511: Qiu Jiang

"What is going on? It's been half a year and there's still not a single piece of news."

At this moment, the Kongming Domain had long since descended into chaos, with everyone scrambling desperately to find various countermeasures.

Over half a year had passed since Yuan Zhi and the other immortals had set off for the Xichen Domain.

For those in the Immortal Law Realm, half a year or even a year was merely the blink of an eye.

But the Immortal Law Realm experts who had gone there certainly weren't going for a retreat or a sightseeing trip.

With no news after such a long time, it was highly likely that something had happened.

If that were truly the case, it would undoubtedly be a major blow to the Kongming Domain.

First and foremost was Yuan Zhi, who was in the Immortal Law Realm Second Transformation; his importance to the Kongming Domain was far beyond just being a lifeline.

If something were to happen to him, the threat from external domains would increase significantly.

Every domain was, in fact, constantly being eyed covetously by other domains.

Just as the Kongming Domain kept its eyes on the Xichen Domain, the Kongming Domain itself was also being watched.

At this level of domain-versus-domain conflict, only those in the Immortal Law Realm Second Transformation could be the deciding factor.

One could only imagine what a massive loss it would be if Yuan Zhi were gone.

Secondly, for the five Immortal Law Realm First Transformation experts, their loss would undoubtedly be a devastating blow to their respective factions.

The internal factions of the Kongming Domain would be the first to face a major reshuffling.

If something really had happened, the one to suffer the most severe losses would be none other than the Qingtian Sect.

The status of the Qingtian Sect within the Kongming Domain was even far higher than that of the Zhengyuan Sect in the Xichen Domain.

All of this was because the Qingtian Sect had two experts in the Immortal Law Realm Second Transformation, and they were the only two in the entire Kongming Domain.

This time, the Qingtian Sect was set to lose one Immortal Law Realm Second Transformation expert and one Immortal Law Realm First Transformation expert; the loss was indeed the most severe.

But even so, with another Immortal Law Realm Second Transformation expert holding down the fort, the Qingtian Sect remained the strongest faction in the Kongming Domain.

Because of this, countless experts gathered at the Qingtian Sect, hoping to see if there was any definitive news.

At this moment, the strongest expert of the Qingtian Sect, the Grand Elder—Qiu Jiang, sat upright in the main seat.

Yuan Zhi was merely his junior, and in terms of strength, he was far superior to Yuan Zhi.

At the same time, Qiu Jiang was also a genuine expert in the mid-stage of the Immortal Law Realm Second Transformation.

In terms of cultivation alone, he was not inferior to Chang Qi of the Zhengyuan Sect, yet the two of them had never crossed paths.

Or rather, the people of the Kongming Domain still did not know the true strength of Chang Qi.

Because, in a certain sense, Chang Qi was a figure from the same era as Yuan Zhi.

Then why didn't they take over the Xichen Domain during the gap before Chang Qi broke through?

Because in this universe, his opponents were not limited to just the Xichen Domain.

There were other domains as well, so these Immortal Law Realm Second Transformation experts could not easily leave their posts.

Why were there so many alien races in the Xichen Domain? A large part of the reason was that there was no Immortal Law Realm Second Transformation expert holding it down at that time.

Furthermore, surrounding domains could all come over and trample it; it was chaotic!

Alien races were now weak, and most preferred to hide and survive in chaotic, remote, or alien-governed areas.

For example, in the current Kongming Domain, there were not many alien races living inside.

It wasn't because there weren't any before, but because Qiu Jiang had cleared them out after his breakthrough; Chang Qi simply hadn't bothered to do so.

In a domain, one must ensure there is always an Immortal Law Realm Second Transformation expert holding the fort to maintain stability and prevent invasion.

Otherwise, it was very likely that one would fail to conquer the external territory while one's own home base was stolen by others.

At that time, Yuan Zhi had not yet broken through, so Qiu Jiang had to stay behind to prevent his home from being stolen.

Otherwise, it would be meaningless to pick up a sesame seed only to drop a sesame seed; more importantly, even if the conquest went without a hitch, he alone could not guard two domains.

It wasn't until Yuan Zhi broke through that Qiu Jiang rekindled his intentions.

It was just a pity that during that very period, Chang Qi also successfully broke through.

This forced Qiu Jiang to pause his plans at the time.

But in his heart, his covetousness for the Xichen Domain had never been extinguished.

Because among the neighboring domains, the Xichen Domain was the closest and had the weakest foundation.

This time, the destruction of the two great human factions was more of an excuse or a trigger.

Even if it hadn't happened, Qiu Jiang would likely have chosen to act anyway, just a little later.

That was why Qiu Jiang had sent Yuan Zhi to the Xichen Domain to probe things out.

Why didn't he let Yuan Zhi stay while Qiu Jiang went himself? Because Qiu Jiang felt that Yuan Zhi might not be able to hold the fort.

In the end, there was a high probability that both the person and the territory would be lost.

It was different if Yuan Zhi went; with Qiu Jiang here, the territory could definitely be defended.

Moreover, he believed that no matter what, even if Yuan Zhi couldn't defeat Chang Qi, he wouldn't be so helpless as to not even have a chance to escape.

Everyone had broken through to the Immortal Law Realm Second Transformation around the same time; even if he was weaker, how much weaker could he really be?

Perhaps, it might even turn out that Chang Qi was not Yuan Zhi's match at all.

As it turned out, the two of them had indeed overthought this.

Judging by Chang Qi's performance during his battle with Chen De, even if Qiu Jiang had gone personally, he might not have necessarily won.

If Yuan Zhi went, there was a one hundred percent chance he would not return alive.

At this moment, Qiu Jiang knew very well that Yuan Zhi was already dead; he had died half a year ago.

Most other Immortal Law Realm experts would not leave behind items in their sects to determine whether they were dead or alive.

Because this was undoubtedly a vulnerability for them, and it made it inconvenient to run away at any time.

Besides that, there was another advantage: even if one truly died, there was no proof.

One's sect could still use the lingering prestige from when one was alive to continue being formidable, and outsiders would remain wary.

And it wouldn't reveal any flaws, because I really don't know if I'm dead or not.

Furthermore, most of them were the only Immortal Law Realm experts in their respective factions, so no one could command or force them.

Therefore, for the factions that sent Immortal Law Realm experts other than those from the Qingtian Sect, there was simply no way to judge the status of their own experts.

But Qiu Jiang was different; he held the items that could determine the life or death of all the Immortal Law Realm experts in the Qingtian Sect, including that of the Immortal Law Realm Second Transformation expert, Yuan Zhi.

He knew very clearly that Yuan Zhi and Mo Li had already kicked the bucket half a year ago.

As for the other four Immortal Law Realm experts, with even Yuan Zhi gone, was there any need to ask about their fate?

It was obvious, wasn't it!

But Qiu Jiang did not release this news; the Kongming Domain was currently at its weakest, and he did not want to affect the morale of the troops.

If certain factions from external domains found out, while it wouldn't be enough to shake the foundations of the Kongming Domain, it could still cause considerable trouble.

This included the Qingtian Sect itself; its ability to rule and its influence would also drop significantly, though not too much—it just wouldn't be as high as before.

And the factions currently deliberating here would instantly start fighting each other.

At this moment, countless experts below were still arguing, but those arguing were mainly from the factions that had sent their Immortal Law Realm experts away.

Because they had no Immortal Law Realm expert backing them up, their words were loud but lacked substance.

Conversely, the factions that still had their Immortal Law Realm experts were much calmer.

Because at least for now, they hadn't suffered much in the way of losses.