Chapter 1931: Entering the Divine Communication Hall Again

Seeing the opponent flee, Zhang Xuan smiled faintly, stood up, and lightly waved his sleeve.

Whoosh!

The corpses scattered across the courtyard instantly burst into flames, turning to ash moments later, which flowed away through the underground drains.

It was as if nothing had ever happened in the courtyard; all traces vanished without a trace.

He turned and walked into the room, sat down cross-legged, and continued to recover the true qi in his body.

It had to be said, the water obtained from boiling the gourd was indeed effective. This time, his physical body had fully adapted to the space and spiritual energy of the Upper Firmament, making absorption much smoother.

After cultivating for over an hour, he stopped and communicated with his dantian through his spirit: "Gourd, what exactly are you?"

He was genuinely curious.

He could sense the severity of his injuries, yet drinking the water from the boiled gourd allowed him to recover. This thing was probably more terrifying than he had imagined.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have made Qiuwu Gusheng specially set up a spatial array to nurture it for tens of thousands of years, and even Confucius had left a thought within it.

"There's plenty here that I can eat. Give me enough to eat, and I'll come out. Then you'll know..."

The gourd wriggled in his dantian, found a comfortable spot, and lay down again.

After asking a few more questions and seeing that the thing wouldn't give up without a reward, Zhang Xuan had no choice but to ignore it. He took out the Divine Communication Jade Talisman from his bosom, hesitated for a moment, and with a thought, entered it again.

...

"Why hasn't he returned yet?"

In the city lord's mansion, Xue Chen's brows were furrowed into a knot.

Under normal circumstances, the elite soldiers he sent should have killed that waste long ago and returned. How could there be no news after over an hour?

"Go and check."

He instructed a guard.

The guard put on a night suit, flew out, and after a short while, returned with a strange expression: "Reporting to the instructor, there's no movement at the Shan residence. Shan Xiaotian and Shan Yi are completely unharmed!"

Xue Chen was stunned: "How is that possible? Wasn't my order clear?"

He had specifically instructed for a long time to kill those three as quickly as possible, yet the other side was fine... What had happened?

"Go investigate and see where these people actually went!"

Fuming with rage, he barked.

The guard left again and returned after a while: "According to footprints and traces, they all entered the Shan residence, but never left... If my guess is correct, they were all killed and their bodies destroyed!"

"Killed? By those three?"

Xue Chen was dumbfounded.

Over fifty elite soldiers, each with the strength of a Great Sage First Layer, and the captain was even at the Second Layer. Together, they could fight against a Great Sage Third Layer, even Fourth Layer. Yet they went and never returned, without making a sound...

Did Shan Xiaotian and that injured man who could barely walk really have such strength?

"Could it be... what he said was true?"

Suddenly, he recalled the words of the bandit Cao Chengli.

Shan Xiaotian's house had a very powerful horse, and there seemed to be a carriage with martial techniques!

Could such things really exist?

"Instructor, what should we do now? Should we send more men?"

Seeing him lost in thought, the guard looked over.

"Not for now... If they really killed them, they're already on guard. If they could kill so many, they wouldn't mind killing more!"

Shaking his head to clear the chaotic thoughts, Xue Chen frowned: "Besides, dawn is almost here. If we make a commotion, it will greatly damage the city lord's mansion's reputation!"

"But... are we just going to let this slide after so many brothers died?"

The guard quickly looked at him.

Although the city lord's mansion was wealthy, those fifty guards were cultivated with immense effort. To have them all killed without even a ripple—anyone would find it hard to accept.

Xue Chen's eyes flickered: "Go to the Hongyan Trading Company. Along the way, carefully search every alley that could be used for ambushes, and see if you can find traces of bandits or their corpses, or even signs of a fight!"

"Alright!" The guard left again and returned to the room shortly: "Reporting to the instructor, in Sujia Alley, we did find some corpses and discarded bows and arrows, which belong to the dead bandits."

"Mm, send someone to completely destroy those bandit corpses, then take the weapons and some guards' armor, stain them with blood, and bury them quietly near the Shan residence!"

Xue Chen snorted coldly, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Bury weapons?"

Seeing his confusion, Xue Chen's eyes gleamed: "Shan Xiaotian has always been a waste, and Shan Yi's strength is well known. If it's discovered that many soldiers from the city lord's mansion have gone missing, and bandit weapons and bloodstained armor are found near their residence, what do you think will happen?"

"This... he colluded with bandits and killed the city lord's guards..." The guard's eyes lit up.

If they did this, there would be no need to kill Shan Xiaotian; he would be entangled in a lawsuit. At the very least, his reputation would be ruined, and he might even be beheaded in public.

Bandits plague the people and are deeply detested. If it were known that he had dealings with them, he would surely be scorned.

Breaking off the engagement would then become a matter of course.

How could a noble place like the city lord's mansion be tainted by someone with a tarnished reputation?

"Good. Tomorrow morning, immediately spread the rumor that fifty guards from the city lord's mansion discovered traces of bandits, went to pursue them, but lost track, and the whole city needs to search for them... The bigger the commotion, the better, preferably everyone knows!"

Xue Chen smiled: "Once public opinion has fermented enough, we'll conduct a routine search of the Shan residence, find the weapons and bloodstained armor... The rest will be easy!"

"Yes!"

Hearing that the instructor had devised such a clever plan based on the unfavorable situation, the guard was filled with admiration and couldn't help asking: "What if he doesn't admit it?"

Xue Chen's eyes turned cold: "He won't have a choice. As long as we find them, denial is useless! Once inside the city lord's mansion, with the officials having the final say, making him guilty of any crime is a simple matter!"

"That's true..."

The guard nodded: "I'll go handle it immediately!"

...

"Second Miss, you called for me?"

While Xue Chen was plotting to frame Shan Xiaotian, Xue Qin returned to her boudoir, unable to sleep for a long time. After an unknown period, she summoned a young man who served Huo Jianghe, a disciple of the Lingyun Sword Pavilion.

This young man was also from the Lingyun Sword Pavilion, a menial disciple like her, essentially a personal attendant responsible for the daily life of outer disciples, so they wouldn't be troubled by worldly affairs and could focus on cultivation.

"This is a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it, Senior Brother."

With a wave of her hand, a maid handed over a bag of gold coins. It jingled as she shook it, containing over a hundred coins.

"We're all fellow disciples, you're too kind, Second Miss..." The young man's eyes lit up as he took the bag.

As a menial disciple like him, he usually had no extra income. Receiving so much at once, he was overjoyed.

"Senior Brother Huo, did he say anything when he came back tonight?"

Xue Qin looked at him.

"Senior Brother didn't say much..." The young man finally understood her purpose. After a pause, he recalled something: "Oh, he said... to inform him immediately if that person named Tianya from the Divine Communication Hall appears."

"Tianya?"

Xue Qin was puzzled.

"It's like this..." Knowing the whole story, the young man quickly explained.

"I see... If this Tianya appears, I hope you'll inform me in advance, Senior Brother, and I'll go notify Senior Brother Huo myself!" Xue Qin waved her hand and handed over another bag of gold coins.

"That's easy!"

His eyes gleaming, the young man nodded repeatedly.

This matter was nothing to him, and getting benefits for it—why not?

Before he finished speaking, the young man suddenly lowered his head, took out a jade talisman from his bosom, glanced at it, and his eyes lit up: "Second Miss is indeed lucky. That Tianya has entered the Divine Communication Hall. Come with me to find Senior Brother!"

"Alright!"

Xue Qin quickly stood up and followed the young man to the courtyard where Huo Jianghe lived.

Soon they arrived.

"He's come up?"

Hearing their report, Huo Jianghe squinted his eyes.

"Senior Brother, this is the Divine Communication Jade Talisman of the Divine Communication Hall in Xingyao City..."

Xue Qin quickly took out two jade talismans and handed them over.

Although the jade talismans were precious, they were nothing to the city lord's mansion.

"Mm." Seeing the girl was so sensible, Huo Jianghe stood up and said, "Come in with me. I'll let you witness the true swordsmanship of the Lingyun Sword Pavilion."

"Thank you, Senior Brother!"

Seeing that he wasn't angry, Xue Qin breathed a sigh of relief and communicated with the jade talisman.

Hum! Hum!

Both entered simultaneously.

...

"Still inconvenient. Let's see if I can buy a spatial ring."

Having grown accustomed to spatial rings in the Master Teacher Continent, having nothing here made carrying things very troublesome. So, Zhang Xuan entered this time to ask if he could buy one here and what the price would be.

Although it was midnight outside, the Divine Communication Hall was still crowded, and there was no night here. He quickly went to the front desk and asked about his purpose.

"Storage rings are available. One costs 500,000 Divine Communication coins."

The attendant said.

"500,000?" Zhang Xuan's eyebrows jumped.

That was really expensive!

No wonder even a big family like the Shan family didn't have one.

"I've won eight consecutive matches before. If I challenge now, would it count as the first match or the ninth?"

He paused and looked over.

Open competitions were the fastest way for him to earn money at the moment, but... he had left midway. If it counted as the first match, the income would be very meager!

If it counted as the eighth, probably no one would come...

Xingyao City was only so big, with only so many experts. He had challenged so many people already, and many were unwilling to pay to deliberately lose.

"You've won eight consecutive matches. For the beginner competition, there may not be many willing to challenge you. As for the intermediate competition, there are no sessions today; the earliest would be the day after tomorrow. Besides, your rank isn't high enough."

The attendant checked and said.

"Intermediate competition?"

Zhang Xuan was puzzled.

Beginner, intermediate—what was that about?

Did the open competitions have levels?