After bidding farewell to Jiang Zhisu, Nie Tian calmly went to find Nie Donghai.
A large number of Nie clan members were gathered at one of their major pavilions. Not only were Nie Donghai and his brothers there, but even members of the second generation were there, including Nie Qian and Nie Kan.
The moment Nie Tian arrived, he discovered that his grandfather looked rather grim and Nie Qian's face was full of grievances. It appeared that they had been arguing with Nie Beichuan.
Nie Kan turned his head and saw Nie Tian coming their way, and then immediately announced, "Nie Tian is here."
In a instant, all gazes were fixed upon Nie Tian.
"Nie Tian, has sectmaster Jiang left?" Nie Nanshan asked.
"Yeah." Nie Tian nodded. "He asked me a few questions, talked to Mr. Li, and then left."
Hearing that Jiang Zhisu had left, every member of the Nie clan seemed to have a huge burden lifted off their shoulders and suddenly felt relieved.
Jiang Zhisu was so widely respected and feared by the Nie clan that whenever he was around, nobody even dared to speak in loud voice.
"What did the sectmaster ask you?" Nie Beichuan said with a straight face.
Nie Tian didn't hesitate a bit to repeat Jiang Zhisu's questions and how he answered.
"You were sucked into a spatial rift and somehow magically returned to our clan?" Nie Beichuan had a strange look on his face, and was staring at Nie Tian with doubtful eyes, as if he hoped to find a loophole in the story from Nie Tian's expression alone.
Under his gaze, Nie Tian didn't say a word, and actually appeared quite composed.
After gazing for a while, Nie Beichuan failed to find anything, then suddenly said, "The dagger An Shiyi gave you was a token of apology for trespassing on the Nie clan's property, thus it should be turned over to the storehouse."
Nie Donghai let out a cold harrumph. "Second brother!"
Nie Qian also angrily said, "She clearly stated that it was a gift to Little Tian, so it should belong to Little Tian. Why should he turn it in?"
Nie Tian went blank for a moment. However it only took a moment before he realized what Nie Qian had been arguing with Nie Beichuan about.
Nie Beichuan raised his voice and held his head high, glancing around at certain other clan members. "I am the master of the Nie clan! An Shiyi must atone for barging into the Nie clan's property regardless of our defenses, and she said herself that the dagger in Nie Tian's hand was the atonement!"
The majority of the clan members who he looked at chimed in.
"The clanmaster is right."
"It's a reasonable solution."
"It's only fair!"
Only a small percentage of clan members seemed to support Nie Donghai. But knowing Nie Beichuan's power has been gradually increasing, even if they were dissatisfied inside, not a single one of them dared to speak up.
Nie Qian bit her lip, her bright eyes filled with rage and resentment.
Nie Donghai was utterly disappointed in the clan members. He sighed and prepared to persuade Nie Tian to hand over the dagger.
"Just now…" Nie Tian gradually lifted his dagger-holding hand and while smiling said, "After answering sectmaster Jiang's questions, I took out the dagger, told him it didn't belong to me, and said that I wanted to hand it over to Mr. Li.
"However, sectmaster Jiang said that since it was gifted to me, I should keep it and protect it, not letting down An Shiyi's good intentions.
"But…" He halted briefly, and looked at Nie Beichuan. "Since the clanmaster says the dagger needs to be turned in, I'll turn it in."
With these words, he spread open his hand, waiting for Nie Ping, the person in charge of the storehouse, to come and collect it.
However, right after he finished his comments, those clan members who previously clamored and demanded him to hand over the dagger, suddenly all shut up.
Even Nie Beichuan had various expressions flashing across his face.
The truth was that he couldn't tell whether Nie Tian was telling the truth.
If it was true, and Jiang Zhisu really had said those words, then he… absolutely didn't dare to contradict his will.
Not to mention that Jiang Zhisu had already left; even if he was still in the Nie clan, Nie Beichuan wouldn't dare to go to him to verify Nie Tian's claim.
He even wouldn't want to seek proof from Li Fan, in case Li Fan might think less of him.
The dagger almost immediately became a bit of an eyesore to him.
Nie Beichuan remained silent with an unreadable expression. Nie Tian raised his hand and waved the crimson dagger, shouting, "Uncle Nie Ping?"
Nie Ping was one of Nie Beichuan's trusted aides. Recently, he had deliberately set up obstacles for Nie Qian when she traded for flamecloud gems, and had deducted many flamecloud gems from Nie Qian's transactions.
However, when Nie Tian simply stood there waiting for him to collect the dagger, he suddenly didn't know what to do.
He couldn't help but looked timidly at Nie Beichuan.
Seeing that Nie Ping didn't dare to collect it, Nie Tian voluntarily stepped forward and shoved it into his hands with a smile. "Here you go. Later, I'll go tell Mr. Li that I've turned that dagger over to the Nie clan's storehouse. After all, I'm too young, and how unseemly would it be if I were to hold such a high-ranked spiritual tool, right?"
Even though he didn't know much about the ranking system of spiritual tools, he knew that this dagger from An Shiyi was an extraordinary object.
"What? No!" The moment Nie Ping heard that Nie Tian was going to inform Li Fan, he shivered with terror. It was as if the dagger had suddenly turned into a scalding hot item of trouble. Without any hesitation, he shoved it back into Nie Tian's hands as fast as he could.
Then, he turned and looked at Nie Beichuan with a helpless look on his face, as if he were about to cry.
Nie Beichuan was also shocked by Nie Tian's action. He took a deep look at Nie Tian, and with no other choice, he said, "Since sectmaster Jiang told you to keep it, then you'd better take good care of it."
"Oh, alright then," Nie Tian said indifferently. "Thanks a lot, clanmaster."
Before, he had always addressed Nie Beichuan as "second grandpa", but after Nie Beichuan had assumed clanmaster, he became more and more excessive. Thus, he no longer addressed Nie Beichuan that way, but rather called him "clanmaster", as an outsider would.
In Nie Tian's heart, Nie Beichuan no longer deserve to be called "grandpa".
Nie Donghai let out a cold harrumph. "Can we go now?"
Nie Beichuan didn't say a word.
Nie Donghai then turned to Nie Tian and said, "Let's go. You stay with me for the next few days."
As they spoke, Nie Donghai led Nie Tian away, towards the quiet stone pavilion that he currently lived in. Holding her chin high, Nie Qian caught up with them, feeling quite content.
After arriving at the stone pavilion, Nie Donghai closed the door before he stroking Nie Tian's head affectionately. Smiling, he said, "Smart kid."
Nie Tian laughed softly, well aware that Nie Donghai had seen through his trick of deliberately pressuring Nie Beichuan with Jiang Zhisu.
Nie Qian was eager to ask Nie Tian what had happened during the past ten days. "Little Tian, during the time you were gone…"
Nie Donghai threw her a fierce glare, stopping her from finishing her question. Then, he led them to the study, where he grabbed a brush pen and started to write rapidly on a piece of paper.
On the paper, Nie Donghai wrote with vigorous strokes, "Never tell anyone about what you've actually experienced or witnessed over the past ten days. With the sectmaster's cultivation base, even though we are five thousand meters apart, he is still able to hear every single word you say if he wants to. This includes even your whispers! Plus, we don't have the ability to seal off our voices."
Seeing these words, Nie Qian suddenly became vigilant, and didn't dare to say another word.
Nie Tian also gently nodded his head.
As of this moment, he realized that, compared to his grandfather, Nie Beichuan had been extremely stupid.
Since Jiang Zhisu was able to overhear their conversations from far away, he could also hear what Nie Beichuan had said to Nie Tian as long as he wanted to.
As intelligent and experienced as Jiang Zhisu was, it was very likely that he had secretly paid attention and got truthful answers to his questions.
Perhaps, Jiang Zhisu was eavesdropping on their conversation right now…
Nie Beichuan didn't realize this, and thus acted narrow-mindedly. If Jiang Zhisu did hear his words, it would undoubtedly have left Jiang Zhisu with a sour taste in his mouth.
In fact, it had.
At this very moment, outside Black Cloud City, Jiang Zhisu smiled to himself. "What a smart boy."
After these words, he waited no more. Blurring into action, he flew towards the Cloudsoaring Mountain like a red bolt of lightning.
It was impossible for him to waste too much energy on the Nie clan.
Since he couldn't easily determine what had truly occurred, he could only leave temporarily and dig up the truth bit by bit in the future.