Seeing Bai Yao and Mu Jingyue enter the Cangjie Grotto-Heaven first, Lady Wang had entangled Nangong Xuan, and then used the Qinglan Sect to stop the Xuan Yu Sect’s schemes, but the result fell through.
Since that was the case, Lady Wang couldn’t be bothered to keepçº ç¼ ing with Nangong Xuan, and quickly retreated to the outskirts of the altar.
And having lost Lady Wang’s cooperation, Hao Zhongyi knew he could gain nothing in front of Nangong Xuan, so he also retreated to the side.
“Everyone, until the Imperial Observatory permits it, you are forbidden from entering the Cangjie Grotto-Heaven!”
The two external affairs elders of the Xuan Kingdom’s Imperial Observatory came to their senses and immediately stood on either side of the grotto entrance, using their overwhelming Celestial Immortal pressure to force the crowd back.
“Husband… husband!” Amid the rapidly quieting crowd, a woman’s anguished sobbing suddenly rang out.
Liu Linglin hugged the dying Xiao Yi, her hands covered in blood.
But Xiao Yi’s injuries were simply too severe—his internal organs had been completely destroyed by Sword Qi, and he had already died.
Ironically, this young prince of the Xia Manor, in his final moments, wasn’t thinking of the Liu girl who was desperately clutching his body, but of Bai Yao.
The young woman who, while he lay sick in bed, had cursed at him yet cared for him with the utmost attention.
Even with his consciousness fading, he still clearly recognized the magnolia fragrance on Bai Yao, not the ink-scented warmth on Liu Linglin.
From that moment on, Xiao Yi had decided that was his mother’s scent—the pursuit he craved most in his short life.
“Junior sister, I told you, you must not fall into true love.”
Lady Wang’s Celestial Immortal aura didn’t diminish in the slightest, and with a compassionate face yet hidden smugness, she slowly walked to Liu Linglin’s side.
“But it’s fine now. Bai Yao is as good as dead, and you carry the only bloodline of the Xia Manor in your womb. Your position as the new matriarch is already set in stone.”
If Bai Yao’s scent was the symbol of motherly love that Xiao Yi would sacrifice himself to pursue.
Then he might never have imagined that his true biological mother, Lady Wang, was not only indifferent to his death, but had even arranged how to use it.
Liu Linglin’s body trembled, and she hugged Xiao Yi’s body even tighter, trying to suppress her body’s involuntary shaking.
Her iron-hearted senior sister had even calculated her pregnancy with Xiao Yi’s child into her plans—this truly made her feel the ruthlessness and heartlessness of the immortal path.
But she wasn’t the only one grieving.
Old King Xiao Yunshan was equally devastated.
Yet when Xiao Yunshan heard Lady Wang say that Liu Linglin carried Xiao Yi’s child, a glimmer of light actually flashed in his ashen eyes.
“Wang Lihua… are you saying this woman… is pregnant with Yi’er’s child?!”
Xiao Yunshan shot a hateful glance at Ye Tingyu, who had already sheathed her sword, and strode quickly to Liu Linglin’s side.
“Xiao Yunshan, are you worried I’d deceive you?”
Lady Wang held her prayer beads in one hand, speaking unhurriedly.
“You know full well how close Yi’er was to her. If you don’t believe me, feel her pulse yourself.”
But the atmosphere on the scene was like a violent storm, and there was no way for Xiao Yunshan to verify the truth of Lady Wang’s words.
“Nangong Xuan!” Hao Zhongyi still held the Qinglan Sect’s Law Enforcement Hall token, shouting loudly at Nangong Xuan in midair.
“You have some nerve, betraying your superior sect so treasonously! Surrender now!”
At this moment, Nangong Xuan had already put away his initial anger.
So what if that bitch Lady Wang saw through his intentions? Mu Jingyue was already sent into the Cangjie Grotto-Heaven—what did he have to worry about?
He casually swept his gaze over his so-called loyal traitor of a disciple, then quickly over Lady Wang and Xiao Yunshan, and finally landed his eyes on the two juniors, Ye Tingyu and Luo Huai’an.
“Qinglan Sect…” Nangong Xuan stepped down from the air and slowly landed between the two managing elders of the Imperial Observatory.
“I’ve already sent my people in, and the Cangjie Grotto-Heaven is open. I’d like to ask—what do you plan to do about it?”
Ye Tingyu narrowed her eyes slightly, catching the wrongness in the Xuan Yu Sect Master’s words in an instant.
“Sect Master Nangong, this junior and Junior Brother Luo are merely here to deliver the decree of the Qinglan Sect’s Law Enforcement Hall.”
She said in a deep voice.
“From your tone, it seems this intention to rebel against your superior sect has been there for a while. Aren’t you worried about the thunderous wrath of the Qinglan Sect?”
“Thunderous wrath? Heh… hahaha!”
Nangong Xuan laughed, and the laughter was so abrupt that Ye Tingyu and Luo Huai’an felt even more stunned.
Then, Nangong Xuan, the Xuan Yu Sect Master, made a move that left all hundreds of people on the scene utterly dumbfounded.
He actually turned around directly, knelt on both knees before the two Imperial Observatory elders, and bowed:
“The Xuan Yu Sect Master, Nangong Xuan, is willing to lead the Xuan Yu Sect in pledging allegiance to the Xia King and submitting to the Xuan Kingdom’s Imperial Observatory!”
Shock.
Silence.
Disbelief.
“Granted!”
Until one of the Imperial Observatory elders, as if he had known the situation all along, casually said a single word, and the Southern City Altar finally erupted.
“How is that possible!? The Xuan Yu Sect is submitting to the Imperial Observatory? Why didn’t the sect get even a hint of news from the court?”
The most shocked of all was Lady Wang.
For the sake of the sect’s grand plan, to completely control the military-backed Xia Manor, and to send Liu Linglin into the Cangjie Grotto-Heaven, she had sacrificed three biological sons.
But the Xuan Yu Sect, which had been competing with her for entry into the grotto, had defected without any warning.
As for Hao Zhongyi, just that one word “granted” made him realize something was terribly wrong.
If Nangong Xuan wasn’t insane, then if he didn’t flee now, he’d be walking into disaster.
“Sect Master Nangong,” seeing this, Ye Tingyu didn’t show much surprise, but instead gently adjusted the long sword at her waist.
“Is the Xuan Yu Sect truly cornered, or has it been played by the Xuan royal family? Do you really know the answer in your heart?”
Nangong Xuan’s face stiffened slightly, but as he slowly rose, he quickly shifted into a smile and looked at Ye Tingyu.
“Heh, the Qinglan Sect is no longer the superior sect of my Xuan Yu Sect. Miss Ye might as well report the truth to your sect’s Law Enforcement Hall. I’d like to see what the Qinglan Sect can do to my Xuan Kingdom.”
As he spoke, he glanced darkly at Hao Zhongyi’s fleeing figure, then swept his eyes over the young disciples of various sects who wanted to enter the grotto.
Then Nangong Xuan pinched his beard, and the smile on his face gradually widened.
“You two are disciples of Senior Canghai. You came here most likely wanting to enter the Cangjie Grotto-Heaven and see what’s inside, right? My Xuan Kingdom doesn’t mind giving you that chance.”
With that, he quickly exchanged glances with the two Imperial Observatory elders on either side behind him, and both nodded, as if it had all been arranged beforehand.
“Young talents of the Southern City Altar, since the Cangjie Grotto-Heaven is already open, you naturally all have the right to enter and seek treasures.
This is the rule of the Xuan Kingdom’s Imperial Observatory, which has controlled the grotto for generations, and it is also the rule of the Cangjie Grotto-Heaven.
Any prodigy on the royal roster, as well as young people who sense they carry Righteous Qi, may enter on their own accordingly.”
Nangong Xuan’s words were like a bombshell, once again causing an uproar across the entire altar.
“What exactly is Nangong Xuan plotting?!” Feeling that the situation had completely slipped out of her control, Lady Wang’s fingers spun her prayer beads rapidly, but she still fixed her gaze on Liu Linglin.
After all, ruthless as she was, she had never forgotten the mission the sect had given her and Liu Linglin.
“Junior sister, since Sect Master Nangong has approved the younger generation’s right to enter, you should follow and go in as well.”
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yunshan, who had just suffered the loss of his son and learned he still had a posthumous grandson, completely lost his composure.
“Wang Lihua, that’s enough! Our son is dead, and she carries the grandchild of the Xiao family! You—”
But before he could finish, Ye Tingyu suddenly spoke up.
“Xiao Yunshan, as long as you continue to fulfill your promise, we can guarantee that this woman from the Hehuan Sect won’t come to any harm.”
Xiao Yunshan laughed in anger.
If it weren’t for the fact that this young girl from the Qinglan Sect had higher cultivation than him, he would have attacked on the spot to avenge his son’s death, let alone talk about fulfilling any promise to send them in.
“Senior Sister Wang… I’ll go…” But Liu Linglin, though her face was ashen, had a nameless fire burning in her eyes.
“Miss Ye, I also carry Righteous Qi. I can take you into the grotto, but you must promise me one thing.”
“Fine, I promise you.” Ye Tingyu answered very readily.
“You…”
Xiao Yunshan was stunned.
He truly couldn’t understand why, at this point, these people were still determined to enter the Cangjie Grotto-Heaven.
The old king’s heart was full of bitterness, but he had no words to express it.
Even holding military power and commanding the court, before these top-tier immortal sects and Celestial Immortals, he was still like an ant on the ground.
He could only pick up his child’s body lying in a pool of blood, silently and tearlessly, and walk with heavy steps toward the now-open grotto gate.
At this moment, everyone present turned their eyes to the old Xia King, who had just lost his son and whose face seemed to have aged ten years in an instant.
Including the two Celestial Immortals of the Xuan Kingdom’s Imperial Observatory guarding the entrance to the secret realm, and Nangong Xuan.
But the old Xia King was renowned as a member of the Xuan royal family, and his cultivation was at the late Hundred Refinements Realm—far from the Celestial Immortal realm, so he did not violate the grotto’s entry rules.
The two Celestial Immortals of the Imperial Observatory made no move to stop him, and naturally Nangong Xuan wouldn’t go out of his way to block a “mortal.”
These people let the middle-aged man who had lost his son, carrying his child’s body, slowly step into the grotto.
“Senior Sister, this isn’t right.”
Luo Huai’an, who had been silently watching everything unfold, finally spoke.
“Not to mention what Nangong Xuan is up to, I keep feeling that if we both go into the Cangjie Grotto-Heaven, there’ll be no one outside to block any fish that slip through the net.”
“Instinct?”
Ye Tingyu cast a gentle look and asked.
“Yes. Why don’t I go in, and you wait outside with some tea and snacks prepared for when I come out.”
Luo Huai’an nodded with certainty, as he always did with the senior sister he cared for most.
“Alright, then I’ll wait outside for you to come out.”
Hearing her junior brother’s words, Ye Tingyu actually smiled radiantly and agreed to Luo Huai’an’s request very readily.
Behind this readiness was Ye Tingyu’s confidence in Luo Huai’an, who, like her, possessed the strongest cultivation below the Celestial Immortal realm.
Luo Huai’an restrained his spring-breeze smile, and his face once again took on a cold, winter-like expression as he looked at Liu Linglin.
“Miss Liu, tell me your request.”
Liu Linglin’s state of mind gradually calmed, and her complexion slowly returned from pale to normal.
She gently touched her lower abdomen, as if soothing the child of Xiao Yi within her, and then her eyes suddenly turned sharp, filled with murderous intent as she looked toward the grotto entrance.
“Help me slay the Holy Maiden of the Xuan Yu Sect, Bai Yao. I want proof of life, or proof of death.”
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