Chapter 743: Making Decisions (I)

In the Martial Realm, at Yanwu City.

Inside Profound Light Tower, the door to a private room swung open with a whoosh, revealing Lin Zheyu's smiling face.

"Haha, see? I told you Fellow Xiao is blessed with great fortune. There's no way anything could happen to him. Even if something happened to the rest of us, this guy would definitely still be alive and kicking," Qiu Kun said with a hearty laugh when he saw Lin Zheyu.

They had known for some time that Lin Zheyu had returned. Otherwise, they would not have arranged to meet here. Given Qiu Kun's personality, however, he could not resist teasing him.

"Heh." Lin Zheyu chuckled softly and sat down beside Bai Lin.

He smiled at Qiu Kun and teased, "Fellow Bai told me you were attacked. I thought you wouldn't be able to make it today and would have to enter seclusion to recover from your injuries. But looking at you now, your complexion is pretty good. It seems you weren't badly hurt."

"Ah, just thinking about it still gives me chills. You almost never got to see me again," Qiu Kun said with lingering fear. "Fortunately, Senior Wang showed up in time."

Lin Zheyu frowned slightly as he asked in a grave voice, "What's going on? Has the situation become that serious? I've noticed that many fellows who rarely ever showed themselves in the past have returned. Yanwu City is much livelier than before."

The Martial Alliance had originally broken away from the three ancient martial esteemed families with the help of the Vermilion Bird Sect. In reality, the Martial Alliance had few resources and little wealth. It mainly obtained cultivation resources by taking on missions issued by the Great Wei authorities or other factions.

As such, the Martial Alliance was more like an association for martial artists to interact and a mutual-aid alliance for martial cultivation. Under normal circumstances, when the martial artists in the alliance were not in seclusion, most were out carrying out missions to earn cultivation resources. Lin Zheyu had been a member of the Martial Alliance for quite some time, yet this was the first time he had seen so many people gathered here. He even saw many fellows he had never met before.

"It's somewhat troublesome. Woo Jin's strength was comparable to that of a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, and it's said he may even have been close to reaching the mid Nascent Soul realm. An expert at that level is an extremely important figure in any faction. His death gave the three ancient martial esteemed families an excuse to make a move. Even though the alliance leader persuaded the Vermilion Bird Sect to step in and mediate, the matter still couldn't be completely settled.

"The death of a Nascent Soul realm expert isn't a grudge that can be put to rest without paying a sufficiently heavy price. The Vermilion Bird Sect has merely restrained the three ancient martial esteemed families from acting without restraint, while tacitly allowing them to take revenge in private." Zong Linjing's expression was somewhat grim as she sighed softly.

There was little room for reason in the cultivation world. The strongest fist and the greatest strength were the only hard truths. The Martial Alliance's foundations were simply too shallow. Without the Vermilion Bird Sect backing them, this incident might even have forced them back into their former state, where they had to survive at the mercy of the three ancient martial esteemed families.

"Sigh. Originally, the Vermilion Bird Sect's intervention would have been enough to settle the matter. But the Woo Family paid an enormous price to persuade that lord from the Directorate of Celestial Observation to personally take action. His divination revealed that the culprit who killed Woo Jin was actually a martial artist from the Martial Alliance. Otherwise, the Martial Alliance wouldn't have been placed in such a passive position." Bai Lin sighed and shook his head.

From now on, the cultivators of the Martial Alliance would probably have to keep their heads down and develop cautiously. At the same time, the Martial Alliance would likely lose a large number of martial artists, either to other factions or because they chose to switch to cultivating the Immortal Dao.

However, switching to the Immortal Dao was not a good choice. The reason they had practiced martial arts in the first place was that they lacked the natural talent for immortal cultivation. Even after advancing to the martial Innate realm and opening the Bridge of Heaven and Earth, they could not make up for that deficiency in natural talent.

Moreover, although the Immortal Dao did not emphasize the physical body and focused primarily on cultivating the divine soul, the body was still immensely important. Forcibly breaking open the Bridge of Heaven and Earth damaged the body's perfect state of harmony. If such a martial artist switched to the Immortal Dao and tried to nurture a Nascent Soul, serious problems would arise.

This was also why, although martial artists who reached the Shackles realm theoretically possessed the latent potential to advance to the Nascent Soul realm after switching to the Immortal Dao, very few were willing to do so. Anyone capable of reaching the Shackles realm was deeply devoted to martial cultivation and harbored lofty ambitions for their path. Asking them to abandon martial cultivation and become the weakest kind of Nascent Soul realm cultivator, one burdened with inherent flaws, was not a choice any ordinary Shackles realm martial artist would make.

"Hmph! What's there to be afraid of? They're allowed to bully the Martial Alliance's martial artists, but we're not allowed to kill one of their Nascent Soul realm experts? What kind of logic is that? Didn't they secretly plan to make a move against Fellow Zong and Fellow Xiao back then?" Qiu Kun's eyes widened in anger, and his brows shot upward. "If you ask me, that senior did well. He killed him beautifully. That's how a true man should act!"

Lin Zheyu nodded in agreement. "Exactly, well said!"

He was the one who had done it, after all, so of course he had to agree. Still, Lin Zheyu felt somewhat guilty. After all, he was the one who had caused this whole mess.

"By the way, have they found the senior who killed Woo Jin? He hasn't been caught, has he?" Lin Zheyu asked, abruptly changing the subject.

This was what concerned him most. When he heard that the Woo Family had persuaded that lord from the Directorate of Celestial Observation to personally divine the identity of Woo Jin's killer, Lin Zheyu's heart could not help but skip a beat.

The Directorate of Celestial Observation controlled the Sky-Patrolling Mirror, which watched over the entirety of Great Wei. It was a supreme treasure that could not only monitor the realm, but also divine the workings of heaven.

The lord Bai Lin was referring to was the Deity Transformation realm expert who presided over the Directorate of Celestial Observation. The man's strength was so terrifying that Bai Lin did not even dare mention his name, referring to him only as 'that lord.'

Lin Zheyu had heard that the man had already cultivated to the peak of the Deity Transformation realm and was only one step away from the Void Cavern realm. An existence of that level, together with the Sky-Patrolling Mirror, might conceivably be able to evade the warning of the mysterious bracelet on his wrist. He was genuinely worried that the man's divination might trace the matter back to him.

"No one knows." Qiu Kun chuckled, looking somewhat pleased.

Seeing Lin Zheyu's puzzled expression, he did not keep him in suspense and continued, "Even that lord from the Directorate of Celestial Observation was unable to divine the senior's identity, location, or strength. He could only barely determine that the senior came from the Martial Alliance. Now, rumors outside say the senior is one of the old martial cultivation experts who left the Martial Alliance in search of an opportunity to break through. Some even say that the senior has already found the true path of martial cultivation beyond the Shackles realm." Qiu Kun chuckled as he spoke.

Seeing Qiu Kun getting carried away, Bai Lin could not help but cut in. "Don't listen to him. Fellow Qiu is just repeating exaggerated rumors. They may be inspiring, but there's little reason to believe them."

Qiu Kun curled his lips and said unconvincedly, "Who knows? Maybe it's true."

Zong Linjing shook her head. "The possibility is far too low. But you know, I heard some information from Senior Nie. Woo Jin died in a certain Shamanic Clan Ruins, and those ruins were located outside Great Wei. Under ordinary circumstances, even that lord from the Directorate of Celestial Observation would have been unable to divine any information about the senior from so far away. However, the instant Woo Jin died, Woo Tianlei immediately set out for those ruins.

"Inside the ruins, he collected traces of the bloodline powers Woo Jin had released that were still lingering in the void. Woo Tianlei possessed an advanced subsidiary artifact of the Sky-Patrolling Mirror, so he stored that trace of bloodline power within it and brought it back. Otherwise, even with that lord from the Directorate of Celestial Observation personally taking action, there would have been no way to divine any information about the senior," Zong Linjing explained slowly.