Chapter 156: Chapter 89: Sect Guardian Beast—So Zhang Xianlong Is Into This

He looked at Zhang Xianlong: “Could it be that the matter of the Divine Blade Sect is related to their Gathering God Space?”

Zhang Xianlong nodded: “The Gathering God Space is not something that can be opened carelessly. The construction methods for the Gathering God Space differ, and so do the grades. The lower the grade of the Gathering God Space, the longer the interval between openings, and the harsher the conditions for opening. The Gathering God Space of the Demon Suppression Bureau, which can be opened every three years, is almost the most top-level existence.

Several months ago, the Divine Blade Sect tried to forcefully open the Gathering God Space to help the predetermined next Sect Leader make a breakthrough, which ended up injuring their Sect Guardian Beast. That’s why my master had to negotiate with them.”

Wei Fan revealed a look of surprise: “Divine Beast?”

This was the first time he had heard such a term.

“It’s just the Great Demon that sects raise themselves. The lifespan of the Human Race is short; even a Divine Realm Martial Sect can only live for about three hundred years. But demons are different; a concentrating spirit Great Demon can easily live over a thousand years.

Even those Initial Realm Demon Fiends can live a hundred or two hundred years. Many sects like to raise such Great Demons as their Sect Guardian Beasts to ensure the continuity of their sect.”

So that’s what it is!

“Raising Great Demons, doesn’t the Demon Suppression Bureau intervene?”

“How can they intervene? This is similar to the Evil Ancestor God of Dingyang Town, all remnants of history. If you want to destroy someone’s Sect Guardian Beast, you’d have to flatten the entire sect.

All first-class sects raise these kinds of things. If you destroy one, all the sects with Sect Guardian Beasts in the world will resist together.

As long as it doesn’t eat people, the Demon Suppression Bureau doesn’t meddle.

This time, because the Sect Guardian Beast of the Divine Blade Sect started eating people after being injured for opening the Gathering God Space, my master went to negotiate and demanded they hand over the Guardian Beast.”

Wei Fan had previously thought that the Divine Blade Sect colluded with Demon Fiends, which is why the Second Commander went to the Divine Blade Sect, but he didn’t expect it was because of the Sect Guardian Beast: “They don’t want to hand it over?”

Zhang Xianlong nodded: “Of course, they don’t want to. The Gathering God Space of the Divine Blade Sect is one of the poorer kinds, and it’s closely linked with the Sect Guardian Beast. Handing over the Beast almost means severing their true heritage as a first-class sect, making it impossible to ensure the stable emergence of Divine Realm Martial Sects in the future.

To a sect, nothing is more important than the sect’s legacy. Once they hand over the Guardian Beast, the Divine Blade Sect will fall to second-class status, and perhaps in a few years, they will become a thing of the past like the Floating Rain Sect.

A first-class major sect looks not at how many Divine Realm Martial Sects they have, but at whether they have a foundational asset like a Gathering God Space.”

The carriage sped along the official road. Since it was night, the traveling speed wasn’t fast.

At this moment, they had already traveled more than ten miles away from Donglin City.

In the distance, there was a patch of light. Wei Fan felt a bit surprised: “Huh, is there a village here? I remember that it should be another dozen or so miles before there’s a small town.”

He wasn’t sure if he had remembered wrong, as it was daytime when they came, but now they were traveling at night.

Zhang Xianlong looked up upon hearing this. Sure enough, not far away, there was a scatter of lights, with faint dog barks heard.

He immediately felt a chill up his spine: “This is encountering something unclean, the carriage must not stop.”

Wei Fan was visiting Donglin City for the first time and was unfamiliar with the place, but he had been here seven or eight times and naturally knew whether there was a village nearby.

Hearing these words, Wei Fan activated his Qi Observation and Demon Identification Technique to look at the distant lights but found nothing amiss. He turned back to Zhang Xianlong: “Is this thing very dangerous? Shouldn’t the Demon Suppression Bureau have eradicated this thing?”

Long Xueyi had been alerted by their conversation and peeked her head out to look at the distant lights: “My grandfather said that once there was a Divine Realm Martial Sect who ventured into such a place and was never heard from again.

This kind of thing doesn’t fall within the Demon Suppression Bureau’s purview to eliminate because as long as you don’t go inside, there is no danger. Besides, it only appears occasionally, so just avoid it when you encounter it.”

Wei Fan was quite moved. He thought this was an ordinary Evil Spirit: “What’s inside?”

Long Xueyi shook her head.

Zhang Xianlong half-jokingly said: “Who knows, maybe there’s a nest of Evil Spirits that have lived for hundreds or thousands of years.”

Long Xueyi’s head shrank back into the carriage, and her voice continued: “Hundreds of years ago, this region was a mix of humans and demons, with Evil Spirits and divine spirits everywhere. The Imperial Dynasty’s army came, attacked the mountains and gods, expelled Demon Fiends, and overthrew temples, but still, many problems were not really solved.

What’s inside, probably not many people know, just don’t go near it.”

The carriage continued for a while, and after Wei Fan looked back, he found that the spots of lights had disappeared, as if the lights he saw were just a hallucination.

In the latter half of the night, he returned to the carriage to rest, and Zhang Xianlong took over driving.

When Wei Fan woke again, the carriage had already stopped at a marketplace, and Zhang Xianlong’s head poked in from outside: “Let’s grab something to eat and then continue on.”

Wei Fan nodded, and he and Long Xueyi got off the carriage one after the other, walked into a riverside restaurant next door, and sat by the window.

The three of them waited for food while enjoying the scenery outside.

The town was not big but incredibly scenic, with clear river water and willows planted along the banks.

“What a beautiful woman!”

Suddenly, a voice came from the rascal Zhang Xianlong, sounding somewhat awestruck.

Although Wei Fan had not been with this rascal for long, he knew that Zhang Xianlong was a man of few words, wholly dedicated to studying saber techniques, hoping to comprehend Sword Momentum at the Celestial Human Realm. In his thirties, he had yet to marry.

To make someone like him utter such praise, she must be a woman of astounding beauty.

He couldn’t help but follow Zhang Xianlong’s gaze, seeing a woman in a green dress walking on the street not far away. Almost every man she passed couldn’t help but turn their gaze toward her.

She was indeed an extremely beautiful woman. Among all the women Wei Fan had seen, only Long Xueyi could compare in terms of looks.

More importantly, unlike Long Xueyi’s cold and distant demeanor, this woman had a graceful and charming presence, clearly a married woman at a glance.

“So Zhang Xianlong has a thing for married women!”

The woman was undeniably beautiful, but clearly not an untouched maiden. Moreover, her slightly bulging abdomen indicated she was pregnant.

In the restaurant, besides Zhang Xianlong, many patrons also paid attention to this woman.

One person sighed: “She is the young wife of the Hu Family, a famous beauty around these parts, quite unfortunate.”

Hearing this, someone couldn’t help but ask, “Brother, what do you mean by unfortunate? Is it because the beauty is already married?”

This comment drew quite a bit of laughter.

The person who sighed shook his head: “No, you see, this woman’s name is Zhou Wanrou, married into the prominent Hu Family of Linhe Town. Her husband, Hu Qinghua, is both scholarly and martial, handsome as a jade tree, and renowned as the Qingfeng Swordman.

Originally, they were a perfect match, a well-celebrated story in Linhe Town. Three or four months ago, there was even joyous news from the Hu Family when the young wife became pregnant, and they hosted a feast for guests.

Who would have known that just a few days ago, Zhou Wanrou was kidnapped by bandits, and when Hu Qinghua found her in an abandoned temple, her clothes were in disarray, witnessed by many.

Now… alas…

Even though the Hu Family is prominent and Hu Qinghua is a well-known knight in Jianghu, even ordinary families would not accept such a situation, especially now that it’s widely known.”

Previously, those who laughed could no longer laugh, each showing a look of lament.

Someone spoke, “With things as they are, and she still walks around, could it be that the Hu Family has cast her out?”

The sighing person shook his head: “I haven’t heard of her being dismissed by the Hu Family, but seeing her walk toward the Chastity Platform, she might be seeking to end her life to prove her chastity, a fierce woman.”

As everyone looked back, they saw Zhou Wanrou walk to a raised platform by the river, take a leap, and jump in.

At that moment, there were quite a few people by the riverbank, and there were also fishing boats on the river, yet no one went to rescue her; all just watched as Zhou Wanrou jumped and disappeared beneath the river surface.

Zhang Xianlong, seeing this, had already leapt forward, soaring out of the restaurant.

“Oh… this swordsman, don’t go save her, she jumped from the Chastity Platform.”

The person from Linhe Town shouted, but Zhang Xianlong’s figure had already dived into the river.

“What is this Chastity Platform?”

Wei Fan turned to look at the person from Linhe Town.

Many people were also puzzled, wondering why one shouldn’t be saved if they jumped from the Chastity Platform?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep