Chapter 571: The Blood War Begins (Two in One)

After waiting backstage at the Gods' Association for a while, Yan Jing finally received the message brought back by Xiao Xin. He smiled, stood up, and walked out.

It was entirely expected.

How could anyone who had reached such a position be a fool?

But that was fine.

As long as his goal was achieved, Yan Jing didn't care if the other party harbored ulterior motives.

He didn't have Haiti's means of instantly returning to his own Domain. He had to walk back.

Fortunately, it wasn't too far. The Gods' Association's meeting place was located within a Space Rift, and he had memorized the general route on his way here.

But just as he turned a corner, he stopped in his tracks.

"Good evening, Mr. Wen Xu."

Tiger, who had been waiting here all along, bowed to him.

"Good evening," Yan Jing replied, his expression natural and smiling.

He knew exactly why Tiger was here.

"Mr. Wen, have we met somewhere before?" True to form, Tiger's next question cut straight to the point.

He stared intently at Yan Jing, his perpetually drooping eyes now flashing with a brilliant golden light.

"Have we? I don't recall. Did you serve time in the Great Prison?" Yan Jing smiled. "Or perhaps you've been to the Wizard Continent? I only visited those few places before I took a ship and left the Great Prison."

"No, I don't mean there—" The golden light in Tiger's eyes burned brighter, rippling outward in pale golden waves that washed over Yan Jing, as if trying to see right through him.

Yan Jing smiled. "Where else could it be?"

"Minhu, or Old Sin City." Tiger took a deep breath. "It's been a long time, Mr. Yi Ji."

He bowed slightly to Yan Jing again, just like he used to back then.

But Yan Jing laughed. "I see. You think I am Mr. Yi."

"How amusing. As far as I can tell, Mr. Yi and I have nothing in common."

Tiger's eyes flickered. He was about to speak again, but Yan Jing's next words stopped him cold.

"You belong to the Path of Destiny, right? With your methods, it shouldn't be hard to investigate. Look into it. Mr. Yi just left our Ship and went to that Hermit's stronghold."

Saying that, Yan Jing walked over and patted Tiger on the shoulder. "It should be easy for you to find him. If my guess is right, he's almost home by now."

"Farewell then."

Yan Jing bypassed the stunned Tiger and walked out the door.

Only when Yan Jing's figure completely vanished did Tiger snap out of his daze. He lowered his head, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.

He did indeed suspect the man was Yi Ji.

Because of the Hermit's injuries.

The spikes embedded in the Hermit's chest were clearly Yi Ji's handiwork, yet the Chaos Merchant had claimed Wen Xu did it.

And subsequently, Wen Xu had proven just that.

Though he couldn't see exactly how Wen Xu did it, the attack definitely involved those pitch-black spikes he was all too familiar with.

Coupled with the threads of Fate constantly telling him that Yi Ji was nearby, it led him to that conclusion.

But now—it seemed something was wrong.

Thinking back to the man's final words, Tiger's eyes flickered as he turned and walked in the opposite direction of Wen Xu's departure.

Since he had the wrong person, it just meant the right Fate hadn't arrived yet.

There was no need to rush these things.

Fate would provide the answer when the time was right.

That was what he had learned during his time at the Path of Destiny.

Yan Jing walked out the main doors of the Gods' Association. Taking a single step, he appeared high in the sky. Looking down at the ruined temple suspended in midair and wreathed in the aura of Chaos, he smiled, and his figure vanished.

He hadn't even fully returned to the Ship before he was greeted by a massive welcoming party.

Everyone on the Cat Ship stood in a long line, holding up banners to warmly welcome his return.

Everyone had watched Yan Jing's every move at the Gods' Association through the projected screens, and they fully understood what an earth-shattering feat the Director standing before them had just pulled off.

They all felt a deep sense of shared pride and glory.

"Tonight, all expenses go on the Director's tab," Yan Jing said with a smile.

"Long live the Director!"

Cheers swallowed the entire Cat Ship like a tsunami.

That evening, the brilliant lights and boisterous singing carried on late into the night.

Yet the main character of this victory banquet had long since slipped away.

Yan Jing found a deserted corner and sat on the ground, watching the fireworks bloom in the sky.

Their flashes of light tinted the surrounding aura of Chaos, rendering it even more magnificent and dazzling.

"It's no good hiding out here all by yourself."

Wen Qiao's voice sounded behind him.

Holding Mao Si, she sat down next to Yan Jing and gently leaned against his arm.

Without turning his head, Yan Jing smiled. "How did you find me, Sister Wen Qiao?"

"Scent," Wen Qiao said with a laugh.

"It's my specialty!"

Wen Qiao proudly pointed a thumb at herself, flashing a bright smile.

Yan Jing smiled and shook his head, saying nothing.

"Isn't this what you wanted, Little Jing?"

Leaning on his shoulder, Wen Qiao gazed at the fireworks-filled sky and suddenly spoke.

Yan Jing smiled. "Why would you ask that all of a sudden, Sister Wen Qiao?"

"I can tell."

"If we keep going, what happens if I lose one day?" Yan Jing suddenly turned his head to look at her.

Fireworks bloomed within the depths of Wen Qiao's lake-like eyes, cascading after their ultimate brilliance.

"If you lose—"

Wen Qiao laughed. "Who doesn't lose?"

"Everyone isn't by your side just because you keep winning, Little Jing."

"I believe that not a single person you care about is here for that reason."

She looked at him, wanting to say something comforting.

But the words died on her lips.

Because there wasn't a trace of sadness or sorrow in his eyes.

His eyes held a smile.

I see—

Wen Qiao understood what Yan Jing really wanted and simply rested her head against him.

They sat together in comfortable silence.

"Meeting! Meeting! Meeting time!"

Using his identity as Mao Si, Yan Jing stood in Wen Qiao's arms, banging on the doors of every upper-level staff member on the Ship.

Amidst a sea of sighs and groans, the group gathered in the conference hall.

"This is the mission Director Wen brought back yesterday. Take a look."

Yan Jing tossed over a sheet of paper.

Everyone leaned in and stared at the paper, their eyes widening.

"Quell the Pure Blood Heavenly Kingdom riots."

"This—" Weng Lingxiao adjusted his glasses, the drowsiness instantly banished from his face.

This was the Pure Blood Heavenly Kingdom.

A place everyone here was deeply familiar with.

Not too long ago, they had held a Wedding for Ning Wei, and the bride hailed from the Pure Blood Heavenly Kingdom.

"This won't be easy to handle, Captain... We should turn this down..."

Weng Lingxiao weighed the strength of both sides.

Advent Day was fast approaching. To him, getting involved in something like this was a classic thankless task. It would be better to take this opportunity to quietly build up their forces.

But Yan Jing's words struck him like a physical blow: "Director Wen volunteered for this."

Hearing this, the group exchanged glances and said nothing more.

Since Wen Xu had already spoken up, it meant the matter was set in stone.

"This is the intel the people from Chaos sent over in the middle of the night."

Yan Jing pulled out a large bundle and tossed it onto the table. "There's too much of it. You all have two hours to read through it and summarize the key information for me."

Staring at the mountain of documents, everyone felt their scalps tingle. For people who had sat in high positions for so long, this was no easier than going out to fight.

Two hours later, the exhausted group finally managed to compile a summary report, which Bobo read aloud to Yan Jing.

"Ahem, cough, cough..."

Reading in front of so many people made Bobo a little nervous.

"Hurry it up!" Yan Jing glared.

Bobo instantly lost her nervousness and hastily began, "The Pure Blood Heavenly Kingdom is—"

Through Bobo's explanation, everyone grasped the general situation.

Simply put, the riots in the Pure Blood Heavenly Kingdom weren't a straightforward invasion.

They were operating under a guise.

The Pure Blood Heavenly Kingdom consisted of two great Families. Every matter required a joint decision negotiated by the patriarchs of both Families.

And the process of electing these patriarchs involved an election method passed down for over ten thousand years.

The Blood War.

The Pure Blood Heavenly Kingdom would evenly divide all its subordinate Domains and allocate them to the heirs with the highest Bloodline purity, distributed according to their purity ranking.

These heirs would then rely on these Domains to wage a Domain War lasting one month.

After a month, the heir from each Family who held the most Domains would become their next grand patriarch.

And whoever became the grand patriarch would directly inherit the Bloodline of the previous one.

It was a process akin to an empowerment ritual.

Normally, such elections occurred roughly once a century. Since they were purely internal conflicts within the Pure Blood Heavenly Kingdom, everyone had always coexisted in peace.

But for this current election, the higher-ups had secretly ordered a rule change.

This Domain War would no longer be restricted to the Domains under the Pure Blood Heavenly Kingdom.

As long as candidates had the strength, they could conquer Domains outside the Pure Blood Heavenly Kingdom.

The higher-ups would turn a blind eye, counting all the Domains held at the end toward their final tally.

But if caught, they were strictly forbidden from revealing this fact.

It would be treated solely as their own rule violation.

This information was supposed to spread solely among the participants, but someone had anonymously reported it to the Gods' Association.

With Advent Day looming, such an obvious exploit meant to seize early advantages during the Domain War naturally met with harsh resistance from all the other principals.

However, the heirs of the Pure Blood Heavenly Kingdom had innate blood oaths inherited within their Bloodlines, preventing them from betraying their Family. This was especially true for those with high Bloodline purity; any betrayal would instantly trigger the blood oath.

Because of this, it was almost impossible to catch them out.

What made this situation brilliant, however, was that someone on their side had leaked the information.

That meant there had to be a participant without a blood oath. As long as they could find that person, the entire conspiracy would collapse on its own.

Therefore, the vanguard squad's mission wasn't just to stop the invasions.

More importantly...

They had to find a way to make this intervention justified.

"Based on our current intel, we need to send people to infiltrate the different factions and investigate them one by one," Bobo said, her brows knitting together. "This is no simple errand."

The rest of the group shared her sentiment.

It would be fine if they could move together and look out for each other, but splitting up...

Getting caught alone would cause major problems.

"No, we'll act as one group," Yan Jing said.

"Who are the participants?"

"Two Families, with eleven participants each, totaling twenty-two. Here is the list."

Bobo handed the compiled list to Yan Jing.

Yan Jing looked left and right before finally saying, "It's decided. We're picking this one."

The group leaned in to look at the name he was pointing at, and all of them froze.

"Chen Nian."

"Bloodline purity 8.007%. Assigned Domain: one Third Level Class Complete Domain."

"Ranking: Eleventh place in the Chen Family."

"Odds: 1 to 3700."

"This..." Weng Lingxiao blinked, carefully choosing his words. "Captain Mao Si, shouldn't we discuss this with Director Wen first?"

"Director Wen isn't leaving the Ship."

Yan Jing smiled. "A Tenth Tier needs to stand guard on the Ship, so the Director gave the order—I am in full charge of this operation."

"I'll be going, too."

"We are choosing this one."

Hearing this, the group couldn't really object.

If Mao Si himself was personally going, there was nothing left to say.

They all knew that Mao Si came from the Heavenly Kingdom; he clearly knew what he was doing.

"Zhou Mian will go. Either Bai Yue or Bai Chen, one of you will come along. Weng Lingxiao. And—"

Yan Jing looked left and right.

"Me! Pick me!"

Wen Qiao whispered softly while carefully poking Yan Jing in the waist, but he completely ignored her.

His gaze swept over them. "Bobo, you're going."

"Me?" Bobo was a little taken aback.

Everyone Yan Jing had picked so far was at the Ninth Tier.

But she was still a bit away from reaching the Summit.

"A group with only high Tiers would be a bunch of idiots."

Ignoring the resentful look in Wen Qiao's eyes behind him, Yan Jing waved his hand high. "The Cat Ship will change course and advance toward the Heavenly Kingdom at full speed. The Blood War begins in five days; we head out in four. Any objections?"

"Understood, Captain!"

Yan Jing logged out of the Inner World.

He had finally dealt with most of the urgent matters in the Inner World, earning himself a day of rest.

He stretched his back and walked outside.

This time, the moment he stepped out, he used Stone State to completely conceal his aura. Nobody noticed him.

He was happy to enjoy the peace.

He first strolled over to Shen Youran's nearby residence. Stretching out his perception slightly, he found that Shen Youran was acting just like always—lying in bed, watching shows, and eating snacks with nothing better to do.

Next, he headed to the office building and saw Rabbit hard at work.

But when he arrived at the office shared by the two youngsters, Wang Yu and Long Quezhou, his footsteps halted.

Because there were more than just their two auras inside.

There was another, familiar aura.

"Domain Lord Wang, Domain Lord Long, having just taken a long tour around here, it seems to me that your living conditions aren't all that great—"

Yan Jing amplified the sound reaching his ears, confirming that the speaker was indeed an acquaintance.

It was Tian Fangfei, the domain master of Dongcang whom he had beaten half to death.

His interest piqued, Yan Jing continued listening.

"It's a pity. I tried so earnestly to persuade the two of you back then, but you refused to listen. Instead, you chose to believe that man's words. It's too late for regrets now, isn't it?"

"This successful march into the Central Region should be the final batch before the Day of Godhood arrives."

"Are you truly content with just being spectators? I've come here today full of sincerity. I urge you to carefully consider what I just said."