Genius Class Student?
The two brothers refused to believe that Nie Li's strength could actually rise to such a frightening degree.
"Won't Elder Nie En be in danger?" Nie Xiaori frowned and ask. Elder Nie En had been chasing the other Dark Guild member for quite some time now and had yet to return.
"Relax, he shouldn't have any problems." Nie Xiaofeng shook his head and said, "This is the territory of the Heavenly Marks Family. Those people of the Dark Guild are only 5-star Silver rank at most and Elder Nie En is a 3-star Gold rank Fighter. There won't be any problems."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sounds of fighting came from the depths of the forest. However, the sound quickly died down.
After a long time, there were no more enemy movements.
A figure could be seen coming back.
"It's Elder Nie En! Elder Nie En is back!"
Nie En landed in front of them, his face was stern.
"Elder Nie En, how was it? Did you catch up with him?" Nie Xiaofeng asked.
Elder Nie En shook his head and said, "The opponent was a 5-star Silver rank Demon Spiritualist. After he merged with the Black Star Tiger Demon Spirit, his strength became very strong. Furthermore, he had some methods to elude me. I could not catch up to him, he escaped!"
Hearing Nie En's words, Nie Xiaofeng and Nie Xiaori both looked at each other. 'That Demon Spiritualist managed to escape under Elder Nie En's hands, he's not simple!'
Seeing the two corpses on the ground, Nie En frowned. This matter was a little too strange. Why would people from the Dark Guild appear here? And also, who was the one that killed them? Could it be that there were internal conflicts within the Dark Guild and they were killing each other in their territory? But that shouldn't be possible. Was there a mysterious expert lurking around, helping the Heavenly Marks Family by killing these two Dark Guild members?
That mysterious expert had killed two Silver ranks and at the same time, wounded a 5-Star Silver rank Demon Spiritualist. That expert should at least be Gold rank! Who exactly was it that had helped the Heavenly Marks Family? Why didn't that expert appear after helping the Heavenly Marks Family?
Although he was still a little suspicious about Nie Li, Elder Nie En would never think that it was Nie Li who killed the two dark guild members and wounded Deacon Yun Hua. When Nie Li left the family to the Holy Orchid Institute, he was not a 1-star Bronze rank yet. It was impossible for him to reach Silver rank after a short school term.
Nie En squatted down and examined the two corpses. Liu Qing and Liu Yan showed no signs of a fierce fight, but they were killed by a sharp object that had struck their fatal spots. The wounds were also in weird jagged shapes.
"Such powerful means of killing!" Nie En was secretly shocked in his heart. Even if it was him, he couldn't kill two 3-star Silver rank Fighters so easily. Furthermore, the weapon that the mysterious expert used was somewhat strange. He had never seen marks like these before.
"Nie Li, follow me. Report everything about how you found the three people from the Dark Guild and everything that happened afterwards to the Patriarch!" Nie En thought awhile and said. Then he threw a glance at Nie Xiaofeng and Nie Xiaori, "The two of you will carry these two corpses back, and have them examined by Patriarch!"
"Yes, Elder Nie En!" Nie Li nodded his head.
"Yes!" Nie Xiaofeng and Nie Xiaori both carried one corpse each and followed behind Nie En.
They had just walked a few steps out the they saw Nie Yu's figure hastily coming over. Her speed was much slower compared to Elder Nie En and the rest, therefore she had only just arrived.
"Big brother Nie Li, how are you? Are you okay?" Nie Yu's tender face was stained with tears, concern filling her eyes.
"Rest assured, big brother Nie Li is fine," Nie Li smiled rubbing Nie Yu's head.
"En" Hearing Nie Li's words, Nie Yu then felt relieved, and followed behind Nie Li.
--- Heavenly Marks Family's Ancestral Hall ---
The Ancestral Hall was lit up by armed members of the Heavenly Marks Family holding torches. They knew that people from the Dark Guild had come into their territory. They were awake, prepared to engage in battle.
After seeing Nie En and company coming, the crowd split a path open for them.
Nie Hai, the Patriarch of the Heavenly Marks Family, was currently sitting on the main seat. He was dressed in a grey robe, a long white beard was growing on his stern face. He was emanating a kind of majestic aura.
"Nie En, what's going on?" Nie Hai asked.
"Patriarch, there were three sneaky thieves from the Dark Guild. They were probably trying to steal something from our Heavenly Marks Family. Two of them were killed, one escaped!" Nie En replied, cupping his hands.
Nie Hai took a glance at the two corpses on the floor, feeling slightly relieved, and said, "Good thing that it's just three people. Although, I'm not sure what they came here for. They were definitely up to nothing good. My Heavenly Marks Family doesn't have anything for the Dark Guild to covet after. They are probably here to inquire the situation of our Heavenly Marks Family. Double up the patrol for these next few days!"
"Yes!" The guards of Heavenly Marks Family by the side answered.
"You're the one who killed these two?" With a glance, Nie Hai could tell that those two corpses had at least Silver rank strength.
"No, not me," Nie En said, shaking his head.
"Then it's Xiao Feng and Xiao Ri?" Nie Hai praised, "Xiao Feng, Xiao Ri, your cultivation has been rising very fast!"
Hearing Nie Hai's words, Nie Xiaofeng and Nie Xiaori felt their face burning.
"Patriarch, we did not do it!" Nie Xiaofeng and Nie Xiaori hurriedly replied. They dared not impersonate the credit of others.
Nie Hai slightly frowned upon hearing their answers, and curiously asked, "Then who is the one that did it?"
There was only Nie En, Nie Xiaofeng, and Nie Xiaori, three people, dispatched to go after those few people from the Dark Guild. If it wasn't them, then who had done it?
"By the time I arrived, they had already died. Only Nie Li was present when it happened," Nie En said truthfully.
At this moment, everyone's eyes fell onto Nie Li, feeling ridiculous. How could Nie Li take on two Silver rank Fighters with his cultivation?
"I also don't know. I only saw a black shadow flash and the two of them fell onto the ground just like that," Nie Li shrugged, pretending to be innocent. He still did not want to reveal his own strength yet.
"A black shadow flashed?" Everyone was slightly surprised.
Elder Nie En was silent for a moment before he squatted down, pointing towards the two Silver rank Fighter's corpse, and said, "Patriarch, have a look at the wound. It's done with some sort of weapon and this weapon is extremely weird. I can't think of anyone in Glory City using this kind of weapon."
Everyone's gaze fell onto the wounds on the two corpses.
"These two people were taken out by striking their fatal points, a one hit kill!" Elder Nie En took a deep breath and said.
Everyone began to look at each other. Within their clan, there was no one using this kind of weapon, so who had killed these two? Could it be that the back mountains had a hidden master? They were all wondering if that expert was an enemy or a friend. However, no matter if it was a friend or an enemy, having such a person hiding in the back mountains caused them to feel uneasy.
"Since someone helped us kill the people of the Dark Guild, they should be standing on Glory City's side. Therefore, there shouldn't be a problem." Nie Hai said, "This matter no longer needs to be a cause for concern. The main point is, why did the people of the Dark Guild come here. For safety reasons, our Heavenly Marks Family must enter into a battle state and the defence within the family must change a little."
At this moment, beside Nie Hai, Elder Nie Wei's gaze fell on Nie Li and asked, "Nie Li, when did you come back?"
Hearing Elder Nie Wei's question, Nie Li couldn't help but to feel his scalp tingling. Within the Heavenly Marks Family, the hardest to get along with was Elder Nie Wei. Nie Wei was the Enforcement Elder of the Heavenly Marks Family. Any wrongs done by the members of the family would be punished by Elder Nie Wei, therefore, Nie Wei's position within the clan was only second to Nie Hai.
Within the Heavenly Marks Family, the one that Nie Li hated the most, aside from Nie Xiaofeng and Nie Xiaori, would be Nie Wei. In his previous life, he had been punished lots of time by Nie Wei. Nie Wei also had another identity, which was Nie Xiaofeng and Nie Xiaori's grandfather.
Nie Li had thought more than once that because his household didn't get along with their household, Nie Wei was punishing Nie Li based on personal grudges.
"Elder, I have just returned today!" Nie Li cupped his hands and said.
Nie Wei snorted in reprimand, "Nie Li, do you admit your mistake?"
Nie Li was a little confused, curiously asked, "Nie Li doesn't get what you're saying, asking Elder Nie Wei to please explain!"
"Nie Li, you did not study properly like you should at school and got in quite a bit of trouble. I heard that you provoked a direct descendant of the Sacred Family, causing them to suppress our Heavenly Marks Family. Are you sure that no such thing happened?" Nie Wei asked, strictly.
Hearing Elder Nie Wei's words, everyone had their gazes on Nie Li. During this period of time, they had had their hardest times, being suppressed by the Sacred Family and had had all kinds of businesses suffering heavy losses, were all these things related to Nie Li?
Nie Hai, hearing Elder Nie Wei's words, frowned, looked at Nie Li and sternly asked, "Nie Li, is that true?"
Nie Li had no choice. He nodded his head and said, "True, that was me."
"You did not follow the family's instruction in the Holy Orchid Institute, provoked troubles that caused the family to suffer losses. You must be punished with one hundred cane strikes, don't you agree?" Elder Nie Wei's gaze was closely fixed on Nie Li, giving a kind of imposing pressure.
Hearing Nie Wei's words, Nie Xiaofeng and Nie Xiaori looked at each other and smiled, taking joy in Nie Li's misfortune. Now, Nie Li was doomed, falling into their grandfather's hands.
There were a total of eight branches within the Heavenly Marks Family. There were some conflicts within these branches. However when enemies came, everyone would be united to fight them off. But normally, they were fighting nonstop for their own interest and position within the family.
Some of the elders from the branch that Nie Li belonged to wanted to help Nie Li but they were silent. After all, regarding this matter, Nie Li had indeed made a mistake. What Nie Wei was doing was correct, hence they had nothing to argue about.
Nie En frowned, he was also from Nie Li's branch. He thought awhile, cupped his hands and said, "Patriarch, Nie Li is still a kid, furthermore, his cultivation is so weak. Punishing him with a hundred cane strikes is a little too severe. After one strike, he probably won't even be able to get off his bed for two months."
Elder Nie Wei refuted, "Elder Nie En, favouring the younger generations like this is wrong. The mistake Nie Li did is unforgivable. If the Alchemist Association had not helped us out of the difficult situation, I can't even imagine what sort of situation our family would fall into. I'm afraid that we'd lose our standings as an Aristocratic Family! Such a huge mistake, punishing him with only a hundred cane strikes can already be considered light!" Nie Wei's eyes both widened, coldly staring at Nie Li, "Nie Li, what else do you have to say for yourself?"
Nie Li didn't have any emotion on his face. In his previous life, Nie Li had been afraid of Nie Wei the most, just seeing him would get him scared to the point his hair would stand upright, being unable to speak. However, in this life, he did not even put Nie Wei in his eyes.
Nie Hai frowned, silent for a moment and said, "I have just gotten news that Nie Li has just been accepted into the Holy Orchid Institute's Genius class, he will be the focus of nurturing. If he gets a hundred cane strikes, I'm afraid that it will delay his studies!"
Nie Hai still helped Nie Li speak up. As a Patriarch of the family, he was the first to know the results of the members of his family. When he heard that Nie Li had reached 1-star Bronze rank and had been accepted into the Genius class, he had had doubts. One of the doubts was how did Nie Li raise his cultivation so fast to actually reach 1-star Bronze rank. The other one would be, why would Holy Orchid Institute accept someone that had just stepped into 1-star Bronze rank into the Genius class?
When they heard Nie Hai's words, everyone looked at Nie Li with shock. They all clearly knew of Nie Li's cultivating talent, and he was actually accepted into the Genius class of the Holy Orchid Institute. These news were just too shocking.
Nie Xiaofeng and Nie Xiaori, the two brothers, also had unbelievable expressions on their faces. They clearly knew of Nie Li's cultivation, but he had actually been accepted into the Genius class. Were these news fake? Even they were not eligible to enter the Genius class at the Holy Orchid Institute. However, this was said by the Patriarch himself, therefore they did not dare to question it.