Chapter 448 - 231: I Act Now; Who Dares to Disobey?

Chapter 448: Chapter 231: I Act Now; Who Dares to Disobey?

Qixia Mountain, Danxia Sect.

Inside the Grand Conference Hall.

Lu Qingsong, Sect Leader of the Iron Sword Sect; Wangqingshan, Patriarch of the Wang Family; and Bai Qing, Sect Leader of the Danxia Sect, were all gathered here.

The air was thick with gloom, yet beneath it lay an irrepressible, unspoken glimmer of hope.

"Chen Sheng... Is he really back?"

Wangqingshan couldn’t help but ask for confirmation again, his voice tinged with a barely perceptible urgency.

Just a short while ago, an elder from the Danxia Sect had rushed to the Wang Manor in a great hurry, urging him to come to Qixia Mountain at once to discuss a matter of life and death.

When he had hurried over and heard the news from Bai Qing, he could scarcely believe his ears.

The young man who had stirred up a storm in Ning’an before suddenly vanishing had quietly returned!

Lu Qingsong sat to the side, his knuckles tapping unconsciously on the armrest of his chair, his own thoughts in turmoil.

A marriage alliance with the legitimate daughter of the Nie Family—what a grand affair!

By common logic, the various rites and formalities should have taken several months.

Yet Chen Sheng had been gone for less than a month, all told. How could he have already succeeded and returned?

The speed was so illogical it was baffling, yet it was impossible not to feel a flicker of anticipation.

"I dare not say for certain if it is true."

Bai Qing was dressed in simple white. Though her face was a bit wan, her eyes were shockingly bright:

"But the messenger was indeed Governor Chen’s trusted confidant, Xu Shenzhi. He only said that the Governor had returned and instructed me to contact you both at once to discuss... important matters."

"If Chen Sheng has truly returned, it is indeed wonderful news!"

Wangqingshan let out a long breath, overcome with emotion.

When Chen Sheng was around, they hadn’t realized how indispensable he was. They only knew him as a young man of ruthless methods whose actions were always unpredictable.

But after his sudden departure, the chess game in Ning’an had reached a stalemate. The counterattack from Golden Spring Temple and Qingfeng Temple was like a black cloud pressing down on the city. The three families were stretched thin and in a wretched state, even preparing to retreat and put extreme pressure on the Government Office as a last resort.

Only now, in hindsight, did they understand that Chen Sheng’s very existence was a force that could both create balance and shatter stalemates.

Though he was the cause of many storms, he could always suppress and resolve them with even more powerful methods.

"When will Chen arrive?"

Lu Qingsong, ever the pragmatist, asked in a low voice.

Every moment was an agony. The murderous aura outside the Danxia Sect’s gates was so intense it felt as if it could pierce through the Mountain Protection Array.

Bai Qing was about to shake her head, but before she could speak, the three of them felt a sudden chill and whipped their heads around to look outside the hall.

A tyrannical, domineering, and completely unconcealed aura was tearing through the mountain gate’s Restriction at astonishing speed, rushing straight toward the Grand Conference Hall.

The aura was not unfamiliar, but it was denser and sharper than they remembered, like a drawn sword imbued with the force of a tempest.

’He’s here!’

The three of them exchanged a look, instantly understanding each other’s thoughts.

Without the slightest hesitation, they immediately stood, straightened their robes, and prepared to go out to greet him.

However, they had barely taken a step when a figure appeared like a phantom, silhouetted in the light at the hall’s entrance.

Dressed in jet-black robes, with a tall and straight posture—who else could it be but Chen Sheng?

What made their pupils shrink was the object he was casually dragging in his hand.

It appeared to be a charred, curled-up, and lifeless body, a thick, heavy chain of black iron pierced through its neck. The chain scraped against the floor as he dragged it, making a sound that set one’s teeth on edge.

"Governor Chen!"

"Chen!"

The three exclaimed at once, their delight obvious. But when their eyes fell on the charred corpse, a shadow of bewildered suspicion fell over them.

"Everyone, I trust you’ve been well."

A faint smile played on Chen Sheng’s lips as his gaze swept over the three of them. With a flick of the chain in his hand, he sent the charred body flying like a broken sack of grain. It landed in the center of the hall with a dull THUD.

After doing this, Chen Sheng didn’t break stride. He walked straight past the three of them, headed for the main seat at the head of the hall—the one belonging to the Sect Leader of the Danxia Sect—and sat down without a hint of hesitation.

"Governor Chen... still so... decisive and swift."

Seeing this, Bai Qing wasn’t angered in the least. Instead, a genuine smile blossomed on her lips, and her eyes danced with a hint of relieved ease.

"If I’m not domineering enough, I’m afraid I won’t be able to control the situation."

Chen Sheng leaned back slightly, his fingers tapping gently on the armrest. He calmly swept his gaze over the three people below him, his tone betraying no emotion:

"It has been just over a month. The excellent situation I left behind has been managed into this... It seems I overestimated your capabilities."

As soon as he said this, the warm atmosphere that had arisen from his return instantly turned cold.

Lu Qingsong’s expression tightened, the smile on Wangqingshan’s face froze, and Bai Qing’s eyes flickered before she revealed a perfectly measured look of helplessness.

"Governor Chen, what you say is a bit unfair."

Bai Qing sighed softly and explained:

"If not for the Government Office’s ambiguous and indecisive attitude, and its constant refusal to take a clear stance, how could our three families alone have been suppressed to this extent?"

"The Government Office?"

Chen Sheng snorted coldly, his voice suddenly turning sharp:

"If you must rely on the Government Office for everything, what right do your three families have to call yourselves powers in the Ning’an Martial World?! You three joined forces, with countless experts and disciples under your command, yet when forced back to your very gates by Golden Spring Temple and Qingfeng Temple, you didn’t dare to burn your bridges and fight to the death?

You didn’t even have the guts to flip the table and force the Government Office to get involved.

And what about those so-called backers of yours? They just stood by and watched you get suppressed like this, not lifting a finger to help with any decisive action?

In my opinion, backers like that are worse than the Vast Sea Sect behind Luoyun Manor. At least when Lu Canghai died, the Vast Sea Sect knew enough to send people to demand an explanation!"