When Jiaoying Immortal Noble's voice exploded across the sky, the entire Great Northwest immediately plunged into chaos. Every major sect, family, and guild instantly mobilized their disciples, issuing orders to conduct a carpet-style search for the whereabouts of the criminal Gu Qingfeng.
This was a decree issued by the Immortal Dynasty Noble Scions using the radiance of the Immortal Office. Though not an official Immortal Edict, it was nearly equivalent. Moreover, Jiaoying Immortal Noble had explicitly stated that violators would be executed without mercy. Under such circumstances, who would dare to disobey?
The answer was certain.
No one dared.
Furthermore, the major sects of the Great Northwest bore a deep-seated hatred for Gu Qingfeng, especially the giants like Hunyuan Sect and Tiger Might Wang Family. They had been eagerly awaiting the Immortal Nobles to uphold justice and tear Gu Qingfeng to pieces. Now that the Immortal Dynasty Noble Scions had finally taken action, it was exactly what they wished for. How could they possibly disobey?
In the sky, the radiance of the Immortal Office continued to shimmer, bloom, and envelop the land from mid-air, as if declaring the Immortal Dynasty's hegemony over the Great Northwest.
Within the light, Jiaoying and the other seventeen Immortal Nobles stood imposingly, each one majestic and arrogantly self-absorbed. Set against the backdrop of the Immortal Office's radiance, they resembled gods and immortals, looking down upon the earth and scorning all living beings of the northwest.
Below, the Immortal Officials of the Northwest Immortal Office gathered obediently beneath the office's monument, not daring to lift their heads, not daring to breathe heavily. No one dared to speak.
An Ran stood among them.
Over the past few days, she had done only one thing: welcome the successive arrivals of the Immortal Dynasty Noble Scions.
She disliked these Immortal Dynasty Noble Scions—to be precise, she particularly detested them. Aside from a very few who were still somewhat courteous and refined gentlemen, most were extremely arrogant, overbearing, wild, and insolent, looking down on everyone and acting lawlessly.
She had thought Ying Nian and Ruolan were annoying enough, but she never expected this Jiaoying to be even more detestable, treating people even less like human beings.
Previously, just because the reincarnated individuals residing in the Immortal Office hadn't come to welcome them, Ying Nian had taken action to teach them a lesson. Fortunately, it was only a lesson; although Senior Bei Feng was seriously injured, at least his life wasn't in danger.
But when this Jiaoying descended, those reincarnated individuals had already come out to welcome him. Just because they didn't kneel, Jiaoying had immediately killed over ten reincarnated individuals on the spot. If not for an old Immortal Official beside Jiaoying stopping him, nearly a hundred reincarnated individuals in the Immortal Office might have died by his hand.
Now, this Jiaoying was growing even more unrestrained, actually initiating the Immortal Office's radiance and using the Immortal Office's name to order all sects in the Great Northwest to search for Gu Qingfeng's whereabouts, throwing the entire northwest into chaos.
This was an abuse of power and would inevitably harm the innocent.
But that wasn't the important part.
The important part was that just two days ago, Immortal Su Hua had personally visited the Immortal Office and informed all its Immortal Officials that Gu Qingfeng's existence was extremely dangerous and that they should not provoke him. Regarding Gu Qingfeng's killing of the Immortal Office's twenty-four prodigies, Immortal Su Hua would personally explain it to the Immortal Dynasty.
Regarding this, many Immortal Officials in the office speculated that Immortal Su Hua might be shielding Gu Qingfeng because he was the successor of the Chixiao Monarch.
But An Ran didn't think so.
She still clearly remembered that the two mysterious reincarnated experts, Wan Huaiyu and Qin Hao, had also said Gu Qingfeng's existence was very dangerous.
As for whether Gu Qingfeng was truly dangerous, she didn't know.
But since both Wan Huaiyu and Immortal Su Hua said so, there must be some reason to it.
What she never expected was that just two days after Immortal Su Hua warned them not to provoke Gu Qingfeng, the first thing Jiaoying did upon arriving at the Northwest Immortal Office today was to publicly order all major sects in the Great Northwest to apprehend Gu Qingfeng.
Was Jiaoying's status and background really that powerful?
So powerful that he didn't even put Immortal Su Hua in his eyes?
No!
That wasn't the case.
If Jiaoying's status and background were truly so great that he disregarded Immortal Su Hua, the older, more experienced Immortal Officials wouldn't have tried so earnestly to persuade him earlier. But no matter how they tried to persuade him, Jiaoying simply wouldn't listen and still initiated the Immortal Office's radiance.
At this very moment, a group of old Immortal Officials were still trying to persuade him. There was the Hundred-Tribulation Elder, as well as many Nine-Star Immortal Officials. The leader among them was an old man who was also the Immortal Dynasty's Nebula Immortal Official, whose status and position were far greater than a Nine-Star Immortal Official. He was also the executive official for this northwest journey, possessing certain real authority. At the very least, the accompanying Nine-Star Immortal Officials all took orders from him, not from these Immortal Dynasty Noble Scions.
While the Immortal Dynasty Noble Scions were indeed of noble status, that was all it was—nobility without real power.
However, precisely because of their noble status, other Immortal Officials dared not disobey their words.
"I hope Noble Scion Jiaoying will retract this order," said the Nebula Immortal Official, named Bai Zhan, also known as Elder Bai or Executive Bai. He appeared quite elderly, with white hair and beard, wearing a clean white robe. At this moment, he was trying to persuade Jiaoying Immortal Noble. "After all, Immortal Su Hua has already given instructions on this matter. It would be best if we did not act rashly."
"So what if Su Hua gave instructions?" The arrogant Jiaoying snorted coldly, disdainfully saying, "Actually saying that criminal surnamed Gu is dangerous, telling this noble not to provoke him? What a colossal joke! Not to mention he's merely the successor of the Immortal Path criminal Gu Tianlang; even if he were the Immortal Path criminal Gu Tianlang himself, this noble wouldn't put him in my eyes."
Executive Bai shook his head and sighed—sighing at Jiaoying's ignorance, sighing at Jiaoying's arrogance, and sighing at these Immortal Dynasty Noble Scions' lack of awareness of their own limitations. He was an old Immortal Official of the Immortal Dynasty who had lived through that terrifying era at the end of the Ancient Times. Naturally, he knew just how terrifying the Chixiao Monarch had been.
These Immortal Dynasty Noble Scions, relying on their powerful status and backgrounds, backed by the Immortal Dynasty, usually acted arrogantly and tyrannically, with no one daring to oppose them. As a result, each was arrogantly self-absorbed and looked down on everyone. How could they possibly know how madly domineering the Chixiao Monarch had been at the end of the Ancient Era?
If possible, Executive Bai really wanted to tell these Immortal Dynasty Noble Scions that even their immortal parents, their ancestors, and even many immortals in the current Immortal Dynasty would still tremble in their hearts at the mention of the name Chixiao Monarch. Only you ignorant, arrogant little brats would dare to spout such nonsense.
Sighing was one thing.
Feeling helpless was another.
Some words, Executive Bai couldn't say them directly in front of these Immortal Dynasty Noble Scions.
At that moment, another Immortal Dynasty Noble Scion spoke up. "Executive Bai, you should know that Immortal Su Hua has been searching for the whereabouts of the Immortal Path criminal Gu Tianlang all along. And since that Gu Qingfeng claims to be the successor of the criminal Gu Tianlang, Su Hua must be deliberately trying to shield him."
"From what I know, a few years ago in the Four Directions Great Domain, when that Gu Qingfeng annihilated the Nine Blossoms Alliance, Immortal Su Hua was present. Yet she chose to stand by and watch, not only failing to intervene but afterward, when our Immortal Dynasty wanted to take action against the northwest's Chixiao Sect, she stopped us!"
"Immortal Su Hua's favoritism toward the Immortal Path criminal Gu Tianlang isn't a new thing. She could stop our Immortal Dynasty's actions against the northwest's Chixiao Sect; it's not at all strange for her to shield the successor of the Immortal Path criminal Gu Tianlang now. It's just that the reason Immortal Su Hua gave this time is truly laughable—actually saying that Gu Qingfeng is too dangerous and telling us not to provoke him? Heh... She's practically treating us like three-year-old children she can fool..."