Xi Qi, the Prime Minister's residence.
Jiang Ziya stared at a huge map, his brow furrowed with worry.
Ever since Zhao Gongming had come down from the mountain and slain three of the Sect of Explanation's generals in succession, sending the Twelve Golden Immortals fleeing in disarray, morale in the entire Xi Qi camp had plummeted.
The Golden Immortals of the Sect of Explanation had all shut themselves away to heal and didn't dare show their faces. And he, the commander-in-chief of Xi Qi, had become a general without an army. He could only hang up the sign forbidding battle, letting Grand Tutor Wen shout insults outside the city without daring to engage him.
"Alas..."
Jiang Ziya let out a long sigh. The Great Cause of Conferring Gods seemed to him to have a bleak future.
His teacher, Venerable Yuanshi, had sent him down the mountain to preside over the Conferring of Gods, but the Interception Sect had expert after expert. A single Zhao Gongming had left them utterly powerless. If a few more formidable foes showed up, Xi Qi City would likely have fallen already.
"Reporting—"
Just then, a messenger came rushing in, looking flustered, and dropped to his knees with a thud.
"Prime Minister! We have a serious problem!"
"Running around in a panic like that—what kind of behavior is this?" Jiang Ziya frowned and scolded him. "The sky hasn't fallen. Whatever it is, tell me calmly!"
The messenger gasped for breath and hurriedly said, "Prime Minister! Outside the city... three female immortals have arrived! They specifically demanded that you and... and the immortals of the Sect of Explanation go out and answer them!"
"Female immortals?" Jiang Ziya paused. "What do they look like?"
"I... I don't know..." The messenger was pale with fright. "The three female immortals are beautiful, but the killing intent around them is terrifying! They're hovering in midair without saying a word. Just standing there, they've made the soldiers on our walls go weak in the knees! Even the city's defensive formation is humming under their killing intent, as if it could collapse at any moment!"
Jiang Ziya's heart jolted.
Anyone with such imposing might was definitely no ordinary cultivator!
And they had specifically asked for the immortals of the Sect of Explanation. They clearly meant trouble!
A sinking feeling rose in his heart.
"Could it be... someone from the Interception Sect has come again?"
He didn't dare delay. He hurried out of the Prime Minister's residence and climbed onto the city wall.
Sure enough, three women in plain white Daoist robes, all stunningly beautiful, hovered in midair outside Xi Qi City.
The woman at the front had a dignified bearing and a cold expression. In her hands, she held a golden, bucket-shaped magic treasure.
The two women behind her were, respectively, strikingly bold and charmingly sweet, but at that moment, both wore the same murderous expression, one cold enough to freeze the air.
Their killing intent seemed almost tangible as it soared into the sky. The clouds above Xi Qi City darkened and swirled, gathering into storm clouds.
Jiang Ziya only had to look at them from afar for his soul to feel as if it were being pierced by countless steel needles. The pain was unbearable.
"What... what incredible killing intent!" Jiang Ziya cried out, his face drained of color.
He couldn't see through the cultivation of these three female immortals at all! But from their presence alone, he knew that their strength was absolutely no less than Zhao Gongming's, who had been so awe-inspiring that day—and might even surpass his!
"It's them!"
Just then, Guangchengzi's voice rang out beside him, filled with shock and fury.
At some point, Guangchengzi, Chijingzi, True Man Yuding, Taiyi Zhenren, and the other Golden Immortals of the Sect of Explanation had also been roused and appeared on the city wall. They all looked pale, their injuries clearly not yet healed.
"Senior Brother Guangchengzi, do you know them?" Jiang Ziya asked at once.
Guangchengzi looked utterly grim. He stared fixedly at the three figures outside the city and said, one word at a time, "They're the three most famous female immortals of the Interception Sect's outer sect: Sanxiao! The one in front is Yun Xiao, and the two behind her are Qiong Xiao and Bi Xiao! They're... Zhao Gongming's younger sisters!"
"What? Zhao Gongming's younger sisters?"
At this, everyone drew in a sharp breath.
Zhao Gongming had already been difficult enough to deal with. Now his three younger sisters had come to confront them, full of fury.
From the looks of them, they had clearly come to seek revenge!
But hadn't Zhao Gongming been dealt with by the Western Teachings' Saint Zhunti...?
The Golden Immortals of the Sect of Explanation were all confused.
After Zhao Gongming had defeated them that day, they'd fled in disarray and had no idea what happened afterward. They'd only heard later that Zhao Gongming had apparently clashed with a Saint of the Western Teachings, and that his magic treasure had been taken. He'd then vanished without a trace.
They'd even taken pleasure in it for several days, thinking the Interception Sect's hothead had finally gotten what he deserved.
But now it seemed there was more to the story?
"Three fairies, you've come from afar. May I ask what brings you here?"
Jiang Ziya swallowed his pride, gathered his magic power, and called out loudly toward the city gates.
The moment he spoke, it was like lighting a fuse.
"Jiang Ziya!"
Bi Xiao's clear voice, brimming with boundless hatred, rang across the sky.
"Don't pretend you don't know what's going on! Hand over that old scoundrel Randeng!"
"Randeng?" Jiang Ziya paused. "Daoist Randeng? He... he isn't in Xi Qi."
Ever since Daoist Randeng had quietly left the Xi Qi camp, saying he would seek out an expert to help them deal with Zhao Gongming, he hadn't returned.
They had no idea where Randeng had gone.
"He isn't here?" Qiong Xiao sneered, her voice full of scorn. "What a convenient excuse! Is your Sect of Explanation planning to protect him to the bitter end?"
"What do you mean by that, Fairy?" Jiang Ziya asked, utterly baffled. "We truly don't know how Daoist Randeng could have offended you three."
"How did he offend us?"
Yun Xiao finally spoke.
Her voice was very calm, but beneath that calmness lay a fury as terrifying as an erupting volcano.
She slowly raised her eyes. Her blood-tear-streaked gaze locked firmly on Guangchengzi and the others atop the city wall.
"Your Sect of Explanation conspired with the Western Teachings and plotted to kill my elder brother, Zhao Gongming!"
"That old scoundrel Randeng took my elder brother's magic treasure in the chaos, then brutally struck him down to silence him!"
"Tell me, how are you going to answer for this blood debt?"
Yun Xiao's words rang in the ears of the immortals of the Sect of Explanation, each one striking like thunder.
Everyone was stunned.
Guangchengzi was stunned, Chijingzi was stunned, and Jiang Ziya was stunned too.
Zhao Gongming... was dead?
Killed by Daoist Randeng?
H-How could that be?
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