Son-in-law Heaven Emperor Xiao Yi-Chapter 436: Someone Else?

Xiao Yi reattached the broken wings of the Ice Phoenix.

All the people landed on the back of the Ice Phoenix, and its huge wings beat fiercely as they soared straight into the clouds.

Although the Ice Phoenix was master of ice and snow, its body was extremely warm.

The blue feathers all over its body were exceptionally soft, making it quite comfortable to sit on. As the Ice Phoenix flapped its wings and rose, its tail, dozens of yards long, trailed behind in the air, creating a faint blue light.

A moment later,

it blended into the storm and disappeared from sight.

Riding on the back of the Ice Phoenix, everyone felt warm as the biting winds and heavy snow could not come close.

Whoosh!

The dazzling sunlight burst down through the thick wind and snow and the clouds above.

Reflected by the sunlight, the snow atop the mountain peaks shimmered with a faint golden glow.

Like a golden summit.

In the center of the golden summit was a cave where the Ice Phoenix flapped its wings through the void and settled down. The cave was also quite warm and without any strange odors, not like the dwelling place of a monster.

Ding, ding, ding!

A series of crisp sounds rang out, and Xiao Yi and the others were startled to see a group of humans carving the rock walls inside the cave.

The entire cave was dazzling with gold, like a palace.

"What is this..."

Shen Mo looked around bewildered, at the rock walls carved with countless images of the Ice Phoenixes.

It controlled the wind and rain, bringing peace to the ice fields.

It oversaw the snowy mountains, preventing avalanches from destroying the world of men.

Looking at these murals, where was the Ice Phoenix just a beast? It was clearly a divine beast, guarding the ice fields, a deity protecting the countless creatures of the ice fields!

Xiao Yi looked at the Ice Phoenix with a strange expression, "Did you have them carve these murals?"

The Ice Phoenix showed a human-like embarrassment and shook its head, "They did this voluntarily!" After a pause, the Ice Phoenix continued, "Most of these people were lost in the snowy mountains and I saved them."

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"Saved them?"

Xiao Yi was startled and frowned, "Do you mean to say you saved these people? Are you not the one who took them from the village?"

Yang Ling also frowned, "In the past few months, there have been continuous slaughters in the villages on the ice fields. Are you saying that has nothing to do with you?"

"You better come clean, we have witnesses who saw you taking people from the Luo Family Village half a month ago. Surely you haven’t eaten those people, have you?" Shen Mo added.

"It’s a misunderstanding, sirs..."

The Ice Phoenix hurriedly explained, "I have lived in the great snowy mountains since I was born, preying on the beasts in the mountains, never on humans. Not to mention descending to slaughter villages..."

"Never eaten humans?"

"So, are you saying the tragedies on the ice fields have nothing to do with you?" Yang Ling frowned.

"A month ago a mysterious person came to the snowy mountains; after he injured me, I’ve been healing all this time and couldn’t possibly go out!"

The Ice Phoenix said with a look of grievance, "The humans you spoke of half a month ago came to the snowy mountains on their own, and since I happened upon them, I brought them back. Now they’re in the cave, carving statues for me! If you don’t believe me, you’re welcome to ask them!"

Xiao Yi and the others exchanged glances.

The Ice Phoenix did not seem to be lying.

Xiao Yi promptly found a few villagers, who showed no fear of the Ice Phoenix; instead, they showed respect and gratitude from the depths of their hearts.

Upon hearing Xiao Yi’s inquiry about the village massacres and the Ice Phoenix,

the villagers unanimously declared the Ice Phoenix’s innocence: "Gentlemen, the Phoenix has not lied, she would never consume humans!"

"I’ve been with the Phoenix for thirty years and have never seen her eat a person!"

Everyone was perplexed.

If not the Ice Phoenix, then who was the real culprit?

At that moment...

Someone from Luo Family Village whispered, "S-sirs, I, I know who the killer is..."

"Hmm?"

Xiao Yi looked at the person.

He was a youth of about eighteen or nineteen, looking nervous as he stepped forward and said, "I am Luo Rou from Luo Family Village. Half a month ago, our villagers were chased by those monstrous beasts that slaughtered our village, which is why we fled into the great snowy mountains..."

"Monstrous beasts chased you?"

"Do you know what kind of monstrous beasts they were?" the crowd asked.

The youth shook his head, "It was dark at the time, and I couldn’t see clearly what they looked like. However, I know that those beasts were controlled by someone. I heard that person mention something about the north..."

"The north? Could it be someone from Sword Dynasty?"

Yang Ling’s face turned grave as he said in a deep voice, "Damn it, if it’s really someone from Sword Dynasty causing trouble, then this matter is probably not as simple as we thought!"

Xiao Yi pondered for a moment, eyeing the cave dwelling of the ice and snow phoenix, and spoke solemnly, "Regardless of whether you are the culprit or not, you must come with us. If it turns out you are indeed not the killer, I will naturally let you go..."

"Alright..." the ice and snow phoenix resignedly drooped its head.

Xiao Yi looked at the villagers in the cave, "If you wish to leave this place, you are welcome to come down the mountain with us!"

"No, no need!"

"It’s warm in winter and cool in summer here, plus we can cultivate ice rice. We’d rather stay here!"

"Right, if we go back, we’d have to buy ice rice from the Gu Family Fort. Here, we can live in abundance. We choose to stay, but sirs, please don’t harm Lord Phoenix. It truly is a good monstrous beast..."

Seeing that everyone chose to stay and kept pleading on behalf of the ice and snow phoenix, Xiao Yi looked at the ice and snow phoenix with some surprise.

This fellow is quite interesting!

A monstrous beast could earn such heartfelt adoration from so many people; Xiao Yi’s suspicion of it lessened quite a bit, saying, "Don’t worry. If it is proven that this creature is not responsible for the incident, I will certainly not mistreat it!"

Then...

The crowd rode the ice and snow phoenix, flying toward Northern Bing City.

They had to bring back the news they’d gathered to Northern Bing City. Since the matter might be related to Sword Dynasty, there must be a bigger secret lurking behind it.

Action must not be taken rashly.

They must notify General Yan and take extra precautions!

Only...

When Xiao Yi and his group reached Northern Bing City, they were not greeted with celebratory welcome but with cold sharpness.

At the top of the city walls.

Hundreds of feathered arrows were all aimed at them.

Yang Ling’s face changed drastically as he shouted, "I am Yang Ling; this is Xiao, the head of the Xiaoshanhe Institute, with high disciples Shen Mo from Ten Thousand Beasts Sect and Bai Xue from Feixue Temple. We have come to see General Yan Wei with important military intelligence. Won’t you open the gates?"

"General Yan has ordered that if Yang Ling and Xiao return, you and your party are to be taken to the prefectural lord’s mansion!" the soldiers guarding the city said coldly, their eyes filled with ice and disdain while looking at Xiao Yi and others.

Xiao Yi’s expression darkened slightly, "Something isn’t right!"

"It seems like they hold a deep grudge against us? What on earth happened?" Shen Mo also said with a worried face.

Yang Ling spoke in a deep voice, "No matter what, let’s go in and see first!"

Then...

The crowd landed on the ground.

Clang clang clang!

Immediately, thousands of soldiers approached, standing at the ready, surrounding the four of them tightly in the middle.

A deputy approached and said in a deep voice, "Your Highness, Xiao, no offense intended!"

Xiao Yi nodded, "Lead the way, General!"

They walked towards the prefectural lord’s mansion. Along the way, many citizens stared at them, pointing and whispering. Their looks and gestures were as if they were viewing incredibly nefarious characters, with words that were even less pleasant to hear...