Chapter 1468: Elder Dongfang’s Invitation

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

He Zhong, on the other hand, had also responded very quickly — the battle would take place on the training field ten days later.

“Ten days? He still needs that long to prepare?” After hearing He Zhong’s respond, Duan Ling Tian frowned right away.

Actually, it was not only Duan Ling Tian who was perplexed about this. Even the group of outer court disciples who were waiting to watch the show could not help but feel bewildered too. “Senior Brother He Zhong wants to battle it out with Senior Brother Duan Ling Tian in ten days? Isn’t that a little too late?”

“Maybe the martial technique that Senior Brother He Zhong is cultivating is about to have a breakthrough soon.”

“Perhaps.”

“It looks like that Senior Brother He Zhong kinda fears Senior Brother Duan Ling Tian too. He took the initiative to issue a duel invitation but actually dragged it out for so long before the actual battle.”

“That’s not strange. Remember that time, it only took Senior Brother Duan Ling Tian a split second to kill Feng Fan. Senior Brother Duan Ling Tian’s strength is definitely in no way inferior to Senior Brother He Zhong’s.”

“That’s right! It’s also basically impossible for even Senior Brother He Zhong to kill Feng Fan using that kind of method in a Death Duel invitation.”

…

Right now, the group of outer court disciples had already reached a stage of blind worship of Duan Ling Tian’s strength.

Even though He Zhong was a powerhouse who ranked 66th on the Earth Rankings and was even the third on the outer court’s ranking of the Moon Illumination Sect, they had a higher opinion about Duan Ling Tian in the battle with He Zhong.

It was not because that Duan Ling Tian had killed Feng Fan a month ago, but because he had defeated an inner court disciple in just one move.

That duel had greatly raised the dignity of their outer courts.

An outer court disciple defeating an inner court disciple. Just how glorious was that?

“You guys have that much confidence in me?” When Duan Ling Tian learned that the group of outer court disciples had so much faith in him, he could not help but smile wryly, as he thought of setting up another bet.

However, come to think of it, even if he really set up another bet, most likely nobody would make a bet anymore.

Of course, Duan Ling Tian also knew that nobody would set a bet for such an ordinary friendly duel. Even if somebody did, nobody would place a bet at all.

Due to the fact that a friendly duel would not place a person’s life on the line, under table transactions could be carried out. If I take a step back, you take a step back too.

For the friendly duel between two opponents, they could join forces with the person who became the banker for the gamble and earn quite a lot.

Nobody was a fool, so of course, nobody would be willing to make a bet in such a gamble.

“Are Ling Yun and Xiong Hu in closed-door cultivation?” Duan Ling Tian went to find Ling Yun and Xiong Hu and noticed that they were in closed-door cultivation. “I didn’t see them the last time too during the Death Duel between Feng Fan and I. Could they have been in the closed-door cultivation since the last time and still haven’t come out yet?”

The reason Duan Ling Tian went to find the two of them was mainly that he wanted to return the Merit Points that his teacher Fang Hui had asked him to safeguard to Ling Yun and Xiong Hu.

He planned to give each of them 50,000 Merit Points, giving the entire 100,000 Merit Points that Fang Hui had given him to the two of them.

After all, he was not lacking Merit Points at all.

However, since the two of them were in closed-door cultivation, he could only wait till the next time.

Just as Duan Ling Tian was about to go back to the second level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda to have another month of cultivation, an invited guest had gone to find him.

“It’s you?” This uninvited guest was not unfamiliar to Duan Ling Tian. After all, they had met once before.

It was none other than one of the two burly men from the residence of the outer court’s Grand Elder, Dongfang Quan.

“Duan Ling Tian, Elder Dongfang heard that you’ve come out of your closed-door cultivation and would like to invite you to his residence for a chat.” The man did not beat around the bush.

“Elder Dongfang invited me for a chat?” Duan Ling Tian was stunned. He had no idea why Dongfang Quan would look for him because it was only a trade between them the last time, and a fair one between a buyer and a seller.

Other than that, he had nothing to do with Dongfang Quan at all.

“Please.” The burly guy looked at Duan Ling Tian in a manner that said, “If you don’t walk, I’m gonna carry you straight away”.

“Alright.” Even though Duan Ling Tian had no clue why Dongfang Quan would look for him, he did not reject the invitation at all.

After all, he was still in the outer sect of the Moon Illumination Sect and it would not do him any good if he offended Dongfang Quan. No matter what, he was still the grand elder of the outer court and if he wanted to go against Duan Ling Tian, it would only be a matter of time for him to settle him.

Apart from that, Duan Ling Tian was also puzzled as to why Dongfang Quan would look for him.

Once again arriving at Dongfang Quan’s residence, Duan Ling Tian met Dongfang Quan under the guidance of the burly man.

When he saw Dongfang Quan, he was enjoying his tea in the pergola.

“Sit.” After Dongfang Quan motioned to Duan Ling Tian to sit, he looked at the burly guy who had brought Duan Ling Tian there with a meaningful look and sensibly, the burly guy retreated immediately.

“Are you curious as to why I invited you here?” Dongfang Quan asked.

“Yes.” Duan Ling Tian nodded. He was indeed curious.

“I heard that you’ve accepted He Zhong’s duel invitation, haven’t you?” Dongfang Quan asked again.

“Yes,” Duan Ling Tian acknowledged, “Why? Is there a problem?”

“Do you know about He Zhong’s identity?” Dongfang Quan questioned again.

“If I’m not mistaken, he must be the direct disciple of an inner court elder. Is that right?” Duan Ling Tian guessed.

Although there was no rumor regarding He Zhong’s background in the outer court, Duan Ling Tian knew that his background must not be ordinary.

Just like Feng Fan before, nobody knew that he had a master who was an inner court elder.

Shooting a wary look at Duan Ling Tian, Dongfang Quan said, “He Zhong’s Master is the Vice Sect Leader.”

“Vice Sect Leader?” Upon hearing that, Duan Ling Tian was stunned as well.

It was not his first day being in the Moon Illumination Sect, so he definitely knew what it meant by the Vice Sect Leader of the Moon Illumination Sect… Even though he was not fully on the Saint Stage, he was at least half a step into the Saint Stage already. His strength was just merely beneath the Sect Leader and a few other Saint Stage powerhouses.

It turned out that He Zhong was actually the direct disciple of the Vice Sect Leader of the Moon Illumination Sect.

“That’s right.” Dongfang Quan nodded.

“Although this news is a little surprising, there’s no problem for me at all, is there? That duel invitation that He Zhong issued to me is only a mere ordinary duel invitation and not a Death Duel invitation,” Duan Ling Tian said with an unconcerned look.

“Well, you’re greatly mistaken if you think like this… Despite the fact that I have no idea why He Zhong didn’t issue a Death Duel invitation to you, I know that the reason he issued that duel invitation to you is definitely not that simple,” Dongfang Quan explained.

“Not that simple? I don’t know him at all, so how could he have any enmity with me?” Duan Ling Tian shook his head with a smile.

“You don’t have any enmity with him, but how about you and his uncle?” Dongfang Quan asked again.

“His uncle? Who is that?” Duan Ling Tian was perplexed.

Under Duan Ling Tian’s perplexed gaze, Dongfang Quan spat out two words, a name that elicited a shock from Duan Ling Tian right away, “Liu Huan!”

“Liu Huan? Really?”

“It’s not a secret in this circle of the higher officials in the sect,” Dongfang Quan continued, “You’re from the City Governor’s Estate of Mound Hill City and on top of that, you’re the disciple of that City Governor of Mound Hill City, Fang Hui… Liu Huan will definitely not let you go. The reason I invited you here is to warn you that you must be careful of He Zhong.”

“He Zhong is Liu Huan’s nephew?” Duan Ling Tian nodded his head and at the same time, he stood up and expressed his gratitude as he cupped both of his hands in front of his chest. “Thank you for your warning, Elder Dongfang.”

“Haha… If you’re really sincere, just give me another piece of fourth-grade Saint Stone, won’t you?” Dongfang Quan burst out laughing as a crafty twinkle shone in his eyes.

“Yes, I will.” Duan Ling Tian was not stingy as well. With a raise of his hand, he took out two fourth-grade Saint Stones and ten fifth-grade Saint Stones before placing them in front of Dongfang Quan.

After putting away the Saint Stones, Dongfang Quan laughed as he asked, “Tsk tsk… Boy, could it be that you’re actually a disciple from the five-rated force who just joined our Moon Illumination Sect temporarily to train yourself?”

In the face of Dongfang Quan’s query, Duan Ling Tian merely smiled and did not reply to him.

He still needed to keep his sense of mystery in front of Dongfang Quan regarding this matter. It was this sense of mystery that became the pivot which maintained the relationship between Dongfang Quan and him, allowing the elder to dread him and not dare to look down on him.

“Elder Dongfang, if there’s no other matter, I’ll take my leave first.” After he bade farewell to Dongfang Quan, he left right away.

When he left, his face turned gloomy at once. “At first, I thought that He Zhong merely wanted a normal friendly duel with me, but who’d expected that he’s actually Liu Huan’s nephew? Liu Huan’s nephew issuing an ordinary duel invitation to me… Hmm, things are definitely not that simple.”

After knowing He Zhong’s background, Duan Ling Tian was certain about this.

‘Zhou Qi hasn’t mentioned this at all to me…’ Suddenly, Duan Ling Tian was reminded about Zhou Qi and frowned right away. The first thing that came to his mind was that Zhou Qi was hiding this from him, but very soon, he returned to his senses again. ‘Perhaps even Zhou Qi himself doesn’t know about this at all. However, Liu Huan has such a nephew that has a Vice Sect Leader as his master… Why does he still need to be so fearful and even grovel to that inner court elder, Zhao Feng? Although Zhao Feng has a high position in the inner court of the Moon Illumination Sect, it’s still not as high as the Vice Sect Leader, is it?’

Duan Ling Tian remained puzzled even after a long time of pondering.

If Duan Ling Tian knew that Zhao Feng’s backer was one of the few Saint Stage powerhouses in the Moon Illumination Sect, he would not think like that anymore.

Because of Zhao Feng’s background, even the few Vice Sect Leaders would usually not dare to pick any trouble with him.

Of course, only a few high-ranking officials who were the highest decision-makers in the Moon Illumination Sect knew about this. Even the outer court elders and inner court deacons did not know about this at all, let alone those outer court deacons and the disciples of both outer and inner courts.

Ten days time was equal to one month in the second level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda.

In this span of one month, Duan Ling Tian had spent his time cultivating in the second level of the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda. When the time had come, he finally left the Seven Treasures Exquisite Pagoda and his little courtyard, heading to the vast training field in the outer court of the Moon Illumination Sect.

The training field was filled with voices and shouts, making a great commotion.

Other than those outer court disciples who were not in closed-door cultivation, there were many inner court disciples who made their way there too, far more than the inner court disciples who had gone to watch the battle between Duan Ling Tian and Feng Fan a month ago.

That time, only more than ten inner court disciples had come but today, hundreds of them had turned up.

Some of these inner court disciples were those who had watched Duan Ling Tian defeat Ye Nan, the inner court disciple, outside the Merit Pavilion a month ago while some of them had watched how he had killed Feng Fan who was ranked in the Earth Rankings.

The remaining came because they admired his fame and wanted to watch Duan Ling Tian’s abilities.