Lei Zhanqian left Seven Stars Valley with a show of arrogance masking his true caution. With Tian Anping present, he knew he couldn’t possibly regain any lost face.

In truth, now that Li Fengyao had made it clear he would stand by Jiang Wang no matter what, Lei Zhanqian needed to carefully reassess the potential gains and losses of provoking a fight.

With Tian Anping intervening and stressing the need to respect the rules of Seven Stars Valley, there was no shame in backing down, and everyone could understand it. After all, compared to Tian Anping, he was the one who truly respected the “big picture.”

But these were just self-comforting words. He simply wasn’t strong enough.

If he could have withstood Jiang Wang’s sword, he wouldn’t have been ridiculed. If he were stronger than Tian Anping, he wouldn’t have had to slink away just now.

He was already very strong, but it was far from enough.

His subordinates were waiting outside Seven Stars Valley, having prepared a grand display to welcome his “triumphant return.” Now, they could only hurriedly dismantle the ostentatious decorations, lest they further enrage the young master Lei.

Lei Zhanqian climbed into his carriage, his expression grim.

“I want Jiang Wang’s information. Everything.”

He closed his eyes, seemingly suppressing all his anger, and then ordered, “Also, send someone to investigate the name Zhang Linchuan. See if such a person exists.”

When the life-and-death chess game had begun, the Qinghuo Tribe, a team rumored to contain extraterrestrial beings, had naturally attracted the attention of other competitors. But the name “Zhang Linchuan” was utterly unfamiliar, and thus overlooked by many.

Now, of course, they knew it was just an alias used by Jiang Wang.

“Jiang Wang used this name. If it was just a randomly chosen alias, check when and where else this name has appeared. If there really is such a person, Jiang Wang must know him. Conversely, that person should know a lot about Jiang Wang’s past. Starting from this clue, if you can find the person, bring them directly to me.”

His subordinates obeyed, and the carriage smoothly drove into the distance.

Inside Seven Stars Valley, Tian Anping didn’t stop Lei Zhanqian from leaving.

He simply stood there motionless, as if lost in thought.

In fact, Tian Huanzhang, who was responsible for guarding Seven Stars Valley this time, was very puzzled by Tian Anping’s arrival. Upholding the rules, safeguarding the family’s honor… these things didn’t seem like something Tian Anping would do.

Forget about any “big picture.”

If Tian Anping had any sense of the “big picture,” he wouldn’t have secretly intercepted the power of the Seven Stars when the Seven Stars Secret Realm opened, without informing anyone, almost turning the Tian family against half of Qi, and offering no explanation afterward.

As the person in charge of this Seven Stars Secret Realm, Tian Huanzhang naturally harbored resentment.

Being responsible for such a thing brought few benefits. If anything went wrong, everyone would come looking for him. When it came time to take responsibility, no one would hand over Tian Anping, would they?

As for the conflict between the Lei family and the Li and Chongxuan families, he had planned to intervene and maintain order only after they had fought enough. Of course, he couldn’t watch either Lei Zhanqian or Li Fengyao die in Seven Stars Valley, but watching them deepen their hatred might not be a bad thing for the Tian family.

Tian Huanzhang considered his vision far-reaching, and thus he was very dissatisfied with Tian Anping’s “shortsightedness.”

He flew down the valley and landed in front of Tian Anping.

“Anping, why did you come?”

But his voice was incomparably kind and gentle, completely contrary to his inner emotions.

Earlier, when the power of the Seven Stars had been intercepted, he had dared to rely on his seniority when sending a message, opening his mouth with harsh questions. Now, standing face-to-face, he unconsciously displayed a kindness rarely seen in his life.

Despite being filled with resentment.

Tian Anping didn’t respond, but instead looked around at the cultivators in the valley with a hint of puzzlement, “Aren’t you leaving yet?”

He asked, “Planning to stay for dinner?”

“No, no, no, Young Master Tian is too kind.”

“Farewell, farewell.”

Good heavens, the majority of people hadn’t left because Tian Anping hadn’t said they could. They didn’t know whether they should leave or if leaving directly would anger this person.

A small number of people, like Jiang Wuxie and Li Fengyao, who were fearless, wanted to take the opportunity to observe Tian Anping. After all, this person had always been renowned, but rarely appeared in public. After that incident years ago, he had been forbidden from leaving Daze County. But even in Jicheng, few people had seen him, only knowing that he had confined himself in the Fubi Tower year after year, no one knew what he was doing.

But regardless of their reasons, Tian Anping had spoken, so no one would stay.

Who would want to have dinner with Tian Anping!

No matter how delicious the Tian family’s food was, it wasn’t worth risking one’s life to try.

For a moment, the cultivators scattered.

Jiang Wang had a hunch that Tian Anping’s appearance might be related to the Tian clan’s team’s failure in the Hidden Star World. But he wouldn’t show any signs of strangeness, nor did he even look towards Tian Chang or Tian He.

Trying to play some kind of telepathic understanding under the watchful eyes of someone like Tian Anping was akin to exposing oneself too quickly and dying too easily.

He naturally left with Li Fengyao. Xiao Tong and Qu Hei were still waiting at the inn.

Jiang Wuxie, for some reason, was following them closely, like a shadow.

Shameless. Jiang Wang cursed inwardly.

After everyone else had left, Tian Anping shifted his gaze and focused on Tian Chang.

Thump.

Tian Chang directly knelt down on both knees, without hesitation, and without any regard for his dignity.

“The failure of this Secret Realm trip is entirely my responsibility!”

Tian Anping’s expression was slightly curious as he slowly said, “The first thing you did after leaving the Seven Stars World wasn’t to return to Fubi Tower to report, but to hide in Seven Stars Valley and seek connections everywhere. What, do you think anyone in the Tian family can protect you?”

“Young Master Ping, I have no such intention! I only escaped the Hidden Star World with severe injuries and had to stop to recover.”

As he spoke, he unbuttoned his outer robe, revealing layers of gauze wrapped around his chest and abdomen, all soaked red with blood. He looked like he had been fished out of a pool of blood.

“If you don’t believe me, you can examine my injuries!”

“Ah, what are you doing?” Tian Huanzhang couldn’t help but say, “There’s no such thing as a sure thing in this world. There’s bound to be the possibility of failure. You can talk about what you encountered and experienced. What responsibilities you should bear, and what responsibilities you can’t be blamed for, can all be sorted out. Our Tian family doesn’t have the habit of directly punishing clansmen without understanding the situation.”

“Uncle-Grandfather,” Tian Anping said in a somber voice.

Tian Huanzhang was certainly not his real uncle-grandfather, but according to seniority, it was okay to call him that.

It could be seen that he was almost moved to tears, but forcefully suppressed his emotions.

From his voice to his expression, every detail was in line with the image of a loyal family member with a strong sense of responsibility.

He began to recount with a heartbroken expression, “After we entered the Seven Stars World, according to Young Master Ping’s instructions…”

Clang.

Tian Anping raised a hand, causing the shackles to rattle.

He signaled Tian Chang to shut up.

“You are a truly clever person.”

Tian Anping said, “So I won’t examine your injuries, and I won’t listen to your explanation.”

Because Tian Chang was a truly clever person.

Therefore, no matter how much responsibility he needed to bear for this matter, he would definitely be able to extricate himself, and he would definitely be able to do so flawlessly.

Tian Anping didn’t need to listen at all. He already knew that Tian Chang’s explanation would be airtight.

In other words, if Tian Chang couldn’t be sure that his explanation was foolproof, then he should have defected long ago, instead of lingering in Seven Stars Valley, waiting for Tian Anping to come looking for him.

“You and those who are still alive will go to the Lost Heart Valley. Others, three days. You, one month,” Tian Anping said quietly.

His response was also very simple.

Since he couldn’t determine Tian Chang’s responsibility, then he would just let him bear it all.

Tian Chang’s face instantly turned pale!