Chapter 2254 — Visitors from the Clan

"Oink, oink..." The Heavenly Thunder Pig shook its head, indicating that this would be rather difficult. Human cultivators were not quite the same as spirit beasts, after all, and at its current level it was simply too low-ranked; tracking down human cultivators was troublesome, and even for those it had met face to face, getting it to find them again was extremely hard.

Seeing the Heavenly Thunder Pig's answer, Wei Zhao did not press the matter. Together with Sun Jingyan, he set off in pursuit along the direction the Heaven-Rank Madman had fled...

With the Heaven-Rank Madman's speed, Wei Zhao and Sun Jingyan naturally could not catch up. All Wei Zhao could hope for now was that the old man would stop after running a while—best of all if he came back to his senses. Otherwise, even chasing him all the way, they would have a hard time overtaking him.

And if the Heaven-Rank Madman changed direction midway, that would make it all the more impossible for Wei Zhao to find him.

The direction in which the Heaven-Rank Madman had fled ran diagonally—toward the middle range of the mountains. But it was the exact opposite of the direction by which Wei Zhao and Sun Jingyan had climbed up into the middle range. Wei Zhao did not know whether there was a path over there, or whether it led down the mountain, but since the Heaven-Rank Madman had run that way, he had no choice but to follow...

……………………

Wei Zhao's guess was right. At that very moment, at the foot of the Ulanhot Mountains—in the town of Ruileida—two uninvited guests clad in Eight Trigrams robes suddenly appeared within the great courtyard of the Tagan family.

They came without shadow and left without trace; their soundless entry into the Tagan family compound drew no notice from the town's other families and powers.

Even standing now within the Tagan family courtyard, they had alarmed no one—until a Tagan family servant on patrol duty suddenly discovered that two extra people had appeared in the yard, and nearly jumped out of his skin!

He was just about to shout that assassins had broken in, but the servant was a sharp one: seeing that the two men's attire was identical to that of the family's Grand Protector, he did not rashly cry out.

He reckoned these two might have some connection to the Grand Protector, so he asked cautiously, "May I ask, you two gentlemen are...?"

"Take me to see Tagan Gao." One of the two—a man plainly younger, of an age roughly matching the Grand Protector's—gave the order in an indifferent tone. This man was the Twelfth Elder.

The other, an old man with a cold, severe face who had not uttered a word, was the elder brother of the Grand Protector, the Thirteenth Elder—the Sixth Elder!

His heart was heavy indeed. He had never imagined that his younger brother, who had gone out to gain experience, would die in a foreign land!

Originally, going out to gain experience and serve as the Tagan family's Grand Protector had been a cushy assignment: not only did one escape duty within the sect, but here one was enshrined and honored by the Tagan family, one's every word taken as law, with not the slightest disobedience tolerated.

Such a cushy post had once been the job these fellow disciples envied most. But partly because the Thirteenth Elder was the youngest, and partly because he was the Sixth Elder's own blood brother, everyone had let him take it—never imagining that such dreadful news would come back!

The soul jade token had shattered. There was no doubt of it; the Sixth Elder did not even need to confirm—his younger brother, the Thirteenth Elder, was dead! There was no chance of luck or deception where the master's soul jade tokens were concerned. Every one of these fellow disciples had a soul jade token of his own, crafted by the master through a special method—even Tagan Long had one.

A shattered jade token meant that the person had fallen; there was absolutely no chance of survival.

So no matter how much grief he felt, it was of no avail. The Sixth Elder had come calmly to the Tagan family, intending to find Tagan Gao and Tagan Long and confirm exactly how this had happened—just who was so formidable as to be able to kill the Thirteenth Elder?

After all, the Thirteenth Elder's strength had been considerable; he could even fight above his level against experts of the mid Heaven-Rank. And yet he had actually died here. There must be some hidden, unexplained twist to this affair.

"May I ask, you two gentlemen are...?" The servant had to first confirm the visitors' identities; otherwise he would not dare rashly lead these two in to see the family head.

"We are your Grand Protector's senior fellow disciples!" said the Twelfth Elder.

"Ah... this way, please, gentlemen..." Hearing that they were the Grand Protector's senior fellow disciples, the servant dared say no more, and hastily gestured for them to proceed.

In the Tagan family, although these servants knew nothing of certain secrets among the family's core circles, they did know that the Grand Protector's standing in the family was in no way inferior to that of the old family head, Tagan Gao!

The Sixth Elder and the Twelfth Elder nodded, and followed the servant into the inner courtyard with expressionless faces. In truth, with their skills, entering and leaving the inner courtyard would have been as easy as turning over their palms; they simply could not be bothered to search room by room, and found it more convenient to have someone from the Tagan family lead the way.

Following the servant, they came to a large residence in the inner courtyard. The servant was about to announce them, but the Twelfth Elder waved his hand and said, "No need. We'll go in ourselves."

With that, the Twelfth Elder pushed open the residence's door and walked in together with the Sixth Elder!

The servant followed behind, somewhat worried. He was just about to beg Tagan Gao's pardon when he heard Tagan Gao speak: "Grand Protector, is that you returned?"

"You must be Tagan Gao?" The Twelfth Elder did not answer Tagan Gao's question, but instead eyed the old man in the room and asked in return.

Tagan Gao's heart gave a sudden start. He had not expected that the one entering was not the Grand Protector but a stranger! After all, the only person in the entire Tagan family free to come and go in his residence at will was the Grand Protector, which was why Tagan Gao had not given it much thought before. Now he was badly startled; he sprang to his feet and turned to look toward the doorway: "Who goes there?"

But when Tagan Gao saw the attire of the two strangers, he let out a long breath of relief, and asked tentatively, "Are you... like the Grand Protector, from that place?"

The Twelfth Elder nodded expressionlessly.

Tagan Gao's heart tightened, and he waved a hand at the servant: "You may go. There's nothing more for you here."

"Yes!" Seeing that Tagan Gao and the visitors seemed to know one another, the servant did not linger; he made his salute and turned to take his leave.

Only after the door was shut did Tagan Gao come forward with a chuckle: "So the two lords are from that place—this old one has failed to welcome you from afar, a thousand pardons! But the Grand Protector has gone out and has not yet returned. Shall this old one send someone to signal him?"

There was no communications signal in the Ulanhot Mountains, and some strange interference made communication devices unusable. So for those who went up the mountain, each family had its own unique contact codes—things like signal flares.

"No need! The Thirteenth Elder... he..." Here the Twelfth Elder's voice grew sorrowful. He glanced at the Sixth Elder, then said, "The Grand Protector has already fallen!"

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