Chương 327: The Hong clan

Long Feng exited the palace and was stopped by the guards standing outside the palace. Merely judging by their powerful auras, he could tell that this Cao city might not be inferior to the heaven reflection city at all. But it was understandable. The heaven reflection city had absolutely no ties to the Supreme Heaven Sect. They were merely based in the territory of the Sect, unlike the Cao city.

It was built and run directly by the Cao clan, meaning they had put their resources and efforts into making it into what it was now. The Supreme Heaven Sect's symbol proved to be extremely helpful. When the spotted the symbol, the guards paused and let him go without a word. At least, in these parts of the eastern region, the Supreme Heaven Sect still had extreme authority. Few would dare to cause trouble for anyone wearing the robes of the Supreme Heaven Sect.

Long Feng walked away silently and found an Inn where he rented a room for a single night. After entering the room, he first took off the robes of the outer peak and wore an ordinary black robe. Although the robe has proved to be useful, Long Feng didn't like the attention it was bringing. If he really got into trouble, just the symbol of the Sect would hardly be enough to frighten the enemy. He then sat down on the bed and went through the map in the jade. He was currently in the territory of the Cao clan.

Although it was vastly inferior to the Supreme Heaven Sect, it still wasn't to be looked down upon, considering that it was a powerful three star force.

"That man said I should head west of the Cao city. This map also shows the same thing." Long Feng noted the exact direction through the map. The swampy region wasn't far from this city. A few day's flight was all it would take. But after he arrived, he would have to search for the traces of the iron blood gang by himself. The mission details stated that the gang had attacked the weak forces in the swamp region and went into hiding. But as for their specific hiding spot, that was up to Long Feng to find.

"I hope I'm not late. The hiding place of the iron blood gang shouldn't be too easy to find right?" Long Feng thought. He was worried that the two disciples who left before him and perhaps even the Cao clan's geniuses could've found the iron blood gang already. Being a step behind them all, Long Feng didn't have the leisure to rest. He left the Inn soon after changing into different robes and flew into the air once he left the city.

He rapidly flew west without stopping, only pausing randomly to avoid exhausting his spirit energy. Two days later, Long Feng finally entered the swamp region. The air became humid and the earth was extremely soft here. Some places appeared normal, but stepping on them would cause one's feet to suddenly sink into the ground. Long Feng didn't have that problem, as he was flying. He spread out his soul power and began to search for any movement in the surroundings hundreds of meters as he flew ahead.

Tens of minutes later, he realized that this search was not helping. He couldn't sense any lifeform except for some occasional wild beasts. He could only press forward and hope to find someone along the way. Nearly an hour later, Long Feng was already beginning to think this region was completely barren when his eyes lit up and he turned to look in a certain direction. He couldn't see anything with his eyes but his soul power had picked up some clear auras that undoubtedly belonged to humans.

At the same time, the other party had obviously sensed his soul power fluctuations as well and were headed in his direction. His spirit layered soul power wasn't exactly enough to hide from the perception of Imperials after all. Long Feng waited patiently for several minutes. Faint dots appeared in the distance and he happened to be staring right at them. A short time passed and the dots grew larger and revealed several people flying over, each of them emanating powerful auras.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. They closed in and quickly spread out to surround Long Feng, staring at him with cold expressions.

"Who are you!" One of the stronger cultivator shouted icily. Judging from his aura, he was a rank three Imperial realm master. That was completely insignificant to Long Feng. He easily discerned the cultivation of the group of people. The strongest among them was a rank five Imperial, and he couldn't exactly be considered as a youth. His age appeared to be at least thirty.

"Brat! Didn't you hear the question? Who are you?" A rank four Imperial thundered, his aura begining to flare.

"There's no need to question him. He must be one of those bastards! Just kill him!" A different rank three Imperial shouted and began to emit slight killing intent. Long Feng stared at them calmly.

"Does any of you happen to have heard about the iron blood gang?" He asked, completely ignoring their aggression. His calmness startled them all briefly and they couldn't help but confirm his cultivation again.

"Why are you inquiring about the iron blood gang?" Someone asked with a narrowed gaze. Long Feng sensed a hidden killing intent suddenly seeping out of each of them as he was asked that question. If he said something they didn't like, they would probably attack him on the spot.

"I'm on a mission. To kill Crimson Chen." He replied with the same calm, not caring I'm the least about their killing intent. His reply caused them all to freeze and stare at him blankly for a few seconds before some of them began to chuckle. The only rank five Imperial realm master took a step forward and stared at Long Feng sternly.

"A mere rank nine spirit realm warrior? Are you taking us for fools?"

"We should just kill him already! Anyone coming to this place right now is suspicious. He could be a spy of the iron blood gang!" Long Feng raised a brow at that.

"Spy? I am an outer peak disciple of the Supreme Heaven Sect." He slowly corrected. This time, the group were speechless for a minute. Several of them burst out laughing so hard they wobbled in the air while the rank five Imperial glared at Long Feng with obvious annoyance.

"Brat, you can't eat your words. How dare you lie with the Supreme Heaven Sect? Aren't you afraid that the wind will cut your tongue?"

"Hahahaha… a disciple of the supreme heaven sect? Kid, look in the mirror again. You think you can join a behemoth like the supreme heaven sect with your trash cultivation? Hehe, go back and dream something more reasonable." A rank two Imperial mocked as he laughed.

"Why are we wasting so much time with the fool? His words alone are a blasphemy against the supreme heaven sect. Just kill him! We still need to find traces of those murderous iron blood gang!"

"No, that'll be letting him off too easily. He claims to be a supreme heaven sect's disciple, and it's such a coincidence that we have two revered guests who are also from the sect. Let's capture him and let the two revered guests deal with him personally." Someone suggested. His words caused a frown to cross Long Feng's face. Two revered guests from the sect? They could only be the two disciples who already left to complete the mission. It would appear that they hadn't made much headway with the iron blood gang.

That could only be good news to him.

"Capture him." The rank five Imperial gave Long Feng one last glance and turned around. The few rank two and three Imperials immediately moved towards Long Feng to restrict him. At that moment, Long Feng casually threw out a dark golden token. The imperials glanced at the token and froze with terror after reading the words inscribed boldly on the both sides of the token. Their eyes bulged as extreme bitterness immediately filled their mouths.

The silence behind caused the rank five Imperial and the two rank four Imperials to frown.

"What're they doing?" They sensed the surge of auras and then everything suddenly froze. The two rank four Imperials turned around with deep frowns etched on their faces, but both faces also turned colourful after looking back. It was apt to say their faces were more colorful than a rainbow.

"H-he…he…!" One of them stammered, unable to form a complete sentence. His head was completely messed up as he stared at the bold 'Supreme Heaven Sect' engraved in the front of the floating gold token.

"What the hell are you all doing? Aren't you even able to capture a mere peak spirit realm…" the words of the rank five Imperial stick in his throat as he glanced behind and saw the token floating before Long Feng. His face immediately turned pale as his blood ran cold. Long Feng watched their reactions to the token and he couldn't help but chuckle. The Supreme Heaven Sect had quite a reputation.

"Do you still plan to capture me?" He stared into the dilated pupils of the rank five Imperial and asked in a calm voice. His voice returned some clarity to the mind of the Imperial. He quickly shook his head and clasped his fists.

"Hong guang has failed to recognize mount tai. Please forgive my foolishness." His words were extremely remorseful and shaky as he said this. Long Feng waved his hand indifferently.

"It's nothing. You mentioned two revered guests? Could you clarify?" Hong guang nodded and straightened himself up. Glaring at the others who were still staring at the token blankly, he snorted.

"Quit staring and apologize to the young master already! Are you all looking for death?" They immediately regained their senses and bowed towards Long Feng, repeating the same words as Hong guang. Long Feng barely heard their words. All he noticed was that they all shared the same surname. That meant they should be a family clan and not some random force.

"Forget about that. Explain." Hong guang lowered his head.

"Young master, a few days ago, a disciple of the Supreme Heaven Sect came to our humble clan and announced that he was here to destroy the iron blood gang. We welcomed him excitedly. The very next day, another person arrived, claiming to be a disciple of the Sect as well, on the exact same mission. The two of them recognized each other and worked together to eliminate the scattered members of the iron blood gang." He explained. Long Feng frowned.

"Do you mean the iron blood gang has been destroyed?" Hong guang shook his head.

"The two revered guests are extremely strong, but we've been unable to find the main hiding spot of the core members of the iron blood gang. All we managed to uncover were a few random spots where the weaker members hid, and we naturally exterminated them all." Long Feng nodded with a faint sigh.

"So crimson Chen and his two brothers are alive?"

"That's right. We're still searching for them. But we believe we'll find them soon, and they will face the same fate as the others." Hong guang replied. That was all Long Feng wanted to know urgently. As Long as Crimson Chen and his two brothers were still alive, then he could still complete the mission. Hong guang lifted his head to glance at Long Feng.

"Young master, since you're here on the same mission, do you mind following us to the Hong clan? It'll be our honor to serve you." He proposed.

"The Hong clan? Tell me about this area entirely. How many forces exist here? And about the Hong clan as well." Long Feng didn't immediately deny the proposal. He could already tell that finding the iron blood gang's hiding spot on his own would be a trying task. He would be much slower and less efficient than the Hong clan, even with his superior strength. If he could use the Hong clan to find the iron blood gang, then that would be perfect.

But then he would need to consider the other factors, like the two disciples who were both at least as strong as Long Feng, maybe slightly stronger. There were also the chance that the Cao clan had sent their disciples as well. Just as the supreme heaven sect's disciples were using the Hong clan, the Cao clan's disciples could do the same with other forces. And Long Feng couldn't rule out the chance of other unexpected factors suddenly occuring.

In short, he needed to know as much as he could and decide his next move.