Assassination

"No? Where did it go?" Qiao Ling's bees searched in a large circle but couldn't find the Divine Turtle, and she grew anxious. Could it have been hidden by someone already?

It's highly possible. If a divine beast appears in the sect, it will surely be treated as a treasure. Hiding it is normal...

If that's the case, it'll be a big problem.

The bees flew faster. Suddenly, in the information from one of the bees, a giant turtle crawled out of the Xiangshui Tributary. She saw an expression of relief on the turtle's face.

Found it! Qiao Ling crawled on the ground, heading towards the Xiangshui Tributary.

Su He climbed out of the Xiangshui Tributary, shook off the water, and felt relaxed as he headed back to Li Nan Courtyard.

This place was desolate and primitive.

Azure Origin Mountain was vast and boundless. Although it was divided into Seven Veins, it didn't just have seven peaks. There were at least hundreds of peaks crisscrossing the land. The Seven Veins merely occupied the seven blessed lands with the most concentrated Spiritual Energy.

Even though the Azure Origin Sect had at least 200,000 people, including servants, they were scattered across such a large area that it still felt sparsely populated. All that met the eye were primitive mountains and rivers.

Su He had only climbed a mile or two after coming ashore when he saw a woman standing quietly on a nearby hill, her gaze fixed on him, calm as a still lake.

Su He felt a faint threat and stopped.

He stopped, but the woman walked towards him. As she got closer and closer, Su He's alarm bells rang. He suddenly slammed his front paws on the ground, standing up on his hind legs.

An afterimage flashed. The woman attacked without a word.

Just as Su He stood up, the short sword stabbed into his abdominal armor, bending backward.

Su He seized the opportunity to smash down. The ten-foot-long giant turtle crashed down. Qiao Ling retreated immediately after missing her strike, barely dodging. She rolled on the ground and threw away the bent sword in her hand.

As expected of a Divine Turtle, its shell is indeed tough. It's a pity I can't use my true form to attack. I don't dare use my own Immortal Sword, and this temporary sword is of poor quality.

I must aim for the neck.

She took out another sword and, with a push of her foot, thrust directly at Su He's neck. Su He couldn't dodge in time, nor could he retract into his shell to hide.

In desperation, he roared and spat out a water ball the size of a water vat at Qiao Ling.

BOOM! The immense volume of water, sprayed out with Su He's tremendous force, hit Qiao Ling head-on. Her slender body was instantly blasted ten feet away.

The water splashed down.

Su He watched her, fully on guard.

Two faces? At this moment, Su He saw Qiao Ling's face as if two faces were superimposed.

It was the Divine Turtle's ability to break illusions. Su He's turtle eyes could see through illusions, and the water ball he condensed also had the effect of breaking illusions. With the dual effect, Qiao Ling's disguise could no longer be maintained.

Even in her water-soaked state, the two faces gradually merged, restoring her original appearance.

And a Divine Power! Qiao Ling's eyes narrowed. She gripped her short sword. With her illusion broken, she had to finish this quickly.

Qiao Ling mustered all her strength. This turtle didn't feel particularly powerful to her, its aura roughly equivalent to a cultivator in the True Blood Realm, but its combat power was not low. Moreover, its fighting style was unpredictable.

Is this what a beast is like?

She drew her sword and charged again, instantly reaching within ten feet of Su He. But at that moment, a sword light flashed across the distant horizon.

Someone's coming!

She'll be discovered assassinating a divine beast of the sect!

"Roar!" Su He let out a roar.

The woman in front of him, seeing this, made a decisive move. She instantly put away her thin sword, pulled out a beast tooth from somewhere, and stabbed it into her own neck. Blood spurted out, splashing all over Su He's mouth.

Qiao Ling turned and ran, as if being chased by the giant turtle behind her. Her hair was disheveled, her body was soaked and stained with blood, and she clutched her neck, looking utterly miserable. As she ran, she shot a beam of sword light into the sky: "Help me!"

She cried out piteously, falling to the ground, her blood staining the earth.

Su He was stunned. A bad premonition arose. Is this woman going to put on a show? Hearing the voice, the sword light in the sky turned back and rapidly descended. A voice boomed from the sword: "Do not harm people!"

It was Ge Feng. He had carelessly lost the divine turtle and had been searching frantically. While searching the sky, he vaguely heard shouting and saw Su He acting ferociously. From the looks of it, a junior sister had her neck bitten open.

Qiao Ling fell to the ground, her bloody fingers pointing at Su He. She seemed about to say something but could only mumble incoherently.

A trace of regret and a trace of relief flickered in her eyes.

The person who arrived didn't see the specific details. What a stroke of luck!

Su He narrowed his eyes. This woman seems to be courting death!

Ge Feng landed, his expression changing drastically. What happened? This divine turtle is always docile during class. Why did it suddenly leave, and now it's killing someone? Did it leave just to hunt an Azure Origin disciple?

It doesn't make sense!

Ge Feng quickly took out a pill, ground it into powder, and applied it to Qiao Ling's neck wound. He then took out a message-sending flying sword to report the situation to the sect.

On one side was a divine turtle, and on the other was an Azure Origin disciple. This was not something he could handle.

Soon, an Immortal Sword hastily descended, transforming into a panicked middle-aged Daoist nun.

"Martial Aunt Shui Jing!" Ge Feng saluted.

This was a martial aunt from his master's generation. Although she only managed a small medicinal mountain in the sect, her seniority was high, and he had to show proper respect.

Shui Jing seemed not to see him, staring directly at Qiao Ling, her eyes full of disbelief.

"How could this happen? How could this happen?! Weren't you sleeping in your room? Why are you here, injured by a wild beast?" she shrieked, then turned to Su He: "Vile beast! Die!"

Suddenly, a sword thrust out.

Ge Feng's expression changed drastically. His body shifted instantly, transforming into a wild boar with ferocious tusks, and he bit down on her Immortal Sword.

After blocking the sword light, he resumed human form, spitting out a mouthful of blood. He blocked Master Shui Jing, saying, "Martial Aunt, this turtle is extraordinary. You absolutely cannot resort to private torture. I have already notified my master and Martial Uncle Yu of the Law Enforcement Hall. No matter what punishment is deemed necessary, it must go through the Law Enforcement Hall, and even the Sect Leader Martial Uncle."

Master Shui Jing was furious. "A turtle needs to go through the Law Enforcement Hall? Whose turtle is this? Who dares to be so... " She saw the character "Su" on Turtle Mountain and was stunned for a long time before bursting into laughter.

She laughed until tears streamed from her eyes, her body trembling.

So it was that person's turtle. It had to go through the Law Enforcement Hall, did it? I'd like to see how the Law Enforcement Hall judges this!

The Law Enforcement Hall was packed. Ge Feng's flying sword message had already arrived.

Yu Housheng, the head of the Law Enforcement Hall, had a face as dark as a ripe date and brows like sleeping silkworms, exuding righteousness. His eyes were slightly closed as he sat quietly on the main hall.

Below him, Fu Feng and Zhao Lie stood, their faces looking strange. It wasn't as if they hadn't handled cases of pets injuring people before, but those were ordinary beasts. As long as it wasn't malicious intent to let the beast injure someone, whoever owned the beast would pay.

Interrogating a divine beast? How would they interrogate it? Did they have to beat it until it spoke human language? The Law Enforcement Hall didn't have any beast language interpreters either.

And the head refused to send someone to Beast Taming Valley to fetch one...

Just then, several elders arrived together: the head of Beast Taming Valley, the hall master of Tranquil Peace Hall, the Sword Slave of Sword Residence...

All people of considerable status.

Those who understood beast language had come themselves.

Originally, they were all going to Li Nan Courtyard out of curiosity about the divine beast. It was rare for them to meet like this, so they sat down to discuss the Dao. Suddenly hearing that a divine beast had injured someone and was to be brought to the Law Enforcement Hall, they decided to come and see the situation.

A Magic Boat, with Su He hanging from it, landed at the Law Enforcement Hall. The ropes were untied, and Shui Jing and the others disembarked.

This was after Ge Feng's flying sword message, the head of the Law Enforcement Hall had specifically sent someone to pilot the boat to pick them up. With Shui Jing and Ge Feng's abilities, they couldn't afford such a Magic Boat.

As Shui Jing landed and looked at the heads of halls and masters standing in the Law Enforcement Hall, her heart couldn't help but tremble.

She and these people were of the same generation. However, from the moment they joined the sect, others were high and mighty Sons of Heaven, while she was just one of many unremarkable disciples.

After hundreds of years as fellow disciples, it was debatable whether these senior martial brothers even recognized her.

Were these people here to pressure her? After all, this turtle belonged to that person! She gave a tragic smile, no longer holding out hope for today's trial. Instead, she threw caution to the wind and straightened her spine. What if she couldn't win? She would still seek justice for her disciple! She would spit blood in their faces even if she died! It would be a fight to the death.

She wouldn't spare her life?!

Her proud spirit, however, made the eyes of the hall masters brighten. They exchanged glances, seeing surprise in each other's eyes.

This was the spirit of the older generation disciples of our Azure Origin Sect! Even if their talent was average and their cultivation level limited, they possessed boundless pride!

Yu Housheng, the head of the Law Enforcement Hall, stroked his beard and looked at Su He, saying sternly, "This young turtle, can you understand human speech?"

Su He was silent for a moment, then nodded.

The eyes of those in the hall lit up. It was indeed a divine beast, truly miraculous! Ordinary beasts had an intelligence at most equivalent to a seven or eight-year-old child, but this one had such spirit.

The head of the Law Enforcement Hall, however, opened his eyes wide and said coldly, "Since you have intelligence and understand human speech, why did you injure our Azure Origin disciple without cause?!"

Su He looked up. "Roar!"

After thinking for a moment, he roared again, "Roar~"

Everyone looked at each other, not understanding. Xia Da Li, the head of Beast Taming Valley, coughed strangely. "He says that this female disciple attacked him without cause! When her assassination failed, she bit back."