Realms In The Firmament

As of this moment, the disturbance in the capital showed no signs of settling. The city contained more than a thousand gangs of various sizes, big and small. But none of them were brave enough to make careless moves, for all of them were truly scared of being annihilated.

The forces of Zuo Xiang Fu had blocked the four gates of the city and had searched the most crime infested areas within the city. They began to act out against the gangs while shouting out a phony slogan: Fight against the criminals; bring back the peace!

They made detailed investigations against each and every gang.

Those who used to play the bullies on the street were now forced to face the music.

A big suspicion crept into every resident’s mind:Just what on earth was stolen from the house of the Minister Zuo? Several days have passed and they are actually still continuing with the investigation!

At the same time, news of two other great events was quickly spreading throughout the kingdom of Chen!

The first was about the killer group Tu-Tian Group, which was feared as the most mysterious and deadliest group. They suddenly suffered a surprise raid causing many of their top killers to be eliminated.

Their secret hideout, on which their existence depended on, was no longer a mystery. Once a killer exposed both his name and face to the public, he would become the public enemy number one. Nobody knew the identity of the person who spilled the secrets of the Tu Tian Group to the world.

Now that it was known where the Tu Tian Group could be found, all people with prior grudges set out to take this group out.

They were like rats crossing the street!

The head of Tu-Tian Group - the No. 1 mysterious killer in the world, Ning Bi-Luo, had luckily fought his way out of the siege and left his stronghold. He had completely vanished from the face of the earth.

The second was… of course, about the emergence of the supreme dan beads!

The Ling-Bao Hall Salesroom was gonna sell the supreme dan at the next auction which was about to take place!

Pei-Yuan Dan was absolutely nothing of high value for the martial sects in this world. It was useful to a certain degree, but only at the starting stages of cultivation. Once a person had become an expert cultivator, Pei-Yuan Dan beads would become practically useless to him!

However, conventional logic could not be applied in the case of these Pei-Yuan Dan beads! Although it was the lowest-grade dan, once it produced the dan cloud, it was definitely something from legends!

These legendary dan beads were something that all dan makers in the world would covet!

If a dan-maker could study it, it could at least boost his dan-making skills into a higher grade!

And dan-making was actually the basic foundation of every martial sect! Every sect wants to strengthen their foundations.

Therefore all the martial sects made their decisions at once: to send their finest men to the capital. They gave such orders without any hesitation: to try their best to acquire the supreme dan no matter what cost!

To ensure that they were not duped, every martial sect had sent an experienced dan-maker!

They didn’t know how many of these legendary dan beads were going to be auctioned. What if there was just one？

Supreme dan with dan cloud was always something from the legends. How would these martial sects dare expect there could be more than one? So when they heard about the good news, they were all thrilled but also filled with caution. Every martial sect spared no effort to fight for it!

While Zuo Xiang Fu was still ‘hunting for the criminals’ all over the capital, all the mysterious martial sects and noble clans started showing up. The whole capital was quickly turning extremely chaotic!

Every force in the world had the same target: Chen-Xing City, the capital of the Chen Kingdom!

Qing-Yun Sect, Cang-Shan Sect, Ling-Yun Sect, Zi-Yu Sect, An-Ning Sect, Wu-Liang Sect…One could go on for hours!

All these superior martial sects started making preparations in advance for this once in a lifetime auction. Even those long-white-bearded old elders who hadn’t shown their faces for many years were slowly reappearing.

Ye Xiao could never have imagined that on the day when he casually used some movements and was mistaken for Ning Bi-Luo, he had actually caused the destruction to a top assassins guild in the Kingdom of Chen.

And he could never have imagined that just by revealing some dan beads, he had caused a massive sensation in the mortal world. He was simply trying to earn some money and get some high quality treasures so that he could go faster in his road of cultivation. If he had known that the beads would receive such worldwide attention, he would have done something low-pitched instead…

In his previous life, he had grown up in the higher-level world of Qing-Yun Realm and had never visited the mortal world, and so, he wouldn’t have guessed that even the cheapest dan could actually cause such a large scale disturbance!

He had been lacking the funds to achieve his goals, so he had casually taken out the supreme dan beads to deal with this issue.

He had accidentally caused tidal waves of trouble to wash over these lands. He had, however, no clue about all these events currently taking place all around the Kingdom of Chen, as he was leisurely enjoying himself in the capital…

……

At this moment Ye Xiao was in Wang Xiao-Nian’s house looking to create some trouble.

Wang Xiao-Nian felt the pressure emitted by these three foppish lords pressing him down, making it hard for him to breath or even to stand up straight. They were creating trouble for him and the young lord Wang couldn’t handle it, so he had secretly sent for his father.

“Wang Xiao-Nian, be honest! That night in Shan-Hua House, was it you who poisoned me?” Ye Xiao stared at Wang Xiao-Nian fiercely.

“Yes! It was you who poisoned Ye Xiao! I am the witness!” Lan Lang-Lang always desired to stir up trouble, so when he heard Ye Xiao’s ‘powerful’ pretext, he jumped right in. He didn’t care if it was true or not, he just wanted to make some trouble here…

“You bastard actually dared to poison my brother. How dare you!” Zuo Wu-Ji shouted cheerfully.

In the two foppish lads’ minds, getting poisoned was absolutely something made up by Ye Xiao. They wouldn’t have known that it was the truth. Anyway, they just wanted to add fuel to the fire and at least make Wang Xiao-Nian sweat.

Ye Xiao was also showing a face like he was just setting him up with some fake excuses. It became harder for Wang Xiao-Nian to tell right from left as what was true started to seem false and what was false started to seem like the truth.

Wang Xiao-Nian’s face turned pale, “Ye Xiao… you...you… Don’t speak nonsense! When did I poison you? You… You can’t just set me up like this!”

“I was there and it was obviously you who poisoned Ye Xiao! Your dirty tricks can never escape my eyes!” Lan Lang-Lang had his eyes wide open, “Otherwise how could Ye Xiao actually have gotten drunk after only a few glasses...”

Wang Xiao-Nian’s face turned pale white and it looked like he would be spitting out blood any second now, “WHAT! Getting drunk too quickly equals... being poisoned?!”

“Yes! Yes it is! So what?”

“Wang Xiao-Nian you work this thing out today!”

“Otherwise we will tear your house apart today...”

The three lads were like monsters. They were importunately talking nonsense and running off their mouths. Apparently they were just looking for a bone in an egg [1]. Wang Xiao-Nian felt anxious, angry and wronged and he almost cried.

What could he do anyway, facing the three most unreasonable men in the capital?

Ye Xiao had actually been poisoned in the Shan-Hua House. That night, Wang Xiao-Nian had actually been hanging around with these three foppish lords. Besides, his father, Wang Da-Nian, actually had close connections with the Shan-Hua House…

Due to these reasons, Ye Xiao suspected the Wang clan...

The question was… Although Wang Xiao-Nian had never been a good person, would he really stoop to such a low level as to poison someone who attended the Shan-Hua House?

Ye Xiao and the other two foppish lords were throwing random words out, pretending the truth to be a mere lie, leaving Wang Xiao-Nian desperately searching for a way out, as large beads of sweat were dripping down his face. They were showing the attitude which said: “Apparently we are pinching you, so what? Bite me!”

Zuo Wu-Ji had the Minister Zuo in his family; Ye Xiao had the Northern General; Lan Lang-Lang had the Southern General. These three officers were truly someone Wang Xiao-Nian’s father could not afford to displease.

In another word, if the three officers took a little action against him, he wouldn’t have a chance to get away even though he had a crown prince behind him… If the three clans fought together against the Wang clan, how could the crown prince offend three of the most influential figures in the government at the same time for a mere leader of the guards?

“You are unscrupulous! How dare you poison me!” Ye Xiao looked fierce.

“You are heartless! How dare you poison Ye Xiao! I am the witness! I saw it with my own eyes!” Lan Lang-Lang was thrilled and shouted.

“You are perverse! You actually poisoned Ye Xiao!” Zuo Wu-Ji went along cheerfully.

“You betrayed your family! You are worse than a beast! You are against the gods! You are horrific! You actually poisoned Ye Xiao!” Lan Lang-Lang spoke smoothly and actually came out with such sophisticated words. Words like these were something he wouldn’t be able to think of in normal circumstances… However, there was even a ‘you betrayed your family’ in it. It seemed like he had gone a little bit over the top…

“I...I… I didn’t poison you… I did not… I don’t even know what poison it was…” By this time Wang Xiao-Nian was on the verge of crying. Suddenly, his father, Wang Da-Nian barged in.

When he saw Ye Xiao standing right inside his house, his facial expression changed at once.

The next moment when he heard the words ‘actually poisoned Ye Xiao’, he felt faint and nearly fell down the stairs. His face had turned extremely pale.

These moves, that were obvious mistakes from a panicking person, were absolutely something that he, as the leader of the guards in the Crown Prince Palace, wasn’t supposed to make!

Wang Da-Nian composed himself quickly and walked forward. Fawningly he said, “Oh, what an honor for me to have you three lords here. Honored guests! You lit up my humble house, really!” Then he turned to his son, “You rascal! We have the three lords here and you haven’t even prepared tea for them yet! Is this how I raised you, to ignore your guests like this?”

In fact Ye Xiao had noticed Wang Da-Nian’s strange reaction earlier. The changes in his face and stumbling moves, Ye Xiao had seen them clearly. He quickly deduced the truth of this matter and sneered.

“Dad…” Wang Xiao-Nian had been feeling depressed, but luckily his father had shown up now as his savior, “About that night, it was obvious that Ye Xiao was poor at alcohol and got drunk. Now he intentionally insists that I have poisoned him. He would have died long ago if he was truly poisoned. How could he be swaggering around here… He...He is obviously bullying me, isn’t he?

“Poor at alcohol and got drunk?” Wang Da-Nian was confused.

At this moment, his face was really strange - a face which could only be described as weird.

Ye Xiao stepped forward and was slightly shaking his body. He stared at him and said loudly, “That night it was your son’s treat. He poisoned me! I need an explanation for that right away!”

Lan Lang-Lang felt interested and stepped forward too, “That’s right! I saw it with my own eyes. I am the witness. Your son poisoned Ye Xiao! The evidence is conclusive! Do you still want to deny it?!”

Wang Da-Nian spoke carefully, “Poison? If you don’t mind, lord Ye, would you care to tell me how my son poisoned you and what poison it was?!”

…...

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[1] A Chinese idiom. The phrase means trying deliberately to find a fault with someone or something faultless. The idiom is often used to describe someone who is very picky, who finds faults with others on purpose.