536: Truth and falsehoods
“Hand me your jade sword,” Yan Zhaoge reached out, taking the jade sword of Shi Jun’s that was proffered to him.
Having received it, Yan Zhaoge put the tips of the two jade swords lightly together, a bright lustre extending as they met.
“Senior apprentice-brother Xu has one of these jade swords as well. He should have received a signal now. Let’s go meet him outside the Star Shifting Sea.”
Now, Yan Zhaoge and the Northern Ocean Clone swept along Shi Jun and Shen Ying, flying into the distance.
Brought along by Yan Zhaoge, Shen Ying appeared downcast and conflicted.
As Shi Jun looked concernedly at her, she smiled at him to indicate that she was fine, but it just seemed forced however he looked at it.
Thinking about Yan Zhaoge’s earlier words, Shi Jun gradually came to a realisation.
If Shen Ying survived, revealing all the things that had happened that day in broad daylight, Shi Jun would be proven to be innocent.
Shi Jun having killed Nian Wei, Nian Chen would definitely hate him greatly, wanting to kill him for revenge.
However, standing on the side of reason, Changli Mountain would be able to stand up tall in protecting Shi Jun.
While Changli Mountain was weaker than the Blood Dragon Sect, being one of the Seven Pillars of Good as well, it need not be subservient to the Blood Dragon Sect.
If Nian Chen always kept an eye on Shi Jun, it would be extremely dangerous for him to be outside. However, so long as Shi Jun remained at Changli Mountain on Directionless Island, there would not be anything that Nian Chen might be able to do to him.
Nian Chen did not possess a clear advantage should he want to launch an attack on Changli Mountain.
If he wanted to do it no matter what despite all the losses both sides would suffer, Water Crystal Palace and the other sects naturally wouldn’t just sit idly by and do nothing.
However, if this blame could not be washed away, Shi Jun would be known as someone who abducted a female disciple of another sect. That way, he would really be denounced amongst all the forces of Good. All would support Nian Chen in his desire to kill him.
It was just that if the truth of the matter were to be revealed, it would instead be the Blood Dragon Sect that ended up the joke of everyone under the heavens.
Even though Nian Wei had died, everyone would just unsympathetically say that he deserved it.
Yet, Shen Ying was a Blood Dragon Sect disciple. She could not ignore the reputation of her sect even if she minded what Nian Wei had tried to do to her.
Her father was the Chief of the Blood Dragon Sect, the sect having raised her. All this was affecting her judgment.
From a certain perspective, to Shen Ying, Nian Wei already being dead, all her anger and hatred at him had already been alleviated. Meanwhile, the Blood Dragon Sect disciples who were closest to Nian Wei had mostly died beneath Shi Jun’s sword as well.
Her other fellow disciples in the sect all had no enmity with her at all.
However, looking at Shi Jun whose reputation might be destroyed due to having stood up for her, how could Shen Ying not be moved?
Therefore, she was looking gloomy and conflicted as she was now.
To the Blood Dragon Sect, if they killed Shi Jun and silenced Shen Ying, the truth of the matter would just then be whatever they claimed it to be.
Many non-Blood Dragon Sect martial practitioners had witnessed Shi Jun leaving with Shen Ying that day on that deserted island, with this matter currently having spread throughout the Vast Ocean World as well.
Things having blown up to this extent, the arrow had already been strung and could not be removed.
Nian Chen aside, even if Shen Shicheng learnt of the truth of the matter, he would only secure his daughter’s life. He might not be merciful to Shi Jun, perhaps even taking the falsehood as the truth.
As for afterwards, with Nian Wei really having died to Shi Jun, the matter had already become unsalvageable then.
While Shi Jun was still not very clear on this, he was already gradually gaining an understanding of things as his expression turned gloomy.
Yan Zhaoge glanced at Shi Jun, smiling, “Even if others don’t believe you, I do. I’ll see how that Nian Chen would like to act against you.”
The Northern Ocean Clone beside him smiled as well, his clenched palm slowly relaxing as bloodred light and golden light instantly flickered intermittently.
Shi Jun and Shen Ying were both stunned before Shen Ying blurted out, “Nine Dragon Fingers?!”
“It’s but a ninth of it,” Facing the shocked gazes of the two, Yan Zhaoge said nonchalantly, “I arrived in that foreign dimension soon after you had left, and Nian Chen did as well. Seeing Nian Wei’s corpse, the old man was rather furious. So we exchanged a few blows and I broke one of his fingers.”
“Afterwards, being busy looking for you, I didn’t continue battling it out with him.”
Shi Jun and Shen Ying were both rendered unable to speak for a time. While they had earlier heard about Yan Zhaoge having slain Fang Kan of Spirit Rhino Island, a Transcending Mortality Martial Grandmaster and a Transcending Mortality Martial Grandmaster who wielded a Sacred Artifact were two different concepts altogether.
The Chief of Myriad Sword Pool Yan Gang who possessed the Sacred Artifact, the Floating Sinking Sword, as well as the Martial Saint Lian Qiancheng who was the Chief of the Sacred Evil Sect, had also not been able to do anything to Yan Zhaoge as well.
However, having obtained victory in a battle at the Martial Saint level and even obtaining a finger of the Nine Dragon Fingers in the process-the difficulty of that was really an incomparable one.
This meant that Yan Zhaoge who was accompanied by the Northern Ocean Clone was even more powerful than they had thought, being even stronger than the number one expert of the Blood Dragon Sect, Nian Chen, who possessed the Nine Dragon Fingers.
Shen Ying looked dazedly at Yan Zhaoge, looking a little like she wanted to say something yet dared not to.
Shi Jun exhaled slowly, sighing in admiration as he looked at Yan Zhaoge, “Truly befitting of senior apprentice-uncle Yan! Other than you, who else could have reached such heights at such an age!”
Yan Zhaoge smiled, appraising Shi Jun all over, “Let’s not talk about me. Instead, you’re really looking set to surpass your predecessors before you. Good, very good!”
While he was currently just twenty years old, Shi Jun was already in the early outer aura stage, having achieved the second cleansing of his bone marrows as he was just a step away from the mid outer aura stage.
Over these days of fleeing and killing, under this state of high tension, Shi Jun had been tempered as well. He just needed some time to stabilise his foundations, after which he immediately be able to step into the mid outer aura stage.
Such a cultivation speed was outstanding not only in the Vast Ocean World. In the Eight Extremities World, he would be considered elite amongst his peers as well.
At the same age, his cultivation speed for his current cultivation level had already surpassed his Master Xu Fei, also having surpassed most core, direct disciples of Broad Creed Mountain.
Amongst the young martial practitioners Yan Zhaoge was acquainted with, there were only Ying Longtu, Sikong Qing, Feng Yunsheng, those mere few people who were even faster than Shi Jun.
Meanwhile, these people were all rather unique in some way.
It was worth mentioning that Shi Jun was, at the end of the day, not a disciple of Changli Mountain, being a guest there just like Xu Fei. The resources that he had received amidst his cultivation was definitely inferior to that available to the core disciples of Changli Mountain themselves.
Still being able to preside loftily over his peers even despite that, even Yan Zhaoge felt that it was greatly laudable.
It did not have to be asked how much blood and sweat Shi Jun had exerted as he had toiled painstakingly in his cultivation all these years.
His wish to gain enough strength to protect his mother with and his intense desire to prove himself were all immense sources of motivation for him, pushing him unceasingly forward without rest.
Having been praised by Yan Zhaoge, a rather rare look of shyness appeared on Shi Jun’s tough features, “Do not laugh at me, senior apprentice-uncle. If others praise me, I can bear it in a thick-skinned manner. If it’s you, however, I would really feel panicked by it.”
He knew what kind of figure this young senior apprentice-uncle before him was.
While the two were currently at around the same age, Yan Zhaoge’s accomplishments towered like a lofty mountain before Shi Jun. As he looked at Yan Zhaoge, he could only feel like the young kid he had been back then.
Still, having been approved of by Yan Zhaoge, Shi Jun felt exceptionally happy.
It was just that after that happiness, Shi Jun’s smile gradually disappeared.
Yan Zhaoge knew that although he could secure Shi Jun’s life with his own power, if Shi Jun could not be proven innocent, he would still be scorned by all and persistently cursed at thereon in the Vast Ocean World after this.
“We’re at the border of the Star Shifting Sea. After having left this place, being out of the area of influence of the starlight springs, we will be able to locate senior apprentice-brother Xu and the others very quickly,” Yan Zhaoge did not speak further, just looking at Shi Jun and the similarly silent Shen Ying before bringing them along in flying towards the heavens and earth outside the region that was enveloped blurrily by starlight.