88 Intricate Trap (1/2)

”Brother?” The same question exited everyone's mouth at the same time, including Xue Wei.

Xue Wei started struggling, only to realize that he was in a tight grasp and that he would not be able to free himself. Rather, every time he moved, he caused extra wounds to open on his body.

Xue Wei's killing intent started soaring to the heavens. He understood what the Ice Harpy was planning, which made him feel a burning anger rise in his chest.

”Who is your brother?!” Xue Wei sneered at Chu Huiyin, who just snorted in reply, ”If it weren't because I want them to hate you as much as I do, then I would have never called a disgusting human like you my brother.” She grimaced as if it truly was the most disgusting thing she had ever experienced.

Xue Wei was puzzled. ”Why not just kill me then?” he yelled at her, feeling utterly powerless, but he did want to at least be able to control the terms of his death. He was not willing to be tortured to death by this woman, so he was already starting to rotate the Qi in his body with the intent to self-detonate his dantian, seeking to kill himself and possibly her in the process.

”You want to die?!” the Ice Harpy screeched aloud, laughing, ”Why don't I help you? If you survive this, then you will be the enemy of both beasts and humans alike. This is truly gratifying!” Chu Huiyin laughed out loud, her voice tinged with madness. Suddenly, her claws released their grip on Xue Wei's shoulders, causing him to fall through the air.

Chu Huiyin had carried him far into the sky, and they were now very far away from the capital, so when he fell, Xue Wei realized that it would be impossible for him to survive this fall unless he could lessen the impact somehow.

He had looked down and saw that they were so high up in the sky that everything beneath him looked like ants. They were on top of a forest, but every tree seemed to be so far away from him that he could reach out and grasp them. He felt the wind against his head as he plummeted to the ground, and although he was falling fast, the forest seemed to stay far away from him.

He activated the Forbidden Rush movement technique and started to merge with the wind. Unfortunately, his body was rather wounded from the talons that had been piercing his shoulders, leaving behind large, bleeding gashes around them, so he couldn't perform at his peak.

As he fell, he managed to slow his descent enough to drift down almost like a leaf that fell from the sky. His falling speed diminished drastically, but he was still falling towards the ground, towards a massive forest. And the closer he got, the harder it was to control the Forbidden Rush movement technique due to his wounds, meaning his descent to the ground started picking up in speed again.

Xue Wei was losing a lot of blood, and his head was spinning. He lost consciousness the moment before he reached the crowns of the trees, losing control over the Forbidden Rush movement technique as he plummeted through the canopies without anything to cushion his fall.

One branch after another slowed his fall, but these branches were large, so although they were shaking and creaking, they did not fall or break from the impact. With only the first hit, he broke a few ribs, and the second one caused him to get a concussion.

When he finally was laying on the ground, his entire body was riddled with cuts, bruises, and some gaping wounds that were bleeding profusely.

Xue Wei awoke to a hammering pain in his entire body. Only then did he remember what Lan had told him about the Azure Dragon Scripture's shapeshifting ability– to not use the dragonization on his arms since it could cause a misunderstanding.

It was he himself who had made it possible for Chu Huiyin to take advantage of the other experts' doubts to proclaim that they were brother and sister.

”Now it is clear that they will see me as a Primordial Beast,” Xue Wei grimaced and then hissed in pain. ”If they don't assume that I am a Primordial Beast, then they will at least assume I have sided with the beasts. This is a great plan, you damned bird woman.”

Xue Wei gritted his teeth and tried standing up, only to realize that his body would not listen to his commands. Instead, he dragged his sore and wounded body to the foot of a great tree, where he sat down and started circulating the Qi within his body to slowly heal the wounds.

At the same time, in the Capital of Heping, the entire army was in an uproar. ”The Crimson Devil was too inhuman; it is only obvious for him to be a Primordial Beast. I should have guessed it before,” someone muttered and others nodded their heads.

”His clothes were so soaked in blood that they had turned black. This is not something a human can achieve – he is a monster! I wonder why he infiltrated our army though? What were his plans?” another pondered.

”If he was a Primordial Beast, then why did he fight for us?” someone asked tentatively, but he was quickly glared at by the others, so he ducked his head and kept the questions about what really happened to himself.

The commander's face was ashen. His eyes filled with unreconciliation when he saw how many people the human side had lost. After making a headcount of the dead, he lifted his head and roared to the heavens.

”We lost so many experts in this battle,” he began to speak soon after. His voice was injected with enough Qi to be heard at the furthest ends of the capital, to ensure that all could hear what he was saying.

”These experts were new to the battle, but this was also the biggest battle we have had for a very long time. To have their first battle against such a beast horde is truly unfortunate.”

”As to why these beasts have decided to strike at such a strange time, we do not know.”

Suddenly, a gleam appeared in the commander's eyes. He almost smirked, but just before the smile appeared on his lips, he raised his hand to cover his mouth, scratching his cheek, and straightened his face.

At that moment, he looked like a cunning old fox that had everything within his grasp, and he seemed as if he was well aware of what was happening. In fact, he did not seem to really care about the massive losses they had gained. Everything seemed to be going according to plan.

All of this lasted for less than a moment. It was impossible for those who noticed the strange expression on his face to fully grasp what they had seen, and before they could comprehend it, the commander continued his speech, stressing each and every one of the next words.

”We lost many of our comrades, but there is one man who can never be forgiven!”

”Xue Wei, the traitor of humankind! We will start a hunt to kill him. He is much more dangerous than the deserters, he is far more shrewd than the normal Primordial Beast!”

”We do not know whether or not it is a Primordial Beast who has pretended to be Xiao Lei's nephew after killing the real one! In fact, I assume it is!”

”We all know that Xue Wei's entire family was killed by a Primordial Beast, leaving just him alive. This was likely a way to con the hero Xiao Lei and make him believe that this abnormality was his nephew!”

”He has tricked the hero of our nation, and I would believe he has done so for the sake of killing him! We cannot let this youngster live! He is a terrifying Primordial Beast; we need him to die!”

”Genius Camp members, follow me!”

Having said this, the commander left the battlefield, and everyone from the Genius Camp followed behind him towards the old tent camp.