Chapter 382: Chapter 384: The Duke Federation Takes the Blame Chapter 382: Chapter 384: The Duke Federation Takes the Blame [Extra update garbled, will recover at 3:50. If unable to recover, open the directory and long press this chapter to re-download.]
“Alas, you are still too young. Have you heard of firearms? Aside from the super soldier plan, ordinary firearms indeed even you can dodge, but the Duke Federation has more than just ordinary firearms. Otherwise, why did they only split the Duke Federation into such a state rather than completely destroying it? Because there exist firearms that even True Martial Rank Martial Artists can’t withstand, only that their range is too large, fearing involvement of ordinary people.”

“I’m not sure, Uncle Masters and the other masters are here too, it seems quite serious.” The junior shook his head, indicating he didn’t know.

“Isn’t this time the Blood Rose Society was wiped out and related to the body of this extremely strong martial artist? Aren’t they afraid of repeating the same mistake?” Li Xiang suddenly thought of this.

“Of course, that place is the territory of the Southern Secret Martial World, how could it fall into our hands? It was supposed to be guarded by the Martial Alliance, but the Martial Alliance doesn’t have much authority, mediating is still fine, but such a big interest can’t be grasped and ended up in the hands of the Divine Elephant Sect from the south.”

“Yes, even the president has disappeared, he was a True Spirit Realm Secret Spirit Master, only True Martial Rank Martial Artists could compare with him, and they also discovered an even more terrifying scene in one of the rooms, you don’t know…”

“It seems that they wanted to uncover the secret of this extremely strong martial artist, but I think it’s quite unlikely, according to those who saw the body at that time, said the terrifying pressure made everyone struggle to breathe, and that was after his death, how terrifying must have he been alive, probably truly unmatched!” the Sect Master said gravely.

“Enough, let’s not talk about this, this year’s Secret Martial exchange is canceled, the Martial Alliance also issued a notice, so tell your fellow disciples not to bother anymore.” The Sect Master spoke.

“It seems like the Secret Spirit Masters from the Blood Rose Society were the first to be unlucky, all members became mummies, the manner of death was particularly gruesome, yet unknown what secret technique was used.”

“But if really pushed to the brink then it’s not certain, so this time the situation is very tricky, the Secret Martial Conference can only be canceled temporarily.”

“Here, have a seat.” Upon seeing Li Xiang come in, his master told him to sit directly.

“No, Master and the others are waiting for you inside.” The junior didn’t know the situation either, clearly just one of the disciples sent to find Li Xiang.

“So, where is the body now? It shouldn’t have ended up in our hands,” Li Xiang asked curiously.

“It seems there was a mishap in the Southern Secret Martial World, it is said that a Secret Spirit Master lost control, causing a massacre, a large number of Martial Artists and Secret Spirit Masters died.”

“You kid, being able to return alive really means you are lucky, it seems what you were hiding before was probably this incident, but don’t worry, this extremely strong martial artist has already died.” The Sect Master sighed, he didn’t blame Li Xiang because he knew Li Xiang didn’t want to bring trouble to the Wild Lion Sect.

“Brother, Master is looking for you.”

“He died? How is that possible?” Li Xiang was bewildered, how could the other party have died like that.

“So, are you suspecting that if we really held the Secret Martial Conference, we would be wiped out in one fell swoop, but the Duke Federation, no matter how strong, can only…”

“I suspect it’s the Duke Federation’s doing, from the feedback we got from our people implanted in the Duke Federation, it seems they are researching something called super soldiers, where just an injection of a drug can save decades of hard training to gain great power.”

“I won’t hide it from you, when found he was already a body, yet lifelike, the Martial Arts Will within him was eternally undying, perhaps even stronger than our sect’s strongest in those days.”

“There are forces hunting Martial Artists and Secret Spirit Masters, their power is very strong, probably at the True Martial Rank or True Spirit Realm, and they have no regard for martial morality.”

“In this world, the only ones capable of contending with our Martial Artists and Secret Spirit Masters are the Duke Federation, although they were forcibly split into the Duke Confederated Federation in those years, effectively curbing the Duke Federation’s power consolidation, they have never stopped trying to reclaim federal power.”

“The place where he was found was in the warehouse of the Blood Rose Society, exactly how he died is not clear, there are many things that cannot be investigated due to all members of the Blood Rose Society being dead, but one thing is certain, the demise of the Blood Rose Society might be related to this body.”

“What did you want to see me for?” Saying this, Li Xiang followed the other person, asking was normal, one couldn’t just not ask anything, right?

“What… is going on here?” Li Xiang hesitated for a moment before finally asking.

But when the news came, it was impossible to tell true from false, no one knew what the situation was, after all, even ordinary members could chat about it, indicating it wasn’t a big deal.

By this time, Li Xiang was no longer hiding anything. Since the Sect Master of his sect could access this photo, he must have understood the implications as well.

Li Xiang himself was startled when he first saw this photo but quickly regained his composure, “I’ve seen him, a convenience store owner, a strong figure. Once, not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth, I challenged him, and then…”

As Li Xiang passed by, he heard a couple of phrases. Initially, he didn’t take it to heart, but after just a few steps, an idea crossed his mind: ‘Isn’t the Blood Rose Society not far from Qingwu City?’
Furthermore, even without these factors, when comparing the overall strength of the two sects, the Divine Elephant Sect was stronger than the Wild Lion Sect. Thus, naturally, there was nothing they could do, especially since it wasn’t their turn; the Wild Lion Sect, though powerful, was not the strongest sect in the Northern Secret Martial World.

Otherwise, under normal circumstances, the Council Hall would be open, and significant discussions wouldn’t take place here unless they were of utmost importance and had widespread implications.

Soon, he arrived at the Wild Lion Sect’s Council Hall, which surprised Li Xiang, “Junior Brother, you couldn’t have gotten the place wrong, right? Why have we come here?”

Soon, the leading Sect Master nodded, “Li Xiang, when you went to Qingwu City to avenge Zhang Bai… rest assured, I’m not questioning your private matters, I just want to ask if you recognize this person.”

Upon hearing this, Li Xiang didn’t ask too much and directly entered the Council Hall.

Two Martial Artists from the Wild Lion Sect, having completed their daily training, sat aside rehydrating and casually chatting.

The Sect Master was an open book and had no intention of keeping secrets from Li Xiang, considering him one of their own, thus it was unnecessary.

The Sect Master was not all muscles in his head, he also thought of many things; only a significant force could capture Martial Artists and Secret Spirit Masters on a large scale.

The Sect Master did not hide anything; after all, this matter was too abrupt.

This was the first time Li Xiang heard about the Secret Spirit Master going out of control. It wasn’t that Martial Artists were deliberately slandering, but because the offender was a woman–well known that a woman could not become a Martial Artist.

Then it all became clear, the only significant force capable of this in the world was the Duke Federation.

The person in the photo was someone with their eyes closed, appearing as though they were asleep.

While saying this, a photo was passed over. Although this era was still the steam age, photographic technology had been invented long ago, albeit the quality was not very good.

He also noticed that the ordinarily lightly guarded Council Hall was now manned, clearly indicating that this was no small matter.

Upon hearing this, others couldn’t help but laugh, “You kid, you’ve twisted yourself up in your logic. Can the Blood Rose Society compare with the Divine Elephant Sect? That’s just a small group, and only big organizations like the Star Association of Secret Spirit Masters can compare to the Divine Elephant Sect.”

Therefore, the only females with Extraordinary Power were Secret Spirit Masters.

After waiting for an explanation, he understood something; sometimes, a low profile did not signify weakness but represented lurking and modesty.

This realization struck Li Xiang; he indeed had entangled himself without considering the disparity in strength between the two sides. Moreover, since the Divine Elephant Sect was a Secret Martial Sect, they were more familiar with the powerful Martial Artists and naturally knew that disturbing the corpse of such a strong person could lead to catastrophic consequences.

The number of people here was not large, only twelve, all of them True Martial Rank Martial Artists, representing the high ranks within the Wild Lion Sect.

This made it hard for Li Xiang to shift perspectives as he had always perceived the Duke Federation as having a low presence, even less so than the Martial Alliance.

As Li Xiang pondered about the affairs of Qingwu City, the disturbance brought him back to reality, and then he saw his junior brother.

But since the issue had fallen into the Divine Elephant Sect’s hands, they naturally had no recourse. Not to mention that his own Wild Lion Sect was part of the Northern Secret Martial World. Rashly intervening might provoke an attack or even trigger large-scale conflict between the northern and southern Secret Martial Worlds, something nobody wanted to see.