Cultivation: Fortune by Lots-Chapter 458 - 244. Send him to his death, ruin her future! (Two-in-one Chapter)_5

...

Those concerned with the Battle of Jiangzhou were not limited to Fang Du and Chu Peng, nor merely the Fang Clan of Jingxiang and the Chu Clan of Suzhou. It was not only the great Confucian clans renowned for imparting Confucian Studies and establishing legacies.

In Yuzhang, a region close to Jiangzhou and Xinzhou, a bloody shadow arrived in silence. Yet it too halted its steps.

A middle-aged man, now looking towards Jiangzhou, remained silent. His appearance was honorable, quite handsome, with a temperate disposition, showing no hint of aggression. To the common onlooker, none would suspect this man’s true identity. He was Wei Ancheng, Sect Leader of the Blood River Sect, a Ninth Heavenly Layer realm practitioner of the Witchcraft Sect, responsible for countless murders.

Since the great Southern Wilderness battle, this Lord of Blood River had kept a low profile. His whereabouts were largely secret, and he rarely showed himself in the mortal world. But the Blood River always remained Blood River.

Wei Ancheng did not fixate on seeking out the White Lotus Sect, whom he hated and who were just as secretive in their actions. They would eventually reveal themselves. There would always be time for reunion and settling scores; no need to rush. While certain opportunities, if missed, might never come again. Such as the current grand battle in Jiangzhou. The bloodthirsty shark was once again drawn in.

But Wei Ancheng was even less likely to show himself prematurely. He didn’t necessarily have to take action personally. Simply staying close to the sidelines could yield some benefits, although not as substantial as taking action himself. He would decide on the specifics later, assessing the situation as it unfolded.

Many others were also waiting for Wei Ancheng to expose his whereabouts and re-emerge. They, too, knew that the Battle of Jiangzhou presented a good opportunity. Wei Ancheng was well aware of this, and he dismissed it with a smile.

But now, he couldn’t smile anymore. It was not because his whereabouts had been exposed or someone was causing him trouble. Rather, the course of the Battle of Jiangzhou seemed to have gone completely beyond his expectations.

Had he... missed something?

The esteemed Lord of Blood River came all this way for nothing?

「...」

After some time, Fang Du and the others finally managed to contact a small number of survivors from the Jiangzhou Lin Clan and thus came to understand the general course of events. The casualties suffered by the Jiangzhou Lin Clan were so severe that they were comparable to the recent fate of the Xiao Clan of Longwai and Bodhi Temple. Of the eight Seventh Heavenly Layer elders in the clan, more than half were dead or injured; only three managed to flee.

What was worse, Lin Chou, an Eighth Heavenly Layer elder, was slain by Tang Xiaotang, the current Celestial Master of Dragon Tiger Mountain, within the Jiangzhou ancestral grounds. Before that, Tang Xiaotang had pursued Lin Che, the Lin Clan’s leader, before returning. And Lin Che... vanished without a trace.

Such a devastating outcome made both Fang Du and Chu Peng tremble with fear. Now that they roughly understood what had occurred, their questions only multiplied.

What was that mysterious broken spearhead?

How could it destroy the ancestral grounds that the Jiangzhou Lin Clan had managed for years with just one strike?

And what about that strange and bizarre shackle that could bring disgrace to scholars?

How could it directly restrain Lin Chou, an Eighth Heavenly Layer Great Scholar?

"...That mysterious Foreign Lands!" Fang Du took a deep breath. "The situation there is more serious than any of us, than Qingzhou, even than Jiangzhou’s own Lin Chengming anticipated!"

Chu Peng’s expression was more serious than ever before. "Yes, the Foreign Lands that Xu Yuanzhen and Lin Chengming entered..." He suddenly looked up. "The latest intelligence I received indicates that only Tang Xiaotang and the Celestial Master’s Sword have appeared on Jiangzhou’s side. Xu Yuanzhen hasn’t been seen at all!"

"The information I heard also confirms no sightings of Xu Yuanzhen," Fang Du frowned. The two exchanged looks, each sensing an extremely ominous premonition rising in their hearts.

They didn’t need to verify it themselves, for news quickly came from Jingxiang and Suzhou, eventually reaching them.

There has been a change in the Youzhou Lin Clan of the Northern Border!

Fang Du and Chu Peng looked at each other, dumbfounded.

「...」

Having dealt with Lin Chou, Tang Xiaotang felt somewhat relieved. But she still felt uneasy. Without her having to express it, Lei Jun knew what was on her mind. However, Lei Jun shook his head. "It’s too late to go back north to find Senior Sister."

Tang Xiaotang extended both hands, holding the Magical Sword horizontally. Its blade shimmered with purple lightning. "Have you made contact? What’s the situation with the Youzhou Lin Clan?"

As Xu Yuanzhen had said before, she had great ambitions. Since her return to the mortal world, her goals were never limited to the Jiangzhou Lin Clan alone. Tang Xiaotang and Lei Jun pursued Lin Che southwards to Jiangzhou. Xu Yuanzhen, meanwhile... went to the ancestral land of the Youzhou Lin Clan.

On her way there, she encountered Lin Huan, the contemporary clan leader of the Youzhou Lin Clan. Lin Huan’s cultivation was at the Perfection of the Eighth Heavenly Layer. She was the foremost expert of the Youzhou Lin Clan and the sole female clan leader among the contemporary heads of the Five Clans and Seven Families. In her youth, she had earned the reputation as the most talented woman in the world, a name that resonated both within and beyond the Great Tang. Like Fang Jingsheng of the Jingxiang Fang Clan, she became famous at a young age and ascended to her position early. She was recognized as the youngest clan head of her generation. It was publicly acknowledged that they were the Confucian cultivators closest to the Ninth Heavenly Layer realm.

But this time, on her journey out of Youzhou, she hit a wall. Lin Huan was cautious, and she even brought the Youzhou Lin Clan’s ancestral treasure, the Shuofeng Sword. Thanks to her caution, she managed to retreat to the Youzhou ancestral land, though she could not save Lin Litao, whom Xu Yuanzhen had killed.

Unfortunately, it was in vain. In some ways, it was even worse. This was because while Tang Xiaotang delivered the "Barbarian Spearhead" to the Jiangzhou Lin Clan, Xu Yuanzhen had also sent one to the Youzhou Lin Clan.

Thus, the two great ancestral homelands of the North and South Lin Clans, with ten thousand years of history, were breached on the same day!

The Youzhou Lin Clan had one advantage over their Jiangzhou counterparts: Elder Clan Leader Ye Moquan of the Jinzhou Ye Clan arrived in Youzhou just in time. His intervention prevented the Youzhou Lin Clan from being decimated like the Jiangzhou Lin Clan. However, the situation was not entirely salvaged.

"Senior Sister, despite Ye Moquan’s intervention, managed to injure Lin Huan," Lei Jun reported.

"Hmm..." he continued, "strictly speaking, the current injuries aren’t severe, but... it has severed Lin Huan’s future path upward."