## AST 486 - Crisis? Lady From Hai Clan, Hai Dongqing

At Sword Tower...

“Old Ancestor, Qing Shui has already left Heavenly Palace. He is riding a red bird and flying west.”

“Okay, inform the Tower Lord to let him pass.“

“Yes!”

“Wait!”

“I await your order.”

“Inform the Tower Lord to activate the Heavenly Shadow Combat Squad, also inform the other sects to take action.”

“Yes.”

……

In the Demon Beast Sect...

“Grand Elder, Qing Shui has left Heavenly Palace. Sword Tower members have already started moving. They’ve also sent their messengers to inform us to take action,” Gong Qi informed the Grand Elder.

“Okay. You can bring along my Golden Eyed Hurricane Tiger. Bring Elder Nie and Elder Xiong with you. Choose a few more elders with strong beasts. They must at least be Martial Kings with the strength of three countries.”

“Yes!”

……

At Hai Clan...

“Father, we have received a letter from Sword Tower. Sword Tower, Demon Beast Sect, Alchemist Sect and others are all joining forces in the operation to kill Qing Shui. What should we do?” Smiling, Hai Long held a brown envelope in his hand as he spoke to a middle age scholarly looking man.

“Well, Long’er. What do you think we should do?” The middle age man took the letter from him. This situation was fairly common to him.

This sort of situation was created so that everyone would participate. In the event that they were not successful, everyone could act together to confront Heavenly Palace. If they managed to kill Qing Shui, it was a given that Heavenly Palace would not offend all the sects just for a single dead man.

“I think we should not take action. We should observe and react accordingly!” Hai Long knitted his brows, as he pondered and replied.

“Okay, explain?” The middle aged man smiled at Hai Long, amused.

“I feel that it is impossible that Heavenly Palace will leave someone like Qing Shui unprotected. Besides, Qing Shui is not stupid. He wouldn’t be so foolish as to seek death. Even if Qing Shui did not know the danger, there are so many experts in Heavenly Palace. I have a feeling that this is a trap,” Hai Long said thoughtfully.

“Long’er. In this situation, what should we do. If we go, we will offend Heavenly Palace. If we don’t, we offend all the other sects. What should we do? Should we not go?” The middle aged man seemed to be entertained by the discussion.

“Hai Clan won’t participate in this sort of thing. Who are they to force as to choose a side? We won’t stand on anybody’s side,” Hai Long said, with furrowed brows.

“If we don’t stand on anybody’s side, we will be offending both sides,” a gentle voice commented.

A graceful, refined woman walked toward them. Her hair was pinned up. Her neck was long. She had a curvaceous figure and bosoms which invited lust. A pair of wise beautiful eyes accompanied her matured, dignified face. Her skin was fair and delicate. She had a slender waist and a well-rounded butt that perked in a perfect arc. The flowy dress on her reflected the boundary between the secular and sacred.

“Aunt, you’re here!” Hai Long said cheerily.

This extremely beautiful woman was Hai Long’s paternal aunt. She was a member of the Hai Clan that couldn’t be overlooked. Not only was she good at martial arts, her wisdom also far surpassed many.

“Brother, I am here now!” The woman, Dongqing, greeted the scholarly man with a smile.

“Aunt, what do you suggest we do?” Hai Long was always very impressed by his aunt had both beauty and brains.

Many people know that within his generation, Hai Long was the most outstanding young man. But only a few in Hai Clan knew that Hai Long was not the most outstanding in the family. Instead, it was his aunt, Hai Dongqing, who was only a few years older than him. He was unable to surpass her even if he tried his best.

But Hai Clan had never revealed this.

“Hai Clan is a small clan. We can’t afford to support the wrong group. There are times when we have to choose a side. But we are not at that point right now,” Hai Dongqing said.

Her light, sweet sounding voice had a sort of charming magnetism. Wherever she went, she seemed to bring a ceaseless halo of light.

“Aunt! You wise old one, please tell us what to do.” Hai Long used his most powerful ‘killer’ move.

“Hey, brat! I am only 5 years older than you. Don’t call me old. I will beat you to a pulp right now.” Hai Dongqing smiled as she looked at Hai Long, forever keeping her graceful demeanor.

This time, Hai Long fell silent. Hai Dongqing continued, “This time, we will agree to join their operation to kill Qing Shui. But we won’t send anyone and we won’t give a written reply. We will just send someone to inform them. I think that this whole situation isn’t as simple as it seems. We should leave a backdoor for ourselves.”

“ Sigh... If we had ten years, maybe not even ten. Hai Clan wouldn’t need to compromise like that. Anyone who doesn’t accept the matter will be totally eradicated by Aunt,” Hai Long commented gloomily.

“Sigh... If only Donghai was a male member of our Hai Clan!” the middle age man sighed but smiled.

“Brother, you are at it again. I am not going to marry anyone. I will stay with Hai Clan my whole life.”

“That’s easy for you to say now. That is because you haven’t met someone you like. Otherwise, I am sure you will elope with him.” The scholarly man laughed.

“Brother, stop it!”

“Fine. I will stop. Sigh… it is no wonder. A person who can match our Dongqing probably hasn’t been born yet.”

“Bro…”

“Okay, Long’er, instruct Siyun to go and inform the others that Hai Clan needs some time to prepare and may be late.”

Hai Long bid both of them farewell and left.

“Long’er still doesn’t have a calm enough temperament.“ The scholarly man laughed looking at the pavilion in the distance.

“Brother, you don’t have to be so anxious. You’re still young. Besides, a calm temperament is slowly cultivated. Just allow Long’er to gain experience and he will gain that composure.” Hai Dongqing replied with a smile as she looked off to a distance.

“It is hard to change one’s personality. Many things are based on god-given talents. Not only is it difficult to cultivate this personality or skills, it might even be a waste of time. Look at you, you are barely older than Long’er yet the disparity is so obvious.” The man laughed.

“Brother. You must listen to me this time. We must not touch Qing Shui no matter what, we mustn’t offend with Heavenly Palace.” Hai Dongqing said seriously.

“Okay, what are your thoughts?”

“It’s my intuition. Brother, you know that I have an exceptional intuition since young. I’ve only realized that that was my innate spiritual sense. I can feel that Qing Shui’s capabilities are not what they seem and Feng Shamo did manage to pierce Qing Shui.”

“Sigh... I think we shouldn’t even ask Siyun to deliver the message,” the man frowned and said.

“Okay. I only thought we could delay things if we send a verbal message. As it is with things now, I don’t think that it’s necessary. We shouldn’t risk it. Greencloud continent is about to change very quickly.” Hai Dongqing chuckled.

……

Qing Shui did not allow his Fire Bird to fly too fast. Even so, they had already flown 8000 miles in a single day. Qing Shui could sense that someone was following him. He had even seen it.

What surprised Qing Shui the most was a large tiger. It was twice as big as his Diamond Gigantic Elephant, it was about fifty meters in length and seven meters in height. Its pair of golden eyes were like lanterns which seemed to curse the heavens. Its entire body was silver and it had a single, fearsome three meters long horn on its head. It ran like the wind and it could match his Fire Bird’s speed effortlessly.

When the skies turned dark, Qing Shui discovered that the region was filled with towering mountains, precipitous ridges and dense thickets of forests. The west region of Greencloud Continent was covered entirely by mountains and forests. All the mountains were extremely tall and the trees were all so large that over ten people could surround its circumference. It was a sight that couldn’t be comprehended in his previous life.

Qing Shui found and landed at a location on the side of the mountain face. Being too lazy to set up a tent, he sat down beside a smooth rock wall. It was still too early to enter the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

Even without thinking, he knew who the people following him were. He was only concerned about the humongous golden eyed tiger. Qing Shui could tell with one look that it was a speed-type demonic beast. It also seemed much stronger than the Tigon Beast Champion. This was the reason why Qing Shui felt uneasy.

If it was only that tiger, Qing Shui wouldn’t be that worried. After all, he had his Fire Bird with him. The thing was that he had spotted many other flying demonic beasts and there was quite a number of them.

Qing Shui had his Soulshake Bell but there were multiple opponents so it was not suitable for him to engage them in close range combat. He could not imagine the consequences if he’d made a mistake. Furthermore, he was here to seek a treasure.

As long as the large tiger is around, Qing Shui decided not to go near the ground if possible!

……

In Heavenly Palace…

“Old Ancestor, you’re looking for me?”

A skinny man with a head full of white hair stood in front of the Heavenly Palace’s Old Ancestor. It was impossible to guess his age, there were a few wrinkles on his face that were marked by age.

“Mao’er, I need you to protect someone. Can you do it?” Heavenly Palace Old Ancestor asked calmly, with a gentle voice.

“Since you’ve come to me, I will definitely do it.Under your orders, I will definitely die before that person.” The man with silver-white hair said, accentuating each word with force.

The Old Ancestor was very pleased with his reply. Many people will quickly agree, but they might survive while the people they should protect may die.

I will definitely die before the person. The Old Ancestor was extremely pleased with this sentence.

“You are an assassin, so pay attention to your methods. I shall give this to you. Even though I want you to protect Qing Shui, please remember to only step in when he is in danger.” The Old Ancestor handed a short dagger to the silver-white-haired man.

It was a dagger which was about one and a half feet in length. It looked very ordinary. The handle was bound by a few strips of beast skin.

Such an ordinary dagger made the silver-haired man tremble with excitement.

“Thank you, Old Ancestor!”

“Qing Shui headed for Flowerfruit Mountain. It shouldn’t be difficult for you to follow him given your abilities.”

“Yes. I will leave now!”

The Old Ancestor smiled, clapping his hands.

……

Qing Shui rested by the rock wall. He did not walk around. Anyway, he had decided to leave early in the morning!

Qing Shui had an inkling that tonight would not end peacefully. Qing Shui was determined to give these people a lesson that they would never forget.

When the time was right, Qing Shui entered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. His Fire Bird was long asleep on a giant Paulownia tree.

Talisman Drawing!

This was the most urgent matter. With the presence of the large tiger, it was even more pressing!