Chapter 17: Chapter 16: The Murong Family of Longcheng
The so-called Divine Artifact Incarnation was a method developed over millennia by the major powers who controlled Divine Artifact Demon Soldiers. It was a way to exploit the value of these weapons to their fullest extent.
Thousands of years ago, after obtaining Divine Artifact Demon Soldiers, the major factions simply treated them as incredibly powerful weapons that could serve as the foundation of their power.
Later, they gradually discovered that the power of a Divine Artifact Demon Soldier could actually be borrowed.
By using materials with attributes similar to the Divine Artifact Demon Soldier, they could use methods like arrays or sacrificial rites to draw a portion of the weapon’s power into a vessel, creating a Divine Artifact Incarnation.
For example, if the Sun-piercing Alliance wanted to create a Divine Artifact Incarnation of their Divine Weapon, the Sun-piercing Sword, they would need to forge a small sword from special materials like Thunderstruck Wood and Flame Sun Essence Gold to withstand the Divine Artifact’s power.
Of course, the resulting Divine Artifact Incarnations were single-use items.
Once used, the mundane materials would be unable to withstand the explosive release of power from the Divine Artifact Demon Soldier and would shatter. Moreover, the power of an Incarnation was incomparable to that of the true Divine Artifact.
Even so, the power of a Divine Artifact Incarnation was still astonishing, providing the disciples of these Noble Sects with a powerful trump card.
Some top-tier factions even researched more methods to borrow the power of Divine Artifact Demon Soldiers, creating things even more powerful than Divine Artifact Incarnations.
A single Divine Artifact Demon Soldier could not only safeguard an entire faction but also provide its many Martial Artists with trump cards. This was why the factions of the Jianghu so eagerly pursued them.
But now, the Sun-piercing Alliance had not only lost its Commander-in-Chief, but they couldn’t even borrow the power of their Divine Soldier. What did this mean?
It meant that while they possessed a Divine Artifact Demon Soldier in name, they were effectively no different from a faction that had none.
If this was a temporary situation, it might be manageable. But if it persisted, the Sun-piercing Alliance would not be far from decline, or even annihilation.
"Is everything you’ve said true?"
Wen Rou still found it hard to believe.
More accurately, she found it hard to believe it was coming from Chen Yuan.
Such critical intelligence, which could determine the life or death of the Sun-piercing Alliance, was something they would suppress with everything they had.
Chen Yuan was just a guy from a small gang in Lianshan City. Calling him a frog in a well wouldn’t be an exaggeration. How could he possibly know such a thing?
However, remembering that Chen Yuan had somehow known Zuo Xinglie was in Lianshan City, a part of her started to believe him.
"Whether it’s true or false, your Celestial Wind Listening Rain Tower can find out with a simple investigation. This is your specialty, after all."
Chen Yuan said calmly, "With something this major happening to the Sun-piercing Alliance, things inside Sun-piercing Valley definitely won’t be normal. There will be clues to find."
"You already know the answer in advance. If you work backward from that conclusion, I’m confident you’ll confirm it quickly."
Wen Rou pondered for a moment, then grit her teeth. "Fine! I’ll trust you this once!"
"I’ll send a message to my superiors right now and have someone investigate Sun-piercing Valley. We should have results in a few days."
"If this pans out, it’ll be a huge achievement, and I’ll immediately arrange for your matter to be taken care of."
"Besides, if what you say is true—that ninety percent of the Sun-piercing Alliance is busy stabilizing the Sun-piercing Sword—then it will be very easy for me to cover your tracks."
"Then I’ll have to trouble you, Boss Wen."
"Don’t be so quick to thank me."
Wen Rou stared at Chen Yuan with a grave expression. "I’m betting my career on you this time. If you dare to deceive me, I’ll hunt you down to the ends of the earth and drag you back!"
"Rest assured, Boss Wen. I, Chen Yuan, am a man of my word. Besides, I would never lie to a woman."
Chen Yuan smiled, clasped his hands in a farewell gesture, and turned to leave.
His greatest advantage wasn’t just his knowledge of the plot, but also the fact that he knew the secrets of many factions and figures in the Jianghu.
Some secrets had nothing to do with him or the plot, but to others, they were of immense importance.
Chen Yuan had no use for these secrets, and some of them would cease to be secrets once enough time had passed.
So, when circumstances allowed, Chen Yuan was better off trading these secrets for tangible benefits, and the Celestial Wind Listening Rain Tower was the perfect place for that.
They needed intelligence, and he had intelligence. The two parties could cooperate quite happily.
Of course, Chen Yuan also had to ensure his own strength grew, so he could maintain the upper hand in these dealings.
In the original plot, the Celestial Wind Listening Rain Tower had always been a neutral faction that abided by its rules. He’d never heard of them harming anyone.
But one could never be too careful.
’What if they become interested in me, a person who holds so many secrets, and decide they don’t want to trade but want to pry more secrets directly from my mouth?’
’So, in the end, strength is the foundation of everything.’
When Chen Yuan returned to the Celestial Wolf Gang, the entire gang was in a flurry of activity.
In the name of "avenging" Jiang Kaitai, the members of the Celestial Wolf Gang were scouring Lianshan City for suspicious outsiders, throwing the populace into a panic.
It wasn’t just the Celestial Wolf Gang; even the Black Water Gang was participating in the search.
Lianshan City didn’t belong solely to the Celestial Wolf Gang; half of it was the Black Water Gang’s territory.
The entire city was on edge because of the clan annihilation by blood sacrifice. Commoners were afraid to leave their homes, and merchants were afraid to open their businesses. In the end, weren’t they the ones who would suffer the losses?
With the Celestial Wolf Gang searching for outsiders, Jiang Kaitai had successfully misled the Black Water Gang into focusing their attention on outsiders as well.
It had to be said, Jiang Kaitai’s move to sacrifice his own kin and divert the blame was truly brilliant. It would be enough to cover his tracks for a long time.
After returning to the gang’s headquarters, Chen Yuan immediately went back into seclusion, not wanting to waste a single moment.
Jiang Kaitai had activated the blood sacrifice for the Divine Artifact more than ten days early, which meant Chen Yuan had lost more than ten days of cultivation time.
Although another ten-odd days wouldn’t have been enough for a breakthrough, every extra day increased his chances of success.
Then, three days later, Wen Rou sent someone to inform Chen Yuan that she had already made arrangements for his matter.
Chen Yuan was slightly surprised to hear this.
He hadn’t expected the Celestial Wind Listening Rain Tower to be so fast.
But on second thought, it made sense. The Celestial Wind Listening Rain Tower’s spies were spread throughout the Jianghu, and some were hidden remarkably deep.
This was because their spies gathered information without any specific agenda; most of the secret information they uncovered would never cause any repercussions.
As a result, some spies could remain undercover for decades without their superiors ever discovering they were agents of the Celestial Wind Listening Rain Tower.
Wen Rou was very reliable, as was the Celestial Wind Listening Rain Tower.
Since she said she had already made the arrangements, he believed the Murong Family would be arriving soon.
Sure enough, on the night five days later, Jiang Kaitai suddenly summoned all the Hall Masters of the Celestial Wolf Gang to the Council Hall for a meeting.
When Chen Yuan arrived at the Council Hall, he saw that the person seated in the main chair was not Jiang Kaitai. Instead, it was a handsome but arrogant-looking young man in his early thirties, dressed in a golden brocade robe with a dragon pattern and wearing a golden crown adorned with a phoenix crest.
The usually imposing Hall Master of the Celestial Wolf Gang, Jiang Kaitai, now stood beside the young man, his back hunched like an old servant waiting to serve tea.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Jiang Kaitai hurriedly said, "This is Master Murong Qing of the Longcheng Murong Family. He is here specifically to investigate the clan annihilation by blood sacrifice in Lianshan City. Greet him at once."
"Greetings, Master Murong!"
The assembled Hall Masters quickly bowed in fear and trepidation.
In Lianshan City, they may have been Hall Masters, commanding hundreds of gang members with great authority.
But in truth, the entire Celestial Wolf Gang was nothing more than a dog kept by the Murong Family.
Only Jiang Kaitai was qualified to call the Murong Family "master"; the rest of them didn’t even have that privilege.
As Chen Yuan bowed along with the others, he observed Murong Qing.
’The plot has changed again.’
’In the original plot, it was a middle-aged man named Murong Li who came. Now, it’s Murong Qing.’
Chen Yuan was already prepared for this possibility. The blood sacrifice had happened more than ten days early; who knew if the original Murong Li might have been away from Longcheng on another mission.
’So, having Murong Qing show up instead isn’t really a surprise.’
However, Murong Qing and Murong Li were of similar strength. Both were at the Fifth Realm of the Nine Realms of Martial Dao: the Sea of Reincarnation Realm.
The Qi Casting Realm involved projecting Inner Strength outward as True Qi, but this projection was limited by one’s Inner Strength and usually couldn’t be sustained for long.
The Fifth Realm, the Sea of Reincarnation Realm, involved using one’s Inner Strength to open a Reincarnation Sea within the Dantian. True Qi could then cycle endlessly within it, allowing for sustained projection.
This Murong Qing made no effort to conceal his aura. Even from a distance, Chen Yuan could sense the powerful presence unique to a Sea of Reincarnation Realm expert emanating from him.
Of course, that was also because Murong Qing was simply too ostentatious.
A normal Martial Artist, even one at the Sea of Reincarnation Realm, wouldn’t deliberately project their entire aura and make themselves so conspicuous.
But most people from the Murong Family were this flamboyant; it was common knowledge in the Jianghu.
The Murong Family was descended from the Royal Family of a dynasty three times removed.
No one was quite sure which year, exactly, as it was all thousands of years ago anyway.
The Murong Family’s reign hadn’t lasted long; they were overthrown after only one or two hundred years.
But for the next several thousand years, the Murong Family continued to style themselves as royal descendants, considering themselves noble and aloof.
One look at Murong Qing’s attire said it all. For a Jianghu Family, daring to wear a golden robe with a dragon pattern and a golden crown with a phoenix crest—every part of it was a gross overstep of their station.
This was only possible because You Province was far from the Emperor’s reach, and the Great Xia Court’s power had indeed waned, so no one bothered to deal with them.
Back when the Great Xia was first established and its might suppressed the Jianghu, the Murong Family wouldn’t have dared to even mention being royal descendants.
They kept all their dragon- and python-patterned clothes hidden away, never daring to wear them out to show off.
In the last few decades, however, the Murong Family had grown utterly brazen.
Not only had they reverted to their old flamboyant ways and started dressing presumptuously, but they even sometimes told people they planned to restore their dynasty.
Of course, most people just treated it as a joke.
Thousands of years had passed, and the dynasties had changed dozens of times. The probability of the Murong Family succeeding in a rebellion to found a *new* country was greater than them restoring their old one.
Of course, everyone in the Jianghu also knew the Murong Family was all talk.
Zhi Shilang dared to openly rebel against the Court by starting an uprising on Changbai Mountain, but the Murong Family didn’t have the guts for that.
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