AGM 450 – Voluntarily Walking into a Trap
Qin Wentian’s silhouette flashed through Ginkou with great speed. Not long later, he arrived at the city gates of Ginkou.
When he arrived, he only saw several experts of the Chen Clan gathered here, while a cold corpse had been suspended on top of the city gates. The poor corpse was exposed to the blistering heat of the merciless sun.
There was an ancient path leading towards the corpse. Currently, there was no one there; it was as though the Chen Clan was expecting someone to turn up, voluntarily walking into their trap.
Qin Wentian stared at the corpse suspended on the city gates as a terrifying fire burned in his hearts.
The Chen Clan was too cold blooded.
Even if there was a life-and-death grudge between them, there was no need for such an act of humiliation. Killing of cultivators happened daily in Grand Xia but death would usually wiped the slate clean. The actions of the Chen Clan truly incited dissent as well as anger of the others.
Is it all for that ancient medallion? That Sacred Royal Medallion?
Qin Wentian stared at the corpse as intense feelings of guilt flooded his heart. Standing among the streams of humans that numbered about 10,000, his hands were tightly clenched into fists as he dipped into a slight bow in the direction of the corpse.
“Senior, the actions of junior implicated the Mystic Moon Sect. But for this action, I shall make the Chen Clan pay for it with their blood.” Qin Wentian’s heart right now was icy cold. He turned and left, the sheer fury flickering in his eyes caused a sense of terror to people who saw it.
Right now, he had to stop Bai Qing from coming here.
Chen Clan’s actions caused a huge wave of commotion that alarmed the other transcendent powers in Ginkou. However, when they heard about the matter regarding the Sacred Royal Medallion, they all faintly understood the reason for the Chen Clan’s actions. So, it wasn’t just because Chen Wang had fallen. The ancient medallion had been bestowed to Chen Wang and had been lost because of his death. Right now, the Chen Clan couldn’t care less anymore and even didn’t hesitate to start an all out war with the Mystic Moon Sect for the sake of finding clues to retrieve the medallion.
The situation in Ginkou was also known to the main base of the Mystic Moon Sect in the Spirit Continent. The flames of fury surged in their hearts as numerous powerful experts immediately left for Ginkou.
The Chen Clan went overboard with their bullying. This right now wasn’t merely a fight between sects but, rather, a battle that had no end, until one side was completely annihilated.
The Great Solar Chen Clan was too ruthless.
Even if the entirety of the Mystic Moon Sect were to fall, they would not stand to suffer such humiliation.
Qin Wentian wanted to search for Bai Qing, but he was too late. After knowing her Master, who had treated her with so much kindness that it was heavy as a mountain, having her corpse paraded outside the city gates, how could Bai Qing endure it with her temperament?
Although Bai Qing was termed as the slaughter goddess from the netherworld, that was only because she was ruthless to her enemies. Right now, her character was cold and emotionless; her heart had already been sealed in ice. Back then when it was rumored that Qin Wentian had fallen in the Pill Emperor Hall, her heart was like dead ashes with her mind fully focused only on revenge. She was willing to make an enemy out of the entire Grand Xia because of him but she had never wished for those closest to her to end up like this. Her heart was bombarded by endless pain and agony.
On that ancient path that led to the Ginkou’s city gate, Bai Qing was already here. Naturally she hadn’t come alone, Ouyang Kuangsheng and the rest had accompanied her here as well.
The Ouyang Aristocrat Clan hadn’t wished for Ouyang Kuangsheng to entangle himself in this matter. They were also extremely clear that once this matter involved the Sacred Royal Medallion, the Chen Clan would spare no cost in their quest to retrieve it. The only reason why they hadn’t made a move against the Ouyang Aristocrat Clan was purely because the Mystic Moon Sect was easier to handle. If not for that, with the main base of the Great Solar Chen Clan in Ginkou, it was definitely not a problem for them to act against the Ouyang Aristocrat Clan.
However, the Ouyang Clan also had no way to prevent the stubborn Ouyang Kuangsheng. He resolutely accompanied Bai Qing, and nobody could block him once he made his decisions. Those from the Ouyang Aristocrat Clan and Jiang Clan, could only accompany him to Ginkou.
On that ancient path outside Ginkou, a heavy atmosphere hung about in the air. Bai Qing continued walking forwards, until she came face to face with the corpse of her master. Upon seeing it, she fell to her knees as she kowtowed repeatedly, with tears endlessly dripping from her eyes.
“Master, your disciple is unfilial and failed to live up to your expectations. My actions caused you to sacrifice yourself for me, but with the Chen Clan treating you like this, how can I ever stay away?” Bai Qing stared at the suspended corpse as tears streaked down her face. She naturally knew that her master would never have wanted her to return, to voluntarily come back into the trap again, after she fought so hard to break out of the encirclement. But this debt of humiliation, if she truly stayed away, how could she be qualified to be her master’s disciple?
Despite knowing it was a trap, she still had to come back.
Standing up, Bai Qing’s silhouette flickered as she flew up and brought her Master down.
However at the instant she flew up, a figure descended from the skies and stomped downwards. The terrifying power of this stomp fully pressed down onto Bai Qing, causing her to groan as she was forced backwards. The figure above was none other than Chen Fan. A blazing sun could be seen above his head, causing the temperature around him to rise, the sunlight augmenting his strength.
“Who was it that killed Chen Wang?” Chen Fan’s voice was extremely cold. He stared downwards at Bai Qing as he inquired.
Bai Qing glanced at him, the devil might from her rolled forth in waves. She continued ascending upwards with a devil sabre in her hands. With a flash, her silhouette disappeared before appearing once more with a head on slash.
Chen Fan coldly snorted as he stomped out again. Brilliant burst of blinding light erupted from the blazing sun above his head. When Bai Qing neared him, she felt as though her entire body was about to be burned into cinders. Chen Fan stabbed out with a finger with the endless might of the intense sun ray being concentrated on it.
“Chi…”
The devil sabre shattered, Chen Fan’s strike landed on Bai Qing, the impact causing her to cough blood, only to see Chen Fan coldly asking again, “Who was it that killed Chen Wang?”
Ouyang Kuangsheng and the rest all appeared beside Bai Qing; Jiang Ting embraced her, while the whole lot of them glared at Chen Fan.
“For the battle outside Ginkou, both parties suffered drastic losses. Your Chen Clan sent out a few men to chase after the cultivator surnamed Di, and the end result was that all of them died in his hands. After that, that man reversed the situation and chased after Chen Wang. Chen Wang was too weak, he died in the end. But as to the process of his death, none of us saw how it happened.”
Fan Le’s countenance was frigid as he continued, “The Great Solar Chen Clan is merely so-so it seems. The disciples of the Chen Clan are useless, and after they are killed, the Chen Clan only knows how to resort to such despicable methods to obtain revenge. How impressive.”
“The young man surnamed Di only has a cultivation base at the second level of Heavenly Dipper. How could Chen Wang be defeated by him? Even if Chen Wang was defeated, there was no way he could have killed Chen Wang.” Chen Fan’s tone contained obvious disbelief. It was basically completely impossible.
“That’s the truth. If you don’t believe it, why do you even ask in the first place?” Ouyang Kuangsheng retorted.
“Hmph. In that case I will detain Bai Qing first. She will replace her master in being suspended on the city gates until someone reveals the truth or the Sacred Royal Medallion resurfaces once more.” Chen Fan’s voice turned detached, with a wave of his hands, fire burst out into being, burning the corpse of Bai Qing’s master into ashes.
“Cough!”
Upon seeing this, Bai Qing spat out another mouthful of blood, her countenance as pale as a sheet of paper.
“Master…” Tears endlessly flowed, as Bai Qing thought back to the moments they shared before, her only family outside of Autumn Snow and Bai Qingsong.
Back then when she left Chu and came to Grand Xia, she had met with countless dangers before she finally acquired the Chaotic Art of the Heavenly Devil. When she cultivated that, she had almost lost herself to the devil, but her master appeared then and saved her life, bringing her into the Mystic Moon Sect to nurture her.
After entering the Mystic Moon Sect, her master patiently guided her. The levels of the Chaotic Art of the Heavenly Devil got progressively harder, and every time she found her body unable to endure it, her master would infused her own vital energy to smooth Bai Qing’s meridians and arterial pathway, as well as unhesitatingly gathered precious herbs to concoct medicinal solutions for her to immerse herself in, strengthening her body and constitution. It was only after a long gruelling period before she achieved success in her devil arts.
After she learnt what her father did to Qin Wentian, her heart had long been sealed in ice, affecting her character and her way of interaction with people. But her master had never once counted that against her and even treated her as she should her own daughter.
To Bai Qing, the affection of her Master was a replacement for motherly love, something she had never experienced before.
But right now, her master actually died for her sake. Her corpse was even suspended in public for all to witness. And now, there weren’t even bones left, everything had been burned into ashes.
Bai Qing knees slammed down on the ground with crushing force, she had her head lowered and knelt there. Tears unendingly flowed from her eyes, as her heart was assailed with an incomparably agony.
“Your disciple is unfilial..” Bai Qing kowtowed, her heart felt like it was on the verge of breaking into a thousand fragments.
When she finally lifted her head, her raven hair was in disarray, fluttering in the wind. Devil might towered the skies as darkness descended, turning day into night.
She stood up, staring at Chen Fan in the middle of the air. Terrifying devil intent could be seen flickering in her eyes, as well as coldness so intense that the crowd involuntarily trembled as they felt their souls shiver uncontrollably.
Qin Wentian who was still far away, rapidly dashed over. Bai Qing’s back view was now visible to him
Her back view contained a boundless desolation and despair, he could clearly feel the pain in her heart. This must be how she felt when she learnt that he had fallen in the Pill Emperor Hall back then.
In the end, it seems that he was also too late to prevent her from coming.
“Bai Qing, this is my fault.” Qin Wentian sighed. That feeling of guilt further intensified. Although all of this was outside of his expectations, it didn’t change the fact that everything stemmed from his killing of Chen Wang.
“For the battle that unfolded in the ancient kingdom, it stemmed from the conflict between the five transcendent powers which eventually led to the battle among the younger generations outside Ginkou. Chen Wang had died, yet no one knew who was the one who truly killed him. If the Chen Clan believed that it was one of us who did it, we have no way to refute that. If you want, you might as well just come and claim our lives in compensation, why is there a need to use such a ruthless method to humiliate the Mystic Moon Sect? I, Ouyang Kuangsheng hereby vow, as long as I’m alive, my Ouyang Aristocrat Clan shall always treat the Chen Clan as our enemy.”
Ouyang Kuangsheng glared at Chen Fan, his voice extremely frigid.
“In that case, you don’t need to think about Ginkou ever again.” Chen Fan swept his gaze onto Ouyang Kuangsheng, radiating a sharpness as well as a terrifying killing intent.
“No one can block my Chen Clan. If the Sacred Royal Medallion doesn’t appear, this matter will never come to an end.” Chen Wang icily continued.
“And as for that battle, who knows whether if that’s a plot to lure Chen Wang out of Ginkou? The Mystic Moon Sect also participated in it, you can’t blame us for their deaths.” An expert from the Chen Clan stepped out. On the battle that day, the losses the Chen Clan suffered weren’t small.
Another person stepped out, staring coldly at Bai Qing, “This female must definitely land in our hands today.”
Ouyang Kuangsheng swept his gaze onto the person who spoke, it was a young man that appeared around thirty years of age. This man was none other than one of the elites of the younger generation from the Nine Mystical Palace, Xiao Han.
“Even the Nine Mystical Palace dares to interfere in this matter? Do you even have the authority to speak here? Seems like you have already thrown in your lot with the Great Solar Chen Clan. Nine Mystical Palace? All of you will definitely regret that decision.” Ouyang Kuangsheng’s eyes bore into Xiao Han. The Nine Mystical Palace was ranked last out of all thirty-six transcendent powers in Grand Xia. They only had one Celestial Phenomenon Ascendent that would soon pass away. If that ascendent really died, the Nine Mystical Palace would be struck off from the list of transcendent powers.
“Don’t jump so far ahead. The matter today has yet to be concluded.” Chen Fan’s cold voice boomed out. The experts from their alliance all stepped out together, moving towards Bai Qing!