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The azure robed young man went back to the place where he stayed hurriedly.

There was a golden signboard hung on the luxurious big gate. The exquisite words 'Crown Prince Manor' was written on the golden signboard.

The azure-robed young man walked toward the pavilion in the middle of the large pond.

Inside the majestic-looking pavilion, a young man was wearing a pair of white robes and clothes. The upper half of his face was covered by a silver mask except his mouth.

He has long silky smooth black hair and a pair of sharp obsidian black eyes. The strong and cold aura emitted from his body was enough to make any weaker people cower in fear.

He also has a jade insignia hanging on his waist with 'Immortal Sword Sect's Elder' written on its surface.

Surprisingly, this white-robed young man was already holding the Elder position in Immortal Sword Sect despite his age was not that much older than the azure robed young man!

The white-robed young man was currently sat and playing chess alone in the pavilion.

"Core Disciple Ye Zhen greets Elder Yang. There is something urgent that I must report to Elder Yang." The azure robed young man named Ye Zhen said as he politely gave a fist and palm salute to the masked man.

Ye Zhen glanced at this Elder Yang with the pair of eyes full of admiration. It was clear that Ye Zhen idolized this Elder Yang so much.

This Elder Yang came joining Immortal Sword Sect only a few months ago, but the sect master of Immortal Sword Sect appreciated him very much and gave him the 'Honorable Elder' position almost immediately.

At first, many elders in the Immortal Sword Sect disagreed with the sect master's sudden decision, but all of them were forced to shut up the moment when this Elder Yang showed his martial prowess in front of everyone.

A Core Formation Stage Expert!

Moreover, a Core Formation Stage Expert less than 20 years old!

It was legendary, far rarer than Qilin Horn!

Especially in a place which far lacked in spiritual energy like this Lightwind Continent!

The probability of this happening was probably the same as finding a polar bear in the middle of the desert.

Elder Yang's background was really mysterious, and no one knew where he came from.

Some elders said he came from the Central Continent to avoid the chase of the powerhouses there.

The others said he was an illegitimate descendant of the former sect master and came back to the Immortal Sword Sect to take the sect master position.

Despite all of those rumors, no one could deny this Elder Yang's unmatched monstrous talent. They only dared to talk behind his back.

"Speak." Elder Yang said with a cold uncaring tone. He did not bother to raise his head. His eyes were still fully focused on the chessboard in front of him.

Ye Zhen started to tell Elder Yang about what happened before in detail without leaving anything behind.

When Ye Zhen's story reached the part where the Demoness from Blood Devil Sect escaped, Elder Yang raised his hand to stop Ye Zhen from talking.

"Strange." Elder Yang murmured while frowned deeper.

"Elder Yang, can you enlighten me which part is strange?" Ye Zhen tried to probe.

"Everything." Elder Yang said as he stopped playing the chess and finally stared back at Ye Zhen as if he was asking, 'have you really not notice anything strange?' with his glance.

Ye Zhen put on the confused expression and started to think which part of his story was strange.

"That black robbers are the 2nd prince people, and the 2nd prince is suspected of conspiring with the demon sect to get the throne for himself." Elder Yang pointed out the clue for Ye Chen.

Ye Zhen nodded, but he still remained clueless about what was strange.

Hong Empire was one of the many human countries under the Immortal Sword Sect's jurisdiction.

The current emperor of the Hong Empire was nothing more than a puppet pointed by the Immortal Sword Sect to govern the Hong Empire.

The current crown prince was also no different from the emperor. He was another puppet under the Immortal Sword Sect control.

But this 2nd prince was different. He was cunning and ambitious. He was not willing to stay under the Immortal Sword Sect's control and started to collude with the demon sect to forcefully seize the throne from the crown prince.

The main problem right now was that they do not have any evidence pointing to the 2nd prince!

Everything was only based on their own conclusion.

Of course, they could just kill the 2nd prince right now without any need for evidence, but it will ruin their name as one of the four virtuous sects.

In fact, the Immortal Sword Sect had already sent several of their people to secretly assassinate the 2nd prince, but all of them mysteriously disappeared without any trace.

Immortal Sword Sect's secret agent from the information division in Quanhai City managed to somehow get the information about the 2nd prince's strange movement and the presence of demon sect people in Quanhai City lately.

Ye Zhen and Elder Yang were sent to secretly investigate the 2nd prince's strange movements and eliminate all the demon sect people in Quanhai City while at it.

However, all the demon sects' people clearly could not be underestimated. The reason for all the demon sects could survive until now was clearly because of their ability to escape and hide.

Although, the five virtuous sects called themselves righteous and sincere, but what they always did was no more than seizing all the cultivation resources from these mortal countries, kingdoms, and empires under them.

Just like what Instructor Mei Lan taught to Tang Li Xue and her friends, all humans were not only cunning but also treacherous and sinister in nature, while all the beasts were wild and savage but at least, their way of thinking was simple.

It was hard to tell which one was stronger between Beast Race and Human Race, but the Human Race was clearly far more superior in terms of scheming.

Not to mention deceiving other races like Beast Race, Human Race could even cheat and deceive their own people with the same level intelligence as them.

Thus the Beast Race always taught all of their own youngsters to never believe or meddle about anything in the human world.

Elder Yang continued his explanation with a grim expression: "If we concluded that the 2nd prince was conspiring with the demon sect like Blood Devil Sect, then why 2nd prince people assaulted the demoness from Blood Devil Sect without knowing it?"

Ye Zhen's mind immediately caught the clue from Elder Yang's words and said in realization: "Oh, I see! So Elder Yang is suspecting those robbers and demoness put on some fake acts to deceive me?"

"Not you. From your story, they already put their act before you are there. So, they were doing those performances to deceive someone before you. Is there someone else other than you? If so, they must be targeting that person." Elder Yang said with a tone full of confidence.

"Someone else other than me? Why do they need to go that far? They only need to catch that person right away, right?" Ye Zhen asked. He still felt unconvinced.

"Then what if that person was one of us and actually the trap set by us? Their act was nothing more than the action to probe that person. Since they already see you, they should have already confirmed, that person has nothing to do with us, and they will definitely make their move on that person now." Elder Yang explained patiently to Ye Zhen.

"Um... But I do not see other people there..." Ye Zhen tried to remember the scene when he fought, but there was no one other than him there.

Then he immediately realized the wrecked booth there and widened his eyes in shock.

Tang Li Xue's appearance was so suspicious, so of course, Ye Zhen already secretly checked at her before.

He suspected that the black-cloaked Tang Li Xue was the person from the demon sect and watched her closely for an hour or so, but failed to notice anything strange.

In the end, Ye Zhen concluded that Tang Li Xue was only another scammer cultivator that tried to scam the civilians' money and decided to stop to keep an eye on her.

The main reason for that was because he could not detect Tang Li Xue's cultivation thanks to her passive [Conceal] divine ability from her [Ethereal Form].

"That black-cloaked person! Don't tell me the target of that demoness is that scammer! Oh, no! If that is true, that person is in danger right now!" Ye Zhen shouted in surprise, and he immediately turned around to chase after the black-cloaked person.

"Stop!" Elder Yang quickly stopped him.

Ye Zhen halted his step and looked back at Elder Yang quizzically.

"Since the demoness from Blood Devil Sect already saw you before, we can assume that all the people from Blood Devil Sect already knew about our existence here. It is too dangerous for you to move alone!" Elder Yang warned Ye Zhen sternly.

"You are lucky there is no elder from Blood Devil Sect there before or you would have already died by now. Moreover, I cannot move from here since I need to protect the emperor and crown prince. Fortunately, I have already asked for more reinforcement from the sect since two days ago. We can only wait until they arrive here." Elder Yang assured Ye Zhen.

"Reinforcement? What if they only send several core disciples? It is clearly far from enough." Ye Zhen asked with a worried tone.

"Don't worry. I already ask for Elder Shang, Granny Gui, and Elder Zheng to personally come here." Elder Yang replied as he continued playing the chess again.

"Oooohhh! With Elder Shang's powerful thunder spells, Granny Gui's Feng Shui's Formation, and Elder Zheng's Impenetrable Seemless Diamond Body, those demons from Blood Devil Sect would stand no chance at all!" Ye Zhen shouted in shock and excitement.

"That's true. So we only need to wait for them to come here before making our move and clean all of those demons in one sweep from Quanhai City including that 2nd prince." Elder Yang muttered to Ye Zhen.

Ye Zhen nodded and decided to sit patiently on the chair in the pavilion.

Unfortunately for them, their reinforcement was already fated to never come. Because all of them had already digested in Little Loki's stomach before they could even step into Quanhai City.

.....

...

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Little Loki currently fell asleep comfortably on Tang Li Xue's lap, while Tang Li Xue still diligently cultivated the [Crimson Phoenix] of her [Four Mythical Guardian Beast Art].

She did not have any spirit stone in her possession anymore, so she did not have any other choice other than cultivating bit by bit.

She was trying to accumulate her Qi until it reached the critical point where it was enough to breakthrough from Qi Condensation Stage to Acupuncture Opening Stage.

It would certainly take a lot longer time than using the mid-tier spirit stone to breakthrough like before, but she really did not have any more choice.

But the sudden sound of door-knocking woke her up from her focused state...

Knock... Knock... Knock...