For three whole months, Li Fan had stayed with the Nie Family, moreover, at the place where the s.p.a.ce crack had appeared. 

Unfortunately, Li Fan had suffered for three months, but couldn’t get the s.p.a.ce crack to reappear. 

The news of the Nie Family having a s.p.a.ce of chaotic flow quietly spread throughout the entirety of Black Cloud City. Quite a few Lianqi warriors, one after another, began to quietly show up in Black Cloud City, often near the Nie Family’s activities. 

Because Li Fan was staying with the Nie Family, both Nie Donghai and Nie Qian had limited their questioning of Nie Tian, allowing Nie Tian to adopt a rather carefree att.i.tude. 

The both of them understood deep inside their hearts, that when Li Fan was around, any dialogue between themselves and Nie Tian would most likely be detected by Li Fan. 

And Nie Tian himself knew the degree of complexity of the situation; for three months he had lived a somewhat secluded life, not daring to try and practice the first style of the fist intention that he had learned the mystical dimension.

He was also worried that Li Fan would find certain clues in the midst of his investigation. 

…...

The An Family.

Three Lianqi warriors from the Spirit Treasure Pavilion returned from the Nie Family very late at night to find An Shi Yue.

They were led by Qiu Heng’s short and stout figure, whose face seemed as if it always had that smile that would make people feel warm - it was this person that was known as An Shi Yue’s Martial Uncle, who roughly understood a few mysteries of the spatial force.

“Little girl, the s.p.a.ce chaos basin hasn’t reappeared for three months. Within these past three months, during the night, I secretly went near the place to do some surveying, but I didn’t find any abnormalities of the s.p.a.ce whatsoever.” Qiu Heng paused for a moment, and continued, “In my opinion, it was probably a one-time accident; I’m afraid that the s.p.a.ce chaos basin won’t reappear.” 

“We took turns waiting for three months; we can guarantee that nothing abnormal has occurred,” the other two people declared. 

The three of them had recently finished their shift at the Nie House. If anything abnormal had occurred at the Nie Family, they would undoubtedly perceive the changes in s.p.a.ce. 

After such a long time, with not even the slightest of activities occurring, they had privately begun to think that the fleeting, unusual mutation in s.p.a.ce at the Nie Family, was perhaps really merely an accident. 

With them occupying important positions in the Spirit Treasure Pavilion, which included many responsibilities and problems, they couldn’t stay for an extended duration inside Black Cloud City. 

Now, after finding An Shi Yue and speaking what they had to say, they clearly wanted to leave. 

“Looking at the current circ.u.mstances, it seems that we can only change to a different train of thought.” An Shi Yue’s rich, fertile, appealing and pampered body sank back into the soft couch and with one hand propping up her delicate, refined chin, her beautiful eyes glimmered with intelligence, as she smiled. “The Nie Family has one child called Nie Tian. Before the issue had occurred, he had mysteriously disappeared for ten days. Within the ten days, the Lingyun Sect had put an surprisingly large importance on this; Li Fan had even pulled a lot of strings to search for this child’s whereabouts.” 

“The Cloud Family and the Yuan Family were both completely rummaged through by Li Fan.” 

“It’s irrational.” 

“Right when I found out that an abnormal s.p.a.ce fluctuation had occurred in the Nie Family, I immediately rushed over and immediately noticed the kid.” 

“At that time, I hadn’t known that he was the Nie Tian that had vanished for ten days.” 

“Right during the time of the spatial tear he had, after having vanished for ten days, reappeared in the Nie Family. I have reasons to believe that in those ten days, he had undeniably entered the tear in the bizarre s.p.a.ce.”

“In addition, the s.p.a.ce should be capable of accommodating living organisms that enter it, or else he wouldn’t have been able to come back alive.”

Speaking up until that point, An Shi Yue recalled the words Nie Tian had spoken three months ago at the Nie Family, and couldn’t help but laugh. 

The three powerful Spirit Treasure Pavilion Lianqi warriors were originally not concentrating on listening to her speculations but on her charming, sweet smile. But, suddenly they felt that it seemed as if their surroundings had suddenly dimmed a bit. 

When they looked at An Shi Yue, they seemed to become a bit absent-minded as if they were momentarily lost in her astonishing charm. 

Qiu Heng was the first one to sober up, as he glared at her reprimanding: “Carefully say what happened!” 

An Shi Yue cutely stuck out her tongue and smiled saying: “Since the Nie Family didn’t have a recurrence of the anomaly, perhaps we can start with the child, Nie Tian, and try to understand exactly where he had gone during the ten days of his disappearance.” 

“I have a hunch that the appearance of the Nie Family’s abnormal changes in s.p.a.ce is most likely the kid’s doing.”

“Instigated by human means?” Qiu Heng’s expression changed, appearing to have thought of something. He then nodded his head, and said: “There is indeed a possibility of that having happened. A particular physique or the body of a miraculous creature can definitely initiate strange s.p.a.ce changes. 

“Martial Uncle, can you take the trouble to wait a few more days, I’ll think of a way to make a trap, to see whether or not we can get the truth out of Nie Tian.” An Shi Yue pleaded. 

“Fine.” Qiu Heng nodded his head and agreed. 

With the unknown s.p.a.ce of chaotic flow region suddenly appearing, it caused significant concern, so much so that it could reverse an entire Lianqi warrior sect’s destiny. 

Also in this way, once hearing about the Nie Family’s abnormality, they had hurriedly rushed over from the Spirit Treasure Pavilion to get a share of the profits from within the palm of the Lingyun sect. 

Returning to the Spirit Treasure Pavilion, after having waited for three months without a bit of abnormality to be seen, to report the results of this mission would be rather embarra.s.sing, therefore they would rather try again with An Shi Yue. 

……

“Father! Something big has happened!” 

At the same time, in the Nie Family, Nie Han, despite it being the dead of night, reckless with anxiety, disturbed Nie Beichuan’s cultivation in his cold room, with a gloomy, unsightly expression. 

“What happened?” Nie Beichuan spat out a cold breath of fog, disturbed by the sudden intrusion. He felt somewhat displeased in his heart, but he continued, “You’re in a panic, what has happened? In the Nie Family Household, what type of shady business did Li Fan do? It is unlikely he’s just sitting back and watching.”

“I just received information that the blocked-up mine finally has been opened,” Nie Han said. 

“Shouldn’t this be good news?” Nie Beichuan asked.

The mine where Fire Cloud stones were excavated was equivalent to the Nie Family’s lifeline. After the last collapse, they had taken advantage of the situation and made Nie Xiang abdicate, arranging for another elder on their side to oversee the mine extraction. 

In order to prove his own capability, that elder had invited a large amount of workers to Black Cloud City to help clear the fallen stones in the mine. 

Originally, they would’ve needed a longer time to clear the mine, but under his unrelenting efforts, the mine was already opened up.

“That mine. It seems… Like there’s no more Fire Cloud stones!” Nie Han trembled, as he uttered these words. 

“Impossible!” Nie Beichuan shouted. “Not long ago, the Lingyun Sect arranged for an expert to go to the mine and inspect the ore’s Lianqi. He said that with our Nie Family extraction speed, we can still continue to go on for decades. How could he be mistaken?”

“They have checked all the mine holes and examined the entire mine thoroughly. There was not even the slightest trace of a single Fire Cloud stone,” Nie Han scowled.

“Impossible! How could this be?” Nie Beichuan furiously asked.

He was very clear on one thing. The Nie Family was able to claim protection from the Lingyun Sect, because all these years, the family had always mined Fire Cloud stones for the Lingyun Sect. 

If the Nie Family lost this, they could be abandoned by the Lingyun Sect and end up without a patron. 

In Black Cloud City, a family without a patron would struggle to survive. The An Family and Yun Family wouldn’t hesitate in ill-treating the Nie Family.

“This news will temporarily be sealed off. I have to go and visit the mine to determine whether this is true!” Nie Beichuan said, as a trace of panic could be heard in his voice. 

…...

The second day.

Bitter with his fruitless efforts, Li Fan decided to not wait any longer before leaving. He didn’t take notice of Nie Beichuan, and instead went to Nie Donghai’s small five leveled house. 

After he arrived, he requested Nie Donghai to yell for Nie Tian to come down. 

Not much later, Nie Tian came down from the third floor and faced Li Fan, “Greetings, Mr. Li.”

“No need to be so polite. In the future call me Uncle Li, okay?” Li Fan said with a friendly tone. 

He had learned from his master, Jiang Zhisu, that Nie Tian had actually dared to tell a huge lie to his master. This had caused him to feel that Nie Tian, this kid, was full of evil tricks. 

So, when he met Nie Tian again, he felt that this kid was a little trickster. So he naturally had a slightly bad impression of this little kid. 

“Okay, Uncle Li,” Nie Tian obediently said. 

“Three months and nothing unusual has shown up here. I cannot reside in the Nie Family any longer. Today I will return to the Lingyun Sect,” Li Fan didn’t look at Nie Donghai, as he only looked at Nie Tian. “You were pulled into that small crack in s.p.a.ce and certainly will be somewhat confused. Perhaps many things have been forgotten because of excessive fear…”

He paused then continued, “In the event that you recall anything, you’re welcome to come to the Lingyun Sect anytime and look for me.”

“Anything that should’ve been said, I’ve already said,” Nie Tian weakly said. 

“Really?”

“Really.” 

Li Fan curled his lips and thought for a moment, before he suddenly started laughing, “Well, I won’t ask anymore. If you think of anything in the future, remember to come to the Lingyun Sect to find me.”

“If any of the things you think of would cause large trouble to the Lingyun Sect, then you will have done a great service.”

“In regards to deeds of great merit, us of the Lingyun Sect have always been very generous. Your great contribution could even allow you to immediately come to the Linyun Sect and become a real disciple! You won’t even have to reach the ninth Lianqi level before the age of fifteen...”

At his remark, Nie Donghai’s eyes suddenly lit up and Nie Tian was also startled.

To become a Lingyun Sect disciple was always the ultimate goal of the Nie Family’s younger generation, and Nie Tian was no exception. 

Li Fan’s remarks let him understand, that these so-called rules, were rather flexible!

Fifteen years old and reaching a cultivation of the ninth level was the condition for the Lingyun Sect to accept the Nie Family’s younger generation. These rules were laid down decades ago.

The Nie Family had never dared to break these rules.

But the makers of the rules were the Linyun Sect. In a few words, they could change the rules that had been around for decades, making it possible for Nie Tian to become a Lingyun Sect disciple in a flash!

To be honest, this enticement… was extremely attractive to him!

“Not only that.”

Upon seeing Nie Donghai and Nie Tian have a change of heart, Li Fan gave a mischievous laugh, “If the service is large enough, I can guarantee that your grandfather will be reinstated as the Nie Family patriarch! Even your grandfather’s injury is not without solution. Because of you, your grandfather may also be able to have a breakthrough!”

Upon hearing these words, the wizened Nie Donghai’s body gave a gentle tremble, and his eyes gleamed with a sudden hope. 

……