Chapter 56 - 54: Shocked Matriarch Qin

Chapter 56: Chapter 54: Shocked Matriarch Qin

As soon as these words were spoken, a dead silence fell over the entire Hidden Pill Pavilion.

Jiang Hao also paused his steps, coming to a halt.

An invisible pressure instantly enveloped the entire Pill Storage Tower. The elder’s words terrified the countless Pill Workshop representatives who had come along, draining the color from their faces until they were as pale as paper.

This was madness! Who would be crazy enough to touch upon a Pill Master’s taboo? They were dealing with an unfathomable Pill Dao Giant whose background and level in the Alchemy Dao were completely unknown.

However, when everyone got a clear look at the person who had spoken, they all stared blankly.

"Elder Pill Master Xiao?" Nalan Lin looked at the elder, his expression looking rather grim.

It was obvious that the speaker possessed an extraordinary status in Celestial City. He was not only a Tier Two Fifth Grade Pill Master but also an Elder of the Xiao Race—one of the seven great ancient races in the Celestial City Earth Realm: Xiao Yunchen.

More importantly, he was not just an elder of an ancient race; he was also the grandfather of Xiao Yunfei, the number one Alchemy Dao genius of Celestial City. Considering his background and connections, although Xiao Yunchen wouldn’t dare offend a terrifying Pill Master to the point of a death feud, he certainly had the capital to confront one briefly. Furthermore, he was the mastermind behind this attempt to destroy the Pill Storage Tower. He clearly didn’t want to give up on a plan that was on the verge of success.

"Sir, I have no intention of making an enemy out of you, but since you are a righteous Pill Master, why not reveal your true face?" Xiao Yunchen said.

"If you do not dare to take off this mask, I’m afraid it won’t dispel our suspicions about the Pill Storage Tower.

"Within the Pill Realm, besides evil Cultivators, there are also tainted Pill Masters whom the Imperial Race has explicitly declared intolerable. Could you perhaps be one of them?"

As soon as Xiao Yunchen’s words fell, Nalan Lin and the others immediately experienced a drastic change in expression.

"Xiao Yunchen, what do you mean by this?"

"Mr. Xiao, are you trying to drive the Nalan family to our deaths?"

Countless Cultivators of the Nalan family were filled with fury, their faces turning ashen.

Associating with an evil Cultivator Pill Master was one thing—it wouldn’t necessarily cost the Nalan family their lives. But collaborating with a tainted Pill Master whom the Imperial Race had publicly proclaimed intolerable was a capital offense punishable by the execution of one’s entire extended family.

"Pill Master Xiao, aren’t you going a bit too far? This is not something to joke about."

"Anything involving the Imperial Race is a consequence neither you nor I can bear. Fellow Daoist Xiao, you must not act impulsively."

It wasn’t just the Nalan family who were horrified; many Pill Workshop representatives also spoke up in fear and trepidation.

However, Xiao Yunchen seemed certain that the black-robed figure found it inconvenient to reveal his true appearance to the public; otherwise, why would he show up wearing a mask? He had absolute reason to believe that the other party might briefly step forward to resolve the Pill Storage Tower’s crisis, but the moment a Pill Master’s bottom line was touched, the Pill Storage Tower would be abandoned.

Men die for wealth, just as birds die for food. If the Pill Storage Tower didn’t fall, his Xiao family’s Pill Workshop would suffer heavy losses.

In the center of the hall, Jiang Hao slowly turned around. His grimace mask faced Xiao Yunchen directly, and the pupils beneath the mask were cold to the extreme.

Looking at that grimace mask, Xiao Yunchen immediately felt an intense sense of oppression, as if even breathing had become somewhat difficult.

However, with Xiao Yunchen taking the lead, many experts who had submitted to the Xiao Race, though highly nervous, mustered the courage to chime in.

"Mr. Xiao is right. Sir, we have no intention of offending you, but since you have already revealed yourself, please take off the mask."

"If you wish to bail out the Pill Storage Tower, why hide your face?"

"Could it be that you truly are, as Elder Xiao said, a tainted Pill Master whom the Imperial Race has publicly declared intolerable?"

"If that is truly the case, then not just the Pill Storage Tower, but the Nalan family as well will likely face inescapable doom."

Hearing the voices continuously ringing out around him—even if they lacked confidence—the expression in Jiang Hao’s eyes grew sharper. It was obvious that he had unwittingly been dragged into a dispute within the Pill Realm of the Celestial City Earth Realm.

What the other party wanted probably wasn’t just for him to take off the mask, but to see if the Pill Master standing before them was one of their enemies. At this moment, even the Nalan family was left cast aside, completely unable to get a word in. The target of everyone’s confrontation had blatantly shifted to the black-robed figure.

Just as everyone thought the figure would either simply abandon the Nalan family and leave, or fly into a violent rage, the black-robed figure moved. He slowly raised his hand toward the mask.

Suddenly, everyone’s hearts leaped into their throats, their breathing turning ragged.

Nalan Lin and his daughter looked at the masked figure, unable to help but grow tense. Despite three years of interaction, neither Nalan Lin nor Nalan Yanyu had ever seen what the person beneath the black robe actually looked like. Nalan Feiyan, standing to the side, was also panting heavily, her eyes glued to the scene.

Everyone wanted to see the identity of this mysterious Pill Master.

"He must be a senior elder," Nalan Yanyu murmured in her heart.

This was everyone’s guess as well. Before the mask was removed, the figure beneath the black robe had already taken on countless possible forms in their minds. Some even suspected that he was very likely a world-shaking Pill Dao Giant of Celestial City.

The moment his hand touched the mask, Jiang Hao paused.

But it didn’t matter. Even if he took off the mask right now, no one here knew who he really was; they would only recognize him as Qin Fan of the Qin Family. He had no choice. This was what he owed Qin Shiming.

As the mask was slowly taken off, everyone held their breath, their gazes fixed on the gradually shifting piece of material. In that split second, the faces of several Pill Dao Giants of Celestial City flashed through the minds of the countless experts present.

However, when that clean, clear face appeared in their line of sight, the entire Pill Storage Tower was instantly stunned. A massive number of Cultivators stared blankly at the face beneath the mask, their eyes filled with shock.

It was only after a long while that everyone finally reacted.

"Impossible! How can he be this young?"

"Such a young Tier Two Eighth Grade Alchemy Master... How can this be?"

In an instant, one terrifying figure after another was flabbergasted, all standing frozen in place as if turned to stone. The face beneath that grimace mask was unimaginably young. With regular features and a handsome, clear-eyed appearance, he was completely different from what everyone had imagined.

"Sir, you... you...?" Nalan Lin and Nalan Yanyu looked at the youth, too shocked to speak. The latter even covered her mouth, her beautiful eyes brimming with disbelief.

Originally, Nalan Yanyu and her father had both believed that even if the other party wasn’t an elderly Pill Dao Giant in his twilight years, he would at least be a middle-aged Pill Master with seasoned features. Yet, what appeared before their eyes right now was distinctly the handsome, dashing face of a youth.

The person most shocked in the entire hall, however, was Nalan Feiyan.

The moment Jiang Hao took off the mask, this Matriarch Qin was completely dumbfounded. Her entire body felt as if it had been struck by lightning, like a bolt from the blue, as she stared intently at that simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar face.

"Fan... Fan’Er?" Nalan Feiyan blurted out subconsciously, her mind instantly going blank.

Following the voice, Jiang Hao slowly turned to look at her. He sighed inwardly, yet immediately bowed and said, "Fan’Er greets the Lady of the House."

BOOM!!!

The moment those words were spoken, Nalan Feiyan instantly felt her scalp go numb, her heart seemingly battered by billions of thunderbolts. She stared blankly at Jiang Hao, her eyes filled with shock—a shock beyond all measure.

"Fan... Fan’Er, is it... is it really you? How... how is this possible?"

"Lady of the House, it is indeed Fan’Er. Please forgive Fan’Er for failing to inform you sooner."

It wasn’t until Jiang Hao spoke again that Nalan Feiyan finally recovered from her shock, yet she remained rooted to the spot as if someone had cast an Immobilization Technique on her.

Seeing this, Nalan Lin was even more appalled inwardly. He looked at his younger sister with eyes full of horror. "Feiyan, what is going on? Why did the Pill Master call you Lady of the House?"

"Aunt Feiyan, what’s happening?" Nalan Yanyu also asked, her eyes filled with astonishment.

Faced with the inquiries from the father and daughter, Nalan Feiyan remained thoroughly stunned in place.

At this moment, countless vivid memories surfaced in her mind. The scenes that had just occurred not long ago seemed to linger right before her eyes, impossible to shake off. The youth she had been on the verge of driving away was actually the mastermind who, over the past three years, had single-handedly pushed the Nalan family from decline to its peak. Everything she currently possessed in the Qin Family, including her status and power, had been silently propelled from behind the scenes by that very youth!

"Fan... Fan’Er, I..."

Nalan Feiyan opened her mouth, hesitating to speak, but Jiang Hao’s gaze was no longer on this Lady of the House. He slowly turned around and looked at Xiao Yunchen and the others. His voice had also returned to normal, no longer carrying its previous raspy tone.

"Is this enough to prove everything now? If it is, then excuse me, I won’t be keeping you company."

Finishing his words, Jiang Hao turned and walked away.

Xiao Yunchen and the others, however, had dull gazes, staring blankly at this scene.

"Impossible. There cannot possibly be such a young Tier Two Eighth Grade Alchemy Master in this world. This is impossible."

"He’s too young! This is simply unrealistic. At such an age, how could he possibly have such profound accomplishments in the Alchemy Dao?"

"Unless he is a peerless genius of the Alchemy Dao... No, no, no, even for a genius, this is far too shocking to the world."

"What did he just call the wife of Patriarch Qin? Lady of the House? Could it be that he is a direct descendant of the Qin Family?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the countless experts of the Pill Workshops fell into a panic. Unwittingly, they seemed to have offended a Pill Master Giant. And such a young Pill Master Giant at that.

While the people inside the Pill Storage Tower turned pale with fright, monstrous waves were stirred up outside the Pill Storage Tower as well. A Cultivator’s senses were incredibly sharp, let alone those of the Cultivators in Celestial City.

In an instant, the area outside the entire Pill Storage Tower erupted into an uproar.

"Such a young Tier Two Eighth Grade Alchemy Master, and he addresses Matriarch Qin as the Lady of the House. Could he be that person who caused a massive uproar in Qin City three years ago?"

"Qin Shiming’s illegitimate son from outside, the direct descendant of the Qin Family, Qin Fan?"

"What did you say? A child of the Qin Family? The Qin Family has produced a Pill Dao Giant? And he’s just a youth?"

"Heavens! A Tier Two Eighth Grade Alchemy Master... No, no, no, perhaps even higher than the eighth grade!"

The surroundings of the entire Pill Storage Tower were bustling with voices. Countless Cultivators were stunned as if they were looking at a celestial being, all their eyes filled with disbelief.

Meanwhile, having finished dealing with the matter, Jiang Hao slowly walked out of the Pill Storage Tower’s main hall. His face showed neither joy nor sorrow, acting as if there was no one else around.

Just as Jiang Hao reached the main doors of the Pill Storage Tower.

Just as countless Cultivators were in a state of absolute shock.

Suddenly.

RUMBLE!!!

A sudden, massive change descended. A world-shaking thunderclap echoed across the entire firmament, sounding as if it came from beyond the highest heavens.

Everyone subconsciously looked up.

At the peak of the endless blizzard, within the Celestial Universe, rolling divine clouds blotted out the sun and sky. They converged into a gigantic Tai Chi Diagram that shrouded the entire Celestial City Earth Realm.

More accurately, it shrouded the entire Celestial Martial Continent.

At this moment.

Across the boundless and limitless continent, countless living beings raised their heads, a billion ripples stirring in their eyes.

In the territories of super-behemoth factions, uncountable Immortal Sects, Dynasties, Divine Kingdoms, Holy Mountains, eternal ancient races, and desolate ancient families—densely packed, terrifying figures all tilted their heads up to gaze at the sky.

Innumerable majestic figures slowly opened their eyes, galaxies seemingly reversing within their pupils.

In just an instant, the entire Celestial Martial Continent was shaken. One aged figure after another manifested between heaven and earth, their eyes brimming with shock.

"The Battle of Geniuses!"