Chapter 98 96- Strange Situation

Xi Shen and the rest disembark from the boat before Bai Xiaofung collected it into his storage.

Bai Xiaofung then turned to Xi Shen and said, “Brother Shen, please stay here while I speak with my father. I’ll have him speak with the people responsible for taking brother Fei Yin’s family coffins and have them immediately return. I just cannot agree with this method, to think someone from our Bai Clan would stoop so low. This type of thing is frowned upon in the cultivation world, and I myself find it an atrocious act to use one’s family to get back at them. If that was a norm in the cultivation world, I can’t even imagine the amount of chaos it could bring. It is enough with those Demonic Cultivators in hidding.”

After saying that Bai Xiaofung let out a sigh, and while waving to one of the servants as they walked into the Pavilion he said to Fei Yin, “Brother Fei Yin, rest assured this problem will be resolved, and you’ll have your family back to give them a proper burial.”

Fei Yin could hear the sincerity in Bai Xiaofung’s voice, and he was very appreciative of his willingness to help.

“Thank you, young master Bai Xiaofung.”

Bai Xiaofung waved his hand and said, “Brother Fei Yin, you are no longer a servant from my clan, you and I are fellow disciples of the prestigious Celestial Academy. You should address me as brother from now on.”

Bai Xiaofung smiled cheerfully as he said that, and his smile got wider when Fei Yin nodded at his suggestion.

A male servant came up to the group and bowed to Bai Xiaofung as a greeting.

Bai Xiaofung turned to the servant and said, “I want you to serve brother Xi Shen and his friends our Bai Clan’s best tea.” Bai Xiaofung then turn to Xi Shen and said, “Brother Xi Shen, rest here in the Pavilion while I go sort matters out.”

Xi Shen nodded, but he suddenly said, “Get some wine as well.”

Bai Xiaofung nodded, and then said to the servant, “Alright, go and attend to brother Xi Shen’s request.”

The servant immediately left and after Bai Xiaofung said a few more things, he left as well, leaving Xi Shen, Yang Su, Fei Yin, and Fang Chen inside the spacious Pavilion.

After a moment, two servants came back with a pot of wine and tea on trays.

Xi Shen had the servants leave before he poured himself a cup of wine, Yang Su and the rest chose to drink the tea instead.

After they were all settled down, Fang Chen turned to Xi Shen with a serious expression and said, “Faction Leader, did you see the people in the other pavilions we passed to get here?”

Xi Shen nodded his head, but Yang Su and Fei Yin didn’t know what Fang Chen was talking about.

Fang Chen then continued to say, “Those people were from the Lin Clan! Why is the Lin Clan being so close to the Bai Clan? They even teamed up with them to have brother Fei Yin killed in the Demon Sealing Pagoda, while you were distracted. This just doesn’t make any sense!”

Fang Chen frowned as he couldn’t grasp why the Lin Clan would associate themselves with the Bai Clan to such a degree, that they were willing to team up against his Faction Leader. The Lin Clan was the third strongest of the Seven Major Clans while the Bai Clan was at the bottom. The Bai Clan has nothing to offer to make the Lin Clan have dealings with them. Or at least that’s what Fang Chen was thinking.

Fei Yin then said, “Maybe something is going on in the dark that we don’t know about.”

Yang Su nodded at that, and Fang Chen had to agree with that as well.

Xi Shen only remained silent as he watched them talk about the Lin and Bai Clan. Their conclusion was pretty accurate, although Xi Shen himself didn’t know the full details, he knew it had to do something with the pill furnace.

He had a few speculations as to what the Bai Clan intended to use the pill furnace to negotiate with the Lin Clan, but he wasn’t too eager to find out since he was going to try and steal the pill furnace anyway. Anything negotiation they had going on would come to a complete standstill.

Now that he was in the Bai Clan, he just had to think of a way to get his hands on it. However, he would need to locate it first or check to see if it was even in their Clan at the moment.

‘Tai.’

Xi Shen spoke to Tai using his mental link with him.

‘Yes, Master?’

The voice of an adolescent boy echoed in Xi Shen’s mind in response.

‘I want you and Little Snow to search the Bai Clan and locate the pill furnace.’

‘And how do you expect me to find it? I don’t know what it looks like. Are you suggesting that I just randomly search everywhere for it? What if I mistook it for a common pill furnace?’

Hearing Tai’s barrage of questions, Xi Shen almost rolled his eyes.

Then a sweet-sounding voice of a little girl was heard interrupting Tai.

‘Since it possesses the properties of Chaos Qi, we wouldn’t mistake it for a common pill furnace.’

Xi Shen smiled when he heard Little Snow, before he added, ‘Yeah that’s right. The Bai Clan can’t hide the fluctuations of Chaos Qi, so all you guys need to do is get near it to find where it’s being kept.’

‘Okay Master,’ said Little Snow.

After that Tai could be heard saying in a slightly worried voice, ‘Hey, don’t you think this is dangerous for me and Little Snow?’

Hearing that Xi Shen asked slightly confused, ‘What do you mean? You’re never this pessimistic when it comes to searching for treasures, what’s bothering you?’

Tai responded with, ‘I’m not being pessimistic, I’m just worried. Ever since we entered the Bai Clan the Grand Formation around their Clan is making it harder for me and Little Snow to create our pocket spaces. It looks like the formation has a function that prevents people from using teleportation, but it’s affecting us too.’

Xi Shen contemplated Tai's words for a moment then he said, ‘If you think it would be too dangerous for you guys, you don’t have to go. I won’t do anything that can put you two in harm's way.’

As soon as Xi Shen said that, Little Snow responded, ‘Don’t worry Master, we can still do it. Even though the formation restricts us somewhat, their formation is going to make their caution towards things like this lesson. All we have to do is avoid the Divine Will of a Soul Transformation Realm expert, and we won’t be discovered.’

‘Alright, when of if you find the pill furnace tell me.’

After that, the conversation between Xi Shen and his two pets ended, with them sneakily going around the Bai Clan searching for the pill furnace.

While Xi Shen was talking to Tai and Little Snow telepathically, Yang Su and the others were talking among themselves. It seemed Xi Shen was in deep thought so they didn’t want to interrupt.

Like this, they waited for Bai Xiaofung to return with the coffins, but after the hour mark, they were starting to wonder what was going on.

At the two-hour mark, Xi Shen had on a deep frown and he could sense that something was wrong.

Then, all of a sudden, a sonic boom echoed out in the sky, causing the group to become taken aback.

Xi Shen stood up as he looked to the Pavilion’s entrance.

With the frown still on his face, he walked to the Pavilion’s doors with Yang Su and the rest in tow.

Standing at the doors that lead outside the Pavilion to an open space, Xi Shen and the rest look to the horizon to see a silver streak fast approaching their direction.

Each time the silver streak sped up, it would create a sonic boom like the one they had heard just a moment ago.

Xi Shen’s eyes narrow at this scene.

It wasn’t long until the silver streak reached them and stopped in the air space above the Pavilion.

Xi Shen and the rest gazes landed on the burly old man in red robes that just appeared.

This old man floated in the air, and his eyes swept over Xi Shen’s group. When his eyes landed on Fei Yin, they flash with an indescribable desire to kill.

The old man then floated down to the ground, a cold expression was stuck on his face.

The feeling of uneasiness increased when he saw the way how this old man was looking at Fei Yin.

“Second prince, it is an honor for our Bai Clan to be greeted with your presence. If the second prince had announced his visit in advance, the Bai Clan would have put together a banquette to welcome you in your visit.”

Xi Shen shook his head at the old man’s words, and said, “There is no need for such formalities, I only came here to resolve a simple matter. After it is resolved, I’ll be leaving. But my I asked who I’m speaking to?”

The old man’s expression was calm as he responded, “Second prince, this old man is Bai Zhou.”

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Word Count: 1587