When Shall We Hold a Wedding?

“Elder, that kid named He seems to have come out…”

At a waterfall mountain on the Fox Clan’s border, several black-clad envoys, reeking of ghostly aura, reported with lowered brows.

In front of them, the brown-skinned elder in a ragged long gown secretly nodded and coldly smiled:

“Very good, go set up the Ghost Prison Array. That kid is backed by the Spirit Phoenix Sect. First, properly isolate the area, to avoid fighting the young one and angering the old one…”

“Yes.”

Clasping their fists in response, several subordinates vanished into the shadows.

Li Min looked at the distant sky of the Fox Clan’s border, displaying both strategic confidence and caution.

Originally, when Mu Yanli said she didn’t kill Li Xuan, Li Min thought she was shirking responsibility and didn’t really believe her. So Li Min’s initial plan was to kill both Mu Yanli and He Yuan, the two suspects.

However, after Li Min sent people to secretly investigate the Fox Clan border battlefield, it turned out that Mu Yanli’s statement was true: it was indeed that kid He Yuan who killed him!

Furthermore, even Li Xuan’s remnant pill and some of the Ghost Controlling Sect’s secret Ghost Control Art were stolen and learned by He Yuan!

The Ghost Control Art was the cornerstone of the entire Ghost Controlling Sect’s core system, a closely guarded secret that could never be leaked.

Generally speaking, even if Li Xuan died, with the perpetrators having all sorts of spiritual vein talents, it would be very difficult for them to decipher the secret arts within the remnant pill and learn or develop them… After all, the Ghost Controlling Sect’s demonic arts were fundamentally different from other immortal sects, and by rights, they shouldn’t be compatible!

But He Yuan genuinely mastered it—who knows how he became self-taught!

The undead giants at the Dragon Dynasty border recently were the best example!

Now, with irrefutable evidence, Li Min’s hatred had completely shifted onto He Yuan.

He planned to kill He Yuan, take revenge, and retrieve the Ghost Controlling Sect’s secret arts.

No matter how capable He Yuan was, his strength at best was the Void Refining Realm.

Li Min’s careful setup of this inescapable net wasn’t to guard against He Yuan, but mainly to worry about the ancient beings behind He Yuan’s Spirit Phoenix Sect.

After all, Li Min had been fighting and surviving in this cultivation world for over a thousand years. He knew that some ancient beings had profound foundations, and those old fellows, just like Li Min, would gradually begin to value the inheritance and nurturing of their descendants as they lived longer. The most representative manifestation of this was “being protective of their own”…

If He Yuan was backed by the Phoenix God Princess, who was exiled to the Abyss, then Li Min truly couldn’t afford to provoke her.

Therefore, Li Min knew that when killing a young generation’s prodigy, setting up an isolating array in advance was an essential condition.

The Seven Star Ghost Prison Array—that was the Ghost Controlling Sect’s treasured array! One of the legacies left by the Ghost Race’s Emperor back then!

This array was more than enough to suppress Heavenly God Realm experts; using it to deal with a young junior like He Yuan was like using a beast trap to catch a chick.

With the array in place, even if Li Min attacked He Yuan, the ancient being behind him wouldn’t be able to notice immediately. By the time Li Min successfully killed He Yuan and avenged his grandson, the evidence would be destroyed, and the situation would have cooled… Even if it enraged the Spirit Phoenix Sect’s ancient being, what could they do?

What could she do? Force her way out of the Abyss and retaliate at the Ghost Controlling Sect’s main base?

Simply impossible.

Li Min didn’t reach his current position by being easily intimidated. The Spirit Phoenix Sect had a True God overseeing them, but didn’t the Ghost Controlling Sect’s ancestors?

No matter how powerful that Phoenix God Princess was, she was merely a half-cripple with bound limbs. As long as Li Min could act first and report later, swiftly cutting through the mess, and then hide in the Ghost Controlling Sect’s old den, he would be safe. With the Ghost Emperor protecting them from above, no one could stir trouble on the Ghost Controlling Sect’s territory.

“But then again, this kid He Yuan, to be able to learn the Ghost Control secret art from Li Xuan’s remnant pill without a teacher… isn’t it a bit of a waste to just kill him with such talent?”

Thinking of this, Li Min also took a breath, his old face showing a hint of reluctance to let such talent go.

After much thought, he nodded:

“If conditions allow, turning this kid into a corpse puppet or ghost slave, and bringing him back to the Ghost Controlling Sect to be trained as Li Xuan’s successor, would actually be worthwhile.”

—

Azure Dragon Clan’s Preparations

On Li Min’s side, because his main battlefield was already in the cultivation world, his prior intelligence gathering and preparations were swift. Now, everything was ready, and the inescapable net only awaited He Ange to walk into it.

But the Azure Dragon Clan, clearly, wasn’t as fast as him.

However, what kind of race was the Azure Dragon Clan?

Among the Wushuang Dragon Dynasty’s power rankings, they were an ancient, mythical race second only to the True Dragon Clan.

In ancient times, before the birth of the True Dragons, the vast Dragon Race was dominated by the ancient Azure Dragon Clan. White Dragons, Earth Dragons, Fire Dragons… they were all inferior, vassal races to the Azure Dragon Clan, little brothers who had to offer women and treasures to the Azure Dragon Clan every year.

Now, although it was the Azure Dragon Clan’s turn to be the True Dragon’s younger brother, this didn’t mean the Azure Dragon Clan had weakened. It was just that the True Dragon’s initial stats were too abnormal, making the Azure Dragons seem less powerful than before.

Setting aside the True Phoenixes and True Dragons, the Azure Dragon Clan’s strength, even in the Nine Heavens, was absolute brute force capable of sweeping through countless immortal sects and demonic gates.

With such power, going to the small lower realm to kill a Deity Transformation Realm mortal, did they need any prior preparation?

Only the weak needed to bother with flashy schemes.

True powerhouses don’t care about such things; they just get straight to business.

Isn’t it just a small matter of breaking into the Fox Clan’s secret realm, finding He Yuan, and then incinerating him with a single dragon’s breath?

As for the Phoenix God Princess of the Spirit Phoenix Sect behind He Yuan?

That’s even better!

Thinking that He Yuan was also from the Spirit Phoenix Sect, the Azure Dragon Clan’s assassins’ desire for revenge intensified.

Perhaps others would care about the Phoenix Sovereign being protective of her own, but the Azure Dragon Clan absolutely would not.

Where do you think the Dragon-Phoenix millennia-long feud came from?

Before the True Dragons and True Phoenixes, it was the Azure Dragon and Vermilion Bird (Suzaku) clans that were fighting. Later, it was just that the True Dragons and True Phoenixes became too powerful, and the Dragon-Phoenix feud was inherited by them.

So, strictly speaking, compared to the True Dragon Empress, the Azure Dragon Clan hated the Phoenix Clan even more.

Having the chance to kill the Spirit Phoenix Sect’s Holy Son made the Azure Dragon Clan incredibly happy.

They desperately wanted to kill He Yuan, enrage Feng Yuan, and provoke retaliation from the Spirit Phoenix Sect… Preferably, this small matter would escalate, eventually leading to the Phoenix Clan fighting the Wushuang Dragon Dynasty again.

The Azure Dragon Clan was full of fangs and violence, inherently expansionist, and extremely skilled at reproduction. What they excelled at most was mass-producing war.

The more peaceful the world became, the more the Azure Dragon Clan’s status in the Wushuang Dragon Dynasty would decline. Over the years, even insignificant White Dragons and Blue Dragons could sit on equal footing with the Azure Dragon Clan.

Can summon rain, refine pills, grow herbs… What’s the use?

In the Azure Dragon Clan’s view, as long as war could be incited, anything they wanted could simply be taken from the Phoenix Clan.

They never felt guilty, because the Vermilion Bird Clan did the same back then. This was the Upper Realm’s most primitive rule and way of life.

People often said that True Dragons and True Phoenixes were sworn enemies with a blood feud.

In the Azure Dragon Clan’s view, that was the real misconception!

Compared to the Azure Dragon Clan, the Empress’s policies were far too conservative. They even believed the Dragon Dynasty shouldn’t be so cautious, and should directly declare war on the Phoenix Clan, avenge their ancestors’ blood feud, and kill all Phoenixes until they were extinct or completely surrendered and submitted.

Over the years, the reason the Dragon Dynasty could achieve stable territorial expansion through small wars was entirely because the Azure Dragons couldn’t defeat the True Dragons, and in the Dragon Dynasty, they could only obediently follow the Empress’s policies.

Such prolonged suppression had actually made the entire Azure Dragon Clan somewhat restless.

If they didn’t fight, they had nothing to do.

The White Dragon Clan could summon rain, refine purifying holy water, develop undersea temples, and so on…

What could the Azure Dragon Clan do? Summon lightning?

The Azure Dragon Clan finally produced a Young Master, a Chosen One, only for him to be killed in the lower realm. When the Azure Dragon Clan Head went to question the Empress, he was reprimanded in court by her.

They were furious, they were humiliated!

But they truly didn’t dare provoke the Empress. When the Empress first ascended, the Azure Dragon Clan had tried to challenge her, but after a brutal beating that wiped out half their clan, they truly couldn’t afford to mess with her.

In this situation, didn’t He Yuan become the Azure Dragon Clan’s perfect outlet?

Firstly, there was evidence that He Yuan was the murderer of Ye Qingchuan.

Secondly, He Yuan was also a Holy Son of the Spirit Phoenix Sect.

Seemingly, the Azure Dragon Clan killing He Yuan was provoking Feng Yuan, but in reality, they also wanted to cause trouble for the Empress, further escalating the conflict between the Empress and Feng Yuan.

Therefore, killing He Yuan received unanimous support from the entire Azure Dragon Clan.

For this retaliation, the Azure Dragon Clan Head meticulously selected several Heavenly God Realm elite Azure Dragon assassins, and even a Residual God Realm Azure Dragon Elder to lead the team.

This luxurious lineup, going to the lower realm, was simply a dimensionality reduction strike, with a scale no less than half of the Spirit Phoenix Sect’s Abyssal Envoys being deployed.

“Reporting, Elder Ye! Ahead, beneath the clouds, is the Fox Clan Secret Realm!”

Above the clouds, two Azure Dragon Clan powerhouses were reporting on their knees.

In front of them, a seasoned and shrewd Azure Dragon Elder with fierce dragon eyes nodded and asked: “Very good, where is the informant planted in the Fox Clan? Have him report He Yuan’s current location!”

Though an elder, his voice was still rough and his style tough, typical of the Azure Dragon Clan’s older generation.

More like a Dragon General than an Elder.

“Reporting, Elder Ye! According to the informant, that He Yuan fellow seems to be preparing to leave the Fox Clan Secret Realm!”

“Oh?”

Elder Ye raised an eyebrow, a cold smile forming on his old face: “Wouldn’t that be even better?”

“Once He Yuan leaves on his own, it saves us the trouble of causing a ruckus in the Fox Clan and attracting unnecessary complications.”

“Heh heh~”

—

Departure and a Fateful Question

On the way out of the Fox Clan, He Ange was originally chatting and flirting with his Senior Sister. An Luo Yi was concerned about He Ange’s “grain reserves” (Jiao Liang Ri) these past few days, while He Ange was concerned about what style of black stockings Senior Sister was wearing under her long dress today. Xia Ranyue simply held onto He Ange’s arm, smiling silently at An Luo Yi, who was oblivious to being “eaten”…

All in all, the atmosphere was quite pleasant.

Until An Luo Yi, unintentionally, uttered a certain phrase that was a huge “flag”:

“Ange, after we return safely from this trip, when shall we hold a wedding?”

“?”

RUUUUUMBLE—!!!!

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