Chapter 1701 - Mysteriously Disappearing
Although Yang Kai’s existence concerned Shang Ao a little, he didn’t spend too much thought on him.
The Sea Clan had always been arrogant, believing they were the noblest creatures in this world and that all other races should bow to them, especially the great masses of humans who infested the land.
The Sea Clan also had the qualifications to be arrogant. From birth, every Sea Clan clansman was innately proficient in Water Attribute Secret Arts and Martial Skills, unlike humans who the majority of which would never be able to cultivate and would die of old age or sickness before a hundred years had passed, forever remaining mortal.
This was Yang Kai’s first experience with the Sea Clan’s arrogance!
The glamorous woman standing next to Shang Ao looked down and lightly opened her lips, “Island Master Pang, this is not the first time this Mistress has met you, so we can reluctantly be considered acquaintances. Since that is the case, this Mistress will speak frankly. This time, an important person from my Sea God Palace has disappeared near your Sunrise Island and we have reason to suspect that the people of Sea Temple abducted them. As such, we have come here to ask Island Master Pang to return them to us.”
Although the woman tried her best to keep her tone stable, her slightly tense expression revealed her inner anxiety.
Pang Zhen naturally recognized this Sea Clan woman and frowned, “An important person from your Sea Clan? Who exactly?”
He was very curious about the identity of this missing Sea Clan clansman, and faintly felt that the other party’s status in the Sea Clan was definitely not low, likely a member of the royal family! Otherwise, Shang Ao and this woman would not have come here personally and displayed such an aggressive stance.
Regardless, he had to clarify the situation.
The woman, however, shook her head lightly and said in a pleasant tone, “Forgive me, but this Mistress cannot reveal this person’s identity.”
Pang Zhen sneered, “General Qian Mo, are you making a joke? Just based on your guess, Sea God Palace brings so many Origin Returning Realm masters to embarrass my Sunrise Island? Do you think my Sea Temple is so easy to bully?”
The woman named Qian Mo frowned and hesitated for a moment before saying, “It is not just this Mistress’ guess, Milady really did disappear near Sunrise Island, otherwise, we wouldn’t be here. “
Pang Zhen’s eyes narrowed upon hearing this response.
Qian Mo and Shang Ao were both among the eight Generals of Sea God Palace and had extremely high status. In the Sea Clan, there were not many people ranked higher than her, but she actually referred to this missing Sea Clan clansman as ‘Milady’.
Could it really be that a member of Sea God Palace’s royal family had gone missing near here? This was no small matter! Pang Zhen immediately realized the seriousness of the problem. If it was just some little-known Sea Clan clansmen that had disappeared, he could easily shirk responsibility; after all, he really wasn’t involved in this matter, but if the one who was missing was a royal, he had no choice but to handle things delicately.
If this matter was not processed properly, it would definitely trigger a war between the Sea Temple and the Sea God Palace! That was an outcome no one wanted to see.
After a long time of silent contemplation, Pang Zhen said with a solemn expression, “We have not discovered any Sea Clan near Sunrise Island recently, perhaps General Qian Mo is mistaken…”
Qian Mo quickly interrupted him, “If Island Master Pang will permit, this Mistress would like to search Sunrise Island. I wonder if you can accommodate this request!”
“Just a search?” Pang Zhen looked at her cautiously. Compared to the current situation, this request was not excessive. If the circumstances had been anything else, Pang Zhen would definitely not agree, but since this matter likely involved a member of the Sea Clan royal family, if he didn’t agree, it would likely set off the simple-minded Shang Ao and spark a great battle.
As such, Pang Zhen was debating making some concessions to ease the situation.
“Just a search!” Qian Mo assured, “This Mistress is very familiar with Milady, and if she really is on Sunrise Island, this Mistress will definitely sense her regardless of whether someone has tried to conceal her whereabouts!”
As she spoke these last words, Qian Mo’s eyes became cold and sharp.
It was conceivable that if things were as she guessed, Sunrise Island would run red with blood today.
Pang Zhen hesitated. With the other party acting so assured, he could not be certain of his judgment. Although he was the Island Master, with so many Sea Temple disciples living on Sunrise Island, if there really was some blind fool who secretly captured and brought back a Sea Clan…
“Alright, I accept your request!” Pang Zhen quickly decided. If this was a blessing, it was not a curse, and if it was a curse, it could not be avoided, so Pang Zhen could only pin his hopes on the Sea Clan being mistaken.
“Many thanks,” Qian Mo nodded, and in the next moment released her Divine Sense, spreading it out to sweep every piece of Sunrise Island.
Everyone waited quietly while hundreds of masters remained silent on the coast, even suppressing their breaths to the point where one could hear a pin drop.
Shang Ao wore a clear look of anxiety and the long scar on his face twitched noticeably, giving him an even more terrifying appearance. He glanced back and forth between Qian Mo and Pang Zhen repeatedly, his eyes wide open.
Only after a long silence did Qian Mo open her eyes once more.
Pang Zhen stared fixedly at her, waiting for her to speak.
“How is it?” Shang Ao also asked hastily.
Qian Mo showed a disappointed look on her face as she turned to Shang Ao and slowly shook her head, “She’s not here!”
“Impossible!” Shang Ao yelled, “She disappeared near Sunrise Island, how could she not be here! Something must be wrong… That’s right, could she have been transferred away by them? Sunrise Island has a Space Array and can connect to various Sea Temple islands…”
“Shang Ao, if you want to fight, just fight! Stop trying to make up excuses!” Pang Zhen exclaimed, this time, with much more confidence.
Shang Ao was already irritated, so when Pang Zhen’s words came out, they instantly set him off and he began to circulate the strength in his body.
Qian Mo quickly cut in, though, and said, “Island Master Pang, this Mistress and others were mistaken. I apologize for the trouble we have caused. This Mistress will definitely return to apologize in the future.”
Hearing her say so, a smile blossomed on Pang Zhen’s face.
The Sea Clan always looked down on Humans, so Qian Mo being able to make such an admission proved just how anxious she was, not even having the mind to keep up an air of arrogance. It did not really matter whether she came in the future to apologize, this concession alone was enough.
Pang Zhen was a worldly man and naturally knew how to take a win when he got one so he simply nodded and said, “Since that’s the case, this Pang won’t press this matter any further, you can see yourselves out!”
The Sea Clan did not say a word and quickly retreated, with only Shang Ao glaring back at Pang Zhen unwillingly before leaving, seemingly even more interested in fighting now so he could vent his frustrations.
After the Sea Clan retreated a few thousand kilometres, Pang Zhen deeply exhaled.
The other Elders on Sunrise Island also looked at each other and smiled bitterly as sweat dripped down their backs.
Regardless of their firm outward attitudes just now, and their refusal to back down, in truth, they all had their hearts up in their throats. With Sunrise Island’s current strength, it would not have been easy for them to resist two Sea Clan Generals and their subordinates.
Fortunately, this matter had been resolved perfectly, without any battle taking place.
“Island Master, what person did the Sea Clan lose? Why were Shang Ao and Qian Mo so anxious?” Someone asked from the side.
Pang Zhen silently signalled to the man, not immediately answering and instead turning to look at Yang Kai and saying with a smile, “Sect Master Yang, I’ve shown you something embarrassing. This Pang just received word from the temple’s headquarters that a representative will be here in three days. I hope Sect Master Yang will take a few days to enjoy the sights and scenes of Sunrise Island as he waits patiently.”
Yang Kai smiled lightly, “This Yang appreciates Island Master Pang’s hospitality, but from what I’ve seen, it seems your Sea Temple isn’t very interested in this Yang’s proposal.”
Pang Zhen opened his mouth but did not know how to explain.
Even from his perspective, Sea Temple’s response had been quite sloppy, so he could only let out a bitter laughter.
Fortunately, Yang Kai did not intend to embarrass him, so after saying a few casual words, Yang Kai simply returned to the courtyard Pang Zhen had arranged for him.
Since Sea Temple was not enthusiastic about his proposal, Yang Kai would not care about them and chose to instead focus on the Sea Clan.
Even Pang Zhen had to admit that the Sea Clan had an innate advantage when it came to collecting ocean resources and were able to acquire a larger amount of them than the Sea Temple. If the Sea Clan and High Heaven Sect could reach a cooperative relationship, it would certainly be more beneficial than one he could establish with Sea Temple.
However… it would certainly be difficult to work with the Sea Clan.
Unless he forced them to submit, there was probably no possibility of success.
In the middle of the night, Yang Kai opened his eyes suddenly and showed a thoughtful look as he stared off in a certain direction. Just now, he noticed that some of Sunrise Island’s masters, including Pang Zhen, had quietly left the island.
Immediately, he understood that Pang Zhen had gone to search for that important missing person from the Sea Clan!
If even Shang Ao and Qian Mo valued this individual so highly, their status must be quite extraordinary. If Pang Zhen could find this missing person first, it would undoubtedly become a great merit. At that time, it would be a simple matter to use this person to negotiate some kind of agreement with Sea God Palace, or simply ransomed for a large number of resources.
Yang Kai also knew that the masters from the Sea Clan had not left far from Sunrise Island, only moving about thirty thousand kilometres off.
They seemed to believe that their clansman had disappeared near Sunrise Island so they planned to conduct a thorough search of the area.
Yang Kai watched with interest, secretly wondering what kind of scene would appear if the two groups met one another.
However, this idea was obviously superfluous. Whether it was the cultivators of Sunrise Island or the cultivators from the Sea Clan, they both did their best to avoid one another.
Suddenly, an aura mysteriously disappeared from Yang Kai’s perception.
Before he could figure out what happened, another one disappeared, and then a third, then a fourth…
Within a very short period of time, dozens of auras disappeared strangely.
This was not anything like a cultivator’s aura fading after they died, but rather just completely vanishing in an instant!
Yang Kai was stunned.
He was now the Star Master of Shadowed Star, so it was not an exaggeration to say that as long as he wanted to, he could monitor the movement of any place he wanted to with perfect accuracy.
But now, he could not tell how dozens of powerful masters had disappeared from his view.
There did not seem to be any reason for their disappearance.
In fact, not even these peoples’ companions had noticed yet.
In the beginning, only those from the Sea Clan were disappearing, but then the masters of Sunrise Island also began to vanish one by one. By the time the remaining people discovered something was not right, it was already too late. Only a few of the original two hundred or so masters from both forces remained, and it was not long before these last few also vanished.
