His own Personal Disciple had been killed, and he had just torn off all pretense with Xu Linggong—facing his enemy yet unable to kill him, there was no way he could stay any longer.
Xu Linggong did not try to stop him. He simply watched Zuo Quanhui's retreating figure, and only after it disappeared from sight did he snort coldly: "Continue!"
He leaped back into his seat. Lin Feng's elders, seeing that the situation had settled, also returned to their positions.
Meanwhile, on the plaza, a great many participating martial artists were staring at Yang Kai with looks of shock. They hadn't fully understood what had happened before, but now it was all too clear—Zhao Xing of Qianhe Blessed Land had been killed.
This Yang Kai of Void Land… had some nerve.
Even the High-Rank Open Heaven cultivators seated above cast uneasy glances toward Yang Kai. Though Zhao Xing belonged to Qianhe Blessed Land, since ancient times the various Caves Heavens and Blessed Lands had always been bound by shared interests. Yang Kai daring to kill Zhao Xing meant he would dare to kill anyone else as well.
They naturally looked upon him with displeasure.
Yang Kai paid no attention to the subtle looks directed his way, standing where he was as if nothing had happened.
Lin Feng and the others moved closer once more. Ning Daoran sent a voice transmission: "Brother Yang, be careful in the future. Zuo Quanhui is Zhao Xing's master—he will certainly not let this matter rest."
Yang Kai nodded slightly. "I know."
That was precisely why he had wanted to silence everyone at the time. But now it seemed that even if he had acted, he likely couldn't have eliminated everyone. Each of those Sixth-Order cultivators possessed their own means of survival—they were not so easily killed. The news would have leaked out regardless, and he would only have made enemies of more Caves Heavens and Blessed Lands for nothing.
After the last hundred or so people returned, the Rainbow Bridge fell completely silent. No one else came back.
Elder Zhuo Buqun of Myriad Demons Heaven, Elder Yu Huan of Xuanyuan Cavern Heaven, and Elder Lu Zhengyang of Qingming Blessed Land wore grave expressions. Of the many Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivators sent by over a dozen Caves Heavens and Blessed Lands, all but one—Zhao Xing, who had been killed—had now emerged. Only disciples from these three places remained missing.
Myriad Demons Heaven was in slightly better shape. Mo Sheng, a Fifth-Order Open Heaven cultivator, had returned from the Sin Star and now stood quietly among the crowd.
Zhuo Buqun discreetly sent a voice transmission, asking Mo Sheng a few questions, and his expression grew even more somber.
From Mo Sheng, he learned that Pei Wenxuan and Yin Xinzhao had been ambushed by numerous Sixth-Order cultivators on the Sin Star, their fate uncertain. Mo Sheng himself had only escaped by sheer luck.
Another half shichen passed, and still no one returned from the Sin Star. Zhuo Buqun and the others could sit still no longer.
The three of them confronted Xu Linggong together, demanding to go to the Sin Star personally to investigate and search for Pei Wenxuan, Yin Xinzhao, and the others.
Xu Linggong hurried to placate them, secretly muttering to himself that the bunch on the Sin Star couldn't possibly be that brazen—they wouldn't dare kill Core Disciples of the Caves Heavens and Blessed Lands, surely.
An accident had already occurred once before, but that was just one person, Zhao Xing. If Pei Wenxuan and the others also perished on the Sin Star, then this Dao Discussion Assembly would have gone truly, catastrophically wrong. The pressure from Qianhe Blessed Land alone he could still handle—but if three more families were added to that, what could he use to push back? He would probably be punished by the Yin-Yang Heaven itself.
He secretly regretted it. This Dao Discussion Assembly—afraid he had ruined it with his own hands!
After calming Zhuo Buqun and the others, Xu Linggong quickly sent Su Yingxue and Qing Kui to the Sin Star to gather intelligence.
The two charged onto the Rainbow Bridge, but within moments returned together. Su Yingxue whispered a few words into Xu Linggong's ear. He nodded slightly, and his expression eased considerably.
He turned to say something to Zhuo Buqun and the others, who finally quieted down.
"Very well. The Dao Discussion Assembly ends here. You've all worked hard for an entire year—now it's time to see the results, and find out who claims the top spot!" Xu Linggong sat in his chair, delivered a brief speech, and then waved his hand lightly.
A group of Yin-Yang Heaven disciples, already prepared, immediately flew down to the plaza. Each of them employed a secret technique to remove the golden rings from every participant's wrist and record their scores.
The number of surviving participants was now less than half of those who had originally joined. Those who were missing had mostly perished on the Sin Star.
Many of the elders who had brought their juniors to attend the Dao Discussion Assembly wore expressions of grief and dejection. For these second-rate powers, this assembly had been their chance to latch onto Yin-Yang Heaven and soar to new heights. The martial artists they had sent were the very finest their sects had to offer.
Now, having died on the Sin Star, the losses were considerable.
But who could have guessed that a Dao Discussion Assembly meant to find a husband for Qu Huachiang would have turned into this under Xu Linggong's management? Even if they regretted it now, it was already too late.
Half a shichen later, all the scores had been tallied. Every golden ring had been collected and placed on a table before the assembled High-Rank Open Heaven cultivators.
A dozen or so High-Rank cultivators swept their gazes across the rings and quickly spotted the one bearing the most stars. It simply had far more stars than any of the others—it was strikingly obvious and required no careful searching.
"It seems this first place belongs to this person!" Xu Linggong chuckled, looking around. "I wonder—disciple of which noble family?"
The High-Rank cultivators wore reserved smiles. One of them said, "We'll find out soon enough, won't we?"
For them, even if their disciple had truly taken the crown, there was no way they would send them to marry into Yin-Yang Heaven. They had been compelled to let their Core Disciples participate in the assembly only to preserve mutual face—not to offer anyone as a groom.
A Core Disciple who could advance directly to the Sixth Order, destined to reach the Eighth—who would be willing to let such a person go? As for how to handle the aftermath of winning first place, that would require some lengthy haggling with Yin-Yang Heaven.
In any case, they all had long lifespans. A few hundred or even a thousand years of bickering was nothing. They could treat it as a way to stave off boredom.