Truly, damned disgusting!
The several Mixed Origin Grandmasters cursed inwardly, Yu Yuehu above all — had Chen Zhong not been shielding the man, he’d have wished to flay this bastard alive here and now. What a rotten wretch, blessed with such fine luck. That this could let him crawl on living, while his own elder brother’s fate hung between life and death this very moment, no telling yet whether he could even be saved.
“My thanks to Senior for the rescue.”
Yu Yuehu composed his feelings and saluted the young man once more. With the other’s strength and cultivation, he was fully worthy of that word, Senior.
“It’s nothing.”
Shen Yi nodded and walked toward Zheng Zisheng.
“Senior, don’t believe his devil’s nonsense…”
The other few murmured a reminder. They’d already offended Xuanguang Cave to the death anyway, and weren’t afraid of offending it once more. Nothing else needed saying — the two treasures alone on the young man’s person were enough to stir this pack of dog-scraps to scheming. Should he come before that Perfected Master Zhang, bullying the small with the great and seizing another’s treasures wasn’t a thing Xuanguang Cave couldn’t do.
“Senior.”
Chen Zhong nodded slightly and yielded a path. Since the others had given their warning, there was no need for him to add anything more. Whether or not to befriend the man was the other’s own affair.
Aqing shot Zheng Zisheng a glance, his expression rather complicated, but Grandmaster Shen said nothing, so he still followed obediently behind Chen Zhong. That the man was willing to bring him along was generous treatment already; better to give him as little trouble as possible. Only, the hundred-odd lives passed down by word of mouth among his clansmen left him feeling that Grandmaster Shen’s dealing with Xuanguang Cave might well end in a great loss.
Before every watching eye, Shen Yi walked up to stand before Zheng Zisheng.
“…”
Zheng Zisheng, a dignified upper-tier Mixed Origin, simply couldn’t bring himself to call out that “Senior.” He could only smile and nod.
Then a palm abruptly appeared before his eyes, bone-piercing cold bursting out from between the long five fingers!
“Have you gone mad?!”
He howled in fury, radiance flashing across his body, his heavily-drained path infant mustered to full power in an instant. Zheng Zisheng couldn’t fathom it — he had no feud, no grievance with the man, had said nothing to offend him. Why would this person strike to kill the moment he came up? But that instant of blankness was the very chance of escape, lost.
Shen Yi’s palm clamped swiftly over Zheng Zisheng’s skull. To keep the man from having some life-saving item still hidden away, for the first time he channeled the Cold Jade Mysterious Silk Hand to its full. Add to that the terrible force backed by five demon kings, and he pressed Zheng Zisheng’s mortal body to pieces outright.
In the instant the path infant tried to flee, a horrifying cold current gushed out and froze it fast. A crisp sound of cracking ice rang at the ear. Zheng Zisheng’s path infant, its whole body spidered with cracks, had only the terror and raging fury left in its eyes; it stared hard at Shen Yi, as though to loose one last unwilling roar.
Yet a pair of eerie vertical pupils abruptly appeared within its sight. A piercing wolf-howl burst open in its mind. The already terror-stricken spirit-soul was violently shaken apart! And swiftly became a cracked jade doll.
Only now did Chen Zhong snap back to himself. “Senior, hold your hand!”
Shen Yi tossed the jade doll in his hand and looked back in puzzlement. “…”
The man was already dead. What hand was there left to hold.
Chen Zhong stared at the jade doll in horror, wholly unable to understand it. One moment everything had been fine — why strike the instant a strike was mentioned? If word of Zheng Zisheng dying before everyone’s eyes got out, the others could still scatter and flee, hiding from Xuanguang Cave’s reckoning. But where was Great Qian to flee to? To say a prodigy had descended from the heavens, first slaying demons, then slaying Zheng Zisheng — the reason unknown, the grievance unclear, and only this one man dead, everyone else untouched by so much as a hair… who would believe it if you said it aloud?! And besides, Perfected Master Zhang was still in the estate. Could this Senior truly hold not the slightest fear of Xuanguang Cave?
Shen Yi bent and gathered up the man’s storage treasure. Counting this one, he’d picked up three sets of foundation this trip. Just so — one had to go out to reap a harvest. Forever holed up in Great Qian, how could one ever build a rich estate?
“Ah?”
Aqing looked at Zheng Zisheng’s corpse and slapped his own forehead hard. Grandmaster Shen’s way of doing things really was out of the ordinary. Every step was one he couldn’t have guessed. Still… if word reached Father that Xuanguang Cave had lost another disciple, the whole clan would surely be delighted.
At the thought, Aqing hurriedly took out paper and brush, meaning to record this Grandmaster’s features. Before he could set brush to paper, it was snatched away by the approaching Shen Yi, who shot him a look besides.
Record, record, record — you’d record a murder scene too. Why not just go lodge a complaint with Xuanguang Cave.
Aqing scratched his head, then abruptly caught on and hurriedly said, “Sorry, sorry… force of habit.”
“Enough. Come along with me.”
Shen Yi glanced at Chen Zhong, offering no further explanation. The greatest advantage of coming out this time was that no one knew his background — whatever he did, it had nothing to do with Great Qian’s War Temple. A great many fetters lifted. And so he had no intention of explaining the situation to this Inspector for now. He’d send the man back to Great Qian first; whatever else, that would head off no small amount of trouble.
“…”
Chen Zhong loosened his palm. Things had already come to this — to insist on going up and fighting this Senior to the death would mean a hole in one’s head. Zheng Zisheng was Xuanguang Cave’s man, not old Chen’s father. With the other dead, an inexplicable knot of foul temper had eased in his own chest too. For now he could only take it one step at a time. With that, he stepped forward and followed.
The other few Grandmasters yielded a path together. The technique might not have fallen into their own hands in the end, but for this young man to take it was far more palatable than having it seized by Zheng Zisheng. And besides, the man had shouldered the whole business himself. Once they left the estate, they’d no longer need to hide east and dodge west.
“My thanks to Senior for avenging my brother. Should there ever be use for us Yu brothers, you have only to speak!”
Yu Yuehu bowed, and this time, beyond the fear of the man’s strength, there was a measure of true, heartfelt sincerity. Xuanguang Cave’s power was simply too vast. Once away from this place, the Yu family would never again have a chance at revenge.
“I must first take my brother to recover. I won’t trouble you further.”
With that, he hastily shouldered his brother and shot off skyward toward the outside.
“We’ll also take our leave first.”
The others summoned their path infants one after another. Xuanguang Cave here, the Thousand Demon Den there, and now a prodigy of unknown identity in the mix — this cave-estate trip was likely no longer something a crowd of ordinary Mixed Origin cultivators like themselves could take part in. Best to make ready to leave early.
“This—”
Chen Zhong looked over in puzzlement, and found that no matter who wished to go, the young man only gave a slight nod. Which meant he had no intention of using the others to scout the way. But then why keep only him behind? He couldn’t make sense of it — only to find the young man had already walked some distance off.
“Help me take stock of the gains — sort it all by category and store it away.”
Shen Yi took out all three storage pouches and handed them to Aqing. This sort of chore was beyond a demon like Lady Qinghua; she recognized none of the fine things, foolish to death.
“Alright! My thanks, Grandmaster Shen.”
Aqing took the pouches happily. He’d come on this trip to broaden his experience to begin with — and what better way than rifling through others’ storage treasures?
“It’s nothing.”
Shen Yi nodded and looked at the objects in his own hand. A jade slip, and a thick book.
(End of Chapter 264)