112: Chapter 111 The ancient jade was entrusted to Zhu Kun for safekeeping.

Afterwards, no matter how the Clan Chiefs of the various clans tried to persuade or pressure him, Ling Mie only had one thing to say: they needed to locate the Soul Realm first before discussing a joint sanction against the Hun Clan.

He knew very well that the Soul Realm had been deliberately relocated by Hun Tiandi and was extremely well-hidden.

When a clan deliberately hides itself, even if all the other Dou Di Clans joined forces to search for it, it would take a significant amount of time; they might even search for years without finding anything.

Ling Mie did not believe for a second that these Clan Chiefs had the resolve to expend such vast amounts of manpower and resources to search for the Soul Realm over a long period.

By dragging it out, the matter would eventually fizzle out, which perfectly aligned with the Ling Clan's plan to buy time.

He did not mention that he would persuade the Taixu Ancient Dragon Clan to join the Alliance, and he even deliberately avoided the question of whether the Ling Clan would participate in the war.

The Clan Chiefs understood this clearly; failing to give an explicit agreement was essentially a disguised refusal. It was obvious that the Ling Clan had no intention of participating in this joint operation and only wanted to watch from the sidelines.

In the past, they would have berated Ling Mie for his inaction.

But now, no one dared to say anything.

...

These Clan Chiefs discussed back and forth, yet they failed to come up with any practical measures.

The Ling Clan and the Taixu Ancient Dragon Clan had no intention of participating in the war; they were the least afraid of the Hun Clan.

Gu Yuan had his own concerns; he was afraid that the Gu Clan would lose too many experts while fighting the Hun Clan, allowing the Taixu Ancient Dragon Clan to take advantage of the situation, so he did not want to go all out.

The strength of the Lei Clan and the Yan Clan was quite decent, and the two clans had always enjoyed a good relationship.

Lei Ying and Yan Jin had already quietly negotiated in private, planning to open a passage between their two Small Worlds immediately upon returning to achieve resource sharing and mutual military support.

This would effectively prevent a sudden attack by the Hun Clan and protect their respective clans.

As such, among all the Clan Chiefs present, the most anxious one was undoubtedly the Medicine Clan Chief, Yao Dan.

Among the Dou Di Clans, the Medicine Clan was likely the weakest.

If the Hun Clan were to strike again, the next target would definitely be them.

The Medicine Clan Chief, Yao Dan, was on the verge of a breakdown: "No, what happened to the agreement to unite against the Hun Clan? Why are you all backing out after talking about it? The Ling Clan isn't participating, the Gu Clan isn't going all out, and the Lei and Yan Clans are only focused on self-preservation. You can't play like this..."

He was unwilling to give up, and not daring to sit and wait for death, he kept trying to persuade the other Clan Chiefs from the sidelines.

"Clan Chiefs, we must be determined to wipe out the Hun Clan. Their ambition is too great. If they can wipe out the Shi Clan this time, they will sooner or later become a disaster for us all!"

However, the other clans did not feel much urgency.

This time, when Void Swallowing Flame wiped out the Shi Clan, he left too hastily and did not have time to extract the Dou Di Bloodline from the descendants of the Shi Clan.

In other words, the information that the Hun Clan possessed the abilities of the Spirit Devouring Clan and could absorb the Dou Di Bloodline of other clans to enhance their strength had not been leaked, and the true strength of the Hun Clan had not been detected by the other Dou Di Clans.

The strength of the Hun Clan was still within a controllable range.

Everyone did not think this was a case of 'when the lips are gone, the teeth are cold,' or perhaps they were simply gambling that the Hun Clan would not dare to strike again.

The Shi Clan was wiped out because they were too weak.

'If it's not my business, I'll stay out of it.' This was the current mindset of the various Clan Chiefs.

...

On the other side, Hun Tiandi returned to the Soul Realm with Void Swallowing Flame.

He pondered for a long time but still could not understand: why was the matter of wiping out the Shi Clan exposed?

This operation to wipe out the Shi Clan was extremely covert. Only the high-ranking members of the Hun Clan knew about it—that is, himself, Void Swallowing Flame, as well as Soul Mirror and Soul Sha. It was impossible for the information to have leaked.

Zhu Kun was perfectly fine, so why would he suddenly go to the Shi Realm?

Hun Tiandi was suspicious by nature and did not believe for a second that this was a coincidence.

Seemingly having thought of something, Hun Tiandi suddenly asked: "Void, have those spies been killed?"

"Heavenly Emperor, the spies from the Gu Clan, Yan Clan, Lei Clan, and Medicine Clan have all been killed, leaving no traces behind. It's just that the spies from the Shi Clan and the Ling Clan..."

His words suddenly stopped, and a trace of panic appeared on his face. He hurriedly circulated his Soul Power to investigate the Soul imprint he had left on Ling Niu.

That was the imprint he used to control Ling Niu, but at this moment, he could not sense the existence of the imprint at all.

There were only two possibilities for this situation: either Ling Niu had been killed, and the imprint had dissipated with Ling Niu's death; or the imprint on Ling Niu had been forcibly erased, cutting off his connection with Ling Niu.

No matter which case it was, it meant that the spy, Ling Niu, had already been exposed.

Seeing the panicked reaction of Void Swallowing Flame, Hun Tiandi instantly guessed the answer.

The problem had indeed originated with the Ling Clan.

Presumably, the spy Ling Niu had been exposed, discovered, and dealt with by the Ling Clan. The Ling Clan had sensed something was wrong and went to other clans to verify, happening to encounter Void Swallowing Flame wiping out the Shi Clan, which led to the exposure.

A surge of anger instantly rose in Hun Tiandi's heart. He had clearly repeatedly instructed Void Swallowing Flame to kill all the spies and leave no future trouble, so why were his subordinates so stupid!

It was the same with the Xiao Family's ancient jade, and the same with the Ling Clan spy!

If he hadn't won over Zhu Kun, the losses for the Hun Clan would have been massive.

Hun Tiandi swore that if Void Swallowing Flame were not still useful, he would definitely have refined him for his incompetence.

"Go down and tend to your wounds first."

In the end, Hun Tiandi did not do anything to Void Swallowing Flame, nor did he offer a single word of reproach.

He merely ordered the clan to be sealed off and forbade the clansmen from going out.

Void Swallowing Flame needed to tend to his wounds, and he needed to as well.

Previously, he had intended to fully recover from his injuries before coming out of seclusion, but he had been awakened by Zhu Kun.

Immediately following that, one thing after another happened, and he had no opportunity to recover.

Now that the ambition of the Hun Clan had been exposed, to prevent targeting by the other Dou Di Clans, he decided to lie low for a period of time.

Ling Mie returned, and Ling Yuan briefly asked him about the results of the discussion.

After listening to Ling Mie's account, Ling Yuan understood clearly; it was just as he had expected, the various clans had not come up with any substantive measures at all.

This was quite consistent with human nature; apart from the Medicine Clan, the other clans did not believe they would become the next target of the Hun Clan, nor did they feel they would become meat on the chopping block.

They all only wanted to protect themselves and were unwilling to expend their own strength.

Ling Yuan secretly rejoiced. It was fortunate that he had taken down Zi Yan in advance and found a way to release Zhu Kun from the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Legacy grounds, getting the Taixu Ancient Dragon Clan to stand on the side of the Ling Clan.

Otherwise, the first target of the Hun Clan would have been the Ling Clan.

Even if the first target was not the Ling Clan but the Shi Clan.

If the Ling Clan had gone to seek help from other Dou Di Clans, there would have been no chance at all.

Those clans would only watch from the sidelines and would never offer help.

Without feeling the threat brought by the Hun Clan, these Dou Di Clans would not truly take action.

They even hoped that the Hun Clan would take action, so they could compete for the resources of the destroyed clan.

Thinking of this, Ling Yuan once again brought up the matter of the ancient jade:

"Father, it is no longer safe to keep our Ling Clan's Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Jade in the ancestral hall. Why don't we hand it over to Zhu Kun for safekeeping?"

He added: "If you keep it, I'm afraid Hun Tiandi will target you specifically. Losing the ancient jade is a small matter, but if you, Father, were to end up in danger, that would be terrible."