Chapter 1078: Chapter 56: Junior Sister Xu’s Meticulous Thinking

The strange orb at the center has been resealed, and the Ancestors have gradually left the Divine Dragon Tower.

Long Hu stood alone at the top of the empty tower, seemingly lost in a daze, when suddenly he heard someone speak from afar:

“Is it really worth it?”

Ancestral Azure Dragon stood at the entrance to the stairway leading down, gazing over here.

“Long Hu, you should know… given the way Long Long handles things, once he decides to do something, he won’t give anyone a chance to stop him.”

“Just as he unexpectedly led you away from the Eastern State back then, and your clan searched for you both in vain for months. Now, he’s left you in the same manner. Do you really think he would leave any clues for you to find him?”

“I don’t know why you’re so certain he’s gone to the Mortal Realm, but even if you go through great hardships to find him… if he refuses to return, what can you do?”

Long Hu was silent for a long time, until Ancestral Azure Dragon was nearly out of patience before he slowly spoke:

“He promised my mother that he would take me to the Beiming Fanyang to resolve the bloodline conflicts within me.”

“He also promised me that he would always stay by my side and never leave me.”

“He fulfilled his promise to my mother, so I will repay this favor on her behalf; but he hasn’t fulfilled his promise to me, so after I’ve compensated him, it will be my turn to collect the debt.”

Ancestral Azure Dragon was immensely perplexed, thinking, are the relationships among young people so convoluted now?

If you owe me and I owe you back, can’t the two debts just cancel each other out?

Can’t understand it!

But Ancestral Azure Dragon could see that Long Hu had already become deeply obsessed with this matter, and thus only sighed, not continuing to advise.

Cultivation Realm, Kunlun Mountain Range.

Xu Yinglian controlled her sword to fly across the mountain peaks, finally landing near a lake.

She felt her thoughts had been exceptionally chaotic recently, unable to calm her mind to think clearly, hence she temporarily decided to leave the East Sea to find a place to sort out her thoughts.

Currently, the most mysterious aspect is the so-called “organization behind Changgeng.”

Fragments of the Heaven-Mending Stone have been stolen by traitors simultaneously across various sects, leading to the inference that an organization must be orchestrating this, given the manpower required.

This reasoning is flawless, with the only issue being a lack of evidence.

If it truly exists, the victims could unite, such as herself joining Shushan’s Jiao Xiao and Penglai’s Dong You, who are seeking Qing Heng and Jingyun respectively–their interests align without conflict.

Xu Yinglian initially thought this way until Shi Liuli truly stabbed her in the back… indeed, talking about jointly restraining the Heavenly Demon while sneaking off alone–isn’t that backstabbing?

She was initially extremely angry and frustrated, but upon following Jiang the Witch into the underwater cavern and finding it deserted, Xu Yinglian quickly sensed something amiss with her Seven Orifices Exquisite Heart.

Why did Shi Liuli disappear?

The scene showed little signs of battle, and considering Dong You’s prowess with Art Calculation, she wouldn’t foolishly enter an ambush without leaving any distress signals… thus leading to the conclusion she willingly and submissively followed the opponent away.

Accomplishing this, aside from Jingyun, brings no other suspects, but even if Dong You calculated that Jingyun was there, there was no reason for her to leave Xu Yinglian and head to the underwater cavern alone, as it would be deeply offensive.

From Xu Yinglian’s understanding of Shi Liuli, this associate never speaks shocking words but hides thoughts in her heart–she certainly wouldn’t do something meaningless.

In other words, there must be a reason driving Shi Liuli to leave her.

Or more accurately, Xu Yinglian considers herself the future successor of the Head of Kunlun Sect, with few things worth offending for in the world, and for Shi Liuli, who was born in the Heavenly Craft Workshop and has witnessed many treasures, the choices are even fewer–only Jingyun seems worthy of causing her to antagonize Kunlun.

But how could she possibly be adverse to Jingyun? Someone unrelated to her, with no past interactions whatsoever–why would Shi Liuli judge that if they met, she would be detrimental to him, or rather, contrary to Shi Liuli’s interests?

Xu Yinglian pondered for a long time, gradually feeling the logic becoming clear:

This matter can be inferred in reverse, not by pondering “what warrants Shi Liuli to offend me,” but by speculating “what warrants the rupture between myself and Shi Liuli.”

Earlier than Kunlun, Penglai had long decided to appoint Dong You as the sect leader’s successor, due to Jingyun’s Second Grade Golden Core, the dominance in artifact forging of the Heavenly Craft Workshop, and Shi Liuli’s capabilities in Art Calculation and meticulous thinking, making her the ideal candidate for managing the sect.

From this angle, even if they had a conflict of interest, it would at most lead to arguments and debates, unlikely to truly break ties and attack each other.

In other words, what would cause her to immediately turn against Shi Liuli? That Shi Liuli judged it’s better to deceive her into helping Jiao Xiao against the Great Heavenly Demon rather than let her arrive at the underwater cavern first?

From this perspective, the conclusion is quite evident: