Chapter 0, Section 81: Hatred of Evil
Upon hearing Huan Jing’s words, the elders present all changed their expressions.
Thinking carefully, although they didn’t know why the old clan leader Huan Wuzhen had been so abnormal today, his actions were indeed aimed at forcing Huan Jing to bear all the blame alone. But who would have thought that Huan Jing himself was by no means an easy person to deal with.
No wonder he was so eager to give the order earlier and secretly hide Gu Feiyan and Qin Yuan in the Yinming Cave, which could seal off their aura to the extreme. Now, he intended to divert the disaster, dumping all the blame onto his own runaway father.
Observing him now, on the surface he was bowing and scraping with fawning deference, but in reality, he wanted to manipulate Qin Gou, Qing Yu, and the others in the palm of his hand. He was the one truly in control, observing everything like a chess master. He intended to gamble on his remaining Spacetime Talent as a fallback, taking a leap of faith.
By then, whether Huan Wuzhen was truly killed by Qin Gou and his group, or if they were led all the way to the main vein of the Empty Illusory Snake Clan in the Beast Land while pursuing Huan Wuzhen, Huan Jing would be the ultimate winner. Without expending a single soldier, he would not only firmly secure his position as the ruler of this branch of the Empty Illusory Snake Clan, but also continue his research on Qin Yuan’s unique talent. What was the harm in sacrificing a little bit of face for it?
“You just said that the Clan Token seemed to contain residual aura and Spirit Blood from Huan Wuzhen?” As he spoke, Qin Gou made a gesture of taking something.
Seeing this, although Huan Jing couldn’t immediately understand why Qin Gou wasn’t listening to his advice to have the elders swear a Spirit Oath to prove Huan Wuzhen had indeed fled in fear of punishment, he considered that even if Qin Gou could refine some terrifying Spirit Charms or lie detection techniques with it, Huan Wuzhen was not present anyway, so it would be of no help. And most importantly, he absolutely could not falter. Thus, he immediately extracted a drop of bright red Spirit Blood from the Clan Token.
The reason why he, who was clearly expressing his loyalty, did not directly hand over the entire Clan Token was because it also contained his own Spirit Blood.
So far, Huan Jing was quite satisfied with his meticulously planned steps, and at the same time, he was carefully observing Qin Gou’s intentions, always ready to adapt to the situation.
It was just a pity that Qin Gou couldn’t hear Huan Jing’s thoughts at this moment, otherwise, he would surely exclaim on the spot, “This young man is really playing a flashy game!”
“Black Robe, you must understand what I mean now, right?”
Qin Gou looked at the drop of Spirit Blood floating in his palm, then glanced at Black Robe beside him and asked with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Black Robe didn’t say a word. He also extended his pale, cold hand and directly covered Qin Gou’s palm.
The two male guests have successfully held hands.
In an instant, everyone felt an indescribable, invisible force sweep through the entire area. Two shadows, one white and one gray, flashed by at extreme speed, disappearing. No one had the chance to clearly see their full forms, but fortunately, the real target of the killing intent was not them.
At the same time.
Huan Wuzhen, who had already escaped the small grotto-heaven a long time ago and was hurrying towards the main vein of the Empty Illusory Snake Clan in the Beast Land for refuge, suddenly stopped his desperate flight in mid-air. His face, as pale as paper, was filled with terror, and his whole body trembled in despair.
This was because he suddenly saw a scene that perhaps, besides himself at this moment, no living being in this world had had the good fortune to witness with their own eyes.
One was sacred snow-white, and the other was deathly gray. These two pair of wings, harboring astonishing power, suddenly appeared out of thin air and, at exactly the same speed, slowly descended from above before his eyes, completely obscuring his vision and forever closing his eyes.
Immediately after, Huan Jing, who still didn’t know what mysterious means Qin Gou and Black Robe had used, suddenly heard Qin Gou’s questioning voice: “What? There’s no aura of Gu Feiyan and A’Yuan around Huan Wuzhen either?”
“What? Why would my lord say that?” Huan Jing’s expression was astonished, but he wasn’t so foolish as to continue arguing after hearing Qin Gou’s certain tone.
“That’s how it is. If your clan has his Soul Lantern, you’ll also know that Huan Wuzhen has already… died and perished.”
“You!”
Upon hearing this, the elders of the clan were all greatly shocked.
Qin Gou shrugged innocently and looked helplessly at Black Robe beside him, saying, “My brother is good at everything, except sometimes… his killing intent is too strong, and he can’t quite control the strength of his moves.”
Old Qin originally intended to injure Huan Wuzhen first and capture him, and then have everyone rush over to interrogate him for the whereabouts of A’Yuan and Xiao Yan. But who knew that just now, when “One Thought to the Horizon,” which Black Robe and he had unleashed together, sensed Huan Wuzhen’s aura, it reacted violently as if encountering a sworn enemy, going into an extreme frenzy and mercilessly annihilating him.
“Good! Good that he died!”
At this moment, Huan Jing even burst into wild laughter, clapping his hands in delight and exclaiming: “This is truly the retribution of Heaven’s cycle! I only regret that I couldn’t witness the miserable death of that old thief with my own eyes!”
Seeing this, Qin Gou’s gaze was quite scrutinizing: “It seems, fellow Daoist, you hate him greatly?”
“Naturally! That old thief intended to frame me and put me, Huan Jing, to death. It is thanks to all you heroes having a pair of discerning eyes and seeing through his malicious scheme that I was able to preserve my life!”
For a moment, Huan Jing’s eyes were filled with joy and his acting was extremely superb and sincere: “I am truly grateful to all of you. Why don’t I, along with you heroes, go and investigate Huan Wuzhen’s corpse? I am perfectly aware of all the affiliated forces of the Empty Illusory Snake Clan along his escape route. As long as we investigate one by one, we will surely find the person you are looking for as soon as possible!”
However, his true intention at this moment was not just to lure Qin Gou and the others away, thereby concealing the fact that A’Yuan and Gu Feiyan were actually in the Yinming Cave. One must know that the route Huan Wuzhen fled was precisely towards the main vein of the Empty Illusory Snake in the Beast Land!
And as the head of this branch of the Empty Illusory Snake Clan, Huan Wuzhen’s Soul Lantern was also preserved in the main vein. The ancestors of the main vein must have already learned of Huan Wuzhen’s death. Therefore, as long as Huan Jing led Qin Gou and the others along this route, and visited a few more forces to search for people, delaying some time, they would surely directly confront the thunderous rage of the avenging army from the main branch of the clan!
However, seeing Qin Gou suddenly fall silent, Huan Jing immediately shifted his target of persuasion to Black Robe. He had previously directly called Black Robe a “fool” in front of Qin Yuan, having observed that Black Robe was actually mentally deficient, making him an extremely easy person to control.
Thinking this, Huan Jing tried to approach Black Robe with an extremely ingratiating look, smiling broadly: “Besides, I don’t agree with you saying that this senior Black Robe has too much killing intent. After all, he dealt with a despicable and lowly villain like the old thief Huan Wuzhen. This is clearly hating evil and eliminating harm for the people! Senior Black Robe, don’t you agree, I’m right?”
Obviously, he didn’t know yet that Black Robe couldn’t communicate with him at all. Compared to speaking, he was naturally more skilled at action. Immediately, Black Robe’s first response to him was…
“Pfft.”
In a flash, under Huan Jing’s unbelievable, astonished, and horrified gaze, Black Robe suddenly thrust out a palm, blasting a transparent hole through his Dantian, and an extremely violent Spiritual power surged in, directly devouring Huan Jing’s soul.
“You…”
Huan Jing trembled and staggered back several steps, his eyes wide open, his mouth overflowing with blood. He wanted to curse this madman and desperately tried to save himself, but at that moment, his Dantian, the most crucial part for a cultivator, had already been completely destroyed. How could he still stimulate any Spacetime Mystic Arts? He could only collapse amidst the furious and panicked cries of the elders, falling heavily into a pool of blood.
“Lord Huan Jing!”
“Human race! How dare you…”
“Those who ascend in vain shall die!”
Suddenly, Qing Yu let out a cold shout, and the unrestrained power of the Realm Lord directly suppressed the elders, rendering them powerless to step forward.
“Black Robe, why did you suddenly kill him?” Qin Gou looked sharply at Black Robe and soon heard his hoarse voice in his mind.
“I hate evil and eliminate harm for the people…”
“You!”
The corner of Qin Gou’s mouth twitched, and he felt utterly incredulous: “That’s why I just said your killing intent is too strong! He performed so diligently, couldn’t you have just calmly enjoyed the show for a moment like me? Didn’t Xiao Yan and A’Yuan say to wait a little longer?”
That’s right, in fact, just as Huan Jing was clapping and cheering, Qin Gou had already received a Spirit Power Transmission from Gu Feiyan reporting her safety.
Although they had learned from Huan Jing that Qin Gou and Black Robe were coming to their rescue, just as Qin Gou and Gu Feiyan first met, she had said that she was not someone who would only be beautiful and delicate, hiding behind others and rejoicing in being rescued.
So when Huan Jing ordered his subordinates to secretly transfer them to the Yinming Cave, even though their Spiritual power was sealed, Gu Feiyan decisively chose to cooperate seamlessly with A’Yuan and her mother, deliberately struggling and resisting, enraging that Empty Illusory Snake member, causing him to intend to use Spiritual power to forcibly deal with them. This directly activated a thread of “Soul Stabilizing Thread” hidden on A’Yuan’s dress, allowing them to escape.
“Father!”
Suddenly, speak of the devil, Gu Feiyan and Qin Yuan entered the Main Hall together, appearing before everyone’s eyes.
“A’Yuan, Xiao Yan!”
Qin Gou immediately stepped forward. A’Yuan hurriedly hugged Old Qin, and then intimately held Black Robe’s large hand.
But Qin Gou suddenly keenly realized that from the moment Xiao Yan and A’Yuan appeared, Black Robe’s gaze had never left A’Yuan, and instead, he had never looked at Gu Feiyan at all.
Considering that Black Robe had also shown no waver when he saw Qing Yu, Debt Girl, and the others before, it was clear that he had no dissatisfaction with Xiao Yan. It was simply that he now genuinely recognized A’Yuan as the person he should be closest to.
After all, the System had also said that Black Robe’s complete will no longer existed in this Dao Body.
As for Qin Gou himself, it was difficult for him not to recognize him…
Of course, Xiao Yan herself didn’t mind. As she had said before, she felt that Black Robe was a kind person with deep affection and loyalty, and she greatly admired everything he had done. But he was indeed not her own Little Qin; she had her own Little Qin.
“Is he… Huan Jing?” At this time, A’Yuan looked at Huan Jing in the pool of blood, her eyes widened in shock.
“A’Yuan, you know him?”
“Of course, it was he who betrayed A’Yuan, and he said he wanted to study my unique talent inside and out, and never intended to let A’Yuan live from the very beginning!”
Hearing this, Qing Yu on the side couldn’t help but comfort her: “A’Yuan, don’t worry. Not only him, but even Huan Wuzhen has already been killed under Master’s hand.”
“Huan Wuzhen? Senior Qing Yu is talking about Huan Jing’s father? That Clan Leader was elusive, and A’Yuan never had any interaction with him. Huan Jing also once boasted to me that this matter was entirely his own doing, so what does Huan Wuzhen have to do with it?” A’Yuan was confused.
“Father’s love is like a mountain!”
Qin Gou was shocked at that moment.
Huan Wuzhen was Huan Jing’s father, and he had never participated in harming A’Yuan from beginning to end. Then, was the purpose of his escape not to cooperate with Huan Jing and stage the drama they just performed, taking all the blame upon himself in order to protect his son?!
His only flaw was not considering taking A’Yuan and Xiao Yan with him. Otherwise, this act of deep paternal love, taking the blame for his son, would have been a flawless plan! Old Qin had previously thought it was an internal conflict between relatives where they were preying on each other!
What a pity the hearts of parents in the world!
…
“Father, Daddy seems to have decided to return now.”
At this moment, A’Yuan’s voice sounded again. Qin Gou turned his head and saw Black Robe enveloped in burning demonic flames. His body was gradually turning into wisps of dark gray dust, slowly scattering.
“Not staying to accompany A’Yuan anymore?” Qin Gou walked closer to him.
Black Robe also nodded very slowly.
Qin Gou guessed that these few days were probably the limit of time Black Robe could exist in the world at one time, and he had to return to slumber. He immediately extended his right hand towards him, and the two clasped hands tightly.
“It’s been a pleasure cooperating with you,” Qin Gou said with a gentle smile.
Black Robe also met Qin Gou’s gaze with a calm expression.
This scene was deeply moving to A’Yuan and Gu Feiyan. And anyone who knew a little about the true relationship between Qin Gou and Black Robe would also feel quite moved under such circumstances… until Qin Gou very naturally raised his other hand.
A delicate and small golden birdcage appeared in his palm.
“Since you said that my brother is essentially the same person as me, you will definitely understand me, right?!” Qin Gou’s eyes were filled with trust at this moment.
As soon as the words fell, a mark from the “100% No Default, World’s Most Trustworthy” Goose Return Cage, without any obstruction, was deeply imprinted into the body of Black Robe, which was akin to a Dharma Image.
