Chapter 304: Who Else Could It Be?

The Sixth Elder of the Sunstar Palace, Xia Zhong, and Hu Jinsan, immediately noticed the massive force approaching—State Tutor Cheng Yuexiao.

Their first thought: Xu Jin had begged Cheng Yuexiao for help before dying!

Their second thought: Cheng Yuexiao couldn't possibly have arrived this fast!

Xu Jin was bait!

To use a world-class genius as bait—wasn't that cost too high?

Was Cheng Yuexiao insane?

Of course, it might just be coincidence.

Huang Kejia, the Seventh Elder of the Starlight Palace, had similar thoughts.

In the blink of an eye, countless thoughts raced through their minds, yet all centered on one question: How should they act?

Flee immediately?

No!

If they fled outright, it would be like shit falling into their pants—whether it was shit or not, it would still look like shit.

Xu Jin wasn't killed by them—he died at the hands of the barbarians. If they ran now, the enraged Cheng Yuexiao might not listen to their explanations!

Stay hidden?

They could still hide from others, but before Cheng Yuexiao? Too difficult!

Step out openly?

Also impossible!

They'd likely bear the brunt of Cheng Yuexiao's first wave of fury.

In an instant, they were trapped in an impossible dilemma.

Yet both Xia Zhong and Huang Kejia arrived at the same strategy.

Let the other guy die, not me.

Just before they set out, their own Star Lords had given them identical orders: if any action was taken, blame it on the Starlight Palace (or Sunstar Palace).

So now, they could use the other side to absorb the blow.

As long as they survived Cheng Yuexiao's possible rage, things would be easier afterward.

As for their own presence?

Everyone had already noticed.

All were Seventh Stage, and so close together—they'd known each other was here from the start.

The reason they hadn't moved sooner was precisely because they knew the others were present—they'd hoped the other side would strike first, then they'd push the chaos further.

But they never expected Xu Jin to die before they even moved!

Yet now—

In the distance, Cheng Yuexiao's starlight dash was nearing at blinding speed.

At the same moment, Cheng Yuexiao's roar rang out: "Song Ziye! Where is Xu Jin? Where is he?"

His voice was filled with desperation.

Song Ziye, too, was stunned and terrified.

He knew better than anyone how vital Xu Jin was.

He didn't even know if arranging Xu Jin's mission had been a mistake.

In this moment, under the State Tutor's roar, he instinctively shouted in a voice trembling with fear: "State Tutor! Xu Jin is dead!"

"What? Dead?"

The starlight form of Cheng Yuexiao halted abruptly. A terrifying aura erupted from him.

Cheng Yuexiao had already sensed the four Seventh Stage elders from the two Star Palaces.

Only now did he realize the Starlight Palace had also sent people!

He was just pondering how to handle this—

Suddenly, from two clouds high above, starlight erupted simultaneously, blasting toward the hidden positions of both sides.

In that same instant, the two Seventh Stage elders from the Starlight Palace and the two from the Sunstar Palace appeared.

Four Seventh Stage elders emerged together above the battlefield.

All Chen Guo soldiers nearby froze in shock.

Cheng Yuexiao himself was slightly stunned.

He hadn't expected this turn of events.

The two factions' Seventh Stages had attacked each other, forcing them all to reveal themselves.

At the same time, Cheng Yuexiao understood their intentions.

Eliminate all four?

Unless these four fought to the death without fleeing, Cheng Yuexiao couldn't do it.

Even if he could, he shouldn't.

Chen Guo's current strategy was to ally with one side and attack the other.

The ally, naturally, was the Starlight Palace.

Then, later, break ties with the Sunstar Palace.

In an instant, Cheng Yuexiao saw his opportunity.

This incident could further fracture the relationship between the Sunstar Palace and the Starlight Palace!

"Xia Zhong, Hu Jinsan! How dare you murder my Great Chen's top true disciple? You seek death!" With a single roar, the Nine Sheng Bells materialized, and four-colored meteors slammed toward Hu Jinsan and Xia Zhong.

The four-colored meteors struck—Hu Jinsan, a Seventh Stage Ninth Reaches peak, immediately spat blood and was gravely wounded.

In an instant, Huang Kejia and Xia Zhong's expressions changed again, their eyes filled with shock.

Cheng Yuexiao had grown stronger!

Much stronger!

One blow had crippled a Seventh Stage Ninth Reaches peak!

When had he become this terrifying?

"State Tutor, it's a misunderstanding! It wasn't us! We didn't move! Xu Jin died at the hands of the barbarians!" Sixth Elder Xia Zhong of the Sunstar Palace cried out in explanation.

"A misunderstanding? Elder Huang says you killed him! If not you, then was it Elder Huang and his men?" As Cheng Yuexiao roared, his killing gaze locked onto Huang Kejia of the Starlight Palace, his eyes blazing with fury.

Huang Kejia, first stunned by Cheng Yuexiao's devastating strike, now panicked under his glare and blurted out: "State Tutor! It was them who murdered Xu Jin!"

His instinctive reaction stemmed not only from Cheng Yuexiao's intimidation, but also from their prior plan.

Their original plan had been to kill Xu Jin and frame the Sunstar Palace.

But now, under Cheng Yuexiao's pressure, they'd jumped straight to this step!

"Huang, you bastard, shut your mouth!" Xia Zhong shouted in fury.

In the next instant, Cheng Yuexiao's hair flew wildly as he charged at Xia Zhong and Hu Jinsan like a mad tiger.

Meanwhile, Huang Kejia and the other Seventh Stage elder seized the chance to retreat swiftly.

If not now, when?

Four-colored meteors lit up the entire night sky. Each strike forced Xia Zhong and Hu Jinsan to spit another mouthful of blood.

Hu Jinsan's wounds grew worse.

"State Tutor, it truly wasn't us! If you act without justice, are you trying to declare war on the Sunstar Palace?" Xia Zhong roared.

"Declare war? Then let it be war! You killed my true disciple—I'll fight you to the death here and now!"

As Cheng Yuexiao roared, his fingers brushed the Nine Sheng Bells. The bells suddenly rang like thunder, their sound vibrating deep into the soul, causing Xia Zhong and Hu Jinsan to spew blood from all seven orifices, their movements halting.

In the next instant, four-colored starlight, like scythes, shattered Hu Jinsan's skull.

A nascent soul form emerged. The great bell's resonance sounded again, forcing Xia Zhong to spew blood from his seven orifices once more, his movements freezing—yet Hu Jinsan's nascent soul form shattered completely under the blow.

Xia Zhong knew he was at the brink of death.

He bit his tongue, pushing his Sixth Stage Star Artifact to its limit. The moment its starlight enveloped him, Cheng Yuexiao's four-colored meteor struck—shattering the artifact, blasting his torso below the chest into ruins, and hurling him backward.

In that same instant, Sixth Elder Xia Zhong of the Sunstar Palace's expression tightened to its limit—he knew his only chance lay in this moment.

In the next instant, as he was flung backward, Xia Zhong crushed a Sixth Stage Teleport Rune.

A rune he had paid dearly for from Xumishan—a space-saving talisman. Starlight flashed, and the flung Xia Zhong vanished.

Cheng Yuexiao lost his target instantly.

Meanwhile, Huang Kejia of the Starlight Palace had already fled far away.

This slightly threw off Cheng Yuexiao's plan.

He had intended to eliminate both Seventh Stages of the Sunstar Palace.

It would have been a slow erosion of the Sunstar Palace's strength.

After all, the total number of Seventh Stages across all factions was extremely limited.

Losing even one was a loss. Losing two? Unthinkable.

What a pity!

Below, the Chen Guo soldiers who had witnessed the battle stood dumbfounded; the Sixth Stage barbarians, under the Eighth Stage pressure, trembled violently.

In the next instant, Cheng Yuexiao descended, his fingers brushing the Nine Sheng Bells in rapid succession. Starlight rained down—each beam obliterated a barbarian.

Within mere breaths, hundreds of barbarians—including the four Sixth Stage ones—were completely annihilated.

"State Tutor, mighty!"

As the Chen Guo soldiers cheered wildly, Deputy Academician Song Ziye trembled with unease: "State Tutor, it's my fault—I failed to protect Xu Jin!" Song Ziye voluntarily took responsibility.

"Ah!"

Cheng Yuexiao sighed deeply, "It's not your fault. The Solar Star Palace has wolfish ambitions—they sent two veteran Gao Jie to assassinate Xu Jin. Even if you wanted to protect him, you couldn't have."

Song Ziye blinked in surprise, "Grand Master, Xu Jin was actually killed by a sixth-rank alien race—"

"How could one or two sixth-rank aliens kill Xu Jin? Xu Jin once fought through the fifth-rank Spirit Weapon Star Region with Dong Zhao—how could he fear two sixth-ranks?"

"It must have been a Gao Jie of the Solar Star Palace who ambushed Xu Jin! Xu Jin had so many protective treasures—how could a sixth-rank alien have killed him?" Cheng Yuexiao roared.

Song Ziye froze.

He thought for a moment—it was indeed possible.

The Grand Master's judgment was highly likely.

Otherwise, how could Xu Jin's death have been so strange!

The thousands of Chen Guo soldiers present all nodded after imagining the scenario.

Who was Xu Jin?

Xu Jin was the top disciple personally granted protective treasures by the Grand Master—a warrior of extraordinary strength!

If not for the Gao Jie of the Solar Star Palace's ambush, Xu Jin would never have died!

The Chen Guo top disciple Xu Jin was killed by a Gao Jie of the Solar Star Palace!

In an instant, outrage surged.

Cheng Yuexiao declared the matter a settled case, began searching for Xu Jin's remains, and even shed a few tears.

Now came the moment for acting.

{Got it. Follow the plan. Remember, from this moment on, toss your Star-Picking Token into the Vast Emptiness space—don't retrieve it unless absolutely necessary. Begin traveling under the identity of Qi Tian Sheng.

{After visiting your father, explain everything to him. He must relocate to another star region for several years.

{Grand Master, I'm leaving now.

Xu Jin, having replied to that starlight message, had already transformed into Qi Tian Sheng using the Hundred Changes Star Art and changed into another set of clothes. The Star-Picking Token he was now using had been directly tossed into the Vast Emptiness space.

But he'd need to find an opportunity later to transfer the starlight from Xu Jin's Star-Picking Token to Qi Tian Sheng's—otherwise, he'd have to rebuild his wealth from scratch.

As for visiting his father, the Grand Master had originally intended to send someone to take Xu Jin's father, Xu Dajiang, to another star region to lie low.

That was the Grand Master's plan.

According to Grand Master Cheng Yuexiao, First, Emperor Gan'an was still ruler of Chen Guo; if he merely hinted at a desire, countless people would scramble to carry it out.

The world had no shortage of those eager to cling to and serve the powerful.

Second, you can't guard against thieves forever—only thieves can keep stealing day after day.

Even if Cheng Yuexiao were a tiger, he still had moments of dozing off.

One slip-up could mean disaster.

So it was better to secretly send Xu Jin's father to live in a foreign star region for a few years—to lie low.

That was safer.

The reason Xu Jin was sent himself was because they feared the old man might not endure it—might refuse to believe, refuse to cooperate, or suffer some accident under such a shock.

Then Cheng Yuexiao wouldn't know how to explain it to Xu Jin.

So Xu Jin had to go himself and make sure it was done properly.

A hundred breaths later, Xu Jin arrived at the Yangjiang Commandery Star-Picking Tower branch.

The Danxia Guard had already taken over. Xu Jin merely showed his Qi Tian Sheng Star-Picking Token and was smoothly teleported away.

But he was teleported to the Danzhou Star-Picking Tower branch.

Branch towers at the commandery level had no direct teleportation capability—they could only first teleport to the Danzhou branch, then to the Yanzhou branch, then to the Jinshan Commandery branch.

Throughout the entire teleportation network, only the main Chen Guo Star-Picking Tower could teleport directly to any branch.

Previously, when Xu Jin teleported, he was on official duty—free of charge.

Now, he had to pay.

One teleport cost a hundred strands of starlight.

Reluctantly, Xu Jin took out his Star-Picking Token again and transferred ten thousand strands to himself—only eight thousand arrived.

The Star-Picking Tower was truly ruthless!

Just one transfer, and they deducted twenty percent!

But Xu Jin needed to hurry.

As the Grand Master said, the foolish emperor might very well move against his father—so speed was essential.

Still, the Grand Master had made additional arrangements.

Three consecutive teleports took a hundred breaths and consumed three hundred strands of starlight; Xu Jin arrived at the Jinshan Commandery Star-Picking Tower branch.

Upon arrival, terrifying starlight erupted in the distance.

A great battle was underway.

The aura of a sixth-rank warrior!

Xu Jin cautiously approached, glanced from afar—and was stunned.

The battle was taking place directly above the courtyard of his former home.

A sixth-rank eunuch was fighting another sixth-rank.

The one fighting the sixth-rank eunuch was Ji Bang!

Xu Jin was utterly bewildered.

Could this be the Grand Master's hidden backup plan?

Inside the Yue Tower of the Chen Guo imperial palace, the two Gao Jie eunuchs dispatched earlier, Sun Rang and Li Teng, knelt there, bruised and swollen, looking utterly dejected.

Emperor Gan'an had his hands tucked in his sleeves, his face dark with fury. "Was Peng Lao really that blunt?"

"Your Majesty, Peng Lao of the Danxia Palace truly said that—during wartime, no one may enter the Guodao Courtyard, not even Your Majesty!" Sun Rang replied.

Earlier, they had gone to the Guodao Courtyard and been turned away; when they tried to force entry, Peng Lao had beaten them black and blue—they couldn't even sneak in—and had returned in disgrace.

Emperor Gan'an waved his hand, dismissing the two eunuchs. His mood had sunk to its lowest point.

"Grand Master, for the sake of this Xu Jin, are you truly prepared to break with me?"

"If so, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

In the next instant, Emperor Gan'an's gaze hardened utterly.

His Star-Picking Token appeared, and he sent out two starlight messages in rapid succession!

One was addressed to the Solar Star Lord!

(End of Chapter)