Somewhere in the outside world,
A group of people could be seen circling around two young men, watching as a duel between Nie Li and an upperclassman from the Demon Spiritualist class named Chu Yuan was about to begin.
It had been a day since Chen Li Jiang led his group outside to venture into the Ancient Orchid City Ruins in search of its treasures.
Along with him were members of his faction, Nie Li, Ye Ziyun, Huyan Lanruo, the sole princess of the Huyan Family, a noble household, Shen Yue, the trio of Jing Ya, Mei Lin, Yue Ling, and Chen Linlin, who may or may not have blackmailed her elder brother into bringing her along on the expedition.
Their group had been traveling for days now. The journey had been relatively safe for the most part, though they encountered several close calls here and there. One of them happened last night when they unknowingly camped near a Demon Fox Bear nest, a demon beast known for its ferocious nature that would undoubtedly have caused their group some casualties if the encounter happened, lowering everyone's morals even before arriving at the Ancient Orchid City Ruins.
Fortunately for them, Nie Li managed to stumble upon the nest ahead of time and advised Chen Li Jiang to leave the area before they encountered the Demon Fox Bears, saving the group from an unnecessary battle.
Another threat came when Nie Li sensed that they were being followed by a group of people, whom he identified as members of the Dark Guild. With that information, Chen Li Jiang and his group cornered the mysterious figures and managed to kill one of them while the other two escaped with injuries.
Thanks to these incidents involving Nie Li's help, almost everyone in the group began viewing him in a better light, treating him as one of the core members of their expedition.
While this earned Nie Li favorable impressions from people like Huyan Lanruo, who found him quite interesting, it also drew ire from others who found his closeness to beauties like Ye Ziyun and Huyan Lanruo aggravating.
So it was no surprise when one of those people decided to pick a fight with Nie Li.
In order to gain Ye Ziyun and Huyan Lanruo's attention, Chu Yuan began provoking Nie Li, insulting and mocking him while believing he could easily crush someone who had not even stepped into the Bronze Rank.
Tired of people jumping all over his head like annoying monkeys, Nie Li challenged Chu Yuan to a fight to shut him up.
This resulted in the group witnessing Chu Yuan being defeated in a single move, a punch to the gut that left him sprawled on the ground, shaken and weakened by Nie Li's attack.
Humiliated, Chu Yuan attempted to injure Nie Li by using soul force suppression to attack his Soul Realm, intending to explode it and cripple Nie Li for life.
Unfortunately for Chu Yuan, the move backfired spectacularly, injuring his own Soul Realm and costing him months of cultivation progress, ultimately leaving him the loser of their bout.
While all of this was happening, somewhere in the forest not far from Chen Li Jiang's group,
The two injured men hired by Shen Yue to kill Nie Li found themselves in a difficult situation when their attempt to escape led them to stumble upon an unknown cloaked figure.
They cursed their luck as they sensed the danger emanating from the person standing before them.
Earlier, after being discovered by Chen Li Jiang and his men, the two of them had managed to retreat after being overwhelmed by Chen Li Jiang and his men.
They ran as fast as they could, ignoring both their fallen comrade and the injuries they had sustained, all in an effort to return to Glory City and report the failure of their mission to the Main Affairs Elder.
Unfortunately for them, they suddenly found themselves halted by a powerful aura locking onto them.
"Well... well... Well, what do we have here? A couple of insects from Glory City. I wonder how much ransom your families would pay once they find out that the two of you are in my Dark Guild's hands."
The cruel tone in the cloaked figure's voice sent shivers down the souls of the two Silver Rank experts as they sensed the formidable strength hidden beneath those robes.
However, once they heard that the cloaked figure was from the Dark Guild, both of them let out huge sighs of relief, thinking that they were safe.
Immediately, the two kowtowed respectfully to the cloaked figure, ignoring the wounds on their bodies.
"W-we greet Senior from the Dark Guild. We are not Senior's enemies, so we beg Senior to be lenient toward us younger members of the Dark Guild."
"Oh, members of my Dark Guild, huh?" Upon hearing their words, the cloaked figure let out a surprised sound, seemingly unaware that the two young men were actually members of the Dark Guild.
"Do the two of you think I'm that easy to fool? I have never seen either of your faces in my Dark Guild. If you are so eager to die, then I would happily assist you both with my demonic flames."
The two young men panicked as the soul force pressing down on them intensified. Cracks began appearing in the ground beneath them.
Sprawled on the ground, one of the men tried to push himself up to speak to the cloaked figure.
They Sweat profusely, and their teeth clattered from fear. As the terrifying aura locking onto them.
They had never felt such power before. Even the strength of the Main Affairs Elder paled in comparison to the soul force of this cloaked figure alone, terrifying the two of them to their core.
They were so frightened that they began cursing Shen Yue in their hearts for being a useless brat who could not even deal with someone like Nie Li on his own.
"S-Senior, we wouldn't dare! We really are members of the Dark Guild! H-here's our proof!"
Quickly, one of the young men pulled an object out of his interspatial ring and tossed it near the cloaked figure's feet.
Seeing the object, the cloaked figure made a pulling gesture, causing it to fly into his hand.
"A Dark Guild token," the cloaked figure murmured, his eyes flashing with a murderous glint.
'People from glory city possessing a Dark Guild token.' the cloaked figure thought to himself.
Withdrawing his soul force, the enormous pressure crushing the two men vanished, leaving them sprawled on the ground as they gasped desperately for air.
"I have never seen either of you before. Introduce yourselves, your names and affiliations. If I detect even a single lie in your words, the two of you will die horribly by my hands."
Hearing the venom in the cloaked figure's voice and the threat hanging over their necks, the two men quickly pushed themselves into kneeling positions, bowing so low that their foreheads touched the ground.
"Y-yes, Senior! This one's name is Shen Fu, a One-Star Silver Rank Demon Spiritualist from the Sacred Family's branch family."
"M-my name is Shen Ki Huan, a Three-Star Silver Rank Fighter. I-I am also from the branch family."
The newly identified Shen Fu and Shen Ki Huan did not dare raise their heads, afraid that even the slightest mistake might anger the cloaked figure.
Hearing their names, the cloaked person nodded before tossing the Dark Guild token into his interspatial ring.
"Tell me who sent you here and why."
His commanding voice caused Shen Fu and Shen Ki Huan to become even more respectful as they hurriedly answered.
They revealed that it was Shen Ming, the Main Affairs Elder of the Sacred Family, who had sent them with the task of eliminating Nie Li, as Nie Li had become too much of a nuisance for the Sacred Family to ignore.
They also spoke about how one of their companions had died at the hands of Chen Li Jiang and how Chen Li Jiang's group was heading toward the Ancient Orchid City Ruins in search of treasure.
The cloaked figure remained silent as he listened to the two men, making it impossible for them to discern what he was thinking.
"One last question. Does Shen Hong know about all of this?"
Shen Fu and Shen Ki Huan glanced at each other before shaking their heads.
"Lord Patriarch is currently in secluded cultivation. Elder Shen Ming has been left in charge while Lord Patriarch is away."
Hearing their response, the cloaked figure hummed softly before gesturing for the two men to stand.
Seeing this, Shen Fu and Shen Ki Huan both let out relieved sighs as the oppressive aura restraining them completely vanished.
Sensing a glimmer of hope that they might escape punishment from the Main Affairs Elder after failing to kill Nie Li, Shen Fu quickly tried to provide information about Chen Li Jiang's group in hopes that the cloaked figure would go after them and possibly kill Nie Li in the process.
"S-Senior, if you are unaware, many of those people are children of nobility. More notably, Chen Linlin, Ye Ziyun, and Huyan Lanruo. Each of them is extremely beautiful and comes from an important background. Not only could Senior obtain a large ransom from them, but Senior could also enjoy their bodies while waiting for their families to pay."
Shen Fu and Shen Ki Huan's expressions both turned lustful. If they were lucky, this cloaked figure might even bring them along and allow them to share in enjoying those rare flowers.
The cloaked person's eyes flashed viciously, and his expression turned savage.
"Oh? Is that so? Sounds like quite the treat," the cloaked figure said with interest, causing Shen Fu and Shen Ki Huan to nod enthusiastically.
But before they could say anything else, they suddenly felt their entire bodies turn cold.
Looking down at their feet, Shen Fu and Shen Ki Huan let out terrified shrieks upon discovering that ice had covered them from their feet up to their knees. Worse still, the ice continued crawling upward across their bodies.
"You two seem far too heated. As your senior, allow me to help both of you cool down a little."
As he pulled back his hood, both Shen Fu and Shen Ki Huan let out shocked gasps.
The face before them belonged to someone they recognized.
As members of the Sacred Family's hidden faction, they had been instructed to remember this person's face, as he was regarded as dangerous and advised everyone not to pick a fight with him.
Looking at him, neither Shen Fu nor Shen Ki Huan could understand how Xue Hui had managed to deceive them by pretending to be a fellow member of the Dark Guild.
Nor could they understand why Xue Hui possessed such a terrifying amount of soul force in the first place.
According to the reports, Xue Hui's strength was supposedly below Bronze Rank, which only deepened their confusion.
All of their questions remained unanswered as the ice completely engulfed their bodies.
With a flick of his finger, Xue Hui caused the two frozen statues to explode into shimmering dust.
The Dark Guild was an extremely brutal and savage organization that had brought endless grief to the people of Glory City.
Any of its members, regardless of the severity of their crimes, deserved death.
Sighing softly, Xue Hui turned toward his side with an apologetic expression on his face.
A black sphere large enough to fit a person suddenly appeared out of thin air.
"I'm sorry you had to witness all of that, Ning'er."
Emerging from the black sphere was Xiao Ning'er.
Her expression was grim, not because Xue Hui had killed those two in front of her, but because she had just received confirmation that the Sacred Family was colluding with the Dark Guild.
And to think that her family was trying to marry her off to Shen Fei.
Xiao Ning'er's face turned pale, and her stomach churned in disgust.
If she had once felt repulsed by the mere thought of marrying Shen Fei, now she felt dirty simply for being associated with him.
"W-we need to tell everyone. This is huge. If the people of Glory City learn about this, we can all work together to eliminate the Sacred Family," Xiao Ning'er said urgently.
To Xiao Ning'er's surprise, Xue Hui merely shook his head, confusing her even more.
"With the little evidence we currently possess, I'm afraid it would not be enough to persecute the Sacred Family for treason. Shen Hong is a cunning man. He could easily feign ignorance regarding the collusion and shift the blame onto a few members of the Sacred Family, including Shen Ming if necessary. Worse, after this, the Sacred Family would become far more cautious, making it difficult for us to catch them in the act again."
After explaining, Xue Hui's gaze focused on Xiao Ning'er, wanting to see if she understood his reasoning.
However, upon noticing the growing panic in her eyes, Xue Hui reached out for her hand and gently pulled her into a hug.
Like submerging into a warm bath, a soothing sensation spreads through Xiao Ning'er's body, easing all her tension.
Allowing the contact, Xiao Ning'er melted into Xue Hui's embrace, all her fears and uncertainties replaced by a sense of warmth, safety, and security.
"Ning'er, there's nothing to worry about. As long as I'm here, the Sacred Family won't be able to do whatever they want."
With this discovery, many things from Xue Hui's past life finally began to make sense. Everything clicked together.
The Sacred Family had long since betrayed Glory City.
"Now that I know the Sacred Family abandoned their duty as protectors of Glory City long ago, all my remaining reservations about destroying those scum are gone. I'll make sure they pay dearly for their betrayal."
Xue Hui's eyes flashed with viciousness. Since the Sacred Family had chosen to betray Glory City in both of his lifetimes, they could only blame themselves for the calamity that was about to befall them.
"Mmm..." Xiao Ning'er nodded as she pressed her face further against Xue Hui's chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. The sound was strangely calming to her soul.
Since Xue Hui told her not to worry, Xiao Ning'er chose to trust him and stopped dwelling on the matter concerning the Sacred Family.
Xiao Ning'er trusted Xue Hui completely, and she believed that everything would be fine as long as he remained by her side.
End of Chapter 47