Chapter Eighty-Eight: Making a Small Matter Vanish

When Lin Dong heard Ye Zihan’s words, he nodded as well. What Ye Zihan said was true: they were in the Beast Domain now, and any power that wanted to move against them would have to think twice about the consequences of offending Black Tortoise Marsh. So tomorrow’s trip to Nameless Hill should be relatively safe.

“You’re right, Brother Ye. No one here in the Beast Domain dares to bully us, but we still can’t be careless. My father said the assassins who came for you tonight were formidable cultivators—at the very least, killers at the Five Elements level, and some were even Supreme Realm experts. What puzzles me is that you actually managed to break out of the encirclement unharmed.”

As Lin Dong spoke, he scratched his head, for the matter was truly astonishing. A few young experts at the Four Symbols and Five Elements levels had actually slain Five Elements assassins and driven off two Supreme Realm powerhouses.

Yan Chen smiled and said, “That’s because those assassins were wary of Black Tortoise City, which is why they left. Otherwise, with realms like ours, it would already be merciful enough if they didn’t kill us. Haha.”

His words were modest, of course. When traveling through the Illusionary God Continent, humility was necessary, and Yan Chen understood that well.

Lin Dong nodded and said, “Perhaps that’s how it was. Black Tortoise City does not permit fighting and killing within its walls, but my father looked extremely tense tonight. When I asked him about it, he said nothing more, and in the end I let it go, because if he doesn’t want to speak, asking him is useless.”

He could not help voicing the doubts in his heart. The more he thought about it, the more suspicious tonight’s assassins seemed. Of course, he knew nothing of their background.

“If those little bastards hadn’t run so fast, I’d have split them in two with my axe sooner or later,” Chen Yiyan said. He had never been one to accept defeat gladly. At this point, he truly was a young expert in his own right, and there were only a handful of young cultivators who could stand against him. His arrogance was not without a foundation.

Lin Dong looked at Chen Yiyan. Indeed, Chen Yiyan’s strength was slightly above his own, though the gap was not large. At the very least, they were both young experts at the Five Elements level, and in the Illusionary God Continent, there were very few youths with power like theirs.

If someone’s strength was lower than their own, Lin Dong and Chen Yiyan looked down on them. Although they were both disciples from the Beast Domain, they did not like making friends with the weak, because they felt that doing so would be an insult to themselves.

Chen Yiyan had run away from home in the Beast Domain for so long and still had no real friends. Perhaps now, Ye Zihan and Yan Chen were the only friends he had made since leaving home, and that was partly because Ye Zihan had fought him to a draw on the training grounds.

If Ye Zihan had been defeated by Chen Yiyan, or killed by him, then he could never have become friends with Ye Zihan, much less treated Yan Chen with such courtesy. But Ye Zihan had indeed subdued that unruly pride of Chen Yiyan’s. At the very least, Ye Zihan’s strength could only be above Chen Yiyan’s, never much lower.

“Brother Ye Zihan, Brother Chen Yiyan, you should rest now. Good night. I still have to go and report back to my father,” Lin Dong said, waving farewell. It was time for him to leave. They would have plenty of time to chat tomorrow, so there was no need to waste any more time now.

Ye Zihan nodded and said, “Take care, Young City Lord. The rest of us will go and rest.”

As he spoke, Ye Zihan also waved at Lin Dong. The City Lord of Black Tortoise Marsh had treated them fairly well, but they all knew he would never reveal the identities of those assassins. If City Lord Lin Lei had been willing to speak, he would have done so long ago.

Yan Chen had also investigated the assassins’ identities when they were at the inn, but still found nothing. Now the bodies of those assassins had already been buried by the guards of Black Tortoise City. The assassins had certainly been acting under someone’s orders, but Yan Chen could not discern who was behind them. At this point, they had already given up on tracing the assassins’ identities, because he did not wish to make things difficult for the City Lord of Black Tortoise City. If he would not speak, then he must have his reasons.

Lin Dong quickly left the guest room of the Black Tortoise City City Lord’s residence. Now he needed to report to the City Lord on Ye Zihan and the others’ rest arrangements, and then he too would go to sleep, because he still had to accompany Ye Zihan and the others to Nameless Hill and take part in the struggle for Nameless City.

“Father, I have arranged everything for Ye Zihan and the others according to your instructions. Should I go and rest now?” Inside a room in the City Lord’s residence, Lin Dong carefully reported to his father, Lin Lei, about Ye Zihan and the others’ accommodations.

Lin Lei nodded and said, “Dong’er, do your best this time. So long as Nameless Hill does not fall into the hands of one of the Beast Domain’s ten major powers, that will be enough. Of course, if the people of the Defying Heaven Pavilion win the struggle for Nameless City, we will certainly need to congratulate them.”

He was very satisfied with Ye Zihan and the others’ strength and attitude. Although Ye Zihan and the others were unwilling to represent Black Tortoise Marsh in the fight for Nameless City, if the Defying Heaven Pavilion won it, that would still be in Black Tortoise Marsh’s interests.

So long as no other faction from the Beast Domain won Nameless City, Black Tortoise Marsh would not act rashly. Otherwise they would never let it rest, because once any power gained control of Nameless City, Black Tortoise Marsh would sooner or later be trampled by others. Such was the law of the jungle in the Beast Domain.

The Beast Domain, like the Demon Prison, was one of the two great perilous lands of the Illusionary God Continent, so Lin Lei could not help but plan ahead. Ye Zihan’s relationship with Black Tortoise Marsh was quite good. If Ye Zihan and the others won control of Nameless City on Nameless Hill, it would be a good thing for Black Tortoise Marsh, because they would gain another brotherly allied force in the Beast Domain.

Lin Dong nodded. He had not expected his father to hold such a high opinion of Ye Zihan and the others. At present, their strength was only at the Five Elements level. Within the City Lord’s residence of Black Tortoise Marsh, there were many experts at that level, and Lin Dong himself was a young expert at the Five Elements level as well, so he had many doubts. Still, he did not dare ask his father.

Looking at Lin Lei, Lin Dong said, “Father, do you know what identity those assassins had who caused trouble in our Black Tortoise City tonight? To think they even brought out such formidable power to kill Ye Zihan and the others, so much so that even the guards of our Black Tortoise City had to keep their distance.”

Lin Dong was deeply puzzled. It was the first time he had seen his father retreat. At first, Lin Lei had been prepared to step in and stop the assassination, but at the crucial moment he had drawn back. That only made Lin Dong even more bewildered.

Lin Lei stroked his son’s small head and said with a smile, “Dong’er, there is always a higher mountain beyond the mountain. That is why Black Tortoise Marsh must also act with restraint. I am not afraid of those we can offend, but some powers are not ones we can contend against. Better that we preserve ourselves and act according to our ability.”

Indeed, Lin Lei acted according to what he could do. When he realized that his Black Tortoise Marsh was no match for the other side, he had to step aside. That, perhaps, was the wisdom of self-preservation.

Lin Dong nodded and said, “I understand, Father. I’ll go back and rest now. Tomorrow I still have to go to Nameless Hill to take part in the struggle for Nameless City.”

He wanted to leave now, because it was time to rest.

Lin Lei smiled and said, “Go on, child. If you encounter danger on the road, remember not to fight with your life on the line. In the Beast Domain, no one will dare to do anything to you, otherwise I, Lin Lei, will go all in.”

He believed that in the Beast Domain, no one would dare harm Lin Dong’s life, but with Ye Zihan and Chen Yiyan, it was harder to say.

Lin Dong nodded and said, “But if Ye Zihan and Chen Yiyan encounter assassins, am I supposed to stand by and watch? I really cannot do that.”

He truly was not the sort to ignore death and injury. At the very least, he still had the dream of being a hero.

Lin Lei nodded and said, “Then you will act according to the situation. This too will temper your own resolve. If your ability is inferior to another’s and you are killed by them, then you can only blame yourself for not working hard enough.”

His demands on his son were very high. He was not the kind of man who would stand by and do nothing in the face of death. Moreover, in times of danger, he might even be able to awaken Lin Dong’s potential.

Only after hearing his father say this did Lin Dong understand how he ought to deal with the assassins. Indeed, if his strength was inferior to theirs, he could not fight to the death. But if he could help Ye Zihan and the others, Lin Dong would never retreat.

By setting out together with Ye Zihan and the others, Lin Dong had already become one of them, part of the same boat. So if he struck back at those assassins, it was no great matter; it was merely one way of resisting them.

“I’m going to rest now, Father. I know what I should do now,” Lin Dong said, then quickly left his father’s room. For him, tomorrow marked the beginning of his own trial, and so he placed great hopes in himself.

Lin Lei watched his son’s retreating figure and fell into thought. This was the first time he had let his son go out to train on his own, and so he could not help feeling a little worried. But if Lin Dong did not go out to temper himself, then he would be ruining his son’s future. So he might as well let him venture out and sharpen himself for a while.

Only after the sound of Lin Dong’s door closing came did Lin Lei slowly go to rest. The disturbance from those assassins tonight had indeed made him think over many things, including the future development of Black Tortoise Marsh. These were realities he could not avoid.

Soon, Lin Lei was asleep as well. Tomorrow, Ye Zihan and Chen Yiyan and the others would set out. Nameless Hill was a place of sorrow in countless hearts, especially for the ten great powers of the Beast Domain; they had already sacrificed God knew how many disciples there in their struggle for control of Nameless City.

Night slowly fell. Black Tortoise City became utterly quiet. Even the small inn where fighting and killing had just taken place was now being tidied up by the guards of Black Tortoise City, and the surrounding cultivators had no choice but to return to rest. For them, witnessing such a brutal slaughter had already been more than satisfying.

In a single night, six Five Elements-level experts had perished in Black Tortoise City. It was an utterly shocking matter, and so everyone in Black Tortoise City was now speculating about what kind of power Ye Zihan’s Defying Heaven Pavilion actually was, to be able to kill several such powerful assassins.

Especially the combined efforts of Chen Yiyan and Ye Zihan: though they were only at the early stage of the Five Elements level, they still held off an attack by a Supreme Realm expert. That was an astonishing feat, and even seasoned, battle-hardened cultivators watched with their hearts in their throats.