696 Back Then (1/2)

Xuan Mo was indeed a person with integrity.

Her words were simple, but the context behind those she spoke of was quite the contrary.

She did not know much about the origin of the man in black. She only knew that the man appeared in front of her with her former leader. He stood behind the leader, looking subtle and humble, and even a bit self-deprecating.

However, although he had a humble frame of mind, once he placed his focus on a certain thing, his spirit would burst forth into a fiery and vigorous state. In the fight against the Fallen Immortals, he had made great contributions with his unparalleled cruelty. However, he refused any form of recognition given to him for his actions, hiding behind the scenes while showing his best performance.

Black's character was so solitary that although people admired him, they didn't consider the prospect of placing him in a leadership position. Black had always followed their Eldest Brother; their Eldest Brother also never appointed him to a leadership position too. What's even more important was that the situation against the Fallen Immortals at that time was terrible, so people did their best in that situation. None of them cared about any power struggles among their ranks.

Then they suffered a great defeat in their struggle. Their leader died, the number of casualties piled up, and one after another, they started removing their strongholds. Their impregnable fortress fell under the siege of the Fallen Immortals like dominoes. The banners of defiance raised by the Earth Immortals drifted away.

At that time, their situation had placed all of them in a rather desperate predicament. Even the murderous Ravenous Wolf, Flesh Massacre, and the others laughed bitterly to express how they wanted to at least give each other a bit of color. If they were to die, they all wished to share their final moments together. Only Black, who remained indifferent from beginning till the end, did what he had to do under their leader's instructions before he died.

Their leader asked him to save as many people as he could.

Back then, Black saved more than a hundred people.

At that time, it was an almost unimaginable number since people never thought Black would be so strong. For many years, he had been standing behind their leader as if he was merely a part of his shadow. When their Eldest Brother perished, people found that their Eldest Brother's shadow was nothing more than a shadow and Black was not at all a part of it. After all, they share the same level of strength.

Similarly, they had never thought the man in black could be so hard-hearted. To save more than a hundred people, he chose to sacrifice the same number of people, including several of his close friends. At that point, they finally realized why, even though Black had such immense capabilities, he had only been following their leader for many years, willing to stay in his shadow.

Such a person would be difficult to place on the pedestal of being a leader… However, after all that bloody scene, there's no way they could blame him.

Blaming anyone was meaningless, and Black didn't care. He accepted his fate as a sinner. On the one hand, he admitted that he was guilty. On the other hand… he had long been accustomed to a life of sin.

”That's all the story I could tell. Please go back.”

At this point, Xuan Mo had suddenly realized that she had talked a bit too much. Suddenly, she felt tired; thus, she ordered both of them to leave.

However, when did Wang Lu ever cared about other people's polite dismissal? He smiled and said, ”Let me drink some tea before I go.” While saying that he raised the teacup he was holding and gulped half of its content, leaving behind a half-filled cup.

Xuan Mo looked at Wang Lu, finally acknowledging just how brazen the man before him truly was. She had told the story for about an hour, and he couldn't even finish a cup of tea?

”I want to ask something.” Wang Lu said as he sipped his tea. ”Who was in charge after your leader died?”

Xuan Mo said, ”No one was in charge… In the beginning, there were three deputies under our leader. Two of whom we had already sacrificed and Bai Ze was not fit to be a leader. Sure, Black is a suitable candidate for the position, but as I have mentioned, his situation is not at all favorable.”

Wang Lu asked, ”What about you?”

Xuan Mo smiled bitterly. ”Me? I'm just being pushed forward for the time being. I don't have the power of a leader, so it makes little sense for you to come to me this time; what I said doesn't count.”

Wang Lu nodded. ”I understand. It's a shame to be just a beautiful mascot. That's why I came to you not to talk about work this time but simply to chat.”

Xuan Mo's smile turned even more helpless. ”Do you think it's appropriate to chat with me at this time?”

Wang Lu laughed and said, ”There's nothing inappropriate with it, friendship precedes competition. Since our two sides are in a cooperative relationship, it's not a bad idea to establish a revolutionary friendship in advance now.”

When Xuan Mo was about to reply, she saw Wang Wu speaking from the side.

”Good, I think it's necessary for you two to establish a deep and thorough friendship,” she said while having another cup of tea—unlike Wang Lu, who only finished half a cup of tea, by this time, Wang Wu had already drunk full five cups, all of them without reservation and hesitation poured on by herself.

Hearing Wang Wu's words, Xuan Mo thought that the meaning behind them seemed quite vulgar, but frankly, she didn't quite understand, so she simply ignored her and focused on talking to Wang Lu.

”What do you want to know?”

Wang Lu said, ”Several questions. First, you originally joined the Nine Regions elite to establish the Earth Immortals organization and chose the against-the-sky opponent, so arguably, the organizational structure here should be quite perfect.”

Xuan Mo replied, ”Yes, although individually, our strength is weak, but together, we still have a fighting chance. This is thanks to our organizational strength.”

Wang Lu asked again, ”Then the problem is that, in any organization, stability is fundamental. The leader can't die without a successor. When your leader is still alive, he should have a successor, right? It's not Black, right?”

Xuan Mo sighed. ”Our leader built our Earth Immortals organization almost single-handedly, so only his prestige could prevail over everyone else. The rest was too far behind; even if our leader decided on an heir, it's useless… Of course, our leader appointed a few people who would have taken over his job in the event that an accident would take place, but…”

Wang Lu asked, ”Those successors are dead, right? That's very convenient.”

Hearing Wang Lu spoke as if a conspiracy existed, Xuan Mo explained, ”Amid the upheaval, the organization was almost completely dismantled. The attacks from the Fallen Immortals targeted us persistently. The first group of victims was almost all the backbone of the organization, so it was difficult for us to survive. At present, Black is the strongest and the highest in prestige, but he's not willing to come forward, and there are a lot of other people wary of him.”