Chapter 53

"Big brother, big brother!" Zong Zi Xiao took a few steps to chase after him and tugged Zong Zi Heng's wrist.

Zong Zi Heng's face was sullen, as if it was covered with a cloud of gloom.

"Big brother, what exactly are you afraid of?" Zong Zi Xiao wrinkled his eyebrows, "Afraid of the Cangyu Sect's retaliation? Do they dare?"

"I'm not 'afraid' of anything, it's just that there are some things people do and don’t do."

"It's just a magical weapon, it's not like you're being asked to kill across the border. Besides, a magical weapon like Gong Shu Ju has no owner, so what if you snatch it over? Who would dare to chew their tongues*?"

Zong Zi Heng looked at his younger brother, "If someone wants to snatch the Shanhe Sheji Map, what should we do?"

Zong Zi Xiao raised his chin, and there was provocation in his eyes, "That’s based on the individual’s abilities."

"Zi Xiao, is it possible that in life, all you want is benefits and no moral righteousness?"

Zong Zi Xiao pursed his lips and did not answer the question.

"For the sake of Gong Shu Ju, Chen Xing Yong killed his own master, used it to harm so many cultivators, and in order to capture Chen Xing Yong, Chunyang Sect has one dead and two injured people. Now that the buyer behind the curtain is still at large, at this time, instead of thinking of how to work together to uncover the bad guys, we are hitting on the idea of magical weapons. Then what would I, Zong Zi Heng, have become?”

"The bad guys need to be caught, but that doesn't stop us from getting the magical weapon ah." Zong Zi Xiao breathed out through his nose and whispered, "Big brother, the way you are now is just soft-heartedness."

Zong Zi Heng looked incredulously at the younger brother he had brought up with one hand, "What did you say?”

Zong Zi Liao looked away, arrogance written on his pretty face.

"..." Zong Zi Heng was momentarily angry, but he couldn't get angry. He just felt deeply disappointed. He said coldly, "I didn't teach you that." He brushed his sleeves and left.

Zong Zi Xiao became anxious. He hesitated for a moment at the same spot, but still chased after him, taking Zong Zi Heng's hand again, "Big brother, don't be angry ..."

Zong Zi Heng shook off Zong Zi Xiao's hand and said in a stern voice, "You've let me down too much!"

Zong Zi Xiao's eyes were rounded and his thoughts and feelings in his heart were instantly blocked. For as long as he can remember, this was the first time his big brother had really lost his temper with him. He shouted in anguish, aggravation and shame, "I, I'm doing this for your own good. I just wished you could get a magical weapon and the acknowledgement from Father. What’s wrong with that?! Are you just willing to be ignored and despised?!"

Zong Zi Heng's body stiffened, the luster in his eyes dimmed almost in an instant as he lowered his head and turned to leave.

This time, no matter how much Zong Zi Xiao shouted, he didn't turn back.

---

Zong Zi Heng, depressed in his heart, went to the town and wandered around blindly for half a day, and by the time he returned, he had calmed down.

But Zong Zi Xiao had gone off to sulk somewhere and hadn't returned yet, but with Huang Hong and Huang Wu following him, there was no need to worry.

Xu Zhi Nan and Qi Meng Sheng were waiting for him to deliberate.

"Brother Xu, you just get up like this?" Zong Zi Heng saw that Xu Zhi Nan was pale and weak. One of his missing arms had not fully grown yet, which heaved slightly beneath his sleeve robe. He was not supposed to get up at all.

Xu Zhi Nan shook his head, "I'm not seriously hurt anymore. There’s no time to lose, we're waiting for you to return and interrogate Chen Xing Yong together."

"Alright."

"Bring the man here." Qi Meng Sheng ordered.

Two female cultivators from the Cangyu Sect dragged Chen Xing Yong like a broken sack and threw him heavily on the ground.

Chen Xing Yong's two trouser legs were covered in blood, but his face was as white as paper. He planted himself crookedly on the ground, looking at them with vicious and fearful eyes.

Xu Zhi Nan suddenly lifted his sleeve robe, revealing a thin, white, daughter-like arm.

Surprise flashed across Chen Xing Yong's face.

"My arm broke off and hasn't grown back yet, so you can guess who did it."

"You…Where is he? You're not going to save your junior brother?"

"My junior brother has already been saved, but he was seriously injured, and I nearly died. Do you know why?"

Chen Xing Yong frowned.

"Because he didn't intend to save you at all. I disguised one of my junior brothers like you and brought him to him. He used his own subordinates as bait to leave us defenceless, then took the opportunity to detonate the Thunderfire Stone, trying to blow everyone up together."

Chen Xing Yong was stunned there, as if his soul had been drained away all of a sudden.

Qi Meng Sheng's cherry lips spat lightly, with every word wrapped in ice: "You thought you were in the same boat as him, and that he wanted to save you if he wanted to save himself, but in fact he only wanted you to die, to take his secret with you and disappear forever."

Chen Xing Yong slowly clenched his fist, a deadly look in his eyes.

"So now you have no more leverage in your hands. You are worthless, and you have become a ruined man." Qi Meng Sheng stood up and slowly walked towards Chen Xing Yong, who could not help but cower.

Qi Meng Sheng stepped on his ankle and crushed it fiercely, "If you want to blame someone, blame that man, he abandoned you like a ragged shoe."

Chen Xing Yong screamed miserably and twitched wildly on the ground.

Qi Meng Sheng crouched down and said grimly, "Before I came, my master asked me to bring you back to Fenglin Continent and go to Elder Mu Ying's grave to apologize for your sins. You only have two choices now. If you answer whatever we ask, I will give you a quick death. Otherwise, when you return to Fenglin Continent, you will neither live nor die*."

Chen Xing Yong's face was stained with sweat, his eyes grey and hazy, looking at Qi Meng Sheng helplessly, "If ... if I say, I don't know who that person is, will you believe me?"

Zong Zi Heng struck the case with his palm: "It's already this time, and you're still talking tough?"

"I didn’t, I really don't know who he is, I've never seen his face before." Chen Xing Yong took a deep breath, "Every time he takes the initiative to come to me, he is very extravagant. I just hand the core over to him. The rest, I don't know."

Xu Zhi Nan said sorrowfully, "If you really didn't know, there was no need for him to save you nor to silence you. At this point, you still refuse to tell the truth?"

Chen Xing Yong gritted his teeth and said, "Although I don't know who he is and where all those cores have gone, I have a clue about his identity."

"Speak quickly!" Zong Zi Heng said in a stern voice, "What clues? Did he instruct you to sneak attack us three years ago? What kind of capability does he have to be able to survive the explosives unharmed?"

"That's the clue I was going to say." Chen Xing Yong took a deep breath, looked at Qi Meng Sheng and said tremulously, "Sister, I want you to swear. I will never go back to Fenglin Continent."

Qi Meng Sheng said with an expressionless face, "I swear, as long as you reveal everything you know."

Chen Xing Yong closed his eyes, "I, I guess the magical weapon, that person used, could be the Wusheng Brush."

"'Wusheng Brush'?" Zong Zi Heng froze, "Hua Sheng Wu Daozi’s magical weapon?"

"I heard that this magical weapon, the essence of the painting can transform magically into living creatures." Xu Zhi Nan's face was full of gloom, "If I remember correctly, it is in the hands of Elder Yan Shu of the Wuyun Sect."

Qi Meng Sheng whispered, "Yan Shu ... is the junior brother of the Wuyun Sect's Leader?"

"Yes. Chen Xing Yong, how do you know that his magical weapon is the Wusheng Brush?"

"I suspected that every time he met me, it was not a real 'person', it was a human puppet drawn by the Wusheng Brush. As much as a human puppet looks like a person, after several contacts with it, you can detect that something is not quite right, so one time, I tested it."

"How did you test it?"

"I used Gong Shu Ju to cut a board so thin that it could not even bear the weight of a child, but he walked over it unharmed, and at that moment I was sure that what I had seen was not a real person."

Zong Zi Heng said in a daze, "In that case, it would explain why he was unharmed in the explosion. That wasn't him at all, it was just a human puppet he had drawn!"

Xu Zhi Nan slowly closed his eyes and furrowed his brows in pain.

"It's so despicable ..." Zong Zi Heng clenched his fists and said with righteous indignation, "There is no way to guard against it."

Xu Zhi Nan said in a hoarse voice, "Although my sect has always been at odds with the Wuyun Sect, Elder Yan Shu has been famous for a long time and has both talent and prestige. How could he do such a thing?"

"Three years ago in Gutuo Town, was he also the one who asked you to dig out our cores?" Zong Zi Heng said viciously. They had no enmity with the Wuyun Sect. Although there were grievances from all immortal clans under the rule of the Daming Zong Clan, they wouldn’t be so berserk to do so. Was he not afraid that the matter would be exposed and the Wuyun Sect would be implicated?

Chen Xing Yong nodded his head.

Xu Zhi Nan said sternly, "How many benefits did he promise you to make you so bold as to covet even the two imperial sons of Emperor Ning Hua?!"

"No..." Chen Xing Yong stole a glance at Zong Zi Heng, "He only let me take the big one and wouldn't let me touch the small one."

Zong Zi Heng was struck by lightning.

Yan Shu's target, was ... him?

Xu Zhi Nan and Qi Meng Sheng looked at Zong Zi Heng in unison, both with astonished faces.

"Why?" Zong Zi Heng stood up and took a few steps to force himself in front of Chen Xing Yong, "Yan Shu specified that he only wanted my golden core? Why!?"

"I don't know."

Zong Zi Heng's eyes were red, like a raging beast.

He had no dealings, let alone grudges, with the Wuyun Sect or with Yan Shu. He did not believe that Yan Shu had merely taken a fancy to his core, which was not that valuable given his cultivation level at the age of sixteen, but it was a desperate move to strike at him. If he did not have a deeper purpose, he wouldn’t have targeted him. What's more, knowing what Chen Xing Yong said today, Yan Shu emphasized that Zong Zi Xiao should not be touched. The real mastermind, who wanted him dead, yet could not hurt Zong Zi Xiao?

Who exactly is it and why would he do that?!

"Zi Heng, calm down." Xu Zhi Nan said, "Whether that person is Yan Shu or not, and what kind of grudge he has against you, these are not certain yet. There is no need to rush to conclusions."

Zong Zi Heng heaved a breath and forced himself to calm down, "You're right, this is just his side of the story."

Xu Zhi Nan looked at Chen Xing Yong with contempt, "Chen Xing Yong, write down all the people you have harmed over the years, and the whereabouts of their golden cores, one by one, as many as you know. You have sinned so much that at the end of the day, so save yourself some humanity."

Qi Meng Sheng ordered her men to take Chen Xing Yong down.

Zong Zi Heng mused, "If we go directly to Yan Shu, we only have a mere verbal statement which cannot be taken as proof, and if he doesn't admit it ..."

"Yes, it would be too risky to take on the elders of the Wuyun Sect with just the words of an outlaw like Chen Xing Yong." Qi Meng Sheng said, "Plus, it's a mortal sin like stealing cores."

Xu Zhi Nan pursed his lips, "Especially with our sect's relationship with the Wuyun Sect. If there is no conclusive evidence, I am afraid it will cause a great disaster."

"It is in our favor now that Yan Shu thinks that Chen Xing Yong is dead. He is likely unaware that we suspect him, so now we must investigate in secret." Zong Zi Heng mused, "We have to set up a trap to make Yan Shu reveal his original form without alerting the enemy."

"Does Your Highness have a plan?"

"We can't risk going to him, and we can't leak information." Zong Zi Heng suddenly brightened up, "Right, the Jiaolong assembly!"

Xu Zhi Nan also remembered something, "The next Jiaolong assembly will be held at the Wuyun Sect. Next spring, we will have a legitimate reason to meet Yan Shu."

Qi Meng Sheng hesitated, "My sect has never participated in the Jiaolong assembly."

"It doesn't matter, all it takes is for me to extend an invitation in the name of the Chunyang Sect, and you can come and watch the tournament even if you don't send your descendants to compete."

Zong Zi Heng clenched his back teeth, "We must come up with a perfect plan to expose Yan Shu's true colors."

 

----

chew their tongues*[嚼舌根]---metaphor; speaking right and wrong, or nonsense.

neither live nor die*[求生不得，求死不能]--- utter misery; one hopes for life but cannot live and one prays to die but cannot die

 

Edited  26 Mar. 21 (Emzie)

 

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