“Master!”
Jing Yao turned around and clasped her fist at the woman in black beside her.
The woman in black looked at Jing Yao with a gaze that had a hint of kindness. After nodding towards Jing Yao, she looked at Jian Chen again. Her gaze immediately sharpened.
Jian Chen smiled faintly and said, “I am Jian Chen. Greetings, senior of the Black Demon Palace. May I ask how I should refer to you?”
“You can call me senior Xue,” the woman in black said without any emotion. She was not particularly friendly.
“So it’s senior Xue! Please come in and take a seat, senior Xue!” Jian Chen was not concerned with the woman in black’s att.i.tude. He continued to show great enthusiasm. With a wave of his hand, a precious table of white jade appeared in the centre of the main hall.Then he moved two chairs crafted from white jade over and served up some spiritual fruit to receive the woman in black.
The Black Demon Palace had shown the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens kindness for several hundred thousand years. They were an organisation that had truly a.s.sisted the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens before, so Jian Chen obviously had to treat people from the Black Demon Palace with great enthusiasm. He made his way down from the sect master’s throne, planning to sit with the woman in black at the table of white jade.
“Sitting won’t be necessary. I came all the way here this time specially for you.” However, the woman in black refused his gesture. Her tone was still as cold while her gaze was sharp like swords.
Moreover, the presence of a Seventh Heavenly Layer Immortal Emperor vaguely emanated from her in an attempt to secretly increase Jian Chen’s pressure.
“Master, Jian Chen is the sect master of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens after all. His ident.i.ty and background is anything but simple-” Jing Yao also noticed that her master did not seem to come with kind intentions, so she communicated with some unease.
However, the woman was unfazed. She said indifferently, “My disciple, your master and your sect master have to talk. You can leave first.” The woman in black swung her hand. A powerful energy immediately enveloped Jing Yao, forcefully taking her out of the Divine Hall of Violet Heavens.
“Master!” Jing Yao called out from outside the Divine Hall of Violet Heavens, wanting to enter the divine hall again, but the woman in black had enveloped the entire Divine Hall of Violet Heavens with her powers as an Immortal Emperor. She could not enter.
That immediately gave Jing Yao an ill omen. Shortly afterwards, she gritted her teeth and flew towards where elder Nong resided without any hesitation.
Inside the Divine Hall of Violet Heavens, the woman in black stared straight at Jian Chen. Her sharp gaze seemed to want to pierce Jian Chen’s soul and see all of the secrets that he was hiding.
Jian Chen was unfazed. He sat before the jade table alone and focused on making tea.
“Who exactly are you?” A good while later, the woman in black finally spoke.
“Jian Chen, the sect master of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens. That is me!” Jian Chen smiled gently.
Jian Chen made his face slightly pale in an extremely cooperative manner, but there was no fear on his face at all. Resisting the wisp of pressure from an Immortal Emperor, he said with feigned difficulty, “This is all that I can tell you, senior Xue. As for everything else, great elder Xiong from the Immortal Sect of Myriad Swords had investigated them as well, but he did not receive the answers that he wanted.”
The woman in black said nothing. She only stared straight at Jian Chen. Only after several seconds did she say, “What exactly are your objectives for coming to the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens?”
“My objectives are very simple. They’re obviously to rescue the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens and make the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens truly stand up. I aim to ensure that they don’t face destruction,” said Jian Chen.
“I don’t see it. Before you came, the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens could still persist for a little longer. Even if they lost their territory, they could choose another place and continue dragging out an existence. However, ever since you came, you goaded the Immortal Devouring Orchid into destroying the Sword Sect of Startling Thunder before provoking the Immortal Sect of Colossal Elephants. Do you know what kind of existence the Immortal Sect of Colossal Elephants is? To think that you would even provoke them.”
“With what you’ve done, the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens is probably not far off from true destruction.” The woman in black’s voice was cold, while her gaze was filled with a bone-deep chill. However, she did hold back on the might of an Immortal Emperor that she gave off.
“According to senior Xue, even if the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens possesses a certain level of strength, we should continue to act in submission and drag out a shameful existence?” Jian Chen directly met the woman’s eyes and continued, “There’s something else. Probably even senior Xue hasn’t realised that once the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens loses its territory, there is only a single fate waiting for the sect, which is being annexed by various other organisations.”
“Once the disciples of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens are annexed by other organisations, can they still be considered as disciples of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens? Without the protection from the name of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens, the various organisations secretly targeting the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens will no longer have any qualms. In the end, the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens will truly face destruction.”
“With the protection of the Ninth Heavenly Layer Immortal Emperor Immortal Devouring Orchid, the Immortal Sect of Sword Control, the Immortal Sect of Azures Foxes, the Immortal Sect of Three Yang, and the Immortal Sect of Scarlet Sunset would no longer have the courage to keep provoking the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens. If you didn’t destroy the four organisations, the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens would have a very long period of peace,” said the woman in black.
Jian Chen shook his head. “The four organisations have oppressed the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens for all these years. Our grievances have already reached a point beyond reconciliation. We have the ability to destroy them, yet we still have to coexist with them peacefully, watching them as they occupy the territory of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens and use up the resources of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens while doing nothing. Forgive me, but that’s not something that I can do.”
The woman in black sneered. “You’ve only been in the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens for how long? You’ve only been the sect master for how many days? Despite that, you’ve already racked your brains so much out of consideration for the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens?”
“Everything I know and all of my skills are closely connected to the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens. Moreover, I had already become a disciple of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens many years ago. When I returned to the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens this time, you could call it a form of returning to my homeland,” said Jian Chen.
When she heard that, the woman in black’s eyes flickered as her emotions fluctuated. She said subconsciously, “Don’t tell me you’re their disciple? Someone among them has already broken through to Immortal Exalt?”
Jian Chen said nothing. He obviously understood who the woman in black was referring to by “their”. She was definitely referring to the prodigy disciples of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens that had disappeared or died.
He had already learnt about the various misfortunes that the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens suffered throughout history from the master of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets. Perhaps some of these “missing” geniuses were indeed dead, but there were also some that were still alive.
The woman in black subconsciously treated Jian Chen as their disciple, and her att.i.tude immediately changed slightly. Some of her coldness vanished. “The Immortal Sect of Colossal Elephants has more than one Immortal Exalt. Can you hold them off?”
“Obviously not!” Jian Chen shook his head.
“You can’t hold them off, yet you still provoked them?” The woman in black was immediately angered.
“Don’t worry. We won’t dig our own grave. We might not be able to hold them off, but the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens is not without a path of retreat.”
When she heard that, the woman in black’s expression immediately eased up slightly.
Jian Chen suddenly stared into the woman in black’s eyes and said seriously, “Senior Xue, if I’ve guessed correctly, you were also once a disciple of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens. Have you considered rejoining the sect? The revitalisation of the sect cannot occur without the support of experts like you.”
The woman in black was taken aback, but she soon shook her head and sneered. “I am a great elder of the Black Demon Palace of the Taiji Heaven, not a disciple of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens.”
Reaching there, the woman in black halted before continuing, “However, with the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens’ puny strength right now, even if there are disciples of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens that managed to survive, probably none of them would return.”
“Once they’re exposed, it’s basically a guaranteed death.”
The woman in black did not seem like she wanted to stay here for any longer. She turned around and made her way out of the divine hall. At the same time, she said, “Hopefully, the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens doesn’t perish in your hands.”
Jian Chen watched as the woman in black left. He said nothing at all. Instead, he sank into his thoughts.
“With the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens’ puny strength right now, even if there are disciples of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens that managed to survive, probably none of them would return. In other words, as long as the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens’ strength reaches a certain level, it’s extremely likely for the disciples in hiding of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens to return to the sect,” Jian Chen thought.
At this moment, elder Nong happened to enter the Divine Hall of Violet Heavens, running into the woman in black.
“Greetings, senior Xue!” Elder Nong immediately bowed towards the woman in black.
The woman in black nodded and said nothing at all. After leaving the Divine Hall of Violet Heavens, she vanished.
“Elder Nong, was she once a disciple of the Sword Sect of Violet Heavens?” Jian Chen asked.
“I don’t know!” Elder Nong shook his head.