This caused Elder Bo Yan and the rest to be taken aback. “Ouyang, what did you say?”
The lightning strength has been stolen? How is that possible?!
Elder Ouyang’s figure flashed. He flew to the few of them and looked anxious and enraged as he pointed at that fountain. “If the lightning strength that had been gathered here for so many years wasn’t stolen, how would it suddenly explode?!”
I regularly went around the area and didn’t even realize this! Now that this has suddenly happened, it will be hard to deal with it again!
“T-then, what should we do?” Elder Hua Feng was dazed.
This Million Wine Mountain had a special status. Normally speaking, in the academy, it was mainly Elder Ouyang and the other Armory Refinement Masters who were in charge of this. The other elders at most played a supplementary role only. Even though they knew that Million Wine Mountain was very important and that the fountain was precious and couldn’t be touched casually, most of them weren’t sure of what exactly was going on.
Now that this suddenly happened, they could only panic, but they didn’t know what to do.
Elder Ouyang rubbed his face in frustration. “What to do… What to do… The fountain is frozen, which means that the lightning strength has been stolen. Even if all the Armory Refinement Masters in the academy produce weapons at the same time and guide the lightning, it would be too late!”
One had to know that they had spent a lot of effort these few years to control this fountain diligently! Now that something had happened to it, how could they save it in time overnight?
The few of them realized the severity of the situation. They fell silently respectively, and their expressions were grave.
At this point, another figure rapidly approached the few of them.
The few of them looked up and saw that it was Shang Yulin.
Shang Yulin knitted his brows and looked at the few of them. “The fountain is about to freeze. Why are you all still here in a daze?”
“Shang Yulin, why are you still in the academy?” Elder Hua Feng asked strangely.
According to the past rules, he wouldn’t stay in the academy past a month. However, he had been back for quite a while this time and hadn’t left yet.
Shang Yulin couldn’t control his urge to roll his eyes. “Hua Feng, why do you still have the time to care about this now?”
Actually, he just wanted to stay in the academy for a while longer to investigate the Chi Xiao Sword with Chu Yue. He didn’t expect so many things to happen recently, and the matter had been continuously delayed.
Today, it was even more outrageous—the boy became a girl!
“Where’s Senior Shangguan?” Shang Yulin was straightforward. “He’s a supreme Armory Refinement Master. If he can help, there might be some hope.”
Elder Ouyang slapped his forehead. “Why did I forget about this!?”
Even though this matter was troublesome, they had an actual master to help them now!
But when Elder Bo Yan and the others heard this, their expressions changed slightly. On their way over, they also heard the dragon roar that was filled with threat and warning.
“It seems like the dragon clan has come to cause trouble for him. He shouldn’t be in the academy now,” said Elder Bo Yan with a boom.
Elder Ouyang and Shang Yulin exchanged a glance and were both dazed. “Dragon clan? What’s happening again?”
“Dan Qing went to handle it. I don’t know what exactly happened, but… That person suppressed nine dragons in the Flood-Desert Northern Region. If I didn’t guess wrongly, he should have quite a big grudge with the dragon clan,” guessed Elder Bo Yan with some uncertainty.
If it weren’t because something happened at Million Wine Mountain, they would’ve followed him over now.
“What is going on…” Elder Ouyang crossed his arms. “It’s definitely not a small matter for the dragon clan to find him at the door so openly. Oh right, do you know which division the dragon clan member came from?”
The few of them shook their heads. We didn’t go over to check it out, so how would we know?
“The other party seems oppressive. I’m afraid they’re not easy to handle.”
“If this is so, I’m afraid that… he won’t be able to come back in a short amount of time.”
Shang Yulin looked at the fountain, and a layer of frost started appearing by the sides—about a quarter of it was frozen.
According to the current speed, the fountain would be completely frozen in no time! At that time, it would probably be—
“During this period of time, we’ve been taking care of it continuously. Nothing strange happened to the fountain. Why would so much lightning strength be stolen out of nowhere?!”
Elder Ouyang and the rest really couldn’t figure it out. Normally speaking, they would definitely notice something in such a circumstance!
Elder Bo Yan suddenly recalled something, and his expression changed. “Hua Feng, Chu Yue—when did Shangguan Yue’s red-tailed phoenix become a red-gold heavenly phoenix?”
Elder Hua Feng thought for a moment and widened his eyes slightly. “Are you suspecting—”
“For the red-tailed phoenix to break through to the ultimate stage and become an ancient legendary fiend, it needs a huge amount of strength. The lightning strength gathered within the fountain is clearly more than enough.”
“However, this doesn’t mean that it’s related to her, right… If it was really her red-tailed phoenix that did it, how did we not notice it?”
The few of them fell silent at the same time. This was something that they couldn’t understand at all.
All these years, they had spent countless efforts on Million Wine Mountain. They basically knew everything that happened to the fountain. However, they didn’t know at all about such a huge matter—the lightning strength being stolen!
“No matter what, let’s call her over and ask her,” instructed Elder Bo Yan.
Elder Hua Feng could only agree. “Okay.”
…
The moment Chu Liuyue and Rong Xiu returned to Qing Ming Square, they saw Elder Hua Feng returning.
When she saw Elder Hua Feng running toward her, Chu Liuyue knew that it wasn’t good.
Elder Hua Feng waved toward her. “Bo Yan is looking for you to go over.”
Chu Liuyue didn’t ask further as she took a deep breath and followed.
Seeing that Rong Xiu seemed to want to go over, Elder Hua Feng didn’t stop him. After some thinking, he let it go and brought the two of them toward Million Wine Mountain.
The crowd that was left behind in Qing Ming Square had faces filled with confusion.
…
Before she arrived at Million Wine Mountain, Chu Liuyue saw from the corner of her eyes that a layer of frost had formed on the fountain.
Judging from the elders’ extremely stern expressions, she knew that she was in huge trouble.
Elder Bo Yan’s gaze was sharp as he pointed at the fountain and asked directly, “Girlie, is this matter related to you?”
…
At the same time, the two parties outside the barrier were in a stalemate.
On one side, it was Shangguan Jing and the other academy elders.
On the other side, there was a tall man in his fifties and a few younger descendants behind him.
The man standing at the front wore a gray robe, and his hair was white. His eyes were purplish-golden.
Upon a closer look, his neck and his hands had many nail-sized, purplish-golden scales. Under the light, they reflected a crystallized light.
He stared at Shangguan Jing sharply and snorted. “Shangguan Jing, how dare you! If you give me my clan member’s corpse, I’ll let you die with a full body!”
