Chapter 96 – Differing Schemes

“Time to die,” Gu Suihan appeared behind the elegantly dressed young man in less than a second, his quiet murmur hitting the young man’s ears along with his warm breath.

“When did you get there?” The young man paled in horror as he had no choice but to ignore the sword Qi coming at him from the front and turned around to throw a punch at Gu Suihan. Unfortunately, all he heard was the sound of his fist whooshing through the air as it landed on nothing. The force of throwing his punch into the empty air made him lose his balance, and he stumbled forward.

Other than losing his balance for a moment, he was perfectly fine. But the people who were standing behind him were not fine at all. These people were only his trusted assistants and followers who were nowhere near his level of cultivation.

Once he stumbled out of the way, he exposed the people behind him to the wave of sword Qi that was meant for him. In that instant, all of them were sliced to pieces before they could even scream in horror.

The young man was both grieved and furious to see this, his contorted face no longer as handsome as it was before. An uncontrollable rage seemed to burst out of his body like thousands of tiny slits all over his body.

“Suppression of the Great!” The young man swung his fists, a determination to crush Gu Suihan filling his heart, and then he gave a great shout. A bloody red glow made from the evaporation of his own blood covered his entire body with a bloody mist and he transformed them into two bloodied dragons around his own arms.

“Who do you think you are?” Gu Suihan snorted. He raised his sword and the smooth surface of the blade gleamed with a blinding light. The sharp blade glinted frostily and seemed just as cold-blooded and murderous as its owner.

“Worldly Passions!” Gu Suihan swung his sword as though he was going to slice through everything in his way, but no sword Qi flew out from the blade. It was as if he were just a child playing with a toy sword.

However, this seemingly simple and ordinary swing of the sword seemed to weigh down heavily on the young man. He felt as though a bright light had cut through the darkness and made everything clear. The frostiness from the blade filled the air, and he felt as though every pore on his body was being pricked by a tiny wisp of the sword’s will. His hair stood on end, and in his delirium, he thought he saw his usually strict and stern father, his sweet and gentle mother, and those brothers of his who kept trying to suck up to him just to get a piece of the inheritance.

“This is just a hallucination; it’s not real!” The young man’s eyes were bulging, and he roared angrily like an injured wild beast. His eyes brimmed with tears when he saw his family members before him.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” he murmured miserably as he swung his fists and the bloodied dragons around them roared. Each punch would destroy the realistic illusion of his family members, which made him apologize to them instinctively.

Even though he knew they were merely hallucinations, he felt like his heart was bleeding, and his punches became slower and slower. When the last person standing looked at him dotingly, the young man’s face was already covered in tears, and his voice was hoarse as he stared at this gentle woman looking back at him so tenderly.

He didn’t dare to punch her even though he knew well that she was nothing but a figment of his imagination. He didn’t want to lose sight of her and longed to see her for a while more. He loosened his fists without realizing it and collapsed onto the ground limply like he was a marionette whose strings were cut. His gaze was practically dead as he stared into the empty space before him.

“I’m…I’m sorry!” The young man whimpered miserably like he was a helpless little puppy. He finally threw one last punch and destroyed the illusion in front of him. But at the same time, it also destroyed the memories of the last person he cared about.

Gu Suihan looked nonchalantly at the frail young man on the ground. There was a murderous glint in his eye as he drew his sword to chop the young man’s head off.

“Stop!” An elderly voice suddenly resounded, which raised alarm bells in Gu Suihan’s heart. His expression did not shift, but his sword exuded ten times more murderous Qi than before.

The vibration of his sword reverberated in the small yard, and a frostiness seemed to cover the entire place like a giant web silently encompassing the small estate. The dark and bloody red clouds in the sky made the atmosphere even more pressurizing.

“You’re his father?” Gu Suihan looked at the middle-aged man who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and asked cautiously. At the same time, his sword sucked in the thick murderous Qi around it like a whale sucking in water. The reddish blade of the sword stank of blood.

Gu Suihan was already preparing to make a fatal move. If executed, this move could injure even someone at Origin Core.

“That’s right.” The middle-aged man looked at the young man crying soundlessly and let out a long sigh. He bent over and patted his son’s head, and an awkward but gentle expression appeared on his stern face.

He then flung a magic storage bag at Gu Suihan and carried up the young man with his other arm as he said calmly, “You can consider this to be compensation. Young man, I hope you’ll watch your actions. The murderous Qi within you is very strong, so I hope you won’t end up like those predecessors who met tragic ends.”

Gu Suihan watched the two of them leave in silence, but his half-closed eyes were still filled with a terrifying amount of murderous Qi.

“Some scheme that was,” muttered Gu Suihan after a long time. He waved his arm and cleared all the corpses in the yard, plonking himself back onto his bamboo chair with a smile as though nothing had ever happened.

The royal family of Fenglin had probably sent these men. The young man had only been used to launch an attack on him and couldn’t even be considered a pawn in the game.

If Gu Suihan had died in that attack earlier, that would have been the end of things. Everyone was already sure that he was the one who robbed the tax ship back then, so it was easy to say that they killed him as a punishment for trying to rob Fenglin of its taxes. Nobody would investigate the death of someone who deserved to die.

If Gu Suihan did not die but killed the young man just now, then he would end up on the opposing side of the martial cultivators during the inter-sect competition. The martial cultivators from Fenglin would have even more reason to gang up against him.

“If you were the one behind it, that would make sense,” murmured Gu Suihan as the image of Nan Yuntian’s face appeared in his mind.

At the same time, Gu Suihan wasn’t omniscient either. Or at least, he had no idea that Disciplinarian Zhang was now in cahoots with Nan Yuntian.

“The curse doesn’t just affect one person, though,” he said softly before slowly closing his eyes to take a nap.

The near drowning of Nan Yuntian’s son was considered news in the capital city. Everyone was relieved to hear that the son had been treated by a wandering cultivator a few days ago.

But Nan Yuntian made sure that nobody knew that this wandering cultivator was actually Disciplinarian Zhang. That was part of their plan.

Meanwhile, Mo Yuluo and the other faction leaders had quietly gathered in the yard next to Gu Suihan’s. Their expressions were grim as they discussed matters among themselves.

“Gu Suihan is not someone we can control at all. I would suggest that we kill him right now since he’s exhausted from how much energy he used earlier in the day,” said Fang Suyu with a sinister look in his eye.

Mo Yuluo frowned slightly and said calmly, “How do you know if that fellow is really exhausted from fighting? You saw what happened earlier. He dealt with that young man so quickly. Also, which one of us can really fight him one-on-one?”

Wang Aolin smiled gently. “Brother Fang didn’t say we should go alone. We can attack him together.”

“Either way, this fellow is like a double-edged sword, so while he’s useful to the sect’s plan, he’s also very dangerous. I would prefer to go with something that’s safe and ensures long-lasting results.” Fang Suyu’s expression remained grim as he insisted on his earlier suggestion of killing Gu Suihan right now.

Mo Yuluo immediately argued back, “Gu Suihan’s soul fire is with the sect. He wouldn’t dare to do anything to harm the sect.”

“Mo Yuluo, why do I get the sense that you treat this boy differently? Are you in love with him?” Wang Aolin clearly agreed with Fang Suyu’s suggestion and glanced mockingly at Mo Yuluo when he heard her response. His voice sounded rather displeased as well.

He thought that Mo Yuluo’s first reaction would be to deny any feelings for Gu Suihan, and he could then push her to go along with Fang Suyu’s suggestion.

To his surprise, Mo Yuluo laughed merrily and said, “And so what if I am? His aptitude is so high; he’s a bold, ruthless and decisive man; and he’s even a senior cultivator who’s merely restarted his cultivation journey. Besides, he’s not bad-looking either. Why wouldn’t I fall in love with him?”

Fang Suyu and Wang Aolin exchanged glances, but there was nothing they could say to that.

They realized that Mo Yuluo wasn’t going to agree no matter what they said, so they could only sigh. They threw Mo Yuluo an odd glance, then shook their heads and left.

They really couldn’t tell if she was telling the truth or not, but they cleverly chose not to guess or test a woman’s words.