Chapter 687: Chapter 680: Meeting the Heavenly Maiden Again

Shangguan Hong must have had his own reasons for inviting Jiang Bieli to thoroughly investigate Zuo Yunxiao’s death.

After all, he had long concluded that the person who killed Zuo Yunxiao was extraordinarily powerful, and there was a great possibility that they had reached the level of a Heavenly Immortal.

Facing such a high-level enemy, even if he were to investigate the matter clearly, he doubted he could wrest the Gathering Spirit Stone from that person’s grasp.

Having fought Jiang Bieli many times, Shangguan Hong highly recognized his strength.

By pulling him in to thoroughly investigate this matter, as long as they could successfully find the killer, their combined efforts to confront that person would naturally increase the chances of wresting the Gathering Spirit Stone significantly.

“Brother Shangguan, how confident are you that the Gathering Spirit Stone, this Supreme Treasure, is indeed in the hands of the person who killed Zuo Yunxiao?”

“How much evidence have you all gathered to thoroughly investigate this matter?”

After hearing Shangguan Hong’s suggestions, Jiang Bieli frowned and pondered for quite some time.

The Gathering Spirit Stone, capable of converging Spiritual Energy and transforming an ordinary place into a Cultivation holy land, was naturally very attractive to him and the Holy Fire Sect behind him.

If not for this, the Holy Fire Sect would not have gotten directly involved in the destruction of the Bloodthirsty Sect.

Unfortunately, although the Bloodthirsty Sect had been destroyed, the precious Gathering Spirit Stone had yet to be found.

Even today, the Holy Fire Sect still had many people searching everywhere for traces of this item.

At Shangguan Hong’s end, if they could truly use Zuo Yunxiao’s death as a clue to successfully locate the Gathering Spirit Stone, Jiang Bieli naturally had no reason to refuse.

“After the destruction of the Bloodthirsty Sect, the Gathering Spirit Stone was taken by Young Sect Master Yang Shaoqing, who fled with it. Elder Zuo pursued him relentlessly. This can be verified by someone within our Huayun Sect.”

“Those few remnants of the Bloodthirsty Sect could not possibly be a match for Elder Zuo.”

“From the various clues we know, I have at least a sixty to seventy percent confidence that Elder Zuo snatched the Gathering Spirit Stone, and then, he was killed by someone else who took this treasure.”

“Initially, I had some misunderstandings about you, Brother Jiang, thinking that you were involved in this affair, which made me overlook some details.”

“The general area where Elder Zuo was murdered, our Huayun Sect actually has some clues. However, considering the long journey, I had been focusing my attention on you, Brother Jiang, and hadn’t gone there to investigate thoroughly.”

“Brother Jiang, if you are willing to cooperate with me, I will naturally share with you all information related to this matter.”

After a slight hesitation, Shangguan Hong spoke, explaining to Jiang Bieli while making a promise.

Initially, when Zuo Yunxiao chased after Yang Shaoqing, Gui Wuya, and others, it wasn’t just him alone. Several other people from the Huayun Sect were with him.

However, the others, due to their slower speed, were eventually left behind by him, leaving only him to pursue Yang Shaoqing and others all the way into the territory of West Barbarian Mountain.

Over the years, those from the Huayun Sect who had chased Yang Shaoqing and others with Zuo Yunxiao had mostly returned to the sect.

After learning about Zuo Yunxiao’s pursuit route from them, determining the approximate location of Zuo Yunxiao’s murder wasn’t too difficult.

However, as the West Barbarian Mountain territory was deficient in Spiritual Energy and considered a remote and poor area, Shangguan Hong’s understanding was that the strongest person in this region was merely a True Immortal.

In his view, the place where Zuo Yunxiao was killed might be within the territory of West Barbarian Mountain, but there should be no one in that area capable of killing him.

Because during the days of Zuo Yunxiao’s death, Jiang Bieli’s whereabouts were a mystery, Shangguan Hong naturally regarded him as the murderer and had been focusing his attention on him.

Although the Huayun Sect had sent a few people to investigate in the territory of West Barbarian Mountain, they hadn’t found many useful clues.

Now that it had been established that Jiang Bieli was meeting privately with the Alliance Leader’s Wife during those days and likely had little to do with Zuo Yunxiao’s death, Shangguan Hong wanted to thoroughly investigate this matter and naturally focused on the West Barbarian Mountain territory.

“Brother Shangguan, if there truly are clues related to the Gathering Spirit Stone here, I would naturally be delighted to cooperate with you and thoroughly investigate this matter together.” After listening to Shangguan Hong’s explanations, Jiang Bieli merely considered for a moment before nodding in agreement.

“With Brother Jiang’s assistance, acquiring the Gathering Spirit Stone is almost certain,” Shangguan Hong chuckled.

After negotiating with Jiang Bieli for a while, the two exchanged smiles and headed toward the territory of West Barbarian Mountain, flying off into the distance.

…

A few hundred miles from Black Water Immortal Mountain, above a desolate plain, a graceful figure with a slender silhouette was walking slowly.

Occasionally, fierce beasts and exotic beasts, unaware of their impending doom, thought they could devour her and rushed toward her location.

But before they even got close to her, about a few hundred meters away, those fierce beasts and exotic beasts began to bleed from all seven orifices, convulsing all over before collapsing on the ground and dissolving into a pool of pus and blood in the blink of an eye.

The woman seemed utterly oblivious to the scenes unfolding in the nearby area.

With a veil covering her face, her features were indiscernible. She continued to move forward, her steps light.

“Have you arrived?”

“What, not showing yourself? Are you afraid to face me?” She stopped suddenly after walking a while and halted her strides.

Her laughter sounded like silver bells, and her gaze, filled with a teasing gleam, looked toward a certain spot in the void.

As she finished speaking, although the space in front of her appeared empty, the light twisted and Chen Hai’s figure slowly began to materialize.

“Ying, your charm is too great. No man would dare to look directly at your beauty.”

“I’m not afraid to see you. I’m just worried that once I do, I might not be able to control myself and do something beastly,” Chen Hai said with chuckles.

The ‘Ying’er’ he referred to was naturally the Heavenly Maiden, Shi Qingying.

Back then, the two of them had shared a brief moment of intimacy. Chen Hai thought that after Shi Qingying left the West Barbarian Mountain Territory for Central State as she had mentioned, it might be impossible for them to meet again in this lifetime.

Sensing her arrival was a complete surprise to him.

“Not like a beast, that’s unacceptable.”

“In my presence, I’d rather you turn into an actual beast,” Shi Qingying laughed behind her hand, teasing him.

While she said this, she threw a seductive glance at Chen Hai.

“This little demon…” Seeing her in this state, Chen Hai unconsciously licked his lips, swallowing several times.

Generally, his resolve was quite strong when it came to resisting feminine allure.

But Shi Qingying, with her every move, seemed to naturally exude an enchanting charm, as if it could stir the deepest desires within someone.

Moreover, Chen Hai and she shared a special relationship that was more than friendship but not quite love.

In her presence, Chen Hai felt an urge stirring within him, barely able to maintain his composure.

“Chen Hai, I actually came to the West Barbarian Mountain Territory just for you!” Seeing Chen Hai’s reaction, Shi Qingying laughed, her face beaming as she continued speaking.

“Hmm, I know!”

“Ying’er, perhaps we should leave our words for another time!”

Like a whirlwind, he rushed to Shi Qingying’s side, scooped her up in one motion, hoisted her onto his shoulder, and sped off into the distance.