Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Wizards were the first to leave. Soon, the other two groups originally from the Worlds of Meson, the Jet Black Snakes and the Barbarians, also left.
None of them said anything at this time, but their angry faces suggested that this was not over yet.
“You are going to have to rely on yourself at the time of the Spiritual Land Battle,” Mrs. Yang said. Then she left with those from the Sacred Institute.
“Jiang Chen, how did you make the Sacred Institute agree to help us?”
Seeing all the teams leave, one after another, Wu Ming realized that the incident seemed to have been closed for the moment.
What puzzled him was Mrs. Yang’s attitude. Her standpoint had obviously changed.
“After all, the Nether World School doesn’t exist anymore. Without their influence, it will all be a mere game of self-interest,” said Jiang Chen.
“Are you collaborating with Mrs. Yang?” Wu Ming seemed to be shocked. But he didn’t say anymore.
“Is there anything wrong?”
“Do you know who Mrs. Yang is?”
“Who is she?”
“Mrs. Yang is the empress dowager of the Xia.” Wu Ming explained the situation to him.
“What?!”
Jiang Chen was surprised. He had had no idea about who this woman was.
“The emperor of the Xias was killed by the Great Sovereign of the Nether World School on the Alien Battlefield. It’s not difficult to figure out what’s going to happen when there is a vacancy such as this anywhere in the imperial power structure.”
“People are plotting to usurp the throne?”
Wu Ming nodded. It was hard to say whether it was a good thing or not to collaborate with Mrs. Yang.
Jiang Chen was astonished. He realized that he had really arrived at the start of a new era when even a giant like the Xias was under threat.
Then Jiang Chen went to the Ling Long Celestial Palace with Ye Xue.
“I’m going to go to the Spiritual Land Battle on behalf of the Heavenly Palace. I feel as if I’m going to have a breakthrough very soon,” Ye Xue said on their way.
After Jiang Chen, Wu Ming was the strongest person in the Heavenly Palace. However, Wu Ming was more than 35 years old, so he couldn’t participate in the battle.
Therefore, Ye Xue was the best choice indeed.
“Okay.” Jiang Chen agreed immediately without any hesitation.
The Ling Long Celestial Palace and the Heavenly Palace were not located in two different worlds anymore. They were in the same world. However, they were farther away from each other now than they had been before.
The Tianqi Plain where the celestial palace was located was almost on the other end of the Middle River.
At Jiang Chen’s current strength, it would take him several days to travel there.
Fortunately, there were large-scale teleporting formations scattered all around, and they would shorten their travel time to approximately 12 hours.
Traveling between cities, each teleportation was necessarily accompanied by the tearing force of space. Only strong people like Jiang Chen and Ye Xue could stand several consecutive teleportations such as these.
In the end, Jiang Chen and Ye Xue arrived in Tianqi City smoothly.
The last time they had been here, the city had still been under construction. But now Tianqi City had become one of the ten major metropolises.
The whole city resembled a prehistoric giant beast crawling on the plain.
Jiang Chen and Ye Xue showed up in the air above the city. Looking down at how crowded the city had become, they were pretty surprised.
“Master said the celestial palace was in an even worse position than the Heavenly Palace, and it has to take part in the Spiritual Land Battle. I’m wondering why he said that and what exactly he means,” Jiang Chen thought to himself. It did not look like there were any troubles in Tianqi City.
“Jiang Chen.” Just as Jiang Chen and Ye Xue were about to fly to the Nine Peaks of the Dragon Tiger Mountain, a person greeted him.
Jiang Chen immediately thought it must be some member of the celestial palace who had recognized him. However, to his surprise, it was Ye Qiu from the Demon Slayers Palace.
They hadn’t seen each other for three years, but he looked just the same. However, Jiang Chen noticed that the style of his fancy clothes was very similar to Mrs. Yang’s. He realized what that meant after thinking it over. It meant that he must also work for the Sacred Institute.
The Demon Slayers Palace used to be a part of the Sacred Institute. Now that the Sacred Institute had been re-established, the Demon Slayers Palace had naturally become the core of it.
“It’s really you. I could hardly believe it was true when I heard the news.”
Ye Qiu had really trusted Jiang Chen a lot on the Alien Battlefield. He’d always obeyed Jiang Chen’s directions. As a result, the two had gotten along very well.
“Lord Ye, are you here because of the Sacred Institute?” asked Jiang Chen.
Ye Qiu was not surprised at Jiang Chen mentioning the Sacred Institute. He said with a smile, “I guess you’re talking about the Spiritual Land Battle. I’m not the one who’s in charge of it.”
“Oh?” Then Jiang Chen couldn’t figure out why Ye Qiu had been here waiting for him.
“Shall we talk in some other place?”
“Okay.”
Shortly afterwards, Jiang Chen, Ye Xue, and Ye Qiu arrived at a teahouse.
“Jiang Chen, what is your relation with Xuan Qing? Is it what others say it is?”
To his surprise, Ye Qiu had managed to make Jiang Chen speechless right away.
He took a look at Ye Xue out of the corner of his eye. She looked quite calm.
However, he sensed that the air around them seemed to be getting a little cooler.
“You have news of Xuan Qing?” Jiang Chen answered a question with a question.
Xuan Qing had been taken into the Demon City back at the time before the battle, and no one knew whether she was dead or alive. He never saw Xuan Qing during the battle afterward. Even though he’d wanted to find her, he didn’t know where to look for her.
“We thought Xuan Qing had been killed by the Demons, but later we found out that she wasn’t. She was saved by someone during the battle. But that someone who saved her wanted to receive some kind of benefit from the Heavenly Bestowal Woman, so he had her arrested.” Ye Qiu recounted all the important information.
“Who was that?” Jiang Chen asked in an emotional voice.
“Xiao Hongxue!”
“The guy who was always yelling about how he had been recognized by the Natural Law?” That person had left a very bad impression on Jiang Chen.
“Yes.”
“What are you waiting for then? Can’t you from the Demon Slayers Palace ask him to give Xuan Qing back to you?”
“We started in on that as soon as we heard about it. We’ve been trying over the past year. But we don’t have any solid evidence. Every time we tried to act to rescue her, Xuan Qing would be transferred somewhere else.”
Ye Qiu said helplessly, “This time we’ve got more information. Xuan Qing is being kept on Tianling Mountain.”
“You want Jiang Chen to go to her rescue with you?” Ye Xue spoke for the first time.
“No. We hope Jiang Chen can go to her rescue alone,” said Ye Qiu with a bitter smile.
Ye Qiu added as Ye Xue seemed to be turning cold, “Every time we’ve approached them, we’ve been found out. And then she was immediately transferred. We are really at our wits’ end. So, we were hoping that Jiang Chen could put in place a surprise attack.”
“Why do you think I can do it?” asked Jiang Chen.
“Once a person masters the Scripture of the Void of the Goddess of Empyrean, this person is able to come and go as freely as a ghost,” said Ye Qiu.
It turned out that the Demon Slayers Palace knew that Jiang Chen had received the Scripture of the Void in the Demonic Abyss.
“What about the defenses there?” Ye Xue asked.
“Xiao Hongxue doesn’t have the nerve to be too flagrant, so there won’t be any special protection from strong people. As long as Xiao Hongxue isn’t alerted, things will be easy.”
Ye Qiu said, “In the best-case scenario, Jiang Chen, you’ll be able to save her without Xiao Hongxue even realizing it.”
“Xiao Hongxue was already a Venerable Sovereign three years ago. What about now?”
Ye Xue would never have expected the best-case scenario to happen. Like Jiang Chen, she would always prepare for the worst-case scenario instead.
“Very strong. He is one of the best Venerable Sovereigns,” said Ye Qiu.
Ye Xue did not want Jiang Chen to go when she had heard this answer.
However, Jiang Chen didn’t look as if he was going to listen to her.
“I can’t force you. However, if, Jiang Chen, you think the risk is worth taking to save Xuan Qing, please just do it. If you don’t think it’s worth it, I’ll leave right away,” said Ye Qiu.
“To the outside world, Xuan Qing and I were a couple. So, if my woman is being kept in captivity and I don’t go to her rescue, won’t I be laughed at when others hear about it?”
Ye Qiu was relieved by Jiang Chen’s reply.
However, he noticed Ye Xue’s unhappy look. So, he bid his farewells after he and Jiang Chen had fixed a location to meet up.
“Ye Xue, she and I…”
Jiang Chen started to explain his relationship with Xuan Qing.
