Chapter 571: Who Ate the Pie Qi Laoda Drew?

"What is going on?"

Riding a cloud to ascend into the sky, Ji Jingxi felt the intense turbulence of the heaven and earth's qi and looked around in some surprise.

Both possessing Heaven Realm cultivation, she and Zi Xian had long sensed the anomaly, but in such a short time, the change in this qi had reached the point of shaking the entire West Hong; this was no longer as simple as just Heaven Realm experts clashing.

They are fighting for their lives!

This obvious fact was naturally not what Ji Jingxi wanted to ask; what she truly wanted to know was the reason, and who each side was.

One must know that cultivators are also human; they cannot create something from nothing. To make progress in their realms, one inevitably has to consume vast amounts of heavenly treasures and earthly gems along the way, turning them into one's own immense power.

This also means that, especially for Heaven Realm experts, every single one of them must have a massive and fully structured faction behind them, along with countless vassals providing sustenance.

Every time he acts, he must consider the life and death of these providers.

Those who act willfully and recklessly rarely gain support, just like the trials for the Dao Sons among the many Immortal Sects; one must first prove one's responsibility to bear the lives of the beings on a precious land before truly getting the chance to take over that precious land.

People like Li Xuanqing are ultimately a minority.

Thus, a life-and-death battle between two Heaven Realm experts must involve irreconcilable contradictions that have reached a point where they can no longer be dragged out; it is absolutely impossible for there to be no signs beforehand.

"..."

But at this moment, facing Ji Jingxi's question, Zi Xian's face was filled with nothing but confusion.

She had gathered nearly seventy percent of the news in West Hong, yet had never discovered any such signs of "contradiction" within it.

Moreover, judging by this qi.

One side is Qi Zhaoyang, the Fourth Prince of the West Long Gong.

The other side does not fight or grab, guarding his own small patch of land, and with his considerable strength, he has quite an air of being above the mundane world; how could he have such a huge grudge with anyone?

"No, I must go take a look."

Zi Xian quickly took out a conch shell; although her expression remained unchanged, Ji Jingxi still sensed a rare panic in her voice.

"..."

Ji Jingxi sighed slightly, vaguely understanding what was happening.

Although unclear on the East Long Gong's objective, the fact that the East Long Wang sent Zi Xian here must mean they want to seize control of the West Long Gong.

Among the Heaven Realm experts in West Hong, more than half are these Dragon Princes; it is estimated that one of them is the one fighting today.

If a Dragon Prince truly perishes, the West Long Wang will most likely awaken and resume control of West Hong affairs, at the very least to avenge his own son.

This also means that all the efforts Zi Xian has made might come to nothing at the last moment.

The Seven Sons of South Hong have no reliable backing in West Hong; Zi Xian is certainly one of them. If the West Long Wang reclaims the foundation they have so painstakingly accumulated, then the Seven Sons will truly have no channels left to gather information in West Hong.

"Let's go together; with you by my side, I will feel more at ease."

Ji Jingxi turned to look at Shen Yi; normally she would act normally, but since this involves a battle between Heaven Realm experts, she couldn't help but adopt the posture of an elder watching over a junior again.

"Good."

Shen Yi nodded slightly, glanced at the numerous prompts surging on his panel, and his gaze settled on the most conspicuous one.

【Slain Heaven Realm Jade-Horned Silver Dragon, total lifespan 710,000 years, remaining lifespan 320,000 years, absorption complete】

A total of nearly thirty panel prompts, just as Shen Yi was about to leave West Hong, caused his foundation to climb to a new peak once again.

【Remaining demon lifespan: 5,010,000 years】

Truly, they were all elites under the Dragon Princes.

Excluding the previous 2.6 million years, this single wave alone equals the entire Glazed Green Phoenix clan.

With this windfall in hand, once the several Branch Hall Masters return, Shen Yi's confidence in returning to South Hong will be much greater.

The only thing that disappointed him slightly was that nothing new appeared on the panel... Could it be that the missing great seal on the throne when the Wan Yao Dian covered the South Long Gong was not formed by gathering demon lifespans?

Or does even such terrifying demon lifespan still fall short of gathering that small seal?

If it is the latter... even Shen Yi's heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

Counting across the entire Hong Ze, how many great demon clans comparable to the Glazed Green Phoenix or Haoyue Shuanghu are there? Originally thought to be an incredibly rich precious land, under this horrifying demand for demon lifespan, it now even appears somewhat strained.

Even if I truly can gather that much, are the Immortals blind? Would they just watch me sweep his Hong Ze clean?

"Huff."

Shen Yi adjusted his mood and focused his mind on the matter at hand.

The two Jade-Horned Silver Dragons have indeed been killed, but the cleanup work cannot be taken lightly; although there is much demon lifespan, one must still have a life to spend it.

Thinking of this, he directed his gaze toward Zi Xian ahead.

At this moment, this famous Lady Yushan, Dragon Consort, was solemnly mobilizing her subordinates; beneath the seemingly calm waters, within a short time, more than half of the West Long Gong's spies had been activated.

With the vast land and water of West Hong, plus the qi of the Heaven Realm experts clashing covering an already immense area, wanting to find the specific location a step ahead is actually not easy.

Even with Zi Xian's control over West Hong, a trace of anxiety surged in her eyes.

"..."

Shen Yi raised his eyebrows slightly, looked toward the sky, and his entire aura suddenly became much more sharp and cold.

Seeing this, the two women were slightly taken aback, then looked in the same direction together.

Then their pupils shrank slightly.

They saw four pitch-black streaks of light, leisurely sweeping across the sky, heading north.

"Wan Yao Dian."

Ji Jingxi suddenly exchanged a glance with Zi Xian; both had personally witnessed similar escape methods. In the past, even with their strength, they could not have held back these black lights.

But at this moment, even Shen Yi could capture their tracks, which is enough to show how relaxed and arrogant these demons were, having no thought at all of hiding their tracks.

Until the black lights completely disappeared into the clouds heading toward North Hong.

Only then did Shen Yi re-constrain his aura, frowned slightly, and turned his head to look in the direction the black lights came from.

"That is the direction of Wanxiang Pavilion."

Zi Xian noticed that this Weixiaoshen Sect Master had remained silent from start to finish; her mind was sharp, and she had actually thought of the same thing as her.

"Just as I expected — these damned beasts again!"

As Lady Yushan, she rarely lost composure like this, but now she was so angry her teeth itched.

She did know these demons acted ruthlessly, but she had never imagined they would dare to make a move against a Heavenly Realm dragon son of the West Long Gong — and succeed at it!

It had nearly ruined her grand plan!

"Follow me."

Senior Zi Xian led the way ahead, not bothering to spare any effort to hold back those black lights — even Ji Jingxi couldn't have done it; the two of them had similar cultivation, and the outcome wouldn't have been any different.

Soon, under the guidance of this Lady Yushan.

The three of them quickly arrived at a shocking stretch of broken walls and ruins; the murky waters still carried a faint scent of fresh blood, and as they rippled, threads of dark red rose to the surface.

The entire Wanxiang Pavilion blessed land, even its sect-protecting grand formation, had been shattered by the aftershocks of Heavenly Realm experts clashing; that magnificent guest-welcome platform had long since become a field of rubble, and through it one could even faintly glimpse the interior of the blessed land.

Not a single living creature could be found within the inner sect — it looked utterly desolate.

"When immortals fight, mortals suffer."

Ji Jingxi closed her eyes; having been through so much, she wasn't about to feel any particular compassion — besides, Wanxiang Pavilion itself had already earned the enmity of Yu Nanhong's Seven Sons, so even if it weren't wiped out today, the Seven Sons would never have let these people off.

She was merely moved by the scene, feeling only a touch of lament.

She could more or less imagine how that Wanxiang Pavilion Sect Master had suddenly discovered two great demons fighting outside his sect, and even after resorting to sacrificial means, had ultimately failed to protect his own sect from the aftershocks.

"Beyond the inner sect, there are still many living beings of the blessed land…"

Ji Jingxi looked toward Senior Zi Xian.

"I know. Even without all this, I'd still have to take custody of this place first."

Senior Zi Xian sighed as well, accepting reality.

With the innate talent of the Purple-Maned White Dragon clan, she clearly sensed that within these waters there was only the blood of Long Gong people — not the slightest trace of any other scent.

In other words, Wan Yao Dian had slain Qi Zhaoyang without even paying the price of injury.

This matter had already exceeded her ability to control it; she had to first pacify the West Long Gong, then quickly seek her father's help.

She truly hadn't expected that the East Long Gong's scheme, planned for a full hundred thousand years, would run into trouble at the hands of a force that had popped up out of nowhere.

Her words fell.

Shen Yi quietly withdrew his gaze; the reason he had brought Senior Zi Xian here was precisely for that one sentence.

Wu Jun had brought Liu Shiqian back to Yu Nanhong, but this blessed land couldn't be taken away; to prevent its living beings from incurring the Long Gong's wrath, someone needed to step forward and intervene.

No wonder… back at the Immortal's Cave, the Wushuang Sect Master had wanted to chat with that Zi Lan for a bit.

These Purple-Maned White Dragons really were quite useful.

"I won't keep you any longer."

Senior Zi Xian turned to look at Ji Jingxi; even though she was reluctant in her heart, she could still distinguish the priorities of the matter.

To avenge Yu Nanhong's Seven Sons, to vent the grievances of the living beings who had died in vain over these hundred thousand years, and to prevent anything similar from happening in the future, Hongze needed a real, responsible immortal to shelter it.

Not some second-generation heir who'd been banished to the frontier for making mistakes, with a head full of nothing but thoughts of returning to the heavens to climb the ranks and get rich.

Hongze Daxian's mind wasn't on Hongze at all; he had no compassion for this stretch of water and land — to be precise, this stretch of water and land simply didn't exist in his eyes; otherwise, how could he have drawn the Celestial Court's empty salary without ever bringing any other immortal officials down here?

He took the stipends that should have been used to support immortal officials and used them as rewards bestowed upon the various forces that curried his favor and amused him.

He possessed the Bai Xi immortal seal, but lacked the virtue to wield it.

"Do be careful."

Ji Jingxi nodded lightly, then added seriously: "If you need help, Yu Nanhong's Seven Sons are not ungrateful people."

"Take care of yourselves first." Senior Zi Xian shook her head with a touch of guilt; if the West Long Wang truly returned to the Long Gong, she alone wouldn't have the spare strength to continue sheltering Yu Nanhong.

"Still, the West Long Gong probably won't have the spare energy to bother with Yu Nanhong's affairs right now either."

Having said that, she raised her head again, gave Shen Yi a sullen glance, and lowered her voice: "You be careful too — Nanyang Sect doesn't produce good people."

"…"

Shen Yi shifted his gaze away, pretending he hadn't heard.

He had no desire to get mixed up in this strange dragon consort's jealousy.

"Nonsense again."

Ji Jingxi gave Senior Zi Xian a reproachful glare; the two of them could have been the closest of sisters, yet the other always wanted to push the relationship a step further — truly enough to give one a headache.

She raised her hand to bid Senior Zi Xian farewell, then took out another treasure ship and set off with Shen Yi back toward Yu Nanhong.

……

"You seemed a little tense just now."

"I'm fine. It'll pass if I just bear with it."

The exquisite yet plainly adorned Qingyue treasure ship skimmed across the vast waters, two tall figures standing side by side at the bow.

Ji Jingxi looked at the gradually familiar scenery around them and said with a helpless smile: "Now you know fear, do you? Why didn't you think it through more when you were stirring up trouble?"

She rarely saw Shen Zongzhu show such a guarded posture as before.

But forget Shen Yi — even she herself now held Wan Yao Dian in immense dread.

Back then, that Azure Phoenix — even if it had to be killed, it should have been her who struck the blow; after witnessing such a ruthless scene, how could one not worry about this young sect master?

"Let's head back to the sect first."

Shen Yi brushed past the topic outright; he found that the Qingyue Sect Master's thoughts were indeed sharper than others', and saying too much would make it easy for her to see through things.

It wasn't that he didn't trust this elder — it was just that her ties with the East Long Gong ran too deep, and regarding Wan Yao Dian, there really was no need to let the Meng Sect know.

"Mm."

Ji Jingxi withdrew her gaze as well; she had never been a particularly talkative person to begin with.

She closed her eyes and briefly sensed the movements beneath the water, her brows furrowing slightly: "They've even sent their spies all the way here — they really do seem to be getting anxious."

Crossing that line, they returned once more to the waters and lands of Yu Nanhong.

Under the conch's transmission, the news quickly returned to the Southern Long Gong.

"Brother Qi, they have all returned now; where are your people?"

The dragon demon, wearing a crown of jade pendants and dressed in magnificent robes, personally poured a cup of fine wine, giving the other party ample face, but the gesture of lightly pushing the wine cup back with two fingers immediately revealed a hint of dissatisfaction.

Spoken with absolute sincerity, these were trusted confidants cultivated for years, all existences at the Dao-Integration realm, ready to die at any moment.

Setting aside dealing with the Seven Sons of Southern Hong, using them to harass the forces of the Precious Flower Sect would certainly be no problem, absolutely capable of causing considerable trouble for the Seven Sons of Southern Hong.

Yet until now, not a single bear demon or bat demon had been seen; the Southern Long Gong had seen nothing at all.

Later, they spoke of the Haoyue Shuanghu from the Heavenly Realm, numerous Great Demons of the Green Phoenix at the peak of Dao-Integration... The Ke Family Crown Prince was nearly stuffed just from eating their empty promises.

Across the square table.

"Heh."

The equally aged Jade-Horned Silver Dragon slowly raised his eyes, staring at the wine cup before him; even with utmost effort to conceal it, a few sparks of anger surged in his pupils.

When he first arrived at Southern Hong, no matter how decadent or lazy he appeared, the Southern Long Gong dared not show him the slightest disrespect.

Because everyone in their hearts knew that this coward, seemingly sidelined by the Dragon Consort, actually possessed a temper far exceeding others' imagination.

But at this moment, even though he displayed his anger, the Ke Family Crown Prince remained quietly waiting for a reply.

Whether he was a coward who boasted empty talk or a future Western Palace Crown Prince who had endured for years, this matter remained to be seen.

Enduring because he couldn't even summon a single person? What meaning would that have?

"Ke Laoqi, oh Ke Laoqi."

The eldest of the Qi Family closed his eyes, a hint of violence appearing in his expression.

He truly never expected that his most trusted brother would handle matters in such a way.

Gathering his thoughts, he sent another secret letter to Western Hong.

Then, extending his sharp dragon claws, he lifted the wine cup, drained it in one gulp, let out a long sigh, reopened his eyes, and said hoarsely, "My people need not be your concern; when the time comes for them to act, they will certainly not disappoint your Southern Long Gong."

"If you want to fight, then let's fight."

With a crackling sound, the wine cup turned to fragments in the hands of the Qi Family eldest.

Fierce light fully exposed in his eyes, he said, "We can fight right now!"

"..."

The Ke Family Crown Prince shifted his gaze slightly and perfunctorily replied, "That is true indeed; counting Brother Qi and my brother who just broke through, it is three against three, with the advantage on my Southern Long Gong's side."

Although the number of Heavenly Realm experts was the same, the Southern Long Gong's greatest advantage was this body of water; once the numerous arrays that had lain dormant for countless years were activated, ordinary cultivators would have no ability to harm their foundations.

Conversely, the Long Gong could slaughter those Xian Sects and their vassals without any restraint.

"However, it would be better to find a reason and test the waters first."

"Hmm? Why wasn't your father counted? I recall the Southern Long Wang only emerged once recently."

The Qi Family eldest noticed the irregularity.

The Ke Family Crown Prince glanced at him, smiled, and did not respond.

"I see."

Qi Zhaoyi lazily leaned back onto the throne again, smiling self-mockingly, "I am still pondering how to secure my position as Crown Prince, while you are already considering how to prove to your Long Wang father that you have the ability to take over the Dragon Den; you have waited too long and are getting a bit impatient."

As his words fell, he yawned, "Speak then, what reason?"

Hearing this, the Ke Family Crown Prince poured himself a cup of wine and said indifferently, "If I recall correctly, the Southern Long Gong still has a banquet appointment with one of the Seven Sons' Shen Zongzhu; since he has already returned, rather than choosing another day, let us simply set it for today."

(End of this chapter)