Thud!

With no warning, Zhao Xidong got a slap from Xiao Qixiu and fell to the ground.

He got up while scratching his head, feeling misunderstood, and with teary eyes, he said, “It's just an a.s.sumption! I already said it was just an a.s.sumption!”

“Huh!” Xiao Qixiu sneered and continued, “Put your shoddy guesswork away. Who is Elder Sang? He is the Vice Dean of the Tiansang Spirit Palace. How can he be the Saint Servant?”

“Do you know that sometimes just by thinking like that, you can bring calamity to the Spirit Palace?”

“How many times have I said that the Spiritual Law Division will only enforce the law with sufficient evidence?”

He poked at the head of the young man standing next to him and asked, “Do you want to be put on the punishment platform?”

Zhao Xidong reared back instantly and shut his mouth tight. He did not even dare speak a word.

“Eat!” Xiao Qixiu scowled as he slapped the table angrily with his palm, then added, “Hurry and eat! Then get lost after you have finished!”

He was furious. Xiao Qixiu thought it was excusable had Zhao Xidong suspected someone else in the palace. Instead, he had placed suspicion on none other than Elder Sang.

If he said that Elder Sang was a mole from the Divine Hall, they could verify that later.

But his suspicion was on something else.

Saint Servant?

It was impossible for Elder Sang to a member of the opposition. Not only did the old guys present not detect it at all, but Elder Sang had been constantly fighting against that vile organization for so many years!

“You don't know sh*t, yet you keep on gibbering here…” Xiao Qixiu scolded in a low voice. He grabbed a wine jug and then slammed it down.

He had mistakenly taken the wrong one!

Zhao Xidong shuddered in response and quickly pushed over a gla.s.s of water to Elder Xiao and said, “Take it easy, alright?”

After saying that, Zhao Xidong grabbed a goose leg from the table and gobbled it up in a few bites. Then he quickly stood up.

“I am already full!”

He wanted to leave as soon as he could.

The place was too scary for him and he did not want to sit around with the Elders any longer than he had to.

Besides, Elder Xiao seemed somewhat upset at the moment. Nothing usually frightened Zhao Xidong, but at present, he felt uneasy.

He could not help it. He had received scoldings for so many years and had developed a psychological aversion to such situations.

“Wait, a minute!”

He had only taken two steps before Zhao Xidong heard Ye Xiaotian's voice come from behind him. Zhao Xidong turned his head around.

The white-haired Daoist boy lowered his head, tapping his fingers lightly on the table. He seemed to ponder over something.

Xiao Qixiu looked surprised and roared, “You believe this lad's bullsh*t?”

Qiao Qianzhi looked at Ye Xiaotian with the same incredulous expression, but he saw the latter shake his head slightly.

“I do not believe it!”

The statement was loud and clear. It showed the level of trust on account of the many years of relations.h.i.+p Ye Xiaotian had with Elder Sang.

However, in the next second, Ye Xiaotian seemed to look deflated.

“But he has taught me to trust no one in this world except for myself!”

With a sigh, a look of determination flashed in Ye Xiaotian's eyes. Then he turned to Zhao Xidong and spoke solemnly to him.

“Go find out where Elder Sang has gone to in the last few years, what he has done, and the people he has killed.”

“I especially want all the information related to the Saint Servant!”

After recovering from a daze, Zhao Xidong's eyes glinted with excitement.

To investigate the Vice Dean! He had never even dared to think about it before!

“Yes, Dean!”

Ye Xiaotian looked at the two old fellows, who looked somewhat shocked. He shook his head slightly and picked up his chopsticks, ready to eat.

“I have to check it out. Even if it is only the slightest of possibilities, we still have to check it out!”

“There is something else,” added Ye Xiaotian.

Zhao Xidong bowed and was ready to leave. Then, Ye Xiaotian seemed to have remembered something and spoke with a painful expression, as if a headache were coming on. He was rubbing his temples with the chopsticks.

“Keep a close eye on Xu Xiaoshou. Make sure he does not give us any more trouble. I cannot stand him any longer!”

“Xu Xiaoshou, wait up for me!”

The shout caught the attention of Xu Xiaoshou, who was the focus of the crowd.

: Requested, pa.s.sive point, +1.

Xu Xiaoshou stopped, feeling a headache about to come on. He turned around and looked at the huge, tall man with one arm. Distressed, Xu Xiaoshou said, “How many times have I said that it is not a broadsword but an iron block?”

“And besides, I know nothing about the broadsword technique at all!”

Zhou Tianshen did not believe a word Xu Xiaoshou said.

If it was not a broadsword, and if Xu Xiaoshou did not know any broadsword techniques, so what was it he saw earlier?

After a broadsword measuring some ten feet long appeared and slashed through the air, Zhang Xinxiong's head was separated from his body!

Such a formidable broadsword was even more lethal than the golden yellow broadsword on his back!

Yes, much more lethal!

“I only want to take a look and touch it. I do not want your broadsword,” Zhou Tianshen pleaded.

“Swallow your saliva right now!” Xu Xiaoshou said.

Xu Xiaoshou found Zhou Tianshen extremely annoying and the man had been bothering him all the way. Xu Xiaoshou did not wish to continue the conversation and suddenly said, “Do you remember the last scene in the Tianxuan Gate?”

Zhou Tianshen froze for a moment as he tried to recall the last thing he saw there.

He recalled he had knocked into a child when he was flying back then.

“Yes, that's it!”

Xu Xiaoshou pulled out the iron ball from his bosom. Zhou Tianshen's eyes instantly lit up.

It was indeed the thing. Everyone got fooled by Ah Jie's appearance. So did Zhang Xinxiong.

Jie had unexpectedly transformed into a broadsword, and it shocked everybody present at the ring!

“Transform it!”

“Transform it into a broadsword!” Zhou Tianshen said excitedly.

“Do you want to see it?” Xu Xiaoshou asked seriously.

Zhou Tianshen did not notice the annoyed expression in the young man's eyes. He nodded repeatedly as he kept swallowing his saliva.

Xu Xiaoshou sighed and tossed the iron ball up in the air. The iron ball transformed into a puppet child instantly.

“Jie, do not hit too hard.”

As soon as Zhou Tianshen heard him say that, he realized that something was wrong. He immediately looked up and found a fist closing into his face rapidly.

“Huh?”

BANG!

He saw nothing but the color black before he pa.s.sed out!

“Phew, finally some peace and quiet.”

Xu Xiaoshou let out a sigh of relief. He caught the huge, tall man before he dropped to the ground and put him over his shoulder.

The guy had been too noisy. He stalked Xu Xiaoshou from the life and death platform and never ceased to ask him about the Tianxuan Gate mutation and the broadsword. Xu Xiaoshou simply did not have the patience to tell him so much.

If he wanted to explain, it would probably take half a day to do so!

Xu Xiaoshou still had not found the answers to his questions yet. It was much easier to knock him out and solve his problem once and for all.

After taking care of Zhou Tianshen, he turned to Ah Jie.

The guy was still the same—an underdeveloped child. But he looked a little different this time.

“Since you can transform into a broadsword, can you transform into a sword?” Xu Xiaoshou asked.

“Ma Ma,” Jie murmured, a red beam glowing in his eyes.

Xu Xiaoshou was a little curious, wondering if the child was not obedient because they were not in a dangerous situation.

Or was it because he did not have a close enough relations.h.i.+p with Ah Jie? And it meant that he could not control it yet?

He tried several more times and found that he could not get any reaction from Jie except to hear him say Ma Ma.

“Tsk, this is not good!”

Xu Xiaoshou stroked his chin and deliberated over the iron ball, the puppet child, and the broadsword.

Exactly what was Ah Jie? Other than the three forms, did he have any other manifestations and functions?

“There must be more!”

“But I do not know how to trigger them.”

Xu Xiaoshou got a headache trying to figure out what to do.

I intrigued him when he recalled how Zhang Xinxiong, who was at master level, got killed by the broadsword.

Xu Xiaoshou felt rather disheartened when he held such a treasure in his hands but did not know how to control it effectively!

Poof!

He casually cut his finger and dripped a drop of blood onto Jie's head.

Xu Xiaoshou observed closely as the drop of blood flowing down from Jie's head. The blood flowed past Ah Jie's eye and nose, then entered the corner of his mouth.

Buzz!

There was a flash of a red beam in the eyes of the puppet child. The puppet child reacted with heightened emotion.

“It is working?”

Xu Xiaoshou looked overjoyed and shouted, “Transform to a sword!”

“Ma Ma,” Jie whispered.

The puppet child tilted his head and stared dumbly at the young man in front of him.

Xu Xiaoshou was at a loss for words.

My G.o.d, how could the treasure I own be such a dumb one, he thought.

Unconsciously, his thoughts went to the Hidden Bitter he owned, that was bent on devouring its master. And now he had a dumb Ah Jie, the puppet child.

“d.a.m.n it!”