Everyone was taken aback, and they turned to look at the source of the voice. The Huang and Liu family members looked furious. How could anyone be so oblivious as to come here right now to board a ship?
Huang Lingyue sneered and decided to toy with them. "Yes, we have ships heading to the Sea Dragon Sect right over here. Come over here."
The newcomers didn’t seem to know any better as they headed straight toward Huang Lingyue, ignoring whatever was happening.
Suddenly, everyone couldn’t help but notice that the newcomers didn’t seem like people from a sect. Instead, they seemed to be from the military!
At the very rear of them was a middle-aged man who was dressed in a purple python robe. He was taking in the scenery of the port with relish.
The Huang Family’s ancestor’s brow scrunched up. "Is that the Sixth King?"
Everyone’s faces turned serious.
Even though the Heavenly Southern Sect and the Spirit Beast Valley were the top sects in the empire, the strength of the imperial family couldn’t be underestimated either. Not to mention that they had ties with a fifth-tier empire, the imperial family was inherently strong, with at least fifteen Foundation Establishment cultivators within its ranks. Among them, there were two at the grand completion stage. The rest were at the late, middle, and early stages.
The Sixth King didn’t really put any of these people in his eyes. There were just too many of these families scattered around the empire, and, unlike sects, which were able to ensure that at least one Foundation Building Realm cultivator could rise with the help of their inheritance every generation, many of these families would usually die out with the years, falling into obscurity.
Huang Lingyue quickly wiped away the smirk off his face as he bowed and lowered his head, fearing that he had come off too arrogant just now.
The Huang Family ancestor quickly bowed, too. "I, Huang Xuankong, pay my respects to you, Sixth King!” He then added, “I had the honor of meeting you thirty years ago when I attended the Eight King’s birthday banquet in the capital."
The Liu Family ancestor bowed in respect.
While the Bai Family members were uncertain of what would become of them, their minds began to churn at the sight of the Sixth King.
Maybe they’d be able to turn the tide with his intervention and escape the fate of being wiped out.
"Oh, you went to the Eight King’s banquet?” The Sixth King nodded with a smile. “Yeah, I remember I’ve seen you before." He then looked around. "So what are you all doing here? Seems quite lively."
The ancestor of the Bai Family clasped his hands. "We humbly request that you uphold justice for my family, Sixth King!"
The Bai Family members clasped their hands, their eyes showing a glimmer of hope. "Please uphold justice for our family!"
Huang Xuankong's face turned frosty. He glanced poisonously at the ancestor of the Bai Family before turning to the Sixth King with a smile. “We’re here to settle a personal vendetta of ours with the Bai Family.”
"I don’t care about your vendettas. Just don’t get in the way of my journey to the Sea Dragon Sect.” The Sixth King smiled coldly. “Who was the one who said that there were ships leaving for the Sea Dragon Sect? Hurry and prepare a large ship for us; we have quite a few people here and many more that are still coming.”
Huang Lingyue quickly went over to a few captains as soon as he heard that and made the arrangements for them to receive them onboard.
The Bai Family's ancestor’s face turned grim; if the Sixth King wasn’t willing to help them then the worst would still happen.
It was then that Huang Xuankong plastered a toadyish smile and began, "So you’re heading to the Sea Dragon Sect, Sixth King. What a coincidence! The matter we have at hand is related to the Sea Dragon Sect.”
The Bai Family members became even more anxious when he said that. The imperial family definitely won’t turn a blind eye to the fact that they’d antagonized the Sea Dragon Sect.
"You see,” Huang Xuankong let out a stifled chuckle, unable to help himself. “The Bai Family is foolishly meddling in the matter with that cultivator who has killed the Sea Dragon Sect’s young sect master, which had without a doubt incurred an irreconcilable enmity with them. The Sea Dragon Sect definitely won’t take this well, so we have to do something about it."
"Yes, quite a good one. Their merchants often dock at our port, so we occasionally have business deals with them," replied Huang Xuankong with a smile.
The Huang Family members puffed up their chests in pride, and their faces couldn’t be any more pleased with themselves. It was difficult and very rare for a clan situated by the sea to be recognized by the Sea Dragon Sect, so the fact that they had built a relationship with them had swelled them with great prestige. How else would they’ve been able to snatch seventy to eighty percent of the Bai Family’s business to themselves?!
The Sixth King suddenly fell silent.
At that point, another group made up of about twenty to thirty Foundation Building Realm cultivators arrived, all of whom were from the northern region. Leading them was the woman who dressed like a peasant from the Spirit Beast Valley. It was Elder Su.
The arrival of that group of Foundation Building Realm cultivators immediately caused a shock to appear on the faces of the three ancestors of the Bai Family. Why were there so many Foundation Building Realm cultivators gathering here? What were they here for?
Could the Flame Empire be engaging in some strategic cooperation with the Sea Dragon Sect?
The minds of Huang Xuankong and the Liu Family ancestor began to churn, tumbling one theory after the other.
After the newly-arrived group merged with the Sixth King’s group, Elder Su asked, "Haven’t the people from the Qingzhou Sword Sect arrived yet?"
"Not yet, it's still early," replied the Sixth King.
"May I ask why is everyone heading to the Sea Dragon Sect, Sixth King?” asked Huang Xuankong cautiously.
"It’s nothing serious," said the Sixth King with a smile. He then turned to Elder Su and the others around here and told them about the situation with the three families.
When the woman and her companions heard why the three families were here, their faces turned a little odd.
"Let's wait ‘till he’s here," reminded the Sixth King.
They all understood what he meant, so they turned to look at Huang Xuankong, casting him looks of pity. However, he seemed oblivious to their sympathetic eyes, as he began to try and get to know everyone.
While they were all Foundation Building Experts, that didn’t mean that everyone’s background was one and the same. The two families, Liu and Huang, had quite an ordinary background. So, since there were just too few opportunities they had to form relations with Foundation Building Realm experts from sects, they had to make the most out of this chance.
It wasn’t long before Jin Nan arrived with a considerable number of Foundation Building cultivators, too.
At that point, nearly half of the Foundation Building Realm cultivators who had been invited to celebrate Yu Yuefan's breakthrough had arrived. The rest seemed to have chosen not to take part in this and left. But that made sense, even though they might’ve been able to get their hands on some good stuff by helping in this raid, they’d rather not offend anyone. No one was sure if Immortal Sea Dragon was dead or alive, so it was better this way, lest he appear in the empire once again in the future.
Huang Xuankong and the others felt a surge of excitement in their hearts, sensing that their heydays were on the horizon!
Who would’ve thought we’d make so many connections today!
The Bai Family cultivators' mood was completely different from theirs, however, as they were drowning in despair. That woman who was dressed as a peasant didn’t show any interest in their affairs, so they were sure that she wouldn’t be helping out, either.
"No one can save our family today…." murmured Bai Qianqian to herself. Her eyes grew misty, and a tear slid down her cheek.
Suddenly, a sword light swooped down from the sky and landed among the crowd.
Fang Chen nodded with a smile to everyone. "My disciple will be here in about an hour. We’ll all set off when he arrives.”
Both the Liu Family ancestor and Huang Xuankong were surprised. "Who’s this bigshot?”
They could see that all the Foundation Building cultivators around showed this man very deep respect!