Chapter 380: Saintess Ran Lin’s Speculation

Chapter 380: Chapter 380: Saintess Ran Lin’s Speculation

Ran Lin and her group fled for hundreds of miles before finally stopping.

It wasn’t because they were too exhausted to keep running. Rather, Ran Lin had realized she’d fallen into a trap.

Ran Lin stared in the direction of Vast Sea, her eyes blazing with fury.

"Saintess, what’s wrong?"

One of the Half-Saint Realm elders asked in confusion.

Ran Lin waved a hand and sneered, "To spend a lifetime training hawks, only to be pecked in the eye by one. Heh!"

"What do you mean, Saintess? The White Wolf King’s appearance was a complete surprise. Who could have known that the figure the Northern Domain People worship actually exists?" the elder said.

Ran Lin shook her head. "If the White Wolf King were truly that powerful, do you think we could have actually escaped? We’ve all been tricked."

"But the White Wolf King’s Envoy killed He Yunshu and Yan Ligang—two Martial Artists at Mahayana Realm Tier Five—in a single strike!" Ran Fei chimed in.

Ran Lin sighed. "At first, I was also stunned by Huo Er’s methods. It was only just now that I realized we were tricked."

Everyone looked at her in confusion.

Ran Lin explained, "According to Huo Er, the Profound Iron Orders were bestowed upon the Eight Great Clans by the White Wolf King. We’ve already taken three of them. He kept demanding we hand them over, so why did he give up the chase halfway?"

"If the White Wolf King is truly all-powerful, why would he let us go? He never once made a move. Was it really that the White Wolf King didn’t want to kill us?"

"But how do you explain the hundreds of thousands of wild beasts?"

"Perhaps the White Wolf King is real, but he is definitely not that strong. It’s very likely that if the White Wolf King were to actually make a move, his cover would be blown," Ran Lin said with great certainty.

Another Half-Saint asked, confused, "Then what was the point of all this? If they just wanted to scare us off, why not show up from the start? Why wait until we’d killed so many of their people? From what Huo Er said, he knew you were here all along, and had even infiltrated their ranks. Even if they did scare us off, what good does that do them?"

"Perhaps that Huo Er is also after the Profound Iron Orders. He just knew they couldn’t possibly keep us here, so he used a ploy to scare us away." Ran Lin wasn’t entirely certain of this guess herself.

"Saintess, why don’t we go back and fight our way through?" Ran Fei suggested, unable to stomach the defeat.

Ran Lin shook her head. "They can’t make us stay, but by the same token, we can’t get the Profound Iron Orders if we go back now. First, our original plan was to catch the Hanmo Clan by surprise, but they’ll be on their guard now. If we rush back in, we could suffer heavy losses. Second, if Huo Er’s real goal is the Profound Iron Orders, then he’s surely used the White Wolf King’s authority to take the Hanmo Clan’s order already."

"Then what do we do? When has our God Slaughter Hall ever suffered such a huge loss?" the Half-Saint Elder said.

"Heh!" Ran Lin let out a cold laugh.

She said, "A loss? I don’t think so."

"Please, elaborate."

"If Huo Er is after the Profound Iron Orders, we’re bound to cross paths again. After all, we hold three of them. And if he can use the White Wolf King’s name to take the Hanmo Clan’s order, he can use the same trick to make the other clans hand theirs over. That saves us the trouble of fighting clan after clan for their Profound Iron Orders. All we have to do is secretly monitor the other clans. Once he collects the other five, we can move against him directly. Wouldn’t that be far more efficient?"

"But what if he isn’t after the Profound Iron Orders?" Ran Fei asked.

Ran Lin glanced at her. Her little sister was really too simple-minded.

"If he isn’t, then we’ll just continue with our original plan," Ran Lin said.

It had to be said, Ran Lin’s mind was remarkably sharp. In just a short time, she had deduced Chu Fan’s plan almost perfectly.

...

Back with the Hanmo Clan, cleaning up the main courtyard took the entire night.

After all, a large number of their people had been poisoned and rendered unconscious.

From this perspective, Ran Lin and her people weren’t completely irredeemable. A truly vicious person, having already decided to use poison, would have used a lethal one to kill a portion of them. Even if they failed to get the Profound Iron Order, it would have made their next attempt much easier.

Of course, it was also possible their skills with poison were simply lacking. Perhaps they hadn’t mastered the kind of colorless, odorless toxin that could evade the senses of any Cultivator below the Saint Realm.

Regardless, because they hadn’t used a lethal poison, Chu Fan would later spare the sisters, Ran Lin and Ran Fei, on one occasion.

Having obtained the Hanmo Clan’s Profound Iron Order, Chu Fan had no other major business here.

To give the members of the other clans time to return home and report, Chu Fan decided to remain for a few days. He planned to first consolidate his cultivation at the Late Stage of the Third Layer Realm of Sword Dao, then try to break his Spiritual Power through to Level 39.

Chu Fan had another plan: to groom Li Haiqin into the new Khan King.

If Li Haiqin could become the new Khan King, she would at least have the full support of two clans: the Hanmo Clan and the Lindi Clan.

Besides, Li Haiqin was the only person in the Northern Domain Chu Fan was familiar with. She was good-natured, yet fiendishly clever.

If she were to lead the Grassland, with her intelligence, she could certainly gain control over the entire region given enough time. Moreover, Jisierk would undoubtedly serve her with unwavering loyalty.

At noon the next day, those who had been poisoned woke up. When they heard about what happened last night after they lost consciousness, they were all stunned.

However, the entire population of Vast Sea City had seen the White Wolf King and the beast tide, leaving them no room for disbelief.

The people of Vast Sea City even started spreading a story by word of mouth, calling Vast Sea City a blessed city protected by the White Wolf King himself.

Overnight, almost every household in Vast Sea City had set up a shrine and was worshiping the White Wolf King daily.

Chu Fan didn’t pay much attention to this. After all, with the White Wolf King appearing in Vast Sea City with hundreds of thousands of beasts in tow, it would have been stranger if the populace *hadn’t* reacted.

However, what Chu Fan didn’t know was that while he was in the courtyard cultivating, Bai Yun had transformed into the White Wolf King and taken Li Haiqin as a disciple.

This all began on the third day after Li Haiqin’s wedding night.

Due to the massive commotion on her wedding night, the consummation of her marriage was obviously out of the question. The next day, Li Haiqin didn’t move into the bridal suite, but instead took up residence in a side room to its east.

Furthermore, Li Haiqin laid down the law with Jisierk: until she fell in love with him, he was forbidden from forcing his way into her bed. If he tried to force her, she swore she would kill herself.

However, Li Haiqin did give Jisierk the opportunity to pursue her.

After sending off her father and the wedding party from the Lindi Clan, Li Haiqin shut herself in her courtyard. She didn’t go looking for Huo Er, either, because she still hadn’t figured out how to face him.

She wasn’t idle in the courtyard; instead, she focused on her Cultivation.

One day, while Li Haiqin was practicing her Saber Technique in the courtyard, a flash of white flickered at the edge of her vision. By the time she reacted, she found a White Wolf staring at her.

Li Haiqin was terrified at first, but she quickly realized who it must be and dropped to her knees in reverence.

The White Wolf spoke in a human voice. "The Pine Forest, thirty li west of Vast Sea City. I will await you there."