It wasn’t humiliating that he couldn’t defeat Xiao Hongxue. On the contrary, Jiang Chen would’ve become even more famous if anyone had spread the news about this fight to others: because he’d escaped from Xiao Hongxue when the latter was in a rage.
Jiang Chen went back to Tianqi City. As to what had happened to Wang Lin, it was none of his business. And he didn’t give a d*mn anyway.
He met up with Ye Qiu and the others when he’d arrived in Tianqi City.
They could finally relax now that they could see that Jiang Chen was fine.
“What was the result?” asked Ye Qiu.
He surely wasn’t asking whether Jiang Chen had won, because he knew that that was impossible.
“That guy’s strength is much bigger than his wisdom,” Jiang Chen said with a bitter smile.
“Ha, ha, ha, Xiao Hongxue is Long Xing’s apprentice. He’s been given a lot of attention. And people have noticed how he’s developed during these years. He’s really enjoyed exceptional advantages.” Ye Qiu burst out laughing at Jiang Chen’s comment.
“Yeah. His last movement, the Fire Kylin, was mind-boggling and fantastic as well,” Jiang Chen said, nodding.
However, his comment caused Ye Qiu and all the others to become completely dumbstruck.
“Anything wrong?” Jiang Chen asked, confused.
“Xiao Hongxue used his Martial Soul?” Xuan Qing asked him.
“Yeah.”
The crowd all exclaimed after getting his affirmative answer.
“It’s kind of a saying that once Xiao Hongxue uses his Martial Soul, his enemy will absolutely die. But you survived. That’s really amazing!” Ye Qiu said seriously.
Jiang Chen shrugged his shoulders. He surely wasn’t going to just stop there.
He had actually used this fight with Xiao Hongxue to prepare him for the next one, where he would defeat Xiao Hongxue.
However, he still had very many questions about Xiao Hongxue.
His Vulcan Ring was in Xiao Nuo’s keeping. He was going to take it back to ask the Flame Emperor what was going on.
At this moment, Ye Qiu and the others left thoughtfully, leaving Jiang Chen and Xuan Qing alone.
“Jiang Chen, thanks for coming to my rescue,” said Xuan Qing.
“No problem. Actually, I should have come earlier.”
“No. I heard what happened from Ye Qiu. You must have had your own reasons for living in seclusion for three years.”
Xuan Qing went on, “Over the past three years, Xiao Hongxue was always trying to have me, but the Heavenly Bestowal Woman won’t work unless I’m willing.”
She was attempting to prove her innocence to Jiang Chen. She’d never been violated by Xiao Hongxue in all these three years.
Speaking of the Heavenly Bestowal Woman, Jiang Chen held his tongue, although he had something to say. He was not sure whether he should tell her the truth.
He gave up on the idea very soon.
Xuan Qing, kept from the truth, might achieve new heights with the confidence she had gained as the descendant of the Goddess of Empyrean.
He didn’t need to disclose it at all because it would just make Xuan Qing very unhappy.
“Miss Xuan Qing, I’m leaving for the celestial palace now to prepare for the Spiritual Land Battle. I will see you soon.”
Jiang Chen got to his feet to say good-bye to her.
Xuan Qing was struck dumb. It took her a while to take in what he’d said. She nodded, her pretty face full of disappointment.
After saying good-bye to Ye Qiu as well, Jiang Chen exerted the Great Method of the Void and arrived at the Dragon Tiger Mountain very shortly.
He didn’t have his identification as vice leader with him, as a result of which he was rejected by the tactical formation of the Ling Long Celestial Palace.
But since he had been the one who’d updated the tactical formation, he was able to arrive at the Nine Peaks smoothly without alerting anyone.
“What is going on…?” Jiang Chen realized with surprise what was different with the celestial palace immediately. The original nine peaks had become the current 36 peaks!
Each peak of the celestial palace represented an inheritance. With 27 more peaks, this was even too much for Xiao Nuo.
Besides, the drastic expansion wasn’t favorable for the cohesion of the palace as a whole.
Unless some accident had happened.
Jiang Chen couldn’t even find the Main Peak. As a result, he naturally couldn’t enter Xiao Nuo’s residence palace.
“I’ll go to see Ye Xue first.”
Jiang Chen spread his holy awareness and sensed that freezing pure spiritual power soon, which only Ye Xue could have.
Ye Xue was at the Main Peak. She was here to see Xiao Nuo.
As the Icy Spirit King, it should have been the vice leader who would see her. But since the vice leader, Jiang Chen, was not there, it was a grand Elder who was standing in front of Ye Xue.
“Leader the Venerable practices in seclusion quite a lot. She told us if there was anything to report, we should ask ourselves whether it deserved her attention first before we went to disturb her.”
This grand Elder spoke seriously, neither too arrogant nor too humble.
“Would things about Jiang Chen deserve her attention?”
Ye Xue had a feeling that there was something weird going on in the celestial palace, but she couldn’t tell what it was.
“It’s hard to say.” The grand elder was in a pickle. “Why don’t you wait a little bit?”
“It’s important. Please report it.” Getting to her feet suddenly, Ye Xue responded coldly as she thought that it was Xiao Hongxue whom Jiang Chen was going to confront. She was not good at negotiating.
“There is nothing I can do if you behave like this,” the grand Elder said with a bitter smile.
“Jiang Chen sent me here. He is your vice leader. Why is he being slighted here?” Ye Xue shouted in a cold voice.
“Why did you say that?” The grand Elder shrugged his shoulders, denying her accusation, but neither did he refute it.
Ye Xue felt as if she would like to throw a punch, but she realized that wouldn’t accomplish anything.
This grand Elder in front of her was not one of the only three grand Elders that the celestial palace had had before.
He was only about 50 years old. His state was below Venerable Sovereign.
“Are you deliberately making this difficult for me?” Ye Xue exerted her spiritual power secretly. The temperature in the palace dropped drastically.
This grand Elder felt rather pressured. He didn’t want to fight with her.
“How dare you! Do you think you can run amok like this in the Ling Long Celestial Palace?”
PAH!
The gates of the palace were pushed open. A well-dressed middle-aged woman entered with a lot of people.
She was staring at Ye Xue sternly. “We’ve been polite to you because we respect you as a visitor, but you have gone too far. Catch her!”
Those behind her walked ahead at fast pace.
“How dare you!” Ye Xue threw a fit. Jiang Chen was the vice leader of the celestial palace and was very close to Xiao Nuo. It was just as if they were trampling on Jiang Chen’s dignity by treating her in this way.
“Why don’t we dare? Do you think the celestial palace is Jiang Chen’s private garden? Besides, how can we confirm that it’s true that you have Jiang Chen’s news? If it’s true, why isn’t he here?” the middle-aged woman asked coldly.
“You want to see me?” Coincidentally, Jiang Chen’s voice rang out at this moment.
Then he showed up out of nowhere.
“Jiang Chen!” Ye Xue was pleasantly surprised. Noticing the marks on him left by the fighting, she said, “It’s over?”
“Yeah. We’ve rescued her.”
Ye Xue felt happy and calmer when she’d heard his news.
It didn’t matter to her anymore whether she got to see Xiao Nuo or not.
“What are you waiting for?” To their surprise, the middle-aged woman asked in a stern voice, “Why did you stop?”
Those who had come up to try to catch Ye Xue had stopped when seeing Jiang Chen show up.
But, urged on by the middle-aged woman, they continued to approach Ye Xue.
“How dare you!”
Frowning, Jiang Chen yelled, “I’m the vice leader of the celestial palace. Who are you? How dare you behave like this in the celestial palace?”
“What a coincidence. I’m a vice leader too. Your woman has offended the prestige of the celestial palace. I have to teach her a lesson,” the middle-aged woman said with a cold smile.
There was only one leader, but there could be several vice leaders.
Jiang Chen had no idea who this person was and since when she had been vice leader.
“You think you can teach my woman a lesson?”
There was no sign of respect in any of these people who were staring at Jiang Chen and Ye Xue with hostility. It meant that all of them had joined the celestial palace after his disappearance.
“I’m wondering how much the celestial palace has changed over the past three years.”
Then the Heaven-Punishing Sword showed up in Jiang Chen’s hand.
