Chapter 73: So many lives lost in three years, can you bear the consequences...?

Jiang Yu: ......

Shen Jiuxu: ......

Could Lian Quesheng really say such a thing? Shen Jiuxu looked Lian Quesheng up and down, watching him move his hands and feet around as if they had grown legs, and his neck was bright red, exposed to the sunlight.

"What's wrong? Isn't this his fault?"

Seeing their questioning looks, Lian Quesheng retorted, "I am his master. This is betraying one's master and ancestors, do you understand?"

Shen Jiuxu was speechless. Xi Chuang was an introverted person who was usually very quiet. He would only become more talkative when he was around Lian Quesheng. Normally, he and Jiang Yu rarely saw him lose his composure. They never expected that Lian Quesheng would cause him to behave like this.

Indeed, appearances can be deceiving.

"So what do you want to do?"

Jiang Yu sensed from Lian Quesheng's words that he wasn't completely angry. He was just embarrassed because his disciple had discovered his weakness. If Xi Chuang had really left, he probably would have turned into a blur and chased after him immediately.

"have no idea."

Lian Que sat listlessly on the stool, truly at a loss for what to do. "So what do you think I should do? I do like the west window, but... isn't this progress a bit too fast? And what happened last night was a complete accident; I wasn't even thinking straight at the time."

This sounds weirder and weirder.

If Jiang Yu hadn't known Lian Quesheng for over a decade, he would have thought Lian Quesheng was the kind of person who did something, didn't admit it, and just walked away.

"How about... you go back to Shenwuke, and I go with you? I can come back after a while, once I've recovered?" Lian Quesheng's head was throbbing with thought, but he had disagreed with Xichuang's suggestion to leave earlier. He couldn't very well be "lenient with himself and strict with others," could he?

"Forget it, I'll stay with him. Otherwise, he'll start overthinking again." Lian Quesheng looked at his two friends' teasing eyes and knew that his thoughts had been exposed. He stopped hiding it. "It's mainly because I'm his master, so I can't argue with these kids."

"Please make way where you can."

Jiang Yu had anticipated this outcome. "Since you're injured and Xi Chuang doesn't want you to leave, why don't you stay here for a while until things are mostly settled?"

Lian Quesheng nodded. "Alright, you two be careful when you go back to Shenwuke. Those old guys aren't so easy to deal with. Besides, Jiuxu's identity has changed now, so it's not as convenient as before. There will always be some blind people who will come out to provoke him."

"Um."

After they finished eating, Zhou Yongyin started packing their things while muttering to himself. Xi Chuang sat quietly to the side. Lian Quesheng felt awkward when he saw him, so he simply faced Xian Chenjian, the two of them staring at each other, not knowing what the other was thinking.

"Drive carefully on the road, and come back as soon as you're done," Zhou Yongyin instructed. "Your eyes are the most important thing, so don't push yourself too hard."

"Okay." Jiang Yu agreed. Lian Quesheng and Xichuang stayed behind, while he and Shen Jiuxu took Xian Chen back to Shen Wuke. Dianxing and the others had already returned ahead of time. There was no one else on the road, and they flew very fast on their swords. By evening, they saw the familiar Qingyun Ladder.

"Should we go back to Fuyou Palace to rest for a while?" Shen Jiuxu brushed the leaves off Jiang Yu's clothes. "There's no need to rush about Lian Feng's matter. After all, we've been searching for him for almost a month and still haven't found him."

"I'd like to go see Lian Gu first."

Jiang Yu stood in the territory of Shen Wuke, feeling the familiar wind and surrounded by the noisy voices of people. He recalled that completely different night three years ago.

“Okay.” Shen Jiuxu pulled him forward. The pancake stall next to them was packing up to go home when they saw two tall and handsome figures. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief and suddenly shouted, “Young Master Jiang, Sect Master Shen.”

"Someone recognized you."

Shen Jiuxu looked at Jiang Yu. He didn't want to alert the enemy tonight, so he even specially found a bull-headed demon mask to wear. However, he didn't expect to be completely exposed after only a few steps. He smiled awkwardly and could only take off the mask and turn around with Shen Jiuxu to greet the people.

"Young Master Jiang, Sect Leader Shen, it really is you. I heard from them that you were busy rescuing people elsewhere, and you couldn't get away. Is it over now?"

The man had a dark complexion, clearly from years of sun exposure, and his eyes narrowed into slits when he saw the two of them.

"More or less," Jiang Yu said with a smile, but his eyes didn't reveal where he was standing. In the end, Shen Jiuxu pulled him to find the right direction.

The man noticed something was wrong, but he couldn't believe it. His eyes widened as he cautiously looked at Jiang Yu's face.

"Liu Lao Er".

The voice came from afar, startling the man awake. He scratched his head and said, "Young Master Jiang, Sect Master Shen, my wife just called me. It's getting late, so I'll head back now. Otherwise, I'll have to come out and look for her myself later."

“I recognized the voice of the last house in the east of the city,” Jiang Yu said with a smile after he left. “But he probably noticed it too.”

"Things will get better in a few days." Shen Jiuxu patted Jiang Yu's head. "Lian Gu is ahead, let's go."

Inside the dark room was a narrow bed with a table next to it. There was only a cup on the table, and nothing else. It looked like an old, long-abandoned courtyard.

The man lay on the bed, his back to the door, half asleep. He had been locked up here by that bastard Shen Jiuxu for months, and even that idiot Lian Feng couldn't find him. He was truly useless.

Lian Gu grew angrier the more he thought about it. Hearing the commotion outside, he sat up abruptly. "What are you doing here again? Are you telling me that Jiang Yu and Shen Qinggui are dead?"

"Elder Lian, are you so eager for me to die?" Jiang Yu's voice suddenly came from behind. Lian Gu was quite startled. He turned around and found that the people who came this time were not those annoying disciples, but Jiang Yu and Shen Qinggui.

"What, you've been having a good time out there for so long, and now you finally remember to come see your senior brother?"

"Senior brother, Elder Lian is really delusional. Shen Jiuxu has ascended to immortality, and the one standing in front of you is not him." As soon as Jiang Yu saw him, for some reason, the anger that had been pent up in his heart for a long time was relieved, as if he had returned to the time when he debated with a group of scholars all by himself.

"Do you really think I'm stupid? Don't think I don't know that Shen Qinggui and Shen Jiuxu are the same person. What a coincidence that even Quesheng randomly picked someone who looks exactly like my junior brother and also has the surname Shen. You think others are stupid, but I'm not."

Lian Guyi got angry just thinking about it, and glared at Shen Jiuxu with a fierce look in his eyes, "You're really lucky that you weren't killed a few months ago."

“If you die, Shen Wuke will be mine now.”

"Why keep saying things that are impossible?" Jiang Yu was tired of hearing him say that. "It's no use saying it a hundred times. By the way, your older brother, Lian Feng, has been missing for a long time. Don't expect him to come and save you."

"Useless trash!" Lian Gu cursed angrily. "That idiot Lian Feng actually let you ascend to the position of sect leader. It's normal for him to die. He failed in his mission and was killed. Isn't that right?"

“I didn’t say he was dead.”

The windows were wide open, letting in gusts of cold wind. Shen Jiuxu subtly moved closer to Jiang Yu, while Lian Gu snorted, "He should have died long ago after all this time."

"Do you know who killed him?"

"What does it matter if I know or not?" Lian Gu recalled what the man in black had said: as long as he waited until Jiang Yu ascended again, everything he wanted would be his.

Thinking of this, he continued as the man had instructed, "Wouldn't it be better for me if Lian Feng were gone? Everything else would be mine."

"Back then, I told him to submit to my master, but that idiot Lian Feng not only lacked brains, he was practically blind. He found a so-called ally to kill Shen Jiuxu, claiming the plan was flawless, but what happened in the end? You still managed to escape."

Lian Gu laughed loudly, "Now that this thing is no longer hindering me, isn't it better?"

Who is that person?

"Didn't you keep investigating? What, even the all-powerful Young Master Jiang couldn't find anything? It seems that you can't believe everything people say. All that talk about geniuses and immortals who are destined to ascend to heaven is just a bunch of fabricated lies. Otherwise, why couldn't he even pass the ascension test three years ago?"

Lian Gu probably hadn't spoken to anyone in a long time. Being locked up here for so long had almost turned him mute. Now that two people had finally come to visit him, he just couldn't stop talking.

Jiang Yu remained calm and composed, seemingly unaffected by his words, while Lian Gu let out a cold laugh.

"What? Isn't Young Master Jiang the person most likely to ascend to immortality in this world? Three years ago, you couldn't even save a single person. And they still call you Young Master Jiang? What kind of genius are you, revered by people? You're not even a savior."

"What does what happened three years ago have to do with you?" Jiang Yu's voice turned cold, and he understood something from his words.

"Three years have passed, and the exceptionally intelligent Young Master Jiang has finally figured it out. But the child who was waiting for you to save him is already dead. What else can Young Master Jiang do? Don't you feel guilty every time you hear those praises and hear those people ask you for help?"

Lian Gu laughed incessantly, his eyes bulging like snakes as he approached Jiang Yu, speaking with sharp, pointed words, "I've heard that Young Master Jiang has once again shown his great kindness by saving so many people? It's not just one child from back then. If you fail to ascend again, can you bear the responsibility for so many lives lost?"

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Author's Note: The final boss of this story is about to make his appearance. [Sunglasses]