The Attack of the Wastrel

Lin Chongyuan was stunned for a moment, but he understood that Rong Yuan had meant for the duel to be over. When he recovered, he took the opportunity to attack Rong Yuan once again. The ring that was in mid-air flew towards Rong Yuan and captured him.

Gu Lingzhi, who was fighting against Chu Jiang at the side, cried out in shock and rushed towards Rong Yuan. She held onto him before the ring could capture him and retreated back into the almost-destroyed guesthouse.

Lin Chongyuan’s ring fell to the ground with an enormous rumbling sound, and the ground trembled for a few moments. Yet, he did not chase after Rong Yuan. He mumbled under his breath, “Cauldron!”

Suddenly, the Cauldron that was the Spirit City’s source of spiritual energy came flying from the main hall of the Governor Manor. It paused in mid-air above the guesthouse. Chu Jiang activated one of the techniques which caused it to overturn and come down onto the house. As it descended, it became larger and larger until it was the same size as the house. Then, it enveloped the entire house.

“Extract!” Chu Jiang mumbled under his breath. Streaks of spiritual energy entered the Cauldron causing its bronze body to glow. It started to dissolve and refine Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan who were trapped in the Cauldron.

Everyone who was watching cheered and clapped, knowing that they had succeeded in stopping them.

Ever since this Cauldron had been forged, there was not a single enemy that had walked out of it alive. They could foresee that Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan would be cooked in the Cauldron and their spiritual energy would be plentiful enough for every one of them.

This extraction process took a full three days before it ended. The Cauldron stopped glowing when the process was finished. Chu Jiang overturned the Cauldron once again.

When the Cauldron was lifted, spiritual energy flowed out from the Cauldron in all directions. Even Chu Jiang, who was controlling the Cauldron was shocked. If he did not know that Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan had escaped from a secret passageway in the house prior to when the Cauldron enveloped the house, he would have really thought that they were cooked in the Cauldron. Such thick and pure spiritual energy could only be derived from smelting more than ten Earth-Level Spiritual Weapons.

They had previously agreed to just sacrifice a few items for the Cauldron to extract their spiritual energy, yet Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan had sacrificed so many items. Chu Jiang felt his heart ache over what was lost. He might as well have sold some high-level warriors from the Spirit City to them!

At this moment, both Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan were sitting at an isolated corner of the Chancellor’s Manor. They observed the scene at the guest house intriguingly and occasionally discussed it. They could not help but admire the Cauldron.

“It was just a small bowl of water from the Spiritual Essence Spring yet the Cauldron could extract so much spiritual energy from it. The Cauldron must be at least a middle grade Heaven-Level Spiritual Weapon. I wonder where the ancestors of the Spirit City came from in order to be able to cultivate such a powerful weapon. There’s also the ring that Lin Chongyuan was using. If he did not use it, I wouldn’t have known that it was a Spiritual Weapon.”

Rong Yuan laughed lightly, “I agree, if it were some other Martial Artist that had never trained their physique before, they would’ve definitely been captured.”

With such treasures, it was no wonder that the Spirit City was never afraid of Martial Artists from the outside world. The more they stayed in the Spirit City, the more they felt that the place was extremely mysterious and yet powerful at the same time.

The news of the Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor taking down and extracting the spiritual energy of the “cold-blooded killers” that were responsible for taking the lives of so many people quickly spread around the city. Even Lu Heng and Jiang Xinghai, who were locked in the dungeons, had heard of the news. When it was confirmed that both of them had nothing to do with the killings, they were released. Afterwards, they went straight to the Chancellor’s Manor to confront Chu Jiang and Lin Chongyuan.

“You idiots, you’ve turned the innocent people into the bad guys and killed my good friend, you’ll pay with your lives!” Lu Heng shouted in anger. All he felt was grief when he thought about how Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi had taught them martial techniques and gave them many spirit stones in the Lost Lands.

If they knew that this would happen, they would have convinced Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi to return with them to the Forgotten City, whether their Chancellor agreed or not. Their Chancellor’s agreement was less important than that of Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi’s lives. However, it was too late for them to regret anything now. Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi had been turned into spiritual energy for the Spirit City to use and not even their ashes were left behind.

“Lin Chongyuan, Chu Jiang, come out! If you don’t give us a reply, we will not let this matter rest!”

Lu Heng and Jiang Xinghai made a big fuss at the entrance of the Governor Mansion, attracting the attention of some residents of the Spirit City. “What reply do they owe you? The killers came from your Langya Troop, they deserve to be punished for their crimes. How dare the both of you cause a scene here, unless you were working in cahoots with them?”

Lu Heng was furious and retorted angrily. Just a few moments later, it became a fierce argument between him and the residents of the Spirit City. None of them were willing to budge, and as time passed, more and more people gathered to participate in the argument.

Upon receiving the news about what was going on outside, Lin Chongyuan and Chu Jiang who were sitting in the study could only laugh bitterly.

“Elders, are we really not going to tell them about the plan?” Chu Jiang inquired.

Rong Yuan waved his hand. “No.”

It would be fine to tell Jiang Xinghai, but Lu Heng was one that would foil their plans. The way things were now were good. It was a good thing that Lu Heng and Jiang Xinghai thought they were dead. The more sorrowful they acted, the more the real killer would believe that the two of them had actually died.

As for lying to them… Rong Yuan felt that it was a minor price to pay when looking at the bigger picture. He believed that the two of them would not blame him for lying to them. Hopefully…

Just like that, the whole city had falsely thought that the killer had finally been put to rest and they could finally enjoy a peaceful night. In the middle of the night, however, a loud scream pierced through the quiet night air and sounded throughout the alleys. Cries could be heard following it.

This had happened only three days after the “killers” were executed!

When the news had gotten to Lu Heng, he looked towards the sky and cursed. When he lowered his head once again, his eyes were full of tears. He went to Jiang Xinghai’s manor and dragged him to the Chancellor’s Manor once again.

Didn’t they insist that they had caught the correct killer? What was going on now? The fact that another victim had emerged even after the “killers” were executed was like a slap to their faces.

Thus, once again, they arrived at the entrance of the Chancellor’s Manor. This time, none of the residents in the Spirit City spoke out against them. They only looked on silently as the both of them screamed for justice to be upheld. The residents were in deep thought – had they really mistaken Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi? Were they really innocent?

“To think that Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan put in so much effort to help all of you catch the killer, yet this is how you repay them. Now that the real killer is on the loose, are all of you happy now? Without the both of them, I’ll see how you can catch the killer now!”

The passers-by did not utter a single word in response. At this moment, the door of the Chancellor’s Manor opened. With a serious expression on his face, Wei Lingshu led a group of men and horses to the crime scene. Lu Heng rushed up to him, pointing and scolding him at the same time, “What are you doing here? Hasn’t the killer been executed by you? Why are you bringing men with you? I bet that one of you people from the Chancellor’s Manor is the real killer. Otherwise, why haven’t you been able to catch the real killer?”

Lu Heng’s words were extremely rude and his finger that had been pointed at Wei Lingshu was almost touching his nose.

In the past, Wei Lingshi would have snapped off his finger. However, he was supposed to act like he was guilty of executing two innocent people, so he could only bear with it. He swept his gaze over the two guards that were standing behind him and gave them a look – the both of you came up with this mess, why am I the one dealing with the backlash?

Rong Yuan pretended not to see anything and continued to look straight, as if the entire situation in front of him had nothing to do with him. From an angle that no one was watching, he even managed to smile at Gu Lingzhi.

This couple was too much!

Wei Lingshu, who had endured too much, finally looked towards Lu Heng and said, “I can understand how you’re feeling right now. However, there are more important matters that I have to deal with now. If Elder Gu and Elder Rong had nothing to do with the killer, then the Spirit City will make it up to you.”

“They’re already dead, how will you make it up to us? Will you compensate for it using your lives?” Jiang Xinghai mocked coldly. Compared to Lu Heng, Jiang Xinghai was much calmer. However, in the past two days, he had done many outrageous things together with Lu Heng, such as making a fuss outside the Chancellor’s Manor. If there were not any evidence that Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan were innocent, they would have made a joke out of themselves.

However, things were different now. Another victim had appeared yet again, which meant that the real killer was not Gu Lingzhi or Rong Yuan. The Spirit City had accused the wrong people of committing heinous crimes. However, so what if they did? Lu Heng and Jiang Xinghai could not possibly go against the entire city. Thus, they could only vent their anger on Wei Lingshu.

Jiang Xinghai’s words immediately attracted the hateful gazes of many. The ones that had executed Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan were the Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor. Was Jiang Xinghai requesting for both the Chancellors to compensate him with their lives? He was going too far!

A guard standing behind Wei Lingshu could not help but raise his weapon, but then he was stopped by Wei Lingshu in a soft voice. “Forget it, let’s go investigate the crime scene first.”

They then rushed towards the crime scene, but not before the guard threw a dirty look at Jiang Xinghai. In response to the hateful looks that were directed at them, Jiang Xinghai merely smiled at them.

Even if Jiang Xinghai and Lu Heng could not exact revenge for Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan, they would plant a seed of guilt in all of their hearts. Hopefully, they would feel so guilty that their cultivation levels would never be able to rise ever again!

The next moment, Jiang Xinghai knew that he had misread the situation. When one of the guards passed by him, he felt the strong presence of the guard’s spiritual energy. It was so strong that it disrupted his internal bodily energy. He screamed internally and bit down on his lip to brace himself for the pain that followed the spiritual pressure that was about to be exerted on him.