Chapter 397: Chapter 396: Assassination
It’s already been three months since Shi Xiaole assumed the title of Red Dragon Divine Monarch.
During these three months, the martial world abruptly realized that the death and injury toll of martial artists, contrary to expectations, was not escalating but dramatically dwindling instead.
The wicked practitioners of the Devil Path, from various states, seemed to have evaporated all at once, and there were only occasional reports of them wreaking havoc and engaging in fights with righteous warriors.
"What the hell does the Red Dragon Divine Monarch want to do?"
"It’s the calm before the storm. Xie Xiaofeng is clearly planning to build up the Devil Path in secret, and when he has enough power, he’ll swallow us, the righteous path, all at once!"
This eerie peace did not allow the seasoned martial artists to breathe a sigh of relief but instead filled them with growing fear.
They could not help but recall how Xie Xiaofeng had disappeared for a good half a year before suddenly emerging and uniting the Devil Path with an overwhelming dominance, hadn’t he?
Feigning weakness to deceive the enemy has always been his forte!
Dark clouds shrouded the martial world, and many top-notch sects and first-class sects were also restless.
Just a few days ago, they received a secret letter detailing the locations of the strongest Devil Path organizations and even the specific abilities of its top warriors in their region.
According to the content of the letter, the major sects could organize a perfect surprise attack to take down the Devil Path organization completely.
However, the question was - how accurate could this information be?
For this reason, some sects deployed their elite warriors, and upon secret surveillance, they found that while the real strength of the Devil Path warriors remained unknown, the location and guarding arrangements were exactly as stated in the letter.
After a long silence, one daring sect secretly contacted other sects and launched an attack on the nearby Devil Path organization in the dead of the night.
Having a good grasp of their opponent’s strength beforehand, they’d planned everything carefully. In the end, they achieved a resounding victory with minimal losses on their side.
As this news spread, other sects were raring to try and also reported successive victories!
Compared to countless forces across the eight states, the sects receiving the letters were just a drop in the ocean, hence while some organizations of the Devil Path were obliterated, apart from causing a local resonance, it didn’t cause much commotion in the martial world.
Red Dragon Divine Palace.
Shi Xiaole’s desk was laden with numerous memorandums, all revolving around the situations of the Devil Path in various provinces, and included introductions of some recently wiped out Devil Path organizations.
Shi Xiaole chuckled.
No one probably knows that he was the one leaking information about those Devil Path organizations, albeit in bits and every now and then. Moreover, the ones he chose were those disobedient ones, the Devil Path groups that secretly took lives for their practice.
To outsiders, it seemed no different from ordinary fights between the righteous and Devil Path.
Even so, it aroused suspicion from people like Demon Marquis and Love Demon, who believed there was a traitor among the top brass of the Red Dragon Divine Palace, and hoped for a thorough investigation.
"Still, I should be more careful lately."
Shi Xiaole shook his head.
No matter how adept one is at walking by the river without getting wet, accidents do happen. Although he was confident his actions wouldn’t be discovered during each message transmission, it’ll be worrisome if something unexpected occurred.
Somewhat like, due to the annihilation of some Devil Path organizations, many parent organizations of Devil Path started requesting the Red Dragon Divine Palace for permission to launch reprisals against the righteous path!
Numerous letters were being sent to the Red Dragon Divine Palace every day, and quite a few top-level members were also incensed. If it continues, even Shi Xiaole won’t be able to withstand it.
Setting down the letter, Shi Xiaole was about to rise when he suddenly gasped for breath.
At that moment, he felt his scalp tingling. A strong murderous intent was aimed directly at him.
"When did you come in?"
Shi Xiaole looked at a middle-aged scholar who had appeared in his study at some unknow time.
This person, who had attracted everyone’s attention at the Mountain Cang conference and even wounded the Two Elders with ruined eyes, the unstoppable force of Devil Path of Eight States, was the grand Jade Fan Scholar, who had appeared only once in the past six hundred years.
"I’ve been around for a while, but it’s a pity I couldn’t find an opportunity to assassinate you. Monarch, you truly are remarkable."
There was a warm smile on the face of Jade Fan Scholar, with a tone of admiration in his voice.
The defense of Red Dragon Divine Palace was even stronger than that of the previous Black Devil Divine Palace. It also arranged some array systems, but even that could not stop the Jade Fan Scholar.
With his skill level, was there anywhere in the various sects of the Eight States he could not reach?
Shi Xiaole also laughed: "So it seems that even the top martial artist of the righteous path can lie. Without a traitor, with no one leaking information, even you wouldn’t be able to sneak in without a sound."
The smile on Jade Fan Scholar’s face gradually faded: "It seems you know something."
"Could it be that you, sir, are the mysterious leader of the Anti-Devil Alliance of the Eight States?"
Shi Xiaole clearly detected a flash of astonishment on Jade Fan Scholar’s face as he spoke these words. Anyone else would have missed it.
"What makes you make such a guess?"
"There is no decent alliance in the righteous path of the Eight States, and a single sect, or a few sects, would not have the means to know the arrangements of the Red Dragon Divine Palace. Only the Anti-Devil Alliance, which monopolizes countless wonders of the Eight States and appears to be idle, but is in fact omnipotent! I guess there must be some Hidden Hall experts lurking in this palace."
Shi Xiaole’s study was vast, but at this moment, the air seemed to freeze.
Jade Fan Scholar shook his head: "You’re mistaken. If the Anti-Devil Alliance was truly that powerful, why would they act only now? They should have divided and conquered at the Mountain Cang conference, or when the Devil Alliance fell apart. They wouldn’t have allowed you to grow this powerful."
"That’s precisely where your deepest trick lies. The martial world, in the end, has underestimated you, Jade Fan Scholar."
Shi Xiaole looked at him with a playful gaze and said with a smile, "In your heart, I am the biggest threat to the Devil Path. Killing some secondary branches won’t make much difference, and it may instead alert the snake. Good steel should be used on the blade’s edge. A Hidden Hall assassination is well suited to dealing with me."
Jade Fan Scholar let out a gentle sigh, saying, "Beautiful things turned into baubles – such a pity! Xie Xiaofeng, I’m somewhat reluctant to kill you."
A thick, unimaginable murderous aura suddenly burst forth from Jade Fan Scholar, encompassing the several hundred square meters of the study. An ordinary person standing here would surely suffocate and die instantly.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Several silhouettes swept in from all over the divine palace.
The fastest were the two elders. The instant Jade Fan Scholar released his aura, they sensed it.
"Dragon Claw Strike!"
Still several hundred meters away, Left-eye Elder unleashed a heavy palm attack.
But when the palm force was just about to reach the door of the study, it was immediately blocked by an invisible ripple, turning into circle upon circle of ripples.
Boom, boom, boom!
The two elders continuously attacked, but with tact and skill gathered over more than two lifetimes, they were shocked to discover they couldn’t break the aura shielding the study, leaving the many skilled warriors rushing from behind in surprise.
"Little Xuanwu Array System."
Right-eye Elder uttered these words slowly and heavily, his expression sinister. Sanme news made many of the people behind him blanch.
The Flying Horse Dynasty had ten dangerous locations, ten exotic fruits, and naturally, ten major array systems.
One of these array systems was the Xuanwu Grand Array which could supposedly withstand a thousand troops. It was impregnable, not even the heavens could shake it. This was allegedly hidden within the palace of the Flying Horse Dynasty.
Little Xuanwu Array System was many grades below the Xuanwu Grand Array. However, no matter how weak, it drew in some of the mysteriousness of the Xuanwu Grand Array and was as sturdy as they come, preventing any ordinary force from breaking it.
None of them could have imagined that somebody had quietly laid down the rare Little Xuanwu Array System within the private study of the divine monarch.
"Jade Fan, the ninety years you disappeared, could it be that you went to Xuanwu State?"
Right-eye Elder hastily chastised.
Xuanwu State was the source of the Xuanwu Grand Array and the most likely place to obtain the inheritance of the Little Xuanwu Array System.
"That’s right, there are 365 states under Shuntian Capital. Of course, I, the adventurer, had to go to the strongest place."
Various emotions flashed across Jade Fan Scholar’s face. Excitement, pride, and even more so, deep frustration and desolation. In the end, all of it was replaced with loud, skyward laughter.
"Today, I will remove the evil for the Righteous Path and stop a martial world catastrophe!"
With his eyebrows raised, Jade Fan Scholar headed straight towards Shi Xiaole, the several dozen meters between them constantly shrinking under his feet, seemingly turning from miles to mere inches.
Shi Xiaole sidestepped.
The sturdy wall behind, built from red marble, was almost instantly punched through leaving a massive hole. Small cracks spread out from the hole, causing the entire wall to come crashing down.
Boom!
The following moment, their fists and palms collided directly, forcing both of them to retreat.
"Your internal power truly is formidable."
Jade Fan Scholar’s murderous intent surged.
He had been cultivating for 136 years and he was now 147 years old. It was ludicrous that he couldn’t suppress Xie Xiaofeng’s internal power.
"You aren’t half-bad either."
Feeling numbness in his arm, Shi Xiaole was secretly surprised.
The strength of Jade Fan Scholar’s internal power was undoubtedly the strongest he’d ever seen. Had he not received a heaven-defying opportunity and absorbed more than 50,000 Mystic Crystal Stones, he would have suffered a severe injury from that single attack.
With the winds blasting and figures zigzagging, each time the two of them collided, the force would ripple out, creating numerous waves in the air, eventually merging into an interlaced pattern, looking like a wormhole, dizzying to anyone who watched.
What was once a study, had long since collapsed into a pile of rubble amidst their fierce fight.
"Quick, everyone attack this array together!"
The two elders were beginning to become agitated.
With Shi Xiaole’s abilities, he could not withstand more than a few attacks from Jade Fan Scholar. They needed to break the Little Xuanwu Array System as soon as possible.
All the divine palace experts used their full strength to continually attack the Little Xuanwu Array System. The vast noise resounded like thunder, causing the marble floor outside the study to shake and layers to be gradually shaved off by the residual waves.
Unable to utilize the Wind True Intent, Shi Xiaole was at a disadvantage as he was constantly suppressed by Jade Fan Scholar. After exchanging a dozen or so moves, Shi Xiaole was clearly losing.
Klang!
Blood-red light flashed as Shi Xiaole unsheathed his Red Dragon Sword.
"Evil man, evil sword, both must be eliminated!"
Jade Fan Scholar coldly snorted as his fan in his hand swung back and forth, creating layers of fan shadows that compressed from all directions. In Shi Xiaole’s eyes, it was as if a landscape was forming from thin air, surging forward.
What Jade Fan Scholar had comprehended was the True Intent of Landscape, and he had already reached 30% mastery.
Although the True Intent of Landscape was only slightly inferior to the Wind True Intent in terms of heightened skill, under the support of Jade Fan Scholar’s century of cultivation and his own advantage in terms of realm, its power surpassed the Wind True Intent by a single mark.
Roar!
What countered the Landscape Fan Shadows was a blood-red Dragon Shadow Sword Qi. Under the demonic blood-red scroll, it demonstrated its chilling killing intent.
"This kind of True Intent?"
Even with Jade Fan Scholar having traveled all over the world and being well-informed, he couldn’t help but be surprised at never having seen this kind of malevolent True Intent.
