Chapter 402 – News of Death
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As Mu Qianyu and Mu Yuhuang spoke, a red-robed maid hurried over. Within the quiet and elegant corridors of the Saintess’ Palace, her echoing footsteps rang exceptionally loud.
There was a knock on the door, the sound was still as urgent as before.
Mu Yuhuang slightly frowned, “Enter.”
The red-robed maid opened the great doors. Her face look flustered, and she didn’t bow before saying, “Your Highness Qianyu, Island Master, there has been an accident. Sir Lin Ming has not yet returned from the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm!”
“What?”
Mu Yuhuang’s eyes widened and she immediately stood from her chair.
As Mu Qianyu heard these words, she couldn’t believe her own ears. Her eyes widened as she simply stared at the red-robed maid, her hands tightly gripped against the armrests of her chair. Because of the strength of her grip, her fingers had gone pale.
“Sir Mu Dingshan and Lady Mu Xiaoqing have returned. 16 people left, and 15 people returned. Only Sir Lin Ming is missing!”
16 people left, 15 people returned, only Lin Ming was missing!
As these words reverberated in her ears, Mu Qianyu felt as if all the strength in her body had been sucked out, and all her feelings were gone. Her heart felt empty, but she didn’t know what this meant.
It was like the world had slowed to a crawl. She was confused, anxious, sad, in complete disbelief…
Mu Yuhuang’s body stiffened for a long time. Finally, she took a deep breath and waved her hand, ordering the red-robed maid, “Return…”
After the maid withdrew, she sighed, “Is the destiny of my Divine Phoenix Island not enough? Or do the heavens themselves wish to punish my Divine Phoenix Island?”
The South Sea Demon Region had already sounded the clarion call of war. And in this dark time, a talent that was brimming with promise and hope had appeared. Yet, he had only been at Divine Phoenix Island for less than a month, and he had fallen within the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm!
Such an amazing genius had fallen within the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm, where death itself had such a low chance of occurring! If this wasn’t the will of the heavens, then what could it possibly be?
“Yu’er…”
Mu Yuhuang turned to look at Mu Qianyu, but saw that she was tightly holding onto a chair with her hand, her face pale and showing a confused expression.
“Yu’er, let us go. We have to inform the Council of Elders of such a great matter…”
“Inform…” Mu Qianyu propped herself up, “inform them of what?”
“Inform them of Lin Ming’s death. Even if I do not inform them, they will know. I gave all of the extra Vermillion Bird blood essence to Lin Ming. I had already borne a great deal of pressure to do this, but now, the Elders will not let go of this opportunity to take advantage in this dire time.” Mu Yuhuang ruefully smiled and shook her head.
Vermillion Bird blood essence was extremely precious to Divine Phoenix Island. If one wished to cultivate the core sections of the ‘Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle’, they had to have a rich and pure Vermillion Bird bloodline. There were many talented Divine Phoenix Island disciples whose bloodline purity was off by just a bit, and thus were unable to cultivate the core sections of the ‘Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle’. These disciples might have needed only two or three drops of Vermillion Bird blood essence in order to reach the necessary bloodline purity.
However, there was simply too little Vermillion Bird blood essence. Unless one had sufficient talent or backing, they would not receive any. Even core disciples were not able to enjoy this treatment.
But in this case, Mu Yuhuang had actually given all of the Vermillion Bird blood essence to Lin Ming. It had to be known that Lin Ming didn’t have even a tiny bit of the Vermillion Bird bloodline with him. In order to help him rise to the peak from having none at all, that required a massive amount of Vermillion Bird blood essence to be consumed. This sort of matter was normally impossible.
Not only that, but Mu Yuhuang had given Lin Ming a far greater amount of Vermillion Bird blood essence than she needed. She had bet everything on Lin Ming, sorely anticipating that one day he would lead Divine Phoenix Island into breaking through to being a fifth-grade sect.
This decisive resolution had caused many people to be discontent. However, Lin Ming’s talent was just too inspiring. Even a character like Mu Fengxian had been convinced, how could anyone else argue otherwise?
All of those whose bloodline needed to be just a bit purer in order to cultivate the complete ‘Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle’ secretly slandered Lin Ming. However, no matter how much resentment they felt, they dared not speak publically.
But now, Lin Ming had died! And therefore all of the Vermillion Bird blood essence was completely lost!
When Lin Ming was alive, there were people that were already darkly jealous of him. In particular, those like Yan Fuhong, core disciples that were stuck in the middle. Because of Lin Ming’s appearance, their chances of climbing up had even worsened.
But Lin Ming’s suppressive presence was too great. His talent surpassed even Mu Qianyu, and someday in the future, he might even be titled as the ‘Saint Son’. Although he hadn’t yet grown, he had obtained the support of Mu Qianyu, Mu Yuhuang, and Mu Fengxian. As for his future, it would be incredible. When he reached the Revolving Core realm, he even had a possibility of becoming the Highest Elder. Who would dare to provoke such a person?
Now that Lin Ming had died, the situation was completely different. The wall that had pushing everyone down had vanished, and those like Yan Fuhong who lost resources because of Lin Ming would not miss this opportunity to vent their dissatisfaction. And there were many of these people that also had connections – they represented a fairly large and influential force.
Mu Yuhuang was already ready to deal with them. Like the Seven Profound Valleys, Divine Phoenix Island was not some monolithic block of opinion and ideas. As the Island Master of Divine Phoenix Island, and also the leading power and authority, there would naturally be those who refused to accept this fact.
Although it wasn’t possible to topple Mu Yuhuang because of Lin Ming’s death, it was still enough to make her feel disgusted and sick.
“Yu’er, I know you are sad, but a human’s death is like an extinguished lamp; you have to accept this…” Mu Yuhuang saw Mu Qianyu’s oblivious expression and sighed. Perhaps it was best for Yu’er to not participate in this meeting with the Council of Elders…
“Master… is Lin Ming really dead? Is there no other possible reason?” Mu Qianyu looked at Mu Yuhuang, her voice trembling.
Mu Yuhuang shook her head. Although she also very much wanted to find and alternative reason, the situation with the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm had been the same ever since Divine Phoenix Island was founded 3000 years ago. Every time people entered the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm’s smelting trials, they would also leave at the same time. If anyone was missing, they would forever be missing. There had never been an exception.
“I do not believe this!” Mu Qianyu stubbornly said, “I know Lin Ming the best! From when I met him, he broke into the Flood Dragon’s cave, cured my wounds, absorbed the Purple Flood Dragon Divine Thunder, became the champion of the Seven Profound Valleys’ Total Faction Martial Meeting, cultivated the ‘Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle’ until he defeated Lei Mubai; what has he done that hasn’t been beyond all expectations? He has already given too many surprises, why can it not happen one more time!?”
As Mu Qianyu spoke, life seemed to come back into her eyes. Her voice became faster, and more and more confident. “I cannot believe Lin Ming is dead, I will not believe Lin Ming is dead!”
Mu Yuhuang didn’t know what to say. Her lips moved, but eventually no words came out.
After a long silence, Mu Yuhuang asked “Would you like to go to the Council of Elders?”
“I’m going!” Mu Qianyu stood up. No matter what, she was the Saintess of Divine Phoenix Island. She was not some opinion-less little girl who would be affected by news that she could not verify herself.
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Within the Grand Hall of Divine Phoenix Mountain, a flame colored spirit boat slowly landed. Mu Yuhuang and Mu Qianyu both disembarked from the spirit boat. After they entered the Grand Hall, they found that many other Elders had already gathered.
As they saw Mu Yuhuang arrive, many of these Elders had expressions of regret and sorrow. Divine Phoenix Island had lost a supremely talented disciple, and also the chance of being promoted to a fifth-grade sect. But, there were also many faces that sneered. Among these was a Vermillion Bird Faction Great Elder, Mu Chihuo.
Within Divine Phoenix Island, all the major power players had the last name Mu. They were the direct descendants of Divine Phoenix Island’s original Master Ancestor who had founded the sect. This Mu Chihuo was Mu Qianyu’s distantly related uncle, and also her uncle master.
Mu Chihuo had competed with Mu Yuhuang for the position of Island Master. But, Mu Fengxian had in the end chosen Mu Yuhuang as her successor, and thus Mu Chihuo was only able to take the role of a Great Elder.
As the Island Master, Mu Yuhuang directly controlled the distribution of all resources; it was far above the authority of a Great Elder by a wide margin.
It had to be known that there were extremely complex and divisive internal relations within Divine Phoenix Island. After 3000 years of growth, all sorts of close relatives, distant relatives, mentors, disciples, fellow apprentices, family, friends, all of them were gathered in once place. Sometimes, there were even those that were unable to determine just what relationships they had. In this case, it would be handled by certain leaders within Divine Phoenix Island who had been chosen to represent the interests of those that were blood related and those that had a master and disciple relationship. This was because the allocation of resources was of utmost importance!
A family clan’s younger generation and direct descendants – just who didn’t need resources? Just who didn’t want to have more achievements? One or two drops of Vermillion Bird blood essence was often enough to bridge the gap between the extreme Xiantian realm and the Revolving Core realm. How could this not arouse the jealousy and resentment of others?
As he saw Mu Yuhuang arrive, Mu Chihuo sneered and didn’t speak.
Mu Yuhuang directly walked to the seat of honor and sat down. Then she glanced at everyone and clearly spoke, stressing each word, “Lin Ming has died!”
Those around her didn’t have much response, this matter was already known to everyone.
“This is my matter and also my responsibility.” Mu Yuhuang frankly said. Although she obtained Mu Fengxian’s approval before gifting Lin Ming with all the Vermillion Bird blood essence she possessed, she was the one to originally raise this idea.
“Your responsibility?” Mu Chihuo rudely said, “High Master Yuhuang, you should know that in the younger generation, those core disciples at the edge only need one or two drops of blood essence to enhance their talent to the degree where it is enough to practice the core sections of the ‘Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle’ cultivation method. In the future, there is no question that they would be able to become Revolving Core masters. But you have given Lin Ming more than 20 drops of blood essence! Over 20 drops! That is equal to over 10 Revolving Core masters that we will no longer have! Divine Phoenix Island’s Vermillion Bird Faction and Blue Luan Faction have a combined total of only several dozen Revolving Core powerhouses!”
Mu Chihuo wasn’t exaggerating any of his words, this was how important and precious Vermillion Bird blood essence was to Divine Phoenix Island. Two drops were enough for an extreme Xiantian master to break through to the Revolving Core realm. This was the truth.
And Revolving Core realm masters were the backbone of Divine Phoenix Island. To lose all of the Vermillion Bird blood essence at once, this responsibility was not small!
At this time, another Elder said, “Island Master. Before, I did not oppose you in giving Lin Ming the Vermillion Bird blood essence. But you should at least have waited until he safely returned from the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm before doing so. And yet you gave the Vermillion Bird blood essence to Lin Ming before he entered. What was the reason for this?”
The second one who spoke was an old man named Yan Yusheng. He was an Elder of Divine Phoenix Island who didn’t share the last name Mu. Generally speaking, these Elders that didn’t share this last name were weaker. Thus, they wisely wouldn’t interfere with the interpersonal faction battles. However, this Yan Yusheng was the grandfather of Yan Fuhong. Originally, Yan Fuhong was able to enter the Ancient Phoenix Main Hall. But because of Lin Ming’s appearance, he had been removed from the list of participants. This was the last time that Yan Fuhong would have been able to enter the Divine Phoenix Mystic Realm. The next time that it opened, he would no longer have the qualifications!
As for the Vermillion Bird blood essence, there was no share given to Yan Fuhong.
Yan Fuhong had originally been pressured by Lin Ming and wasn’t even able to have a bit of a temper. But now that Lin Ming had died, all of Yan Fuhong’s hate and enmity had burst out, and he had gone to tearfully complain to his grandfather. Yan Fuhong was Yan Yusheng’s most outstanding and talented grandson, and the family had great expectations of him. Thus Yan Yusheng would try to get some justice for Yan Fuhong.