Chapter 237 - Sophistry (2/2)

[Steward Zhuo, how about we throw these little shits to the wolves?]

Li Jingtian spoke with his eyes.

Zhuo Fan squinted, as the four demons looked nervously at him. They could feel it in their bones how his next words had the power to save them and condemn them.

If Zhuo Fan made them scapegoats, they’d have no chance at all, except at a swift death.

At this very moment, no one moved.

Gu Santong stared at Zhuo, waiting for his answer. Li Jingtian was also looking at him, waiting for his decision. Four Scheming Demons were begging him with their faces, their miserable and pitiful faces.

Eveyone’s lives rested on him!

“Uh…”

Zhuo Fan finally opened his mouth, and instead of answering, he gave Gu Santong a question, “Do you know arrays?”

“Nope!” Gu Santong was blunt

“I guessed as much! That’s great!”

“Eh?” Gu Santong glared at him and Zhuo Fan rushed to say, “Ha-ha-ha, don’t misunderstand. I only want to explain to you clearly so as to not weigh your conscience with innocent killings!”

Zhuo Fan rubbed his chin as he began, “Arrays are graded from one to twelve according to their power. As for their type, they are trapping, killing, and bewildering arrays. That thunder array was of the killing type. But it also had a trapping array hidden. Did you notice?”

Gu Santong nodded. He knew the second he got in the array he’d have to smash his way through if he wanted out.

“But did you notice the bewildering array as well?” Zhuo Fan gave a vague smile.

Gu Santong shook his head, “You’re saying a bewildering caught me?”

But then he snorted, “No way. I didn’t feel any illusions around me. What I see may be fake, but my nose has never let me down. That guy hit me and I caught him red handed…”

Being pointed at, Violent Demon shivered in fear. In that moment, he was more of a wimp than Wimp Demon.

Everyone looked at him with derision, [This is the first goddamn time I’m hiding behind forth bro!]

But in the face of all this, Zhuo Fan waved it off, “I didn’t say you were caught in an illusion, but he was. Let me ask you this. Did you four really attack Gu Santong?”

Shuddering, the four reacted to Steward Zhuo’s meaning. He was giving them a way out!

So they shook their heads and bowed, “We thought you were someone else! Please forgive us!”

“Is that so? Then who was that little monster you kept raving on about?” Gu Santong stared them down.

The four pointed at Zhuo Fan on the spot, “Him!”

Zhuo Fan’s face twitched and his anger boiled. Wasn’t that saying they wanted to kill him? But this was not the time to bicker with these four morons!

Gu Santong looked dubious at him, “You’re also a monster?”

“Uh, before meeting you, they indeed called me that!” With an awkward chuckle, Zhuo Fan’s fists crunched and Lightning Wings unfolded behind him, “Can anyone do this?”

Gu Santong’s eyes twitched, “I see. I always thought you used a flying demonic treasure when in fact it is tied to your body. You’re indeed monstrous enough!”

That ended that.

Gu Santong was still dubious, but could find no plausible excuse to beat the crap out of them.

Everyone else gave Zhuo Fan a big round of thumbs up, in admiration for his sophistry, and putting an end to this deadly situation.

Zhuo Fan sighed and rejoiced inside. [Thank god we met Gu Santong. If it was anyone else, this blatant lie wouldn’t fly and would’ve got us all killed instead. All because they harbored doubts.]

Anyone would rather kill a thousand innocents than miss the culprit!

This was where Gu Santong was different. Zhuo Fan knew he guarded the imperial family for three hundred years all for the sake of a promise. But only after being his prisoner did he fully understand that to this kid, words were gold, and he needed a good reason when handling anyone.

When he slaughtered half the empire’s cities, that was because others pushed him. He didn’t start it!

So Zhuo Fan made a heroic, reckless and gutsy gamble. But even this had only a fifty-fifty chance. If Gu Santong was still stubborn they could only resign to their fate and the kid’s temper.

Thankfully, the kid was quite moral, not swinging around his weight without proper reason!

Taking a deep breath, Zhuo Fan smiled. But then Gu Santong suddenly said, “Hold on, since you all did this for an ingredient, where is it?”

They all froze up again.

An 8th-grade ingredient was a heavenly treasure. How were they supposed to just find it?

Gu Santong’s glare once again descended…