Sect Factions, Bound by Shared Breath?

"Wait, what is going on?"

"I... this?"

Chen Fan was stunned!

He seemingly hadn't even consummated the marriage with Ling Yuan yet, had he?

Ever since Ling Yuan married into the family, he had been lying in bed recovering from his injuries, never even leaving the room, let alone consummating the marriage.

So where did this "bloodline offspring" pop out from?

Suddenly!

Chen Fan caught onto his current situation...

Coupled with the unread messages in this system...

Damn it!

What the hell!

Could it be that I was... reversed and turned upside down?

No, brother, you knocked me out and kidnapped me, what kind of nonsense is this!?

Chen Fan was numb.

To be taken down in the middle of his own wedding procession, and then to be reversed and turned upside down.

What the hell is this?

Is this something a poet could even come up with?

His mouth twitched twice, and for a moment, he didn't know what to say.

There was no way out; he was truly out of options!

This kind of thing... happening on the Douluo Continent, it feels, perhaps, roughly, quite reasonable, right?

His mouth twitched again, and Chen Fan was somewhat speechless.

However.

To be fair.

Since the system had already given the reward, it meant that the "pregnancy" was undoubtedly certain.

As for who it was with...

Just as Chen Fan was lost in his wild thoughts, a rush of footsteps came from outside the door, and then the Third Elder's voice rang out, "Sect Master, the Grand Sect Master is here."

As soon as the words fell, the door was pushed open, and Chen Jianjun strode in.

He was wearing a grey robe today, his hair tied back, his face stern, but there was a hint of concern between his brows, "Fan'er, how is your recovery?"

Chen Fan snapped back to reality and smiled, "Uncle, I'm much better."

"That's good."

Chen Jianjun nodded and sat down on a chair nearby. His gaze swept over Chen Fan's face, and seeing that although he still looked a bit listless, his spirit was indeed much better than it had been three days ago, he finally felt relieved, "I heard you woke up, so I rushed over immediately."

Speaking of this, he paused, "In these past two days, do you have any leads?"

Chen Fan didn't answer immediately, but instead asked, "Uncle, what is the current climate on the continent?"

"On the night you returned, Spirit Hall Pope Qian Xunji ordered people to search the route, but they found nothing. However, he declared that 'no matter which sect it is, if they dare to disturb the marriage between Spirit Hall and the Seven Kill Sect, he will make them pay the price'!"

After a pause, Chen Jianjun took out a token, "To appease us, Qian Xunji also ordered a Titled Douluo to deliver this."

Chen Fan recognized it at a glance, "This is the Pope Token?"

The Pope Token—anyone who holds this token possesses the prestige of a Spirit Hall Elder, and it is as if the Pope himself were present.

"Correct."

"Anything else?"

"Nothing."

Chen Fan was silent for a moment, then changed his tune, "Uncle, I've thought about it carefully, and I feel the Clear Sky Sect is the most suspicious."

"Clear Sky Sect?"

Chen Jianjun was taken aback and frowned, "Our Seven Kill Sect has never had any interaction with the Clear Sky Sect; why would they..."

"Uncle, does having interaction matter?"

Chen Fan interrupted him and asked in return.

Chen Jianjun froze, looking at Chen Fan in confusion.

"Think about it carefully."

"On the entire continent, how many people dare to strike at a Spirit Hall procession?"

Chen Jianjun didn't even need to think, "The Clear Sky Sect."

"Isn't this wrong?"

After a pause, Chen Fan changed the subject and asked, "Uncle, you know that our Seven Kill Sect belongs to the sect-type faction, similar to the Clear Sky Sect, right?"

Chen Jianjun nodded.

"Most sects are, by convention, families with inherited martial souls. For example, the Clear Sky Sect's inherited martial soul is the Clear Sky Hammer, while our Seven Kill Sect has the Seven Kill Sword."

"Precisely because of this similarity, all sect-type factions share a sense of mutual affinity."

"And if we speak of the essence of the two great empires, our sects are actually a disguised form of the aristocratic class."

"Looking at Spirit Hall, on the other hand, it is primarily composed of civilian rogue spirit masters. Theoretically, anyone can sit on the Pope's throne."

"Now, as the Seven Kill Sect, we are part of the aristocratic class, yet we are intermarrying with Spirit Hall—which is viewed as a thorn in the side by almost all nobles. It is only natural that the Seven Kill Sect would be isolated by some other sects."

"But in the eyes of the Clear Sky Sect, this is nothing short of a blatant betrayal."

"Who doesn't know that the conflict between the current Clear Sky Sect and Spirit Hall is growing day by day? If it weren't for the fact that neither side is certain of victory, I fear one would have already trampled the other into oblivion."

"And at this critical juncture, we are intermarrying with Spirit Hall..."

Chen Jianjun nodded slightly. "What you say makes sense."

"Many years ago, when the Clear Sky Sect Master Tang Chen ascended to his position, he said one thing."

"What did he say?"

"Sect factions, branches of the same tree."

Chen Fan was stunned. Didn't this have the same effect as the later 'Upper Three Sects are branches of the same tree'?

Good heavens, so it evolved from here, didn't it?

"What's wrong?"

Seeing Chen Fan stunned, Chen Jianjun raised an eyebrow. "Have you heard this saying before?"

"No..."

Chen Fan snapped back to reality, shook his head, and changed the subject. "Uncle, the crux of the problem is not here."

"The point is, we cannot have an unclear stance."

Chen Jianjun was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"If we go to great lengths to investigate the true culprit, it means we cannot provide an immediate conclusion."

"If we cannot provide an immediate conclusion, it means our stance is currently unclear—we neither want to side with Spirit Hall nor do we want to return to the sect factions."

"This kind of stance, Uncle, you should know what it's called..."

"A fence-sitter."

"Exactly!"

Chen Fan nodded. "Because we are intermarrying with Spirit Hall, in the eyes of the Clear Sky Sect, this is a blatant betrayal."

"If they don't stop it, their prestige as the leader of the many sects will be offended. In the future, countless other sects might secretly or openly defect to Spirit Hall."

"Therefore, it is reasonable and logical for them to intercept the wedding procession to administer a minor punishment."

"But at the same time, they don't want to push us completely into the opposition, which is why there were only injuries and no deaths in this wedding procession."

After listening, Chen Jianjun fell silent, as if digesting these words.

He felt that what Chen Fan said seemed to make sense.

Who the mastermind behind the scenes was didn't matter at all; what mattered was that in the current situation on the continent, the Clear Sky Sect was the only one daring enough to attack a Spirit Hall procession.

As for the Seven Kill Sect being involved, whether it was investigated or not was no longer important; what mattered was the Seven Kill Sect's attitude.

Pointing the finger at Spirit Hall for staging it themselves, or pointing it at other factions, would be equivalent to reneging on the marriage with Spirit Hall and wanting to return to the embrace of the sect factions.

Pointing the finger at the Clear Sky Sect, however, would mean a complete break with the sect factions and leaning toward Spirit Hall.

Thinking about it this way, Chen Jianjun really felt that the Clear Sky Sect was forcing them to pick a side!

After a full two and a half minutes of silence, Chen Jianjun finally raised his head, his voice somewhat hoarse. "What you say also makes sense."

He paused, then changed his tone. "But the reason the Clear Sky Sect can become the leader of the spirit master sects is because of the strength of its Sect Master, Tang Chen..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear.

Tang Chen, the Clear Sky Douluo, a level 99 Peerless Douluo, an existence standing at the pinnacle of the Douluo Continent.

Even though Chen Jianjun had now broken through to level 98 and was only one step away from level 99, that one step was a world of difference.

"I know."

Hearing Chen Jianjun say this, Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief.

This kind of issue regarding stance and attitude—truth be told, it wasn't certain that anyone in Douluo could truly see it clearly.

Immediately, he raised his palm, and with a thought, a sphere appeared out of thin air!

"Hmm?"

Chen Jianjun's gaze narrowed!

It was this again!

The kind without any fluctuations of spirit power!

Could it be... a reward from that so-called system?

With this thought in mind, Chen Jianjun couldn't help but hold his breath and look up.

It was a perfect sphere, similar to a glass marble, about ten centimeters in diameter. Its entire body was a deep, silvery-white, with faint, flowing light rotating across its surface, making it look extremely mysterious.

Moreover, this object was exceptionally heavy; even as Chen Fan held it in one hand, his arm trembled slightly.

"This is..."

As his gaze fell upon the sphere, Chen Jianjun's pupils suddenly constricted.

He felt that his own martial soul had developed a strong... craving for this strange sphere?

That feeling was almost impossible to suppress, like someone who had gone three days and three nights without food suddenly catching the scent of meat.

"Uncle, this is called a 'Directed Spirit Evolution Device'."

While Chen Jianjun was still stunned, Chen Fan spoke up, "It can allow sword-type martial souls to evolve."

"Evolve?"

Chen Jianjun was taken aback, his expression shifting, "You mean..."

"That's right."

Chen Fan nodded, "By using this, your Seven Kill Sword can evolve to a higher level."

"When that time comes, even if you face Tang Chen's Clear Sky Hammer, you won't necessarily lose."

Chen Jianjun fell silent.

He reached out with slightly trembling hands to take the sphere, cradling it in his palm. As he felt the strange energy contained within, his brows furrowed, "Is... is this true?"

He was somewhat skeptical.

After all.

The reputation of Tang Chen, the Clear Sky Douluo, was known to everyone in the spirit master world.

Although he was technically of an older generation than Tang Chen, he had to admit that Tang Chen's strength was truly formidable.

A rank ninety-nine peerless Douluo, paired with the world's number one tool martial soul, the Clear Sky Hammer—that combat power was indeed extraordinary.

"Uncle, there's no need to ask what you already know."

When Chen Fan had just raised his hand to take this item out of the system space, he naturally knew that Chen Jianjun had been watching.

Taking items out of the system space involved no spirit power fluctuations whatsoever.

In this regard, it was fundamentally different from retrieving items from a storage-type spirit tool.

"...Very well!"

Chen Jianjun looked into Chen Fan's clear and resolute eyes. After a moment of silence, he finally nodded slowly, "Fan'er, you should focus on recovering from your injuries first."

"We will discuss this in detail once I emerge from seclusion."

"Take care, Uncle."