novelraw Chapter 60 : Shen Tian Has Gone Missing?
Chapter 60 : Shen Tian Has Gone Missing?
Chapter 60: Shen Tian Has Gone Missing?
Chunchao could not help but ask, “Is Your Highness worried about the Heir?”
Yu Chenyu lifted her lips into a sneer.
“Worried about that heartless man? Why should I? I just want him to understand the cruelty of this world.”
Chunchao said nothing, the arms that held her sword tightening slightly.
She felt that Her Highness’s anger over the Heir, Shen Yanzhou, secretly leaving the capital some time ago, had gradually faded.
Otherwise, she would not have brought him up today of her own accord.
After all, just a few days ago, when Chunchao had mentioned the Heir’s name on her own initiative, it had provoked Her Highness’s fury, resulting in a harsh punishment.
“Write a letter,” Yu Chenyu said calmly, “and send it to Qilin City.”
“Have Ji Donghe personally make a trip to Hidden Moon Mountain.”
Chunchao was startled.
“You mean to have that lord go there himself?”
The Sword Lodge of Qilin City had four grandmasters of swordsmanship whose names resounded across the world all beings of the Dragon-Elephant Realm.
It was said that he had once, in the desolate city of Northern Desert Prefecture, blocked a thousand cavalrymen with nine strikes, and with a single sword, decapitated the enemy general, making his name renowned throughout the realm.
Yu Chenyu nodded.
“Is Lord Donghe to bring the Heir back?” Chunchao asked tentatively.
Yu Chenyu shook her head.
Her lips curved slightly, carrying an indescribable chill.
“No. It’s enough for Ji Donghe to go.”
She wanted Shen Yanzhou to know that, in this world, only she could protect him.
Ji Donghe’s journey itself was her message.
Shen Yanzhou was intelligent. He would surely understand what she meant.
As for how he would choose, that would be for him to decide.
——
In the eastern courtyard of the Demon Suppression Prince’s Mansion, within an underground meditation chamber, Shen Zhigao and several elders of the clan gathered with grave expressions.
Before them stood a projection jade tablet, half as tall as a man.
Within it appeared the image of Shen Jingxiao.
He wore splendid robes, his bearing refined and handsome.
His slender hand, fair as carved jade, toyed idly with a white jade thumb ring engraved with the image of a qilin.
“So, you’re saying that Daoist Qingfeng and the other consecrators who were sent out… are all dead.”
“Only Elder Mo survived,” Shen Jingxiao said evenly, his tone devoid of emotion.
Shen Zhigao frowned deeply.
“Their life tablets shattered almost at the same time barely a few breaths apart. If they were truly devoured by beasts, it shouldn’t have been that quick. I know Daoist Qingfeng’s abilities. Unless… it was a Demon King who acted.”
“But reports from the Chilin Guards and the Bureau of Immortal Inspection only sensed a Demon King’s pressure. None saw its true form.”
“Could it be that another force intervened and killed them instead?”
The other elders fell silent.
Compared to the losses of the Chilin Guards and the Bureau of Immortal Inspection, the damage to the Demon Suppression Prince’s Mansion was far more severe.
“How amusing.”
Shen Jingxiao chuckled, though his eyes were cold.
“Who would dare make a move against my Demon Suppression Prince’s Mansion?”
He naturally did not believe those consecrators had died at the claws of beasts someone must have interfered.
Shen Zhigao hesitated, then asked carefully, “Jingxiao… could it be that the people of the Nether Cult abducted that brat, Shen Yanzhou?”
He knew the question was improper, but Shen Jingxiao surely knew the truth.
The meditation chamber fell silent for a moment.
The elders’ faces subtly shifted.
Only Shen Jingxiao’s expression remained calm.
“Of course not,” he said lightly.
“I’ve already investigated. It should be one of the hidden sects of the Southern Border who acted they wanted to abduct that wastrel to force me to compromise on the Southern Border matter.”
The elders exchanged glances of realization.
“Shen Yanzhou’s life is truly tenacious. Hidden Moon Mountain is so perilous, yet he’s still alive?”
“Why not simply use that thing, Jingxiao, and let him die quietly there?”
Shen Zhigao’s gaze chilled as he made the suggestion.
Shen Yanzhou also had a life tablet stored in the Mansion.
Through it, they knew he was still alive and well which left them all feeling somewhat stifled.
Shen Jingxiao thought for a moment, then waved his hand.
“No. It would leave traces too easily.”
The Nether Curse implanted in Shen Yanzhou’s body was, in essence, meant to slowly consume his life force — causing him to “die of illness” quietly in his twenties.
It could be triggered early, yes, but if his body were found and returned to the capital, the Imperial Medical Bureau would easily detect the irregularities.
The Nether Gu required time to mature, gradually devouring its host’s vitality — and during that process, no abnormalities could be observed.
When the life force was finally exhausted, it would all appear quite “natural,” indistinguishable from a normal death by illness.
Centuries ago, the Nether Gu had been a favored assassination tool during struggles for the imperial throne — until it was outlawed by the Great Qian Dynasty as a forbidden gu.
Triggering it prematurely would cause the host’s life force to collapse abruptly — any experienced physician could identify the cause.
Moreover, the Nether Gu could not have been planted recently the depletion of life force required a gradual process.
If so, how could Shen Jingxiao explain being unaware that his own son carried such a gu all these years?
The hidden sects of the Southern Border would never take the blame for that.
“I already have other arrangements for Shen Yanzhou,” Shen Jingxiao said.
“The Sect Master of the Jade Pure Upper Sect has already contacted the Purple Cloud Monastery in Lei Prefecture. True Person Yin Han will personally go to Hidden Moon Mountain. I am on good terms with him if he encounters Shen Yanzhou, he will personally escort him back.”
That, of course, was his public stance.
Privately, he had no wish for Shen Yanzhou to return at all.
For now, the hidden sects of the Southern Border likely would not harm Shen Yanzhou either, as they still hoped to use him to negotiate.
Though unwilling, the elders had no choice but to nod in agreement.
“By the way, Jingxiao, do you know where Xiao Tian is recently?”
“I’ve tried to contact him through the Transmission Jade Talisman, but there’s been no response.”
Shen Zhigao suddenly remembered something and asked.
By “Xiao Tian,” he naturally meant Shen Tian.
In secret, he had already acknowledged Shen Tian’s lineage and introduced him to several elders.
Only the engraving of his life tablet into the ancestral shrine remained.
“What’s wrong? He’s not in the capital?” Shen Jingxiao asked, slightly surprised.
Clearly, he cared deeply about Shen Tian, the son he had raised and cultivated in secret, into whom he had poured immeasurable effort.
Shen Zhigao smiled bitterly.
“Even you don’t know? I haven’t been able to reach him for several days now. I was thinking that, while Shen Yanzhou has been abducted, I’d take Shen Tian back to the mansion and let him spend more time with his birth mother, to foster some affection after all these years.”
“Shen Tian has gone missing too?”
Shen Jingxiao’s brows furrowed involuntarily, and for the first time, the calm and composed face that never showed much emotion revealed a sharp fluctuation.
The few elders nodded.
Shen Jingxiao took a deep breath, a faint sense of foreboding rising in his chest.
At his level, any such feeling born from intuition was rarely without reason.
He suddenly closed his eyes.
His wide sleeves stirred without wind, as though an invisible pressure was surging around him.
The next moment, light shone between his brows.
Deep within his cheekbones, a vague golden divine palace seemed to appear sacred and ancient, radiating a majestic aura, as if an ancient will slumbered within.
A low hum echoed through the air!
A drop of blood, faintly glowing gold, suddenly flew out from between his brows.
“Go.”
He uttered the word softly, golden light blazing in his eyes twin suns blazing in miniature as the drop of blood spun rapidly and vanished into the void in an instant.
Even though the elders were separated by the projection jade tablet, they could not help but feel their hearts tremble in awe.
This was the oppressive might of the Great Qian’s current Guardian War God.
“I’ve used the bloodline tracing method to seek Shen Tian’s whereabouts.”
“But the place where he disappeared is far from the Southern Border. Judging roughly, he might have gone to Yun Prefecture.”
When Shen Jingxiao opened his eyes again, all trace of his earlier gentleness had vanished, leaving only a chilling, oppressive aura that made others’ hearts quiver.
“Shen Tian is in trouble.”
As he spoke, his expression darkened like storm clouds.
In that brief instant, Shen Jingxiao had already pieced together what had happened.
Aside from the few elders within the Demon Suppression Prince’s Mansion and the hidden hostile forces, the one who most wanted Shen Yanzhou gone… could only be Shen Tian.
He knew Shen Tian had endured countless grievances, hardships, and struggles over the years.
For someone like him, to see his rightful identity usurped by Shen Yanzhou, his hatred must have long since festered beyond tolerance.
Given such a perfect chance to eliminate Shen Yanzhou, how could Shen Tian possibly let it slip away?
“What…”
The elders in the meditation chamber were all visibly shaken.
“Xiao Tian… why would he go to Yun Prefecture…” Shen Zhigao murmured, his lips trembling.
Shen Jingxiao said nothing more.
His figure vanished instantly from within the projection tablet and when he reappeared, he stood within a quiet courtyard.
Inside, a middle-aged man wearing a high crown and long robes, with a neatly kept beard, was studying a chessboard with a furrowed brow.
“Your Highness…”
Seeing Shen Jingxiao appear, the man hurriedly rose to his feet.
“Lead three hundred of the Demon Suppression Army in secret,” Shen Jingxiao ordered coldly.
“Head deep into the Southern Border and investigate the movements of the Thirty-Six Caverns and Seventy-Two Dens.”
A faint sense of unease nagged at him.
There should not be many who knew that Shen Tian was his biological son.
And yet… it was precisely at this moment that Shen Tian had gone missing.
——
Yun Prefecture.
Deep within Hidden Moon Mountain, night had already fallen.
The sky was draped in a fine drizzle, and occasionally, the roars of distant beasts echoed through the forest.
Wu Ruyue had just passed the trial left behind by the Martial God’s lingering will.
After ascending to the Floating Island at the mountaintop to receive his inheritance, an entire day had passed.
Before the underground palace, Shen Yanzhou was waiting for her.
“So, you’ve obtained the inheritance?”
“Congratulations.”
Seeing Wu Ruyue emerge, he rose from the stone he had been sitting on and walked forward to greet her.
When Wu Ruyue accepted the Martial God’s remaining scripture, the trace of Martial God true essence within her body had awakened on its own, purging impurities from her meridians and rebuilding a pure Martial Body.
During the process, her broken bones were healed, and even her dried-up ancestral aperture and dantian brimmed once more with true energy.
Originally at the early stage of the Sixth Rank, Sea-Cleaving Realm, she had smoothly broken through to the mid-stage, with all her injuries fully recovered.
“I… I’m sorry. This inheritance was something you had been searching for.”
Wu Ruyue’s gaze lowered slightly, her eyes avoiding his.
Standing before Shen Yanzhou outside the underground palace, she could not help but feel a bit guilty.
While receiving the inheritance, her heart had been conflicted.
After all, this was something Shen Yanzhou had long been seeking.
If he hadn’t told her about it, perhaps the Martial God’s inheritance would have belonged to him.
In a sense, she had snatched it from under his nose.
When she had stepped out of the palace moments ago, her emotions had been tangled guilt, apology, and a vague unease about facing Shen Yanzhou.
“When fate wills it, it will be yours. When it does not, there’s no use forcing it.”
“Your injuries have healed, and your realm has even improved. Seems you’ve had quite the fortune.”
Shen Yanzhou smiled, observing her carefully.
His tone held a hint of admiration — and a trace of envy.
“From the early to the mid-stage of the Sixth Rank, Sea-Cleaving Realm.”
“I’m sorry. This opportunity should have been yours. I never expected that simply touching that cave gate would send me straight inside — then somehow I passed the trial and was transported to a nameless floating island…”
Wu Ruyue’s voice carried faint sorrow.
She had even asked the Martial God’s lingering will whether the inheritance could be passed on to others, or whether someone else who passed the trial could also receive it.
But the Martial God’s remnant was cold and absolute it said the inheritance was meant for one person only.
Once the first had passed, no others could ever enter the trial cave again.
Shen Yanzhou waved a hand lightly.
“No need to apologize.”
“Perhaps that’s just fate.”
“You found this place effortlessly, opened that gate with ease, while I despite all my efforts and every possible method couldn’t find it. Even when I did, I couldn’t open it no matter what I tried.”
“This was never meant to be mine.”
He sighed softly as he spoke.
“……”
Wu Ruyue bit her lip, not knowing what to say.
Should she comfort Shen Yanzhou?
But how could she? What words could make that sound sincere?
“I’m sorry…” Wu Ruyue said again, her voice low.
Shen Yanzhou didn’t look at her.
His gaze remained fixed on the underground palace, and he let out a bitter chuckle.
“Sometimes, fate is just like this when you struggle desperately to climb out of the river, a giant unseen hand reaches out and pulls you back in, drags you back to where you belong.”
“Changing one’s fate, what a ridiculous joke.”
“What do you mean…” Wu Ruyue froze, stunned.
She could sense that something in Shen Yanzhou’s mood was off.
It was the first time she had seen such self-mockery in his expression as though some of his spirit and confidence had been stripped away, utterly different from his usual composed and assured demeanor.
“Let’s go.”
“It’s time to leave this place.”
Shen Yanzhou took a deep breath, as though forcing himself to calm down, then turned and walked toward the exit.
“……”
Wu Ruyue stood there for a moment, gazing at his retreating back.
Biting her lip again, she hurried after him.
Unlike before when Shen Yanzhou had carried her on his back through the dark underground river, the two talking and laughing along the way despite the dangers this time, silence stretched between them.
No one spoke.
Shen Yanzhou walked ahead.
She followed quietly behind.