Xia Yunji paused, another cough escaping his lips. His face paled slightly as he said, “But you must be cautious, lest you be assassinated. Is that fellow…the same scoundrel from before?”

“Definitely,” Hong Tan nodded, “That Fatty Xia is still trying to smooth things over. First Divine Sect? Sect Master? If I were that Sect Master, I’d be digging up the Xia Family’s ancestral tombs in fury. He’s being made a scapegoat for everything that’s happening.”

At that moment, Marquis Xia landed beside them.

With a grim expression, he said, “What else could I have done? So you’re not entirely in the dark, are you? You know there’s an Invincible keeping an eye on you all? Is the Xia Family truly so untrustworthy? Not even Yunji has told us anything about this.”

Xia Yunji smiled, “Xiao’er…”

“Do you wish to spar with me?”

Marquis Xia’s face fell.

“Cough, cough. Second Brother, yes, that’s the proper address, isn’t it?”

Marquis Xia was actually two years older than him. Xia Yunji had simply been accustomed to calling him Xiao’er since childhood. After correcting himself, Xia Yunji said, “It’s not that I distrust you or Uncle. I believe many people have doubts about this matter. But…there’s no way to resolve this.”

Xia Yunji said helplessly, “How can we resolve this? Investigate every single Invincible in existence? We’ll never find anything. This person only moved fifty years ago, and has been silent ever since. During the incident, many Invincibles were shifting from their posts. Some were in seclusion, some in the Allheaven Battlefield, and others on missions in the various minor realms. How are we supposed to find the truth?”

“He said he has a grudge against the Fifth Principal.”

Xia Yunji smiled bitterly, “You know the Fifth Principal. He has plenty of enemies. Apart from the multiple-character faction and a small number of single-character faction cultivators, he’s offended far too many people.”

“But not many of his enemies are Invincibles.”

“Yes, but how do you know if that person was telling the truth?” Xia Yunji shook his head, “And if we really want to pursue this line of thought, the Fifth Principal didn’t even have an enemy among the Invincibles with a grudge serious enough to kill. Perhaps this is a misdirection. Have you discovered any new clues from this battle?”

Marquis Xia shook his head.

“Then what’s the point of forcing Wenyan to leave Nanyuan?”

Marquis Xia frowned, “What do you mean? That wasn’t me! I don’t have the time for such things. And that grave-digging idea wasn’t mine. I merely pushed it along. I suspect Wan Tiansheng is the true culprit, the one who orchestrated this battle.”

Xia Yunji frowned, “Wan Tiansheng? What is he trying to do? Even if that fellow really did show up, who among you could even deal with him? Is Uncle in the prefecture?”

His uncle was none other than the Great Xia King. But even with the Great Xia King around, it still wasn’t enough. An Invincible was virtually impossible to capture.

“No. But we have Longwu here. The fight won’t be entirely hopeless with Longwu around.”

Marquis Xia explained, “The old man is tasked with keeping an eye on suspects to narrow down the list. Over the years, we’ve significantly reduced the list. We can’t investigate openly, but we can still do it secretly. The old man has been acting senile for a couple of years, challenging people to random spars. Using that excuse, he’s forced some to fight with all their might. If his opponent this time is truly the one we’re looking for, no clones would have been sent here. The old man still has keen eyes. He’ll notice.”

He said, “It’s not entirely unexpected. That person won’t be so careless. They definitely won’t come personally.”

He sighed, “But that person is truly not holding back. Three entire Eternal-level characters have been sacrificed for this. Even for an Invincible, this would be a considerable loss.”

Wu Yuehua said furiously, “Since you’re unsure if that person will come, why set this up? Are you trying to kill Wenyan?”

Marquis Xia merely rolled his eyes and muttered something about women under his breath.

“I told you, I wasn’t the mastermind! I only helped the plan along! Also, if Liu Wenyan continues hiding, that person will likely lose patience and come to Nanyuan themselves. The old man has been busy lately and can’t keep watch on Liu Wenyan from the shadows.”

“Even if we alert that person, it’s still necessary to scare them somewhat, to keep them patient for a while longer. Also, is Liu Wenyan supposed to keep hiding?”

In the beginning, the Great Xia King frequently returned to the prefecture. And back then, the Liu Family was still powerful. Thus, Liu Wenyan still enjoyed their protection despite his exile.

But now, the Great Xia King had become increasingly busy. Thus, alerting the traitor wasn’t necessarily a bad idea. That would force the traitor to hold back instead of secretly killing Liu Wenyan in Nanyuan.

With a resentful tone, Marquis Xia said, “There’s definitely something different about Liu Wenyan. That person wouldn’t be so fixated on him otherwise, to the point that an Invincible is trying to kill a much weaker cultivator. I suspect the data he stole back then is incomplete. Perhaps what he lacks is related to this character. That’s why he risked exposing himself to snatch the character.”

The others remained silent. That made sense. It was very likely that the stolen data was incomplete. Or perhaps the information wasn’t useful without the character. Hence, that person had been so obsessed with Liu Wenyan, to the point where they were willing to spend so many years plotting against him.

Wu Yuehua said, “Let’s ignore that fellow for now. How about Zhou Polong? What is he trying to do?”

“Don’t ask me,” Marquis Xia said, “I don’t know him that well. Just be careful around that fellow. He’s either trying to bait that person out or trying to destroy your faction. In truth, both options seem acceptable to him. After all, you guys are the reason his father is dead…”

“What did you just say?” Wu Yuehua was furious.

Hong Tan said helplessly, “How is that our fault?”

Marquis Xia shrugged indifferently, “In any case, it has nothing to do with me. To tell the truth, I have a guess at what Zhou Polong’s actual goal is. He probably won’t rest until Liu Wenyan hands over the character. He might not even need that character for his advancement into the Invincible Realm. That character is simply the perfect tool to bait that person out of hiding.”

Indeed, Zhou Polong’s goal wasn’t too hard to guess. He also wanted the character. With the character, he could use it both for his own advancement and as bait. Either way, the character was very useful for him. And the hidden Invincible also needed that character. Everything that had happened today was proof of that.

Thus, if Zhou Polong couldn’t find that person, he would once again set his sights on the character. If Liu Wenyan was unwilling to hand the character over, then Zhou Polong would simply choose to snatch it.

In any case, he was probably one of the few people with an actual valid reason to snatch the character.

Hong Tan said, “This is all so troublesome. That damn Zhou Polong. We told him long ago that we don’t have the data. As for the character, it still can’t be materialized. But he still insists on creating trouble. And now, I’ve exposed my true strength. When he finds out I’ve been concealing my strength, he’ll probably think I’ve been lying to him about everything.”

“Have you not been lying to him?” Marquis Xia beamed, “Your multiple-character faction has quite a lot of secrets. Ability blood essence, character fusion, character technique disassembly…”

“Disassembly what?” Hong Tan said, “My character technique has always existed as a pair. This is a single set of sword and shield. What nonsense are you talking about?”

He thought Marquis Xia was referring to him. Wu Yuehua and the others merely looked at him with disdain. Why was he still acting?

Hong Tan was astonished, “Why are you looking at me like this? I’m serious. My character technique is truly a set!”

“How about Bai Feng?”

“What about him? That stinky brat’s character technique is a sword, right?”

“Oh?”

The others laughed. He Ji said, “Stop pretending. One sword? He has revealed four Dragon Slaying Swords so far. But I think a few have been destroyed…”

He worriedly asked, “Will Bai Feng be alright? Director Ji took him…”

“Wait!” Hong Tan was alarmed, “Four swords? Several destroyed swords? Taken by Director Ji? What are you talking about?”

The others looked at him again. Was he truly unaware, or was he pretending? If he was still pretending, then this was excessive. Why was he lying even to his own people?

“Disassembly…” Hong Tan suddenly thought of a possibility and asked, “He disassembled the Dragon Slaying Sword?”

“Yeah…”

“Holy shit!” Hong Tan was alarmed, “That brat was too rash! Wasn’t he afraid of killing himself with his experiments? So is he dead?”

“No. But he was seriously injured, with multiple characters destroyed. He was taken away by Director Ji.”

They looked saddened, unsure if recovery was possible for Bai Feng.

At this time, Hong Tan could no longer spare his senior brother any attention. After thinking about it, he tossed his senior brother to Wu Yuehua before running off. “Take care of my senior brother! I’ll go take a look!”

He ran off without hesitation. Meanwhile, Liu Wenyan was cursing inwardly.

He opened his eyes and coughed up blood, saying, “Yunji, I need to heal. Build a temporary dwelling for me. I need a place to rest…”

Xia Yunji stared at his friend speechlessly. What was the point of building a house? This fellow had clearly recovered enough. Liu Wenyan merely glared at him with threatening eyes.

Hurry up! Without a house to hide in, three pairs of eyes would be constantly on him, making him feel uncomfortable.

“Fine. He Ji, you help me build a house…”

When He Ji left to build the requested house, Liu Wenyan coughed up more blood and fainted once more. He wouldn’t regain consciousness before the house was built. Wu Yuehua and the other two women merely glared at him, but no one bothered to say anything.

Beside them, Marquis Xia had been silently enjoying the show. At this time, he said, “You all better stay in the capital temporarily. It would be even better if you entered seclusion. Otherwise, this matter will be very difficult to resolve. Also, your incomplete assimilation of those characters is quite embarrassing. You all better take some time to stabilize your cultivation after that exertion.”

After tossing the watermelon rind on the ground, he said, “Also, remember to pay for the things you broke today.”

“And Liu Wenyan, you killed two Mountainseas. Stop pretending to be unconscious. You need to kill 20 enemy Mountainseas as punishment. If you can’t do that, then just stay in the Vanguard Regiment for life.”

“In truth, this is good for you. The eyes of many Invincibles are always on the Vanguard Regiment, so you’ll be much safer there. You can take Bai Feng with you as well. That brat will definitely receive a lot more attention after this. For the two of you, the Allheaven Battlefield is safer than the Human Realm. There are too many Invincibles there. Nobody will dare to act rashly there.”

Nobody objected.

Marquis Xia continued, “The Zhou Family will definitely continue looking for trouble. It won’t be good for you guys to stay in the Human Realm. In all honesty, nobody can spare the time to look after you all the time.

“Yunji, you killed a Mountainsea earlier. And you all killed three Mountainseas. The Xia Family won’t be able to resolve this without sending you all to the Allheaven Battlefield.”

Xia Yunji nodded, “I understand. I’ll leave with Wenyan after recovering from our injuries. Hong Tan needs to stay. If all of us leave, then there won’t be anyone left back home. No matter what, we still have a few people here, such as Chen Yong, Chen Yong’s student, and Su Yu. We need someone to watch over them.”

“Sure.”

Marquis Xia didn’t mind. He had been walking while talking, and he had already walked quite far away. Suddenly, he turned around and said, “By the way, you might not be aware of this. That Su Yu might be Liu Wenyan’s illegitimate child.”

Right after saying that, he ran off.

“I…”

Liu Wenyan abruptly opened his eyes and cursed, “Screw you and your ancestors!”

“I’ll be sure to pass your words to my old man!” Marquis Xia roared with laughter.

“I…”

Liu Wenyan was so furious that he suddenly coughed up blood before fainting for real. Wu Yuehua looked at the others before patting Liu Wenyan’s chest, forcing a mouthful of stuck blood to flow out. With that, Liu Wenyan woke back up.

“Your son?”

But Liu Wenyan insisted on pretending to be unconscious. What a stupid question. That was definitely not his son. But how was he supposed to explain something like that? That was most certainly a slander!

Wu Yuehua coldly said, “No wonder. You haven’t contacted me for decades. For the sake of Su Yu, you actually called me before he even entered the academy, just so I could watch over him in the academy. That was the second time you’ve ever called me over the past 50 years.”

Liu Wenyan felt extremely sullen. That wasn’t true! Forget it. This woman was unreasonable. It was pointless for him to explain.

Nearby, He Ji had just returned after building a house. He asked in astonishment, “He’s Big Brother Liu’s son? No wonder he’s so talented! The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, after all. No wonder he looks like a replica of a younger Big Brother Liu.”

“I…”

Liu Wenyan had the urge to open his eyes and hack He Ji to death with his axe. This fellow was actually adding fuel to the fire! Why was this fellow so good at this?

They started laughing, but suddenly, Wu Yuehua said, “Old Su wasn’t here. Anyone know what’s up with him?”

Vice Principal Su.

Previously, this person was also one of their supporters. But he had been absent today.

He Ji sighed, “Forget it. Let him be. Xia Yuwen is trying to become the next prefect. To secure his support, Xia Changqing offered to have Su Meng marry Xia Yuwen. That’s such a good plan. Xia Yuwen would first take Su Meng as his wife before taking the girl from the Ji Family as his second wife. That way, he would be able to rope in a peak Mountainsea and a Sunmoon. Those two, coupled with Xia Changqing, would form a rather powerful support base for his struggle over the position of prefect.”

“Hmph!”

Wu Yuehua snorted, “That fellow can keep dreaming. He even set his sights on Little Qi before. Why doesn’t he look into a mirror first?”

They stopped talking about Vice Principal Su.

At this time, He Ji teased, “Yuehua, Bai Feng is a decent young man…”

“He’s not good enough to catch Little Qi’s attention,” Wu Yuehua proudly said, “And he’s too weak.”

“He defeated Xia Yuwen. He’s definitely not weak…”

“Who knows what his future holds? Maybe he’s already a cripple.” Wu Yuehua then said, “Su Yu would be a good choice. He is both talented and tenacious…”

They all stared at her blankly. Was she serious? Was she only suggesting this after hearing that Su Yu might be the illegitimate child of a certain someone? If so, then that was a truly terrible idea.

After all, if Su Yu was really that someone’s illegitimate child, then Su Yu could actually be considered a generation above Wu Qi. The seniority would be all messed up. Liu Wenyan decided to keep pretending to be unconscious.

There was nothing he could say here. He would allow these people to say whatever they wanted. Then again, he was quite surprised to see Su Yu’s arrival. That was truly a gutsy kid.

But that had also proved how loyal that kid was toward those close to him. Unfortunately, he would need to leave for the Allheaven Battlefield soon. He would have no chance to spend more time with the kid.