"This has something to do with the Great Li Eighth Prince?"
After hearing Shangguan Qingqing's theory, all three of Bai Zihua and the others showed expressions of surprise and uncertainty.
Going by what Shangguan Qingqing had said, it did actually make some sense.
That said, the idea that a single Great Li prince could frighten the proud, powerful, and utterly unbowed Huo Linfei into giving up such a favorable position and withdrawing was, to be honest, a bit difficult to accept.
"If we truly want to understand why all this happened, the key lies in that message the Alliance Under Heaven sent Huo Linfei."
Bai Zihua said with a pensive expression. The Celestial River Blade Sect leader gave a quiet nod as well.
Neither of them dismissed Shangguan Qingqing's theory, but confirming it was not something they could do in any short amount of time.
"Whatever the reason, the Alliance Under Heaven has withdrawn, and the sect has been spared."
The Sect Leader said in a low voice. But at that moment his injuries flared, and he suddenly broke into a violent cough he could not suppress, blood welling at the corners of his mouth.
Bai Zihua's expression changed sharply at the sight, and he immediately moved to channel true qi into the Sect Leader to treat his injuries.
But the Sect Leader waved a hand, "It is fine. A few months of recovery and this injury will be mostly healed. For now, let us return to the sect. There are still quite a few things that need to be attended to."
At those words, Bai Zihua looked at him with concern, but gave a quiet nod.
At the same time, the tall thin elder and the others, who had marched in force from the back mountain ready to fight the Alliance Under Heaven to the death, began filing out through the passage in the sect-protecting formation that the formation-guarding elder had opened.
They had naturally witnessed the devastating sight of the Sect Leader's clash with Huo Linfei and the Golden Armor Gate leader from a distance.
In a wave, everyone charged onto the training ground, which had been reduced to a deep rocky crater and was barely recognizable as what it had been. Their momentum was ferocious and their killing intent was high.
And in the very next moment, while they were still reeling from the terrifying aftermath of the battle that surrounded them, they swept furious gazes in every direction, searching intently for any sign of Alliance Under Heaven people.
The Alliance Under Heaven had left the sect in this state of ruin. Every one of them was burning to take all that anger out on the Alliance's people and tear them apart.
But even after searching the entire area thoroughly, none of the elders, hall masters, or disciples could find a single Alliance Under Heaven person anywhere.
Faced with this, all those furious people felt as though they had swung a fist into cotton. Their rage was unabated, but they were deeply puzzled, with no idea what had happened.
At that, the tall thin elder and several elders and hall masters looked at each other, then moved to an undamaged spot near the ruined training ground, where a few of the sect's disciples were sitting quietly and running their cultivation to recover from their wounds.
"Where are the Alliance Under Heaven people?"
The tall thin elder called out to them.
The several disciples slowly opened their eyes and looked at the elders and hall masters before them, then furrowed their brows and shook their heads, "We do not know. We were still fighting when the Alliance Under Heaven people suddenly got called away, and they all went down the mountain."
At those words, the tall thin elder and the others all frowned.
"They went down the mountain?"
"How can they have gone down? We have not even gotten to fight yet!"
"What if we all just charge down the mountain after them? Let us slaughter every last one of those Alliance Under Heaven people!"
...
The elders and hall masters gave voice to their thoughts in quick succession. The anger in their hearts had nowhere to go, and every one of them was spoiling furiously for a fight to the death against the Alliance Under Heaven.
Right at that moment, however, Bai Zihua and the Celestial River Blade Sect leader arrived back with Shangguan Qingqing and Qin Hao in tow, running straight into the assembled elders, hall masters, and disciples.
"Everyone back to the sect first. The Alliance Under Heaven's people have pulled back and returned to Mountain-Sea City."
Bai Zihua had naturally heard everyone talking, and spoke up immediately.
At those words, the tall thin elder and the others all froze, almost convinced Bai Zihua was joking.
Why would the Alliance Under Heaven withdraw for no reason?
The Celestial River Blade Sect leader was no match for the Fifth Deputy Alliance Leader and the Golden Armor Gate leader combined.
The Celestial River Blade Sect was nowhere near a match for the Alliance Under Heaven, one of the four great top-tier martial world forces.
"If you do not believe it, go and look for yourselves!"
Bai Zihua gave a cold snort, shot a glance at the tall thin elder, then continued helping the Sect Leader back to the sect.
The Celestial River Blade Sect leader waved a hand at everyone, helpless, "Confirm the situation yourselves, then come back to the sect quickly."
With that, he and Bai Zihua returned through the sect-protecting formation together.
The Sect Leader naturally knew what these elders and disciples were like. If they did not see the Alliance Under Heaven's withdrawal with their own eyes, no amount of explanation would convince them.
At those words, the tall thin elder and the others all furrowed their brows and exchanged a glance.
Then they reached out and grabbed Shangguan Qingqing and Qin Hao, who had been about to follow Bai Zihua back to the sect.
"Qingqing, what is actually going on here? Could it be that the Sect Leader and the others are in on it together and trying to trick us?"
The tall thin elder asked in a lowered voice. Shangguan Qingqing shook her head repeatedly with a completely sincere expression, "Senior Uncle, it is true. If you do not believe me you can go and look. The Alliance Under Heaven's people really have been frightened off."
At those words, the tall thin elder and several of the hall masters showed slightly shifting expressions, and immediately sent disciples to go and verify the Alliance Under Heaven's situation.
At that point, one elder's expression suddenly changed, and he looked at Shangguan Qingqing with an unusual light in his eyes, asking with curiosity, "Qingqing, you just said the Alliance Under Heaven was frightened off. What exactly happened? Could you tell us elder uncles and aunts the details?"
At those words, not just the tall thin elder and the hall masters, but also some of the younger disciples nearby immediately gathered around.
The whole group surrounded Shangguan Qingqing and Qin Hao, all of them intensely curious about exactly what had happened to make the Alliance Under Heaven people leave.
With the crowd blocking them, neither Shangguan Qingqing nor Qin Hao could follow their master back to the sect for the moment. They exchanged a glance.
Qin Hao shook his head. He genuinely had no idea how to answer everyone's questions.
But at that point, Shangguan Qingqing swept a look over everyone and suddenly nodded, "It is naturally because of His Highness the Eighth Prince."
As she spoke, she drew the Tianjin Guards token from her robe and held it up in front of the assembled elders, hall masters, and disciples, narrowing her eyes, "That Fifth Deputy Alliance Leader Huo Linfei saw this token, the one His Highness gave me, and was so terrified he wet himself on the spot, then went running back to Mountain-Sea City like a good boy."
At those words, everyone's eyes went wide with surprise, and all of them looked at the token in Shangguan Qingqing's hand.
Qin Hao stared at Shangguan Qingqing in complete disbelief beside her.
He seemed to recall that the Sect Leader and Master had not actually reached a definitive conclusion that it was the Eighth Prince and the Tianjin Guards who had caused the Alliance Under Heaven to withdraw.
Had he remembered that wrong?
That was impossible.
At that point, the tall thin elder stared at the Tianjin Guards token and stroked his chin with a thoughtful look, also feeling somewhat doubtful about Shangguan Qingqing's account.
After all, a single Tianjin Guards token and a Great Li prince alone being enough to frighten the Alliance Under Heaven away did not seem entirely plausible.
"Qingqing, does that really hold up?"
One of the sect's elders shared the same doubt as the tall thin elder and voiced the question openly.
At those words, Shangguan Qingqing nodded earnestly, "Of course it does. How could Qingqing possibly deceive her elder uncles and aunts?"
"Think about it. If Huo Linfei was not afraid of this token given by His Highness the Eighth Prince, why would the Alliance Under Heaven's people have willingly withdrawn?"
At those words, the assembled elders and hall masters exchanged looks and fell into frowning thought.
Right at that moment, the disciples who had been sent to verify the situation came rushing back, shouting from some distance away, "They have withdrawn... all the Alliance Under Heaven people have really withdrawn!"
At those words, the mood among the crowd lifted instantly. The tall thin elder's expression went through several rapid shifts, and he muttered despite himself, "The Sect Leader and old Bai were telling the truth. The Alliance Under Heaven really has gone."
At that, the assembled elders, hall masters, and disciples found it difficult to put their feelings into words.
Until a moment ago, they had believed the sect's destruction was all but inevitable. They had all made their peace with dying and had been ready to fight to the last against the Alliance Under Heaven.
And now, suddenly learning that the Alliance Under Heaven had withdrawn and the crisis was over, they all felt a strange, dreamlike disorientation. It seemed both impossible and yet genuinely true, and alongside the disbelief they felt a pure and heartfelt joy that the sect was safe, that they would not have to watch fellow disciples die.
"What a shame those dogs from the Alliance Under Heaven ran too fast. My blade has yet to taste the blood from their skulls."
"Consider them lucky to live another day. This grudge is noted for now. When my blade mastery is complete, I swear I will storm the Alliance Under Heaven and make them pay blood for blood."
...
Some of the disciples spoke fiercely, their frustration at not getting to fight the Alliance Under Heaven finding no outlet, every one of them agitated and restless.
At that, the tall thin elder and several of the hall masters all looked toward the Tianjin Guards token in Shangguan Qingqing's hand.
"Qingqing, it was we elder uncles and aunts who were wrong earlier. We were narrow-minded and uninformed. We all believe what you said now."
The tall thin elder spoke quickly. Another sect elder also nodded, "Who would have thought the Alliance Under Heaven were such bullies who crumble the moment someone stands up to them. A single Great Li Tianjin Guards token was all it took to send them running."
"And we have Qingqing to thank. With the Tianjin Guards token in hand, she is the one who resolved the sect's crisis."
Once the Alliance Under Heaven's withdrawal had been confirmed, everyone around them instinctively took Shangguan Qingqing's account as the full truth.
That said, the tall thin elder and the others attributed the Alliance Under Heaven's retreat entirely to the organization being spineless.
They even mocked an organization that was supposedly one of the four great top-tier forces of the martial world for being frightened off by a single Tianjin Guards token.
Shangguan Qingqing naturally caught what the elders and hall masters had misunderstood, and immediately tried to speak up to set the record straight for her idol.
In her view, only Li Musheng, who was worthy of being called the world's greatest, could have made the Alliance Under Heaven back down so readily. The Great Li Tianjin Guards was ultimately just benefiting from Li Musheng's reputation. How could the Tianjin Guards alone have held down the Alliance Under Heaven?
But the crowd had no interest in hearing Shangguan Qingqing's further explanation, and one by one they hurried back to the sect to spread the good news to everyone else.
Shangguan Qingqing found herself helpless, and could only watch their retreating backs and shake her head, "When the day comes that His Highness's name as world's greatest spreads throughout the martial world, you will all know that His Highness alone is the benefactor who saved the Celestial River Blade Sect."
At those words, Qin Hao glanced at Shangguan Qingqing and quietly sighed to himself.
As the old stories said, once a woman fell deeply in love, reason went out the window. His junior sister had clearly been bewitched by the Great Li Eighth Prince.
With that thought, Qin Hao pursed his lips and reflected privately, "But it is just a prince. With a somewhat good-looking face. And an extremely powerful group of people at his side..."
But as he kept turning it over, Qin Hao suddenly found himself thinking that if he were Shangguan Qingqing, meeting a prince like that, he might very well have been captivated as well.
"Hss!"
Qin Hao immediately gave himself a mental shake, startled by his own thought, and firmly chose not to pursue it further.
At that, seeing that Shangguan Qingqing had already followed the others back to the sect, he quickly fell in behind her.
Before long, news of the Alliance Under Heaven's withdrawal had spread to every corner of the Celestial River Blade Sect.
In an instant, the heavy air that had blanketed the entire sect was swept away, and everything seemed to return to how it had been before.
Only, after going through the Alliance Under Heaven's siege, the elders and disciples of the sect had subtly but noticeably changed. They had begun to place even greater importance on martial cultivation and on developing their own strength.
None of them wanted to find themselves powerless again if anything similar happened in the future.
"From now on I have to practice the blade properly, no more slacking off like before. Otherwise how am I supposed to protect the junior disciples?"
"Senior Brother is right. This time we were fortunate that Senior Sister Shangguan used the Tianjin Guards token to frighten the Alliance Under Heaven away. Next time we may not be so lucky, and the only real way forward is to strengthen ourselves."
"Then let us start by trying to comprehend the Celestial River Blade Stele. If we could grasp the Celestial River Blade Intent, perhaps we could storm the Alliance Under Heaven and wipe this shame clean."
...
A few Celestial River Blade Sect disciples talked as they walked, heading together toward the back mountain.
Though the crisis was over, there was not a trace of complacency among them. If anything, they were more driven than before, all of them choosing to continue pursuing blade comprehension.
And right at that moment, Linghu Yue, who had been keeping to himself on the back mountain, sitting beside the Celestial River Blade Stele, wore a darkening expression.
After the elders and the Sect Leader had rejected his conditions, he had simply been waiting for the moment the Alliance Under Heaven broke down the sect's gate.
He had believed that at that point, whether the Sect Leader or the disciples, everyone would come kneeling before him, begging him to save the sect and pleading for him to take the Sect Leader's position.
What he had not anticipated was that, from listening to several groups of disciples talking just now, he had learned that the Alliance Under Heaven had withdrawn back to Mountain-Sea City. The Celestial River Blade Sect was now entirely free of the threat of annihilation.
And the reason all of this had happened came down to a single person.
A woman he had never given a moment's thought to, who not long ago had been trussed up and made to kneel in front of the Celestial River Blade Stele in front of the entire sect like a common criminal.