Chapter 1672: Strange Shadow
The entire crowd became chaotic with quite a few disciples shouting. Those disciples were forced to come to the Xuantian Dao Sect, and they had spent every day worried about being found, as well as the condemnation of their own conscience.
That wasn’t a good feeling, especially when they came across the warriors of the Dragonblood Legion. They could sense the Dragonblood warriors’ absolute trust in each other and that made them feel even worse inside.
They wished they could join the Xuantian Dao Sect sincerely, but they couldn’t. They also couldn’t expose their identities, because while only some had spiritual contracts, another portion without the contracts might be heirs to other large sects. Because they were worthy of trust, they had been tossed into the Xuantian Dao Sect without a spiritual contract.
However, people had a selfish side, and who didn’t want to be free? Who didn’t want to always get stronger? No one was willing to carry the title of a treacherous spy. That was a stain to any expert.
Long Chen had given them a chance to wipe away this stain, and they naturally wouldn’t let such a chance pass. After today, they would be true disciples of the Xuantian Dao Sect. It was like being reborn.
Divine light from the Xuantian Tower enveloped Crouching Dragon Mountain. Li Tianxuan’s voice rang out. “Don’t panic. With the Xuantian Tower’s protection, no one can harm you here. Those who have spiritual marks or contracts can come to the Xuantian Tower to be cleansed. As long as you have a sincere heart and are determined to fight for the Righteous path to protect the Martial Heaven Continent’s peace and prosperity, then no matter which sect sent you here or what ulterior goals you had before, the Xuantian Dao Sect is willing to forgive and forget.”
With even Li Tianxuan and the Xuantian Tower expressing their attitudes, those worried disciples began to weep tears of emotion. This chance to wipe away their sins was something probably only the Xuantian Dao Sect could give them.
Disciples that had been hesitating also came forward now. A huge weight was lifted off their shoulders. It felt like they had been reborn.
Over a thousand disciples went to the Xuantian Tower, with half having spiritual contracts. Those without spiritual contracts began to apologize to the surrounding disciples. Those disciples were at first indignant, but they quickly accepted their apologies.
After all, not everyone was free. There were countless reasons they did what they did. The disciples who did have spiritual contracts in particular must have had tough lives. Although they were talented enough, they had still been forced to accept such a spiritual contract. They had basically been chess pieces.
Those disciples weren’t blamed by others but were softly comforted.
“Long Chen, your cultivation technique is so amazing. It can actually distinguish who’s harboring secret motives?” Tang Wan-er softly whispered to Long Chen while holding his hand. She had a worshipful expression now. The current Long Chen truly appeared wise. It was like he was all-knowing, and his words were powerful and resonating.
“Ha, what’s so amazing about it? Do you think everything someone else says is trustworthy? I was just lying,” whispered Long Chen.
Fortunately, things were chaotic enough that only Meng Qi, Chu Yao, Guo Ran, Gu Yang, and a few others could hear them. They were all dumbfounded.
“It’s not like I’m a god. How can I tell who’s a good person and who’s a bad person just like that? The only thing I can sense is someone’s hostility when they want to kill me. That’s something even you can sense. Since they just came to gather information and didn’t have any obvious hostility toward me, how could I possibly tell who they were? This was just bait,” said Long Chen mischievously.
“Long Chen, you’re evil!” Meng Qi covered her mouth and laughed. Even they had been tricked. They really had thought that his cultivation technique could tell who was good and who was bad.
“Then boss, how did you know there would be this many spies?” Gu Yang rubbed his head.
“Fool, this is just an unwritten rule. What sect doesn’t have other people’s eyes inside it? We have recruited so many disciples, so there should be spies among them. Ignoring everyone else, just look at our own Xuan Master. He has such an understanding of the major powers of the continent. Where do you think that information comes from?”
They finally understood. No wonder he said it was an unwritten rule, so everyone did this.
“It’s impossible to get rid of all the spies. However, if we can clean up a portion of them, then that’s good. Most likely, the rest are loyal to death to others. It’s basically impossible to get them to expose themselves,” said Long Chen.
“Then what do we do about them?” asked Guo Ran.
“What do we do? Why do we have to do anything? With the Xuan Master’s intelligence, he’ll find out who they are sooner or later. And he definitely won’t expose them. He’ll leave them so he can mislead them and send out fake news. Using other people’s chess pieces, hehe, when it comes to this, the Xuan Master’s the real evil one. I’m just a novice in comparison,” laughed Long Chen.
“You’re both evil. Fortunately, we’re on the same side,” said Tang Wan-er gladly. She found that other than cultivation, she didn’t know anything. Long Chen and the Xuan Master’s scheming was so deep that they could kill their enemies without needing to personally fight.
“Once we tidy up some of them, the rest will easily expose themselves on the battlefield. For example, if a dog’s fur glowed, it would be easier to see ticks. I’ve now made their fur glow, making it a bit easier for the Xuan Master to find the parasites. If we don’t know who they are, it will be difficult for everyone to fight with their full power. Well, there’s no need to talk too much about it. Today’s a good day, so let’s properly celebrate with food and drink. We should boost our morale before the Devil Abyss erupts. I have to make sure we leave the Xuantian Dao Sect with a powerful army protecting it,” said Long Chen.
“Long Chen, you mean…?” Meng Qi and the others were startled.
“Pretty much. Our enemies are only growing stronger. The Xuantian Dao Sect has helped us out immensely and is our home. However, we are like baby birds that will need to leave the nest one day to survive on our own. If we grow dependent on this nest, we’ll likely implicate the Xuantian Dao Sect one day. But before we leave, we have to leave behind a legend, a kind of will, a kind of feeling, a kind of energy, something that makes people say that in this world, there is a supreme kind of conviction, and its name is the Dragonblood Legion.” Long Chen’s eye sparkled with a determined light.
No matter how much time passed, no matter what era passed, the Dragonblood Legion’s trust in each other would never grow out-dated. It would forever be passed down amongst people. There would be a new faith, called the legend of the Dragonblood.
“Boss, you really are amazing at duping people. I have an urge to find a battlefield right now and kill until rivers of blood flow,” said Gu Yang excitedly.
Long Chen rolled his eyes. Gu Yang was never good with words. He had grown such a bright head for nothing.
Everyone celebrated in Crouching Dragon Mountain for a day. Huge waves stirred in the Xuantian Dao Sect due to Long Chen’s return this time.
That was because of Guo Ran’s loud mouth. Originally, only a selected few plus the Dragonblood Legion had known what had happened during the Jade Lake Pageant, but Guo Ran just couldn’t hold back his gabbing. He directly narrated how Long Chen had shown his might in the Southern Xuan Region.
On his own, he had slaughtered all the Southern Xuan Region’s elite disciples. Not only that, but he had dominated their senior experts as well. That was a supreme glory.
“Long Chen, what is it? Are you not happy?”
Long Chen, Meng Qi, Chu Yao, and Tang Wan-er were hiding in a corner, quietly watching Guo Ran continue bragging. Tang Wan-er had spoken up upon seeing Long Chen’s expression.
“It’s nothing.” Long Chen smiled, but that smile was a bit forced.
“Long Chen, it wasn’t your fault. The martial path is full of struggles. There’s no person who’s innocent, and there’s no such thing as subduing enemies with unrivaled kindness. If you want to live, you have to be vicious. You had no other choice in that situation.” Meng Qi held Long Chen’s hand. She knew Long Chen was still brooding over that matter.
However, in that critical moment, he really hadn’t had any choice. If there was someone to be blamed, it would have to be Shen Bijun. If Long Chen hadn’t been that vicious, Meng Qi and the others would have been in danger.
Those people had been controlled by Shen Bijun. Long Chen had known that and had still killed them. There was no way to say whether his actions were right or wrong, but he couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable inside.
Seeing people celebrating this matter was what made him feel bad. Was the existence known as glory really so amazing? If killing wasn’t to protect, then what was the point of getting stronger? In that instant, Long Chen suddenly felt a bit lonely.
“I’m fine. I just suddenly feel a bit tired. These merciless Heavenly Daos are always forcing me to be a killer, and I can’t stop it. I feel like my fate is being played by a bored heavens. The feeling of being a dancing monkey is irritating.” Long Chen looked up at the sky with a touch of fury in his eyes.
It was Shen Bijun who had been so sinister and sly that she had arranged traps for Long Chen, which made it so he lost no matter what choice he made.
The heavens were the same. Ever since he had stepped onto his cultivation path, he had felt like he was a chess piece. His path forward looked like it had many forks, many choices. But no matter what choice he made, he ran into incomparable difficulties.
“Long Chen, we’ll worry about you like this.” Chu Yao hugged his arm, leaning against his shoulder.
They all knew that although Long Chen had slain Shen Bijun, Shen Bijun’s sinister scheme had left behind a seed in Long Chen’s heart. That was a dangerous seed. They didn’t know if it would affect Long Chen.
No one else could talk him around. Whether or not he could resolve this knot in his heart would be up to himself.
“I’m fine. I was just feeling a bit emotional. Starting tomorrow, the Dragonblood Legion has to go into collective seclusion to increase our power.”
Long Chen took a deep breath and expelled those thoughts. He had no time to consider those things. As long as he could protect those he wanted to protect, so what if he had to become a fiend?
When that thought appeared in his mind, a strange shadow appeared on the Divine Gate Star. However, it only appeared for an instant before vanishing as if nothing happened, leaving no one the wiser.