Chapter 312: Aggrieved

"Let us go too!" Having finished watching the excitement, Ling Yuzhen seemed to have lost interest, taking the lead to fly off in the other direction.

Soon, the scene was empty, and Xu Chen and the other three returned to that teahouse to sit down and drink tea again.

At this moment, the one most afraid was undoubtedly Lin Qiu Ya.

If she went back now, she would inevitably be handed over to Junwang Hall by her sect, and her fate would certainly be incomparably miserable.

If she did not go back, then she might never be able to return in the future; her sect would surely suffer immense pressure and losses because of this, and it was even possible they would be completely purged and shut down by Junwang Hall.

Xu Chen knew her predicament, so he could only comfort her: "Daoist Friend Lin, there is no need to be afraid. Since the Shenzhou Immortal Alliance Elder Council has stepped in, Junwang Hall should not trouble Ziyang Sect for the time being, but you must not show your face now, otherwise the outcome will be hard to predict."

Lin Qiu Ya could only shed tears and choke out: "Many thanks, Daoist Friend Xu. I am currently at my wit's end, and I fear I am powerless to help you inquire about my two senior sisters."

Ling Yuzhen said: "What are you afraid of? I will help you disguise and change your appearance; no one will recognize you, so you can go do whatever you need to do."

Xu Chen was overjoyed and said: "Junior Sister, why didn't you say you had such a good method earlier? Help me disguise myself too, and I can go up the mountain myself to find my two senior sisters and the Great Elder."

Ling Yuzhen curled her lips and said: "You didn't ask, and besides, what good does it do me to help you?"

Xu Chen was left between laughter and tears, and Lin Qiu Ya felt even more confused about the relationship between this pair of senior brother and junior sister.

Ling Yuzhen reached out and randomly tapped and traced on their faces and bodies. Xu Chen only felt a vague, obscure energy invade his body, and he immediately felt his appearance, soul, and aura all changing. He flipped his hand to take out the third-grade Magic Treasure, the Qinglan Light-Splitting Mirror, to take a look, and discovered that he was indeed unrecognizable—from a dark-skinned youth with decent, delicate features, he had turned into a round-faced young man of about twenty with small eyes, a flat nose, and a face full of pockmarks; no matter how he looked at it, it was awkward.

"Isn't this too ugly?" Xu Chen stared wide-eyed at the fellow in the mirror, unable to help but feel a toothache.

Lin Qiu Ya did not feel any energy invading her body because her cultivation was too weak. At this time, she also took out a mirror to compare and look closely, discovering that her own features and appearance had indeed completely changed, and even her soul aura had become somewhat unfamiliar; she herself could not feel the slightest hint of familiarity or resemblance.

However, fortunately, she had not become ugly like Xu Chen; instead, she was even younger and prettier. Thus, she was both surprised and delighted, feeling incomparably shocked by this little junior sister's miraculous Disguise Technique.

The Disguise Technique is not difficult for cultivators, but generally speaking, cultivators disdain such petty tricks that are similar to illusions.

This is because the Disguise Technique is only effective on mortals, but for cultivators with powerful Divine Sense, it is almost equal to nothing.

When cultivators communicate with each other, the first step is to probe each other with Divine Sense; acquaintances generally judge by the familiar soul aura, while facial features are merely auxiliary.

The saying "seeing is believing" is not reliable in the Immortal World.

The soul aura is the unique identity information of every cultivator.

Some have lived for hundreds of years, some for thousands; furthermore, after advancing, as their lifespan increases and their vitality grows stronger, their appearance is constantly undergoing huge changes. If one relied on looking at the exterior, even a dog wouldn't recognize them.

But clearly, Ling Yuzhen's Disguise Technique could be called a work of supernatural craftsmanship; it was obviously a True Immortal's method. Not only had both of their appearances completely changed, but even their soul auras had become entirely different.

Guiling Zhenjun sat to the side, watching with his eyelids twitching slightly, and could not help but exclaim: "Such a Disguise Technique is truly a divine method. Even this poor Daoist cannot recognize Daoist Friend Xu and Daoist Friend Lin in this guise."

Xu Chen, however, made a bitter face and said to Ling Yuzhen: "Junior Sister, couldn't you have made it look better?"

Ling Yuzhen giggled and said: "Men, being a bit ugly is fine. You will be very safe going out like this; I guarantee no female cultivator will try to strike up a conversation with you, and only in this way can you better hide your identity."

Xu Chen was left between laughter and tears, and thinking about it, he felt it made some sense, so after thanking her, he and Lin Qiu Ya soon left the teahouse.

Guiling Zhenjun and Ling Yuzhen also left the teahouse one after another shortly after, mingling into the endless stream of cultivators, disappearing from sight.

……

The atmosphere of the Immortal Alliance Assembly had now become somewhat tense.

Because Junwang Hall had had ten of its cultivators knocked down, and two had even died, the entire Junwang Hall was incomparably furious. Groups of inner and outer sect Disciples were searching and inquiring about the whereabouts of that pair of young man and woman holding a white fox in all the gathering places of cultivators and the encampments of large and small Immortal Sects near Langya Mountain.

But unfortunately, no matter what kind of Magic Spell they used, even digging three feet into the ground, they could not find any clues or traces.

Ever since that man and woman rescued Lin Qiu Ya, they had completely vanished as if they had evaporated from the world, as if they had never appeared at all.

With such a big commotion, while the Immortal Alliance venue was in chaos, naturally many people were gloating, secretly discussing and guessing that Xu Chen and his companion must be prodigy disciples from some super Immortal Sect, out to lower the heat for the arrogant and domineering Junwang Hall.

After all, Junwang Hall ranked last among the five super sects, and compared to the four super sects ahead of them, their strength and foundation were both inferior.

Large and medium-sized sects feared Junwang Hall, but in the eyes of the super sects, Junwang Hall was the most unsightly, and they were even too lazy to be listed alongside them.

After all, Junwang Hall had only risen abruptly in the last hundred years or so; previously, it was at most the strength of a large sect.

Even on the Shenzhou Prodigy Ranking compiled by interested parties and cultivator organizations, among the top ten Immortal Sects, the number of people from Junwang Hall on the list could only rank ninth, which shows that their foundation is clearly insufficient.

And the behind-the-scenes protagonist of this incident, the Young Sect Master of the Junwang Hall Pill Sect, was the one from Junwang Hall with the highest ranking; at twenty-eight years old, he was already in the early stage of the Danyuan Realm.

A Golden Core cultivator of this age is at most a handful in the entire Shenzhou; his aptitude can be called heaven-defying.

Of course, it is not that there are no others in other Immortal Sects with similar or even higher aptitude; almost all of the top twenty Immortal Sects have a few, but those who can truly successfully break through at this age are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Furthermore, having aptitude alone is not enough; one must also have powerful and perfect cultivation techniques and massive amounts of resources.

For a normal sect, reaching Golden Core before fifty is considered first-class aptitude; reaching Golden Core at forty is a rare genius.

Those who can be called prodigies must be genius-type figures encountered once in a hundred years.

However, although the Young Sect Master of the Junwang Hall Pill Sect reached Golden Core at twenty-eight and made the Prodigy Ranking, his ranking was not high, barely making it to ninth place.

That is to say, there are still eight others in the same age group whose aptitude is better and more powerful than his.

Belonging to the same famous large sects, besides comparing high-end strength like True Monarchs and True Monarchs, the comparison is the potential among low and mid-level Disciples.

The stronger the potential of a sect, the better its future growth.

And among these younger generation Disciples, a strong sense of rivalry has formed, and mutual competition and suppression are commonplace.

Therefore, many people guessed that today's incident was specifically the work of disciples from a super sect with stronger power and better aptitude, meant to slap the face of the Junwang Hall Young Sect Master.

Junwang Hall naturally thought the same.

After all, in the Shenzhou territory, there are indeed not many sects and cultivators who dare to move against them.

Therefore, after a bout of commotion and searching yielded no results, this matter gradually calmed down. Junwang Hall seemed to start feeling some pressure and could only use the Elder Council to continuously pressure Ziyang Sect, attempting to squeeze out the background of the culprit.

And the half-hour time limit was eventually, under the mediation of the Elder Council, extended to two days later before the opening of the Immortal Alliance Assembly, to definitely give Junwang Hall a satisfactory answer.

Thus, this matter was temporarily brought to an end.

As for the injured, unconscious, and dead cultivators of Junwang Hall, they could only be treated by Junwang Hall itself after Ziyang Sect temporarily compensated a large amount of Spirit Stones, Spirit Pills, and Magic Treasures.

Ziyang Sect was overwhelmed, arranging for Disciples to inquire about Lin Qiu Ya's whereabouts everywhere.

The large and small Immortal Sects that had come from the Song and Ming kingdoms were also helping to search and inquire.

In the southwest direction of Langya Mountain's waist, in a Dao Courtyard radiating spiritual light, Chixia Zhenjun, Baiyunzi, and Yuyangzi, the three Supreme Elders of Yuqing Hall, were sitting in the back hall drinking tea and chatting.

However, at this very moment, no one was in the mood to drink tea, so a cup of fragrant Spirit Tea had slowly gone cold until the Spirit Qi dissipated, yet not a single sip had been taken.

The three sat cross-legged on prayer mats, their expressions serious and helpless during their exchange, and they sighed from time to time.

Ever since their Spirit Transformation, the three True Monarchs had almost never felt so aggrieved.

"Although Junwang Hall is not pursuing this matter for the time being, it will certainly kick up a fuss again. Sigh, it really is a huge trouble!" Baiyun Zhenjun sighed.

Yuyang Zhenjun frowned and remained silent for a long time before suddenly saying: "This matter actually looks a bit familiar; back then, Yulong was also suddenly beaten into a coma without any power to fight back like this."

Baiyun Zhenjun was stunned for a moment, then shook his head vigorously and said: "Absolutely impossible. Disciple Yulong was injured by Xu Chen, but he has been missing in Black Wind Ridge for more than half a year and should have died long ago; how could he suddenly appear here?"

Yuyang Zhenjun, however, looked at Chixia Zhenjun and said: "Uncle-Master said last time that Xu Chen might not be dead, so it is not strange for him to appear here. Because right now Xuanchenzi is still trapped here, and there are two other female Disciples who have also fallen into the hands of Xuanhua Sect. If this boy Xu Chen is truly still alive, according to his personality, he will definitely come to find a way to save the people."

Baiyun Zhenjun shook his head and said: "Even if Xu Chen is still alive, wouldn't rashly making a move against Junwang Hall just add more trouble for himself?"

Yuyangzi shook his head instead and said: "That is not the case. If we look at it from another angle, we won't think this way. Striking at Junwang Hall can disrupt this Immortal Alliance Assembly. The reason Xuanchenzi suffered this great disaster this time is that many Immortal Sects of the Immortal Alliance want to obtain the formula for the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill. If Junwang Hall were to withdraw from the assembly in a fit of anger, or seek out other Immortal Sects to vent their anger, this alliance meeting would be greatly diminished, or even become chaotic. In this way, he would have a chance to save the people."

Baiyun Zhenjun was stunned for a full dozen breaths this time before finally shaking his head with a bitter smile: "Even so, it is absolutely impossible for Xu Chen to rescue the people from the hands of the Immortal Alliance and Xuanhua Sect, unless there is a great cultivator as strong as Uncle-Master helping."

Yuyangzi slowly picked up the tea that had already gone cold, took a slow sip, and said: "Then what if it is him who makes a move, and he asks for our help? Brother, do you think we should help or not?"

Baiyun Zhenjun was completely silent this time; this question was too difficult to answer.

Helping would definitely offend all the large and small Immortal Sects of the Shenzhou Immortal Alliance.

But not helping, Xuanchen Zhenjun is truly in grave danger this time, especially since he and Xuanchen Zhenjun have been friends for over a hundred years; he absolutely does not want to see this outcome.

Chixia Zhenjun spoke up at this moment: "Let's not talk about hypothetical matters. Recently, the affairs of the Immortal Alliance Assembly have been extremely cumbersome, making me feel somewhat restless in my Soul. Moreover, Ziyang Sect is not an Immortal Sect within the territory of our Song Kingdom, so how Junwang Hall is ultimately dealt with has no great connection to us. For now, we should still properly prepare for the arrangements of the Immortal Alliance Assembly, and at the same time restrain the Disciples; do not go out in the next few days to avoid causing more trouble. Go."

"Rest assured, Uncle-Master, we will definitely make proper arrangements!"

Baiyunzi and Yuyangzi bowed together, stood up, and took their leave.

(End of this chapter)