Chapter 68 What is it (Part 1)
Wang Min collapsed to the ground, his eyes slightly sunken and unfocused, as if shrouded in a hazy mist, unable to focus on anything. The scene before him grew increasingly blurry, and he could only see the crimson blood surging around him. His cracked lips parted slightly, and each breath seemed to be using all his strength, producing a weak and intermittent sound.
But he stubbornly held on to his last breath and refused to close his eyes. If he died, the restriction would immediately dissipate.
“Mr. Wang!” He heard Chu Jianshan’s voice.
Chu Jianshan lifted him up, his trembling hand covering his neck, trying to slow the bleeding with his spiritual power, but it was just a drop in the ocean. His snow-white sleeve was quickly stained bright red, and he couldn't stop the bleeding no matter what he did.
Chu Jianshan's eyes reddened, and he spoke in a hoarse voice, "You..."
What should he say? Praise his selflessness and courage in the face of death? Or should he blame him for his folly and foolishness? All of this was stuck in his throat, and he couldn't utter a sound. His throat, pierced by a sword, left Wang Min speechless, only able to look at him hopelessly.
After struggling for a long time, he still couldn't keep the person who was meant to leave. As Chu Jianshan shed a tear, Wang Min breathed his last. The restriction then dissipated, turning into specks of sparks that drifted away with his soul.
The Linyi Sect cultivators remained motionless, waiting for Ji Ziyan's orders. Bai Qianfan, witnessing all this from behind Chu Jianshan, had reddened eyes and looked at Ji Ziyan with eyes full of hatred.
Ji Ziyan, clutching her arm, watched all this with a smile, slowly backing away: "Immortal Venerable Chu, what does it feel like to watch someone die right before your eyes?"
Chu Jianshan didn't reply, just stood there blankly holding Wang Min's slowly cooling body. He had already experienced the answer to this question seven years ago.
Bai Qianfan suddenly rushed forward, and Fang Lanjian unleashed a huge burst of spiritual power to clash with Ji Ziyan. However, Ji Ziyan did not want to fight him, so he dodged to the side and ordered the Linyi Sect disciples to retreat. The protagonist has appeared. His mission has been completed, and he only needs to get out unscathed.
On the other side, Chu Jianshan slowly stood up, his powerful spiritual energy rapidly condensing around him, the light flowing like a burning flame, ready to devour anyone in the next second.
"I'll take your life!"
Before Ji Ziyan could react, Mo Yang was already in front of her. She quickly dodged, but she didn't know when Chu Jianshan had appeared behind her and struck her back with a powerful palm strike.
Her body slammed straight to the ground, rolling several times before finally coming to a stop. Before she could even cough up the blood, Mo Yang stabbed at her again. Ji Ziyan flung her bone whip to defend herself, but Mo Yang continued to get closer and closer to her neck.
Even with his life hanging by a thread, Ji Ziyan still had the composure to smile: "Immortal Venerable Chu, why the rush?"
His spiritual energy was burning too quickly, and Chu Jianshan's breathing was already unsteady. Looking at Ji Ziyan, his eyes were filled with killing intent: "From the moment you killed him, you should have known that I would take your life."
Mo Yang pressed against Ji Ziyan's neck, leaving a bloody mark that continued to deepen. Ji Ziyan forced her way back and hurriedly said, "Before you kill me, Immortal Chu, why don't you go and take a look at Tinglan Pavilion? It's... quite lively there right now."
Chu Jianshan's pupils suddenly contracted, and a series of bad thoughts began to flood his mind, causing him to lose his strength for a moment. Ji Ziyan seized this opportunity, pushed Chu Jianshan away, turned and ran away, disappearing without a trace in an instant.
Bai Qianfan wanted to give chase, but saw Chu Jianshan running straight towards Tinglan Pavilion as if he had lost his soul, so he had no choice but to follow.
The closer Chu Jianshan got to Tinglan Pavilion, the more his unease grew. Along the way, he considered every possibility over and over again.
The barrier has been broken, yet Linyi Sect hasn't chosen to continue their attack, indicating that their goal isn't to take Changjin Mountain, but rather to create chaos. Qiao Yi had long anticipated that he would use a substitution to replace Cheng Yuan, and had even calculated the timing of Ji Zihua's betrayal. But why... is their target Tinglan Pavilion? Even if they wanted to take advantage of the chaos, it should be aimed at Cheng Yuan. What exactly does he want?
Upon arriving at the entrance of Tinglan Pavilion, Chu Jianshan was startled by the sharp sound of a vase shattering and froze on the spot, followed by Ji Shi's pitiful screams.
"Master's wife—!!"
Chu Jianshan's heart sank to the bottom of the lake. His whole body felt extremely cold, but he was sweating profusely. He suddenly lost his strength and almost knelt on the ground, but was lifted up by Bai Qianfan who rushed over.
He pushed Bai Qianfan away, staggered forward, and opened the door to see the scene he least wanted to see.
Chu Qinglan lay on the ground, surrounded by blood, her body covered in wounds of all sizes, but the fatal wound was a sword through her heart, the blade piercing her heart, leaving her with no chance of survival.
Chu Jianshan instantly knelt on the ground, almost crawling to Chu Qinglan's side. His hands were trembling uncontrollably, but he still stubbornly tried to wipe the blood off his sister's face.
"Sister...you...you can't do this," Chu Jianshan's throat seemed to be choked by something, his voice trembling noticeably, each word seeming to have used up all his strength.
"Please... don't sleep, okay?"
"It shouldn't be like this...it shouldn't be like this..."
Chu Jianshan kept repeating these two sentences over and over, frantically trying to wipe the blood off his sister's body, but he couldn't wipe it off no matter what he did, and the more he wiped, the more blood appeared.
How could this be...? How could it be his older sister? He had calculated so many steps ahead, why was there still a oversight? This price is far too heavy for him.
"Chu Jianshan, don't do this..." Bai Qianfan couldn't stand it anymore and tried to stop him.
Chu Jianshan forcefully broke free from him, but when he looked up, he saw Ji Shi, who had been keeping his head down. After a moment of stunned silence, he suddenly ran over, grabbed Ji Shi's shoulders tightly, his eyes bloodshot as if he had lost his mind, and asked through gritted teeth, "Who... is the murderer?"
Ji Shi cried so hard she could barely breathe, stammering and unable to speak, unable even to lift her head.
"Speak! Who is it?!" Chu Jianshan had completely gone mad, his grip on his shoulder tightening, eager to find out who the culprit was.
Ji Shi knew who this person was, but dared not say it. He opened and closed his mouth for a long time but could not make it clear. Finally, he raised his hand tremblingly and pointed in the direction behind Chu Jianshan.
The murderer was always behind him.
Chu Jianshan turned his head blankly, only then did he realize that a person had been standing in the shadows all along. The person slowly walked out, the sword in his hand still dripping blood. The candlelight shone on his profile. Chu Jianshan looked up at him, a tear rolling down his cheek, his eyes filled with only despair.
He called out the man's name in a hoarse voice: "A...Yuan?"
Cheng Yuan also looked at him, a cryptic smile playing on his lips: "Master?"
Chu Jianshan couldn't believe it was him, but when he saw the blood-stained Liuyin sword in his hand, he couldn't help but turn his neck to see Chu Qinglan's wounds.
He did indeed do that, and the wound did indeed align with the Flowing Sound Sword.
As if all his strength had been drained, Chu Jianshan stumbled several times before finally getting up. He walked step by step toward Cheng Yuan, looking into Cheng Yuan's eyes, only to find them strangely unfamiliar. Such eyes, filled with hatred and amusement, should not have appeared on Cheng Yuan's face.
No, Chu Jianshan realized that these weren't Cheng Yuan's eyes. Whose were they? He must have seen them before.
Oh, and those eyes under the fox mask.
It's Qiao Yi.
Sure enough, the moment he understood, Cheng Yuan slowly walked towards him and whispered in his ear, "Chu Jianshan, this time, I still win."
As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Yuan fainted, his body falling straight down in front of Chu Jianshan. He remained motionless, his thin figure stretched even longer by the candlelight, making him look both pitiful and ridiculous.
A flurry of footsteps came from outside the door. Bai Qianfan looked over and saw Jiang Yan and his group rushing over.
"Qinglan!" Jiang Yan rushed over and hugged Chu Qinglan, stroking her blood-stained hair again and again: "How...how could this happen? Didn't I send people to guard Tinglan Pavilion?! How could this happen!"
Chu Jianshan kept his eyes closed and remained stiff without replying.
Ji Shi was still trembling, and through his teary eyes he saw Lin Mumu rushing over. It was as if he had grabbed the only piece of driftwood in a raging storm. He struggled to his feet, but swayed due to dizziness. Lin Mumu quickly went over to support him, but heard him choke out, "You...you can save my master's wife, right?"
Lin Mumu was stunned. After a long internal struggle, she finally said, "I can't save him..."
"How can she not be saved!" Ji Shi exclaimed excitedly. "You...you haven't even checked her pulse yet! What if she still has a breath left? What if she still has a chance to live!"
Ji Shi knelt down in front of her, clutching her skirt tightly: "I beg you... I beg you, you can definitely save her, I beg you!"
After saying that, Ji Shi even tried to kowtow to her, but Lin Mumu was furious at his lack of resolve. She squatted down and helped him up, declaring, "I can't save him!"
"Even if the lady were still alive, I couldn't save her, let alone let her breathe her last. I could only keep her alive for a few more minutes, adding to her suffering. Once a sharp sword is pierced three inches into the heart, no one can survive."
"I don't believe it..." Ji Shi shook his head, tears and snot streaming down his face. "Others may not be able to, but you can! You're not...!"
Before he could finish speaking, Bai Qianfan quickly grabbed his arm, preventing him from saying the rest of his words. Ji Shi also stopped in time, not saying anything more, only lowering his head, tears dripping onto the back of his hand.
Lin Mumu couldn't bear to see him like this, so she sighed softly and said, "Let Madam rest in peace."
"Wait!" someone in the crowd called out. Lin Mumu looked over and saw Li Xi.
Li Xi walked in, first bowing three times to Chu Qinglan's corpse, and then said, "Lord Lin's words are nice, but the murderer has not yet been caught. How can the lady be at ease? The most important thing now is to catch the murderer."
When the murderer was mentioned, Chu Jianshan clenched his fist almost imperceptibly.
“That’s it, the murderer…” Jiang Yan realized and asked Ji Shi, “You’ve been by Qinglan’s side the whole time, you must have seen the murderer, right?”
"I..." Ji Shi began to stammer again, "The murderer...the murderer is..."
Everyone was waiting for his answer, but the name was too difficult for him to utter. Even after seeing it with their own eyes, they still couldn't believe it was him.
"It's Cheng Yuan." Bai Qianfan spoke first. Since no one wanted to speak first, he had to be the bad guy.
"What?" Jiang Yan's face was filled with disbelief. "How could it be...?"
“It was him,” Ji Shi nodded. “I saw it with my own eyes. He was the one who stabbed the Liuyin Sword into my master’s wife’s heart.”
Upon hearing this, the crowd outside the door erupted in uproar. Although some did not believe that Cheng Yuan was responsible, there were also some unpleasant comments among them.
"I knew it. He's the young master of Linyi Sect. How could he stay peacefully in Changjin Mountain?"
"I'm afraid this whole thing is just a show of loyalty to the Linyi Sect."
"What good dogs can come from Linyi Sect? They killed so many of our fellow disciples, and even the lady couldn't escape. If we don't fight back, won't we just be bullied forever?"
"Kill him! Avenge the lady!"
"Kill him!!"
A tear fell from Jiang Yan's eye. She looked up at Chu Jianshan and asked in a hoarse voice, "Junior brother, he is your disciple. Why don't you tell me what I should do?"
Chu Jianshan gasped, his voice trembling, and dared not look Jiang Yan in the eye: "It wasn't him..."
"Heh, not him?" Jiang Yan sneered, slowly standing up and walking towards Chu Jianshan, her eyes seeming to want to devour him whole: "Now that things have come to this, are you still going to protect him?"
Chu Jianshan tried his best to steady his breathing. His mind was a complete mess, but he still managed to say the key point: "It's not about covering up for someone, but about someone using his body to do things. This was not his intention."
"Absurd!" Jiang Yan smashed the vase on the low cabinet, the sharp sound of shattering porcelain startling everyone.
"What kind of evil magic is this? Your good disciple has committed such a sin, and you still fabricate such a lie to protect him?"
Chu Jianshan finally raised his eyes and met Jiang Yan's bloodshot eyes: "It is a secret technique of Linyi Sect. What I said is true."
Li Xi, standing nearby, sneered, "How ridiculous! How could the Immortal Venerable know about the secret techniques of the Linyi Sect? Now that there are witnesses and physical evidence, the Immortal Venerable is still protecting him. You and I both know his identity. The Immortal Venerable is probably... already secretly colluding with the Linyi Sect!"
"Master Li!" Bai Qianfan shouted, quickly walking up to her and suppressing his anger, saying, "I know you are filled with grief and indignation over the death of Madam, but you must be careful with your words!"
Li Xi was not afraid of him at all and continued, "What did I do to him that touched a sore spot?"
She walked into the crowd, pointed at Chu Jianshan, and said emotionally, "Everyone knows! When Shaoxuan Sect was besieged, it was he who offered to go to their aid. Otherwise, how could Linyi Sect hold a grudge against Shangchangjin Mountain! How could Madam and so many disciples have lost their lives!"
"It would have been fine if he had gone, but he secretly replaced him the day before, letting Bai Qianfan take Cheng Yuan's place, leaving such a cancer in Changjin Mountain. Who knows what his true intentions are!"
"You...!" Bai Qianfan almost made a move, but Lin Mumu stopped him by reaching out.
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