Chapter 489: The Ling Clan Incident

Central Plains.

Six months had passed since the Heavenly Court first attacked the Earth and Man Halls. Even after six months, many people were still interested in that event.

Although neither short nor long, these six months brought many changes to the Central Plains.

In the fifth month after the destruction of the Earth Hall and the Man Hall, the Hall of Souls, which had been quiet for a while, finally retaliated against the Heavenly Court Alliance for destroying its branches. A third of the Alliance's cities were targeted.

The Heavenly Court didn't back down in the face of the Hall of Souls' aggressive attacks. They too mobilized their forces to counterattack.

The two superpowers clashed aggressively in less than a month. Except for the top-tier forces, which did not engage directly, both sides essentially fought ruthlessly. Although there were significant casualties on both sides, a decisive battle had yet to be fought.

After all, the current Heavenly Court was no longer what it had once been. With the support of the Ancient Void Dragon Tribe, even the Chief of the Hall of Souls didn't have the guts to attack the Alliance headquarters directly. Who knew if some powerful experts from the Ancient Void Dragon Tribe would appear out of nowhere and surround them?

Furthermore, although the Ancestor of the Pill Tower was not present in Holy Pill City, he had intervened when the Hall of Souls had attacked the city before. This was an indication that he had been secretly monitoring the situation around the Pill Tower. This was also the Pill Tower's confidence before the Alliance was formed.

It was impossible to engage the top-level forces, and the mid- to low-level forces were not quite able to handle the situation either. The Heavenly Court now spanned five regions and had a vast array of forces at its disposal. Relying on the Hall of Souls alone was no longer enough to strike fear into the Alliance.

The high-tier alchemists of the Pill Tower, including the two young alchemy geniuses Cao Ying and Dan Chen, as well as the remaining alchemists of the Small Pill Tower, formed the backbone of the Heavenly Court. The rewards they offered were enough to make the remaining Alliance members feel brave and willing to give their all when it came to fighting.

Due to these various factors, not only did the Heavenly Court Alliance not fall behind in large-scale conflicts with the Hall of Souls, but they also showed subtle signs of gaining the upper hand.

As a result, the prestige of the Heavenly Court Alliance had truly reached its peak in the Central Plains. There had never been a force capable of such an outstanding performance when facing the Hall of Souls.

Those who had been waiting to see how the Heavenly Court would deal with the Hall of Souls' retaliation couldn't help but be astonished. The dominant position of the Hall of Souls in the Central Plains was beginning to shift to the newly formed "Heavenly Court Alliance"!

A few well-informed individuals knew that the Heavenly Court was becoming the outright overlord of the entire continent, with countless forces joining them.

As the leader of the Heavenly Court, Xiao Ming's influence began to grow once again.

In the midst of the conflict between the Heavenly Court and the Hall of Souls, there were in fact members of the Hun Clan who were providing assistance to the Hall of Souls. Hun Mie Sheng's call for help from his clan was not entirely ineffective, but its impact was limited.

Although some of the clan's experts were covertly involved, they didn't give the Hall of Souls an overwhelming advantage. Their involvement only helped to maintain the ongoing conflict between the Hall of Souls and the Heavenly Court.

Hun Mie Sheng was far from satisfied with the current situation. Upon his return to his clan, he was severely reprimanded. Moreover, Xiao Ming's rapid growth had made him a thorn in the side of the Hall of Souls. If Xiao Ming was not dealt with, it would be a source of constant concern to him.

Of course, with his knowledge of the Hun Clan's millennium-long plan, and seeing that his proposal to completely annihilate the Heavenly Court had yielded no results, he decided to propose a duel agreement with the Heavenly Court instead.

As Hun Mie Sheng made efforts in this regard, a piece of news broke in the Central Plains, causing quite a stir.

The protagonist of this news was the Ling Clan, one of the Ancient Clans.

It turned out that some experts from the Ling Clan's subordinate forces had recently noticed that their superiors from the Ling Clan had been absent for a very long time. Coupled with the current chaotic situation in the Central Plains, they decided to send people to check on their realm.

When these experts went to investigate, they were astonished to find that the Spirit Realm was now eerily deserted. There was not a single soul in sight, and even the descendants of the Ling Clan had vanished without a trace.

Staring at the empty and lifeless realm, the experts were stunned. Soon after, an eerie chill crept up from their feet to their foreheads.

The situation was incredibly bizarre. Considering the descendants of the Ling Clan, there were at least millions of people in the Spirit Realm. Yet, how could so many people vanish into thin air like that?

This news quickly spread throughout the Central Plains and had a greater impact than even the ongoing conflict between the Hall of Souls and the Heavenly Court.

This news also reached the ears of the other Ancient Clans, no doubt causing a great shock.

The Ancient Clans couldn't sit still either, so they immediately sent some experts to the Spirit Realm.

However, no matter how they searched, not a single member of the Ling Clan could be found. It was as if the Ling Clan had completely and utterly disappeared, as if they were ghosts that had vanished without leaving a trace behind.

The Ling Clan, like the other Eight Ancient Clans, had declined in recent years, but as the saying went, even a starving camel was bigger than a horse. Despite its gradual decline, the Ling Clan managed to maintain its place among the superpowers of the Central Plains.

If it was an extermination, looking at the Central Plains, it would be a challenge for even mighty powers like the Gu Clan to silently wipe out an entire clan without anyone noticing.

Of course, apart from the annihilation theory, there was also speculation that the Ling Clan as a whole had moved to a newly created realm.

However, this large-scale migration was obviously impossible to hide from the peak experts in the Central Plains. Even they hadn't sensed any such movement. Given the strength of the Ling Clan, how could they secretly relocate their millions of descendants?

Regardless of the speculations, the disappearance of the Ling Clan caused a huge stir in the Central Plains, with various factions constantly speculating about the cause.

While the outside world was guessing at random, the Ancient Clans themselves were experiencing significant disagreements over the matter.

These Ancient Clans had a comparative understanding of each other, but they were not exactly allies. They were more like frenemies. After all, these clans had attacked each other in the past when they were all powerful, so they couldn't be considered close allies.

While outsiders were puzzled by this event, the Ancient Clans had their own speculations. A long time ago, a great war broke out between the Eight Ancient Clans, and the cause of this war was the Tou She Ancient God Jade!

The last legacy of a Dou God expert, it was said to contain the secret to entering the Dou God realm. The Eight Ancient Clans fought fiercely over this secret and eventually divided the intact Tou She Ancient God's Jade into eight pieces, one for each clan.

Hence... some speculated that the disappearance of the Ling Clan might have been the work of someone from the Ancient Clans. Their goal could be to get their hands on the piece of Tou She Ancient God's Jade that the Ling Clan was holding!

However, after this speculation was raised, it was met with skepticism. Although the Ling Clan had declined, their heritage was still present. To secretly wipe out their entire clan without anyone noticing, perhaps only two of the remaining six clans had the potential to do so.

And those two were the Gu Clan and the Hun Clan!