CH 2225

There were countless cultivators in the Perennial World, and Semi-Progenitors were not limited to only appearing in powerful families or sects. On rare occasions, independent cultivators could also become Semi-Progenitors, or they could rise up from small families or sects. However, all Semi-Progenitors would be forced to join one of the four ruling powers, and if not, then the Semi-Progenitor would be sent to the rear battlefield. This was the four ruling powers’ method of maintaining control over the Perennial World’s Semi-Progenitors, and it was quite similar to how Star Alliance was used to control Envoys.

Still, not even the four ruling powers dared to push too hard when it came to Semi-Progenitors.

Wu Yao had been an independent cultivator, and he had been known for being ruthless and cruel. Millions of corpses lay in his wake, and he had also taken the initiative to join the Celestial Frost Sect on his own. After all he knew that if he had not done so, he would have been banished to the rear battlefield and forced to fight until his death.

Long Ke stared back at Wu Yao. "I had nothing to do with that."

Wu Yao’s voice dropped low. "Patriarch Wang Zheng is a witness to the fact that you are somehow connected to our sect master's disappearance."

Long Ke turned to glare at Wang Zheng, who then stepped forward. "Brother Long, I saw for myself that when you returned to the Island of Hope, you were injured. Senior God of Food can also verify that you left at the same time as Sect Master Bai Teng."

Long Ke softly answered, "I did leave right after Bai Teng, but I never did anything to him. I don't even know how I got back."

"That’s ridiculous. Patriarch Long Ke, do you really expect us to believe such a thing?" Wu Yao mocked.

Long Ke felt incredibly wronged. He truly had no idea how he had returned to the Island of Hope. His last memory before finding himself on the island had been seeing Bai Teng disappear. There was nothing at all after that. The next thing that Long Ke could recall was awakening on the Island of Hope, already injured.

Just what had happened? Who had injured him? Had Bai Teng gone missing?

"Wang Zheng, did you personally see me attack Bai Teng?" Long Ke demanded in a loud voice.

Wang Zheng shook his head. "I never claimed that you attacked Bai Teng, but simply that you are somehow connected to his disappearance. I have no idea if you attacked him or not, but the Celestial Frost Sect is already looking into this."

Long Ke looked back at Wu Yao. "What has your Celestial Frost Sect found?"

Wu Yao sneered. "Nothing."

"In that case, why arrest me?" Long Ke roared. "Do you think that my clan’s Progenitor Long will just let this go? Your Celestial Frost Sect has not reached the level of the Lu family! You can’t just pass judgment on me without cause!"

Wu Yao shouted back, "We may not have found anything, but you are still the chief suspect! For someone to snatch the resources of the Junior Progenitor Planets from right beneath the God of Food’s watch, there must be a truly powerful expert behind this. Dealing with a mere sect master would be no issue at all. Long Ke, denying things won’t help you at all."

On the other side of the Higher Realm, in Shenwu’s Sky, Xia Ziheng and several others were paying close attention to the Celestial Frost Sect’s interrogation of Long Ke.

"Why would Long Ke attack Bai Teng? Given Long Ke’s strength, it’s impossible for him to capture or kill Bai Teng quietly. Someone else must have acted to make Bai Teng vanish without attracting even the God of Food’s attention. Such a person has to be incredibly powerful," Xia Ziheng said.

Xia Xing thought aloud, commenting, "That matches with how the resources on the Junior Progenitor Planets were stolen, but why would Long Ke attack Bai Teng now of all times? That just doesn't make sense, even if he did want to attack. After all, the God of Food saw Long Ke leave with Bai Teng, even if Wang Zheng hadn’t noticed him return alone and injured. On top of that, if the person apparently behind Long Ke dealt with Bai Teng, then how did Long Ke end up injured?"

"Everything about this is strange. It just seems wrong," Xia Ziheng agreed.

At that point, the Semi-Progenitor glanced over at Xia Shenfei, who was drinking nearby. "Shenfei, what do you think of all this?"

Despite Xia Shenfei’s alcoholism, no one would dare to underestimate him. Despite his abuse of alcohol during the time when the four Junior Progenitors had competed against each other, Xia Shenfei’s cultivation had never fallen behind any of the other three. Later, in order to infiltrate Realmless, he had completely stopped drinking for twenty years, which showed just how ruthless he could be even on himself. He had remained sober for twenty years, and he had risen through the ranks and even snuck into Realmless’s headquarters, which had facilitated the destruction of a large part of Realmless. Xia Shenfei’s abilities were unquestionable.

Xia Shenfei lowered the gourd full of wine. "By analyzing the current situation, one possibility is that Long Ke attacked Bai Teng spontaneously, possibly because Bai Teng discovered something. The other possibility is that Long Ke is being framed by someone."

Xia Xing frowned. "Wang Zheng personally saw Long Ke when he returned to the Island of Hope. You think that he could be being framed? By whom? Wang Zheng?"

Xia Shenfei let out a long sigh. "That doesn’t really add up either. There’s no reason for Wang Zheng to frame Long Ke."

"There’s no way anyone could be framing him. Wang Zheng personally saw Long Ke return. The only way the man could be framed is if someone could control him," Xia Xing countered.

That possibility was immediately dismissed. With the God of Food’s presence on the Island of Hope, how could anyone manage to raid the Junior Progenitor Planets, take control of Long Ke, and then manipulate the man into having a conversation with Wang Zheng without the God of Food ever noticing a thing? It was impossible for any Semi-Progenitor to do so. Only Progenitors could pull such things off, and why would a Progenitor bother to do such a thing?

"There’s one last possibility." Xia Shenfei took another sip of his wine before opening his blurry eyes. "Someone messed up and acted on their own."

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Xia Xing and Xia Ziheng glanced at each other in disbelief. Someone made a mistake? That could only mean someone from the Celestial Frost Sect.

Instantly, the two men started reevaluating everything that they knew about the situation. If the Celestial Frost Sect was the one that had taken action, then everything fell into place, including even Bai Teng’s disappearance. It was possible that Long Ke's injury was indeed from a fight with Bai Teng. But in this scenario, Bai Teng would be fine after the fight, and Long Ke might simply not want to reveal the truth. It was also possible that Bei Teng had purposely disappeared after Long Ke had returned to the Island of Hope, just to make Long Ke look suspicious.

This would perfectly explain Long Ke's inability to say anything to clear his name of being involved with Bai Teng's disappearance.

However, why would the Celestial Frost Sect have done such a thing?

Xia Ziheng stared at Xia Xing. "If the Celestial Frost Sect is also behind your clone’s disappearance, then they seem to want to seize total control of Star Alliance and also recruit Grandmaster Gu Yan. With their sect master’s disappearance, no one will suspect them at all, and at the same time, these recent matters at the Island of Hope have created rifts and doubts towards the Wang family and the White Dragon Clan. It all fits."

Xia Xing took a deep breath. "If this is true, then who do you think took action?"

"That woman." Xia Ziheng did not hesitate at all.

Xia Xing nodded and continued down this line of thought. "Such schemes are not at all surprising coming from her. This matter creates distrust towards both the White Dragon Clan and the Wang family, while my Shenwu's Sky would stop considering the possibility that the Celestial Frost Sect captured my clone. As far as the Celestial Frost Sect is concerned, their only loss is Bai Teng, who’s nothing more than a figurehead. This is a vicious move. It’s even possible that they stole the resources from three Junior Progenitor Planets, while leaving the Wang family’s planet untouched. Simultaneously, they’ve manipulated things to force more grudges onto the White Dragon Clan, while also making the Wang family look like possible thieves.

"It’s a clever scheme, and it covers everything while muddying the waters in the Higher Realm. There’s only one thing left for them to do." Xia Xing turned to look at Xia Ziheng, and the two both said in unison, "Get Yu Hao."

Xia Shenfei opened his eyes once again. "If the Celestial Frost Sect really is behind everything, then after creating chaos in the Higher Realm, their next task will definitely be to recruit Grandmaster Gu Yan and then gain control of Star Alliance, if at all possible. Unfortunately, I’m quite sure that they are able to force the clone that’s been captured to give up our portion of the restriction."

Upon seeing the ugly expression on his father’s face, Xia Shenfei quickly commented, "Father, don't get upset. I’m not looking down on your clone, but the Celestial Frost Sect is just capable of using too many tricks."

"I know."

Xia Shenfei continued to say, "If Shenwu's Sky wants to stop them, then the only ones we can work with are the Wang family and the White Dragon Clan. After seeing what’s happened to Long Ke, I’d guess that they won’t dare to do anything against the Celestial Frost Sect for some time. If the White Dragon Clan is out of the picture, then our only possible ally is the Wang family.”

"That's also why the star essence was left untouched on the Wang family’s Junior Progenitor Planet. It’s a ploy by the Celestial Frost Sect to prevent the Wang family from being able to move against them," Xia Ziheng blurted out, finally understanding the last piece of the puzzle.

Xia Ziheng and Xia Xing glanced at each other. The two men felt chills run down their backs. "That woman's completely vicious, just like the Lu family of the past. We need to tell the White Dragon Clan and the Wang family what we’ve learned of as soon as possible. If the Celestial Frost Sect succeeds in taking control of Star Alliance and Grandmaster Gu Yan, then we’ll all be at a severe disadvantage."

"If that woman’s using these kinds of schemes, then it’s possible that she’s already approaching her next breakthrough. She might also have been the one to steal the star essence from the three planets, as she’s certainly able to do something like that while keeping everything hidden from the God of Food," Xia Xing said solemnly.

Xia Shenfei coughed. "Wait, we’re just speculating, so we can’t be too aggressive in our actions. After all, what we’re thinking might not actually be correct."

Xia Ziheng shook his head. "This should be what happened. Bai Weiwei has continuously tried to win over Yu Hao in Virtue Archives. The Celestial Frost Sect’s goals have been known for a long time already, and while we found traces of someone using the Lifeseizer Palm where the sect master’s clone was attacked, it is just as likely to have been the Celestial Frost Sect’s Celestial Suppression."

Xia Shenfei continued mulling things over. While their guesses appeared to be the most likely possibility, had they actually discovered the truth?

There were times when people could mentally connect a series of events using complicated clues, and they would automatically believe their assumptions to be true. In fact, the more complicated the connections, the more convinced people would be that they had discovered the truth.

From the disappearance of Xia Xing's clone to the disappearance of Bai Teng, the three men had concocted a series of connections, and everything pointed at the Celestial Frost Sect being the culprit.

Who could know that Lu Yin, who was actually behind everything that had happened, had not actually put much thought into his actions? He had simply captured Bai Teng because of a passing thought, and Long Ke’s presence on the Island of Hope had been a complete coincidence. The timing had been too perfect. While Lu Yin had not intended to frame the Celestial Frost Sect, and it was even possible that he could come up with such a plan, he had simply not put much thought into the ramifications of his actions.

Regardless, Xia Ziheng and the others eventually placed the guilt for Lu Yin’s crimes firmly onto the Celestial Frost Sect. It was all because of how the four ruling powers were constantly in conflict with each other and struggling for dominance.

As for the Celestial Frost Sect, they were feeling very confused at this moment. Long Ke did not seem to be lying, but Bai Teng was missing, and Long Ke remained the most likely suspect. It was impossible for the Celestial Frost Sect to simply allow Long Ke to leave. Unfortunately, the prolonged arrest only served as confirmation of the Xia family’s speculation. It was soon decided that they would reach out to the White Dragon Clan and the Wang family and then secretly cooperate to prevent the Celestial Frost Sect's plan from succeeding.

In Virtue Archives, Lu Yin spent two days resting after his return, and he then went to see Prof. Wei. He sat with her and listened to a story that she told.

"Throughout the long history of the Perennial World, more Progenitors have appeared than just the ones who are currently alive. Some died on the rear battlefield, while others disappeared, and no one knows where they might have gone. Progenitor Wen, who you’ve been looking into, was killed on the rear battlefield, and he was supposedly taken down by a Progenitor from Aeternus." Prof. Wei spoke in a casual tone, but when she saw how closely Lu Yin was paying attention, she asked, "Do you enjoy learning about history, Prof. Hao Yu?"

Lu Yin nodded. "I would love to learn more about various Progenitors."

Prof. Wei shook her head. Her expression was completely calm and clear, like a gentle tea. "All I know about is history, which means that, even if we don’t consider Progenitors, there’s a great deal of information about Semi-Progenitors that I don’t know about. If you want to learn more about matters at that level, you should speak with the headmaster."

Lu Yin then asked a different question. "Prof. Wei, what do you know about the masters of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas?"

Prof. Wei shook her head again. "I really barely know anything at all."

"Could you tell me what you do know? Anything at all would be great," Lu Yin encouraged.

Prof. Wei gave a small smile. "Very well. In that case, we’ll talk about Progenitor Chen first. His name was originally Xia Shang, and he was born in a branch family of Shenwu's Sky’s Xia family. Shenwu's Sky…"

Lu Yin had a very relaxed every time he met with Prof. Wei. It felt as though he was sitting and observing the long river of history slowly flow by. While it was impossible to change anything in these stories, it was still quite pleasant to watch and hear about them.