1498 Nine Sect Alliances’ Headquarter

"No! No!" The moment Ouyang Qing heard Duan Ling Tian's threat, he shook his head hastily. Right then, all of his high and mighty air had disappeared, unlike before.

At that moment, he looked like a sparrow that had had the fright of its life.

Taking off his grimacing mask, Ouyang Qing's pale face was exposed right away. His eyes were completely filled with terror and they stayed that way for a long time.

"F-For you!" After removing the Ownership Claim on his Spatial Ring, Ouyang Qing obediently handed it to Duan Ling Tian very cooperatively.

Of course, although he was cooperative, his heart was actually bleeding inside.

At first, he thought that he would be able to obtain Duan Ling Tian's Spatial Ring, but it had never crossed his mind that in the end, it was Duan Ling Tian who managed to snatch his Spatial Ring away in a coercive manner. Apart from that, he had no way of rejecting at all.

To be more precise, he did not dare to reject his request.

The moment he recalled how his Grandfather Shan, the almighty Second Elder of the Ouyang Clan had died, Ouyang Qing could not summon any strength to defy him at all.

"Let's go!" With a raise of his hand, Duan Ling Tian grabbed Ouyang Qing's elbow as tight as a metal claw and led him away from this dump site back to the junction earlier.

Then, Duan Ling Tian brought Ouyang Qing with him to the North.

"A-are you from the Nine Sect Alliances?" Realizing that Duan Ling Tian was bringing him to the Nine Sect Alliances' headquarters, Ouyang Qing's voice started to tremble in sheer terror.

"Weren't you very arrogant today when I went to the Ouyang Clan? Why have you suddenly become a coward now? I'm really not used to this," Duan Ling Tian cast a nonchalant glance at Ouyang Qing and remarked.

With just a casual remark, Ouyang Qing's face turned entirely red, yet he had nothing to refute at all.

After a while, he finally asked in a quivering voice, "W-What do you want to do? What do you want to do to me? Y-You told me that you aren't going to kill me, so you can't just go back on your word!" Ouyang Qing completely panicked.

Even though he realized that Duan Ling Tian's background must be very terrifying the moment he learned that he had used a Three-Star offensive Dao Talisman to kill Ouyang Shan, it was only an assumption and might not be true.

Perhaps, Duan Ling Tian had encountered some fortuitous meeting and obtained treasure left behind by a powerhouse. Possibly, he had obtained the Three-Star Dao Talisman from that treasure.

However, now that he realized that Duan Ling Tian might turn out to be from the Nine Sect Alliances, the sense of luck that he felt in his heart earlier completely dissipated.

He was very clear that if he were from the Nine Sect Alliances, the Ouyang Clan would not dare to utter a squeak at all even if Duan Ling Tian killed him.

Duan Ling Tian killing him would be just like killing a chicken; he had no need to fear anything at all.

When he realized that his life was in Duan Ling Tian's hands, Ouyang Qing was mortified and absolutely in fear.

"I've said that I wouldn't kill you, so of course, I won't." Duan Ling Tian cast a disgusted look at Ouyang Qing and thought to himself that had it not been for the fact that this fellow still was of use to him, he would not have spared his life.

Upon hearing Duan Ling Tian's words, Ouyang Qing heaved a sigh of relief.

Although he could guess that Duan Ling Tian might use him to do something, he did not think much about it. To him, he was fine with it as long as he was able to exist.

As long he could live, he was willing to do anything. For when a person was dead, he would lose everything and vanish from this world completely, ceasing to exist without leaving a trace.

The Nine Sect Alliances' district headquarters covered a large region of Han River City's northern area. This area was further divided into nine districts; each district being the operation point of the nine great sects of the Nine Sect Alliances in Han River City.

When Duan Ling Tian arrived at the great entrance of the Nine Sect Alliances' headquarters, he was immediately blocked.

The grand entrance of the Nine Sect Alliances' headquarters was brightly illuminated by lights. At each side of the door stood nine people, making it a total of 18 people. Right now, one of them was scrutinizingDuan Ling Tian and asking him with a frown, "Who are you? Why are you here at our Nine Sect Alliances' headquarters at such a late hour?"

"I'm a disciple from the Moon Illumination Sect," Duan Ling Tian answered. Now that he had come to the Nine Sect Alliances' headquarters, of course, he would need to reveal his sect to them. Otherwise, he could not enter at all.

"The Moon Illumination Sect?" When Ouyang Qing, who was hoisted in his grip, heard his words, shock filled his face right away.

Now, he finally learned about Duan Ling Tian's identity. So, it turned out that he was from the Moon Illumination Sect! However, it was a little too late for him now.

"You're from the Moon Illumination Sect?" When the middle-aged man, who was frowning when he interrogated Duan Ling Tian, heard him, his frown eased up right away before he turned to two other men among the 18 people. "Liu Hai, Liu Yue, since he claims that he's from your Moon Illumination Sect, I'll leave him to you to check his identity."

The two men, whose names were Liu Hai and Liu Yue — one young while the other was middle-aged — nodded their heads right away and walked up to Duan Ling Tian.

Looking at Duan Ling Tian, Liu Yue asked politely, "You said that you're a disciple from our Moon Illumination Sect. Do you have the Order Token of the sect?"

Despite Duan Ling Tian appearing very young, Liu Yue was someone who had made a living wandering around the world for many years. He could feel that Duan Ling Tian's presence was extraordinary. Even if he was a disciple of the Moon Illumination Sect, he must not be an ordinary one.

"Yes." Duan Ling Tian nodded and at the same time, he took out an Order Token to pass to Liu Yue. It was a personal token of an outer court disciple of the Moon Illumination Sect.

After Liu Yue had checked the Order Token, he returned it to Duan Ling Tian and asked in surprise, "It's the correct Order Token but… You're an outer court disciple?"

Casually nudging Ouyang Qing aside as though he had just thrown away trash, Duan Ling Tian clasped his hands together to greet Liu Yue and Liu Hai. "I'm Duan Ling Tian. Good day to you, Senior Brother Liu Yue and Senior Brother Liu Hai."

From their Order Tokens hanging by their waists, he could tell that they were both inner court disciples of the Moon Illumination Sect.

However, the instant Duan Ling Tian opened his mouth, Liu Yue and Liu Hai were instantly stunned into bafflement.

"Duan Ling Tian? The outer court disciple of the Moon Illumination Sect?" Right at that second, the other 16 men had also paid close attention to Duan Ling Tian, as though he had something that attracted them.

"What's the matter?" Duan Ling Tian was taken aback as well.

"Y-You're Duan Ling Tian?" Precisely at this point, Ouyang Qing who was casually nudged onto the floor also stared at him as though he had just seen a ghost. It was as if he had just gotten to know Duan Ling Tian.

"You know me too?" Upon hearing Ouyang Qing's words, Duan Ling Tian frowned straightaway. Was he that famous?

"J-Junior Brother Duan, don't you know that your name has spread out to almost the entire Nine Sect Alliances' district?" Liu Yue finally returned to his senses. After he heard Duan Ling Tian responding to Ouyang Qing, he could not help but smile wryly.

"My name has spread out to almost the entire Nine Sect Alliances' district?" Duan Ling Tian was dumbfounded.

"After you killed and replaced Feng Fan who was ranked 99th on the Earth Rankings not long after you entered the sect, your fame started to spread out in the Nine Sect Alliances' district," Liu Yue mused.

"Then, you continued to defeat He Zhong who ranked 66th on the Earth Rankings again and straightaway took his spot in the Earth Rankings. This has even taken the entire Nine Sect Alliances' district by surprise! Right now, other than those who are in extremely secluded areas and those who are completely not alert about the latest news, basically nobody in the Nine Sect Alliances' district has never heard of you before," Liu Yue added.

Duan Ling Tian was hit by a pang of realization. In the end, it was still related to the Earth Rankings. When he thought of this, he finally understood something.

As far as he knew, the Earth Rankings was a ranking chart in the entire Nine Sect Alliances' district that took all of the most outstanding powerhouses who were at the peak of the Mortal Shedding Stage in the district into account.

Now that he was linked to the Earth Rankings, it was not strange that his identity was spread out to the entire Nine Sect Alliances' district.

At first, the reason Duan Ling Tian had no idea about this was that he had never thought about it from this point of view before.

Now, he realized that he had somehow become somebody who was well-known in the entire Nine Sect Alliances' district unknowingly.

Although those who were ranked on the Earth Rankings were merely Mortal Shedding Stage Martial or Dao Cultivators, all of them were powerhouses who stood at the peak of the Mortal Shedding Stage.

"What's more important is that you're only a Perfection Mortal Shedding Stage, Junior Brother Duan! There's never been such case whereby a Perfection Mortal Shedding Stage Martial Cultivator grabbed the 66th spot in history ever since the Earth Rankings was created," Liu Hai exclaimed.

"He's Duan Ling Tian?"

"He looks really young."

"I heard that he's only 35 years old… 35 years old and he's already ranked 66th on the Earth Rankings. His strength and innate talent are indeed formidable."

"I hear that he's only a Perfection Mortal Shedding Stage Martial Cultivator. Isn't it impossible?"

"I also feel that it's improbable. It's most likely some hoax created by people from the Moon Illumination Sect with the intention to attract attention to themselves."

…

The other 16 middle-aged and young men, who were guarding the great entrance of the Nine Sect Alliances' headquarters, buried their heads in a discussion.

From their words, all of them did not believe that Duan Ling Tian was able to become 66th on the Earth Rankings with his mere cultivation base of Perfection Mortal Shedding Stage.

"I heard that this Duan Ling Tian was even taken in by the Moon Illumination Sect's Elder Bai Li Hong as a disciple on behalf of his Teacher to become his Junior Brother. This is what's truly shocking."

"This news must be true since it's spread out by the Moon Illumination Sect."

"That's right. Who'd dare to spread fake news when it concerns Elder Bai Li Hong?"

"Casting everything else aside, just this alone is reason enough for anybody not to go against Duan Ling Tian. If we go against him, it's equivalent to going against Elder Bai Li Hong."

…

When the discussion among the 16 people reached this point, dread could be seen in their eyes when they looked at Duan Ling Tian again.

As for Ouyang Qing who was sitting down on the ground after being pushed by Duan Ling Tian, after he knew the identity of the person he wanted to take advantage of, he was also terrified to his core.

Duan Ling Tian was a powerhouse ranked 66th in the Earth Rankings and he was also an outstanding person in the outer court of the Moon Illumination Sect.

If that was it, that might have been alright.

However, what sent chills down his heart was none other than Duan Ling Tian's identity.

Duan Ling Tian was the Junior Brother acknowledged by the Three-Star Saint Inscription Master, Bai Li Hong, from the Moon Illumination Sect.

"No wonder! It's no wonder that there are so many Three-Star Saint Inscriptions on his Saint Weapon! As Bai Li Hong's Junior Brother, of course, he won't lack Three-Star Saint Inscriptions." At this moment, Ouyang Qing finally was able to piece the puzzles together.

However, his comprehension came too late now.

"Junior Brother Duan, who is this?" After politely exchanging some words, Liu Yue took a glance at Ouyang Qing who was sitting on the ground and asked Duan Ling Tian with a puzzled look.