Chapter 1261: Who is the Laughable, Lamentable One?

Do it?

A hint of doubt flashed through Thousand Change’s mind.

Who is he talking to? We’re the only ones here. Has he given up? Is he telling us to kill him or something? Or...

There was no time to think though. Shadow, Fist Demon, Qin Princess and the rest of his colleagues were already rushing toward Ye Qing.

What happened next nearly caused him to faint on the spot.

It was because he saw Old Man of Zhi, Taoist of Sleep and the other two Stewards... attacking

his people

instead of Ye Qing.

Not even in their wildest dreams had the six Shopkeepers dreamed that their allies would turn on them. Naturally, they weren’t prepared for this turn of events in the slightest. As if that wasn’t enough, the Taisui Mountain warriors had gone all out from the get go. Because of this, his colleagues immediately took serious injuries.

Thousand Change still hadn’t recovered from this sudden turn of events when suddenly, his heart skipped a beat, and every hair on his person stood on end. Without hesitation, he summoned a mirror directly underneath his feet and slipped through it.

When Thousand Change reappeared, he was several kilometers away from his original position. However, he immediately threw up a mouthful of blood, and his aura was waning rapidly despite himself. At the same time, signs of rot and aging had appeared on his exposed skin.

Behind his back was a clear, visible handprint. The handprint was overflowing with the stench of decay and rot.

Clearly, he was hit when he was still executing his “Catoptric Teleportation”, and his attacker was none other than Sunlao Taijun.

When he looked at Sunlao Taijun, he saw the old woman pointing a finger at One Sword. The man was currently standing about thirty meters away from her.

One Sword was the strongest of the six of them. At the same time, his sense of danger was the strongest because he practiced the ancient art of sword pellet. That was why he was able to avoid Taoist of Sleep’s fatal palm strike despite being caught completely off guard. He wasn’t able to avoid it completely of course, but his injuries weren’t severe.

As soon as One Sword recovered, he immediately attacked Taoist of Sleep with the intent to kill.

Taoist of Sleep was powerful, but he was not a good head-on fighter. That was why he immediately fell into a severe disadvantage at the first exchange. If he made even one mistake, he would die right there and then.

That was why Sunlao Taijun chose to attack One Sword first after driving Thousand Change away.

In Thousand Change’s opinion, One Sword should be strong enough to handle Sunlao Taijun and Taoist of Sleep at the same time. In reality, Sunlao Taijun’s finger strike had struck One Sword squarely on the forehead despite his best attempts to defend himself.

The next moment, One Sword let out a muffled groan and grew wrinkles on his face. It was as if he had aged by an entire decade in an instant. At the same time, his aura shriveled at a visible rate.

“Half-Sage?!”

Thousand Change’s pupils contracted into pins. It was only now he realized that Sunlao Taijun was exuding the aura of a Half-Sage, not a Great Trueman.

Thousand Change did not hesitate. Countless mirrors appeared under his feet as he attempted to execute Catoptric Teleportation once more.

Originally, he was planning to use the art to turn the tables against their enemies. Worst case scenario, he would use it to rescue some of his colleagues and prevent this from turning into a total annihilation.

After all, a killer’s greatest ability was murder, and their second greatest ability was self-preservation. A killer with poor self-preservation skills might be a good suicide warrior, but never a good killer.

As the cream of the crop, their ability to preserve their own life was even better than your average killer. It was true that his colleagues had been caught with their pants down, but if they were given a bit of breathing room, it was entirely possible for—if not all of them—some of them to escape.

However, Thousand Change abandoned the thought immediately after he sensed Sunlao Taijun’s presence. A Half-Sage was not an existence he could hope to defeat, not to mention that Ye Qing was still watching from the sidelines and playing some sort of role he didn’t have the time or the space to figure out right now.

At this point, it was no longer about saving the others. It was saving himself.

To Thousand Change’s credit, his reflex and decisiveness were top-notch. Unfortunately, as soon as he slipped into the mirror, the moon above his head abruptly shone brightly.

The moonlight was so bright it was like actual frost and snow. It instantly revealed every inch of this space.

Thousand Change was gone until the moonlight brought him right back to reality.

Before Thousand Change could react, the moon spun round and round and caused its light to ripple like water. The ripples quickly wrapped around Thousand Change like ropes and prevented him from moving an inch.

“The Moon Essence Wheel?!”

Thousand Change’s eyes threatened to fall out of his eye sockets when he saw this.

The Moon Essence Wheel was one of Taisui Mountain’s three greatest Strange Artifacts. It possessed the powerful ability to seal off an entire chunk of space. It was twice as potent during a moonlit night because it possessed the power to absorb moonlight and starlight from the sky. Even a Half-Sage would be hardpressed to escape in this situation.

The Moon Essence Wheel was a tool they had prepared against Ye Qing, but it had become his tombstone instead.

Thousand Change let out a dejected sigh and ceased struggling altogether.

If it was just the Moon Essence Wheel, he might still be able to wriggle out of this. When Sunlao Taijun and Ye Qing appeared before him at the same time though, he knew he no longer had any chance of escaping.

“I can’t believe you’re on the same side!”

At this point, Thousand Change figured out that the duo were on the same side. Today’s ambush had been set up not for Ye Qing, but for Westwind Inn.

He thought he was a fisherman, but he was really a fish. Worse, he never realized it until the last moment.

How laughable! How lamentable!

“Still, I did not think that the unruly Mad Lord would join Ghost Taisui. What a joke.”

Ye Qing chuckled when he heard this. “Perhaps it is because you are mistaken. Perhaps it is they who joined me.”

“What do you mean?” Thousand Change failed to understand immediately.

“I meant what I said,” Ye Qing replied. “They’re mine now.”

“Speaking of which, go help your friends, Sunlao Taijun. End this as quickly as possible.”

Ye Qing gave Sunlao Taijun a wave. “But don’t kill them!”

“Understood, young master,” Sunlao Taijun responded before taking her leave.

“What in the...”

Thousand Change could not believe how obedient Sunlao Taijun was acting. He subconsciously blurted, “Are you Ghost Taisui’s illegitimate son?!”

“Cough! Cough!”

Ye Qing nearly choked on his own spit. He then stared at Thousand Change as he asked with dripping disdain, “Do you seriously think the likes of Ghost Taisui can produce a son like me?”

“On second thought, you’re right.”

Thousand Change himself realized how ridiculous his guess sounded after he regained his own wits. He then asked puzzledly, “In that case, what on earth is your relationship with Ghost Taisui?”

“Relationship? Sworn enemies, of course. The kind that can only be resolved by death.”

Ye Qing thought for a moment before explaining, “Let me put it this way. They are mine, but I am not Ghost Taisui’s. Do you get it now?”

“You controlled them?!” Thousand Change blurted out. “I see now! I see now!”

At first, he thought that Ye Qing had thrown his lot in with Ghost Taisui and put on a show for them. Their goal was to entrap Westwind Inn and grow their power.

But now, he learned that the director of this show was none other than Ye Qing. And in this show, Ghost Taisui and Westwind Inn played the role of victims.

“But how is this possible?”

Despite realizing the truth, Thousand Change found it difficult to accept this. Forget the others, Sunlao Taijun was a Half-Sage. Just how on earth did Ye Qing manage to control her? How on earth did he convince her to betray Sunlao Taijun, her sworn master, and join him?

It didn’t look like Sunlao Taijun was acting under coercion either. She was perfectly reverent toward Ye Qing and accepted his every order like he was her true master. He could tell that every word she breathed came from the bottom of her heart, and that heart was as loyal as it could be.

Just... how was this possible?