章 21: Xue Qianxue is our Enemy!

Yuan Ji had rushed out of the bridal chamber.

Along the way, he had passed by the great hall and there were still many guests who were drinking merrily.

Everyone had astonished look when they saw Yuan Ji.

"Isn't that Elder Yuan Ji?"

"Isn't he supposed to be bedding the bride now?"

"Why is he out?"

"Why is he in a rush?"

"Don't tell me he is already done after 2 mins?"

"Come, let follow him and have a look…"

Almost immediately, half of the guests began to follow Yuan Ji.

When they had followed Yuan Ji to the outer courtyard, everyone including Yuan Ji was stunned by what they were seeing in front of them.

Dozens of bodies was laying everywhere.

But the most startling were seeing the dead bodies of Li Qiang, Deng Qiu and Tang Ao!

Three sixth realm golden supremacies had all died with barely a sound, along with several powerful cultivators that were at the fourth and fifth realm level.

This was impossible, right?

No one could perform such a feat, right?

Everyone was now staring blankly at the dead bodies and Yuan Ji was staring the hardest.

Yuan Ji first thought was that Xia Jiaqing had been killed and he was trembling uncontrollably.

"I saw Palace Mistress walking out with the elders…"

"Is our Palace Mistress among the dead?"

"Who will be so vicious to kill all our elders…"

"All our top experts are killed overnight…"

"The Emperor Hall Sect is a goner now…"

Yuan Ji was dazed as he muttered almost incoherently, "Jiajia, you are still alive. Am I right?"

With a blanked look, he checked the corpses of the three elders and saw that every single of them was killed very quickly, almost without any resistance. It was not because they were all taken by surprise but because their defenses totally tanked under when they were attacked.

Finally Yuan Ji muttered out, "Seventh realm sacred saint expert."

"Elder Yuan Ji, what is going on around here?"

"Who kill our elders?"

"Even the sons of the elders are all dead…"

"Who is so vicious?"

"It is impossible for this to happen. Are we dreaming?"

Yuan Ji opened up their clothes and saw the palm imprints that were on their bodies. It was the palm imprint of a maiden's hand.

Then he was gasping, "Xue Qianxue…"

It was because only Xue Qianxue had a feud with Xia Jiaqing and she was also a seventh realm expert!

When everyone heard that it was Xue Qianxue, they were gasping loudly. "Sacred Maiden Xue Qianxue?"

"This make sense. Our Palace Mistress seems to dislike Xue Qianxue and she is always asking us to keep a tab on her."

"This is a massacre and an unrighteous act. Why should Xue Qianxue do something like this to lose her repute?"

"Did you see Xue Qianxue doing it? We have no proof at all. This is just our wild guess. She may be the one that kills our elders and Palace Mistress but we can't do anything to her…"

Yuan Ji shouted, "Stop muttering there. Raise the alarm and find our Palace Mistress!"

Then he added coldly, "No matter if we have proof or not, I want the whole fraternity to know that it is Xue Qianxue that has done this evil deed. Go and announce it to everyone and have them to announce it to the entire Desolate Celestial Fraternity."

A few hours later;

The reports of the dead had finally come in. All the elders and almost all the experts of the Emperor Hall Sect had all died mysteriously.

But Palace Mistress Xia Jiaqing was not among the dead.

Yuan Ji was trembling when he had stepped into the bridal chamber again. Everything had happened too sudden and he was now in a daze.

"Xue Qianxue hates Jiajia. Therefore she may not want to kill her immediately. Maybe Jiajia is still alive and I can still save her. Even if I were to storm the powerful Celestial Orthodox Sect, I will still do it."

Shangguan Yan was still sitting quietly on the bridal bed as she waited for Yuan Ji to return. When she saw Yuan Ji, she immediately smiled shyly. "My lord, have you found Palace Mistress?"

But all of a sudden, she saw that Yuan Ji was trembling and he was in a daze. "You didn't find her?"

Yuan Ji laughed coldly as he hit his fist on the wall, "Someone attacks us this very night. All the elders and top experts of the Emperor Hall Sect are all dead now."

Shangguan Yan gasped in shock but she was soon smiling coldly, "Good. They are all not good men."

Yuan Ji smiled bitterly when he had heard her, "Yan'Er, why do you say that? We are all protégés of the same sect…"

But Shangguan Yan interrupted him softly, "But you have killed Hai Sheng. In your heart, they are not your fellow protégés. Do you know that even Palace Mistress often says to me that they are all not good men?"

Yuan Ji smiled weakly, "She really says that? I can only see that she has closed her eyes to their many misdeeds. She knew that the elders have siphoned off the treasuries and she had proof. Yet she is so eager to believe they are framed and only ask me to investigate the accounts. She can't even be bothered to punish them."

Shangguan Yan said quietly, "She is smarter than them so I believe that Palace Mistress knows what she is doing."

"Of course she thinks that she is smarter than them. She is only trying to make use of them to fight against one another. But this will only allow these villains to grow even more arrogant." Yuan Ji said ruefully. "And now, she may even be dead."

Shangguan Yan was gasping with shock, "Something has happened to Palace Mistress?"

Yuan Ji said with trembling voice, "Xue Qianxue may have just come and massacre all the elders. Our Palace Mistress may be taken away by her. They are all killed by a powerful profound art and Xue Qianxue's Sacred Maiden Profound Art is ranked in the top ten most powerful profound arts. Only she has the ability to massacre everyone so quickly."

Shangguan Yan was trembling and she was gasping with tears, "Palace Mistress has always treated me so kindly…this…can't be true…"

Yuan Ji clenched his fists tightly, "Xue Qianxue, I won't forgive you…"

He was beginning to imagine the tortures that Xue Qianxue would put through to Xia Jiajia before she finally succumbed to her injuries.

Shangguan Yan muttered, "Brother Yuan Ji, do you still want to hear Palace Mistress last message for you?"

"What message? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Yuan Ji muttered with a heavy sigh.

"I try to but you didn't give me a chance to speak." Shangguan Yan said quietly as she took a glance at him.

Yuan Ji had suddenly remembered that he was the one that had interrupted Shangguan Yan as he was in a hurry to find Xia Jiajia earlier.

He muttered sadly, "This is most probably her last will. Tell me about it."

Shangguan Yan nodded before she said softly, "She asks you to take good care of yourself and she will only see you again if you are able to become a romantic cultivator."

Yuan Ji: …

"What? She says that?!" Yuan Ji was stunned.

Shangguan Yan asked curiously, "What is wrong?"

All of a sudden Yuan Ji was sheepishly looking at Shangguan Yan before he asked weakly, "Do you think that it is actually Palace Mistress that has massacred all the elders?"

The reason why he was suddenly asking this was because this last message from her had indicated to him that Xia Jiaqing had gone missing on purpose.

Shangguan Yan nodded quietly.

Yuan Ji: …

"Why do you think it is a possibility?"

Shangguan Yan averted her eyes shyly before she said, "I don't know for sure but Palace Mistress certainly has the ability to move freely everywhere without the elders knowing."

Yuan Ji was blinking his eyes, "She isn't a saintess. How did she manage to do so? She is only an upper tier sixth realm golden supremacy."

Shangguan Yan looked at him curiously, "She isn't a saintess?"

Yuan Ji smiled weakly, "Of course she isn't a saintess. Everyone knows that she is only a golden supremacy. I brought that information before I come."

"Then I may have heard wrongly." Shangguan Yan said quietly.

Yuan Ji laughed weakly, "What did she say? I am just curious to know."

"Once she is so upset with the elders that she says softly, do they believe that this saintess here will one day kill them whenever I want?"

Yuan Ji: …

He was suddenly muttering, "A hundred years ago, she was only a peaked fifth realm golden celestial but a hundred years later, she is an upper tier sixth realm golden supremacy. This advancement is really too swift. Why didn't I discover this loophole in her stories?"

Then he was muttering, "If Ling Feiyue can also lie to me about her cultivation level, so can Xia Jiajia. I am such a fool. If she isn't a saintess, why should Xia Qianxue even bother with her…the enemy of a saint is always a saint…"

"So she is really the one that has massacred everyone? But why? Isn't this her sect?"

Suddenly he had a realization in his mind;

"She is merely waiting here for me…"

"To keep her a hundred years pledge for me…"

"She has already recognized me when I have returned but she did not expose me…"

"She made me an elder because she already knew who I am…"

"Then she made me marry Shangguan Yan because she knows that she is my disciple…"

"She made me take over the treasuries that Hai Sheng was in charge of because she wants me to siphon the treasury…"

"This is her surprise for me…"

"The reasons why she did not act against these elders are because they are already dead men in her eyes…"

"Once everything is in place, she can finally leave…"

"I see her everyday yet I do not treasure her but curse her every single day when she is the Palace Mistress…"

"Jiajia, why didn't you want to acknowledge me? I'm serious about our one hundred years pledge…."

"No, it isn't her fault. I am the one that refuse to acknowledge her. I am in disguise but she isn't. This is a great misunderstanding…"

"Jiajia, I will look to the ends of the earth and find you…"

"And what does she mean by she will see me again when I've become a romantic cultivator? Is it because I've no beard now? That must be it. I must quickly restore my beautiful beard at all costs…"

Shangguan Yan saw that Yuan Ji was in a daze so she gently said, "Brother Yuan Ji, are you alright?"

Yuan Ji quickly snapped out of his trace and he was soon staring blankly at Shangguan Yan. "I just remember something really important and we ought to pack up quickly."

"Which is?" Shangguan Yan asked curiously.

Yuan Ji smiled most bitterly, "Well, you see. I think I've just offended Xue Qianxue (again). I've just told all the protégés in the Emperor Hall Sect to spread a rumor that Xue Qianxue has massacred all our elders, except for me of course. When she has heard of this, she won't be pleased at all and will come after me."