncle Gui said—as long as he married Yin Ruobing smoothly, he would be connected to the Yin Clan. Then, it was only a matter of time before he became the Young Clan Head. The Zhan Clan had many more talents in his generation than the other clans did. Zhan Tianlei felt like he was treading on ice.
The Nine Thearchs were like the emperors of the continents. The role came with a huge load of power and glory. All the disciples of the Nine Thearch Clans would have their eyes set on this position from a very young age. They would even fight with one another for a position like that. There was no length that they would not go to in order to achieve the position.
Within the Nine Thearch Clans, it was alright to commit mistakes. The Nine Thearch Clans could deal with anything. There was nothing that they would not forgive their own clan members for. Thus, all the major characters in the various clans put more emphasis on people’s behavior after they commit a wrong rather than the wrong itself.
It was just like what happened to Wu Ni in the past. After he made the mistake, he returned to the proper path. Instead of losing his sanity or causing more trouble, he maintained his resolve. This made the elders of his clan appreciate and like him even more than they already did.
Since he had already made the decision to leave, Zhan Tianlei quickly took Uncle Gui and headed out toward Yin Ruobing’s courtyard. He was not one to drag his feet.
“Young Master Tianlei?”
Yin Ruobing was still sipping her tea. This tea was quite special. It was made from fresh flowers. That was why the entire courtyard smelt very strongly of flowers. That made her even more special. The moment she saw Zhan Tianlei walk into her room, she stood up and smiled, causing the room to brighten up immediately.
“Ruobing!”
On seeing her smile, Zhan Tianlei smiled once again more bitterly. Yin Ruobing was still the same. She was smiling on the surface, but he felt that she was icy cold on the inside. She was pushing him far, far away. This hurt Zhan Tianlei to the core.
Still forcing a smile on his face, he cupped his hands and said, “Ruobing, I have an urgent matter to attend to, and I have to rush back to the Mystic Thearch City. Do you want to come with me to the Mystic Thearch City for fun, or do you want me to send you back to the Yin Thearch City?”
“An urgent matter?”
Yin Ruobing’s eyelashes shook, and she lowered her gaze. With a gentle smile, she asked, “It has to do with the Mystic Divine Mountain, right?”
“Ah?” Zhan Tianlei stiffened. He looked astonished as he asked, “What happened to the Mystic Divine Mountain?”
“You didn’t know? Then why are you returning so urgently?” Yin Ruobing scanned Zhan Tianlei from head to toe, but her expression remained unchanging. It was obvious that she was getting angry.
Buzz!
Zhan Tianlei’s message token vibrated once again. He glanced at it, smiled bitterly once more, and explained, “It really is as Ruobing said. Majesty Father wants me to return to the city now. There have been some strange movements on the Mystic Divine Mountain! It’s very likely that the restrictions have been shaken. Ruobing, you knew about this earlier than I did.”
“Hehe.”
Yin Ruobing kept smiling, but she did not offer any explanation whatsoever. Instead, after a while, she raised her head once more. “Let’s go. I’ll go with you to Mystic Thearch City. I guess that Big Sister Chan and Little Sister Shiya would arrive there soon as well. We haven’t seen each other for a long time. It’s about time for a good catch-up.”
“Alright, let’s go back and meet the Family Head of the Chen Clan to bid farewell.”
Zhan Tianlei nodded and led Yin Ruobing to the Family Head of the Chen Clan to bid their goodbyes. The Family Head of the Chen Clan tried to ask them to stay for a while longer before leading them toward the Teleportation Formation at the plaza. After both of them left in the Teleportation Formation, he rushed back to the courtyard of the Chen Clan and into a study.
He immediately called out in a low voice, “Men! Send a message out to locate Yi San. Tell him that Zhan Tianlei has returned, and the Demigods of the Zhan Clan will come after him in a few days. Tell him to be extremely careful. If he’s not confident of fighting them off, he can hide at the Divine Sonar Valley. Explain to him also about the Blood Debt Seal.”
“Understood!”
A cool voice spoke up in the study. A figure flashed past the Family Head and disappeared. A while later, an elder of the Chen Clan walked into the room looking worried. “Family Head, Jiang Yi is taking a huge risk this time. The North Thearch is still chasing after him, and he still stirred trouble with the Zhan Clan. This rascal is really ruthless. He did not even let a single man out of the three thousand live. Instead, he burned every last one of them.”
“The Blood Debt Seal will only stay on him for half a month. If this rascal can hide from the Zhan Clan for six months, he would have nothing to fear!”
The Family Head of the Chen Clan sighed gently. A moment later, he sounded grateful. “This rascal’s skills are getting scarier and scarier. He disappeared for two whole years and came back to kill Heaven Monarchs as easily as he could kill ants. If we give him another eight to ten years, he might even find killing Demigods easy.”
“Ah, I hope that the people of the Zhan Clan would not recognize him; otherwise, this boy would die a horrible death for sure!” The elder of the Chen Clan sighed as well. He turned to look in the east and said, “I have something to report to the Supreme Teacher now. He instructed us not to interfere excessively in this matter. If that boy sends a message to us asking for help, then we will decide how to settle it. Otherwise, we would just have to watch and see if he survives or dies.”
Shh-shh-shh!
While the two of them were still deep in conversation, they heard hurried footsteps shuffling toward them. An elderly man barged into the room and said, “Family Head, Grand Elder, we just got a message from the Mystic Divine Mountain. There have been some weird movements on the mountain. The restrictions look like they have been loosened. The various high-profile families have received this piece of news as well. I think they will all be gathering at the Mystic Thearch City soon.”
“The Mystic Divine Mountain?”
The Family Head and Grand Elder of the Chen Clan turned to each other and exchanged a meaningful look. Both of their eyes brightened. The Mystic Divine Mountain was a sacred mountain to the citizens of the East Imperial Continent. The Mystic Divine Palace located at the peak of that mountain was considered all the more valuable. If any one of the Nine Thearch Clans managed to take over the Mystic Divine Palace, they would essentially have command over everything under the sky. If the other clans took control of the Mystic Divine Palace, they would become the tenth clan to be on equal standing as the Nine Thearch Clans. That was truly the dream for most clans.
The Family Head of the Chen Clan called out, “Do we have any more information? Did anyone ascend the Mystic Divine Mountain?”
“Not yet.”
The old man who had brought the message shook his head. “It is said that the moment the restrictions were loosened, the Zhan Thearch took action personally. At last, his efforts turned out to be in vain. A few prodigies in the Zhan Clan ascended the mountain as well, but none of them achieved anything. Since the restrictions have been loosened, it’s only a matter of time before they fall apart. Family Head, you should make the necessary preparations as soon as you can.”
The Family Head of the Chen Clan nodded. “Father, what do you think?”
The elder shook his head and said, “The Clan Head has not said anything. You can make the decision.”
“Alright, you may leave. Send a message to our clan’s disciples in the Mystic Thearch City. Tell them to keep a close eye on the situation. Send a report back every single day to update us on the situation.”
The Mystic Divine Palace was a palace that every clan wanted to take control of after all. Whether they could indeed take control of it or not was a whole other matter.
The Family Head of the Chen Clan stayed silent for a while. At last, he turned to the Grand Elder of the Chen Clan and said, “I will trouble you to make a trip down yourself. Tell Chen’er and the greatest disciples of our clan to go down to the Mystic Thearch City to try their luck as well. You can go and have a try yourself. If you can’t do it, don’t force yourself to. Judging by the way the Mystic Thearch does things, I’m guessing that only youths would be able to inherit the Mystic Divine Palace. I just don’t know who would be lucky enough to achieve it.”
“En.”
The Grand Elder of the Chen Clan nodded. The fact that the Sonar Thearch did not react to this showed that even he thought the older generation would have no hope of obtaining the Mystic Divine Palace. Otherwise, Mystic Thearch would have handed the palace over to any person. Then, there would not be this much trouble.
The Family Head’s expression suddenly changed—he looked worried. He looked out of the window and let out a long sigh. “The sacred treasure is going to become available soon. From experience, this means that there will be chaos soon. Demons will come out of hiding. We just don’t know how many casualties and deaths there will be.”
“That’s right!”
The Grand Elder got to his feet and looked out of the window as well. He said heavily, “More than seven hundred thousand years ago, during the Great Demon Dominion, the human race was almost completely wiped out. If not for the Mystic Thearch, we would have become extinct for sure. I wonder what kind of trouble would befall us this time.”
“Hehe, we don’t have to worry too much, I think.”
The Grand Elder grinned as well and said, “The Mystic Thearch ruminated over the secrets he knew. He probably already predicted this would happen. Since he caused the Mystic Divine Palace to be let out to the world now, I think he also knew that a new sage would be born to help save mankind!”
The Family Head’s eyes twinkled with curiosity. He whispered, “Who could the new sage be? Who has what it takes to become the second Mystic Thearch—the new great thearch!”
