Caught Red-Handed

The Four Thieves of Juxuan Island glared balefully at Xiao Xinghai, killing intent surging within them. "Who on earth are you?! Where is the dragon pearl?!" Xiao Xinghai was even more baffled. What dragon pearl? Who were these four, and where even was he? The Four Thieves of Juxuan Island grew increasingly furious. They had painstakingly prepared for a hundred years just to steal the dragon pearl, only to find that after stealing it, someone had swapped it out! It had to be that fellow surnamed Liu! "Still playing dumb? Die!" Although their cultivation had dropped, they were still at the Soul Formation stage. Not to mention, Xiao Xinghai was severely injured and could barely stand. Having no clue what was happening, Xiao Xinghai could only watch innocently as the four attacked. The instant their strikes landed on him, one of Xiao Xinghai's hairs suddenly erupted with an abyssal black light. As the peerless prodigy of the Kunpeng Clan, boasting cultivation talent unsurpassed in all of clan history, how could he possibly lack life-saving measures? This hair was actually one of Venerable Black Feather's feathers, primed to manifest the moment Xiao Xinghai encountered danger. "Aaargh—!" Swept by the black light, the four from Juxuan Island perished instantly, their breaths extinguished. *** Meanwhile, having received clues, the Dragon Clan split into two groups to track down Lu Yang's group of four and the Four Thieves of Juxuan Island. "Those four Soul Formation cultivators left carrying a coffin?" A Dragon Clan elder sneered. Did they really think they could escape like that? "After them!" Leading a massive force, the Dragon Clan elder flew out of the Sea Market in grand fashion and questioned the schools of fish near the market to find out where the four had gone. This was his innate talent: he was born with the ability to communicate with ordinary, non-sentient fish. Having gathered intel from the fish, they assumed their true forms. Dozens of true dragons soared over the sea's surface, exuding a terrifying aura. "It's this island!" When they arrived, they saw Xiao Xinghai lying in the coffin drenched in blood, gasping for breath, so utterly weakened that he couldn't even stand. The four Soul Formation thieves lay collapsed on the ground, their blood pooling everywhere. Seeing this scene, the dragons were deeply shaken. *This man fought a bloody battle and slew all four thieves—he is a hero of the Dragon Clan!* The dragons landed. Some verified the identities of the four Soul Formation cultivators, while most crowded around Xiao Xinghai, praising his heroic feat. Xiao Xinghai's mind went completely blank. *I was just lying in a coffin! Someone opened the lid and tried to kill me, the ancestor's feather struck back, and now I'm somehow a hero of the Dragon Clan?!* *Where the heck did Lu Yang and the others go?* *** Lu Yang and his three companions were heading off with the Ancestral Dragon Grass to find the black-robed dragon, but halfway there, Lu Yang called a halt. "Hold on a second." "What's wrong?" "If we hand the goods over to the dragon elder, what if he reneges on the deal and runs off while we're heading back to carry the coffin?" "He's masked, so we won't even be able to identify him." "Good point. So do we just bring the coffin straight to him?" "Right." The four turned around and headed back toward the chamber of commerce. Inside the chamber of commerce, Deacon Liu had finished his business and was no longer at the front desk, having left another subordinate to tend the counter. "Hello, we're here to retrieve a coffin. We checked it in three days ago, and deposited three hundred spirit stones back then." Meng Jingzhou produced a receipt slip, issued previously by Deacon Liu. The clerk took the slip and checked it against the registry. After verifying that everything was in order, the clerk searched for quite a while before finally finding the coffin covered in black cloth. Receiving the black-cloth-covered coffin, Lu Yang and the others thought to themselves that the chamber of commerce was quite thoughtful.