Divine Blazing Mountain (II)

Although five minutes was a short time, the men all managed to make it in time. They stood still, without daring to utter a sound, and waited fearfully under Chen Wentian's gaze. They numbered about four thousand and included many old grandfathers and also young men who only barely started cultivating. There was a noticeable lack of any talented disciples who obviously all died. There was also a complete lack of women.

He extended his spiritual sense and found that all the wives and children were still hiding in their residences. There was a surprising number of women, outnumbering the men by at least three times.

Chen Wentian finished his inspection and spoke, "Men of Divine Blazing Mountain. I am Immortal Blue Dragon, Chen Wentian. Your sect master, Fen Jue, is dead. Fen Ziping is dead. Everybody sent to Red Bamboo Province is dead… But I didn't cause this. Fen Jue fought to the death against Murong Aiyin of Glacier Palace. The massive battle also led to the death of all Glacier Palace elders. As a result, I am now the administrator for both sects."

His statement was met with many frightened faces but also some skeptical looks. He noticed those expressions and frowned.

"I don't need you to believe me, only obey my commands. Obey my commands and I will not be unreasonable. Those that are indignant, feel free to disobey and see if Fen Jue can crawl out of the grave to save your life."

Many swallowed nervously, abandoning their thoughts of arguing against him. If their sect master was still alive, he would have already answered the emergency talismans that were sent off. The fact that there was no reply meant that this strange immortal probably spoke the truth.

"Now…" Chen Wentian continued, "As such and knowing the prior animosity between you and Glacier Palace, my first priority is to get to the bottom of this conflict and resolve it."

He looked at the most senior disciples that had gathered near him at the front, "Which one of you has been in charge?"

A group of five stepped forward and bowed stiffly. They were all average in terms of cultivation and getting along in age. The one in the lead looked about seventy. He wore rich red robes like an elder but he was out of shape and at the 8th Level of the Spirit Initiate Realm.

The leader looked up and said, "Sir immortal, my name is Fen Lin. I am the senior disciple in charge along with these other four senior disciples. Please command us."

"Fine, I will speak to you five. The rest of you are not allowed to move and you are not allowed to talk."

Chen Wentian beckoned them to follow and they went into a door that led to the sect master's private quarters. He led them into a small meeting room where Jasmine was…

"Oh, my heavens!"

"Wow!"

Chen Wentian heard a chorus of yells behind him and turned to see that the five old men had frozen in their tracks, their eyes bulging out in shock and awe. They weren't looking at him but at the other occupant in the room.

He slapped his forehead inwardly and realized his mistake. Jasmine was in her human form but she didn't wear a mask or a veil so her angelic beauty was on full display. Her appearance had shocked him silly the first time he saw her so the reaction from those five were understandable. Still, it didn't feel good to have other men ogle his disciple.

He channeled his spiritual force and harshly slapped each of their faces, causing them to stumble to the ground in a heap.

"Did I say you could look? Look again and I will rip off your heads!" Chen Wentian said angrily.

"I'm sorry, sir immortal!"

"Spare us!"

"We won't do it again!"

"Stay there and shut up. Keep your dirty eyes on the floor." Chen Wentian said.

He looked at Jasmine accusingly but she merely smiled at him. He sighed in exasperation, thinking about the hordes of men he would have to fight off in the future. If he also obtained Long Yifei, wouldn't it make his life even more difficult?

He sat beside Jasmine and said to the men, "Now, I need you to give me a general overview of the situation with the sect."

"Yes! The sect originally only had one hundred of our best disciples participating in the monster fighting competition along with about two hundred others as support. However, an operation started two months ago that eventually drew in an additional one thousand disciples. The sect master and elders were extremely secretive about the operation. Even the disciples sent eastward didn't know what they were going to do. We are useless senior disciples and we knew nothing! Whatever crimes our sect master may have committed, we knew nothing!"

The five of them started kowtowing, pleading their innocence.

"Fine, fine, shut up…" Chen Wentian muttered. "Tell me about the women."

"Thank you, sir!" Fen Lin looked much happier as he continued, "Divine Blazing Mountain is a family-oriented sect and all male disciples are relatives of the sect master. The women are all wives or daughters of the disciples. They cannot practice the Blazing Sun Art so they are responsible for daily chores instead of cultivating. The wives come from many different backgrounds, from peasant girls to daughters of rich and noble families. However, the largest singular source of women actually came from within our sect. They are the daughters of disciples… We have a lot of intermarriage between families and disciples. Incest is forbidden but marriage between first cousins is allowed. Sir, you'll find that everyone is related to each other in some way."

"Okay, what will happen to the wives of the sect master, elders, and disciples that have died?" Chen Wentian asked.

"Sir! We don't dare do anything to them. Their fates are in your hands!" Fen Lin cried quickly.

"I didn't mean that, I meant just normally. If a disciple died under normal conditions, what would happen to his wives?" Chen Wentian asked again.

"Ah, in that case… they will join another disciple's household, or perhaps one wife might join one disciple and another wife would join a different one."

Chen Wentian thought for a while and finally decided he needed to question the women himself. He turned to Jasmine, "Hey, stay here and keep an eye on these guys. If they dare look at you... you know what to do."

Jasmine laughed. "Fine."

Chen Wentian nodded and flew out of the room. He first circled the entire sect, closely studying the auras of each of the women. As expected, he found quite a few that had icy energy belonging to Glacier Palace. He wasn't really sure what he wanted to do with the sect but he decided to save these women first and figure things out later.