Dragon-Marked War God

Qilian Boundary, Ling Jue City.

In the great hall of the City Lord’s Mansion, a stern-looking middle-aged man frowned slightly. His face was somewhat gloomy, and the bitterness at the corner of his mouth showed how hard things were for him.

The middle-aged man paced back and forth in the great hall. The gravity between his brows was plain to see. The guards of the City Lord’s Mansion around him were all as silent as cicadas in winter, not even daring to breathe loudly.

For three days, bad news had kept arriving. Dozens of sects in the Linhe Boundary had been struck down, yet without leaving any trace. They were killed without blood being seen, slaughtered without mercy.

“This is bad, my lord City Lord! Three more great sects in the Linhe Boundary have been hit. The situation is now critical. We don’t know what kind of demon is behind this. There’s no trace at all.”

The deputy commander of the City Lord’s Mansion came to report with a grim face. This was already the seventeenth message in three days. Even he felt that the Linhe Boundary’s life hung by a thread, in unimaginable danger. The City Lord’s face was growing uglier and uglier.

“I understand. You may go.”

Zi Qingtian’s expression changed again and again, and he spoke coldly. He sighed, finding it truly hard to decide. This might well be a great catastrophe. It seemed that it would not be so easy for the Nine Boundaries of Qilian to escape unscathed.

In the void, a purple figure slowly emerged, graceful and beautiful, as if she had stepped out of a painting. The young woman’s face was like a red blossom and her eyes were firm. She looked at Zi Qingtian and said in a deep voice,

“Qingtian, don’t forget your agreement with Jiang Chen. From what I know of him, if you don’t act, you may well be dragged into it yourself. The Profound Wind Sect is already in peril. The situation in the Linhe Boundary is far more serious than we imagined. Even if we don’t know who is behind this, we can’t stand by with folded arms and wait for death.”

The woman parted her red lips, a bright light flashing in her eyes.

Zi Qingtian shook his head and smiled bitterly.

“Ah Qian, do you think I don’t want to go? On the very first day the Linhe Boundary was struck, I went there once. But I found… there seems to be an extremely powerful expert behind this, someone we simply can’t withstand. Right now the danger is confined to the Linhe Boundary. If I make a strong move, it may well draw the disaster toward us and drag the whole Qilian Boundary into it. I’m not being selfish. Although I didn’t see the people on the other side, their might made even me tremble. How could I not know Jiang Chen’s abilities? I knew back then that he was surely no ordinary person. Now I don’t even know whether he escaped the Profound Connection Divine Palace’s pursuit. If I act, I’ll be dragging the Qilian Boundary and you into it. Besides, you’re carrying a child now. How can you ask me not to worry?”

Zi Qingtian looked tenderly at the middle-aged beauty. That woman was none other than Qian Renji, Jiang Chen’s former instructor at the Profound Connection Divine Palace.

Qian Renji’s expression changed slightly. She pondered for a moment, then continued,

“I still think you should go. The Profound Wind Sect is in grave danger. Jiang Chen once entrusted the whole Profound Wind Sect to you, and now that things are so perilous, you’re standing by. That really isn’t right. I know you’re worried about me and the child, and about the countless people of the Qilian Boundary. But Jiang Chen once did me a great kindness, a kindness of life and death, and he did Zi Xi a kindness too, as a friend through hardship. If you stay out of it now, it really isn’t right.”

Qian Renji was helpless too. After all, she was now pregnant. Otherwise, she would surely have gone to the Linhe Boundary alone and protected the Profound Wind Sect no matter what, because that was a debt of gratitude she could never repay in this lifetime.

If she were alone, she would fear nothing. But Zi Qingtian was different. He was the Reverend of the Nine Boundaries, the supreme ruler of Qilian. If he acted at this time, it might bring an unimaginably catastrophic blow to the Nine Boundaries. Zi Qingtian had misgivings, which was why he had held off. But he was keeping a close eye on the movements in the Linhe Boundary. In his heart he was still itching to act.

He held a high position, and the Nine Boundaries could not be without their lord for a single day. Zi Qingtian had too many things tying him down, things he could not let go of. He was not afraid of death. He was afraid of failing the countless common people, failing all the sects of the Nine Boundaries of Qilian, and becoming a sinner for the ages.

On the first day, he had gone in person to investigate the stricken sects, but he had come back empty-handed. Moreover, he had sensed that the expert behind it was far more terrifying than himself, and more than one person at that. That was what shocked him most. These people could have struck without hesitation, yet they were hiding in the shadows. That showed how frightening they were; they would make people flee at the very sound of them.

“If you really leave it alone, what will you say if Jiang Chen comes back? He once handed the Profound Wind Sect to you with his own hands, Qingtian.”

Qian Renji said with great urgency. She had been an instructor at the Profound Connection Divine Palace and was no fool. There was nothing wrong with Zi Qingtian wanting to put the bigger picture first, but in both sentiment and reason, he should not choose to stay silent. That was what puzzled her most. If Qian Renji had not been with child, she would have charged out long ago.

The Linhe Boundary was swaying in the storm, and the Profound Wind Sect would hardly escape disaster. That was already as good as nailed down. Yet Zi Qingtian was still waiting, still silent, unmoved, which made Qian Renji extremely anxious.

But she was now a wife. When she had resolutely left the Profound Connection Divine Palace, she had already decided to be an ordinary person and stay with him forever, the wife following where the husband led.

Zi Qingtian frowned deeply. At this moment he had a headache too. He sighed and said,

“Let me be alone for a while and think it over properly. I understand everything you’ve said, but I also have to put the bigger picture first.”

Qian Renji said no more and chose to withdraw. Zi Qingtian stood alone beneath the moon, sleepless all night, sighing all night long.

In the early morning of the fourth day, more bad news came from the Linhe Boundary. Zi Qingtian’s face was full of worry. Bound by circumstance, it had already become extremely hard for him.

If he went, he had his reasons. He and Jiang Chen were close, and they had an agreement besides. But if he went and drew the disaster to the Qilian Boundary, the consequences would be unimaginable. This disastrous wind, from who knew where, had already blown across almost the entire Linhe Boundary, and it was growing more and more worrying.

The Profound Wind Sect was already swaying in the wind. No one knew when it would be out of danger. Perhaps it too would become a place this disastrous wind swept through, ending up shattered to pieces.

If he did not go, then for the sake of all the living beings of the Qilian Boundary and the people of the Nine Boundaries, Zi Qingtian would be doing his bounden duty! But he would be failing Jiang Chen and his own word.

His feelings pulled him both ways, and the choice was harder still.

Zi Qingtian was deeply conflicted, but his position had already decided how he should act if he was to have a clear conscience and not fail his countless subjects. As lord of the Nine Boundaries, he had to put the bigger picture first.

He sighed heavily, his heart full of sorrow. Caught between two choices, his heart was filled with suffering.