Within the main halls of the Hidden Heavens Holy Land, it was an atmosphere simir to a funeral as no one dared to even speak in front of the two people sitting side by side.

  The Master of the Holy Land, Huxing Longwei, was seething with rage as he gred at the various Elders of the Holy Land who kept their heads bowed and dared not look him in the eyes, the very same Elders who always acted like peacocks in front of him and always looked at Huxing Longwei as if they were his superiors, which was technically true.

  The Hidden Heavens Holy Land, just like the rest of the Holy Lands, follows a hierarchy system that is a little bit convoluted but works well to keep each other in check.

  At the bottom are the outer disciples, who are only a step above the mortal servants of the Holy Land.

  These disciples are usually at least in the Foundation Establishment realm and below the age of thirty, a combination that would mark them as geniuses in other pces but can only be considered the lowest of the low in the Holy Lands. And yet, these people willingly serve the Holy Lands because of the benefits afforded to them with such a force as their backing, not to mention the monetary and other material benefits.

  Above them are the Outer Elders, those who oversee the Outer Disciples.

  These Elders can only utilize their authority in the Outer section of the Holy Land since even the weakest of the inner forces are way above them in power.

  Then, above these Outer Elders, are the Inner Disciples who are all, at the very least, in the Core Formation realm.

  Above them are the Inner Elders who preside over the Inner section of the Holy Land and wield considerable political power in the Holy Land.

  After that comes the Core Disciples and Core Elders.

  These two sections of the Holy Land are somewhat different since the cultivation realm is no longer the deciding factor for ascending to these ranks. Instead, it is based on the contributions made by a Disciple or and Elder towards the Holy Land that determine if they are worthy of becoming Core Disciples or Core Elders.

  As expected of such a rank, the resources and favorability they enjoy are in a css of its own.

  The final two ranks after this that someone can achieve are Grand Elder and Core Ancestor. Grand Elders are equal in rank to the Master of the Holy Land while the rank of a Core Ancestor is equal to the True Ancestors of the Holy Land and one step above the Master.

  As for the rank of Master and True Ancestors, those are ranks that can only he held by someone of the Huxing family’s lineage and cannot be given to others.

  But now, such people who held such high ranks as Grand Elders and Core Ancestors did not even dare to look Huxing Longwei, the Master of the Holy Land, in the eye.

  Not because they were scared, which they were, but because of the other person who sat beside the Master and gred with equal intensity as her son.

  Huxing Lianhua, one of the True Ancestors of the Holy Land, a peerless expert on the continent and one that no one dares to offend due to her power and skills.

  “….So? Are you kids still going to keep covering for the traitor amongst our ranks?”

  Her voice was light as if she felt nothing, but the killing intent in her eyes and the waves of Qi rolling off of her body made the Grand Elders and Core Ancestors start sweating in terror.

  “Ancestor Lianhua, please believe us when we say this, we really don’t know who leaked the news to the other holy nds-“

  Instantly, the Grand Elder who spoke, a Soul Transformation realm expert, exploded as his blood was forcefully vaporized by the True Ancestor Huxing Lianhua, creating a situation simir to a steam explosion that caused his flesh and blood to scatter across the hall.

  The other Grand Elders started trembling even more in fear as the Core Ancestors held grim faces, particurly the Core Ancestor whose son had just been killed.

  Unfortunately for this Core Ancestor, his spike in killing intent was not masked properly which made Huxing Lianhua notice it.

  Instantly, the hall was repced by the scenery of a sea made of blood.

  Huxing Longwei and the rest of the Grand Elders and Core Ancestors were allowed to stand on the surface of this sea, but the True Ancestor with killing intent was instantly submerged in its depths.

  Of course, the Core Ancestor tried to retaliate and use his own domain. But, the ws of this Domain directly restricted the True Ancestor as a faint roar of a Flood Dragon rang out across the seas followed by a colossal shadow that darted beneath these bloody waves, directly devouring and refining the Core Ancestor of Void Refinement Realm into nourishment for Huxing Lianhua’s cultivation.

  “Anyone else? If you have intentions to harm my family and my holy nd, speak up now. I am too zy to punish you all one by one. Might as well get rid of all you traitors at once.”

  Suddenly, the seas started to churn as multiple shadows simir to the one before started to rise to the surface.

  “On second thought, maybe I really should get rid of all of you and promote some promising and loyal disciples and elders to your position. At least, in that way, I won’t have to worry about traitors amongst our ranks.”

  The Grand Elders and Core Ancestors instantly understood that this crazy woman was really about to devour them whole if they didn’t provide a resolution, so they directly knelt in front of her.

  “Ancestor Lianhua! Please give us a chance! We will catch the culprit for spreading the news about your grandson to the rest of the Holy Lands! Just give us one chance!”

  “Do you take me for a fool? I know very well that something of this magnitude and secrecy cannot be revealed by the lower rank disciples and elders since they are sworn to secrecy through an oath to the heavens prepared meticulously and without loopholes by my son. The only ones who are not sworn to secrecy are Core Disciples, Grand Elders, and Core Ancestors. That means all of you and your disciples.”

  Under her gre and the raging blood seas beneath them, they could do nothing but grit their teeth and bow their heads.

  “Give me an oath to the heavens.”

  Those words made this group of people rejoice. But just as they were about to do just that, Huxing Lianhua tossed each of them a piece of jade.

  “Speak the oath exactly as written in there. If there is even a single deviation or gap left for a loophole, I will personally feed you to my domain. It just so happens that I am cking in elemental and Blood Qi to nourish my cultivation these days and all of you would serve nicely to replenish my reserves.”

  Between the threat of death and the extremely tight wording of the oath, the Elders and the Ancestors could only curse in their hearts and do as they were told.

  “””We swear to the heaves, once we are out of Ancestor Huxing Lianhua’s domain, we will search for the culprit responsible for leaking the news about our search for Huxing Xiang to the other Holy Lands. We will not try to exploit any loopholes in our oaths and neither will we try to go against the spirit of the oath and only follow the word. We will make sure that the culprit we find is not a scapegoat but the real culprit with definitive proof that is not tampered with or falsified. Even if the culprit is reted to any of us by blood, we will hand them over to Huxing Lianhua to deal with and will not allow them to escape through Orthodox, Unorthodox, Demonic, or Mortal ways.”””

  Once those words were spoken the distant noise of thunder indicated that their oaths were acknowledged by the heavens and they could not go against it.

  Satisfied with the result, Huxing Lianhiua deactivated her domain, causing the blood seas to disappear and putting everyone back in the hall.

  “Now, get lost and get to work.”

  The Elders and Ancestors did not even give her a salute as was customary and directly ran for the exit, scared and enraged by the experience that they just experienced.

  Huxing Longwei turned to look at his amused mother.

  “Mother, why did you let them get away like this? Didn’t you notice that they had their communication jades activated the entire time?”

  “There is still much you need to learn about politics, Longwei. I know that these rats were transmitting our conversation to others and the culprit in question. I have no doubt that, by this time, that person has already fled the Holy Land to hide somewhere.”

  She turned with a sadistic grin that made Longwei pity the culprit for pissing off this woman.

  “The truth is, the culprit that we want is not worth anything besides being bait. The real target this time, are the other holy nds.”

  “They dared to touch someone from the lineage of the Huxing family. Worse yet, they targeted my Grandson. They need to be taught what it means to touch the reversed scale of a dragon.”

  Huxing Longwei simply nodded his head at his mother’s words, knowing that turbulent times were ahead for the other holy nds since his mother had decided to take charge personally this time.

  After all, there is a reason why even someone as powerful and famed as Ancestor Crimson Spear from the Crimson Realms Holy Land had to give face to their holy nd.

  Author Notes:

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