Chapter 2232: The Vicissitudes Of Life
For the time being, the situation was favorable to Lu Yin. He hoped to encourage hostilities between the four ruling powers for as long as possible while doing his best to not be caught.
Long Tian quietly said, "If Sect Master Xia Xing was lured out by Yu Hao, then what about you, Uncle? It’s possible that the Celestial Frost Sect will find a way to lure you out as well."
Wang Zheng shook his head. "There's nothing that can make me leave."
However, the moment the man spoke, all three people instantly thought of the same person.
"Wang Xiaofan."
"Wang Xiaofan."
"Xiaofan."
The three men glanced at each other. They all knew that if anyone could lure Wang Zheng out at this moment, it could only be Wang Xiaofan.
Wang Zheng dearly loved Wang Xiaofan. The patriarch’s son had not originally been named Wang Xiaofan, but on the day of his birth, Progenitor Wang Fan had appeared. He had liked the baby and asked for his name to be Wang Xiaofan. Without the Progenitor’s request, no one would ever dare to use the name Wang Xiaofan.
The moment Wang Xiaofan's name had been announced, he had instantly become the most important person in the entire Wang family. After all, he had been named by the family’s Progenitor himself, which meant that he already had a close connection to a Progenitor. There was a very high possibility that Wang Xiaofan would eventually become the family’s patriarch.
On top of that, Wang Zheng loved his son a great deal.
If anything happened to Wang Xiaofan, it would be impossible for Wang Zheng to safely remain hidden in the Wang family’s headquarters.
"Come! Tell me where Xiaofan has been recently!" Wang Zheng shouted.
Someone quickly entered the room and reported everywhere that Wang Xiaofan had done over the past year, as well as his current location. There were always powerhouses surrounding Wang Xiaofan to keep him safe. Whenever he left Virtue Archives, those protectors would follow him. Of course, there were no bodyguards within Virtue Archives, as Headmaster Wen did not allow any of the students to have protectors within the academy grounds.
For the most part, Wang Xiaofan had stayed within Virtue Archives during the last year. There was nothing that stood out, with the sole exception of something that had started two days ago. Wang Zheng's expression fell when he heard this last bit of news.
For the past two days, people had been antagonizing Wang Xiaofan and trying to lure him out from Virtue Archives, calling for him by name to spar with them. The people had been loud and extremely insulting.
The Wang family would not normally pay any attention to such a thing, but the current situation was different. Xia Xing had disappeared during his trip to the Middle Realm to visit Yu Hao. If the Celestial Frost Sect was behind it as Shenwu's Sky suspected, then it was possible that they were also targeting Wang Xiaofan in an attempt to lure Wang Zheng out.
"Uncle, someone is obviously targeting Xiaofan," Long Tian immediately said.
Lu Yin also interjected. "Wang Xiaofan is being used to lure you out, Senior. The person challenging Wang Xiaofan will definitely have no connections to the Celestial Frost Sect, as they’ll make sure to keep themselves completely separate from this matter. However, as soon as you move out, Senior, the Celestial Frost Sect will have endless plans in place to deal with you."
Wang Zheng immediately ordered a message be sent to Wang Xiaofan, telling the young man to not take even half a step out of Virtue Archives. As for Wang Zheng, he instantly started making plans to go visit the Celestial Frost Sect.
Lu Yin was afraid that the man would actually attack the Celestial Frost Sect.
Wang Zheng softly said, "I'm not stupid. I know that it won’t be easy to stop them, but I also know that Long Ke won’t easily give up what he knows. I’ll go now and take him away. We should still have time."
"Uncle, aren't you worried that the Celestial Frost Sect will attack you?" Long Tian was quite concerned. Of course it was not that he was worried about Wang Zheng himself. Rather, if anything did happen to the Wang family’s patriarch, it needed to happen after Long Ke was rescued.
Wang Zheng replied, "I’ll be publicly and openly going to visit the Celestial Frost Sect, and I’ll be sending a report to my ancestors as well. Who would dare to move against me?"
The man then immediately left and made his way towards the Celestial Frost Sect.
As for Lu Yin and Long Tian, they both stayed behind.
"I hope that Patriarch Wang Zheng can save your father," Lu Yin said with apparent sympathy.
Long Tian still looked quite upset.
Before leaving, Wang Zheng gave orders for the Wang family to treat both “Xia Yuan” and Long Tian as honored guests.
Given the fact that he was finally in the Wang family’s headquarters, Lu Yin naturally wanted to take a look around.
The Wang family’s headquarters could not be considered large to an Envoy, but that was because they were able to travel through the void and the true universe. However, for an ordinary human, let alone traversing the entire landmass, they would not even be able to cross a single lake in an entire lifetime.
Lu Yin was visiting as a guest, so it was a given that certain places were off limits. He was only given access to the public areas.
"What's up ahead?" Lu Yin asked. He was currently in a random corner of the landmass, and he could not clearly see what was in front of him. Anything off in the distance was blurry, as there was some invisible power blocking the way.
The member of the Wang family who had been given the task of hosting “Xia Yuan” during his stay replied, "My Wang family’s homeland produces some special ores. Up ahead are our mines."
Lu Yin nodded. "So that's what it is."
He was posing as Xia Yuan, so he did not dare to ask too many questions, as a single mistake could easily expose him.
The four ruling powers all understood each other. Given Xia Yuan's status, if a special ore was mined in the Wang family’s headquarters, then it would be impossible for him to not know of it. If Lu Yin asked further questions, his escort would definitely start to get suspicious.
Lu Yin would never underestimate the four ruling powers, so he did not dare to reveal even the tiniest flaw.
However, just as he was about to move away, he saw a familiar figure. Was that… Xiao Can?
Lu Yin was staring at a group of people who were digging in the ground far away. They were quite packed together, and he estimated there to be about a million people. The only reason why Lu Yin had noticed Xiao Can was because the man was currently being beaten.
Lu Yin lifted a foot and was just about to head over, but his escort quickly stopped him. "Senior, our patriarch asked this junior to show you around our home, but this place is not open to you."
There was actually no need for the man to say anything, as Lu Yin had already intended to stop. He had felt a chill, indicating that some sort of danger was ahead of him. If he moved closer, he would likely be in trouble.
They were only mining ore, but the area was protected with defensive measures that felt dangerous to even Lu Yin. This was highly unusual.
"Can you bring that person out here for me to speak with?" Lu Yin pointed at Xiao Can.
The escort grew embarrassed.
Lu Yin's expression fell. "Are you trying to tell me that I can’t even speak with a mere miner?"
"All this junior can do is submit a request," the escort replied.
Lu Yin waved impatiently, and the man ran off to send a request to someone else.
The man soon returned, and he asked "Xia Yuan" to wait where he was while the escort entered the mining area to retrieve Xiao Can. As the escort entered the restricted area, Lu Yin felt the same chill as before. It felt as though someone was staring at him, and it made his hair stand on end.
Lu Yin's eyes darted about, but there was nothing to be seen. After a moment, he quietly watched as Xiao Can was brought out.
Xiao Can was holding onto a shoulder that clearly was giving him a great deal of pain. He had just been badly beaten. If he had not survived the rear battlefield, he would not have been able to endure the severity of the beating just now.
When Xiao Can arrived and saw Xia Yuan’s face, the man felt quite confused, as he had no idea whom he was meeting.
"Senior, do you know this person?" the escort asked "Xia Yuan." When he saw that the honored guest’s expression was growing dangerous, the man quickly continued to say, "Please don't get upset, Senior. These miners that my Wang family uses are never allowed to leave this place alive, regardless of their past or connections. This is why my Wang family keeps records of everything related to these prisoners. Please don't take any offense, Senior."
Lu Yin grew increasingly curious. What could be so important about these miners? Still, he stopped asking questions and instead focused on Xiao Can, who was staring back at Xia Yuan’s face in absolute confusion.
"You don't remember me?" Lu Yin asked.
Xiao Can shook his head. "Have we met?"
The man’s voice sounded much hoarser than when Lu Yin had last spoken with him on the rear battlefield. On top of that, Xiao Can looked quite different. He had looked like a young man before, but he was a middle-aged man now. It looked like it was impossible for Xiao Can to stand straight, and Lu Yin also noticed that the man’s cultivation had not improved at all. He looked incredibly miserable.
Lu Yin replied in a light tone, "We met on the second array base. I was there with General Xia Yan."
Xiao Can's eyes went wide. "The second array base? I only ever went there once."
Lu Yin nodded. "You went there to give the Root of Intelligence to the Lu family’s Lu Xiaoxuan. I saw you after that meeting with the general. If I remember correctly, you’re Xiao Can, correct?"
Xiao Can's eyes dimmed. He had thought that he was about to meet an old friend, possibly one who could save him, or at the very least, provide him with a bit of comfort. Unexpectedly, he had run into someone else from the four ruling powers. "You should be part of the Xia family. What do you want from me?"
"Why are you here?" Lu Yin asked.
The brows rose on the escort’s face next to Lu Yin, but the man did not interrupt.
Xiao Can laughed in a self-deprecating manner. "Why am I here? It’s for your four ruling powers’ benefit, of course."
Lu Yin grew puzzled. "What do you mean?"
Xiao Can looked at Lu Yin, and Lu Yin could see sarcasm and powerful hatred concealed deep in the man’s eyes. "Why are you asking about this? I’ve already had every last bit of value wrung out of me by the Wang family. As far as they’re concerned, the only thing that I’m still good for is mining. I’m worthless to your Xia family, so there’s no need to waste your time on me."
Lu Yin could not help but glance over at his escort.
The man's eyes were a bit cold, as he clearly did not care for Xiao Can's attitude. The prisoner would be disciplined again after returning to the mines.
"Senior, this man refuses to learn from us, and talking to him is just a waste of time. Why not just throw him back?" the escort asked.
Lu Yin frowned. "My conversation has nothing to do with you."
The man from the Wang family stopped speaking, but his eyes grew even colder when he looked back at Xiao Can.
Lu Yin also returned his attention to Xiao Can. "I'm simply curious. Why did you end up here when you were discharged from the rear battlefield?? Did you do something to offend the Wang family?"
Xiao Can snorted in an exhausted manner. "Don’t be ridiculous. All four ruling powers are the same. No matter what, I’ll die of old age in this place, so it really doesn’t matter if I speak to you or not."
Xiao Can then turned around and started walking back towards the mining area.
"Maybe I can help you," Lu Yin suddenly called out.
Xiao Can hesitated.
The expression on the escort’s face instantly changed. "Senior, he works as a miner for my Wang family. All of our miners here are forbidden from ever leaving. They will live and die in this place. Senior, please do not try to interfere."
Lu Yin frowned. "He’s just a miner. I’ll talk to Senior Wang Zheng and ask him to let this man go. Besides, he’s no longer worth anything to your Wang family."
"No matter if he’s worth anything or not, it’s impossible for him to ever leave this place. Such a thing has never happened before, which you should already know." The escort was starting to get rather curt with Lu Yin. If they were anywhere else, the man would not dare to speak to Xia Yuan in such a tone, as the escort was just an Enlighter. But here, in the Wang family’s homeland, things were different. On top of that, Lu Yin had just requested something that the escort believed to be impossible, so he felt that refusing without reporting the request would not be an issue.
Lu Yin became more curious than ever, and he slowly replied, "I know your Wang family’s rules, but few rules can never be bent or broken."
The escort frowned, but he remained silent. No matter what, no miner would ever be allowed to leave.
Xiao Can turned back to look at Lu Yin. The man’s eyes flickered, though Lu Yin could not tell what the man was thinking.
"Talk to me. Maybe I can help you," Lu Yin repeated.
This time, the escort remained silent. There was no reason to argue with this person from the Xia family who was overstepping their bounds. Not even Shenwu’s Sky’s sect master could take any of the miners away from the Wang family’s homeland.
Xiao Can stared at Lu Yin. "Why would you help me?"
Lu Yin replied, "I never said that I would help you, just that I might be able to. I’m simply curious about why you’re here. If I remember correctly, you traded a Root of Intelligence to be discharged from the rear battlefield."
Xiao Can smiled and shook his head. "Like I already told you, the Wang family has wrung out every last bit of value from me. They took everything from me, including my hidden Root of Intelligence. If that’s what you want in exchange for helping me, too bad."
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