Chapter 347 – A Storm Is Coming
…
…
…
“Miss Qin from the Marshal Quarters?” Green Mulberry City’s City Lord Zhao Yanming was surprised, “Are you saying that Miss Qin is Qin Xingxuan?”
“Of course it’s her. Although Marshal Qin has many granddaughters, the only Miss Qin that walks with Mister Muyi is Young Miss Qin Xingxuan.
Qin Xingxuan?
That was the proud lady of the Marshal Quarters, and also the beloved favorite of Marshal Qin. Why would such a figure come to Green Mulberry City at such a time? And who was that white-clothed person standing in front of Qin Xingxuan?
As Zhaoying was alarmed and indecisive for a time, Qin Ziya asked, “Which of one of you is the leader here?”
Since Zhu Ping died, it was Zhao Yanming who stood in for him. He said, “That’s me. Zhao Yanming, Green Mulberry City’s City Lord.”
“I see, so it’s City Lord Zhao. I am Sky Fortune Kingdom’s Seven Profound Martial House Master Qin Ziya, and these 120 masters with me are also from the Seven Profound Martial House. We seek entrance to Green Mulberry City and would like to request City Lord Zhao make the arrangements.”
‘120 martial artists from the Seven Profound Martial House are coming to Green Mulberry City?’
Zhao Yanming could hardly believe this; this was simply a most propitious event! It had to be known that during this beast tide, many cities within Sky Fortune Kingdom were suffering. Even the capital Sky Fortune City wasn’t able to escape. During this time, the Seven Profound Martial House actually sent 120 masters to Green Mulberry City on Heavenly Wind Eagles, and even Martial House Master Qin Ziya personally came. Just why would this be?
Zhao Yanming felt such a strong sense of happiness that he thought he would faint, and stood stunned for a good four or five breaths of time. Afterwards, he said extremely flattered, “I welcome Martial House Master Qin. I represent all the people of Green Mulberry City in thanking Martial House Master Qin for this timely help.”
Qin Ziya didn’t wait for Zhao Yanming’s kind words. He directly asked, “City Lord Zhao, as far as I know, Lin Ming should be at Green Mulberry City, but how come he isn’t here?” Qin Ziya had sent out his sense a moment ago, but wasn’t able to find Lin Ming anywhere.
“This…” Zhao Yanming’s complexion suddenly turned bitter. Lin Ming’s status was extremely important, and now that he was in trouble, Zhao Yanming feared that something bad may have happened.
He braced himself and explained the entire matter: that there were three or four sect Houtian masters, and even a peak sect Houtian master chasing him. Qin Ziya frowned, but the color of Qin Xingxuan’s beautiful face suddenly deteriorated at a distressing degree.
He was being chased by a peak Houtian master from a sect? And more than one!?
Qin Xingxuan felt like her heart was being twisted.
Qin Ziya took out a sound transmitting talisman and spoke a few random words before igniting it, but still wasn’t able to find Lin Ming’s position. Only a high-grade sound transmitting talisman from Divine Phoenix Island would have the range, otherwise most sound transmitting talisman wouldn’t spread more than 100 miles away. Qin Ziya had notified Lin Ming last night through a series of sound transmitting talismans.
“City Lord Zhao, who were they? What sort of special characteristics did they have?” Qin Ziya asked, his voice sinking.
“This lower official does not know…” Zhao Yanming shook his head at a loss. He could only give a vague description, but none of this seemed helpful.
Finally, Zhou Yanming mentioned that Zhou Xinyu had a faint crescent symbol on her clothes, and Qin Ziya understood. They must have been from the Moon Seizing Sect, and somehow Lin Ming had foolishly decided to involve himself in the disputes between direct disciples of the Moon Seizing Sect.
……………….
Throughout the day, there were only a few sporadic surges of the beast tide at Green Mulberry City; there wasn’t even a need to utilize the whole army. The 100 plus masters of the Seven Profound Martial House were nearly enough by themselves. Every master was equivalent to at least several hundred soldiers, equaling an army of tens of thousands. Against a beast tide of tens of thousands of second-level vicious beasts, they only needed to send the Houtian masters to slaughter the fourth-level vicious beasts and the beast tide would naturally disperse.
However, even though the beast tide was no longer a problem, the entire army camp still wasn’t relaxed, as if a dark cloud had descended on the entire camp. This was because no one knew whether Lin Ming was dead or alive.
City Lord Zhao Yanming and the other heads of the major families came to gradually understand one thing, and that was that the reason Qin Ziya had come this far from Sky Fortune City, and had even brought Qin Xingxuan and Mister Muyi together, was not to rescue Green Mulberry City, but to protect Lin Ming’s family.
Zhao Yanming couldn’t imagine what sort of great show of face this was.
Even the Lin Family Head Lin Wanshan couldn’t sit still. He never imagined that Qin Ziya, whose status was higher than the emperor, would actually rush to Green Mulberry City and protect his family. This awed and flattered him.
But Zhao Yanming was even more nervous. He knew that Lin Ming’s status was high, but now it seemed that not only was his status high, but he was of unparalleled importance to the Seven Profound Valleys. He had even heard from Qin Ziya that the Seven Profound Valleys’ Total Faction had sent help too. It was only that they were too far, so they weren’t able to arrive at the border of Sky Fortune Kingdom quickly enough.
Now that matters had risen to the level of the sect itself, Zhao Yanming naturally found it difficult to understand. He didn’t know what a future Revolving Core master, and not only that, but a top Revolving Core powerhouse, meant to the Seven Profound Valleys. Even if Lin Ming wasn’t a disciple of the Seven Profound Valleys in the future, being on good terms with Lin Ming would still ensure that the Seven Profound Valleys would experience peace and prosperity for several hundred years.
At this time, Zhao Yanming had already forgotten about the matter of Zhu Ping’s murder. He organized guards to constantly search for Lin Ming’s whereabouts. However, all his efforts came to nothing.
As Zhao Yanming saw Qin Ziya’s increasingly gloomy complexion, he nervously walked circles. Gradually, he began to realize something. If Lin Ming really did disappear and possibly die, then this wouldn’t just be a case of simple negligence. No, the consequences would be serious, very, very serious. Even Qin Ziya might be implicated in the entire mess.
Qin Xingxuan’s heart was heavy with worry. She skipped lunch as she had no appetite; Lin Ming had already been gone for over ten hours.
Then at around evening, there was a small red dot that appeared on the western horizon. The guards immediately reported this to a master with better eyesight, and he was able to clearly see that it was a red winged dragon. But on the back of this dragon stood two figures, and the one in front was Lin Ming.
With Lin Ming returning, Qin Ziya let Zhao Yanming, Lin Wanshan, Mister Muyi, Qin Xingxuan, and everyone else waited at the army camp.
As the Winged Flood Dragon drew closer, Zhou Yanming let out a long breath, and Lin Wanshan was also incomparably excited.
As for Qin Ziya, he was happy and a bit doubtful at the same time. Since Lin Ming was returning so calmly and relaxed, the ones chasing him should have been…
Qin Xingxuan didn’t worry about any of this. Finally, that heavy feeling in her heart was relieved. As she considered herself a good friend of Lin Ming, she was supposed to be extremely happy to see him, and of course she had reason to be. But as she took a few steps, Qin Xingxuan slowed to a stop, until she finally stood there, unsure. She saw with her beautiful, unblinking eyes another girl behind Lin Ming, whose looks were no less exquisite than her own…
During the day when Zhao Yanming had explained what had happened, Qin Xingxuan had listened clearly and heard Zhao Yanming say several Houtian masters had attacked the army camp at night for a girl. This girl had no relation to Lin Ming, but he had actually taken action and risked his own life in order to save her…
Qin Xingxuan’s eyes turned; she didn’t know what to think.
“Young Hero Lin, you truly frightened me to death.” Zhao Yanming felt like a giant stone he had been carrying on his shoulders was finally lifted. He nearly collapsed to the ground in relief.
Seeing so many people anxiously waiting for him, Lin Ming was a bit embarrassed. Because he had consumed too much true essence and had also just absorbed the Shattered Demon Heart Crystal, his breath wasn’t yet steady and he had to meditate for a long time. He didn’t think so many people would be worried about him.
“Lin Ming, where did you go for such a long time? What happened last night?” Qin Ziya asked.
Lin Ming cupped his hands across his chest in greeting and said, “Martial House Master Qin, I apologize for being neglectful and not returning earlier. It was just that during the battle I used too much energy, so I had to find a cave to meditate in and the delay was longer than I anticipated.”
Qin Ziya and Lin Ming walked into tent a together. “Lin Ming, the ones who chased you were disciples of the Moon Seizing Sect? I heard from Green Mulberry City’s City Lord that there was also a peak Houtian master?”
Lin Ming hesitated, and then honestly said, “Yes, that person was killed by me.”
Qin Ziya was shocked. A peak Houtian master wasn’t much weaker than Qin Ziya himself, but yet this man was killed by Lin Ming? It was hard to imagined this. Did that mean that Lin Ming had attained a strength that surpassed even his own?
Qin Ziya was temporarily unable to accept such a terrifying rate of progress; it was beyond his understanding.
“Martial House Master Qin, I would also like to request that you keep this matter a secret and not publicize that I escaped.” Lin Ming didn’t want this news to spread to the Seven Profound Valleys’ Ouyang Boyan’s ear. He wanted to hide his own strength so that his enemy would lower his guard.
“Alright…” Qin Ziya opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, and then finally shook his head. This boy was just a monstrous genius.
“That’s right, Martial House Master Qin, about this beast tide, what response does Divine Phoenix Island have?”
Speaking of this matter, Qin Ziya sobered up. “According to the news from the Total Faction, after this beast tide ends, Divine Phoenix Island will most likely begin to move against the South Sea Demon Region…”
Qin Ziya sighed. This great war would sweep throughout the entire Southern Horizon Region, rolling up every single player and force within. This time, who knew how many martial artists would have to perish, or how many sects would be destroyed because of this.
However, a war was also a time for geniuses to stand out. Since ancient times, heroes and masters were forged in the fires of war. The South Horizon Region hadn’t seen such a large-scale war for over a thousand years. Perhaps it had been peaceful for far too long…
Lin Ming nodded without a word. Qin Ziya’s words didn’t exceed his expectations. This was probably the effect that the South Sea Demon Region wanted to create. If the South Sea Demon Region actively attacked Divine Phoenix Island, Divine Phoenix Island would have the advantage of their home ground. With the aid of the massive arrays that protected the island, the South Sea Demon Region would suffer serious losses.
But if they pulled them out, this situation wouldn’t happen.
…………….
As Qin Ziya and Lin Ming were conversing, a maid was carefully packing away the camp supplies. Qin Xingxuan was just sitting on the edge of a curtain, staring at the beautiful crimson clouds that were illuminated by the falling sunset. This falling light spread through the entire Green Mulberry Mountains, and Qin Xingxuan watched, spellbound.
“Silly girl, what are you thinking about?” Muyi said as he walked over.
“Master!” Qin Xingxuan panicked. She quickly stood up and greeted him as a courteous disciple did. She wanted to find an excuse for sitting there, but she didn’t expect Muyi to speak up already, “Don’t tell me you’re worried about the city, and wondering how to repel the beast tide.”
Qin Xingxuan turned red, awkwardly not speaking.