Chapter 1227: Hongjun Sword Furnace Annex

Chapter 1227: Chapter 1227: Hongjun Sword Furnace Annex

"Hurry up and go. If we’re late again, my younger brother will start scolding you." Seeing Hati still standing there in a daze, Pei Jin couldn’t help laughing. She gently gave her a push as a reminder.

"Oh! Okay!" Hati snapped back, immediately ordering her people to carry off Xiang Zizhen, who was lying in the courtyard ignored by everyone. Then she followed closely behind Pei Jin and asked in a low voice, "Sister Pei, what use is this person even now? And why did Mr. Pei Yan insist that my people bring him along?"

"My brother wants to show Hongjun Sword Furnace just how angry he is about this. Even a Embroidered Robe Envoy who made a small mistake in this matter and has a cooperative relationship with us—he won’t forgive, much less show mercy. As for Hongjun Sword Furnace, which is entwined with this matter in countless ways, there’s no way they can just muddle through without giving a clear answer." Understanding her younger brother’s thinking, Pei Jin deliberately slowed her steps and patiently explained to Hati: "The reason he asked you to bring this man is that it was precisely this man’s negligence that led to your clansmen’s deaths. So he’s doing this for your clan to see, to let you know that as long as the sacrifice was made for our cooperation, our Investigation Hall will never stand by and watch—we will definitely give you an explanation. This is what he meant by helping you ’get your face back.’"

"Oh!" Hati nodded and gave a bitter smile. "I thought Mr. Pei Yan would always bear a grudge against me over what happened in the Dragon Realm and ignore our existence in this matter." At this, she glanced at Pei Jin, mustering her courage to probe, "Sister Pei, will Mr. Pei Yan always play favorites and side with the Nine-tailed Fox Race? I’ve now realized how great his influence is on Hu Jiu, and I also realize how foolish my rashness back then was. If Hu Jiu keeps distancing herself from me because of that, my entire clan will be affected."

"I’ve heard you talk about what happened back then. Ah, my little brother..." Pei Jin paused here, thought about how to phrase it, then smiled helplessly and said, "As his strength grows, so does his need for control. I can’t say whether that’s good or bad, but what I’m sure of is that he doesn’t like situations or people he can’t control. Your actions at the time undoubtedly challenged his bottom line. But you don’t need to be too worried. He’s always focused on matters, not on people! His relationship with Hu Jiu is special. As long as you don’t play a negative role between them, he will honor the promise he made to your mother and won’t deliberately target you. Besides, regarding you and Tushan Suisui, he actually hopes to maintain a kind of balanced opposition. So when you’re really at a disadvantage, I believe he’ll step in to help you once."

"Thank you for teaching me, Sister Pei!" Hati found Pei Jin’s words very enlightening. The elders in her clan had said similar things, but what she wanted was to hear Pei Jin say it to her personally. Now Hati understood that since she couldn’t change Pei Yan’s influence on her in the short term, she should strive for his elder sister’s favor and support. In any case, maintaining a good relationship with the Pei Family Siblings could only benefit her future and bring no harm.

As they talked, they still kept up with the large procession ahead. By this time, the various sects of the Immortal Palace, having gotten word, had already sent people to keep an eye on every move around the Investigation Team’s residence. When Pei Yan and the others moved out, these people didn’t think much of it, since this was within their expectations. But when they saw Xiang Zizhen, who had walked in just fine earlier, now being carried out with his eyes brutally damaged, they couldn’t help but draw in sharp breaths, realizing that Pei Yan would not let this matter go today. They immediately sent this news back to their sects at top speed.

This was exactly the effect Pei Yan wanted. Originally, he had intended to take Xiang Zizhen’s life to "shake the mountain and startle the tiger." But after seeing Lin Daozi’s note, which hinted that Xiang Zizhen’s life could be sacrificed if only Pei Yan didn’t escalate the matter, he decisively chose to spare Xiang Zizhen—not for anything else, but so that he could live to go back and deliver this message to the current Chief Commander of the Embroidered Robe Envoy.

Pei Yan was no "nice gentleman." His cooperation with the Daoist Realm was only temporary. Once the Bloodshaa War ended, it was still unknown whether the two great planes would be allies or enemies. If he could leave a crack and a seed of resentment between the Embroidered Robe Envoy and Lin Daozi, who still had residual feelings for the Immortal Palace, such a simple move cost him nothing. At worst, it just meant one more blind man hating him in secret. There were already plenty of people who hated him; Pei Yan no longer cared.

All along the way, everyone, including the Immortal Palace’s guards, consciously opened a path, letting this murderous procession pass before them. The Investigation Team being ambushed had long been the talk of every sect, and these people all understood that sooner or later, there had to be an explanation. Pei Yan’s return was clearly the moment this matter would erupt. There was no need to guess—he was definitely leading a force to Hongjun Sword Furnace to demand justice.

Although the Six Mansions of the Immortal Palace resided within the Immortal Palace, their main sects were not actually inside it. The Six Mansions would generally appoint figures within their sects whose status was no less than the Sect Leader’s—usually a Grand Elder—to bring more than half of the sect’s experts and Direct Disciples to sit in the Immortal Palace, while the Sect Leader stayed behind to oversee the main sect, teach the disciples, and keep the sect running.

As for concerns that half the top experts being drawn away would leave the sect hollow and vulnerable to invasion, such worries almost never entered the Six Mansions’ calculations. Aside from the Teleportation Array in the Immortal Palace mansions that led directly back to their sects—allowing them to dispatch reinforcements at any time—more importantly, no one dared to do such a thing. Whoever dared to launch a surprise attack on the main sect of one of the Six Mansions, even if they were a strong contender for the next Six Mansions themselves, would be hunted down by the other five Mansions leading all the sects of the Daoist Realm for breaking the rules. The end result would be destruction of their people, annihilation of their sect, and the severing of their inheritance. Thus, since the founding of the Immortal Palace, there had never been such a case.

And today, the place Pei Yan was going to was precisely the Hongjun Sword Furnace Mansion where Hongjun Sword Furnace had taken up residence in the Immortal Palace!

As they swaggered their way here, news had long been sent back to Hongjun Sword Furnace. When Pei Yan’s large group reached the long street in front of the Hongjun Sword Furnace Mansion, he saw that the other side had already brought their people out, lined up along the extended street in full battle formation. On both sides of the long street, Elders and Disciples from various sects who had rushed over after hearing the news packed the area.

"Phew! Quite the big lineup!" Pei Yan swept his gaze over the formation opposite and laughed. On the broad long street stood more than thirty Heavenly Dao-level ninth-rank experts. Among them, seven had auras only slightly weaker than that of Celt, Clan Leader of the Red Dragon Race; these were clearly the outstanding figures among them, belonging to the ranks of top experts. The one whose presence Pei Yan found hardest to gauge was an old man who exuded Sword Qi similar to the aura within Pei Yan’s own body.

"What a heavy killing intent!" The old man stepped out of the ranks, looked at Pei Yan, and smiled slightly, his words matching edge for edge.

"May I ask, Senior, are you from the Liu Family?" Pei Yan had a faint guess about the man’s identity and probed.

"Ah, I don’t dare accept being called ’Senior’! I am Liu Xuanji, current Patriarch of the Liu Family of Hongjun Sword Furnace. You must be Pei Yan!"