Chapter 1169: Gongsun Dies, Sword Furnace Shocked

The sound of the storm, including the rainwater crashing down off the eaves of the buildings, filled the hall. As a result, Xu Qing’s voice sounded even more majestic. Lightning crashed, sending a flash of light inside, and framing Xu Qing as he stood there. His shadow... stretched out to completely cover Sir Vilespirit! It became a mighty pressure!

Sir Vilespirit had no choice but to take the fluctuations very seriously. He looked up at the young lord. He had not predicted this outcome. There were many people he assumed might come to him this night, but he hadn’t even considered the possibility that it would be Young Lord Aurora, who, up to this point, had not acted strangely in any way. What was more, the young lord’s words struck him to the core like a sharp blade.

As countless thoughts spun in his head, he spoke in a hoarse voice. “I’m afraid I don’t quite understand what you mean, Young Lord.”

His eyes shone threateningly as he looked at the person standing in front of him.

“You don’t understand?” he said coolly. Xu Qing didn’t seem to care about the threatening look in Sir Vilespirit’s eyes. “Gongsun Qingmu, thanks to the secret orders I delivered as young lord of the immortal palace, everything you have done was justified.

“Your acts of betrayal were all carried out to accomplish the mission I gave you. You leaked confidential information about the immortal palace, but that was because I asked you to do so for the goal of rooting out traitors. You stole treasures from the immortal palace, but that was on my orders as I attempted to test the palace’s defenses. You also killed people in the immortal palace, but it was all justified by me.

“Now, do you really want to test me?”

Sir Vilespirit shook from head to toe, and his expression was very unsightly. This was really a mortal blow against him. It took all of his betrayals and made them baseless. After all... in many instances, the words spoken by Young Lord Aurora were more than enough to prove anything. And because of that, nothing Sir Vilespirit had done could really be called a betrayal!

Simultaneously, the seeming fact that Young Lord Aurora was an outsider was causing a tempest of astonishment to rage inside Sir Vilespirit.

But Xu Qing wasn’t done adding on pressure. Dropping down into a squat, he stared Sir Vilespirit in the eyes.

“To me, your betrayals were deeds of service. And because they were deeds of service, they weren’t betrayals at all! If you had ten thousand years to work with, maybe you could afford to waste time. But here in the fourth world, time is very limited. There are only a few days left. Given that time frame... don’t you think I can make sure that all of your betrayals fail, whether they be in the past, present, or future?”

As Xu Qing’s words hammered into Sir Vilespirit, the dangerous look in his eyes grew stronger. Eventually, the air behind him started to ripple and blur as a terrifying iron sword took shape. At the same time, an explosive sword will surged.

Xu Qing’s expression remained completely calm. He hardly seemed to notice Sir Vilespirit’s aura change as he seemed to prepare to take action. However, he did look over at the broken sword.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“You think assassinating me will constitute a betrayal? Well, unless you think you’re so fast you can kill me before I react, then... the next best thing would be to put on a good show of it. Remember, I could issue orders to have you locked up all the way until the wedding and the catastrophe. To put it bluntly, the only way your betrayal will work is if I permit it to.”

Sir Vilespirit sat there scowling and not saying a word. The pressure on him just continued to build, until finally he spoke. “Young Lord, surely you didn’t come here just to say all that.”

As thunder rumbled, Xu Qing reached out toward the broken sword behind Sir Vilespirit.

Sir Vilespirit hesitated briefly about what to do, but in the end, chose not to stop him.

Xu Qing made a grasping motion, and the sword flew over to him. He gripped the blade with his thumb and forefinger. After examining it, he spoke through the sound of the thunder from outside.

“What if your sword was stained with my blood, and I said you had tried to assassinate me...? Could there be any more ultimate betrayal here other than killing the Immortal Lord himself? The betrayal of assassinating the young lord would definitely be very beneficial to you.”

Xu Qing ran his finger along the edge of the blade, causing a drop of blood to fall onto the sword. The sword vibrated excitedly. The space-time waves in the area immediately grew more intense.

Of course, there was no true success yet. However, Sir Vilespirit’s heart was already racing. He could sense that if a betrayal of this level succeeded, it would be immensely helpful to him. Struggling to control his breathing, he looked at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing looked back at him coldly. “That was how I had planned to help you succeed at your betrayal, and survive the process. But sadly for you, you made a mistake.”

Sir Vilespirit didn’t respond. He knew exactly what mistake he had made. He had mistakenly revoked the fox maiden’s status as an apprentice. Unfortunately, he knew there was nothing he could do now. How could he ever have guessed that someone would take an identity that should have been impossible to take?

As of now, he knew that regardless of who this outsider was, Sir Star Ring... had almost no chance of coming out on top. Without any hesitation, he rose to his feet and bowed deeply to Xu Qing.

“How can I make up for this, Young Lord?”

Xu Qing tossed him the bottle with Li Mengtu’s poisoned blood in it. Then he took out a jade slip of decree and imprinted it with divine will.

“Gongsun Qingmu of the Scourgebolt Palace conspired with outside enemies to betray the immortal palace and assassinate me, the young lord. Thanks to the safeguard of the poison created personally by Zhong Chi, Gongsun Qingmu’s assassination attempt failed, and he was poisoned to death!

“Given how many years Gongsun Qingmu prepared, it’s no surprise he has a clone outside of the immortal palace. Therefore, notices will be put up throughout the Fifth Star Ring naming Gongsun Qingmu... wanted dead or alive!”

After that, he sent the blood-stained sword back, then left without casting another glance at Sir Vilespirit. As for Sir Vilespirit... he had no choice about what to do next. He sighed, and with a bitter expression, opened the bottle and drank the poison.

He had no other options. If he didn’t cooperate, there were simply too many ways for the young lord to force him to fail. It didn’t matter if Fourth True Monarch had declared his apprentice’s actions to be a betrayal. If the young lord wanted to... he could overturn the entire game board.

Sir Vilespirit was not really in a position to fight back. And that meant he had only one path going forward. As the poison spread through him, Sir Vilespirit trembled, and his skin gradually turned black. That poison was Li Mengtu’s canon, and had been augmented by Xu Qing, making it astounding. Sir Vilespirit could do nothing to save himself from it.

As Xu Qing disappeared into the storm, lightning flashed, illuminating the hall and revealing that Sir Vilespirit was seated cross-legged, with his head drooping down onto his chest. He was dead! His dao was gone, and his mind perished. Sir Vilespirit’s consciousness had been driven out of the fourth world!

As Xu Qing had said, he could stay behind if he wanted, but had picked the wrong path. Thus, his only true choice had been to ingest the poison. The moment he died... two huge space-time waves surged through the immortal palace!

The first came because Gongsun Qingmu’s assassination betrayal had a foundation and was settled conclusively. That situation caused a huge wave. The other came from Zhong Chi. As of that moment, the decree Xu Qing had given to Zhong Chi became a closed loop! He had successfully safeguarded the young lord! The space-time tempest became like a vortex, or a blooming flower within the wind and rain.

As it spun, Xu Qing continued on his way. His next destination was... the sword furnace where Hordeslayer and Rampart were! That was his last place to visit that night.

As he neared, the space-time waves coming from everyone else grew stronger. Eventually, those coming from Li the Chosen grew incredibly dramatic!

Xu Qing turned and looked in that direction.

Li the Chosen’s arm was just severed.

Large amounts of space-time sand began to form around Xu Qing, shining with dazzling light that almost made him seem illusory. Looking away from it, he continued on his way.

Step by step, he got closer to the sword furnace. Soon, he caught sight of it.

The sword furnace, located in the middle of a spell formation, was pitch black and emanated unspeakable might. There was more thunder here than anywhere else, as lightning bolts similar to heavenly tribulation fell constantly and hit the sword furnace. Every bolt of lightning sent sparks exploding out and showering down. Even from a distance, it was a majestic and mysterious sight.

The constantly showering sparks were sucked in by the spell formation and turned into a sea of electricity. Aggressive sword energy was building up in the sword furnace, and it seemed just on the verge of erupting out!

“You two have a much simpler hiding spot than everyone else,” Xu Qing said coolly. “You possessed sword embryos. If it weren’t for the increase in waves recently, I wouldn’t have been able to find you very easily. Most interesting of all is that the two of you are taking advantage of your situation to emerge early.”

When Hordeslayer and Rampart heard his words, they trembled in shock. But then Xu Qing spoke again.

“Well, that’s fine. It will just make it easier to realize who’s in charge!” The moment the words ‘who’s in charge’ were spoken, lightning crashed off in the distance.

Amidst the silver lightning bolts was Sir Star Ring, who shot toward the sword furnace in a beam of prismatic light as Fourth True Monarch, his expression grim and his killing intent raging.