Hearing this.
Qin Jiu furrowed his brow even more deeply.
"What is he trying to do?"
"Forgive me, Patriarch."
Qin Xuanzhou lowered his head and said, "They weren't trying to use this to return to the Qin Family. They wanted to give us this Fire Kylin Pearl, so we would protect Qin Jingchuan if the Mystic Firmament Sect ever needed to. That's why I thought I should report this to you. Otherwise, I would have refused them on the spot."
"Bring it here. Let me have a look."
Qin Jiu showed no expression.
He immediately took the Fire Kylin Pearl the other man had brought.
The pearl was about the size of a pigeon's egg. It felt smooth and warm in his hand, and its entire surface resembled agate, with reddish-orange hues swirling within. After rubbing it between his fingers for a moment, he asked, "Besides Qin Jingchuan, who else have they arranged to go with them?"
"Those four spots..."
"Each of the three families has arranged for one promising child to go. The Qin Jingzheng branch alone has two spots."
"Handle it as a normal transaction."
After listening, Qin Jiu tossed the Fire Kylin Pearl back and said, "But first, go to the Inner Mansion and ask my mother. If she's willing to accept the pearl, then accept it. If she isn't, return it to them."
"Understood."
A flicker of understanding crossed Qin Xuanzhou's face.
Holding the Fire Kylin Pearl, he hurriedly left the East Wing.
Watching him leave,
Qin Jiu was briefly lost in thought.
Then, holding the Azure Blade, he continued his Stance Training, circulating his internal energy through his meridians while practicing his blade art.
The blade's radiance moved at his will.
A series of shrill sounds tore through the air around the courtyard.
As time passed,
the crisscrossing blade shadows, sweeping up a vast expanse of cold light,
gradually overlapped.
Until, at a certain moment, all the afterimages cast by the blade vanished. A terrifying killing intent burst forth, making the heart quail and sending the few patches of snow on the ground flying backward.
"Humm."
A deep rumble
suddenly exploded within him.
"All three inner and outer harmonies have been fully integrated. My Tyrant Blade has reached minor mastery..."
Qin Jiu's expression turned slightly dazed.
Then he couldn't help but look delighted.
Over the past few days,
he had managed to open most of the meridians beyond the eight primary ones, and his martial cultivation had drawn close to the peak of the Three Refinements. Now that his blade art had reached minor mastery as well, his strength had soared once again. If he faced Baili Ce again, he could probably take his life with a single strike.
"What an unexpected delight."
But it wasn't long
before Qin Jiu's joy was cut short.
At the East Wing's entrance,
a figure hurried over, looking anxious.
"Patriarch..."
"Someone from the Divine Fist Sect has arrived. The two lords from the Mystic Firmament Sect are currently attending them in the reception hall."
"They've come knocking this soon?"
Qin Jiu furrowed his brow.
He immediately took his blade and strode out of the East Wing, heading for the reception hall.
At that moment, in the hall,
five figures faced off against one another.
Two of them were Qi Yuan and Xu Jinghua. Of the other three, the woman at the front held a silver spear, her willow-shaped brows tinged with baleful intent. The two figures behind her were surrounded by the distinctive aura of the Internal Strengthening realm.
"Brother Qi, you and I once fought side by side."
"We've come here with no intention of offending your sect. It's just that one of our sect's outer sect stewards and two disciples came to Songshan County ahead of us, and all three died within a single day. I hope you can understand my predicament and let me question the Qin Family's representative."
"By the way,"
"that outer sect steward was also a clansman of my junior sister Baili. Though she's only at the peak of the Three Refinements, she's already cultivated Mystic Power. I'm afraid it won't take her ten years to reach the Willow Tendon realm, or perhaps even higher. If you two could accommodate us now, my junior sister would certainly remember this favor."
"Besides, that Qin Jiu..."
"After all, he hasn't yet been registered as a member of your sect. Having him come with us to assist with the investigation wouldn't exactly be an affront to your sect's dignity."
"What do you think?"
The speaker
was not the woman holding the spear,
but a handsome young man standing behind her.
Qi Yuan shook his head at once.
"I don't think so."
"What you've described has nothing to do with my junior brother. Please leave."
"Nothing to do with him?!"
At that moment,
the woman who had remained silent finally spoke.
Her voice was laced with killing intent.
"In this city, there are only a handful of forces capable of killing my uncle. The Qin Family has four Three Refinements martial artists. On the day of the incident, they had dealings with the Han Family and the Qin Family, but the next night, they all died. The Han Family in the Inner City was among them."
"Yet the Qin Family, another great family of the Inner City, remains completely unharmed."
"Whether they did it or not,"
"the Qin Family must give me an explanation."
"How dare you!"
Qi Yuan was furious. He said coldly, "You may have cultivated Mystic Power, but even an inner disciple of the Divine Fist Sect wouldn't dare offend our sect's dignity. Who do you think you are, demanding an explanation from one of our core disciples?"
"You..."
The woman was seething with rage.
The young man beside her paled instantly.
He knew his junior sister's temperament all too well,
so he hurriedly spoke up. "Junior Sister, don't be angry. I'll handle this for you."
"Brother Qi, there's no need to be so harsh. At the end of the day, that man can't even be considered a disciple of the Mystic Firmament Sect..."
Tap, tap.
Just then,
Qin Jiu entered the hall with his blade.
Several gazes immediately converged on him.
"Here comes the man himself."
The young man's face lit up, and he hurriedly addressed Qin Jiu. "You must be the Qin Family's Patriarch."
"I'm an inner disciple of the Divine Fist Sect."
"I've come to the Qin Family to investigate the death of Baili Ce."
"Would you have the people of the Qin Mansion come to Tongfu Inn and cooperate with our investigation? If the Qin Family truly had nothing to do with this, we'll offer an apology and..."
"This matter has nothing to do with the Qin Family."
Qin Jiu shook his head calmly.
He had personally killed Baili Ce and Ruan Chen's group of three. It truly had nothing to do with the Qin Family.
After a moment's thought, he said, "There's no need to go anywhere."
"If you have questions, you can ask them here. I'll tell you everything I know."
"We have several witnesses from that night."
As the young man spoke, his gaze swept over the Armored Woman. He sighed and said, "But they can no longer move, so we need..."
"Senior Brother, why waste so many words?"
Suddenly,
the woman cut off the young man and looked coldly at Qin Jiu.
"Someone from the Qin Family was seen near Tongfu Inn that night. I, Baili Su, came here with a force of men because I have evidence in hand. You'd better take the rest of the Qin Family over there now and let the witnesses identify them."
"Qin won't repeat himself."
"Since you have no questions, please leave."
Qin Jiu's face remained expressionless.
But he doubted what the woman was saying.
That night, Wang Yue and Qin Xuanzhou had dealt with every surviving witness who had watched the fight near Tongfu Inn.
So how could there still be any witnesses?
While he considered this,
Qi Yuan also berated them coldly.
All three visitors looked grim. After a tense standoff lasting several minutes, they finally turned and left the hall.
"Don't be impatient, Junior Sister."
"I'll think of another way to deal with the Qin Family."
"I'm sure I can get them to cooperate with you..."
At the entrance to the Qin Mansion,
Baili Su stopped when she heard this. Her eyes were cold as she said, "Why go to so much trouble over a mere little family? They're not worth my time. Senior Brothers, wait here for a moment."
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