novelraw Chapter 870 - 736: The Sky Splitting Sword Is in Situ Zhen's Hands
Chapter 870 - 736: The Sky Splitting Sword Is in Situ Zhen's Hands
King sees king too early, a situation all teams wish to avoid.
The balance being broken too early indicates the outcome revealed quickly, thus the situation suddenly becomes chaotic.
Dongguo Shou, exposed, no longer pretends and moves around swiftly, wreaking havoc in ambushes.
The other teams are distressed; the token holders don't die, their hiding spots cannot be concealed, clearly shown on the Mountain River Map. You can't exactly kill your own token holders, but they happen to be the strongest in each team.
The game's rules seem designed to force mutual slaughter, and many deaths are predetermined from the start.
For this reason, the teams of the Four Great Royal Courts have no choice but to let some top experts hand over the tokens temporarily to preserve strength.
The tokens they snatch are no longer held collectively but scattered among individuals to prevent the loss of many tokens if one person falls.
Thus, even with Dongguo Shou's great strength, he suffers as he struggles to snatch a few tokens, running himself ragged in small, scattered jobs.
The Heavenly Court Team not only has the Sky Splitting Sword but also Dongguo Shou. In this situation, apart from knowing the Sky Splitting Sword is with Situ Zhen, who else cares about the token he holds? The teams of the Royal Courts are all seeking ways to help the West Ox Team find Feng Yin.
Moreover, Commander Manxi of the Heavenly Court Team didn't listen to Shi Chun, who advised against sending someone to find Situ Zhen, fearing it would cause too much commotion and expose their plans.
Yet, how could Manxi sit idly by while Situ Zhen escapes with the Sky Splitting Sword? Despite Shi Chun's assurances, he remained worried, not wanting to alert others, but secretly dispatched elite troops closest to Situ Zhen's escape path to intercept.
This action was kept even from Mulan Jin.
Thus, discovering the interceptors led Situ Zhen into a cracked abyss.
This move delighted the pursuers, a group of over ten people eventually cornered Situ Zhen deep underground.
Situ Zhen didn't surrender easily, and neither side produced significant noise from fighting. After a puff of smoke, the leader of the pursuers knelt before Situ Zhen while all his comrades lay dead.
"Why make me surrender the Sky Splitting Sword?" Situ Zhen asked the man whose clothes were torn and whose face was bloodied.
The man sneered and looked disdainful, assuming a posture of defiance, as if daring her to kill him.
Disliking chatter, Situ Zhen clawed near his head, five red threads sprang from her fingertips, quickly burrowing into his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Soon, red light emanated from his brows as he collapsed, groaning and clawing at his flesh, exposing bones yet not stopping.
"I'll talk..." The groaning man finally emitted a defeated cry, ready to answer every question.
Critically, he couldn't clarify the specifics, claiming to act on a secret order from Commander Manxi of the Heavenly Court Team. Manxi said Situ Zhen had the Sky Splitting Sword and over a hundred Centurion Tokens, instructing them not to touch Feng Yin's token, but to remove the others and take the sword.
Manxi hadn't insisted they must kill Situ Zhen, just this, other than that, he was truly oblivious to any more details.
Situ Zhen pondered a while, then coldly laughed, knowing without much thought who orchestrated this. Even she was unaware of having a hundred tokens and the Sky Splitting Sword; others might doubt Shi Chun would give her the sword. Otherwise, her lonely journey wouldn't be so quiet, disturbingly quiet even to her. How was Manxi so certain she had the sword, unless Shi Chun informed him?
"What a guy, fabricating reasons to pursue me." With continuous cold laughter, Situ Zhen's fingers danced, agitating the red threads connected to the man's brain. Instantly, he began convulsing, his eyes rolling up, displaying a dazed look.
Situ Zhen continued chanting at him, "The Sky Splitting Sword is with Situ Zhen, the Sky Splitting Sword is with Situ Zhen..."
After a few repetitions, the man, stuttering, began echoing the phrase senselessly, "The Sky Splitting Sword is with Situ Zhen, the Sky Splitting Sword is with Situ Zhen..."
Certain he'd fully picked up the chant, Situ Zhen's fingers swiftly retracted the red threads.
The man appeared as if his soul had been removed, eyes shut and instantly collapsed.
With a swoop of her sleeves, Situ Zhen turned and left.
She made no effort to conceal herself, making a signal while fleeing the abyss, then proceeded towards her original route without hiding.
From the interrogation results, it was evident the Heavenly Court Team's pursuit of her was covert, with no exposure on the Heavenly Mirror.
Not only because they wanted to hide the Sky Splitting Sword's whereabouts but due to her background; anyone wishing to act against Situ Gu's disciple wouldn't dare openly unless absolutely necessary.
Those sent against her typically wouldn't have their actions reflected on the Heavenly Mirror.
This is why she won't easily abandon this superficial identity, bursting into curses with Shi Chun isn't unwarranted.
On the way, she took out the Mother-child Talisman to contact Duan Jie, informing him of the location of the recent incident, instructing him to send people as soon as possible and ensure they find the place before the Heavenly Court Team...
"Commander, the signal from Xu Lao's Token has disappeared."
In the Command Center of the Heavenly Court Team, someone suddenly reported secretly to Manxi.
Manxi was shocked upon hearing this. Xu Lao was the leader he secretly sent to pursue and kill Situ Zhen, a master in the Earth Immortal Great Success Realm. Dealing with a Situ Zhen should have been no problem, especially with skilled personnel accompanying him. How could they have been killed instead? Could it be that Situ Zhen has a great treasure bestowed by Situ Gu?
That can't be. Situ Gu had clearly stated that he hadn't given his disciple any Magical Treasure, and had explicitly asked everyone to spare his disciple's life. Given Situ Gu's status, he wouldn't lie about this.
Or is it that some other person has intervened?
He asked through transmission again, "Have you contacted the others? Ask about the reason."
The subordinate secretly reported, "People have been contacted through the Mother-child Talisman, but there has been no response, indicating that something must have happened to them all."
Manxi's expression darkened slightly, and he transmitted a message, "Quickly send someone to find out what happened."
"Yes," the subordinate complied.
After a series of secret arrangements, Manxi turned back to quietly glance at Mulan Jin, not telling her what had just happened. Once again, he couldn't just watch Situ Zhen take the Sky Splitting Sword, as Shi Chun's assurances weren't enough to give him absolute confidence.
What he didn't know was that Shi Chun wanted to avoid involving him merely to minimize losses for the Heavenly Court Team in the Land of Extreme Abyss.
It's not that he was particularly concerned about the Heavenly Court Team's personnel; rather, only if the Heavenly Court Team won could he perfectly fulfill his military achievements. If the Heavenly Court Team couldn't win, his outstanding military achievements within the team would mean nothing. Therefore, he wanted to help the Heavenly Court Team preserve its strength.
But Manxi was the commander, and he had his own ideas. He wouldn't just follow whatever Shi Chun said.
Shi Chun somewhat overestimated Mulan Jin's influence in this regard, or perhaps misjudged the related relationships.
Under the manipulation of someone with intentions, a part of a West Ox Team detachment coincidentally appeared in the deep ravine area. The leader saw the signal, crushed and erased it with one foot, then turned and asked, "Do you smell something? It seems like there's a scent of blood."
Then, the few of them dispersed to check, and as one could imagine, they discovered something beneath the ravine. One of them called out, and everyone gathered to investigate.
"Here, there's a survivor here." Someone from the personnel searching shouted out.
A group gathered and woke the survivor. The survivor had drool at the corner of his mouth and frightening scratch marks on his body, muttering foolishly, "The Sky Splitting Sword is in Situ Zhen's hands, the Sky Splitting Sword is in Situ Zhen's hands..."
With emotions seemingly becoming more agitated, the voice grew louder, and at the end even became hoarse, so much so that the group couldn't calm him down. Ultimately, they watched him stiffen his body, and with a neck bent, he died.
The group looked at each other, then searched the bodies, soon confirming the identity of the Heavenly Court Team's personnel from the related relics.
The related news quickly reached the West Ox Team's Command Center.
Commander Niu Qian was taken aback upon hearing the report and confirmed seriously, "You're sure they didn't mishear, that it was said the Sky Splitting Sword is in Situ Zhen's hands?"
The subordinate reported, "It's been repeatedly confirmed, they definitely didn't mishear. The severely injured person said it several times before dying, and they all heard it. The main point is, Situ Zhen's trace indeed seems to have passed through there, which shouldn't be a coincidence."
Niu Qian's rapidly flashing gaze rested on countless light points on the Mountain River Map, and he said slowly, "That means there's a good chance the Heavenly Court Team was secretly pursuing and trying to kill Situ Zhen... Check where Situ Zhen is now?"
It was not difficult. By tracking Feng Yin's signal, they soon found it, and under the comparison with the Heavenly Mirror's mirror image, they once again saw Situ Zhen flying alone.
Niu Qian frowned, "Still alone, none of those who died could contend with him alone? Or is there some other trick?"
Just at this time, a subordinate read a transmitted message and reported urgently, "Commander, bad news, another group of unidentified individuals appeared at the incident location and mistakenly thought we were the ones who killed them, so they attacked our people."
Niu Qian cast a cold glance, scolding, "Nonsense! Would you attack for unrelated deceased? The newcomers and the deceased are one group!"
The subordinate suddenly realized, "Also members of the Heavenly Court Team?"
Niu Qian, with hands behind his back, paced rapidly back and forth on the high platform, thinking quickly. He knew about the relationship between Situ Zhen and Shi Chun, and he had no reason to believe Manxi didn't know. Why would Situ Zhen leave alone, and why would Manxi then send someone to kill her?
The signs suggesting that there was a treasure on Situ Zhen weren't far-fetched.
The real confusion for him was if Situ Zhen stole the treasure and left, why hadn't Situ Zhen fled towards the Beiju Team, which would have been more natural for receiving her? Could it be that pursuit caused a failure in contact or support?
No matter how much doubt he had, he couldn't let suspicion cause him to miss the potential Sky Splitting Sword at present. He immediately turned his head to call his trusted aide over, gave some secret instructions, and rushed to secretly arrange personnel to capture Situ Zhen, believing they could confirm the situation once they had her.