Chapter 2208 - Seen Through

Chu Bi said softly, “Vice Palace Master, Deacon Xiao acquired that good fortune. You...”

Huang Changting glared coldly at her. “No need for your input! I just want to have a look at it. It’s nothing as debased as you presume!”

He paused, then looked at Su Yi and laughed. “Besides, I’m sure you’ll entrust a treasure of this level to the sect sooner or later, so what’s the harm in letting me have a look?”

The group was stunned, but then, they quickly understood.

The vice palace master is using ‘giving the treasure to the sect’ as a ruse to take Xiao Jian down a peg!

But then, Su Yi fiddled with the bronze lamp and smiled faintly. “And what if I don’t give it to the sect?”

Huang Changting’s brow furrowed. “Deacon Xiao, don’t let greed blind you. A Lesser God is in no way qualified to own an Undying treasure like that. The lamp can only display its true power if you entrust it to the sect.”

He took a step forward, his imposing aura bearing down on Su Yi. At the same time, he opened his right hand. “Go on. Let me have a look at it.”

His gaze was icy and calm. It seemed that if Su Yi dared refuse, he’d attack without hesitation!

“Xiao Jian! Hurry up and give it to him!” Qian Hu urged from the sidelines. “If the vice palace master hadn’t led us here, how could you have possibly gotten your hands on such a treasure?”

Su Yi sighed. “I’ve put up with you two this entire time. Why keep pushing?”

Huang Changting had obviously run out of patience. He suddenly reached for the lamp. “Just give it to me!”

A golden fire flower suddenly drifted out of the lamp and landed on Huang Changting’s hand.

A strange scene unfolded.

The fire flower traveled along Huang Changting’s hand, following his arm to his shoulders, throat, and spreading to the rest of his body...

Then, the group watched in horror as Huang Changting, a peak Limit Realm Mid-Rank God, crumbled into a pile of ash.

Even his Godhead burnt to cinders.

Not even fragments of bone remained. Only his treasures lay strewn across the ground.

This strange, unsettling scene made the others’ hair stand on end. They were completely dazed.

What kind of terrifying power was that? It actually reduced a Mid-Rank God to cinders in a flash!

“As all of you saw, Vice Palace Master Huang forced my hand. You’ll have to be my witnesses when we get back to the sect,” Su Yi said casually.

“You... you killed the vice palace master, and now you want us to speak up on your behalf?” Qian Hu asked in a quavering voice.

“Is there a problem?” asked Su Yi.

Qian Hu stiffened beneath Su Yi’s gaze, then instinctively lowered his head and moved further away. It was as if looking at Su Yi a moment longer would make him explode, or drawing closer would make him melt.

“Rest assured, Deacon Xiao. I, Qian Hu, will serve as your witness when we report this to the sect!” Qian Hu’s face paled, and he quivered from head to toe. “On this mission, Vice Palace Master Huang repeatedly forced you to risk yourself. It was over the line and completely detestable!”

Su Yi walked over and patted Qian Hu on the shoulder. “He hurt you, Chu Bi, and the others too, didn’t he?”

The three Wandering Night Gods all felt that deeply. It was true! Huang Changting had just forced them to risk their lives!

“You’re right, Deacon Xiao! Huang Changting was an irredeemable villain. He deserved to die ten thousand deaths!!” Qian Hu said with righteous indignation.

Su Yi chuckled.

A moment later, something unexpected happened. A strange energy fluctuation emanated from the broken altar at the center of the temple, then swept outward.

Bang bang bang!

Qian Hu, Chu Bi, and the others toppled over unconscious before they knew what hit them, their bodies sealed by a strange, formless power!

Only Su Yi stood there, entirely unaffected and holding the copper lamp aloft.

“This is unfair to you, my witnesses, but I’ve got no choice,” Su Yi whispered, then waved his sleeve and put the four of them away.

That’s right, he needed witnesses. Only then could he continue to lie low in Qingwu Divine Court under the name “Xiao Jian.”

Su Yi had put up with Huang Changting’s abuses and commands the whole way here. Now, there was no further need to endure.

He’d recorded everything that had happened in the temple in a jade slip, with a few key omissions. When he returned to the sect, the slip, combined with his companions’ testimony, would be enough to avoid suspicion.

“Now I can finally act freely.” Su Yi let out a long sigh.

While traveling with Huang Changting, he’d had no choice but to cooperate, and he couldn’t go off on his own.

Things were different now!

......

“Look! The temple gates are opening!” A startled cry resounded throughout the barren black plains.

Nie Wuxiu and the other Red Dust Demon Lands experts had been waiting outside this entire time. All of them looked over.

They watched as the temple doors swung open, and a young man in robes whiter than snow emerged, holding a copper lamp aloft. He looked as if he were out for a leisurely stroll.

“You... actually dared to come out?” someone exclaimed.

“I’ve always been a kindhearted sort,” Su Yi said softly. “I can’t bear to keep my enemies waiting.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nie Wuxiu furrowed his brow, his eyes flashing with divine radiance.

He could tell that something was strange. There’d been no movements from within the temple since Huang Changting and the others had gone inside.

Yet now, the young man with the lamp was just strolling out casually as if nothing had happened. It was just too strange.

“What do I mean by that? I’m going to send you on your way, of course,” laughed Su Yi.

Su Yi had only just said this when Nie Wuxiu attacked.

Boom!

He shifted through the air, his hands forming seals as he ruthlessly attacked.

With his Fortune Realm cultivation base, he could have blasted any Mid-Rank God to bits, let alone some Creation Realm Lesser God.

But something unexpected happened.

A sword hum rang out, and Nie Wuxiu suddenly split in two mid-charge. He’d been cleaved in half!

The slash tore open a perfectly straight rift in the sky, and when that sword qi cleaved into the ground, it created a massive chasm.

“You...” Nie Wuxiu opened his mouth to say something, but before he could finish his sentence, his body fell apart and his soul dispersed.

When the other Red Dust Demon Lands experts saw this, they were overcome with horror. The worst part was, none of them could figure out how Su Yi had attacked!

Su Yi exhaled, then whispered, “I don’t have to hide anymore. This really feels great.”

“Flee!!” The remaining Red Dust Demon Lands experts scampered away in panic.

But then, a clanging sword hum resounded through the air, and a dense flurry of sword qi whooshed forth. Sword light illuminated the entirety of the black, barren plains.

More than ten gods were slain practically instantaneously, destroyed in body and soul!

A piping hot, bloody mist permeated the air.

“Dammit! There really is a problem with that kid!”

Far in the distance, beneath the cloud-covered dome of heaven, a Human-Faced Bluebird watched all of this play out.

Xiao Jian had just killed a Greater God in a single light, airy slash! Then, he’d slaughtered more than ten gods of the Red Dust Demon Lands in a single attack!

Was that possible for a Lesser God?

The Human-Faced Bluebird finally believed Third Elder Ku Zhen’s intuition.

There really is a huge problem with Xiao Jian! Who is he? Why did he infiltrate Qingwu Divine Court?

What Creation Realm Lesser God could possibly be heaven-defying enough to kill Greater Gods with ease?

Wait! He’s a sword cultivator! Don’t tell me...

A name suddenly rose unbidden to the Human-Faced Bluebird’s mind.

Su Yi! The heretic wanted by every god and Buddha in the God Domain! The criminal suspected to have hidden himself in the Southern Flame Divine Continent several months ago!

The God Domain’s top factions had all sent their forces to search the Southern Flame Divine Continent, all for the sake of uncovering Su Yi’s whereabouts.

But they’d yet to achieve anything at all.

Who could have imagined that he’d impersonate a descendant of the Torch Dragons and join Qingwu Divine Court to cultivate?

He even got past our most stringent of trials!

The thought filled her with horror.

Su Yi’s abilities are simply too terrifying!

If he hadn’t revealed his abilities, I would never have realized it. He could have just continued to lie low in the sect. That would have been an enormous disaster just waiting to happen!

I have to report this to the sect immediately! No, I have to tell the two High Elders stationed outside the Barren Mountains of Divine Calamity first!

If they attack, I’m sure they’ll be able to capture that heretic and claim his Epoch Spark and power over reincarnation!

The more she thought about it, the more excited she felt.

As for Huang Changting, Qian Hu, and the others? She no longer cared in the slightest whether they lived or died.

But that’s on the assumption that I can get out of this blasted place,

thought the Human-Faced Bluebird.

She’d only just thought this when a calm voice rang out. “Come out. Keep hiding, and you’ll never be able to leave.”

The Human-Faced Bluebird stiffened, and her expression shifted.

He actually sensed that I was hiding here?

Meanwhile, Su Yi was walking through the air. He was headed right toward her.

“You discovered this lofty one a long time ago?” The Human-Faced Bird emerged from hiding, then gazed icily at Su Yi.

Su Yi nodded. “You’ve been haunting me like a stubborn ghost since I first set foot on Spirit Bamboo Peak and spying on my every move.

“You’ve stuck to me like a shadow throughout this expedition. It’s truly repulsive.”

Su Yi took out a jug of wine and had a sip. “You know, if I weren’t cautious of you, Huang Changting and Qian Hu would have died a long time ago. I would never have put up with them for so long.”

The Human-Faced Bluebird’s expression shifted erratically. She said suddenly, “If you knew I was here, why did you reveal yourself just now?”

“You’ve already guessed the answer to that, haven’t you?” Su Yi said airily.

The Human-Faced Bluebird laughed coldly. “You’re that confident you can kill me here?”

“Yes,” said Su Yi. “I originally wondered if I might need to set traps or otherwise go to great lengths to kill you, but now... there’s no longer any need for that.”

He pointed to the copper lamp. “I just borrowed this treasure from the master of the temple. With it, killing a One-Tribulation Master Goddess like you will take no effort at all.”

The Human-Faced Bluebird’s pupils constricted, and her wrinkled face filled with bewilderment. “The master of the temple? Who is he? Why would he help you?”

“I don’t know who he is either.” Su Yi shook his head. “All I know is that he isn’t of this era.”

The Human-Faced Bluebird frowned. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re making empty threats?”

Su Yi laughed. “Believe me or don’t. You’re doomed either way.”

Whoosh!

Before his laughter had even finished echoing through the air, the Human-Faced Bluebird attacked.