Chapter 2122: Chapter 2159: Absolute Advantage

Listening to Lord Chi Yan’s words, Ding Fan still appeared bewildered as he said to Chi Huo, "Lord Chi Yan, you must have mistaken me. I did enter the Sirius Ancient Tomb but got lost inside, and I never received the legacy of the Sirius Elder, so I am not your Young Master!"

"Hmm? Are you sure you didn’t receive the Sirius Elder’s legacy?"

Chi Yan’s smile vanished, and he frowned as he questioned Ding Fan, seemingly puzzled as well by the situation.

"Of course, how could I dare deceive you, my lord? Many people in the Skeleton Sect know about this incident. At the time, I met with the former Skeleton Sect Master inside the Sirius Ancient Tomb. He recognized me as his sworn brother, but only after he accidentally triggered a mechanism and was seriously injured did he let me take over the Skeleton Sect. However, in recent days, during the internal election of the Skeleton Sect, I was voted down. I’m truly without the legacy of the Sirius Elder."

Ding Fan mixed truth with lies, steadfastly denying receiving the Sirius legacy. Inside the Sirius Ancient Tomb, he killed the former Skeleton Sect Master, yet claimed the Skeleton Sect Master died from triggering a mechanism.

He had his reasons for saying this—it was all due to Wu Qingxia. Earlier, Wu Qingxia had warned him that powerful beings were lurking nearby, causing Ding Fan to be on his guard and more cautious about this situation.

Given that powerful beings were nearby and Chi Yan’s realm was so high, he couldn’t possibly be unaware of them. Even Wu Qingxia, who was unharmed, could sense them—could Chi Yan of the Seventh Level Realm truly be unaware?

Chi Yan must be able to sense them, but if he does, why doesn’t he care about these powerful beings? Could there be a problem here?

If Chi Yan doesn’t care about this powerful being, does it mean the powerful being is aligned with him? Or perhaps Chi Yan is aware of this person but pretends not to know.

Chi Yan, ranked eighth among the experts in the Tianmu Sea, has always lived a free, unrestrained life, so it’s unlikely that person is aligned with him. But considering Chi Yan knows someone is observing nearby, he pretends ignorance—what does Chi Yan intend?

Chi Yan claims to have discovered Ding Fan’s identity long ago, yet Ding Fan has been in the Tianmu Sea for some time—why hasn’t Chi Yan approached him earlier? Ding Fan’s information isn’t difficult to find, and after the battle at Great Python Mountain, Ding Fan gained some fame. With this fame, Ding Fan isn’t hard to locate, yet Chi Yan never came; only today does he appear—what is the reason?

These things caused waves of thoughts in Ding Fan’s heart, deeply skeptical of Chi Yan’s intentions.

The divine sense left behind by Sirius Elder in the Ancient Tomb explicitly warned Ding Fan not to casually disclose receiving the legacy. Even Sirius Elder had to be cautious—is there an enemy in the Northern Desolation of the Divine Realm?

Sirius Elder, so powerful, had enemies—how strong must those enemies be? How terrifying their might?

In conclusion, when Chi Yan was killing earlier, Ding Fan secretly decided not to admit receiving the Sirius legacy. Even under duress, he wouldn’t confess.

Ding Fan feared Chi Yan might be sent by Sirius Elder’s enemies to deceive him, seize the Sirius legacy, and then kill him.

At this moment, after hearing Ding Fan’s words, Chi Yan furrowed his brow in thought before suddenly looking at Ding Fan’s neck and behind his ear. After a glance, Chi Yan inquired, "Have you awakened any warrior heritage?"

At this point, Ding Fan was even more cautious, firmly shaking his head and saying, "Lord Chi Yan, while I did encounter the leftover divine sense of Sirius Elder in the Sirius Ancient Tomb, I didn’t successfully inherit anything. The followers of the Skeleton Sect can attest to this, and besides, you see no marks of an inheritance warrior on me. It’s impossible to hide such marks at my realm, which you know, right?"

These words were flawless, indeed Ding Fan bore no warrior heritage marks. Typically, inheritance warriors have marks on their neck or forehead, yet Ding Fan’s forehead and neck were bare. He wasn’t wrong; being merely at the mid-level of the Second Level Realm of the Divine Realm, he couldn’t hide such marks. Hence, the sole possibility was that he wasn’t the Sirius Elder’s inheritance disciple, thus not the Sirius inheritance warrior.

"It shouldn’t be. You came out of the Sirius Ancient Tomb unscathed, which should only be possible with the master’s legacy. Yet, why didn’t you receive the legacy?"

Chi Yan muttered to himself, evidently baffled by the situation. Suddenly, as if recalling something, his ring shone briefly, and a talisman appeared in his hand. The talisman appeared abruptly, seemingly out of thin air.

Ding Fan, however, wasn’t surprised, knowing Chi Yan’s ring was akin to his Hundred Treasure Bag—a space treasure. Sadly, his Hundred Treasure Bag was broken, otherwise he could retrieve items similarly.

Handing the talisman to Ding Fan, Chi Yan said, "This is a talisman left by the master, Sirius Elder, containing a strand of divine sense. If you are the master’s inheritance warrior, it will resonate and glow upon your infusion of inner strength. Give it a try."

Staring at the talisman, Ding Fan was perplexed, never imagining such an item existed. The talisman depicted a winged Sirius howling at the sky—if his secret were exposed, would that powerful being kill him immediately?

Or if proven as the Sirius Elder’s inheritance disciple, would Chi Yan immediately turn hostile, forcing him to hand over the Sirius warrior heritage?

Equally thrilled were Madam Yan and Steward He within the flying chariot overhead, travelling from miles away not out of curiosity but for Ding Fan’s identity. With Chi Yan presenting the talisman, they would soon know whether Ding Fan truly was the Sirius Elder’s inheritance disciple—how could they not be excited?

Ding Fan was unable to think too much right now. Although his mind was like a raging sea, constantly churning with waves, and his Divine Sea was also rapidly active, his thoughts were chaotic. However, at this point, everything was beyond his control.

He gritted his teeth and infused his inner strength into the talisman. For a moment, his inner strength enveloped the entire Jade Talisman. At this point, he could only think that when the chariot reaches the foot of the mountain, there will be a way through. No matter what, as long as the talisman lit up, if Crimson Flame turned against him, he would refuse to admit it even if it meant being beaten to death.

Just as he infused his inner strength and thought he would soon reveal his flaws, something unexpected happened. After he had finished infusing his inner strength, the talisman didn’t light up at all. It didn’t glow, nor did it show any other reaction.

"Huh?"

Ding Fan and Crimson Flame looked at the unresponsive talisman, their eyes filled with disbelief. Crimson Flame, looking at the unreactive talisman, couldn’t help but say to Ding Fan, "Why don’t you try again!"

At this moment, Ding Fan felt relieved. He immediately infused his inner strength into the talisman once more, but, as expected by Ding Fan, the talisman didn’t light up again, showing no reaction at all.

Crimson Flame took the talisman back into his own hand, examined it closely, then coldly glanced at Ding Fan’s neck and forehead. He then muttered to himself in defeat, "It’s really not. It seems you were just lucky."

After saying this, Crimson Flame said nothing further, and without any noticeable gesture, he suddenly flew up into the sky, standing atop the Crimson Flame Tiger. The tiger let out a roar and suddenly disappeared, and just like that, Crimson Flame was gone.

"It really wasn’t! Such a waste of effort!"

In the flying chariot in the sky, Madam Yan’s eyes were full of disappointment. Steward He was also very disappointed, but when he looked at Madam Yan’s face, he said nothing.

"We should go back too. There’s nothing worth seeing here anymore."

Madam Yan said softly to Steward He, and the flying chariot silently started up, flying towards the distance. From the moment Crimson Flame departed, neither of them spared Ding Fan on the ground a single glance, as if they had lost all interest in him.

"Why is this happening? Why didn’t the talisman light up?"

Ding Fan, on the ground, was also confused, with this question filling his mind. Having inherited the complete Sirius heritage, the only possibility for the talisman not lighting up seemed to lie with the talisman itself. But could a Sirius Talisman in the hands of a dignified Seventh Level Expert of the Divine Realm be fake? It was just too baffling!

When Crimson Flame leaped onto the Crimson Flame Tiger and left, the Second Elder and others on the Tie Family Island warship immediately sensed it. As for the reinforcements from the three islands that Tie Hualong had summoned, they had long since fled without a trace.

Sensing Crimson Flame’s departure, Wu Qingxia was the first to dash onto Tie Family Island in a frenzy, her greatest fear being to find Ding Fan already dead as soon as she arrived. At this moment, in her heart, Ding Fan was like family, and if he died, she wouldn’t know what to do.

Seeing Ding Fan sitting there dazed, Wu Qingxia was overcome with joy and tears, rushing toward him. She intended to throw herself into his arms, but as she reached him, she abruptly stopped in her tracks.

The Second Elder and others also followed her onto the island, right behind Wu Qingxia. Seeing Ding Fan sitting there unharmed, they couldn’t help but feel a surge of joy.

Crimson Flame left, and he didn’t kill Ding Fan. Does this mean that Ding Fan’s master-servant relationship with Crimson Flame is confirmed? But for now, none of that matters. Crimson Flame is gone, Tie Hualong is dead, and the forces of the three islands have been frightened off. The Skeleton Sect has won, and they have a chance to become stronger.

The Second Elder came to Ding Fan’s side and immediately asked the question everyone was most concerned about, "Ding Fan, what exactly is going on? Are you the Young Master of Lord Chi Yan?"

Ding Fan lightly touched his chin and did not answer the Second Elder’s question. He calmly took out a healing pill from his arms, swallowed it, and sat down to heal, saying to the Second Elder, "Let’s not worry about that now, let’s focus on what to do next."

Seeing Ding Fan’s expressionless face, the Second Elder and the others felt much more at ease. Ding Fan didn’t say anything about running away or anything else, which meant there was nothing to worry about.

The Second Elder began to take care of the aftermath. Tie Family Island now belonged to them. Tie Hualong was dead, but there were still many people in the Tie Family Fortress. The family members of the Tie Family had to be managed and resettled, and they needed to carefully screen to see if there were any martial artists among them, to prevent them from retaliating. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

This battle was extremely brutal, and the Skeleton Sect suffered a major loss. Out of over a hundred Martial Artists, less than fifty remained. Six Tigertooth Apes died, and the remaining five were all injured. The Second Elder, Fourth Elder, and Ding Fan, these experts, all sustained significant injuries, and several Second Level experts and elders of the Divine Realm died.

However, compared to Tie Family Island, they were still lucky. The martial artists of the Tie Family were thoroughly wiped out by Crimson Flame, and the Skeleton Sect now had an absolute advantage.