Spirit Realm

Qin Lie had gotten the nebula jade tablet from Tu Ze earlier, and Tu Ze had clearly told him that this jade token would allow him to directly enter Nebula Pavilion and immediately become a core member.

With it, he wouldn’t need to reach the Natal Opening Realm before turning twenty to be qualified to enter Nebula Pavilion like Ling Xuanxuan or Ling Yushi needed to.

At that time, Tu Ze had also added that after he arrived at Nebula Pavilion and showed his jade tablet in the future, they might even need to take it back.

—One could see that this jade tablet probably had a little history of its own.

It was true that he had only his words to prove his adventure of killing the Shattered Ice Manor martial practitioners with Tu Ze and the others really happened. The only evidence he could think of would be this jade tablet.

Of course, he himself wasn’t sure if this jade tablet would actually persuade anyone, so after he passed it to Ye Yangqiu, he too felt some doubt within.

Hence him looking at Ye Yangqiu’s reactions closely…

Ye Yangqiu was consistently a stern and indifferent person. He carelessly accepted the jade tablet and frowned while leaning forward to take a look, and suddenly, he froze.

With the jade tablet in his hand, it seemed his entire body had turned stiff as he just stood there motionlessly without making any sound whatsoever for a very long time.

The Ling Family clansmen were all tense and looked anxiously at Ye Yangqiu. Every single one of them were holding their breaths, hoping that Qin Lie could prove that the Ling Family was innocent and that he had no ties whatsoever with Shattered Ice Manor.

Ling Chengye, Ling Yushi, Ling Xuanxuan and everyone else had their eyes all set upon Ye Yangqiu while experiencing the same anxiety.

“My lord…”

Seeing no reaction from him after a long while, a hall master under Ye Yangqiu could not help but exclaim softly.

Amidst the alarmed and doubtful looks, Ye Yangqiu finally came to his senses. After a moments consideration, he then lifted the jade tablet in Du Haitian’s direction, without a word, so that they could see the nebula diagram on it.

Du Haitian took a single glance and abruptly his entire expression turned to horror as he screamed out, “A Nebula Token? Impossible! How can it possibly be a Nebula Token?!”

The moment the words “Nebula Token” fell out into the open, every martial practitioner from Nebula Pavilion became stunned with surprise. Countless looks of extreme shock quickly gathered on Qin Lie.

Every martial practitioner from Nebula Pavilion knew the exact origins of the Nebula Token and what it represented.

The Nebula Tokens were made specifically under the request of the old Pavilion Master Tu Shixiong, and there were only two of them that existed in the world. He had left them specifically for his two sons.

Tu Shixiong had built Nebula Pavilion from scratch with his own hands, and he had broken through into the Manifestation Realm twenty years ago, thus successfully entering Dark Asura Hall.

Back in the day, when he first left Nebula Pavilion and joined Dark Asura Hall, he only had his eldest son Tu Mo. His wife’s cultivation realm was low, so she could not enter Dark Asura Hall with him. Therefore, he could only leave his wife and Tu Mo back at Nebula Pavilion.

He would go through fire and water for Dark Asura Hall many years after. There would even be numerous rumors of him, from Dark Asura Hall, having fought to his death on the “Nether Battlefield.”

At the time, Tu Mo was still somewhat young and could not help Nebula Pavilion which was why the position of pavilion master was left empty.

There were also the constant rumors from Dark Asura Hall that Tu Shixiong had fought to his death, and it gave birth to the many trials and dangers within Nebula Pavilion to obtain the position of pavilion master; it nearly took away Tu Mo’s life.

Later, not only had Tu Shixiong managed to survive the Nether Battlefield, he was even conferred the position of “Commander.” He then immediately returned to Nebula Pavilion and killed all who conspired against him. After that, he stayed in Nebula Pavilion for a period of time, during which he and his wife contributed to the birth of his second son Tu Ze.

Tu Ze’s birth made Tu Shixiong incredibly happy, and he specifically requested for an artificer in Dark Asura Hall to make two Nebula Tokens to give to his sons.

These two unique Nebula Tokens were filled with the great love he had for his sons. Not only would the command token enhance any practitioner who cultivated using Nebula Pavilion’s special art formula, it also represented his authority and was a mark of his unmatched and status in Nebula Pavilion. It was a deterrent towards all martial practitioners under the pavilion who held disloyalty in their hearts.

Back to the present. His eldest son Tu Mo had reached the late stage of the Natal Opening Realm long ago, and he was very close to breaking through to the Manifestation Realm. Not only that, he was also firmly seated as the pavilion master of Nebula Pavilion for quite some time now and simply did not need the Nebula Token any longer. Over time, this caused the Nebula Token to gradually become just a symbol of a sovereign’s identity.

Only Tu Mo and Tu Ze possessed the Nebula Tokens, and they were also the unique representation of the two brothers. If they wanted to send someone on an errand, they only needed to show the tokens to get it done.

Since Tu Mo was now the pavilion master of Nebula Pavilion, the Nebula Token was gradually known otherwise as the Pavilion Master Command Tablet…

“I have examined it closely and confirmed that this is definitely a Nebula Token!” Ye Yangqiu ignored Du Haitian’s cries and nodded towards Qin Lie amidst the faces of the Ling Family bursting with mad joy. His cold eyes finally softened, “This Nebula Token belongs to Tu Ze, correct? If he’s willing to lend you his Nebula Token, then it is enough to prove that you cannot possibly share any relations with Shattered Ice Manor. It will seem that you have spoken the truth and that those spirit pills were indeed looted off of the corpses of Shattered Ice Manor’s martial practitioners.”

The moment those words escaped Ye Yangqiu’s lips, everyone in the Ling Family let loose an expression of pure relief. Finally, they could put down their hanging hearts.

Surprise bloomed within Qin Lie’s heart. He had not expected the jade tablet Tu Ze had given him would work this well, completely wiping away Ye Yangqiu’s suspicions of him in an instant.

—Up till now, he still did not know what the Nebula Token truly represented.

“My lord, I suddenly remembered something.” The eyes of a hall master, a subordinate of Ye Yangqiu, lit up at this moment as he said suddenly, “Not long ago when I went to visit Elder Han, I heard from him that there was a junior in the Ling Family who had saved his son Han Feng’s life from the hands of Shattered Ice Manor’s Yan Ziqian in the Arctic Mountain Range. He was even rewarded with one thousand and two hundred contribution points. As you know, Han Feng and Tu Ze often mingled, and they often went outside to hunt together…”

“My lord, I have some impression too about the matter; I believe I’ve heard this before from Kang Zhi,” Another person expressed his opinion.

Ye Yangqiu appeared stunned for a brief moment before he stared intently at Qin Lie, a trace of surprise leaking out of his eyes. “You are that Ling Lie, aren’t you?”

Qin Lie coolly smiled back in affirmation.

From behind him, Ling Chengzhi and Ling Xuanxuan were excited beyond words when they heard the news. Their eyes suddenly lit up as they stared firmly at Qin Lie’s back.

They could still remember the day Nebula Pavilion’s guards intentionally made life difficult for them to the point where they couldn’t even step through the front door. Ling Xuanxuan was even harassed for quite a while by them…

At a critical moment, it was the name “Ling Lie” that had rescued them from their peril. Kang Zhi had beaten up and humiliated their own guards for “Ling Lie.”

Elder Han Qingrui had accepted them enthusiastically because of “Ling Lie,” and even exempted the Ling Family from two years of tribute.

Once they returned from Nebula Pavilion, the entire family had been looking for this elusive “Ling Lie.” Unfortunately, they had only found a bedridden Ling Lie.

They had suspected Qin Lie before, but they quickly found their own assumptions to be absurd. They simply assumed that Nebula Pavilion had made a mistake and was even quite worried about the outcome for a while.

Now that they heard Ye Yangqiu and the other Nebula Pavilion martial practitioner’s explanations and saw both the Nebula Token and Qin Lie’s cool smile, they finally realized that — the one who had saved the Ling Family from their predicament was none other than Qin Lie!

Light bloomed inside the two sisters’ eyes. Both sisters were feeling excitement in their hearts, and Ling Xuanxuan’s eyes had even turned slightly red…

On the other hand, Du Family’s Du Haitian and Du Jiaolan wore a gloomy expression on their faces, and they looked at Qin Lie with a kind of shock and fear that was akin to seeing a ghost in broad daylight.

No matter how much they plotted, they could never have expected that the fool that they had scorned would suddenly appear without warning at this most critical juncture, and not only had he wiped away their accusations, he was also somehow related to the most powerful people in Nebula Pavilion, the Tu Family, turning the entire situation away from Ling Family’s near certain destruction.

“As for the part at Celestial Wolf Mountain…” Qin Lie’s tone remained cool and collected as he stared into Ye Yangqiu’s eyes and said, “If you cannot believe our words, then please wait for another five to six days for Liu Yan’s report. Hm, it should take him six days at most to reach Nebula Pavilion, and by now, Gao Yu should have returned to Gao Family already. You can also ask him to stand witness for us.”

“Elder Ye, please give us the time to prove our innocence!” Ling Yushi begged sincerely.

Ye Yangqiu narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment. He suddenly said, “Release the Ling Family clansmen.”

Every Ling Family member relaxed because of his words. They knew that he no longer saw them as traitors, and this change in attitude was of paramount importance to the Ling Family!

“Do forgive my many offenses earlier, little brother.”

“Yes, we had acted too rashly. We’re really sorry.”

When Ye Yangqiu’s subordinates helped Ling Xing, Ling Xiao and the others with their bonds, they were all smiling embarrassedly and repeatedly offered their apologies.

They had already believed Qin Lie’s words from the bottom of their hearts, and that was why their attitudes had undergone a massive change.

“If what you said is true, then… the Feng Family cannot be forgiven!” A hall master under Ye Yangqiu uttered with a cold expression, “Feng Bing must be tired of living. How dare he collude with Shattered Ice Manor, and even slander the Ling Family with extreme maliciousness. Nebula Pavilion will never forgive him!”

“Send a hawk messenger to contact the pavilion, and tell them that the moment Liu Yan returns, he is to report to me about this incident immediately!” Ye Yangqiu yelled coldly.

“Yes sir.” The martial practitioner accepted the order and immediately ordered his own subordinate, and before long, a gray shadow hawk broke towards the skies.

“Keep this Nebula Token to yourself.” Ye Yangqiu returned the command token to Qin Lie and frowned. “If what you’re saying is true, then the Feng Family must hate the Ling Family to the core to use such an evil ploy to frame the Ling Family. On one hand, they wished that we would make an error in judgment and inflict the Ling Family with great misfortune. On the other, they were using this opportunity to move away so they could settle within Shattered Ice Manor’s grounds and restart their cultivation.”

“Mn, it must be like that.” Qin Lie nodded quietly.

“Elder Du, what other opinions do you have to offer on this matter?” Ye Yangqiu suddenly looked towards Du Haitian with a dark expression, and his tone suggested that it was accusatory.

Du Haitian’s gaze was dark with uncertainty, and with a frown, he said indifferently, “This is the Discipline Hall’s matter, so I have no authority to interfere. Elder Ye will surely bring this mystery to light. The reason I’m here is to bring my cousin and nephews back to the Du Family. That’s all.”

He looked towards Du Jiaolan, Du Heng, Du Fei and the rest and said, “It looks like the Ling Family does not welcome us, so you lot may as well come home with me and stay there for a while. I have left the Du Family for Nebula Pavilion for such a long time, and I haven’t found much opportunity to return home, so I shall accompany you all and take a look around.”

Du Jiaolan and the others kept quiet and did not answer. Beneath the Ling Family’s scornful gaze, they disgracefully left Ling Town together with Du Haitian.