Splitting the Heave

“Who else knows about this?!” 

As Tang Yuan dispersed his aura, the entire hall fell silent.

Shang Xia chuckled lightly and shrugged, “Every single outer disciple from the third division heard about this back in the valley.” 

Seeing Tang Yuan’s face turn green, Shang Xia continued, “Calm down. I have long since told them to keep the news to themselves. They know how serious the implications are. If any of them wanted to spread the rumor, they would have long since done so.” 

Tang Yuan stared sternly at Shang Xia and he swept his gaze across everyone present. “I’ll look for Deputy Patriarch Ji right now. Before I return, anyone who tries to leave the hall will be a traitor of the Tongyou Peak and will be punished with death!” 

Shang Xia knew that if Kou Chongxue was really injured, the higher ups of the Tongyou Institution would definitely be in the loop.

One couldn’t be sure that Tang Yuan’s hysteria was due to Shang Xia’s revelation. He might be afraid that the news was actually leaked to the outside world!

Shang Xia knowing about it wasn’t terrifying. But from what he said, he learned the news from the members of the Azure Spiritual World. 

What would that mean?! 

That meant that there was definitely a traitor in the institution!

Moreover, the traitor’s position in the institution wasn’t low. There was no way he would be able to come into contact with such sensitive news otherwise.

As the pillar of support of the You Continent, if the Tongyou Institution was in trouble, there was no way the Four Spiritual Peak would remain quiet. 

One had to know that the Tongyou Peak was in a precarious situation. All of them thought that it was because of the lack of manpower due to Liu Jitang’s departure, but if that wasn’t the real reason, the situation might be worse than they thought.

If the members of the Azure Spiritual World attacked in order to verify their intelligence, the Tongyou Peak would be in true danger.

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If they failed to assess the situation properly, the results would be catastrophic.

Now that Shang Xia reported the news to Tang Yuan that the cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World might be aware of Kou Chongxue’s injury, the situation had to be reassessed by the higher ups immediately!

In the past, they had been taking precautionary measures to deal with Liu Jitang’s departure. From what it seemed, they might have fallen into their opponent’s trap!

That was the true reason behind Tang Yuan’s panic.

The moment he left, the entire hall sank into an uneasy silence.

The gaze of everyone present was concentrated on one man, Shang Xia.

As the person of interest, Shang Xia didn’t really care too much. He simply sat down and turned to the other deacon. “How can I address you, teacher?” 

As long as he wasn’t talking to a fellow student, it was never wrong to call them a teacher.

The deacon chuckled unnaturally. “You can call me Sang Youqi…” 

“Instructor Sang… Glad to meet you!” Shang Xia heard that there were three deacons of the patrol hall, and he finally met one of them.

Shang Xia thought back to when Shang Quan told him about Liu Jitang deploying the patrol squads in Tang Yuan’s absence and he couldn’t help to think that the other two deacons were brought away by him.

Shang Xia nodded slightly and he turned to whisper to Shang Quan, “Uncle Quan, what is the Rose Party exactly? They seem to be some group of people who like to admire flowers from the name of their organization…” 

“Ahem!” Yuan Zilu coughed softly and Shang Quan turned to look at him.

Glancing at Deacon Sang, Shang Quan observed the various captains behind him. “Since we have reached this point, there is no need to keep any more secrets. They’ll know soon anyway.” 

It was clear he was talking to Yuan Zilu and Sang Youqi.

As they didn’t respond, Shang Quan knew that they had given their consent.

“All of you might not know about the Rose Party, but you should have heard of the Evil Remnants of the five great families.”

The expression on several captains’ faces changed.

“Evil Remnants? Are they the traitors of the five great families of the past? Shang Xia asked.

When Shang Quan was about to explain, his expression stiffened as he turned to look at the entrance of the hall.

A terrifying pressure surrounded the hall as everyone felt their bodies growing numb.

“Indeed… The Evil Remnants refer to the traitors of our continents. They come from different families and clans that stood tall in the past…” A tall figure strode into the hall and his hair was combed back in a slick fashion. His hands were clasped behind his back as he approached the main seat.

He emitted a dignified air, and from the moment he entered, he caught their attention. Everyone looked at him as they seemed to ignore the existence of the group of cultivators behind him.

The person who appeared was the strongest deputy patriarch of the Tongyou Institution, and his strength was second only to Kou Chongxue! Deputy Patriarch Ji Wenlong strode quickly towards the main seat. 

By the time he arrived, a new chair had been prepared for him.

A wave of energy swept through the hall after he sat down, causing everyone to break out of their trance.

Shang Xia and the others finally noticed that there were several other cultivators behind him. All of them were heavyweight figures in the Tongyou Institution, and Tang Yuan was only qualified to walk at the very back.

Those seated in the hall quickly got up.

Shang Quan and Shang Xia turned to look at a bearded elder who entered with Ji Wenlong.

“Uncle Ke!” 

“Fifth grandpa!” 

The two of them greeted in unison.

The elder nodded slightly in response before sitting on the first seat on Ji Wenlong’s right.

Shang Xia and Shang Quan headed over and stood behind him respectfully.

When everyone got to their seats, Shang Xia looked around and fell deep into thought. 

All of a sudden, Shang Xia felt a piercing gaze on him. 

In the hall, no one dared to release their aura. Neither did anyone dare to suppress him with their divine sense. Even so, Shang Xia felt an undeniable pressure pushing down on him. It was countless times more terrifying than what Tang Yuan did earlier.

Shang Ke waved his hand casually and sighed, “This junior of mine was too rash. Let’s not trouble a kid…” 

The pressure dissipated in an instant and Shang Xia heaved a sigh of relief.

However, Shang Ke turned his head the next instant and chided Shang Xia, “Brat, you alarmed so many people… What are you waiting for? Hurry up and spill what you heard. If you dare to hide anything else, our Shang Clan won’t be able to protect you.” 

Shang Xia hiccuped and he repeated everything he heard from the cultivators of the Wind Swallow Race.

Even though many of them had prepared themselves, it was a different feeling when they heard the words come out of Shang Xia’s mouth.

Only after a long time did laughter break the silence. A middle aged man sitting beside Shang Ke said, “Since the cultivators were easily killed by Little Shang Xia over here, they have to be ordinary cultivators. Can’t you tell from their names? They don’t even share the proper family name of the Wind Swallow Race, ‘Yan’! How can they know anything? They might…” 

“Enough! Stop lying to yourself!” Ji Wenlong snapped, causing an awkward expression to appear on the man’s face.

Shang Quan whispered to Shang Xia, “That man is called Ji Min and he’s a Martial Intent Realm expert of the Ji Family…” 

Shang Xia nodded and he heard someone else asking cautiously, “Deputy Patriarch Ji, is Patriarch Kou really… Really injured?” 

Everyone turned to look at Ji Wenlong in an instant.

That was the true question plaguing their hearts.

Shang Quan took the chance to mutter into Shang Xia’s ear, “That’s Deacon Zhao Yang of the Scripture Depository.” 

“I’ve seen him before.” 

As the core figure of Tongyou City, Ji Wenlong was the only one who had the authority to say anything about the matter.

Without any fluctuations in his expression, Ji Wenlong muttered indifferently, “There’s no need for any of you to know this.” 

The faces of many people in the hall changed.

However, Ji Wenlong turned his gaze to the four people sitting beside him before anyone else could say anything. “Has there been any news from the Outreach Division? When will Qian Sitong be back?” 

“That’s Deacon Li Zengyu of the Outreach Division. Qian Sitong is his superior.” Shang Quan added, “Qian Sitong left with Liu Jitang previously.” 

Shang Xia might not recognize the man, but he had long since heard of Qian Sitong’s great name.

Facing Ji Wenlong’s questioning, Li Zengyu was clearly flustered. He got to his feet and apologized, “Other than the news of Tongyou City’s lockdown, we received nothing out of the ordinary… Also… We… We can’t seem to contact Chief Qian…” 

Ji Wenlong stared at the rest and asked, “Alright, since we are all here, update me on everything that happened. Now is not the time to keep any secrets.” 

After a short silence, someone stood up and spoke. “I’ll start. Please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. First, I would like to talk about the situation at hand.” 

“If things are really as Shang Xia had said and Patriarch Kou suffered serious injuries, the Rose Party will definitely join hands with the Four Spiritual Peak. We will be in a precarious situation when that happens. If the Rose Party makes their move, Tongyou City will be thrown into chaos. We won’t be able to receive any reinforcements from the institution when that happens. Next, Deputy Patriarch Liu left with a huge portion of our strength. We have a serious gap in our defenses right now, and even though Deputy Patriarch Ji came to hold the fort, we’ll be in trouble if the Four Spiritual Peak launches an offensive. If we fail to receive support from the institution…” 

He couldn’t help but shake his head silently after speaking up to that point.