468 Aftermath (1/2)
Heaven-Destined Temple in Wen An, River East.
Day after day, Kill-Stopping Cultivator would hack and hew on the firewood with her hatchet. Her elegantly shaped eyebrows that frowned with an intensely concentrated expression would have alluded affairs of great fascination or divinity rather than the mere drudgery of cleaving wooden blocks.
”Thud!” The hatchet slipped from her hand and suddenly fell to the ground.
She looked at the hatchet in a daze. Tears began to trickle from the corner of her eyes. Without a word, she bent to pick up the hatchet and made her way to the abbot's courtyard.
”Master Abbot, I have decided to return to the grasslands.” The waves of emotion that had just stirred, she had calmed with sheer will. Once serene and peaceful, she appeared before the Heaven-Destined Cultivator. Her gaze was cold and distant, like the stillness of a peaceful lake.
Heaven-destined Cultivator gave her a meaningful glance. He waved his hand as he acquiesced her choice, sighing, ”Go if you must. This is fate.”
...
A young lean man walked through Gegengol. His hair was disheveled and his clothes were drenched in blood. A saber hung at his waist. Step by step he trodded down a path, terrifying passersby by his chaotic appearance and scary presence, no one dared to lock eyes with him.
He had rested and re-attuned his Qi energies after taking some medicine the night before. Most of his injuries had recovered. Still, he remained in such a miserable yet intimidating appearance for one reason: the last man he had to meet.
Reaching the wilderness at the edge of Gegengol, Meng Qi paused and beheld the vast sky and boundless grassland that filled his entire view. ”You can come out now,” he muttered flatly as if speaking to the air itself.
Glittering sunshine spilled onto the grassy field, gleaming like flecks of gold.
From among the foggy radiance of the bright sunshine, emerged a man!
He wore clothes emboidered with gold, shining with blinding radiance in the sunlight. He stood tall and large in girth. He kept no stubbles of hair on his cheeks save a beard. His eyes were long and squinted like that of a serpent's.
”How did you sense my presence?” he asked, hands behind his back.
Meng Qi made no gesture to turn around. He gazed far into the prairie vista as if he was enjoying the panoramic sight before him. ”Wolf King left final words before his passing,” he said without a look at his unsought guest.
”He was awashed with guilt and regret?” sneered the man in gold.
”I looked deep into his eyes searching for any glimmer of remorse or guilt and found none. Before his last breath he voiced his final regret. He said he felt none, save a pang of dissatisfaction that he had not the pleasure of slaughtering you, the chieftain of the Wolf-Slaying League himself.” Meng Qi basked in the warmth of the sun and his body swayed with the breath of the prairie breeze, his soul and his form harmonized with Heaven and Earth as if he was one with Nature.
The man sank into a momentary silence. ”After he killed Xing Nanxun, I knew one day it'd be our heads that he'd go after. The establishment of the Wolf-slaying League had naturally rendered Wolf King useless. If we had waited for him to make his breakthrough and achieve the Exterior, he'd definitely draw attention or be hunted down by the big shots given his temper. This was quite unfavorable to us.”
”So you betrayed him and tried your best to get a blade that was no longer obedient to you killed before he achieved a breakthrough?” Meng Qi chuckled. He didn't wait for the man's reply and continued, ”But unfortunately, you people are afraid of one person and couldn't make the kill yourself. So you put on an act and forced the job on me.”
The expression on the golden-clothed man's face stiffened. In a deep voice, he said, ”How long have you known this? There's no way that Wolf King would say such things before his death!”
”I made a guess after listening to Narisu's words and witnessing the situation at the Bayan Valley, but I didn't think you'd tell me the whole story yourself.” With a faint smile, Meng Qi turned around.
The man looked surprised. ”Wolf King didn't say anything?”
”Of course not.” Meng Qi was all smiles.
”Then just now...” The man narrowed his eyes.
”I was bluffing.” Meng Qi's smile made him look like a fox.
The man wasn't angered. Laughing instead, he said, ”Interesting! Su Meng's madness and persistence is well-known, but who knew he'd have such a crafty mind?”
”That's because I've suffered one too many disadvantages. Naturally, I learned to be a little smarter.” The corner of Meng Qi's eyes throbbed slightly.
The man's smile vanished and he turned to look up at the sky, appearing to be somewhat excited and expectant.
”Now that Wolf King's dead, she'll definitely return.”
”She'll return to lead us all.”
Meng Qi smiled, saying nothing.
”Aren't you afraid of her taking revenge?” the man asked.
Meng Qi raised an eyebrow. ”She'd have to be able to find me first.”
Bearing the grudges of the Myths and several evil spirits, Meng Qi meant that he wouldn't lose sleep over adding one more to that list of enemies!
The man nodded. ”Although Wolf King's dead, the Wolf-slaying League lives on. We'll still think of you as our brother.”
”Since you've already vowed those unspoken words before the Eternal Sky and totem, you can't leave even if you want to.”
Meng Qi burst into a hearty laughter. He stepped forward with just one sentence from far away,
”I'd hope you all would still treat me as a member of the Wolf-slaying League when I returned to the grassland.”
Watching him disappear behind the slope, the man thought that Meng Qi's words were somewhat strange.
...
A room in a small blue tower, in the Six Fan School's headquarters in Luoyang—
Many arresters dressed in maroon outfits remained as still as sculptures after seeing what was written on the slip of paper on the floor.
'Killing Blade had killed Wolf King in the Bayan Valley.'
That short sentence had evoked complete turbulence in their minds.
Without the need for a description, that short sentence alone was enough to shock them. It was as if they had seen a confrontation between masters of the peak enlightenment period.
So even though the message was short and brief, no one could keep their composure.