Chapter 983 - Betrayal and Truth

Ye Luo left with the severely injured Huo Yao.

Before they left, Su Yi retrieved the Immortal-Beating Mallet and the Buddha’s Seal of Life and Death.

It was only after watching the pair fade away into the boundless darkness of the night that Su Yi put away the three-inch green-skinned gourd he’d been gripping in his left hand.

A moment later, he broke into hacking coughs, and blood poured from the corners of his mouth.

The black hair of his temples turned white and translucent, as if he’d lost his vitality.

His handsome face was as white as paper, and exhaustion was written all over his face.

His life force suddenly ebbed, and an indescribable feeling of weakness coursed through his entire body and assailed his heart and mind.

Su Yi paid none of this any heed. He simply wiped the blood from his lips, raised a gourd of wine to his lips, and drank with relish.

A moment later, he furrowed his brow. “If you wait any longer to take action, I’m going to leave.”

Heaven and earth were silent, and the battered landscape had been reduced to scorched earth. Cold night winds blew past, rustling the young man’s bloodstained clothes.

“How could I take advantage of you in this state?” A charming, gentle voice rode in on a gust of wind.

A graceful figure appeared in the distant skies, ink-black skirts swaying. Her skin was as white as snow, and her face had an unearthly beauty sufficient to bewitch the masses.

The Netherworld King!

She stepped through the air, approaching Su Yi. Her lustrous calves came in and out of view beneath the hem of her swaying black skirt.

She really was an astonishing beauty. Her every movement and gesture had a natural charm, and as she walked through the scorched earth, she emanated the lofty air of a sovereign gazing down upon the masses.

The Netherworld King’s beautiful eyes looked him up and down, and her red lips parted slightly. She sighed, “Your disciple betrayed you and tried to kill his master. That must be hard to take, Fellow Daoist.”

“I’m in no mood for nonsense,” Su Yi said flatly. He turned and walked into the distance. “You witnessed the entire battle just now, and I’m sure you can tell how pathetic my condition is. If you want to attack, this really is a good opportunity. Of course, that depends on whether or not you’re confident enough.”

As he spoke, he continued ahead without a care.

The Netherworld King gazed intently at Su Yi’s tall, upright figure. Her eyes flashed, and no one knew what she was thinking.

A moment later, she laughed, seemingly entirely unconcerned. She then caught up to Su Yi, her gait light and airy. “I won’t lie to you, Fellow Daoist. As I watched you fight, I had two competing urges.

“The first was to step in and make sure you owed me a favor, one you couldn’t wriggle your way out of.”

“The other was to ‘sit on the mountainside and watch tigers fight.’ Then, once both you and your disciple were severely injured, I could take advantage of the situation.”

The Netherworld’s gentle voice contained a hint of magnetism, but her words were enough to send chills through one’s heart.

She looked up, and pursed her lips in apparent frustration. “It’s a shame. You didn’t give me any opportunities to exploit, Fellow Daoist.”

Su Yi was just too strong!

His earlier clash with Huo Yao had astonished even the Netherworld King, and she’d sunk into a lasting daze.

She could tell that although Su Yi might have cut a sorry figure when the battle began, he’d maintained firm control over the rhythm of the entire exchange.

No matter how Huo Yao tried to provoke him or how ruthlessly he attacked, Su Yi always managed to avert calamity right in the nick of time!

It would have been fair to describe this method of fighting as “unbelievable.”

After all, Su Yi never once used his strongest trump card. Instead, he used his Spiritual Revolution Realm cultivation, practically taboo secret arts, and treasures to hold out against Huo Yao’s offensive!

It was simply a miracle.

Was Huo Yao just not strong enough?

No!

The terrifying strength of his cultivation base and the Xiantian treasures at his disposal surpassed the vast majority of the world’s Profound Serenity experts.

Furthermore, beneath his arrogant exterior, he’d never once gotten complacent.

Even so, in the end, he couldn’t defeat Su Yi!

The moment Su Yi used the Buddha’s Seal of Life and Death, the Netherworld King realized that Su Yi had maintained control over the situation the entire time.

She watched as Su Yi redirected a disaster, using the remnant will of the First Heavenly Libationer of the Nine Heavens Pavilion to deal Huo Yao a heavy blow.

She watched as Su Yi drew the Tiny Heart of the Cosmos and turned the situation around.

It was then that she gave up on everything she’d been planning.

Admittedly, Su Yi was injured after overcoming this grand battle, and he seemed incomparably weak, unable to take even a single hit.

But the Netherworld King dared not gamble.

She dared not say with certainty that Su Yi wasn’t faking it. She couldn’t dismiss the possibility that Su Yi might still have trump cards on hand were she to attack.

When she saw Su Yi walk off without a word, the Netherworld King couldn’t help but ask, “Do you really suspect there’s a problem with your other disciple too?”

Su Yi’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve yet to learn the full truth of what happened back then. How stupid would I have to be to trust him without reservation?”

The look in the Netherworld King’s beautiful eyes was suddenly a bit complicated. “I can tell that Huo Yao’s unfilial behavior hurt you to the core.”

Su Yi said calmly, “Nothing is more unreliable than human nature. No matter how high someone’s cultivation is, they cannot truly escape their humanity, with all its joy, anger, and sorrow, and everyone faces the ups and downs of worldly affairs. Traitors have arisen even in the Nine Heavens Pavilion, haven’t they?”

The rules of the Nine Heavens Pavilion stated that when someone joined the sect, they must stand before the sect’s core treasure, that mysterious Dao Sword, and swear a Grand Dao Oath. Those who violated their oaths suffered a lethal backlash.

Yet the Netherworld King had also told him that, a long time ago, the former First Warden had nonetheless chosen to betray the sect.

And the Netherworld King herself had gone so far as to steal a stalk of Heaven-Deceiving Grass to free herself from her Grand Dao Oath. It was because of this incident that the Infernal Palace suppressed her within the City of the Wrongfully Dead.

Wasn’t that a type of betrayal too?

Su Yi’s words seemed to provoke the Netherworld King, and the look on her beautiful face shifted erratically.

In the end, she let out a deep sigh. “You call it a betrayal, but there were reasons behind it. Who was right and who was wrong? Only those who lived it can truly understand the bitterness and hatred therein.”

She paused, and her beautiful face regained its usual calm. “But I’m different from your disciple, Huo Yao. If, after I joined the Nine Heavens Pavilion, I’d… If I’d had a master like you, I would have been delighted. How could I have turned my back on such a teacher?”

After a moment’s silence, Su Yi said, “Never mind that. I’m going to Immortal Gourd Mountain to prove my Dao. If you’re not afraid of facing a tribulation, you can come with me.”

Immortal Gourd Mountain?

The Netherworld King looked thoughtful. “Is the mountain dangerous?”

Su Yi said directly, “The Platform of Rebirth is hidden on the mountain, and it's emblazoned with some of the secrets of reincarnation.”

The Netherworld King’s eyes lit up, her heart instantly filled with excitement, and her ample, prideworthy chest heaved. She would never have guessed that Su Yi would reveal such a shocking secret!

But then, Su Yi glanced at her. “However, if someone like you gets close to it, they’ll die beyond a doubt.”

The Netherworld King felt as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water over her head.

But then, she broke into a charming smile. “I’ll just watch from afar, then.”

……

Beneath the night sky, in a barren stretch of wilderness.

Thud!

Huo Yao was flung into the dirt, leaving him covered in mud.

His brow furrowed. “What do you mean by this, Junior Apprentice Brother?”

Ye Luo said icily, “What do I mean by this? I only just learned that you and Eldest Apprentice Brother long since betrayed Master! You’ve kept me in the dark and used me all this time!”

His eyes shone with irrepressible rage.

He gave Huo Yao no chance to speak at all. Instead, he shouted, as if venting his fury. “It was you and Eldest Apprentice Brother who promised me that the Abstruse Force Alliance was founded to eliminate Little Apprentice Sister and reclaim Master’s Grotto of Abstruse Force.

“It was also you and Eldest Apprentice Brother who told me that Little Apprentice Sister had killed our master and seized every treasure he’d left behind.

“It was you who told me to see Little Apprentice Sister as an enemy. But it turns out that… you were the traitors all along!”

Here, Ye Luo gnashed his teeth so hard they almost shattered, and he overflowed with murderous intent. “It’s no wonder that after we arrived in the Sea of Bitterness, you told me to keep watch over the City of Eternal Night. It’s no wonder you didn’t bring me to the Burial Ground of the Dao. You were worried I’d discover your treasonous, unfilial, despicable behavior, weren’t you!?”

Huo Yao took a deep breath and said solemnly, “Junior Apprentice Brother, I know that no matter what I say now, you won’t believe it. But even if you don’t trust me, you ought to trust Eldest Apprentice Brother, right? Once you see him, you’ll naturally understand the full truth!”

Eldest Apprentice Brother!

Ye Luo’s expression filled with uncertainty.

He was the sixth of Su Yi’s disciples, and shortly after he joined the sect, his master left on an expedition. It was his eldest apprentice brother, Pi Mo, who’d first instructed him in the Dao.

All his sectmates knew that he was closest to Eldest Apprentice Brother Pi Mo.

After a long silence, Ye Luo gazed icily at Huo Yao. “Never mind the truth of what happened then. What you did tonight is already worthy of death!”

Huo Yao sighed. “You say that because you weren’t the one suppressed for sixty thousand years. You never experienced all that bitterness and resentment.”

Ye Luo laughed coldly. “No need to act pitiful or pretend you’ve been wronged. Even irredeemable devils will come with all sorts of excuses to justify their behavior in the face of death. None of your so-called reasons are enough to justify your treasonous, unfilial, outrageous behavior!”

Huo Yao’s eyes shone with viciousness. “Junior Apprentice Brother, if you hate me so much, why not just kill me now?”

Ye Luo said expressionlessly, “Master told me to keep an eye on you and your subordinates. I naturally can’t just kill you.”

However, Huo Yao merely burst into laughter. “Master also said that he wanted to kill me with his own two hands, but without the Tiny Heart of the Cosmos and other external aids, do you really think his paltry Spiritual Revolution Realm cultivation base… could possibly kill me?”

He then rose, brushed off his clothes, and looked at Ye Luo. “Junior Apprentice Brother, I said it already. When you meet with Eldest Apprentice Brother again, you’ll naturally understand the full truth.

“Besides, it’s just as you said: no matter how much you might hate me, you won’t defy master’s orders by killing me. In that case, I urge you to stay calm. Don’t let your anger muddle your head.”

With that, Huo Yao got up and walked away.

Ye Luo’s expression shifted erratically.

A moment later, he slowly clenched his fist and suppressed his murderous intent just as it was on the verge of erupting.

He spurned his master and betrayed his sect, but he still doesn’t know how to repent. Instead, he’s still so arrogant. If I were Master, I wouldn’t let a traitorous disciple like you off either! Ye Luo muttered to himself.

He followed Huo Yao from the shadows. No matter what, he couldn’t let Huo Yao escape the Burial Ground of the Dao! This wasn’t as simple as carrying out his master’s orders.

He wanted to use this opportunity to prove to his master that he and Huo Yao were different.

He wasn’t a traitor!!!