Chapter 717: He's....
No sooner did the man’s palm touch Huangfu Rui’s head did the girl freeze up like a board. Her eyes were listless and his face was completely devoid of any emotion!
As for the middle-aged man, the warm look on his face was nowhere to be seen! In its place was an expression as cold and indifferent as ice!
A faint red light emanated from the man’s body. It flowed through his right hand and enveloped Huangfu Rui’s body like a cocoon. Beating rhythmically, it left no place around her untouched and started to even flow into her. From the outside, whatever was happening to Huangfu Rui looked quite startling.
The moment didn’t last for long. At some point, the man had realized something unexpected to him and pulled his hand away from Huangfu Rui in surprise.
The faint red light faded away, leaving behind only the two people to be basked in the moonlight. Even when his hand was no longer touching Huangfu Rui, the girl was still emotionless and transfixed to the spot like a statue.
“It’s a little slower than I thought….” The man muttered to himself. “Compared to before, it’s definitely a lot more suppressed, almost sealed even. She should’ve been at this point three years ago….”
The man shook his head and laughed. “Haha, master….so you were still capable of something like this? But surely a heavy price had to be paid? You were already weakened before, and then with this? Not ever will you make it back to the realm of the Emperors…..”
He cast his eyes to Huangfu Rui, a shadow of warmth flickering across his eyes for just a split-second. He stroked Huangfu Rui’s cheek with a finger, “You really do look alike….Just like Yu’er….” He reminisced.
Those memories cheered the man up to a small degree, but the smile soon started to fade away back to indifference. His hand dropped.
“It’s a pity your his daughter….” He spat.
“Huangfu Nan….I can’t fault you for accusing me of secretly trying to craft a demonic armament. Master had already known about it a long time ago, but perhaps it was due to his role as master that he knew. The heavens truly are waiting for me to ‘repent’ for that.
“But. The fact that you made Yu’er leave me is absolutely unforgivable….
“Killing you would be as easy as crushing an ant, but I don’t want do something like that….Just you wait. There’ll be a day when you come to know what it feels like to be ‘betrayed’ by the one closest to you….”
The next words that came out of his mouth were unintelligible to everyone but him. Fully withdrawing his right hand, the man clenched his slightly trembling fist, allowing for a drip of blood to fall from his fingers and onto the ground…..
……
Hiding his hand in his sleeve, the man turned to his right. “Gui Wei. Come on out.”
Under the night sky was just Huangfu Rui and this man. So when he spoke for someone to come out all of a sudden, it was a baffling to hear and was a little strange to hear.
But he looked to a corner of the valley in particular and waited. Over there in one of the nearby trees, the space around it warped in on itself before a person came walking out from it!
From where there didn’t seem to be anyone earlier, a person had actually come out from absolutely nowhere!
This person was dressed completely in black and had a wide-brimmed hat to hide his head. It would’ve been hard to see his face in the daytime, let alone in the night when there was no visibility. It looked like he was one with the shadows with how it stuck to his body. Even his aura could hardly be felt when he walked.
The one known as ‘Gui Wei’ came to a stop just ten meters away from the middle-aged man. He bowed at the waist in a respectful greeting for the man. “Gui Wei pays his respects to the vice-headmaster…..vice-headmaster, what matters bring you here?”
From his voice alone, this person was a middle-aged man. From his appearance, any guess from between thirty and sixty could be had, but no one would be able to see just how old he really was.
The man didn’t answer Gui Wei. He instead nodded his head and asked a question back, “What brings you here?”
The look on his face now devastatingly different to the one he showed Huangfu Rui earlier. He didn’t even bother to give Gui Wei a proper look in the eyes. His expression was dark and stormy, and his voice was exceedingly sinister. There was a baleful aura radiating from his person that demanded respect and obedience, and Gui Wei was all too happy to give both. In fact, the person looked a little fearful upon realizing just how superfluous his question had been.
“This servant reports that the junior headmaster had instructions for Gui Nu and the blood octopus to train here. We were instructed to have the two come to a suitable place for proper ‘nourishment’ to become Soul Kings.”
Gui Wei bowed his head in respect. Someone like him was important enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with the elders of his affiliation, but in front of the vice-headmaster, the man didn’t dare do anything but submit.
“Gui Nu?” The man quirked an eyebrow. “The one brought to us a few years ago, the one that managed to learn the Bloodsoul Dark Arts without dying?”
“That is the one.”
The middle-aged man looked a little more interested now. “I heard it was nothing more but a passing fancy from Mo Ni. Has his plan really succeeded that much? How far has that ‘Gui Nu’ learned in the Bloodsoul Dark Arts?”
“He has reached the late-stage Blood realm already. It is presumed that once he breaks through to become a Soul King, he will soon reach the early-stage Soul realm.”
“Oh?” The man replied in surprise. He smiled, “We haven’t had a person had such a success like that for several hundred years now. That person will become a powerful tool for us in the future.
“But….” He paused briefly to think. “The Bloodsoul Dark Arts is one of our greatest secrets. As powerful as it may be, it is also hard to control. It’ll be an annoyance if that person decides to break away, has Mo Ni put in the preparations in case of that?”
“Please rest assured, vice-headmaster. There was trouble once before with Gui Nu’s training that the junior headmaster had a special restriction placed upon his soul. No matter how much Gui Nu forgets himself and goes berserk, he will never be out of junior headmaster’s control.”
“That’s fine then. You tell Mo Ni to behave himself. The headmaster wants him to train hard these next few years so he will be ready to pick up the heavy responsibilities in the future. I only hope he won’t disappoint us.”
“Yes, your humble servant will pass the vice-headmaster’s message to the junior headmaster.”
The man nodded. “Go about your business then,” he waved his hand. “The stench of blood is quite heavy, that blood octopus must’ve made its nest already then? Best leave this area then. No matter how well you’ve quarantined the area, someone strong is bound to come looking. It’s best to leave when it’s still silent.”
“Please rest assured, vice-headmaster. I will be prudent in my task. We are at the final stages before Gui Nu and the blood octopus breaks through. I am confident it won’t be any time until they are fi—”
“Boom!!!”
A loud explosion from the direction behind Gui Wei saw to him snapping his mouth shut in shock.
He whirled around in bewilderment to look off into the direction of the explosion.
It came from the back of Formagua City!