Chapter 249 - The Fallen Innate Spirit Body
Whether it was the Xiao Mang Celestial Race experts, Lian Xin, or even Chi Liannu, they were all dead, their Yuan Shen dispersed into thin air, and their atmans disintegrated into nothingness. No one would ever know what had happened as long as Zhong Yue kept mum about it. As the saying went, dead men tell no tales!
The incident had shaken the whole of the East Barren. Two of Shu Buyi’s disciples, Lian Xin and Chi Liannu, had both died. Surely, it would give rise to a great commotion. Although Lian Xin died at Zhong Yue’s hands, no one would believe him even if he claimed it!
Who would believe that an Atman Body Qi Practitioner could kill a Heavenly Dharma Qi Practitioner?
Hence, it was only natural for the monster race to blame their deaths on the Xiao Mang Celestial Race, excluding Zhong Yue from the list. Which was why Lang Qingyun had said, ‘The dead tell no tales’. So long as Zhong Yue kept quiet, no one would ever know the truth.
Xiao Chuyun’s eyes turned frigid as he stared at Zhong Yue. It had been a long time since the Xiao Mang Celestial Race had suffered such a great loss, other than the time they went after the humans Shui Zian and Zhong Yue.
However, despite the great loss in their last mission, they successfully completed their objective, the elimination of Shui Zian. But now, they have lost dozens of Atman Body and Inner Core experts, even a Heavenly Dharma Qi Practitioner, and yet, this dragon brat was still breathing free air in front of him. Even more, he had plundered the experts’ soul weapons!
Thankfully, Xiao Chuyun didn’t know that Zhong Yue and Long Yue were both the same man, or otherwise, he might have gone crazy from extreme anger.
“City Lord Gu Hongzi, you can take him under your wings now, but you can’t protect him for life! Excuse me now, as I have to leave, I’ve other matters to attend to!”
Xiao Chuyun clasped his hands and said goodbye. When he walked past Zhong Yue’s, he said meaningfully, “Dragon, it’s not safe outside of Gu Xia City. When I see you again on the outside, no one can save you anymore.”
He put his head closer and sniffed Zhong Yue, then said indifferently, “I’ve memorized your scent, no matter where you are, I’ll find you.”
Zhong Yue’s face changed drastically, and stared after the gloomy Xiao Mang Celestial as he turned and left.
Lang Qingyun also quickly stood up, and said smilingly, “Seems like Senior Martial Brother Gu Hongzi has some misunderstandings about me, it’s best if I leave now! Junior martial brother, I’ll report to our teacher about Junior Martial Sister Lian Xin and Chi Liannu’s death as how the truth is, you may be at ease.”
Zhong Yue smiled and replied, “Thank you big senior martial brother for being truthful, however, if big senior martial brother’s explanation isn’t clear enough, I can personally tell it to our teacher, and also, the reason why the Xiao Mang Celestial Race is after me.”
Lang Qingyun stiffened up and followed after Xiao Chuyun.
Gu Hongzi didn’t stop them, he waved his hand in a gesture for the monsters to stand down and let them go peacefully. Then, he turned to Zhong Yue and asked in a puzzled voice, “Junior martial brother, your words, it sounds like you are threatening Lang Qingyun.”
Zhong Yue nodded and explained, “Lang Qingyun is a spy placed into the East Barren by the Xiao Mang Celestial Race.”
After hearing the detailed explanation from Zhong Yue, Gu Hongzi was at a loss of words for a few moments, Suddenly, his eyes turned sharp, he said, “This is a good chance to take down Lang Qingyun! With Lang Qingyun out of the way, then only you and Qiu Qingshan would be left among all five of his disciples! Qiu Qingshan is a muddle-head, he is not smart enough to take up such a big responsibility. So it’ll surely be you that will inherit Shi Buyi’s throne as the overlord of the East Barren, the monster lord of all the East Barren!”
Zhong Yue was aroused by the possibility, but moments later, he furrowed his brow and said, “Senior martial brother, it’s only a conjecture that he is of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race, I don’t have any evidence to prove it. Furthermore, for the Xiao Mang Celestial Race to put him here, he must have acquired a way to hide his Xiao Mang bloodline. Without evidence, he will be untouchable, more so when Shi Buyi doesn’t trust me at all. Rather, he tried to kill me more than once by using the hands of the others, he wouldn’t allow me to live for long. The possibility of me being the next East Barren overlord is nearly impossible.”
Gu Hongzi frowned after hearing this. Zhong Yue then laughed and said, “However, in my opinion, if Lang Qingyun is the Xiao Mang celestial messenger in the monster race, then we might be able to find out the Xiao Mang messenger in the Great Wilderness! As long we catch him…”
All of a sudden, Gu Hongzi interrupted him, saying, “Junior martial brother, you spent too much time away from home, I suppose you don’t know yet, but the traitor in Swords Gate has been exposed.”
“What? Exposed?” Zhong Yue’s eyes opened wide and he shouted in shock, “The traitor has been caught? When did it happen? Who is it?”
“About a month ago,” Gu Hongzi answered, “The traitor is an innate spirit body holder… Lei Hong of the Lei Hu Clan.”
“Lei Hong?” Zhong Yue was startled, the image of a well-built man like bear came into his mind, Lei Hong looked like an honest and frank brawny man, who knew that he would be the traitor!
What shocking news bombarded Zhong Yue’s heart!
Lei Hong was the Fire Innate Spirit Body, cultivator of the lightning-style techniques. With the fire and lightning coming together, his prowess was incredibly strong. Also, he was hearty and boisterous like any other Lei Hu Clan members, men with good hearts but speaking too many words.
However, the Croc Dragon incident that happened to Zhong Yue sparked his suspicions toward Lei Hong.
And after that, even when Lei Hong had killed a Heavenly Dharma Xiao Mang expert during the time when the four successors were there to save him, Zhong Yue didn’t dispel his suspicions, but instead, he doubted Lei Hong more than ever.
“Lei Hong was exposed because he wanted to eliminate Elder Feng Shouzhu,” Gu Hongzi continued., “I’m in the East Barren, and so the news I’ve gotten may not be too detailed. Lei Hong’s prowess was nearly at the level of magnates, he was already at the peak of Heavenly Dharma level. As long as he broke through to the level of True Spirit, he would be granted the title of an Elder. However, because he was an innate spirit body holder, his Yuan Shen was incredibly strong, making him to be stronger than the ordinary elders.
“After the death of Elder Shui Zian, the task of maintaining diplomatic relations with the other forces was taken over by Elder Feng Shouzhu. And so, on the 700th birthday of the Martial Heavenly Master from the Zhong Li Celestial Race of the South Barren, Elder Feng headed over to send birthday congratulations from Swords Gate to the Martial Heavenly Master. However, on his way there, the Xiao Mang Celestial Race ambushed him. Fortunately, the Zhong Li Celestial Race came in time and saved him from death in the last few seconds. Elder Feng said that there was a human involved in the ambush.”
The South Barren was to the south of the Great Wilderness, a land filled with extremely torrid heat. The Zhong Li Celestial Race were the descendants of the Fire God, adapting the character “Xia” as their surname and residing in the South Barren. This celestial race were natural masters in the art of fire, and their body physiques were beyond comparison to any other living beings. Cultivators there mostly focused on the martial arts, and when they reached the grade of magnates, they would be crowned with the title of “Martial Heavenly Masters”, so strong that only a few survivors knew how appallingly powerful they were.
“Elder Feng roamed across the lands for hundreds of years, his experience and knowledge are wide and vast, and his perception was sharp like no other. Although Lei Hong had covered his cultivation techniques and skills in an attempt to hide his true identity, Elder Feng perceived the tiniest signs of Swords Gate arts from him, knowing that he was someone from Swords Gate who had cultivated both the lightning and fire-style arts.
Gu Hongzi continued, “That was, however, a conjecture without solid evidence. The true incident that exposed Lei Hong was Feng Wuji’s cultivation breakthrough to the level of True Spirit. If Feng Wuji succeeded, his prowess would be at the grade of magnates; and this made Lei Hong very uneasy. Hence, Lei Hong took a risk, trying to assault Feng Wuji while the latter was in the process of breaking through the cultivation barrier. However, Feng Wuji knew that the traitor would not allow him to succeed in breaking through to the True Spirit level, so he had placed down a trap to lure the traitor out. From what I heard, many of the elders were there to witness when Lei Hong was lured out by the trap and caught on the spot. Among them was Elder Lei Shan from the Lei Hu Clan, had spit out a mouthful of blood after seeing it was Lei Hong, and fainted dead away. Lei Hong tried to fight his way out from Swords Gate Mountain, but the elders stopped him down. Nobody knows when, but he had stolen one of the ten malefic weapons, the Blood Ray Sword, and caused much havoc, even a few elders were injured. Seeing that he couldn’t make his escape, Lei Hong killed himself with the Blood Ray Sword... although, some say that it was the Blood Ray Sword that killed him.”
“Killed… himself?”
Zhong Yue was stunned, he exclaimed involuntarily in shock, “Lei Hong killed himself? This… senior martial brother, did Lei Hong show his Xiao Mang Celestial Race bloodline? Did he cast any Xiao Mang Celestial Race’s techniques? Or did he reveal his three-headed Pan Ao form?”
“I hear that he did cast a few Xiao Mang Celestial Race’s techniques, but I’m not told anything about the revelation of his three-headed Pan Ao form, nor the Xiao Mang Celestial Race bloodline.”
Gu Hongzi heaved a breath, he said, “Now thinking back, during the times when we were hunting for Jun Sixie, the voice that wasdirectly conducted into our ears from thousands of miles away that was constantly telling us Jun Sixie’s location... although he tried to disguise his voice, it carried the aura of the fire element, and looking back now, it sounded very much like Lei Hong.”
Zhong Yue calmed himself down. Among the four successors of Swords Gate, Lei Hong was the most suspicious one to him. And yet, when the news came suddenly, telling him that Lei Hong was dead, it struck him hard, and it was difficult for him to accept it at all.
Even though they hadn’t truly met, but the numerous encounters Zhong Yue had with the traitor gave him a very clear understanding on how sly and cunning the traitor was. For Lei Hong to be the traitor and exposed so easily, something didn’t feel right there.
But, if Lei Hong wasn’t the celestial messenger, then why would he attempt to kill Elder Feng Shouzhu, and who could force him to eliminate Feng Wuji?
For someone like Lei Hong, whose prowess was nearly at the grade of magnates, who could ever force him to do something he didn’t want to?
“When the old man heard about it, he only said a sentence, ”Gu Hongzi sighed, and said, “He said, ‘Lei Hong’s vision was clouded with the desire to hold high powers, he was just a silly child’.”
“Silly child? The old man said that Lei Hong’s desire for power was too strong and that he was just a silly child, is this a comment to describe the celestial messenger? The celestial messenger is indeed hungry for power, but he is definitely not a silly child!”
Zhong Yue’s heart skipped a beat, and a chill was sent down his spine, he said, “This is the real example of ‘The dead cannot testify’! Oh yes, senior martial brother, where was Shui Qingyan after Lei Hong’s death?”
“Shui Qingyan? Who is that?” Gu Hongzi asked, puzzled.
One after another, thoughts flooded through Zhong Yue’s mind. If Lei Hong was really the celestial messenger hidden in Swords Gate, then he would be the one that was talking to Shui Qingyan. With the celestial messenger’s death, Shui Qingyan would not dare to linger in Swords Gate anymore, she would surely run away. After all, Shui Qingyan’s true identity was the Tian Myriad Mother, she was released by the celestial messenger from the Demon Ruins, and was ordered to possess Shui Qingyan’s mortal body!
Tian Myriad Mother would surely run away in fear of getting exposed. But if she continued staying in Swords Gate, then it would mean Lei Hong was nothing more than a scapegoat pushed out by the real celestial messenger!
Zhong Yue took in a breath of deep air, he thought, To know if the real celestial messenger is dead or not, I’ll just have to find out whether if Tian Myriad Mother is still in Swords Gate! Seems like there is a need for me to go back to Swords Gate!
This period of time was destined to be an era of chaos and disorder. In just one month, an innate spirit body holder had fallen in Swords Gate, and two of Shi Buyi’s disciples had died.
These soul weapons, I can’t bring them all, what should I do with them? Zhong Yue looked at the soul weapons he brought back and was cracking his head to find a solution.
He has acquired these soul weapons with the identity of Long Yue, he could not use them in his true identity of Zhong Yue, or his secret would be exposed. Hence, it would be an issue for him to store these soul weapons.
Why don’t I just send this Wu Yang River to the Singing Goose Mountain? With this river surrounding the mountain and the steep topography of the mountain itself, I can place an attack-defense array formation on Singing Goose Mountain. Although I have my own territory, and my own monastery on the Falcon Ridge, others cancome and go as they like, that doesn’t look like the territory of a lord.
However, with this river and these soul weapons, I can forge my territory into my own heavily guarded kingdom. Once I’ve built it, it can be the saint land for those living in my territory!