Chapter 1237: Hong Yujiao (2/2)

As for Zhang Baitu, he lamented in his mind. He knew that this was unavoidable and only wished for Hong Yujiao to mind her words.

“Brother, I was entrusted by my father to ask you about a few things.” She sat down and looked at him in a serious manner.

Her father was the current Dongting Lakemaster, Hong Tianzhu.

“About what?” He asked quickly, despite knowing full well what she wanted to talk about. This was the matter he didn’t want her to mention the most.

She said: “I heard some news about people from the Ironscale School coming to cause trouble for you.”

True to his expectations, he tried to divert the subject: “Oh, about that? It’s over now. They wanted to buy my Hundred-Saints Hall, but how could I sell the ancestors’ home? So I said no.”

She softly said: “What happened on the island then? Brother, this is no small matter.” This was not an attempt to blame or interrogate him, she needed to know the truth of this big event.

Out of nowhere, a divine aura suppressed the entire Demon Dragon Sea. Next, news of the destruction of the Ironscale School spread. A bit later, Dongting Lake found out that the corpses of the Ironscale Schoolmaster and more than one hundred of his followers were hanging at the Hundred-Saints Hall. How could the lake not be startled by this?

Of course, they didn’t connect the aura that destroyed the Ironscale School with the hall. However, it was still a big deal when those corpses were located on that island. After all, their lake was a prime suspect to these deaths.

In fact, after finding out, they disposed of those bodies. Zhang Baitu didn’t dare to let Li Qiye know since he was afraid that Li Qiye would become angry and make his way in to destroy the lake.

“Well…” Zhang Baitu didn’t know how to respond. He was not someone who was good at lying, so he coughed and said: “Well, the responsibility does not fall on us. It was the Ironscale School forcing a sale.”

Li Qiye withdrew his gaze and slowly said: “Why make such a big deal out of something so trivial like destroying an Ironscale School?”

Zhang Baitu was alarmed. He was not worried about himself, he was afraid that Hong Yujiao would provoke Li Qiye. His shallow cultivation did not blind his vision, he knew that Hong Yujiao had learned the arts of her father, but she was nothing before Li Qiye. She would be crushed by just one of his fingers.

Hong Yujiao’s expression changed as she looked at Li Qiye with a stern look and asked: “May I have your name?”

Zhang Baitu wanted to say something, but he refrained from doing so. Li Qiye looked back at her and smiled: “My name doesn’t matter. I just want to say that your Dongting Lake is becoming worse with each successive generation, losing sight of the grand picture just for petty gains in power.”

He laughed and continued: “Look at your lake now. Unlike your ancestors who protected the vitality of the human race, you’re now just a bunch of cowards hiding in the city. All of their glory has been thrown away by your generation.”

“Today, you have even forgotten about the souls of your ancestors as well as your spiritual totem. I’m curious, how many years has it been since the last time your lake went to worship the Hundred-Saints Hall? Has it been fifty or a hundred generations? I’m afraid that your lake has even forgotten who the ones enshrined in the hall are.” With that, he sighed and didn’t want to look at her anymore.

She couldn’t answer due to lacking knowledge about this matter. She only knew that some ancestors from the lake speculated that the Hundred-Saints Hall might be storing some treasures.

“We descendants are not qualified to comment on the matter of our ancestors.” Eventually, she answered: “I just want to ask you, did you kill the Ironscale Schoolmaster’s group?”

This was the thing she was most concerned about. After all, the schoolmaster and elders of a sea demon lineage had died very close to Dongting Lake, and even their sect was destroyed. Once this news spread, their lake would become the prime suspect.

Of course, she understood that Zhang Baitu couldn’t kill that group, so the only possibility was this person sitting in front of her.

“I understand your lake’s intention.” Li Qiye smiled: “It needs to find a murderer in order to wash away this suspicion.”

1. This idiom was used before and is slightly modified here. It means magnificent/unfathomable.