[Place: Sistine Continent, Relight city, Blackburn forest]

The twenty attackers who appeared out of nowhere divided in two groups of ten people as per Shangchen's instruction. Right after  fifteen minutes one of their group found Murong's team.

“ Beast activity inside this forest is really high! ” Murong said in a low voice. “Mnn... Well at least we found one of the stones that were hidden. ” Hudie said while inspecting her surroundings.

“ Yeah.... I hope all the teams are doing well. ” Murong said softly. Suddenly ten figures appeared out of nowhere and stood in their way. 

Murong and others stopped while keeping their guards on. Hudie said coldly, “Who are you people? ”

One of them came in front and chuckled, “Hehehe! You want to know who we are….okay then…..first let's play with us uncles for a bit. Then we will tell you. ” as the man finished speaking, he summoned a weapon and pointed it at them. The other black figures also grabbed their weapons.

Murong, Hudie and Yusa didn't say anything. Only a ice cold killing intent filled their eyes as Heavenly energy swiftly burst out from their bodies.

On the other side Yulong's team was also ambushed. The battles that were taking place inside the forest continued for more than twenty minutes. Murong's and Yulong's team were able to suppress the attackers and soon reinforcements from sect also came to aid them. But before they could capture the assailants, all of them ran away. Murong , Hudie, Yulong and others were led outside the forest by the instructors.

Both their teams came out at the same time. When they saw each other, the teams approached and gathered at the same place. All of them were covered in bruises and minor injuries but none were severely injured. 

Yulong looked at the girls and said softly, “It seems that the sisters were also ambushed by those people. ”

The three girls nodded before Murong said gently, “That's right…..sigh…. it's really great to see that none of you are grievously injured. ” 

“Mnn… same here. But I wonder where brother Shangchen's team is. It seems like they really went deep into the forest. I hope they are fine. ” Yulong said worriedly.

“Well…. They have two Blue Star realm cultivators with them. They should be fine. ” Hudie languidly said this.  Though It looked like she didn't care much….her eyes were filled with anxiousness.

As soon as she finished talking, Shangchen and his group also walked out of the forest. Seeing them, the others felt relief. But soon the looks on their faces drastically changed. Murong swept her eyes on Shangchen's group. Everyone was covered in blood and it looked like they had fought even stronger opponents than the other two teams. But still everyone came out except one person.

‘...Ling……’,  Murong's eyes became watery as she couldn't find Ling anywhere. Hudie's eyes also widened as her pupils trembled slightly.

Shangchen and others came in front of them but they didn't look straight in their eyes. 

“Where is.…my servant…brother Shangchen?” Murong asked in a trembling voice. Everyone turned to look at Shangchen but he didn't say any word. He only looked down at his feet.

“No….no..no…. This....this can't be…..Where....where is he? Where is Ling!!!” Murong shouted the last three words with a voice filled with pain and disbelief. Shinji walked past Shangchen and came in front of Murong. He instantly fell on his knees as he bowed his head and said bitterly in a low voice, “I…I failed to fulfill…my promise with sister Murong. I am a failure as a warrior……I am…sorry sister Murong....but I couldn't protect….him.” These words sounded like thunder bursting in their ears.

Yulong was flabbergasted. His eyes went wide open as his lips slightly parted. Then he said, “If this is a joke….this is not really funny brother Shinji. Where's Ling? Is he taken somewhere else by the sect? ” 

Shinji didn't give a reply. He only looked down and kept quiet. Tears started rolling down from Murong's eyes. It looked like her soul has left her body. She stood silently as water fell down from her beautiful eyes.

Hudie couldn't keep her cool any longer. She dashed forward and grabbed Shinji's collar. She shouted fiercely at him, “What…What is the meaning of this? Didn't you say that you would protect him at all cost? ” As she said those words, tears started falling from her small delicate face. Her hands were trembling as she said in a low painfilled voice, “What…what would apologizing do…do you…..do you think he will come back? ”. She let him out of her grip and covered her face. She lost all strength in her legs and fell on the ground as tear drops streaking down from the gap of her fingers.

This development caused Shangchen to frown secretly. ‘Hmm?….I don't get it. It is understandable if Murong reacted this way but why is Hudie acting like this? Did something happen between her and Ling? ’ Shangchen thought.

Yulong looked like he still couldn't believe. He stared at Shinji who was still kneeling with unfocused gaze. After few moments, he took a long breath and approached Hudie. He was about to say something but grand elder Zhou Lie suddenly came to them. When he looked at everyone, his eyebrows twitched. He asked firmly, “What happened? Why are you all….like this? ”. But soon he realized something as he swept his gaze on their team. One of them was missing and that one person was Ling.

He hurriedly asked, “Where is Lieyan Ling? ”. Seeing everyone was silent, he understood what happened. Wing Chun turned to look at Zhou Lie and said, “ He....he is not with us…anymore. ”

It caused Zhou Lie to frown as he said solemnly, “Explain what happened!! ”

Listening to that, Wing Chun replied, “Reporting to grand elder, the track we were following in the forest parted in three ways. So we splitted our group and went in separate direction. Lieyan Ling was in young master Shangchen's group…me and young master Shinji were also in it. But soon we were ambushed by some people. As Ling was a cripple, brother Shinji was fighting while guarding him. And me and young master Shangchen fought with the other attackers.….. But because of my carelessness I was injured…..and a attacker got the chance to strike me from behind. But young master Shangchen came in between the attacker and me and protected me from the attack. As a result his back was wide open and another of them threw an energy ball at him. As all three of us were caught up in battle, we were caught off guard. If that energy ball had hit young master….he would have been grievously injured…but…..sigh…but Lieyan Ling suddenly jumped forward and came to block the attack to protect young master. Brother Shinji was unable to stop him as he was fighting three enemies by himself. The energy ball hit him and he was sent flying….sigh…even though we ridiculed him always…in the end….in the end he was the one who saved young master.  ” The last words Wing Chun said were filled with resentment. 

Although none of this actually happened but still this was a well thought excuse. Everyone knew that Ling was a cripple and he would never jump into a battle except for a dire situation. Wing Chun didn't say that he jumped forward to protect him from the attack…because it would have aroused suspicion. As Ling was a cripple, why would he risk his life to protect a servant? And there were two young masters with them. It would have been ridiculous if he did so. That's why he said Shangchen was the one who saved Wing Chun. And as Shinji was busy fighting three enemies by himself, so when he said Shangchen was about to get hit…Ling jumping forward to stop the attack wouldn't seem so ridiculous. 

After all, even though Ling was mocked and bullied by most of the people in the sect, he never ran away and served young mistress for more than eight years. This caused everyone to believe that he was doing this to be recognized as an young master again by the sect master. And as he didn't have power, he might not have thought that the energy ball that was going to harm Shangchen could be lethal for him. So he must have though about the benefits that would come if he was able to protect a Young Master of the sect.

 After all humans are selfish creatures. There was no way anyone could risk one's life for another's sake without any conditions.  And so he jumped forward to block the attack risking his own life. That was the only explanation that came to most of their minds. 

No matter what the reason was, Shangchen and the other two knew that it would cause Ling's reputation to surge up. They didn't really wanted to come up with this as an excuse. As Shangchen heard the words Wing Chun said, he slightly gritted his teeth at first but soon he smiled coldly in his heart, ‘I didn't really want this to happen but this is the perfect story. No one will suspect us of being involved in this….no matter what. Although it's good in its own way…people might think...no no..will think….you were so greedy that you risked your life..hehehe. ’ Shangchen thought to himself.

Zhou Lie was briefly stunned. He gave a sigh and said, “Then where is his corpse? As he died protecting one of the representatives….in the end….sigh…we should at least give him a proper burial. ” 

“About that…as we were fighting near the Burn river.….after his body was sent flying…it fell into the river. ” Wing Chun replied.

Murong,  Hudie and Yulong felt something even heavy weighing their hearts when they heard even his body, they knew that there was no way it could be retrieved. Zhou Lie said in a low but solemn voice, “I see. ” Then he turned around and said to the instructors of the sect who were right behind him, “Immediately form a search team and go to the place where Shangchen's team fought. Wing Chun, you take them there. ”

Wing Chun replied, “As you wish grand elder. ” Although they knew it was a pointless struggle as there was no way to find the corpse after it fell in the Burn river. The Burn river is infamous for its strong turbulence and vicious water beasts. But still, Ling was someone who had protected one of the representatives of the sect. So Zhou Lie wanted to give a final try.

Zhou Lie looked at the young masters and mistresses. Murong and Hudie had already stopped crying but their eyes still lacked focus. Zhou Lie gave a quiet sigh and said, “ Lieyan Ling died a death of pride and glory. He protected one of you representatives of our sect. If you really don't want his death to go to waste…instead of crying like little babies….Go and win the tournament!! Do you understand? ” . After hearing this, their eyes regained some of its clarity but still none of them gave any reply.

Zhou Lie stood silent for a brief moment before shouting, “I said..DO YOU UNDERSTAND? ” 

This shout shook their conscience as they finally regained their senses. All of them turned to look at Zhou Lie as they said in a resolute voice, “Yes, grand elder. ” Although the only people who still felt at a loss were probably Murong, Hudie and Yulong.

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[Place:??]

In the dark night, under the starry sky a girl was flying through the air at a slow pace. She was flying over a dense and dark forest. Several howls of beasts could be heard from the dark green forest beneath her. A sound of water streaming down from mountain could be heard from a distance. The girl turned and moved towards the source of this sound. As she approached it, she saw a high waterfall right in front of her. But her gaze suddenly fell upon a figure who was lying on the left bank of the river right before the waterfall. 

The girl swiftly descended from air and landed beside the person. The person was gravely injured and was almost at the brink of death. This person was suppose to be dead a long time ago, but for some reason, his last wisp of life still clung onto him. The girl gently picked him up and slowly flown towards south.