"Thousand souls to the Demon God!"
As the sound rang throughout the hall, everyone suddenly turned silent.
Jun Xie suddenly laughed, "Looks like a disciple got drunk too early."
Many gave a slight smile, ignoring the shout they looked at Xiao Ming, waiting for his reply.
...
On the other hand, Xiao Ming had already made his decision. He cupped his fists and said, "Thank you for the invitation, Senior Sister Yuan; however, I do not wish to join any leagues and only focus on self-cultivation. Even though your offer is one of the best a disciple could as for, however, I can only reject it."
Yuan Shuchun was surprised by his rejection.
She hadn't expected that he would reject such a lucrative chance.
'Am I gonna face the same situation as Jiang Yun? Getting rejected by everyone I invite?'
Thinking this, she turned towards Ye Tian Yun for an answer, who smiled and said, "Thank you for your invitation, Senior Sister; it's my lucky day to become a part of your Heavenly League."
"Ah, yes." Yuan Shuchun's smile returned on her face as she continued, "Welcome aboard, Junior disciple Fang Chen; I am glad that you saw the value of my invitation."
Clearly, her last words reeked of sarcasm, making Xiao Ming roll his eyes backward.
She then turned towards Jun Xie and asked, "Brother Jun, what should be done with this corpse? Since touching it would mean getting poisoned, and we can't let it rot here."
"Don't worry about that; everything will disappear slowly, including the poison."
Yuan Shuchun was surprised and confused by his response and asked, "Hmm? The corpse and the poison will disappear?"
"Indeed." Jun Xie nodded and continued, "Not only the corpse and the poison will disappear, but this whole area will also cleanse itself from any signs of poison."
"Fuu…" Yuan Shuchun let out a soft breath, "These assassins have a fate worse than death."
"Well, it was them who chose to be an assassin. And they are the ones who decide to bite the poison in their mouth. So, in a way, we can say that they knew about this fate." Jun Xie wasn't sympathetic at all; having dealt with enough assassins in his life, he was immune to such situations.
Yuan Shuchun nodded her head.
It was then a maid suddenly rushed into the hall from the side entrance.
She came to Yuan Shuchun and whispered something in her ears.
Yuan Shuchun's expression transformed from curiosity to shock and then to anger as he heard the maid's report.
After the maid had finished, Jun Xie couldn't help himself but asked Yuan Shuchun, "Junior Sister Yuan, what happened?"
Taking a deep breath, Yuan Shuchun said, "Senior Brother Jun, I am not the only one who suffered from an assassination attempt."
"What? Who else?" Jun Xie was shocked by this news.
Everyone focused attention on Yuan Shuchun as she replied, "Senior Brother Jiang Yun also faced assassination and is currently heavily injured."
"What!?" Loud exclamations rang throughout the hall as the disciples were shocked to hear this news.
Jiang Yun had just left the hall a few minutes prior and was now lying on his deathbed.
"Not only that, those darn assassins killed five of the seven disciples from the World League's entourage. The other two, which included Jiang Yun, were so injured that their survival chances are almost none. And the worst part - it all happened in the sect."
Yuan Shuchun was breathing heavily by the time she finished her words.
"What should we do now?" The cold-looking disciples beside her asked.
"You don't need to do anything; the elders will handle it now." Yuan Shuchun replied, then turning towards Jun Xie, she said, "We need to get to the Grand Meeting Hall right now and inform you about the incident which happened here."
"Yes," Jun Xie nodded, "Or else some might put the blame on us."
Yuan Shuchun nodded and then turned towards the disciples, who were still in shock, and said, "Everyone, unfortunately, we can't continue this banquet anymore. Please head back to your cultivation abodes and keep your vigilance high."
Just as she had said, someone burst into the hall, "No one needs to go anywhere."
This person seemed to be panting as if he was in so much rush that he depleted too much qi.
As soon as the disciples saw this person, everyone stood up.
"Grand Elder?" Yuan Shuchun was also surprised to see her butler objecting to her decision.
"Mis - cough - Disciple Yuan Shuchun, it's good that you're alright," With a pause, he then said, "Take your seats; it's good that everyone 's alright."
He then caught his breath and said, "Everyone. It's better to stay here. The assassins are still at large and may create more chaos while disciples get out of this building."
"Also, it's best if all the disciples are at one place; the load on the elders will ease off."
Suddenly he noticed a black liquid near the throne. With a shocked expression, he asked, "Is that-!?"
Yuan Shuchun nodded her head, "Yes, Grand Elder, there was one assassin in this hall too."
"What happened here? Did anyone get hurt?" Grand Elder asked, this time without slipping his tongue.
"No, luckily due to Senior Brother Jun and these two disciples, I am still breathing, or else, I can't even imagine what would have happened."
Grand Elder was shocked by her words and said, "Thank the heavens everything is alright here."
Jun Xie asked this time, "Grand Elder Xuan, is Brother Jiang alright?"
"No, he's heavily injured and may even take months to recover if he doesn't lose his cultivation tonight." Grand Elder pursed his lips as a worried expression appeared on his face.
His words shook everyone to the core.
Was the Gracious Sword Sect going to lose its best disciple tonight!?
"What should we do, Grand Elder Xuan?" Jun Xie was also now worried for his fellow disciple.
Even though they had been fighting a cold war and had been rivals to each other, the fact that one of them may not see the next sunrise was a depressing thought.
It was the same for Yuan Shuchun.. No matter how much she hated everyone who went against her, she was still a human and couldn't help but sigh at the fate of her fellow disciples.