Chapter 1501: A Successor Found (One)
Longevity Valley was especially busy, but not bustling due to joy or cheers. Instead, this was a day when the valley had gathered the largest number of people in the past few centuries or millenia. Not only had all the villagers in the valley come out to send off Xiu Mi, but quite a few outsiders had come as well. Aside from Jian Chen and Ming Dong, there was the vice sect master of the Bloodsword sect, the four protectors, and the various elders. Their strongest member, Jiang Wang, had become a Saint Emperor due to Jian Chen’s assistance over a decade ago while the rest were Saint Rulers or Saint Kings.
The people from the Bloodsword sect all wore long, red robes that seemed to be dyed with blood. They worked hard to conceal their Baleful Yin Force so that they could appear more ordinary, having arrived in Longevity Valley while maintaining a low profile. They all respectfully bowed to Jian Chen before quietly standing behind him. They all gazed at Xiu Mi’s coffin with mixed emotions. There was sorrow, regret, and helplessness among their gentle sighs.
Before Jian Chen had become the sect master of the Bloodsword sect, the position had always been held by Houston. Ever since Houston had retired to Longevity Valley a thousand years ago and stopped participating in the struggles of the continent, the Bloodsword sect had been managed by Xiao Mi. For some time, it had been Xiao Mi who passed on orders for Houston. As a result, even though he was not powerful, only a mere Heaven Saint Master, he possessed a special status in the Bloodsword sect.
As a result, basically all the members of the upper echelon from the assassination organization had come. They had all come to see him off one last time.
The valley only lacked one person now, which was Xiu Mi’s father, Houston.
Houston had vanished from the Tian Yuan Continent many years ago. Even though Xiu Mi had died, he still did not appear. Jian Chen had used his soul to search the entire continent as well, not only going over every inch of the Tian Yuan Continent but sweeping the territory of the three other races as well. However, he still failed to find any traces of Houston.
Ming Dong returned from the mountainous forests in the distance. He dragged a huge bear behind him as he walked toward the village. He seemed extremely ordinary, just like a regular mortal. He did not give off the bearing of a powerful expert at all. His white clothes were covered in specks of dust as well as green from the plants he crushed in the forest.
Ming Dong dragged the black bear into the valley. As the bear’s huge body scraped against the ground, it left behind a long trail. Without delay, Ming Dong skinned and cleaned the bear, removing its monster core and chopping it into large pieces of meat, specifically to feed the villagers.
A very large portion of the villagers were ordinary people. They needed three meals a day and would only cultivate some Saint Force from time to time. However, they only cultivated to build a solid foundation for hunting so that they could provide the tiny village with meat to eat. Ever since Ming Dong and Little Fatty had come back, the matter of hunting had always been handled by one of them. All the recent meat that had been consumed by the village had come from Ming Dong.
After cleaning the huge bear, Ming Dong arrived before Jian Chen, “Jian Chen, Class 7 Radiant Saint Masters possess the ability to revive the dead, but you’ve surpassed that level already. Do you have a method of reviving uncle Xiu Mi?”
Jian Chen shook his head powerlessly. He stared at Xiu Mi’s coffin silently and gently sighed. “Uncle Xiu Mi’s soul is incomplete because of a birth defect. Anything regarding the soul is very complicated. I may have reached the 9th Class now, but I still don’t possess the power for uncle Xiu Mi to regrow a soul. At the same time, Radiant Saint Masters can revive the dead, but there are conditions as well. Only those who have died with their souls intact can be revived. If a person dies and their soul is dispersed, they can’t be revived even if they’re a Saint Ruler.”
Ming Dong’s hope was shattered by Jian Chen’s explanation. He had not been very familiar with Xiu Mi, but he was Xiu Tianyu’s father after all. It was quite painful for Ming Dong to see how sad Xiu Tianyu was.
“Jian Chen, can you find my grandfather?” Xiu Tianyu finally said something. He looked at Jian Chen full of hope. However, he was unable to contain his sorrow either.
On such an important day, they could not be without Houston. Not only did Little Fatty wish Houston was present, but all the villagers wished that their old village head could come as well.
Jian Chen shook his head again. He had no idea where uncle Xiu had entered seclusion or whether his presence had been concealed by the Empyrean Demon Orb or not. He had scoured the territories of the four races with his Returnance level soul and even looked through a few unpopulated regions as well as forbidden zones on the Tian Yuan Continent, but he failed to find any traces of uncle Xiu.
Jian Chen did not even miss the Death Nest. However, all he found there was Lankyros and Kaiser, the two former rulers of the Beast God Continent.
“Though, the Death Nest’s rather strange. All the vengeful spirits seem to have vanished. Is it because of the tiger emperor and Kaiser? They might actually have that ability as Saint Emperors,” Jian Chen thought. However, he did not pay too much attention to the changes. What really interested him was the blood-red skeleton he had seen in the Death Nest before.
The blood-red skeleton could not avoid Jian Chen’s senses either. It squatted silently in the very depths of the Death Nest, surrounded by a large, dense, red mist. It seemed to be slumbering.
Back when they had fought over the Saints’ Fruit, the blood-red skeleton had seemed undefeatable in Jian Chen’s eyes because it had surpassed Saint Emperor and possessed an unfathomable level of strength. But now, Jian Chen found that the skeleton’s strength was equivalent to late Receival. The same level as Ku Mu, who Jian Chen had killed in the spatial tunnel.
According to local traditions, Xiu Mi’s funeral lasted for seven whole days. Houston did not return during those days, and in the end, they buried Xiu Mi without him on a small hill near the valley.
Another ancient gravestone stood beside Xiu Mi. It belonged to Houston’s wife, Xiu Mi’s mother.
Xiu Mi’s grave had been chosen to be beside the mother he had never seen.
After the funeral, all the people of the Bloodsword sect bid farewell to Jian Chen. Under their vice sect master’s lead, they left the valley. Jian Chen and Ming Dong chose to stay behind. They did not leave immediately.
In the blink of an eye, three days had passed since Xiu Mi had been buried. During those three days, Xiu Tianyu’s grief gradually dulled, allowing him to slowly return to normal. Only his mother remained sad as tears constantly poured down her cheeks.
Once Xiu Tianyu recovered, Jian Chen called him and Ming Dong and over to leave the valley. Jian Chen found a suitable location to set down the Anatta Tower in the depths of the Cross Mountains. He took them to the ninth floor. He wanted to see if they could obtain the Anatta Grand Prime’s legacy.
If Ming Dong and Xiu Tianyu failed, Jian Chen planned to go to the Huang family and get Huang Luan to try. After that he would bring the people from the Changyang clan as well as Yun Zheng, Senior An, Wang Yifeng from the Flame Mercenaries, Qin Xiao from the Tianqin clan, the third prince of the Qinhuang Kingdom, Qin Ji, and so on.