The Attack of the Wastrel

Sadly, none of them back then had thought that such an unassuming, little worm would have been the female Insect Beast. They also had not noticed Jin Hao’s abnormality and hence missed the chance to understand the truth. It even resulted in the death of so many innocent people.

However, now that they had managed to find the real murderer and returned peace to Spirit City, everyone still felt more happiness than pain.

Lu Heng, who had been watching the entire development from the start and saw the surrounding people become happy, suddenly yelled, “Are all of you happy now? What about our Seventh Brother and Eighth Sister? We have to settle our scores!”

The surrounding people froze as pain and guilt started to appear on their faces. They were all familiar with Lu Heng and Jiang Xinghai’s faces as they had been making a commotion at the doorstep of the city’s main residence for the past few days. Naturally, they also knew who Seventh Brother and Eighth Sister were.

It turned out that those two were Martial Artists from the outside world and were really innocent…

Under Lu Heng’s interrogation, the surroundings started to have a weird atmosphere. Even Jiang Xinghai was silent for a few seconds before he pulled on Lu Heng’s sleeves and said, “Second Brother, calm down first, actually, Rong Yuan and Lingzhi...”

“We are fine.” Rong Yuan’s voice interrupted Jiang Xianghai. Lu Heng was stunned by the familiar voice as he dumbly looked towards the stranger who had spoken up.

He suddenly felt that the stranger looked very familiar. He did not recognise their faces, but he recognised their auras.

Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi did not bother to wait for him to come to a realisation and immediately removed their disguise to return to their original appearance. The crowd went into an uproar.

“Seventh Brother, Eighth Sister, is it really you two?” Lu Heng exclaimed and jumped forward in joy. He had wanted to pounce on the two people to check if they were real or if they were just a part of his imagination. Just as he was about to touch them, Rong Yuan hugged Gu Lingzhi and avoided him.

“You don’t have to double-check, it’s really us.”

“Hahaha, so this is real.” Lu Heng scratched his head. He was so happy that he was at a loss.

This manner of speech, this appearance, and this aura. It was definitely Rong Yuan. To make Rong Yuan hug her so preciously, she was definitely none other than Gu Lingzhi.

“You two aren’t dead, this is great, great…” Lu Heng repeated over and over. He was simply overly excited. Gu Lingzhi could not help but sigh in acknowledgement of Rong Yuan’s concern. If Lu Heng had known in advance about the two of them still being alive, then this act would not have succeeded.

The surrounding people finally reacted. Weren’t these two people already refined into spiritual energy by the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor? How could they still appear here?

Chu Jiang understood the crowd’s confusion and explained, “Everything that had just happened was actually part of our plan to draw out the real murderer. The Chancellor and I believe that these two elders are not the murderers.”

So that was the case…

The crowd suddenly came to a realisation as their faces turned red. They recalled how they had all stood in front of the Chancellor’s Manor a few days ago and demanded the Chancellors to execute the two murders, Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi. When they had received the news of their deaths, they were even so happy that they could not sleep the whole night. The Chancellors had most likely come up with this plan after experiencing pressure from the Spirit City’s residents.

It was unknown who first raised their head, but suddenly, someone bowed towards Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi. He thanked them sincerely, “For causing the two elders such grievances and having to endure all the insults, I hope the two elders can forgive us.”

That sentence started off a wave of apologies that sounded out. Gu Lingzhi smiled in response. In this midst of this harmonious mood, Lu Heng suddenly shouted out loud in realisation, “Wait a minute, if the two of you were fine, then why didn’t you tell me anything?”

Then he turned to look at Jiang Xinghai and realised that he looked perfectly calm, his eyes even seemed to hold a trace of pity. Instantly, Lu Heng understood the situation. His happiness turned into rage as he growled, “All of you cooperated to lie to me? Did you find it very funny to see me being sad everyday over your deaths?”

“No, it wasn’t.” Rong Yuan replied sincerely, “We didn’t tell you because we were afraid you would accidentally leak it. As for Sixth Brother, we just didn’t hide it from him.”

Gu Lingzhi’s mouth twitched as she put a hand to her head. Was Rong Yuan really trying to explain properly or was he just trying to infuriate others even more?

As expected, Lu Heng flew into a rage, “This is too much! You all ganged up to bully me!”

Lu Heng’s skin turned golden and shot towards Rong Yuan, as though he wanted to beat Rong Yuan up.

Jiang Xinghai shouted in a hurry, “Second Brother, don’t be rash! Seventh Brother was just thinking of the big picture, he…”

However, his words caught in his mouth before he could even finish speaking.

Why did he feel that Lu Heng would be able to harm Rong Yuan? Rong Yuan held out one harm and stopped Lu Heng just one step away. He looked at the enraged Lu Heng and chuckled, “A few days ago, didn’t you say that you wanted to visit the markets to look around and buy a Spiritual Weapon? While we feigned our deaths the past few days, Lingzhi refined a Spiritual Weapon that was specially customised for you.”

Lu Heng’s eyes lit up. In the first place, he was not truly angry at them. He himself knew that he would definitely expose the truth if he knew about it. However, his little act actually netted him a Spiritual Weapon. He was so pleased that he could not keep his mouth shut.

“Where is the Spiritual Weapon? Quickly take it out and let me look at it.”

Rong Yuan immediately took out a gold broadsword from his Storage Ring. The blade was wider than normal blades with a small device in the centre. It could be used as a sword directly, or one could spring open the device and split the broadsword into two parts, turning it into two identical and sharp blades. It was extremely suitable for Lu Heng.

As expected, Lu Heng immediately hugged it fondly the moment he saw the sword. He thanked Gu Lingzhi repeatedly and laughed in satisfaction.

Although Gu Lingzhi seemed to appreciate Lu Heng’s gratitude and even told him that there was no need to thank her anymore, in her heart, she was actually cursing Rong Yuan. When did she ever spend a few days refining this broadsword? It was clearly something that she had refined last time and had passed it to him to keep it, a piece of merchandise that she had not had the time to sell it off after she finished refining it. This piece of merchandise had now turned into a tool for him to coax others.

Jiang Xinghai looked enviously at Lu Heng hugging his broadsword tightly, then turned to look hopefully at Gu Lingzhi. Would he get the same treatment and also receive a customised Spiritual Weapon?

Rong Yuan had noticed his thoughts. He chuckled and withdrew another piece of Spiritual Weapon from his spatial ring to give it to Jiang Xinghai.

“A sword-shaped weapon might not be the most appropriate for you. Try this spear first, if it’s not suitable then Lingzhi can just refine one more for you!”

“No need, no need. This is very good.” Jiang Xinghai’s eyes sparkled as he received the Spiritual Weapon. Rong Yuan had given him a metal and fire, double-attributed spear. It coincided with his Spiritual Roots and was a perfect fit for him.

The group joyously went about “splitting the loot”. Lin Chongyuan had been feeling conflicted for a very long time, and he finally made up his mind. Lowering his head before Gu Lingzhi, he requested, “Could you let me look at the Fenlan Painting?”

Gu Lingzhi frowned. Spiritual Weapons were a Martial Artist’s second lifeline. No one would randomly let other people look at it, especially when they did not trust them. Although Gu Lingzhi knew that it was like exposing her weakness, looking at Lin Chongyuan’s solemn expression, she decided to let him take a look at it after some hesitation.

“Thank you,” Lin Chongyuan sincerely thanked her, before engrossing himself into examining the painting in his hands. Watching this, Chu Jiang and Wei Lingshu were shocked.

They had never seen their Chancellor show such interest in another person’s Spiritual Weapon before. With the cauldron and the ring, he already possessed two top tier treasures, which few of the world’s Spiritual Weapons could compare to.

However, this time, their Chancellor went so far as to request to look at this Spiritual Weapon. Furthermore, his expression as he was studying it was rapidly transforming, shifting rapidly from eager expectation to shock and solemn contemplation. Was the Fenlan Painting truly so special?

This curious inspection did not last too long, and Lin Chongyuan quickly returned the Fenlan Painting to Gu Lingzhi. His face had recovered its usual expression, but those who were familiar with Lin Chongyuan could actually see that his fingers were still trembling, his voice somewhat shaky.

Lin Chongyuan asked, “Do you both have some time to stop by my residence? I…have some things I would like to consult with you two.”

“No problem,” Gu Lingzhi replied. During the period of time they faked their death, they had stayed in the Chancellor’s Manor. In order not to raise any suspicions after that, they had since relinquished any access they had, however, and would need Lin Chongyuan’s permission before they could enter again.

After obtaining Gu Lingzhi’s agreement, Lin Chongyuan nodded his head. His gaze was so intense, it looked like he could not contain his anticipation any further. Without even bothering with other formalities, he instantly brought Gu Lingzhi and Rongyuan into the residence.

Chu Jiang was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted, placing his hand on Wei Lingshu’s shoulder. Saying that he would leave the clean-up to Wei Lingshu, Chu Jiang quickly followed Lin Chongyuan and the others into the residence. He did not want to miss whatever was coming up, as it was obviously related to the complicated expression Lin Chongyuan had earlier.

Wei Lingshu was slow to react and could only accept the job.

As for Lu Heng and Jiang Xinghai, they were so engrossed in the Spiritual Weapons they had just received that they could not be bothered with what the rest were up to. Even when they knew that Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan had gone into the Chancellor’s Manor, they showed no reaction, instead hurrying back to their rooms to study the intricacies of the weapons they got.

…

Back in the hall of the residence, Lin Chongyuan dismissed the servants before turning his intense gaze towards Gu Lingzhi. He asked, “Where did you get the Fenlan Painting from?”

As everyone expected, the object Lin Chongyuan became so worked up about was the painting.

Chu Jiang, who had just barely caught up before the door was closed, was shocked even though he expected this. Was the painting truly that special? Why did Lin Chongyuan pay so much attention to it?

Although this was not the Tianyuan Continent, and they were free from Pan Luo’s reach, the cautiousness that had been ingrained within Gu Lingzhi still made her careful with her answer. She replied, “I got this from a Secret Territory.”

To most other people, the Spirit Tribe’s Sacred Lands definitely could be considered a Secret Territory, right?

However, nobody expected that Lin Chongyuan would jump out of his seat at that answer, his voice cracking with emotion as he asked, “Was it the Spirit Tribe’s Sacred Lands?”

Gu Lingzhi froze. Looking at Lin Chongyuan with shock in her eyes, she wondered, how did he know where the Fenlan Painting came from?