Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
When the members of the Flame God Sect heard Su Wen say that there were benefits, their eyes lit up.
Unlike Xiang Feiyan, they did not have any commoners under them.
Even with the manpower of a sect, it was not enough to raise pigs en masse.
Thus, while they could also obtain Heaven Earth Merit, the amount was not especially great.
Many of the Giant Strength Rats that were traded had to be sent back to the sect to be distributed to the disciples as well.
Some people had previously also tried to directly cultivate the Giant Strength Rats in the human world. However, thse Giant Strength Rats were nurtured in the human world did not provide any Heaven Earth Merit Points when killed. There was simply no benefits to killing them.
Now that Su Wen said that he would give the people of the Flame God Sect a share of the benefits, and it was even 30% of the fees he would receive, that was a huge amount of Heaven Earth Merit for them!
Most importantly, the Heaven Earth Merit Points were all given for free.
To the people of the Flame God Sect, they were naturally extremely happy.
Although they were indeed a little angry just now, thinking back, it was not Su Wen who proposed the oath.
It was Su Bingshen who took the initiative to swear theoath.
After receiving Su Wen’s benefits, they naturally thought highly of him.
Everyone started to think and discuss once again.
“If it’s not a spy from our sect, then who could it be?”
Su Wen frowned and said, “Do you know if there’s anyone who has a grudge with us, is aware of Su Su’s background, and even knows that Su Su is in the Flame God Sect?”
In reality, Su Wen had also thought about it seriously.
There weren’t many people like that, especially Heaven Rank experts.
After all, Su Su had never shown her face in front of everyone.
Everyone fell into silence as they sunk into their thoughts once again.
As they were pondering, someone suddenly came to report that Dongfang Ju had arrived!
Logically speaking, he was supposed to be guarding the Flame God Sect.
However, once something happened to Su Su, how could he stay? He immediately rushed to the northern border.
He could not find Su Su along the way. He knew that Su Wen must be on Nine Nether Island since he had ascended to the Heaven Rank, so he took the Royal Court’s airship to Nine Nether Island.
When Xiang Feiyan heard that Su Su had disappeared, she turned pale with fright. She knew Su Wen too well. She knew very well that Su Wen treated his family extremely well. If anything happened to anyone, he would definitely be furious.
Therefore, she immediately arranged for Dongfang Ju to head to Nine Nether Island.
In the meantime, after Su Su and Halles entered Nine Nether Island, they started to walk. This also gave Dongfang Ju a chance to catch up.
The moment Su Su had arrived in the Demon Realm when he arrived.
After Dongfang Ju entered and greeted everyone, he looked at Su Wen and asked, “Junior Brother Su, has Su Su come?”
Su Wen sneered. “I want to ask you, how did you take care of Su Su? How could you let her be captured by the Demon Race?”
Hearing this, Dongfang Ju was shocked!
“What! Su Su was captured by the demons?”
He muttered, “How could this be! How could this be!”
As Su Su’s master, the two of them had already known each other for many years. Furthermore, Su Su was extremely talented. Which master would not like such a disciple?
He was originally his beloved disciple. Upon hearing this grievous news, Dongfang Ju felt as though his heart was being torn apart!
In an instant, the Heaven Earth Origin Qi surged, and his cultivation, which had been stagnant for several years, rose once more!
Originally, Dongfang Ju had been at the peak of the 9th Grade Earth Rank, a hairline away to the Heaven Rank. Now that he had been stimulated, he had broken through to the 1st Grade Heaven Rank!
Everyone was stunned. From the looks of it, Dongfang Ju had a deep relationship with Su Su!
Dongfang Ju’s eyes were bloodshot as he said, “It’s my fault. I didn’t take good care of Su Su! What should I do next? Right now, saving Su Su is the first priority! As long as I can save Su Su, I’ll do anything!”
Su Wen couldn’t help but shake his head. As the sect master of the Flame God Sect, he had truly treated Su Su extremely well. One could see from his emotions just now.
Su Wen didn’t say anything else. Instead, he said, “According to our judgment, there should be a Heaven Rank expert in the alliance army of the human world who revealed Su Su’s relationship with me. From the looks of it, it’s unreasonable for the demons to capture Su Su but not kill her.
In that case, there’s only one explanation. Su Su has additional value! Therefore, I think someone must have leaked my relationship with Su Su and deliberately wanted to use the demons to restrain me!”
Dongfang Ju muttered, “Junior Brother Su Wen, even though you’re a Heaven Rank cultivator… you’re only a 1st or 2nd Grade Heaven Rank cultivator, right? Is there a need for them to target you like this?”
From Dongfang Ju’s perspective, this was not a problem.
That’s because the outside world had no idea about the situation of the Nine Nether Island.
The Heaven Rank experts wouldn’t specially announce Su Wen’s achievements either.
Why would they help inflate someone’s ego?
Furthermore, would they talk to the ordinary soldiers below them?
Of course not, their statuses was different.
Even in times of war, Heaven Rank experts rarely interacted with ordinary people.
It was just like how they gave an order to the sect to raise Mountainous Rock Pigs for the Human-Demon Trades. At the same time, they also specified the benefits that ordinary disciples could obtain from raising them.
That was all.
He would not say anything superfluous.
Hence, Dongfang Ju did not know Su Wen’s combat strength at all. In his opinion, how could the Demon Race use Su Su to threaten Su Wen just because they captured her?
What was so great about Su Wen? Was he worth it? Wasn’t he too narcissistic?
Upon hearing his words, Su Bingshen said, “You don’t know this, but Su Wen’s cultivation level is already at 4th Grade Heaven Rank…”
At this point, Su Wen smiled and said, “I just reached the 5th Grade.”
“What? 5th Grade Heaven Rank?” Dongfang Ju behaved like a cat whose tail had been stepped on!
It had only been a few years since they last met, but Su Wen’s cultivation level was already so high?
Su Bingshen glanced at Su Wen and felt even more apprehensive in his heart. He spoke seriously to Dongfang Ju, “Su Wen used his cultivation base of 4th Grade Heaven Rank, as well as his domain that stretched for tens of thousands of miles to defeat the Demon Race’s Second General, Chu Yinchuan, who is at 8th Grade Heaven Rank.
His current combat strength can be said to be at the peak of the world! Moreover, Su Wen is in charge of facilitating the transaction between the Human and Demon Realm! Now, he’s the person the two Saints trust the most!”
“What?! He defeated an 8th Grade Heaven Rank?!”
Dongfang Ju’s eyes widened… and he stared intently at Su Wen.
It was too terrifying! Too terrifying!
To be able to fight four grades above? That was Heaven Rank, mind you! It was already an impressive feat to be able to fight above their grade.
Was Su Wen even human?
After a moment, he digested this news, but a question arose in his mind. “Two Saints?” Although Dongfang Ju was the Sect Master of the Flame God Sect, he still did not know much about Saints.
He asked respectfully, “Patriarch, may I know who are the Saints in this world?”
“One of them is Senior Gongsun Shi. He’s the tenth saint of the human world. He was the one who gathered all the Heaven Ranks in the human world to fight against the demons! Everyone who didn’t come was killed by him from thousands of miles away. His methods are extremely powerful!”
Dongfang Ju’s face was full of admiration. “What about the second one?”
Su Bingshen glanced at him and said meaningfully, “You know that second Saint as well! She even lived in our Flame God Sect for a period of time! Her surname is Xue, and her name is Qianxun! Now, many people call her either the Snow Saint or the Eleventh Saint!
She, in front of everyone, killed a 9th Grade Heaven Rank demon beast, the Nine-Headed Hydra, with a flip of her hand, and suppressed the demons to protect the peace of the world!”
“Gasp!”
Dongfang Ju gasped when he heard the story.
He could not believe it!
The maid beside Su Wen… was actually a Saint?
From the looks of it… threatening Su Wen… to a certain extent, was threatening a saint.
Now that he thought about it again, it made sense!
He gritted his teeth and said, “Damn it! Someone actually betrayed Junior Brother Su at such a time. Damn it!”
Su Wen sighed. “That’s why we’re thinking about who betrayed me!”
Everyone in the room started to ponder and discuss.
Especially Su Wen, he could not figure it out even recalling whatever he had been through.
His greatest enemies were Emperor Zhou and Emperor Yan, but truthfully speaking, both of them were unaware of Su Su’s existence.
Back then, Su Su had never appeared in the capital of the Zhou Country. After that, she left with him and headed to the Chu Country before entering the Flame God Sect.
Logically speaking, it was impossible for Emperor Zhou to know.
Let alone Emperor Yan who was completely unrelated to whatever Su Wen went through in the past.
When the conflict between the two sides erupted, Su Su had already settled down in the Yan God Sect.
In that case, could it be that the people of Chu that leaked the news?
However, the only person that the Chu Country knew was Xiang Ding!
There was no reason for Xiang Ding to say this to the Demon Race. Because from all angles, Su Wen could not figure out what conflict he had with Xiang Ding for him to do this.
Just as he was feeling puzzled…
Dongfang Ju muttered, “Perhaps it’s the Thunder God Sect!”
“Huh?” Su Wen narrowed his eyes and asked, “What evidence do you have?”
Dongfang Ju said in a low voice, “Ever since Su Su entered the sect, she has been conferred the title of Saintess. There is no one in the sect who is unconvinced. However, even though Su Su is talented and smart, I still understand the principle that the tallest tree in the forest will be destroyed by the wind. Therefore, I have given strict orders to the disciples in the sect and outside to not leak out Su Su’s existence.”
“That’s why Su Su’s reputation hasn’t been well known in the past few years!” As he spoke, he looked at Su Wen and said, “But Junior Brother Su, do you remember that you brought back a group of disciples from the Thunder God Sect the last time you returned to the mountain?”
Su Wen raised his eyebrows. “Are you talking about Ouyang Bubai and his sister?” He still remembered them.
At that time, Ouyang Bubai was afraid that Su Wen would kidnap his sister!
Dongfang Ju said in a low voice, “That’s right! After those two entered the sect, they met Su Su. Especially when Su Su went to welcome you!”
He speculated, “I feel that these two will definitely tell the elders of the Thunder God Sect about Su Su when they return! Of course, they will also have some information about you, Junior Brother!”
“Therefore, the Thunder God Sect should know about your relationship with Su Su, and also know that Junior Brother is a member of our Flame God Sect! The Thunder God and Flame God Sects have deep grudges to begin with.
For the past ten thousand years, we have been constantly fighting openly and secretly. Although our relationship might be a little closer sometimes, the fact that we are each other’s greatest opponents has never changed!”
The more Dongfang Ju spoke, the more excited he became. He seemed to have seen the real answer!
“This time, when they saw Junior Brother unleash his might, representing the Royal Family of Chu, and even managing the transactions between the two worlds, how could they not be envious? How could they not be afraid? So, they might think of a way to secretly inform the Demon Race about this news, and play a game of borrowing a knife to kill!”
It had to be said that his words made sense.
Everyone in the room was enlightened!
“Junior Brother Sect Master is right!”
“That’s right! Looks like those dogs of the Thunder God Sect are indeed the most suspicious!”
“These bastards, let’s go and settle the score with them!”
“Let’s go! I want to see if they dare to swear an oath!”
For a moment, everyone felt as though their blood was rushing to their heads in excitement.
The two sects originally did not have a close relationship, that was true.
“No!” Su Wen said coldly. “No, you can’t look for them directly!”
Everyone looked at him in unison and asked in confusion, “Why?”
Su Wen shook his head. “If we go and look for them now, they will definitely not admit it! Furthermore, it will cause a conflict between the two parties. If we don’t have any evidence to look for them, it will only be a baseless accusation.”
Su Wen sighed and said, “There’s no point in doing this now! Other than worsening the conflict and allowing others to take advantage of us, there’s no other use in doing so. If we rashly go and find them, we won’t have any evidence. If we want them to swear an oath, it won’t be so easy, even if we get a Saint to come forward! Whether it’s for the sake of face or the prestige of the sect, they won’t agree!”
“Then what should we do?” Everyone looked at Su Wen.
Su Wen’s eyes were cold as he said, “Since you have a suspect, just leave it to me. Don’t worry about it!”
Soon… the Human Alliance sent out a message!
The Holy Maiden of the Flame God Sect, Su Wen’s daughter, Su Su had been kidnapped by the demons!
The Flame God Sect’s Sect Master, Dongfang Ju, personally came to report.
Originally… this news was nothing. Many people were gloating in fact.
But soon, a second message was sent.
There was news that in the human world, someone had colluded with the demons and betrayed the information of Su Wen and his daughter out!
And the one who did this was the Thunder God Sect!
After that, news of Ouyang Bubai going to the Flame God Sect spread.
The rumors spread like wildfire.
The person who did all of this was naturally Su Wen!
Rumors… could kill people. The usage of methods were not rare in China during Su Wen’s time!
Just a little bit of rumors spread around would be enough to destroy someone.
To put it bluntly, it was inherited by the Saints, and it was a great sect. They would definitely value their reputation greatly.
How could they tolerate such a stain on their name?
But when the rumors spread, so what if you came from a famous sect? Would a Heaven Rank ancestor fight with a gossiping soldier?
Would they not be degrading themselves further?
If the Flame God Sect directly came to question them, or even if Su Wen brought up Gongsun Shi to question them, the effect would be similar. The people from the Thunder God Sect would definitely feel extremely furious and even feel like they had been humiliated. Furthermore, they would not admit to it.
This way, both sides would be at a standstill and would even end up being questioned by the other party. What right did the Flame God Sect have to demand an explanation without evidence?
The beauty of spreading fake news was that while the receiving party felt the same way, they had no target to pinpoint and blame!
They could not vent his anger!
At this moment, in the Thunder God Sect’s encampment.
The patriarch closed his eyes and listened to the complaints of the other Heaven Rank experts!
“In the past two days, the news has spread everywhere. Everyone is saying that our Thunder God Sect has colluded with the demons! We are fighting with our lives on the line here! Yet we are being slandered like this! How can we tolerate this?”
“That’s right! No matter how despicable we are, how could we do such a thing!”
“Recently, many people have been looking at us strangely!”
“Ancestor, what should we do? We can’t just endure this.”
The Thunder God Sect’s Ancestor, Ouyang Hua, opened his eyes filled with anger!
“Hmph! I know what to do!”
One of the Heaven Rank experts said, “The Flame God Sect must have spread this rumor.”
Ouyang Hua sneered and said, “So what? They deliberately spread the rumors, but there are people who believe them! In a few days, our Thunder God Sect’s reputation will completely be ruined! Can’t you tell? The people did it on purpose as well.
They might also know that this matter isn’t true, but these sects and families are deliberately spreading it! They all want to see our Thunder God Sect making a fool of ourselves! In any case, the blame is on the Flame God Sect!”
“However, even if we know that it’s a rumor released by the Flame God Sect, do we have any evidence? What can we do even if we go up to them?”
Everyone fell silent!
It was really uncomfortable for them to be in this situation, as though someone had shat on their heads.
This was akin to being framed for touching a girl’s butt in school!
It would have been fine if he had really touched it, but the problem was everyone said that he had touched it even when he had not. This feeling was as unpleasant as it could get.
To put it bluntly…
I can be shameless, but you can’t throw a pile of dog sh*t at my face and accuse me of something I didn’t do!
However, even if they wanted to explain, there was no outlet nor venue for them.
All of the Heaven Rank experts in the sect had never felt so aggrieved!
“Ancestor, are we going to let others slander us like this?”
Ouyang Hua sighed. At this moment, there were basically only two paths. The first was to let the rumors spread and pretend not to hear them.
But this was akin to covering their ears and deceiving oneself.
The sect had tens of thousands of years of glory. Especially at this time, once the infamy of being connected to the Demon Race was spread to the human world, it would probably be difficult for the sect to accept disciples in the future.
Their disciples would also be looked down upon and targeted when they left the martial world.
If this continued, there would definitely be a huge problem.
“Sigh… I’ll go look for Su Wen!” Ouyang Hua said in a deep voice.
A Heaven Rank expert asked in confusion, “Su Wen? Why are you looking for him?”
Ouyang Hua looked at the person who asked this question and kicked him angrily. He said angrily, “Can’t you tell now? The key to this matter is Su Wen! The one who lost is his daughter. His wife controls the alliance army of the human world, his father controls the commoners of the cities, and his lover controls all the Spiritual Masters in the world!
He’s the one who’s suspecting us now! It’s just that he didn’t say it explicitly. It’s useless even if a Saint steps forward in this matter! Only by dispelling Su Wen’s doubts can this matter be considered resolved. Only then can the rumors stop!”
Before this, everyone had yet to realize the root of the problem!
But when they heard him list out all of Su Wen’s resources, they immediately felt how terrifying Su Wen was!
Unknowingly, many factions in the human world had already set up a huge net with him as the center!
Just as Ouyang Hua had said, to a certain extent, even a Saint might not be able to resolve this matter.
At this moment, Yan Luoying was also in Su Wen’s room.
“Husband, don’t worry. Su Su will definitely be fine.”
“Yes!”
Su Wen nodded and said, “I know… Su Su is still alive. Although I can’t sense her exact location, I have this feeling.”
Yan Luoying sighed. She knew that Su Wen was very anxious right now.
She leaned forward and whispered, “If the rumors are spread like you said… then the Thunder God Sect won’t ignore it, right?”
Su Wen said, “Don’t worry, they won’t ignore it unless they really disregard the sect’s ten thousand years of reputation. If that’s the case, then they won’t be far from declining. There’s no sect in this world that can endure the crime of linking up with the Demon Race, even if it’s just a rumor!”
Yan Luoying looked at Su Wen and said, “I feel that they might not have done it. There might be a hidden story behind Su Su’s matter. After all, she came out of the sect herself, and it wasn’t a Heaven Rank expert who went to the Flame God Sect to kidnap her. Moreover, Su Su was seen by Wu Lie at the location where he was found.
At that time, there was no Heaven Rank expert’s aura, so the demons should be from the Heavenly Fiend Clan. If Su Su didn’t come out, even a 9th Grade Earth Fiend Clan wouldn’t have any chance of abducting her! If you say that this was premeditated, it’s going a little too far.”
Su Wen frowned and said, “I’ve thought of this problem before, but if the other party doesn’t know her identity, he should be killing her! Why did he take the huge risk to bring her to the Demon Realm?”
Just as the two of them fell silent in suspicion, they received a report that the Thunder God Sect’s Ancestor, Ouyang Hua, had arrived!
