"Wait, what's going on?"
"I... What?"
Chen Fan was stunned!
He hadn't even consummated his marriage with Ling Yuan, had he?
Ever since Ling Yuan had married into the family, he'd been lying in bed recovering from his injuries. He hadn't even left his room, let alone spent their wedding night.
So where had this "bloodline heir" come from?
Then!
Chen Fan suddenly thought of his current situation...
And the unread messages in the system...
Holy crap!
What the hell!
Could it be that I got... turned upside down?
Come on, man. You knocked me out and dragged me away—what the hell was that for!?
Chen Fan was numb.
Someone had taken him down on the way to his own wedding procession, then turned the tables on him.
What the hell was this?
Was this something a poet would do?
The corners of his mouth twitched. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.
There was nothing he could do. Truly, nothing at all!
Something like this... happening on Douluo Continent feels, more or less, like it could happen, I guess?
Chen Fan's mouth twitched, and he was at a loss for words.
Still.
To be fair.
Since the system had already given him a reward, that meant the "pregnancy" was definitely real.
As for who the father was...
Just then, while Chen Fan's thoughts ran wild, hurried footsteps sounded outside. The Third Elder's voice followed. "Sect Master, the Grand Sect Master is here."
As soon as he finished speaking, the door swung open, and Chen Jianjun strode in.
He wore a gray robe, his hair tied back. His face was stern, but there was concern between his brows. "Fan'er, how are you recovering?"
Chen Fan came back to himself and smiled. "Uncle, I'm much better."
"That's good."
Chen Jianjun nodded and sat down in a nearby chair. His gaze swept over Chen Fan's face. Although he still looked a little weak, he was clearly in better spirits than he'd been three days ago. Only then did Chen Jianjun relax. "I heard you'd woken up, so I came right over."
He paused, then asked, "Have you figured anything out these past couple of days?"
Chen Fan didn't answer right away. Instead, he asked, "Uncle, what's the current climate on the continent?"
"The night you returned, Spirit Hall's Pope, Qian Xunji, ordered a search along the roads, but they found nothing. Still, he announced, 'No matter which sect dared interfere with the alliance between Spirit Hall and the Seven Kill Sect, I'll make them pay!'"
After a pause, Chen Jianjun took out a token. "To show his goodwill, Qian Xunji also sent this over with a Titled Douluo."
Chen Fan recognized it at a glance. "Is this the Pope Token?"
Anyone who held the Pope Token commanded the authority of a Spirit Hall elder. It was as if the Pope himself had appeared.
"That's right."
"What else?"
"Nothing."
Chen Fan was silent for a moment, then changed tack. "Uncle, I've thought it over carefully. I think the Clear Sky Sect is the most likely culprit."
"The Clear Sky Sect?"
Chen Jianjun froze and furrowed his brow. "The Seven Kill Sect has never had much to do with the Clear Sky Sect. Why would they..."
"Uncle, does it matter whether we've had dealings with them?"
Chen Fan cut him off with a question.
Chen Jianjun stared at him, puzzled.
"Think about it carefully."
"Across the entire continent, how many forces would dare attack Spirit Hall's convoy?"
Chen Jianjun didn't need to think. "The Clear Sky Sect."
"Exactly."
After a pause, Chen Fan changed the subject. "Uncle, you know that our Seven Kill Sect is a sect-type force, much like the Clear Sky Sect, right?"
Chen Jianjun nodded.
"Most sects are, conventionally speaking, families that pass down their Martial Souls. For example, the Clear Sky Sect passes down the Clear Sky Hammer, while our Seven Kill Sect passes down the Seven Kill Sword."
"Because we're so similar, all sect-type forces feel a certain kinship with one another."
"And if you look at the nature of the two great empires, our sects are really just another form of the aristocracy."
"Spirit Hall, on the other hand, is made up mainly of independent Soul Masters from the common people. In theory, anyone can sit on the Pope's throne."
"Now, our Seven Kill Sect, part of the aristocracy, has allied itself through marriage with Spirit Hall, which nearly every noble sees as a thorn in its side. So it's only natural that some sects would isolate us."
"But in the Clear Sky Sect's eyes, that's nothing short of a brazen betrayal."
"Everyone knows the conflict between the Clear Sky Sect and Spirit Hall has been growing day by day. If neither side feared it might lose, one of them would have been wiped out long ago."
"And at this critical juncture, our Seven Kill Sect has allied itself with Spirit Hall..."
Chen Jianjun nodded slightly. "You have a point."
"Many years ago, when Tang Chen took the throne as Clear Sky Sect Master, he said something."
"What was it?"
"'The sect faction stands united, sharing one breath and one destiny.'"
Chen Fan froze. Wasn't that much like the later saying, "The Upper Three Sects stand united, sharing one breath and one destiny"?
So that was where it had come from?
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Chen Fan freeze, Chen Jianjun raised an eyebrow. "Have you heard that saying before?"
"No..."
Chen Fan came back to himself, shook his head, and changed the subject. "Uncle, that's not the key issue."
"The key is that we can't afford to be unclear about where we stand."
Chen Jianjun paused. "What do you mean?"
"If we go to great lengths to investigate the real culprit, that means we can't reach an immediate conclusion."
"And if we can't give an immediate answer, it means our position is unclear. We'd be neither willing to side with Spirit Hall nor willing to commit to the sect faction."
"Uncle, you know what that kind of position makes us..."
"Fence-sitters."
"Exactly!"
Chen Fan nodded. "We've allied ourselves with Spirit Hall through marriage. In the Clear Sky Sect's eyes, that's a brazen betrayal."
"If they don't stop us, their prestige as the leaders of the various sects will be challenged, and countless more sects might openly or secretly throw in their lot with Spirit Hall."
"So they intercepted the wedding procession to teach us a small lesson. That's perfectly reasonable."
"But at the same time, they don't want to push us entirely into the opposing camp, which is why no one in the wedding procession died—only got injured."
After hearing him out, Chen Jianjun fell silent, as if digesting Chen Fan's words.
He felt that Chen Fan's argument made sense.
Who the real culprit was didn't matter. Given the current state of the continent, the Clear Sky Sect was the only force that would dare attack Spirit Hall's convoy.
Now that the Seven Kill Sect had been drawn into this, finding out what had happened wasn't important anymore. What mattered was the Seven Kill Sect's stance.
If they accused Spirit Hall of staging the attack or pointed the finger at some other force, they would be reneging on their alliance with Spirit Hall and trying to return to the sect faction's embrace.
If they accused the Clear Sky Sect, they would be cutting ties with the sect faction once and for all and drawing closer to Spirit Hall.
Thinking it over like that...
Chen Jianjun truly felt as if the Clear Sky Sect was forcing them to pick a side!
After a full two and a half minutes of silence, Chen Jianjun finally looked up. His voice was a little hoarse. "You make a good point."
He paused, then changed tack. "But the reason the Clear Sky Sect can stand as the sects' leader among Soul Masters is its sect master, Tang Chen. His strength..."
He didn't finish, but his meaning was clear.
Tang Chen, the Clear Sky Douluo, Level 99 Peerless Douluo, stood at the pinnacle of Douluo Continent.
Even though Chen Jianjun had now reached Level 98, just one step away from Level 99, that single step was as vast as the distance between heaven and earth.
"I know."
Hearing Chen Jianjun say that, Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief.
To be honest, not everyone in Douluo would be able to see through an issue of political stance like this.
Then.
He raised his hand, and with a thought, a sphere appeared out of thin air!
"Hmm?"
Chen Jianjun's eyes narrowed!
That kind of thing again!
Not a trace of Soul Power!
Could it be... another reward from that so-called system?
At the thought, Chen Jianjun couldn't help holding his breath as he looked up.
It was a perfectly round sphere, much like a glass marble, about ten centimeters in diameter. It was a deep, silvery white, and faint light seemed to flow across its surface. It looked incredibly mysterious.
It was also astonishingly heavy. Chen Fan held it in one hand, his arm trembling slightly beneath its weight.
"This is..."
As Chen Jianjun's eyes fell on the sphere, his pupils suddenly contracted.
He could feel his Martial Soul responding to the strange sphere with an intense... longing?
It was like a man who'd gone three days and nights without food catching the smell of meat. He could barely hold himself back.
"Uncle, this is called the Directed Spirit Evolution Device."
As Chen Jianjun stood there in a daze, Chen Fan spoke. "It can evolve sword-type Martial Souls."
"Evolve?"
Chen Jianjun froze, then his expression shifted. "You mean..."
"That's right."
Chen Fan nodded. "Use this, and your Seven Kill Sword can evolve to a higher level."
"Then, even against Tang Chen's Clear Sky Hammer, you might not lose."
Chen Jianjun fell silent.
His hand trembled slightly as he reached out and took the sphere, cradling it in his palm. He felt the strange energy within it, his brows drawn tight. "Is this... really true?"
He was still somewhat skeptical.
After all.
The name of Tang Chen, the Clear Sky Douluo, was known to every Soul Master in the world.
Though Tang Chen was technically his junior by seniority, Chen Jianjun had to admit that his strength was truly extraordinary.
A Level 99 Peerless Douluo, wielding the Clear Sky Hammer, the strongest tool-type Martial Soul in the world—his combat power was unquestionably extraordinary.
"Uncle, there's no need to ask when you already know the answer."
Chen Fan had known Chen Jianjun was watching when he took the sphere from the System Space.
Taking something out of the System Space produced no Soul Power fluctuations whatsoever.
That was fundamentally different from taking something out of a Storage Soul Tool.
"...All right!"
Chen Jianjun looked into Chen Fan's clear, unwavering eyes. After a moment's silence, he finally nodded. "Fan'er, focus on recovering from your injuries."
"When I come out of seclusion, we'll discuss this further."
"Take care, Uncle."