Chapter 52 - The Murderer

“It’s them…

indeed, it’s them.

I had my suspicions about them just now.

Those people acted so guilty; no wonder they ran off so quickly…”

Yan Weiwei, who had felt puzzled earlier, now could more or less confirm her guess.

The group from before had indeed been the ones who bullied Jiang Tang.

She couldn’t believe that Jiang Tang had fallen, especially since she had just seen him alive and well not long ago.

“Should we ask some more people?

Maybe this is all a misunderstanding.

Maybe Brother Tang just ran away or found a place to hide.

Maybe others have seen him.

It’s not certain that he met his end here.

Ah, compared with how Brother Tang was that day, it’s as if there’s a chasm between humans and immortals now.”

Su Chang’an felt that they needed to get to the bottom of the truth.

Those people had such low cultivation levels that he could catch up with them later, and it wouldn’t be too late to confront them then.

If it really was them, they might no longer have a place to stay in the cultivation world.

“Look for someone to ask…

then let’s go.”

Yan Weiwei agreed with a nod of her head.

They looked around and saw no one in the pockmarked terrain.

They used their cultivation techniques and headed to the outer areas where they saw disciples dressed in the uniform of the North City Immortal Sect, busy digging up fertile soil.

They were probably also tasked with a mission to collect the soil in their storage bags.

Yan Weiwei noticed two male disciples whose cultivation levels were lower than hers.

“Greetings, junior brothers…”

The two disciples, busy collecting soil, looked up at the sound and, upon recognizing the respected Sister Yan, stood up involuntarily with respect.

“Sister Yan…”

“It really is Sister Yan…”

“I think I saw Su Chang’an from the Sword Sect.”

“It really is…”

The two disciples’ faces lit up with joy.

They, being from the Outer Sect, could only catch a glimpse of Sister Yan from a distance and had no chance to approach and learn from her.

They never expected to encounter Sister Yan in such a place while carrying out a mission.

And to meet Su Chang’an, an elite of the cultivation world with such high cultivation here, felt like it was worth the journey.

Seeing the smiles on the disciples’ faces, Yan Weiwei had no time to get on friendly terms with them.

“Junior brothers, have either of you seen Jiang Tang here?”

“Jiang Tang?

It seems he had a mission, but we haven’t seen him anywhere!”

A tall and skinny disciple said.

“Jiang Tang?

I saw him when we were coming into Liusha Sea City.

He sped ahead of us like a gust of wind.”

Said a burly and sturdy disciple, indicating they were both in the Body Refinement realm.

“So you’ve seen Jiang Tang.

Do you know where he is now?”

Yan Weiwei felt slightly relieved.

Maybe he was just hiding, safe and sound.

“We don’t know.”

“Right, we don’t know!”

Hearing the answers from the two disciples, Yan Weiwei’s heart sank again.

Could it be that he had still been harmed?

“Do either of you know who was fighting in the pockmarked area we passed earlier?”

The two disciples didn’t know why Yan Weiwei cared so much about Jiang Tang, but they answered truthfully.

“When we arrived, we saw a lot of people heading in that direction.

We heard that there had been an intense fight, but unfortunately, with our low cultivation, by the time we got there, the fighting had stopped.

We just saw the battleground marred with the traces of combat.”

“Yes, we asked some others too, and they all said by the time they arrived, there was no one left.

We just assumed it was a dispute over some treasure and didn’t look into it further,”

As the disciples answered, they thought to themselves how fortunate they were to be traveling together.

If one was alone, they could be killed and robbed without anyone to stand up for them, especially since they were just ordinary disciples.

They also wondered, could Jiang Tang…

have been killed?

But his cultivation wasn’t high, so how could he be involved in such a fierce scene?

To engage in such intense combat, it surely couldn’t have been him.

But Sister Yan’s questions seemed to indicate she felt it was Jiang Tang who had fought, leaving behind those signs of battle.

But if it really involved him, he must be the one who perished.

Although Jiang Tang was generally nice to people, his status was low.

He was even lower than them—Outer Sect disciples—and few paid him much attention.

However, he had recently gained some fame—first in farming?

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And he had even received a reward, which made others envious for a moment.

Yan Weiwei heard the disciples’ words and her mood plummeted to rock bottom.

Could her premonition be correct?

Had Jiang Tang perished?

No, it couldn’t be…

he wouldn’t have fallen so easily.

“Let’s ask some more people…”

At that moment, Su Chang’an was also in a poor mood, his growing suspicion that Jiang Tang might have been victimized was deeply saddening.

This was the first friend he had made outside, and to think he was gone just like that was troubling.

He had even hoped to have Brother Tang examine his body later to determine what exactly was wrong with him, and what kind of poison had caused it.

“Yes, we need to ask a few more people.

We have to find Jiang Tang.”

Yan Weiwei could only nod in agreement, and together they cast their spells, asking people around them.

But the answer they got was that upon arriving here, they only saw a pit-riddled ground.

Many people wanted a share of the spoils, thinking someone was snatching a Magical Treasure, only to find nothing upon arrival.

Yan Weiwei was stunned when she heard this.

“Lady Yan, we might as well pursue that group of people…”

At this moment, Su Chang’an was extremely anxious.

The fluctuation of his emotions caused the poison in his body to feel like spreading restlessly.

He quickly pressed a point on his right hand to control the poison from spreading.

“Chase them quickly… don’t let them get away, damn them… they deserve to die!”

Yan Weiwei, frantic, conjured her Purple King Hairpin, not waiting for Su Chang’an to summon his flying ship, and swiftly flew away.

Su Chang’an summoned his flying ship, caught up to Yan Weiwei, and motioned her onto his flying ship.

Su Chang’an steered the flying ship, descending a bit from the high altitude, and flew out of Liusha Sea City’s Secret Realm entrance.

The Outer Sect disciples of the North City Immortal Sect saw the people on the flying ship.

“Isn’t that Master Su?”

“And there’s Yan, too.

Haven’t they found Jiang Tang?”

“Seems like his chances are slim.

With such low Cultivation, Jiang Tang was really overestimating himself!”

“Alas, it’s common for our sect to have many disciples, and each year many enter the Secret Realm for tasks, but few come out.

It’s a common sight.”

“What can we do?

We’re just ordinary disciples.

With our low Cultivation, we have to fight harder to rise through the ranks!”

“Ah…”

The disciples of the Sword Sect saw their Young Master depart and bowed their heads in respect.

“Young Master, what happened inside?

Why did you come out so quickly?”

“If you ask me, who should I ask?

We’ve all been guarding here; how could we know what the Young Master was doing inside?

But seeing how urgent he looks, could it be that he really was searching for someone?”

“I honestly replied that I really didn’t know Jiang Tang.

Perhaps he’s just an insignificant figure.”

“Young Master, why be so anxious about an insignificant person?

Could it be that you’ve taken a fancy to him (or her)?

Listening to the name, is it male or female?

It sounds a bit like a man’s, yet somewhat like a woman’s.

It feels like there’s some complicated relationship between the Young Master and him (or her).”

The disciples of the Sword Sect gossiped quietly among themselves—certainly not loud enough for the Young Master to hear.

At this moment, Su Chang’an had no time to listen to other people’s gossip.

Usually, if such words reached his ears, the people who spoke them would not have an easy time in the days to come.

Without resources, they would be stuck at their current stage for life.

But the world is a strange place, clearly knowing that something should not be done, yet still doing it—an absence not of courage, but of wisdom.

Therefore, smart people are always careful with their words and actions, afraid of giving others something to use against them, thereby leading to troubles.

Yan Weiwei was very anxious on the flying ship and glanced at Su Chang’an, wondering how long it would take to catch up with that group of people at this speed.

“Master Su, can we go any faster?”

“Alright, I’ll do my best to increase its speed,”

Su Chang’an waved his hand, channeled a stream of Spiritual Power into the flying ship, and it began to fly even faster.

Su Chang’an took two Spirit Replenishing Pills for himself.

At his level of Cultivation, such pills were of little use aside from replenishing his strength.

Controlling the poison in his body and the journey so far had indeed drained his strength, so he took the Spirit Replenishing Pills for a boost.

Even with the Great Perfection of his Nascent Soul, he was still unable to break the spatial barrier.

With the flying ship speeding at its utmost, Su Chang’an followed the direction Huang Chen and his group had taken, and by following their Qi, it took only half an hour to spot some black dots ahead—presumably that group of people.

Su Chang’an accelerated even more.

“They’re ahead… those are the ones—stop them, don’t let them get away.”

Seeing the black dots in the distance frantically flying, Yan Weiwei urged Su Chang’an to increase the speed even more.

These people were using flying swords, and with their Cultivation levels, no matter how desperately they flew, they wouldn’t be as fast as Su Chang’an and Yan Weiwei and would inevitably be caught up to.

“I’ll control them later, and Lady Yan can question them.

We must find out what exactly they did to harm Jiang.”

“Right, I must know if they were the ones who killed Jiang Tang.”

Yan Weiwei glared fiercely at the people ahead.

It was these evildoers who had caused Jiang Tang’s death.

She would never let them off the hook, vowing to dismember their bodies to avenge Jiang Tang’s murder.

Otherwise, she would feel great imbalance in her heart.

Just moments before, Jiang Tang was alive and well, and now he was gone.

Those ahead seemed to sense the danger from behind and turned around.

Noticing the grand flying ship with Su Chang’an and Yan Weiwei standing on it, their robes billowing in the wind, they became wary, sensing that these two were out for revenge.

“Oh no, run for it!”

“Split up and run”…

They had started together as a group, but in the face of danger, they immediately scattered to escape.

Huang Chen had no time to worry about Cai Xiangxiang with his life on the line.

At that moment, acting as if she was excess baggage, he threw her off his flying sword, leaving the acupoint-sealed Cai Xiangxiang to fall helplessly from the sky.

Su Chang’an gestured with his hand, and a stream of Spiritual Power caught Cai Xiangxiang’s body, bringing her onto the flying ship.

As she was thrown out by her senior brother, Cai Xiangxiang thought she was going to die.

However, she felt indifferent about it.

She had played a role in Jiang Tang’s demise that day, and it was partly her fault.

Had she not pleaded on his behalf, Jiang Tang wouldn’t have died—it was her, her mistake…

Cai Xiangxiang, consumed by guilt, closed her beautiful eyes, shedding tears, as she awaited her death from the fall…