Chapter 447 Escalation
After Ya’er left, the entire hall was in silence again, as if nothing had happened.
Su Li closed the adytum door and took back all the visible expressions. With a flip of her palm, the carrier rune appeared in her palm. As the carrier rune blinked a few times, Su Yuanhai’s voice came from it.
“Master, there is something odd about the spiritual stone mine in the Black Stone Forest. The sixth branch is determined to get the mine. I was fought back before I had time to see what was inside.
I am not sure if it’s an illusion that I seemed to have smelt a scent of demons…”
A light flashed in Su Li’s eyes.
Demons?
The legend of demons and monsters could be traced back to ancient times. Perhaps at the time when Black Lotus lived, demons and monsters could still often be seen. At the present, there were only several demon clans and they were just active in several large regions. Such a huge clan suddenly disappeared back then, and no one knew where they actually went.
“Are there demons in Jiuzhou Region?”
Su Li carefully recalled the sight that was peeping in the deep Black Stone Forest. It showed coldness and indifference with a disdain for the mortal world. If that was from a demon… the spiritual intelligence of this demon must be higher than that of a human, and its realm…
“If this demon has transformed, its realm would be equivalent to the Huashen Realm… The rabble from the sixth branch cannot deal with such a demon, so there is no need to worry about this.”
Thinking that, Su Li calmed herself down slowly.
Su He had already helped her make a good start and next she just needed to observe from the sidelines.
…
The atmosphere in Su Dieyin’s study was cold and silent.
Su He knelt in front of the desk with a pale face. She lowered her head. Her previous arrogant att.i.tude to Su Dieyin had disappeared completely.
Su Dieyin narrowed her eyes while her fingers were gently tapping the desk. A pressure spread in the air. Su He almost felt that someone had held her neck and she was almost suffocated.
“Su He, you are smart. You probably have figured out the situation by now. If you don’t tell the truth, even the elder behind Su Songyue can’t save you, let alone him.”
Su He trembled. She bitted her lips and tried to say several times. But no one knew what she thought and she stiffly swallowed the words in her throat.
“No words?”
Su Dieyin laughed helplessly, “I never expected that you, being a woman of loose morals for many years, had found true love? In this case, you have started an unprovoked attack on my disciple and almost caused a talented person to completely lose the possibility to recovery. So, I will punish you to go to the Duw.a.n.g Valley to sweep the floor for ten years. Guards, come in…”
Hearing the words “Duw.a.n.g Valley”, Su He’s look changed dramatically and she howled sharply, “Duw.a.n.g Valley? Head, you have no right to send me there! I want to see the First Elder! You have no…”
“I have no right?”
Su Dieyin kept smiling. However, the helplessness in her smile became satire, “Every family has its family rules. You recklessly attacked Su Jiuzhou and made a big mistake. Even if you can see Su Dingxian, I just need to waste some time to explain. I still have that power… Guards, come in!”
Swish, swis.h.!.+
Su Xianyun and Su Zheng appeared outside the door. The sunlight shone through the doorway into the room and Su He’s face looked paler in the light.
Su Zheng walked carelessly to Su He and tried to drag her out. But he found that she, like a puddle of mud on the ground, would not get up.
“It seems that you still want to be alive!”
Su Zheng grinned and whispered in Su He’s ear, “Don’t forget your ident.i.ty. You are just a disposable p.a.w.n in their eyes. Are you really thinking that someone will come to save you?”
Su He suddenly understood with a tremble of fear and finally completely awoke from the illusion.
Indeed, she had not seen anyone came to rescue her or even said a good word for her.
“Take her away!”
Su Dieyin ordered slightly, and her words, like a heavy hammer, broke down the last defense in Su He’s heart.
“I’ll say! I will say everything!”
Su He collapsed and cried out. She clutched the ground firmly, “It’s the Fourth Elder. He promised me that I can formally tie the knot with Senior Brother Songyue if I could kick Su Jiuzhou out of the courtyard!”
Su Dieyin expressionlessly watched Su He cry and howl, but her heart became heavy slowly.
This was the last answer that she wanted to hear. But what happened was what she worried about most.
“Master …”
Su Xianyun was distressed to look at Su Dieyin. He would like to share the burden for his master if possible, but his strength was insufficient.
“I’m fine.”
Su Dieyin waved her hand and the gloom on her face disappeared. She asked, “How is the commotion going at the foot of the mountain?”
“The third junior fellow apprentice is stopping them. It seems that the first elder does not want to offend us openly right now. They did not expect that we would take Su He for questioning. Thanks to Su Jiuzhou. She reminded us that…”
Su Dieyin nodded, “Take Su He away. Keep an eye on her, and don’t let her die.”
Su Xianyun suddenly became serious, but he nodded solemnly.
“I see.”
At the foot of the mountain, Su Wenbing watched the elders on the side of Su Dingxian fly away. His expressions changed between powerlessness and bitterness from time to time.
“Wenbing!”
Su Xianyun’s voice sounded not far behind him and Su Wenbing immediately changed his expression to a usual one. Then he turned around and nodded, “Senior Fellow Apprentice, they are gone and there was no fight.”
“Who came here?”
“It’s the sixth elder and the eighth elder.”
Su Wenbing answered the question fluently except for an imperceptible hesitation in his tone when he spoke of the sixth elder.
“Neither of both is a formidable character on the side of the first elder. It seems that they have already given up Su He, but we still can’t be careless.”
Su Xianyun a.n.a.lyzed in a low voice. He turned to Su Wenbing who was as silent as usual and suddenly asked after a short pause, “Wenbing, is there anything you are hiding from me and Zheng?”
Su Wenbing’s heart trembled, but he barely maintained his calmness and forced a smile, “No.”
“Don’t keep everything inside. You’ve been like this since you were a child. That is really unsettling.”
Su Xianyun noticed Su Wenbing’s abnormality, but he didn’t give it much attention. He patted Su Wenbing’s shoulder and said, “We are your family, including our master. You can talk anything to your family, can’t you? If you can’t hold on, just tell us. Don’t worry, Zheng and I will be your senior fellow apprentices no matter what it is. Do you know that?”
“I know.”
Su Wenbing’s eyes were slightly red. He tried to lower his voice as if he was trying to suppress an emotion inside him and wouldn’t show it.
Su Xianyun thought Su Wenbing was moved by his words, and laughed dumbly, “Hey, you are still as sentimental as before. Hurry back now. Do not let these c.r.a.ps affect your practice.”
“OK.”
After Su Xianyun left, Su Wenbing stood alone in a daze on the stone path at the foot of the mountain.
After a long time, he glanced in the direction of Su Dieyin’s study with a complicated gaze and left silently.
Shortly after he left, a light flashed at the ground where he had been standing, and a young girl with a pet.i.te figure appeared.
Su Li took a deep look in the direction where Su Wenbing left. She curled her lips and stepped up the hill.
There were comings and goings on the peak of the head of the branch and people constantly pa.s.sed by Su Li, but no one could see her. After half a quarter’s walking, Su Li arrived outside the door of Su Dieyin’s study.
After a while, the twelfth elder came in a hurry. As he pushed the door, Su Li followed him closely and entered the room.
Su Dieyin’s study is simply decorated, which barely differed from a study of a secular family of scholars if it were not embellished with a few spiritual stone lamps.
Su Li liked the style very much. She walked around and sat down in a rattan chair next to the desk where Su Dieyin stayed. He watched the twelfth elder say with joy,
“Head, there came some news!”
Su Dieyin didn’t change her expression but knocked on the desk. She said with a crisp voice.
“Tell me.”
“I took some disciples from the branch to go to the Black Stone Forest. We stayed covertly for several days and finally found that the sixth branch had discovered demon crystals in the spiritual stone mine in the Black Stone Forest!”
Once these words came out, Su Dieyin’s calm look changed instantly and she couldn’t help but asked, “Demon crystals? Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure!”
The twelfth elder was excited, “Although I have never seen a demon, the pneuma emitted from that crystal smells fishy, exactly the same as what described in the books!”
When a thing was scarce, it was precious. This old saying applied to the cultivation circle as well. The demon clan had vanished for tens of thousands of years. So, demon crystals were extremely rare in the world of the human clan. They could barely be seen on the market even someone paid an extremely high price.
At a super auction in Jiuzhou Region several hundreds of years ago, a thumb-sized demon crystal was bid at a terrifying price. Thousands of pract.i.tioners were killed because of it. But now… there was a mine of demon crystals in the Black Stone Forest!
“Misfortunes never come singly!”
Su Dieyin got a terrible look. She didn’t care about the precious demon crystals in the first place, but thought how to minimize the loss of the second branch. And the branch of Su Yuanhai could possibly perish in this turbulence if she was not careful enough.
“This is already beyond the capability of the whole Su Family. Is the head of the sixth branch insane? He even wants to occupy that alone?!”
Anger emerged in Su Dieyin’s eyes, “I must go to the main branch and tell the old ancestor about it. He should make the decision!”
The twelfth elder seemed to have antic.i.p.ated Su Dieyin’s reaction. He nodded and was about to retreat, but he didn’t expect that Su Dieyin stopped him.
“Wait!”
The twelfth elder turned around confusedly and found a flash in Su Dieyin’s smart eyes. Su Dieyin smiled and said, “During my absence, you will be responsible for Su Jiuzhou’s safety along with the fourth elder. If anything happens to her, you both will be responsible for that.”
“The fourth elder and me protecting Su Jiuzhou?”
The twelfth elder suddenly became nervous. What did Su Dieyin mean? Could it be possible that he and the fourth elder had been discovered?
If they took action on Su Jiuzhou, would Su Dieyin deal with them openly?
Or was Su Dieyin going to give up Su Jiuzhou?
The twelfth elder thought a lot immediately but didn’t show anything. He nodded and echoed respectfully, “As you command.”
“Good. I’ll be back soon.”
Shortly after Su Dieyin left her study, a streak of light above the peak flew away.
At the same time, an ordinary-looking middle-aged man carefully dressed in a handyman’s uniform stood in the courtyard of Su Dieyin’s mother’s courtyard. He heard some words.
“Uncle Guang, please take care of all these things!”
The middle-aged man stopped the broom in his hand and looked at the woman, who was enjoying the suns.h.i.+ne at the door. The woman sensed his gaze and sighed.
“Will you risk exposing yourself to protect her? Why is Su Jiuzhou so important?”