Martial Peak
chapter-3368

Chapter 3368, Who is Responsible?

At that time, Xiao Yu Yang said that the Great Emperor had already set off for Orthodoxy Temple, but when he heard that the matter had been resolved halfway through, he went back.

No one questioned this statement, but now it seemed there was more to the story.

“At that time, Princess Lan Xun had already disappeared and the Great Emperor had been tracking her whereabouts, so the Great Emperor was completely unaware of Orthodoxy Temple’s incident,” Xiao Yu Yang explained with a solemn look on his face.

“Princess Lan Xun had disappeared at that time?” Yang Kai was greatly shocked. [No wonder I didn’t see Lan Xun at the Southern Territory’s Martial Gathering.]

Although it was a bit strange, Yang Kai didn’t think much about it at the time and it was only now that he finally learned the reason. Frowning, he asked, “So, the Great Emperor has not been in Star Soul Palace these past few years?”

It had been so long since the Orthodoxy Temple incident, so it was impossible for the Great Emperor to not have heard about it unless he was somewhere out of contact.

“That’s right,” Xiao Yu Yang confirmed with a nod, “The Great Emperor only has one blood relative, and since the Princess disappeared, the Great Emperor would naturally be anxious. So, he had been searching for clues ever since. Furthermore, it could only be done in secret as such news cannot be announced to the public.”

Yang Kai nodded in understanding. If the kidnapping of a Great Emperor’s daughter was made public, it would create panic as well as a massive public search effort which would only make the situation more chaotic. In that chaos, some may try to take advantage of the situation, or worse, the one responsible might become enraged and silence Lan Xun, a disastrous outcome.

“A year ago, the palace received a message from the Great Emperor, but it was garbled and incomplete. The Great Emperor might have sent it in a hurry or perhaps he was disturbed when he did, we don’t know. In any case, we followed the lead from the message and found a suspicious place, but we were unable to enter it.”

“Why?” Yang Kai asked, surprised. With Star Soul Palace mobilizing all its Masters, what place could possibly be inaccessible to them?

“It’s a Sealed World, so without the corresponding method to open it, no one could enter.”

Yang Kai suddenly came to realize, “Which is why you came to find me.”

Xiao Yu Yang nodded, “Since you are proficient in Dao of Space, perhaps you can find a way inside.”

Yang Kai nodded. If it really was a Sealed World, then coming to him was definitely the best option for Star Soul Palace.

“Where is the Great Emperor now?” Yang Kai asked again.

Xiao Yu Yang shook his head, “After sending back that message, we didn’t hear from the Great Emperor again.”

Yang Kai was shocked. [Even the Great Emperor couldn’t send another message? Could it be that something had happened to him? Impossible! Who in the world can threaten a Great Emperor? But if Lan Xun was used to threaten him…]

Yang Kai secretly shook his head. He wasn’t sure if Lan Xun was taken hostage to threaten Bright Moon Great Emperor, or whether the Great Emperor would really surrender without a fight for his daughter. But more importantly, even if someone did force the Great Emperor to stand down, then why? Even if he did not resist, how could a Great Emperor be detained or killed so easily?

This was really a big deal.

As if he could tell what was going through Yang Kai’s mind, Xiao Yu Yang stated, “The Great Emperor has incredible power and strength, so we need not worry about his safety. Since he didn’t reply, it must have been because has already entered that Sealed World. Yang Kai, I heard that you are good friends with Her Royal Highness, so we came to ask for your help. At the very least, we hope you can open up a passage to that independent world to allow Star Soul Palace’s Masters to enter and search it.”

Yang Kai agreed, nodding, “Junior Sister Lan has also shown kindness to me a number of times. Since she is in trouble, I can’t stand idly by.”

Xiao Yu Yang was overjoyed after hearing this. Originally, he was worried that Yang Kai would decline, but by the looks of it, he was a man who valued friendship highly.

“But I am curious about one thing,” Yang Kai suddenly asked.

“What is it?” Perhaps because Yang Kai readily agreed to help, Xiao Yu Yang’s attitude became more cordial.

“As Elder Xiao said, Junior Sister Lan disappeared three years ago, and the Great Emperor also started to investigate this case at the time. Since the Great Emperor sent a message a year ago, why did you only come to me now?”

In the Southern Territory, it wasn’t a secret that he could arrange Cross-Territory Space Arrays. Azure Sun Temple and High Heaven Palace had an Array connecting them, so it would only take a breath to come and go from the two places, so there was no reason to wait a whole year.

Xiao Yu Yang heaved a sigh, “The location of the Sealed World is far from the Southern Territory, so it took just over a year to make a round trip from there to here.”

“A whole year’s journey?” Yang Kai’s expression changed, “Is it in another territory?”

“En, the Western Territory!” Xiao Yu Yang’s voice turned solemn.

Yang Kai was struck with realization. [So it’s in the Western Territory. Going back and forth would really take a long time. No wonder it was a whole year before they came to find me.]

Speaking of the Western Territory, Yang Kai had some sour memories of it. Back then, when he returned from the Revolving World, he had run into Lin Yun’er and raised a huge ruckus in one of its Top Sects. Later, he arranged a Space Array to bring her back to High Heaven Palace to visit, but who could have anticipated that his Space Array would be destroyed by someone at the critical moment, causing him and Li Jiao to be the only ones teleported back, leaving Lin Yun’er back in the Western Territory.

Although Yang Kai didn’t see who destroyed it, he was fairly certain it was Iron Blood Great Emperor.

If not for Iron Blood Great Emperor’s actions that day, it would have been quite convenient to travel to the Western Territory for Yang Kai, but now he would have to waste months flying there.

“This matter can’t be delayed. Yang Kai, if you have nothing to do, let’s set off immediately,” Xiao Yu Yang anxiously suggested. Things had already been dragged out for so long, so who knows what sort of mishap might have happened? As such, he was pressing Yang Kai to depart even a moment sooner.

Yang Kai agreed with a nod, “En.”

Saying so, he took out a communication artifact and sent Hua Qing Si a message, telling her that he would be going on a trip, and that it was uncertain when he would be returning.

Hua Qing Si had also grown accustomed to his sudden outings, so she didn’t raise any objections or ask any questions.

And so, Yang Kai, Xiao Yu Yang, and Gao Xue Ting set off for Azure Sun Temple via Space Array.

Upon arrival, Xiao Yu Yang summoned his flying ship and invited Yang Kai onboard before the two flew off. It seemed that he didn’t want to delay even a moment longer.

Gao Xue Ting didn’t accompany them any further. She had only come along so far to lead Xiao Yu Yang to High Heaven Palace. Without her, it would have been impossible for Xiao Yu Yang to use Azure Sun Temple’s Space Array, but she had no reason to follow them all the way to the Western Territory.

The flying ship was quite fast and Xiao Yu Yang paid no heed to exhausting himself and he used all his energy to rush forward; after all, this was related to the Great Emperor and Princess Lan Xun, so he was also eager to learn the truth about their situation.

On the deck, Yang Kai stood at the bow, his hands folded behind his back, asking Xiao Yu Yang all the ins and outs of the matter, but he didn’t get much from him as there wasn’t much to tell. He only came to know that they found a location by tracing the message sent by the Great Emperor, and that they were sure that it was a Sealed World. As they had no way to open it, Xiao Yu Yang was sent to contact Yang Kai.

Hearing this, Yang Kai nodded before he took out a jade slip from his Space Ring, engraved a message into it, then flicked his wrist. The next moment, the jade slip slightly shook before it disappeared into thin air.

Xiao Yu Yang raised his brow, “Space Beacon?”

Yang Kai looked at him in surprise, “Elder Xiao is familiar with it?”

Xiao Yu Yang replied, “The Great Emperor also uses this method for long-distance communication. I heard that it was invented by Li Wu Yi of Spirit Beast Island. Back then, the Great Emperor visited Spirit Beast Island and learned of it. I didn’t expect you to use it too.”

Yang Kai added with a smile, “I also learned this technique from Senior Li.”

Xiao Yu Yang was surprised, “You’ve met Li Wu Yi?”

Yang Kai nodded, “When I went to the Eastern Territory two years back, I was fortunate enough to have a discussion with him about the Dao of Space.”

Xiao Yu Yang was struck with realization, “Right, you can arrange Cross-Territory Space Arrays, so it’s far more convenient for you to travel between different territories. In that case, you can freely travel between the Eastern, Southern, and Northern Territory. What about the Western Territory?”

Yang Kai’s brow twitched slightly as he muttered, “It should have been possible, but the Array I arranged was destroyed by someone not long after.”

Xiao Yu Yang was saddened to hear this, “Who would be so bored they would go around destroying your Array?”

Yang Kai smiled but didn’t reply.

Now that he was headed to the Western Territory, he could arrange a new Space Array, finally connecting all four territories together.

“Who did you just send that message to?” Xiao Yu Yang curiously asked.

“Senior Li.” Yang Kai didn’t bother concealing anything and explained, “Elder Xiao might not be aware of this, but two years back, Serene Soul Great Emperor’s daughter, Yao Lin, was also kidnapped on the East Sea of the Eastern Territory.”

“What!?” Xiao Yu Yang was greatly taken aback, “Serene Soul Great Emperor’s daughter was also kidnapped?”

Lan Xun was kidnapped about three years ago, and Yao Lin, two years ago. Although there was a gap of a year between their kidnapping, it wasn’t that long a gap considering one happened in the Eastern Territory and the other in the Southern Territory.

“Could the same person have done it?” Xiao Yu Yang suddenly thought of a possibility.

“It’s not clear. But the person who captured Yao Lin at that time was a Pseudo-Great Emperor.”

“A Pseudo-Great Emperor!” Xiao Yu Yang drew a sharp breath. Although he was a Third-Order Emperor, he had only risen to his current realm recently, so if he was up against a Pseudo-Great Emperor, he knew that he would not be his or her opponent. He slowly asked, “How do you know about this incident so clearly? Hmm, you just said that you went to the Eastern Territory two years ago, and Yao Lin was also captured two years ago, could it be…”

“That’s right, when Yao Lin was kidnapped, I happened to come across the scene.” Yang Kai nodded, confirming Xiao Yu Yang’s guess, “Now, two years have already passed, so I wanted to ask if Senior Li had any new news.”

Xiao Yu Yang continued, nodding, “I want to ask if it was the same person who did it. If so, then that person really doesn’t fear the Heavens. But what could he possibly be hoping to achieve?

Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, “You’ll just have to ask that old man in person when we find him.”

As they were speaking, a subtle Space Principle fluctuation pulsed from the bead on Yang Kai’s wrist and soon a jade slip appeared.

Yang Kai grabbed it and poured his Divine Sense into it to read the message.

The next moment, his face turned serious.

“What is it?” Xiao Yu Yang anxiously asked.

“Elder Xiao should see for himself,” Yang Kai tossed the jade slip to him.

Xiao Yu Yang grabbed and read it before his face drastically changed as well, “How is that possible? Disciples and descendants of many Great Emperors have gone missing!? Who… who could possibly be responsible for this?”

The Great Emperors naturally all knew one another, and with a convenient way to exchange messages like the Space Beacon created by Li Wu Yi, it wasn’t difficult for them to keep in contact. Furthermore, since Li Wu Yi was the creator of the Space Beacons, it only made sense for Spirit Beast Island to be a hub of information. At the very least, they were better informed than Star Soul Palace.

According to Li Wu Yi’s reply, after Yao Lin’s disappearance, almost all of Serene Soul Palace’s cultivators fanned out, performing an extensive search of the entire Eastern Territory, but unfortunately, they found nothing in the end. Yao Lin seemed to have disappeared from the face of the world. Naturally, Serene Soul Great Emperor was very concerned about his daughter after her disappearance, so he sent messages to all the other Great Emperors, asking them to keep an eye out in their respective territories…