319: One person is not enough

"I indeed have the intention of getting rid of the Liu Family, but..." Wang Qiao calmly picked up his wine cup and took a sip. "I am curious why Immortal Master Fan wants to help me?"

Fan Yang was the Sect Master of the Nether Fire Sect, which was within the territory of the Cloud Top Sect. He had neither personal grudges nor conflicts of interest with Liu Xuan, so he was truly very curious.

Fan Yang's expression turned gloomy and unsightly; it seemed a sore spot had been touched. However, to put Wang Qiao's mind at ease, he suppressed his emotions and explained:

"There is no harm in telling Fellow Daoist Wang; I am no longer the Sect Master of the Nether Fire Sect!" He glanced at Wang Qiao and suddenly smiled. "Speaking of which, we can be considered fellow sufferers."

"We both luckily achieved Core Formation in lower Sects without any background or connections in the Upper Sect. Places like the Nether Fire Sect and Red Pine Sect, which are near the border battlefield, are not things you or I can control."

"The people of the Cloud Top Sect went too far, so I simply cleaned out the Sect's treasury and secretly defected to the Beast Taming Sect. Now, I work under Immortal Master Zhu of the Beast Taming Sect."

"Immortal Master Zhu? What is his background? Was he the one who sent you to kill Liu Xuan?"

The matter was becoming more and more widespread, even involving the Beast Taming Sect. Liu Xuan didn't know where he had offended so many people!

"Immortal Master Zhu is a Late Golden Core Great True Person and one of the high-level figures of the Beast Taming Sect Southern Branch. He commands a massive army of Cultivators on the Peach Blossom Sect battlefield."

"A person of his stature naturally wouldn't personally target a minor figure like Liu Xuan. It's just that someone in your Heavenly Sword Sect wants Liu Xuan dead, and we are simply taking money to do a job."

Taking money to do a job! Liu Xuan immediately thought of True Lord Hengyuan, or more likely, someone under his command.

However, if what Fan Yang said about Immortal Master Zhu was true, that person should have known about his relationship with An Yunxi, Yun Xian, and the others. Why would he still send someone to kill him?

'Could there be factional struggles within the Southern Branch as well? Or is it just that the other party is unaware?'

If Immortal Master Zhu knew of Liu Xuan's relationship with An Yunxi and the others and still sent someone to kill him, it was either intentional or he simply didn't care about that connection.

"Well?" Fan Yang looked at Wang Qiao. "Can we now discuss the specifics of how to take action?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Fellow Daoist Wang only needs to bring Liu Xuan out of the Sect at the appointed time; leave everything else to me!" Fan Yang said with a confident smile.

Wang Qiao nodded slightly and listened carefully as Fan Yang described the timing arrangements and specific detailed planning for the entire process.

According to him, their people would lure Immortal Master Su Zhi of Feiyu City away for a while. During that time, Wang Qiao would need to bring Liu Xuan out of the Sect, preferably out of the range of Feiyu City, and Fan Yang would handle the rest.

Having agreed on the time, Wang Qiao stood up, cupped his hands, and returned to the peak of the Red Pine Sect.

The agreed time was three days later. Liu Xuan restored his original appearance and went to the West Courtyard, where he had Bai Shan immediately fetch all intelligence regarding the Nether Fire Sect from the Lingshu Pavilion.

Next, he sent someone to call Hu Caiping, a Junior Sister from the Beast Taming Sect in the Lingshu Pavilion, and asked her to bring information about Great True Person Zhu Yunxiao of the Southern Branch.

While waiting for the intelligence to arrive, Liu Xuan personally went to the Qi Refining Hall and directly asked An Yunxi if she knew about Zhu Yunxiao's situation.

"Senior Brother Zhu?"

"He is one of the Grand Elder's Personal Disciples. Junior Brother Liu, how do you know about him?"

An Yunxi looked at Liu Xuan curiously. She wasn't familiar with Senior Brother Zhu; he wouldn't come to visit her.

"Is the Grand Elder also a Nascent Soul True Lord? How many Nascent Soul True Lords are there in your Southern Branch in total?" Liu Xuan asked.

"Five!" An Yunxi said, counting on her fingers. "My father is the Academy Head. Then there's the Grand Elder, the Second Elder, the Third Elder, and Senior Brother Chen. He used to be my father's Disciple, but after achieving the position of True Lord, he set up his own establishment and is now the Fourth Elder."

Five Nascent Soul True Lords! Plus their life-bonded Spirit Beasts, that's at least ten Nascent Soul combatants. No wonder the three nearby Nascent Soul Sects could only cooperate obediently.

High-level Cultivators' exploitation of resources is particularly fierce. Unless the territory is large enough and there are enough high-level Spiritual Veins, it is difficult for an ordinary Nascent Soul Sect to produce another Nascent Soul True Lord after one has already been born.

For example, in the Heavenly Sword Sect, unless Heavenly Sword True Monarch's path is severed and his demand for resources decreases, it is basically impossible for another Nascent Soul True Lord to be born.

Even if he died, the Azure Profound Sect would quickly send a new Nascent Soul True Lord to take over, so the people below would still have no chance.

Although the Southern Branch has five Nascent Soul True Lords, strictly speaking, it is not a single Sect but an Alliance of five Nascent Soul powers, which is why An Yunxi's father is called the Academy Head.

In this way, whether Immortal Master Zhu was targeting him intentionally or unintentionally, it all made sense. Liu Xuan's current connections were not enough to make the other party hesitate.

"The Grand Elder is the most disobedient. Father told me to play less with their people. I heard from my sister that the Grand Elder and Second Elder have united to oppose my family everywhere; only the Third Elder and Senior Brother Chen, the Fourth Elder, help us."

An Yunxi didn't know much either. Liu Xuan asked for a long time but still didn't understand the core contradiction between the two factions; he only roughly knew who was a friend and who was a foe.

There were internal conflicts within the Southern Branch, but they were essentially one entity, especially now that the war had begun; the minor conflicts between them were not worth mentioning.

Anyone causing trouble at this time would be offending everyone. Great True Person Zhu was just taking money to do a job, so it was highly likely he was unaware of the internal situation.

Returning to the West Courtyard to look through the intelligence sent by the Lingshu Pavilion, Fan Yang had indeed absconded with items and defected from the Cloud Top Sect. There was still a wanted poster for him in the Nether Fire Sect market.

The information sent by Hu Caiping also confirmed that the person in charge of the Beast Taming Sect in the direction of the Nether Fire Sect was indeed Great True Person Zhu. Fan Yang had not lied... Three days later.

Fan Yang had used some unknown means to lure Immortal Master Su Zhi to the northern outskirts of the city. The city's great array was temporarily overseen by Yue Li, who had a 'False Core' cultivation.

Liu Xuan transformed into Wang Qiao's appearance, then spat out a drop of essence blood to transform into his own appearance, using the Myriad Transformations Divine Ability to simulate his aura from the Late Foundation Establishment Stage.

The Water-element Myriad Transformations Divine Ability had the power of transformation. After the Five Elements reached Perfection, it became even more superb, making it difficult for anyone below the Nascent Soul stage to see through. It was more than enough to deceive Fan Yang, who was at the Early Golden Core Stage.

Thus, Wang Qiao flew toward the agreed location with 'Liu Xuan' and soon arrived at a forest outside the city.

"Hahaha!!"

A burst of loud laughter rang out, and Fan Yang appeared. "Fellow Daoist Wang is indeed trustworthy; you really brought this kid out!"

Fan Yang had arrived in Feiyu City long ago. In fact, it wasn't difficult to lure Liu Xuan out; the difficulty was how to do it quietly.

On one hand, he didn't want to cause too much of a scene and alert Liu Xuan. On the other hand, the Liu Family was too wealthy, and he wanted to capture Liu Xuan alive to gain more benefits, so he had delayed until now.

Wang Qiao's Divine Sense spread out to the surroundings, finally focusing on Fan Yang across from him. "Fellow Daoist Fan, is it just you alone here?!"

The smile on Fan Yang's face faded. "What do you mean, Fellow Daoist Wang?"

"I mean..."

"You alone are not enough!"