Volume 5

309 Who The Debtor Is

Was everything fated from the very beginning, except that I wasn’t aware of it all?

“There’s no need to reminisce the past. What do you want?” Li Qing asked as she looked at Feng Zhu.

“How many monstrosities disrupting the Split Zone have been created in Huai Du’s demon cave? I’m sure you know the answer even if I don’t say it. Though it isn’t caused by her, it’s her constitution that allows her to enter that demon cave. I have to refine her.”

Oh, he has finally revealed his goal. After all that talk, he just wants to turn me into a weapon.

Si Luo said suddenly, “So are you going to treat her like how you treated me in the past? You promised to give me your Gate of Heaven, but now that I see it, history is repeating itself in the Gate of Heaven right now. You’ve simply shifted your target from me to somebody else.”

Si Luo had been refined by Feng Zhu, just like Nie Zun?

“What does that mean? What did you do to Si Luo?”

Jiao S turned serious as she heard this. She did not care who she was speaking to, it could have been anybody else but the ruler of the Gate of Heaven. She spoke in a dead serious tone.

Feng Zhu was slightly surprised by this sudden mention of the past as he said, “Do you think you’re a finished product? If I’m planning for her to become like you, wouldn’t I be setting myself up for the scenario which faced me years ago, where I faced the betrayal of a child I had cultivated personally?”

Si Luo looked up with white fog in his eyes as he stared at Feng Zhu. “Your definition of betrayal is me not participating in any of your plans and not stepping into any of the three Gates, it’s how I’d rather live among the heirs for a hundred years as I take on your sins. There’s probably no one who’d think of betraying people if betrayal was like that.”

Si Luo’s words made Feng Zhu silent.

It was Li Qing who spoke next. “There’s no need for us to waste even more time here since we know what our respective goals are. I believe there’s also no need for us to reminisce the past, is there?”

“So, you’re not willing to give her to me no matter what?” Feng Zhu asked as he stared at Li Qing.

“Yes. If you insist on taking her away today, don’t blame me when the entire Gate of Exit becomes your enemy.”

I felt a change in the air around us, as if an immense power was hidden within it. I looked at Feng Zhu subconsciously. He looked no different, and I couldn’t tell if this was his doing.

However, I could sense Du Yue and Ta Lai’s movements. Both of them took a small step backwards when they sensed the slight change in air pressure.

This in turn made me become more alert as I looked at the three of them. Though they might not look it, they would still make a formidable team together.

In a fight, it wasn’t the opponent’s strength that mattered. What mattered most is if they were able to work well together if they were in a team.

“It’s too boring if the two of you play it this way. Now that I’m here to challenge the Gate of Heaven, I’d like to see for myself the brand of justice being practiced here. Wouldn’t I end up being bored if you guys were to start fighting like this? I suggest that you guys can defeat me first before you fight. How about that?”

Only Cang Ming could be this arrogant.

“It’s difficult to choose a side like this. Both sides look like frauds. Which one should I choose?” Guan Nie laughed as he observed the situation, sarcasm apparent when he spoke.

“Guan Nie.” Gaoqin Jiuye called out to him suddenly.

Hearing Gaoqin Jiuye, Guan Nie’s thin frame started to tremble with emotion.

“You really think that you can abandon this however you want to just because it’s your hand?” Guan Nie looked at Gaoqin Jiuye’s severed arm with what looked like sadness.

The pale Gaoqin Jiuye lowered his eyes before he teleported to Guan Nie’s side, grabbing Guan Nie’s shoulder with his only hand.

“Are you planning to stay behind me forever if I don’t confront you?”

“That’s right, I’m going to torture you like this.” A mad glint flashed through Guan Nie’s upturned eyes as he answered.

Gaoqin Jiuye then said, “Let’s settle it once and for all today!”

Right after that, he pulled Guan Nie along with him as they left the central plaza. They headed for a building behind the plaza!

Guan Nie seemed to protest on the way, and it looked like a fight brought out between them!

“Has the air become less heavy now that two individuals are gone?” Cang Ming looked at all of us, not forgetting to reiterate that he was a mere by-stander in the middle of it all.

Feng Zhu emanated a domineering aura as air currents continued surrounding him.

Kasaya flying in the wind, he spoke like nobility. “Cang Ming, though those in the Gate of Ghost are known to break the rules, most still toe the line when it comes to the rules in the Split Zone. You’re known to be audacious, Cang Ming, but you actually dare to speak thoughtlessly even when you’re here with two rulers in my Gate of Heaven? I guess this old man has been too kind and harmonious all this while, and I might’ve given others the wrong impression that those walking on the righteous path in the Gate of Heaven are all frail and weak!”

Feng Zhu did not make any visible moves after saying that, but Cang Ming’s expression was different when I looked at him again.

His face looked a grayish green. It was an indescribable color, but he looked like he had been plagued with a disastrous affliction of sorts.

It was a ghastly, terrifying color.

What caused Cang Ming to look like this? Did I not realize it when Feng Zhu did something?

“It’s no wonder you’re able to keep your throne in the Gate of Heaven for so long.” Cang Ming spoke laboriously, as if he was suppressing something.

Feng Zhu then spoke in a booming voice. Every word of his exerted an invisible pressure on my ear drums. “I heard that you’ve taken a girl from Ta Lai. Is it time for you to return her now?”

Cang Ming seemed a little unsteady on his feet. I continued observing the situation with knitted brows. There didn’t seem to be anything different in our surroundings with the exception of those moving air currents. Why did Cang Ming look like he was suffering from some sort of internal injury?

“So the ruler of the Gate of Heaven actually interferes in affairs of the heart for his subordinates.” Cang Ming laughed, but he looked like he was having a difficult time.

“Let me take this, my lord.” Ta Lai requested as he stepped forward calmly.

There was a chill that seemed to run through the air when Feng Zhu turned to Ta Lai.

“I can let you take this on your own, but don’t embarrass me again, Ta Lai. I want you to get that girl back.”

Feng Zhu’s voice seemed to change all the time. He spoke in a booming voice just moments before, but his voice sounded low and magnetic when he spoke just now. It sounded like a father telling his sons to protect their territory.

Were all monks in the Split Zone unpredictable like this…

Though Cang Ming was an arrogant individual, I did not hate him so. At least I knew that I didn’t want to see him lose his dignity by being beaten up badly here.

Even though he was unreasonable and audacious, that anxious and angry look he had in his eyes when he was carrying Bian Ying remained fresh in my mind. He’s definitely in love with Bian Ying.

Cang Ming’s blood-red robe began fluttering in the wind. Without MF, I wasn’t able to accurately sense the changes in the air around him, but I could see that his eyes shone with a crystal light.

It must have been Feng Zhu’s words that reminded him of Bian Ying, giving him an extra boost of motivation.

“I don’t need to take her back. She’ll return to me someday.” Ta Lai walked over to Cang Ming slowly as he reached a hand out.

Cang Ming smirked. “How about you try it then? Try it. See if you’re able to accomplish what you haven’t been able to in all these years. Ta Lai, you don’t really love her. Whether I live or die, she won’t be returning to you. There’s an age-old rule in this world, that you can never take back what’s lost.”

Waves surged in Ta Lai’s eyes as he moved his jade stone ring!

Boom!

A black dome descended from the skies, encapsulating the two of them within!

That space seemed independent of everything else, and the two of them simply disappeared beneath that pitch-black dome!

Was this the very technique that he used against Nie Zun and I previously?

Was he trying to render Cang Ming’s five senses useless?!

I subconsciously looked toward Nie Zun, and I found him looking right at me. He must be thinking about what happened previously as well.

I tried to signal to him, wondering if he had any ideas that could help. I didn’t want Cang Ming to lose, but I didn’t know if this was because I was angry at Ta Lai or if I simply wanted to support Cang Ming in this fight.

Alas, I was overthinking again. I forgot that Nie Zun was no longer the Nie Zun of the past.

He saw me trying to signal to him, but he slowly moved his gaze away from me after a while.

My fists balled up as I said to the person who had always been standing somewhere in front of me. “See that? So what if you’re lending me power? He’s still giving me that attitude.”

She turned around to look at me, her long, red hair cascading down her back as she did so. Her eyes were bright as she said, “You can, look for the old him…

“Didn’t I give him a ring too? You weren’t able to keep him by your side even with that?” She laughed as she pointed at Nie Zun’s hand.