Chapter 202: Ku Jiang Strikes

Chapter 202: Ku Jiang Strikes

Two months later, by the front of the Vault of Scriptures, Xiao Nanfeng's main body was giving advice to a few disciples about their fist techniques as a group of other disciples watched on. They were chatting about the news that they had learned.

"Senior Brother Xiao, thank goodness we listened to you and didn't head to the draconic palace! Otherwise, we would really have suffered."

"I heard that lots of sects sent delegations into the palace, but only a scant few were able to escape."

"Over these last few months, at least tens of thousands have entered, haven't they?"

The disciples shuddered as they conversed.

Xiao Nanfeng frowned. He was about to enter the draconic palace himself. Was it still so dangerous?

Just then, a deep, resonant toll came from the island.

"This is... the bell of the Ascended division? It only rings when something big has happened. All Ascended disciples have to gather at once!" one disciple exclaimed.

Ku Jiang, hearing the bell, walked out from the hall in which he had been undergoing secluded cultivation.

"Crane, to me!" Ku Jiang commanded.

A crane flew over to serve as Ku Jiang's mount.

"Master!" Xiao Nanfeng rushed over.

"Head to the Ascended peaks at once!"

"Yes, Master!" Xiao Nanfeng replied.

Ku Jiang summoned another crane to serve as Xiao Nanfeng's mount. The master and disciple flew into the air toward the main peak of the Ascended mountain range, where a hall was located. On the plaza before the hall was a giant bell that was tolling loudly. More and more Ascended disciples arrived.

Zhao Yuanjiao and a group of other elders were the first to make it there. Elders from the other three divisions also showed up, curious about the commotion, and countless disciples did as well. The plaza quickly filled up.

Xiao Nanfeng and Ku Jiang walked up to the front of the plaza, where a male cultivator was tolling on the bell at full strength. He was wounded all over and vomiting blood even as he struck the bell. On his shoulders was a sash radiating rainbow light, but it had clearly seen better days. It was pitted with countless holes.

"What's the matter, Elder Chen?" Zhao Yuanjiao asked the cultivator.

"The division leader has been trapped within the Eastern Sea Draconic Palace. He used this Immortal relic that he had just obtained to send me out of the palace to seek assistance. Elders, I beseech you to rescue the division leader at once," Elder Chen shouted.

"An Immortal relic?" The elders' eyes lit up as they looked toward the rainbow sash.

"Assistance? Just what sort of trouble did you encounter? How could the division leader be trapped?" Zhao Yuanjiao gasped.

"Monsters. There are so many monsters within the palace, but Immortal relics as well! All the cultivators have gone crazy for them. Because we obtained one such relic, the monsters started to chase us. Many of us were killed or wounded," Elder Chen replied, shuddering.

"Monsters? Immortal relics?" the elders gasped. Their eyes, however, were expectant.

"Elder Ku, the division leader has been trapped by a group of monsters. He's using his authority as division leader to summon aid. Please help!" Elder Chen held out a token.

Everyone could recognize the token as Zhao Tianheng's personal token that symbolized his authority as division leader.

"Master, the Eastern Sea Draconic Palace is a trap. You can't enter!" Xiao Nanfeng pleaded.

He didn't want his master to take the risk. No one could guarantee their safety within the palace; Immortal relics were well and good, but they meant nothing if you were to lose your life in the process.

Ku Jiang shook his head. "This is the token of the division leader himself, and all disciples of the Ascended division are honorbound to provide assistance. Very well. All Ascended elders who are within the sect and not in secluded cultivation, accompany me to the Eastern Sea Draconic Palace!" nove(l)bi(n.)com

"Understood!" all the elders in the plaza replied.

However, the swords smashed through their defense and cut off one of their arms each in a spray of blood.

"What? How could your cultivation be so strong?!" Monk Xu Kong gasped.

The three cultivators caught their lopped-off arms and stared in shock at Ku Jiang from afar.

Ku Jiang had won against them one-on-three! Just how strong did he have to be?

"We'd better leave," one of the Wingform-realm cultivators cried out.

"What? We can't. We've been here for months. Are we going to go back with nothing? Even if I can't take down Xiao Nanfeng, I'm going to destroy his Isle of Xiao. We can't let him grow any stronger!" Monk Xu Kong stated.

"Right, destroy his Isle of Xiao first!" another of the cultivators agreed.

The three cultivators shot toward the Isle of Xiao.

"Stubborn fools. Swords, arise!" Ku Jiang commanded again.

The ghostly-blue dragons combined into nine shining swords that chased after the three cultivators, but the three cultivators flew to the Isle of Xiao in no time at all.

"No! All those people on the Isle of Xiao!" Zhao Yuanjiao gasped.

"Break!" the three Wingform-realm cultivators shouted, launching their attacks simultaneously at the Isle of Xiao.

The thick fog surrounding the Isle of Xiao was wholly unequipped to stop three simultaneous Wingform-realm blows. It dissipated in an instant.

The three gigantic palms, each the size of a mountain, smashed into the infrastructure on the Isle of Xiao.

The buildings and houses on the island were crushed. The entire island shook from the force of impact. Rocks and boulders rose into the air, and a windstorm ravaged the island.

"All the people on the Isle of Xiao—!" the Taiqing disciples cried out.

The elders, however, gasped in disbelief. Their eyesight was good enough to see details of the island proper.

"Impossible. There's no one on the island!"

"Aren't there supposed to be a few tens of thousands of people there? Where have they gone?"

The elders cried out in surprise, as did the three Wingform-realm cultivators.

"Where are they?" Monk Xu Kong yelled.

Just then, the nine ghostly swords caught up to them, broke through their defenses, and chopped limbs off their body. Their arms and legs burst into bloody mist.

The three cultivators protected their head and organs as they flew away.

"Xiao Nanfeng, where are your people?!"

"Tens of thousands—how could they all be gone?!" the three cultivators howled as they fled.

All the elders looked toward Xiao Nanfeng in amazement. How had he orchestrated this disappearance? It was almost more impressive than Ku Jiang's three-on-one fight.

"Master, what is the extent of their injuries?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

"It'll take months for them to recover. You won't have to worry about them for the time being. Better that I not kill them in plain sight; otherwise, the sects to which they belong might seek revenge on Taiqing Island while I'm gone."

"Thank you, Master." Xiao Nanfeng nodded in gratitude.

"As for you, I'm more surprised that you managed to move away everyone on the island ahead of time," Ku Jiang remarked.

Xiao Nanfeng explained, "The Isle of Xiao isn't a suitable place for them to live any longer, so I've been slowly sending them off in batches."