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There were seven cultivators near Zhang Yuntao, five men and two women.
Their leader was a young man in fiery robes. A Silverfinch perched on his shoulder.
When Su Yi’s gaze swept across them, the young man in fiery robes noticed him immediately. He raised his head slightly, and his blue-green eyes looked over.
His gaze was as sharp as a sword and utterly fearless.
“Oh?” The young man looked a bit stunned. He exclaimed, “Su Yi?”
When they heard this name, the other experts ceased their conversation and looked over.
Zhang Yuntao inwardly cried out, This is bad!
He hurriedly transmitted, “Fellow Daoist Su, hurry up and leave! These are experts of the Dongguo Family!”
The Dongguo Family.
Su Yi instantly understood. They were one of the modern era’s seven great ancient factions.
Furthermore, Su Yi clearly remembered killing a monster of the ancient era known as Dongguo Yun on Sumeru Immortal Island. He was a member of the Dongguo Family.
Rumor had it that Dongguo Yun had an older brother, Dongguo Feng, and that he was an incredible figure even among monsters of the ancient era.
Thirty thousand years ago, Dongguo Feng had already stepped into the Spirit Dao, and he was honored as one of the most dazzling geniuses of his generation.
However, Su Yi found one thing difficult to understand. Why was Zhang Yuntao with a bunch of Dongguo clansmen?
Before Su Yi could ask, a streak of light shot toward him from afar.
The entire group, including the fiery-robed man and the Silverfinch on his shoulder, were fast approaching.
When he saw that Su Yi showed no sign of retreating, Zhang Yuntao sighed to himself and gave up on trying to persuade him.
When the group was just one hundred feet away from Su Yi, the leader stopped in place, then asked with great interest, “Su Yi, weren’t you supposed to have fled the Great Xia a long time ago? What are you doing here all of a sudden?”
Su Yi ignored him. He had never been in the habit of wasting words with strangers.
Instead, he looked directly at Zhang Yuntao. “Fellow Daoist Zhang, might we have a private chat?”
“Uh…” Zhang Yuntao stiffened, then instinctively looked at the man in fiery robes.
He, however, looked at Su Yi and smiled. “Allow me to hazard a guess. Brother Su, you wish to discuss Wen Xinzhao?”
Su Yi’s brow furrowed, and the depths of his gaze glinted with cold light.
The fiery-robed man’s smile froze, and he felt a prickling pain all over his skin. An unprecedented, stifling sense of danger rose within his heart.
Zhang Yuntao said hurriedly, “Fellow Daoist, don’t worry! Xinzhao is unharmed!”
“Really?” asked Su Yi.
Zhang Yuntao hurriedly nodded. “I swear it on my life.”
“Oh,” said Su Yi.
The stifling sense of terror bearing down on the fiery-robed man instantly disappeared, and that bone-chilling sense of impending crisis disappeared without a trace.
He inwardly sighed in relief, but facing Su Yi, he was much more reserved than before, without any of his earlier casual ease or flippancy.
“Go ahead and chat,” he said after steadying his nerves. He then led the others away and waited nearby.
Zhang Yuntao inwardly sighed in relief too, and he wiped the cold sweat from his brow and transmitted, “Fellow Daoist Su, you were too reckless just now. For a moment there, I thought those Dongguo clansmen would attack you.”
“Had they attacked, they’re the ones who would have died,” said Su yi.
“....”
A familiar feeling rose within Zhang Yuntao’s heart.
This was perfectly in accordance with his impression of Su Yi. It matched his personality.
His words seemed wildly arrogant and contemptuous, but in truth, they represented his absolute confidence in his own strength!
When he first met Su Yi, Zhang Yuntao couldn’t stand Su Yi’s way of doing things. He thought Su Yi was far too arrogant. They’d even come into conflict over this.
In the end…
Zhang Yuntao inwardly shook his head, unwilling to linger on those painful memories.
“Let’s hear it, then. What exactly is going on here?” asked Su Yi.
Zhang Yuntao steadied his thoughts, then said, “Fellow Daoist Su, you may not know this yet, but over the past few months, the Great Xia has changed. It’s no longer as you left it…”
He then went on to explain the entire situation.
Two months ago, the top figure of the Dongguo Family’s younger generation, Dongguo Feng, visited Cloudsky Divine Palace all on his own.
Then, he single-handedly broke through their defensive formation. Sixteen elders joined forces against him, but he defeated them all!
The leader of Cloudsky Divine Palace, Yu Jiuzhen, made a personal appearance. However, before long, Dongguo Feng forced him to admit defeat.
Afterward, Cloudsky Divine Palace’s High Elder True Monarch Tranquil Sea appeared and fought Dongguo Feng. Despite his mid-stage Spiritual Incarnation Realm cultivation, after a few hundred rounds with Dongguo Feng, he admitted defeat of his own accord.
Dongguo Feng had single-handedly suppressed Cloudsky Divine Palace!
When word spread, it shook the entire nation. Dongguo Feng’s name spread, causing an enormous commotion.
It was this battle that convinced Bluecloud Tower to put him in seventh place on the Ranking of Stars!
Afterward, Cloudsky Divine Palace submitted to the Dongguo Family, becoming one of their subordinate factions.
“Indeed, it’s just as I thought. No matter how impressive Cloudsky Divine Palace once was, in the modern era, it couldn’t help but sink to becoming another’s subordinate,” lamented Su Yi.
The four peak-level factions he’d once known—the Fulcrum of Heaven Sect, Cloudsky Divine Palace, the Qingyi Dao Sect, and Maha Temple—had now been reduced to second-rate factions.
The only part of this story Su Yi hadn’t anticipated was that the monster of the ancient era, Dongguo Feng, would defeat all of Cloudsky Divine Palace on his own.
“Fellow Daoist Su, after Dongguo Feng single-handedly suppressed our entire sect, he effectively set a trend; over the next few months, others went and defeated the Fulcrum of Heaven Sect, the Qingyi Dao Sect, and Maha Temple, one after another,” Zhang Yuntao explained at top speeds.
According to him, the Fulcrum of Heaven Sect lost to one of Hidden Cloud Sword Mountain’s “Seven Great Chosen”, Xu Jianlin.
The Qingyi Dao Sect lost to Hua Xiangrong, the chief disciple of Tianji Dao Mountain.
And Maha Temple lost its “discussion of the Dao” to a monk of the Pure Emptiness Buddhist Sect’s younger generation, “Mournful Leaf.”
Just like Dongguo Feng, Xu Jianlin, Hua Xiangrong, and Mournful Leaf were famous throughout the nation. All of them were in the top ten of the Ranking of Stars!
Su Yi didn’t care about this at all. However, he did feel a bit strange.
Back when he was still in the Origin Palace Realm, he told Wen Xinzhao that should Cloudsky Divine Palace consider him their enemy, he wouldn’t mind paying them a visit.
Who’d have thought that Dongguo Feng would beat him to the punch?
As for Xu Jianlin and the others, they might be heaven-defying figures of the Spiritual Manifestation realm famous throughout the Great Xia, but Su Yi wasn’t even concerned about Spiritual Incarnation cultivators, much less others of the same realm!
“Tell me about Miss Xinzhao,” Su Yi said directly. He was, naturally, most concerned about the beautiful “Little Sword Demon.”
Zhang Yuntao sighed. “Fellow Daoist Su, it’s actually not at all complicated. Dongguo Feng has long since learned that you killed his little brother on Sumeru Immortal Island, and he’s been waiting for an opportunity to challenge you to a duel.”
Su Yi frowned. “Don’t tell me he’s threatening Miss Xinzhao’s life?”
Zhang Yuntao hurriedly shook his head. “No, actually. No matter what you think of him, to me, Dongguo Feng seems truly extraordinary. Even rarer and more precious is that he’s forthright and just. Even after he defeated our entire sect, he never once humiliated us.”
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Here, Zhang Yuntao looked a bit rueful. “If that weren’t the case, how could all of Cloudsky Divine Palace, from our leader to our disciples, willingly agree to serve the Dongguo Family?”
Su Yi nodded. “It’s fine so long as she’s okay.”
When he thought about it, it made sense. Furthermore, when he left the Great Xia, he passed the talisman the imperial family gave him, the Butterfly Transforming the Firmament, onto Wen Xinzhao so that she could defend herself.
It was an Imperial-level talisman! Time had frittered much of its power away, but its presence still meant that Wen Xinzhao had nothing to fear from Dongguo Feng.
Zhang Yuntao hesitated, but in the end, he said it anyway. “Fellow Daoist Su, if you ask me, if it’s at all possible, you’d still best find a way to take Xinzhao away from Cloudsky Divine Palace as soon as possible.”
“Why do you say that?”
Zhang Yuntao said, “Everyone in the Dongguo Family knows she shares a close bond with you, and although Dongguo Feng disdains to lower himself by using her as a hostage, that doesn’t mean others won’t.”
He sighed. “Although no one has harmed Xinzhao, her every move is under constant scrutiny, and she can’t take so much as half a step outside the sect.”
Su Yi’s brow suddenly furrowed. How is that any different from house arrest?
“Fellow Daoist, I’m most certainly not encouraging you to risk yourself,” said Zhang Yuntao. “What I mean is, if you have the means, it would be wonderful if you could take Xinzhao with you. If you can’t, it can wait until later. Whatever you do, don’t be reckless.”
According to Zhang Yuntao, Cloudsky Divine Palace had numerous Dongguo Family experts in attendance, not just the heaven-defying monster of the ancient era, Dongguo Feng.
It would be exceedingly unwise to go there recklessly.
“Do you think I’m no match for them?” Su Yi smiled faintly.
Zhang Yuntao instantly felt awkward, and he explained, “This old man just thinks that it’s best you be cautious when dealing with a faction as vast and mighty as the Dongguo Family. I don’t mean to diminish or underestimate you in any way, Fellow Daoist.”
“Enough. Just leave this to me,” Su Yi said dismissively. “Right, what are you and those Dongguo Family cultivators here for?”
Zhang Yuntao said hurriedly, “Lately, there have been rumors that the experts of the Deathbringer’s Netherworld Palace discovered an enormous stroke of good fortune. It drew those Dongguo Family experts over, and they had me come with them.”
Only then did Su Yi understand, but his expression turned a bit strange. “Seems to me that you’re destined to leave empty-handed.”
Zhang Yuntao was stunned, but before he could ask what Su Yi meant, the fiery-robed man and the others approached.
“Are you two done with your conversation?” the fiery-robed man asked with a smile.
“Do you have business with me?” asked Su Yi.
The fiery-robed man took a deep breath. “Su Yi, my clan brother, Dongguo Feng, has been waiting for you all this time.
“Furthermore, he said that so long as you dared duel him, regardless of the result, it would mark the end of your enmity with the Dongguo Family.”
As he said this, he stared intently at Su Yi. “I just don’t know if you dare accept his challenge?”
Su Yi said distractedly, “I was already planning on taking a trip to Cloudsky Divine Palace. If your clan brother is present, I wouldn’t mind giving him the chance to challenge me.”
With that, he placed his hands behind his back, turned, and sauntered off.
The man in fiery robes froze, then faced Su Yi’s disappearing figure and shouted, “Su Yi, I’ll pass your message on to my clan brother today, so you can’t go back on your word! You have to show up!”