Longevity starts with choosing Hextech enhancement

Chapter 424 Various Suspicions Within the Blessed Land of Zejing
At first glance, these four major events don't seem to have much to do with Xiao Chen.

After all, he was neither a cultivator from a blessed land nor a member of the Reverse Immortal Alliance.

But in fact, the impact of everything will inevitably affect him, and even the entire new spiritual community.

For example, Songshan Blessed Land's attack on the Rebel Immortal Alliance.

This objectively benefited Xiao Chen's deal with the Reverse Immortal Alliance.

For example, the ongoing unrest in the dangerous regions of the North may indicate that a new wave of turmoil is about to break out there.

The Cai family's collection of books mentions that Guiyun Market is about 1.5 million li away from the northern border.

This distance is exceptionally far for most cultivators, and they will almost never reach it in their entire lives.

However, for Xiao Chen and the other Nascent Soul True Monarchs, it wasn't a particularly far place.

If needed, a round trip can be completed in less than half a month.

Any changes could have a real impact on them within a few months.

However, at present, Xiao Chen is not quite clear about what the situation is there.
The only possible connection is that the Cai family once sent clansmen to explore dangerous areas to settle debts, but they have been missing ever since.

"Will this be a bad thing or a good thing?"

Xiao Chen didn't know much about dangerous places either, so he found it difficult to make a judgment for the time being: "As the saying goes, seeing is believing, how about I take some time to go and take a look?"

After all, according to Grandpa Cai, dangerous places are more likely to give birth to all kinds of rare and precious creatures.

Who knows, he might just find some rare and precious natural treasures by taking a trip there.

"But I'm afraid I won't have time to go on adventures lately."

Xiao Chen's gaze fell upon the upcoming Immortal Selection Festival.

Since he doesn't plan to go to the Holy City to join the fun for the time being, the Immortal Selection Festival itself has basically no direct impact on him.

However, the rumored large-scale sweep that would routinely begin after the festival would inevitably involve rogue cultivators like him, whose origins and backgrounds were questionable.

Fortunately, Xiao Chen was not without a way to deal with it.

The simplest way is to hide.

As long as he stays on the Compassionate Sea side during the Immortal Selection Festival and the Great Sweep, he can return to Guiyun Market to continue trading with the Reverse Immortal Alliance after the storm has passed.

That way, we can avoid this storm and mitigate its potential impact.

However, doing so is obviously too passive. Perhaps when Xiao Chen goes back after a year or two, all the familiar faces will be gone.

Therefore, although this method is simple, it is only suitable as a fallback option.

Unless absolutely necessary, it's best not to do this.

"The key is that the Reverse Immortal Alliance is also restless, insisting on joining in the fun at this critical juncture."

Xiao Chen reread the classified intelligence at the end: "A large-scale attack, involving at least three True Monarchs."

"Judging from the situation, the target of the attack is likely a certain market town."

"With so many markets in the new cultivation world, it's unlikely that this attack just happened to occur in Guiyun Market."

Theoretically speaking, the probability is actually not high.

But anything is possible until it actually happens.

In addition, this intelligence report also included another piece of information.

Those are the Buddhist names Difu and Qingyan.

As the saying goes, there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names.

It's not hard to deduce from their words that they are both cultivators with earth elemental roots, thus possessing the ability to interfere with earth veins and affect formations.

"It seems like the new cultivation world is peaceful on the surface, but it's actually a bit chaotic."

Xiao Chen frowned slightly: "But this should be a good thing for me?"

He doesn't particularly like turbulent environments.

However, from another perspective, a chaotic situation would be more advantageous for him, an outsider, to fish in troubled waters.

If the new cultivation world has truly been completely brought under the rule of the Holy City, then there is a strict order everywhere.

Xiao Chen, on the other hand, would have to worry about how to hide himself and how to acquire a large number of spirit stones and high-level spiritual items.

That's probably fate; there's always a good side and a bad side, and it's never quite perfect.

As the saying goes, you can't have your cake and eat it too.

However, the thought of fish brought Xiao Chen back to his senses, and he stood up to look at the beach not far away.

Su Li was intently processing the third-tier spirit fish.

She is currently slicing the freshest fish belly into thin, evenly sized slices.

He also picked up the last small piece of scrap with his index and middle fingers and put it in his mouth.

You can tell at a glance that someone cooks often.

Xiao Chen's lips curled up slightly, and he decided to go over and enjoy the food with Su Li first.

Let's think about those troublesome things after we've eaten our fill.

It must be said that the spirit fish cultivated in the blessed land of Zejing are truly exceptional.

This third-tier spirit fish, even though it was just sliced, tasted just as good as a fourth-tier spirit fish.

After simple processing, whether boiled or grilled, it becomes even more delicious.

Even Su Li, who usually eats very little, ate an extra bowl.

Xiao Chen not only boiled dozens of kilograms in the pot, but also steamed dozens of kilograms on top, and finally roasted over a hundred kilograms in his hands with spiritual fire.

In situations like this, having a large appetite can become an advantage.

People with smaller appetites can enjoy more delicious food.

While he was enjoying the specially supplied spirit fish meat on the island of Ji'e.

The sudden death of Hua Jian Zhenjun has caused a huge uproar throughout the entire Zejing Blessed Land.

Of course, this story begins the day before yesterday.

Although Hua Jian Zhenjun came out alone to investigate the whereabouts of the 'medicine-stealing rat'.

However, his movements are no secret.

In particular, he obtained Chen Fan's hiding place through a disciple of the Guiyun Sect.

The exact location could not possibly be hidden from the True Lords of Guiyun Sect.

In addition, although Hua Jian Zhenjun was very arrogant in his words, constantly calling people rats and beasts, he seemed to completely disregard the rebel cultivators of the Rebellious Immortal Alliance.

However, upon seeing Xiao Chen, he promptly informed the other True Lords nearby.

They were ordered to come to the rescue immediately and work together to capture the Nascent Soul cultivator who had reversed his cultivation.

Although the initial purpose of this request for help was to surround and intercept Xiao Chen to prevent him from escaping.

However, objectively speaking, it can also be seen as calling for rescue in a timely manner after encountering danger, and in terms of the outcome, it is pretty much the same.

That's where the problem lies!
When the head of the Gao family of Yanggao City, who was the closest to the city, also known as the Great Hammer True Lord, arrived nearby, he found that the battle seemed to have ended.

There were no spiritual energy fluctuations caused by the battle within thousands of miles.

He had to search the area to find the remaining traces of magic and the corpses of several Guiyun Sect disciples and informants.

At that moment, the Great Hammer True Monarch felt a jolt of fear, sensing that something was wrong.

This is bad! Things are really serious now!
Although he rushed here at full speed, he was still a step too late.

The fate of Hua Jian Zhenjun is currently unknown; he has most likely already met with a terrible fate.

This undoubtedly shows that the person who made the attack was exceptionally strong, and most likely not alone.

After all, not everyone is like Xiao Chen, who has a mechanical grappling hook to catch even Nascent Soul cultivators who have used secret techniques to escape.

In most cases, even if you win a fight alone, it is difficult to completely eliminate the enemy.

Even when surrounded by multiple attackers, Hua Jian Zhenjun can resist with his spiritual shield, making it difficult to end the battle in such a short time.

In other words, the enemy may not have had time to leave yet.

Given this situation, and not knowing whether the opponent has retreated or set up a new ambush, the Great Hammer True Lord himself is also in considerable danger.

Moreover, his danger doesn't only come from his enemies.

It also came from Caiyun Zhenjun, who was the second to arrive.

From Caiyun Zhenjun's perspective, he rushed over immediately after receiving the call for help.

Before they even saw Hua Jian Zhenjun, they spotted Ju Chui Zhenjun wielding his signature hammer at the edge of the battlefield.

Moreover, the other party's aura was fluctuating and surrounded by spiritual energy, clearly indicating that they had just used magic.

Then comes the problem.

Did he just happen to arrive from a distance, or did he just finish participating in the ambush and stay behind to clean up the traces, only to be bumped into by me?

"Fellow Daoist Caiyun, you've come too."

When the Great Hammer True Lord saw that his own people were arriving, he immediately tried to move closer and form a group to guard against any enemies who might not have retreated yet.

"stop!"

Caiyun Zhenjun raised his hand and summoned his own spiritual shield: "Fellow Daoist Giant Hammer, I don't think now is the time to talk about these things."

"Perhaps you should explain to me how you ended up here?"

"Since you're here, where did Fellow Daoist Hua Jian go?"

what?
Upon hearing this, the Great Hammer True Lord was first taken aback, and then realized that he would find it difficult to answer this question.

Given the current situation, he's afraid that nothing he says will be able to gain the other party's trust.

However, even though he knew this, he still tried to defend himself with a few words.

To avoid situations later where people might ask, "If you didn't have any problems, why didn't you explain yourself immediately?"

At the same time, they maintained a safe distance and waited for the other True Lords to arrive.

As expected, Caiyun Zhenjun stood at a safe distance, remaining silent no matter how he explained.

Fortunately, the awkward atmosphere didn't last long.

The other True Lords within the Zejing Blessed Land, except for the Three Dragons True Lord who came from a side sect, all arrived at the scene one after another.

After all, with the speed of a True Lord, 30,000 li is not a very long distance.

Under the guidance of the contemporary True Lord Guiyun, everyone took turns examining the traces of battle at the scene.

It has been confirmed that the Divine Light of Fire, a metal-based defensive spell, and another relatively unfamiliar fire spell have appeared here.

They also found traces of the power of stars on the disciples of Guiyun Sect.

Then, using this as the center, they investigated the situation within a radius of 20,000 li.

However, no one was able to detect any further traces of magic.

This indicates that the battle was confined to one place and was resolved quickly with an overwhelming advantage, which is why a pursuit was not possible.

It was after everyone had investigated the basic situation that...

After finishing his personal matters, True Lord Sanlong arrived late: "Fellow Daoists, you've all arrived. What happened?"

Then he noticed that everyone was looking at him with a strange expression.

The usually polite and courteous Great Hammer True Monarch was the first to speak up and ask, "Fellow Daoist Three Dragons, you seem to be quite busy today?"

"The distance from Sanlong Mountain to here isn't far." "If we set off immediately after receiving the message, it shouldn't have taken this long, right?"

For the Great Hammer True Lord, the best way to clear himself of suspicion is, of course, to divert everyone's attention.

For example, you should point out that others also have problems; you can't just focus on yourself.

Since True Lord Sanlong arrived late, he naturally wouldn't let this golden opportunity slip by.

what?
They were subjected to unwarranted accusations right from the start.

The Three Dragons True Lord, who was completely unaware of the situation, was immediately stunned, not understanding why the Giant Hammer True Lord was speaking like that.

But he immediately realized that something serious must have happened!

He immediately looked around and saw that everyone else was there, but he could not see Hua Jian Zhenjun.

After looking at it again in disbelief, the Three Dragons True Lord felt a sinking feeling in his heart.

Oh no, I'm in trouble. I arrived too late this time, which has already aroused suspicion.

He immediately wanted to explain, but the words that came out were: "To be honest, I was dealing with a private matter in my cave at noon, so I couldn't come in time."

"I wonder how Fellow Daoist Hua Jian is doing now?"

"Everyone is here, so why can't I see him?"

Although I had already guessed that something must have happened to Hua Jian Zhenjun.

However, based on the timeline, the Three Dragons True Monarch estimated that the other party was far from being dead and gone.

Most of them were already injured, or at worst, only a Nascent Soul remained, and they were temporarily taken care of.

"Oh, is it so?"

Giant Hammer True Monarch pressed on, asking, "What exactly is the situation with Fellow Daoist Hua Jian? Do Fellow Daoist Sanlong really not know?"

"After receiving the message from the garrison commander of the Holy City, he did not send reinforcements immediately, but instead was busy dealing with personal matters."

"Fellow Daoist Sanlong, you have quite the airs!"

"Is your personal matter more important than a grand plan like striking down the Reverse Immortal Alliance?"

"Is your personal matter more important than Fellow Daoist Hua Jian's safety?!"

When the Great Hammer True Lord said the last sentence, he almost shouted it out.

He was practically about to shout, "Look everyone, there's someone here who's even more suspicious than me!"

Although it was not very ethical to do so, for him, it was certainly better to sacrifice his fellow Daoists than himself.

"Fellow Daoist Giant Hammer, if you have anything to say, please speak frankly in front of everyone!"

The Three Dragons True Monarch naturally sensed something was amiss: "Could it be that you're trying to accuse me of colluding with the Rebellious Immortal Alliance?"

Whether I have a problem or not is none of anyone else's business.

"Once Fellow Daoist Hua Jian speaks up, the answer will naturally become clear."

Upon hearing this, everyone present fell silent.

The Great Hammer True Lord felt a slight sense of relief; he should be fine for the time being.

The others, however, had brooding gazes, and it was unclear what they were pondering.

Finally, True Monarch Guiyun spoke first: "Fellow Daoist Huajian was ambushed by the rebels at noon today and has unfortunately perished."

“Fellow Daoist Sanlong, I will truthfully relay what you just said to the new garrison commander.”

"In addition, please come with me back to the blessed land to sort out the situation and jointly report to the Holy City."

"Unless the rebels cause trouble, please stay in this blessed land for now and do not separate until the new garrison arrives."

"I hope that none of you will have anything particularly important to do that forces you to leave during this time."

For True Lord Guiyun, this was also a very bad thing.

First, the garrison commander sent by the Holy City died mysteriously within his own territory.

As the dominant force in the region, Guiyun Sect bears some responsibility.

Secondly, the battle ended far too quickly, it was absolutely terrifying!
No one can be certain how many Nascent Soul cultivators the Reverse Immortal Alliance has brought this time.

No one knows whether their goal is to kill a garrison commander as revenge, or whether they will take bigger actions next.

That's right, because just recently, Songshan Blessed Land destroyed one of the branches of the Reverse Immortal Alliance.

Therefore, Xiao Chen's act of killing Hua Jian Zhenjun was naturally presumed to be a retaliatory act launched by the Anti-Immortal Alliance.

Even the so-called 'poison-stealing rat' was deemed to be just bait for a fishing scheme.

In the view of True Monarch Guiyun and True Monarch Caiyun, there was no hidden spiritual field at all, nor was there any sale of spiritual herbs; it was all a premeditated scheme.

The truth behind the scenes was actually a trap set by the cultivators of the Reverse Immortal Alliance against Hua Jian Zhenjun.

Of course, this does not mean that all the problems come from the Reverse Immortal Alliance; there are still many issues that need to be investigated.

For example, who provided the "bait," and who participated in the ambush?

Therefore, Guiyun Zhenjun's suggestion not to separate was both to facilitate the subsequent investigation and to ensure mutual support to prevent being defeated one by one again.

Everyone returned to the blessed land together.

Then, based on the limited clues available, they engaged in a three-hour discussion and deduction.

The initial focus was naturally on the Three Dragons True Lord, who arrived last, and the Giant Hammer True Lord, who arrived first.

However, an unexpected discovery along the way made the situation even more perplexing.

"After careful comparison and verification, the magical traces left on these two stones are exactly the same."

The Cloud-Gazing True Monarch, who specializes in magic, explained, "We can basically confirm from this that the same unfamiliar Fire Spirit Root True Monarch participated in both battles."

"Further analysis is needed regarding the spell's range and its destructive power to the surrounding area."

"It can be preliminarily determined that the other party is a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, or at least a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator with extremely high-quality true essence."

That's right, because Xiao Chen also used the Soaring Palm when he fought that red-bearded giant last time.

Therefore, extremely similar magical traces were left at the scene.

Although the presence of the Divine Light of the Departing Fire spell prevented the True Lords from noticing this at first.

However, after returning to the blessed land and carefully analyzing and comparing the evidence, they quickly discovered the clues.

"How could this be?"

Caiyun Zhenjun was a little confused: "Senior Brother Su, you can't be mistaken, can you?"

"After investigation and verification, it was found that the person who died in the last battle was a cultivator from the Reverse Immortal Alliance."

"If that's the case, then that unfamiliar Fire Spirit Root True Monarch should be an enemy of the Reverse Immortal Alliance, so why would he help them deal with Fellow Daoist Hua Jian?"

Logically, this clearly doesn't make sense.

"The items are here, and they will be handed over to the Holy City later."

Lan Yun Zhenjun countered, "Junior Brother Liu, how can you be so sure that the unfamiliar Fire Spirit Root Zhenjun is definitely from the Reverse Immortal Alliance?"

"Both of these battles share a common characteristic."

"That means it ended in an extremely short time, incredibly fast."

"Moreover, the signs of the struggle at the scene were very clean, and there was no sense of a lot of people and mess at all."

"If you only look at the scene of the battle, it looks more like a one-on-one fight."

"The only question is why the outcome was decided so quickly in a one-on-one fight."

“That’s right, ordinary cultivators really can’t do that.”

"But it's not impossible if they come from...the south."

Lan Yun Zhenjun originally wanted to say "Holy City," but everyone could understand him when he said it this way.

As everyone knows, items like the Twin Jade can greatly enhance a cultivator's strength.

Meanwhile, within the Holy City, some powerful Nascent Soul cultivators can indeed kill ordinary True Monarchs within a quarter of an hour.

"what?"

Caiyun Zhenjun's eyes widened: "Senior Brother Su, you mean... how is this possible?"

Surely it couldn't be that the Holy City sent people to kill Hua Jian Zhenjun, could it?

This sounds like a complete fantasy.

However, the people present were all seasoned veterans and did not immediately rule out this possibility. Instead, they all pondered it along this line of thought.

Logically speaking, this is obviously illogical.

Even if it were a special envoy secretly dispatched by the Holy City, they wouldn't collude with the Rebel Immortal Alliance.

But what if this wasn't actually retaliation from the Reverse Immortal Alliance?
Guiyun Zhenjun's eyes flashed. He was also very puzzled at first. Why was the Anti-Immortal Alliance so bold this time?

With a major sweep imminent, they still dare to retaliate at this time, as if they are afraid that the Holy City will not have any clues to follow up.

But what if someone is actually impersonating the Rebel Immortal Alliance and is actually targeting Hua Jian Zhenjun?
Speaking of which, not long ago, Hua Jian Zhenjun and that Mo family disciple who happened to be passing by were quite close.

Moreover, the Mo family has not had a peaceful life in the past two years.

They openly and covertly compete with the Rong family, one of the seven great clans, in the field of beast taming.

If we push this line of thought a little further, we'll find that this whole thing is just the beginning.

Is the real mastermind targeting the Seven Crane True Lord of the Mo family?
As the current sect leader, True Lord Guiyun is always prone to overthinking.

The other four True Lords remained silent; none of them wanted to participate in the discussion related to the Holy City.

But judging from their expressions, they were clearly not at peace.

"Time is running out, so let's all take turns sharing our thoughts."

Finally, it was True Lord Guiyun who broke the silence first: "The message must be delivered to the Holy City before midnight tonight."

"I'll start."

"In my opinion, this is a retaliatory action planned by the Anti-Immortal Alliance against Fellow Daoist Hua Jian."

"Due to the enemy's cunning and Hua Jian's eagerness to help others, he was ambushed and killed by the villains."

"The specific details, the rebels involved in the operation, and the internal traitors are still unclear and require urgent investigation."

What are your thoughts on this, fellow Daoists?

Although Lan Yun Zhenjun's words hinted at a new perspective.

However, True Lord Guiyun still planned to report the incident as a revenge attack.

He tends to overthink, but that doesn't mean he has to do more just because he thinks about it.

On the contrary, this approach is the safest one. Whatever the truth may be, at least it won't affect the Guiyun Sect.

“Fellow Daoist Guiyun is right, so I will not elaborate further.”

The old man of the Jin family was the first to speak up and agree.

Next up, naturally, was the head of the Jin family.

The Great Hammer True Monarch didn't say much, but nodded: "I have no objection."

Finally, the Three Dragons True Monarch frowned slightly, but surprisingly didn't say anything more: "I have no objection either."

Guiyun Zhenjun nodded with slight satisfaction: "In that case, please sign your names on this notice in turn."

(End of this chapter)