After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 149: Chapter 150: Mutual Suspicion

This blade truly had a connection with him; it would even auto-correct its course when he threw it casually.

A pity he’d thrown it away. To be honest, he was itching to go back into that dream world.

What’s more, the Broken Blade had even warned him when Lui Yao had shot at him with the Ghost Eye Bow.

It was a truly fine blade.

Hee Lingchuan sighed to himself. As he ran, his knuckles brushed his waist, and he suddenly felt that something wasn’t quite right with his scabbard. He glanced down—

The Broken Blade was still there, lying quietly in its sheath.

”...”

Hee Lingchuan was overjoyed. He stroked the hilt several times, only then remembering that Sunx Fuping’s short club could also automatically fly back to its owner’s hand.

’In other words, the two of them are treasures of at least the same caliber!’

’Since the Broken Blade returned on its own, does that mean this treasure has acknowledged me as its master?’

’This is awesome!’

’But when did this binding process happen? I don’t recall performing any blood-binding ritual.’

But the situation gave him no time to ponder, for Hee Lingchuan suddenly noticed the Rebel Army below splitting into two groups, each heading in a different direction.

This wasn’t infighting. Lui Yao and Pei Xinyong hadn’t argued; they simply exchanged a few words and separated. It looked more like they were dividing the task.

Pei Xinyong had taken the wrong path, which led to a triple-terraced slope ahead. Hee Lingchuan couldn’t understand it. ’Why is that guy so determined to go that way, and so confidently at that?’

He didn’t know this was due to the sound displacement caused by the Fog Array laid by the Marsh Warden. Pei Xinyong genuinely believed that was where the pebbles had fallen and the footsteps had originated.

Lui Yao’s direction, conversely, was the correct one.

The arc of the Broken Blade as it returned to strike the Red Falcon led Lui Yao to believe the blade had come from that direction. He naturally assumed the attacking Scout was also there.

The fog then warped his perception of that direction. As a result, two wrongs made a right.

He led his men, accelerating their charge toward the mountain ridge.

Watching this unfold clearly, Hee Lingchuan couldn’t help but exclaim, ”Lui Yao is chasing us this way! It’s a great opportunity!”

Lian Deng smiled wryly. ”Brother Chuan, can you please make some sense? How is Lui Yao chasing us a good opportunity?” ’A good opportunity to get ourselves killed?’

”Without the Red Falcon to guide him, he’ll get turned around in no time,” Hee Lingchuan said optimistically. ”But now that he’s separated from Pei Xinyong, we can go find Pei Xinyong.”

”Find Pei Xinyong?” Lian Deng was hesitant. ”General Wu already sent him a message with a Mechanical Bird. Since he’s still with Lui Yao, they’ve probably reconciled or formed an alliance. It would be too dangerous for us to show ourselves.”

”Who said we were going to show ourselves?” Hee Lingchuan chuckled. ”Don’t forget, I can see them, but they can’t see me.”

”Watch out!” Lian Deng suddenly grabbed him and yanked him back.

With a SWOOSH, a Flying Axe grazed past Hee Lingchuan’s waist, snapped two small trees as thick as a bowl, and finally lodged itself in a large green rock.

Hee Lingchuan broke out in a cold sweat.

’Damn it all! If Lian Deng hadn’t been so quick on the draw, that axe would have split me in two!’

’That axe is Lui Yao’s. Has the Lui Thief already spotted me?’

Hee Lingchuan turned his head and, sure enough, saw Lui Yao standing about a hundred feet away, cursing under his breath.

”That damn scoundrel! When I find him, I’ll chop him into seventeen or eighteen pieces and wash them down with wine!”

He was in a bad mood, so he didn’t bother thinking up more elaborate ways of cooking a person.

Hee Lingchuan and Lian Deng looked at each other and quietly sighed in relief.

Sure enough, Lui Yao gestured, and the axe lodged in the rock automatically flew back to him.

’Good, good. The bastard was just blowing off steam by throwing his axe, counting on it to return on its own. He didn’t actually see us.’

’Indiscriminate attacks are the scariest.’

Hee Lingchuan took off faster than a rabbit, putting great distance between himself and Lui Yao’s troops in the blink of an eye.

...

The sounds of footsteps and falling pebbles were very close. Pei Xinyong judged the enemy to be less than fifty or sixty feet away, so he wheeled his horse around and gave chase.

He knew full well that speed was the only way to catch the enemy here.

He had to flush them out before they could get away.

Naturally, the main body of his troops followed his lead.

But after they had charged for only a hundred feet, the two riders on the far left suddenly screamed and plummeted down the mountainside.

Cold sweat streamed down the others’ backs. The ground there had looked like nothing more than a patch of low shrubs!

Just then, two arrows shot out of the thick fog, THWIP-THWIP, landing in the ground twenty feet in front of Pei Xinyong’s horse.

Pei Xinyong yanked hard on his reins. His steed neighed as it reared up, coming to an abrupt stop.

”Who’s there?”

He could see that the two arrows were clearly a warning, but they held no malice.

”Lian Deng, vanguard of General Wu Shaoyi’s left flank!” A voice drifted out of the white mist, but this time, Pei Xinyong didn’t dare make a move.

Lian Deng continued, ”Any further and you’ll fall into a bottomless abyss!”

Standing beside him, Hee Lingchuan grinned silently. ’This kid’s a master bluffer, too.’

’What abyss? The ground between them and Pei Xinyong was perfectly level, without so much as a single bend.’

Of course, Lian Deng couldn’t see anything either. He was just following Hee Lingchuan’s instructions to shoot at the ground fifty feet away.

The threat worked like a charm, pinning Pei Xinyong’s troops to the spot. They didn’t dare move a muscle.

The most terrifying threats are the ones you can’t see.

Lian Deng immediately continued, ”General Wu wants me to ask you why you’re colluding with the Lui Thief. Why are you traveling with the man who murdered the Saint Master?”

The two loaded questions hit Pei Xinyong like a thunderclap, leaving him completely stunned. ”What did you say?” he cried out.

”Wu Shaoyi is still alive?”

”Was the Saint Master really murdered by Lui Yao?”

His voice grew higher with each question.

Hee Lingchuan heard the turmoil in his voice and nodded to Lian Deng.

Wu Shaoyi had sent Lian Deng over precisely because the man was eloquent and could get a point across concisely. Now, he showed his talent:

”General Wu sent a message via a Mechanical Bird. Did General Pei not receive it?”

”Mechanical Bird?” Pei Xinyong was baffled. ”The only Mechanical Bird I received was from Lui Yao. Wasn’t Wu Shaoyi devoured by the Crocodile God? You’re telling me he’s alive?”

”General Wu is alive and well! He’s actually riding the Crocodile God here by water!” Lian Deng said. ”General Wu sent me ahead to ask you: are you with us, or with the Lui Thief?”

The Crocodile God didn’t eat Wu Shaoyi, but became his mount instead? The claim was too outrageous for Pei Xinyong to believe. ”As for Lui Yao murdering the Saint Master, do you have proof?”

”The Saint Master’s Ghost Eye Bow is in Lui Yao’s hands—countless people witnessed it. Lui Yao used the Saint Master’s treasured Black Dragon Essence Blood to lure the Crocodile God into Immortal Spirit Lake, seeking an opportunity to ambush you and General Wu and seize power during the army rendezvous!” Lian Deng sneered. ”When Woling Pass fell, rumors were already spreading that Lui Yao had murdered the Saint Master. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, isn’t there? Hearing all this now, if someone said the Saint Master’s death had nothing to do with him, would *you* believe it?”

Pei Xinyong’s gaze wavered. The matter of the Crocodile God entering Immortal Spirit Lake with Lui Yao had been bothering him, and he had already suspected that Lui Yao wasn’t telling the whole truth.

’Black Dragon Essence Blood... So that was the truth?’

”You’re hidden in the fog. How can I confirm that you are truly Lian Deng?” he asked in a low voice. ”And how are you able to move so freely in this mist? Is this Wu Shaoyi’s doing?”

If Wu Shaoyi had created the fog, it would be no surprise that his men could navigate it. But if the fog had been set by the imperial forces, and this man was truly Lian Deng... the implications were profound.

’Could it be...?’

”Of course it’s one of General Wu’s methods.” Lian Deng stepped out of the fog with a Sable perched on his shoulder.

He stopped, but the Sable landed lightly on the ground, swaggered over to Pei Xinyong, and leaped nimbly onto his horse’s head. There, it stood and flicked its tail at him.

The Sable was Wu Shaoyi’s Spirit Pet. Pei Xinyong had played with it many times and was so familiar with it he even knew the small, discolored tuft of fur on its forehead. Naturally, he recognized it at a glance.

Most importantly, men could lie, but a Spirit Pet was not so quick to betray its master.

Pei Xinyong asked the Sable, ”Is he really Lian Deng?”

The Sable nodded.

”Is everything he said true?”

The Sable twitched its whiskers. ”Yes!”

”Then where is Wu Shaoyi?”

”On his way here,” the Sable replied. ”My master says, ’If he could harm me, he can harm you.’ Before our men arrive, be wary of a sudden uprising or a pincer attack!”

”Right, and in battle, fly the blue flag, same as always!”

Just then, the thick fog to Pei Xinyong’s left stirred, and a group of mounted soldiers galloped toward them.

It was none other than Lui Yao, returning to rendezvous with Pei Xinyong after failing to find his quarry. In this mist, they feared being separated from their teammates if the cloth strips tying them together were ever cut.

In such a treacherous environment, there was strength in numbers and safety in unity.

The moment the Sable spoke, Lian Deng had already retreated into the fog.

The moment Lui Yao appeared, the Sable leaped off the horse and scrambled up the branches of a nearby tree.

With Pei Xinyong and his men in the way, Lui Yao shouldn’t have been able to see it clearly. But the Sable paused the moment it reached a branch, stared at him, and bared its teeth before vanishing into the mist.

Thanks to that pause, Lui Yao got a clear look at it, and his heart skipped a beat.

’Isn’t that Wu Shaoyi’s Spirit Pet?’

’If the Sable is here, does that mean Wu Shaoyi has arrived, too?’

The thought of Wu Shaoyi made his scalp crawl. ’A man who not only survived the Crocodile God but tamed it as a mount... how had that bastard Wu suddenly gotten so uncanny?’

’No, that’s not right. They don’t have horses. It’s impossible for them to be this fast!’

His heart pounding with anxiety, Lui Yao asked, ”What’s going on?”

”I lost two of my men!” Pei Xinyong gestured toward the thick fog nearby. ”What about you? Did you catch the Scout?”

Lui Yao shook his head, his expression grim. He had also returned empty-handed.

Pei Xinyong exhaled, looking extremely irritated.

When Pei Xinyong didn’t say a word about the Sable, Lui Yao grew even more suspicious. He started to ask, ”Just now, what was that—”

He cut himself off before the last word could leave his mouth, a sudden jolt of realization striking him. ’I can’t ask!’

’The rebels behind me are numerous, but most of them are Wu Shaoyi’s former men. If I ask about it now and Pei Xinyong answers truthfully, what will my new subordinates think?’

’Will they continue to follow me, or will they return to their old master?’

’Men’s loyalties are fragile. I can’t force them to make that choice!’

Pei Xinyong looked baffled. ”What were you saying?”

”No, it’s nothing.” Lui Yao forced himself to swallow his question. The more he looked at Pei Xinyong, the more shifty the man’s eyes seemed. He must have spoken with the Sable. ’In other words,’ Lui Yao thought, ’Pei Xinyong probably knows Wu Shaoyi isn’t dead, and they’ve already been in contact!’

’Are they planning how to betray me?’

Trapped in this mist, which was both a paradise and a deathtrap, Lui Yao felt a layer of cold sweat break out across his entire back.