Chen Jing looked at the scene before him, feeling a sharp, agonizing pain in his heart.
Bai Yueyi recounted in a calm tone: "Mei Yixin's seclusion before this battle was not a breakthrough from the Dan Realm to the Qi Realm, but a breakthrough from the Qi Realm to the Ming Realm. This was a life-or-death undertaking, and the Ming Realm Elixir he took also had serious problems, which resulted in him not even being able to cultivate his own 'virtue' after breaking through to the Ming Realm."
“I looked back at history and found that as soon as he learned about the blood sacrifice incident, he chose to go into seclusion and attempt to break through the Mingjing Pass.”
"Even with an aging body, attempting a breakthrough by taking a perfectly safe elixir is a near-certain death, let alone when the elixir itself had a huge problem, making it almost a certain death situation. Yet he miraculously succeeded and maintained a good mental state."
"It's just a pity that his grandson, Melloran, joined the Black Hand gang at that time to participate in the so-called trial, and died in the trial."
"When he pushed open the door to his seclusion, he had just broken through to the Ming Realm and almost went into a state of demonic possession because of the news. He only recovered not long ago."
Even knowing that his cultivation had failed him; even knowing that he was old and no longer the same as before; even grieving the loss of his grandson, he still set a trap for himself, attempting to kill Lu Gang, the strongest member of the Black Hand Gang, in order to salvage the situation a little.
“Mingjing, oh Mingjing,” Bai Yueyi sighed softly.
As Chen Jing listened to Bai Yueyi's story, he felt as if his heart was being squeezed by claws.
"However, he did not place his hopes on his own victory. In Mei Yixin's plan, he must have thought that it might not only be Black Hand Lu Gang who came to kill him, but also others. Therefore, the key to victory he left behind was not there."
"The deciding factor...?" Chen Jing asked.
Bai Yueyi shared another scene with Chen Jing.
The expert, dressed in tattered and shabby clothes and soaked to the bone by the torrential rain, crossed the streets and arrived at the port area.
He traversed through the fog and rain, eventually reaching the edge of the large ship.
"Keep out!" warned one of the guards still on duty.
"I'm here on behalf of Mr. Pan to see Ms. Pan." The expert seemed to have anticipated this and produced something.
The scene shifted rapidly, and the expert arrived at the duty room on the large ship.
In this duty room, Chen Jing met almost all of the core members of the Black Hand gang, including Luo You with red hair, Li Si whose entire body was covered by armor and whose face could not be seen, Pan Ya with her cold and elegant demeanor and deep features, and He Lili, a core member who had recently joined the Black Hand gang.
Besides these four people, there were two guards dressed in black robes standing outside the door.
Bai Yueyi explained from the side: "The biggest contradiction of Black Hand Lu Gang is that the people under him are not actually of one mind with him. He is not even sure if those people will help him. Those people are the guardian members hidden within the gang. Because what he did was too perverse, even though many people tolerated his behavior because of his own prestige and the reason of 'blood sacrifice only for a small number of people', Lu Gang actually has a hard time commanding them."
"So..." Chen Jing seemed to realize something: "The key to victory is turning Lu Gang's underworld gang against him?"
“No.” Bai Yueyi denied: “It’s impossible for Lu Gang, the mastermind, to be unprepared. He still has a group of loyal followers. It’s very difficult to turn them against him without any evidence.”
...
“I overheard the crew’s message: What does my dad want with me?” Miss Panya, sitting in the middle, asked.
The expert didn't speak, but instead addressed the four people present:
"Black Hand Lu Gang is performing a blood sacrifice on the large ship. I am the guardian of the Ash City Sword Pavilion, and I have come to resolve this matter."
"The accomplice, Mo Wujiang, is dead."
The expert made a cold announcement and tossed a token onto the table.
That was Mo Wujiang's gang token.
In an instant, the air became chilling and deathly still.
The oppressive atmosphere became unusually heavy, and everyone cautiously sized each other up.
"Blood sacrifice." Miss Panya looked at Luo You beside her. "Hasn't it already stopped?"
"Why are you looking at me?" Red-haired Luo You, with her legs crossed, pointed to her own face: "Don't forget, when he first performed the blood sacrifice, I wasn't involved."
"Huang Yuanlong has gone downstairs," Li Si said briefly.
The conversation between these people was a bit strange, but Chen Jing quickly realized what it meant.
Li Si meant that Huang Yuanlong presided over the blood sacrifice ceremony right below the large ship.
"Let's go downstairs." The expert's gaze swept over everyone, lingering particularly on He Lili's face, who still looked bewildered.
He walked ahead of everyone, seemingly unafraid of the four cultivators following behind him launching a sneak attack.
Through the footage shared by Bai Yueyi, Chen Jing already knew that the expert was only a Dan Realm cultivator, and that at least two of the four cultivators behind him were stronger than him. He couldn't help but feel worried for his master.
The expert walked away without hesitation, as if the four practitioners from the Black Hand gang behind him were his allies, not potential enemies.
Chen Jing thought about it carefully and quickly understood what was going on.
First of all, the experts came on behalf of Pan Fengyu. So if a battle breaks out between them, Pan Ya, who is at least at the Qi Realm among the four cultivators, will be subconsciously considered to be on the experts' side. In this case, the worst-case scenario would be two against three, not one against four.
Moreover, Chen Jing knew that He Lili was a newly joined core member, and could assume that she remained neutral. So even if Luo You and Li Si were both potential enemies, it would still be a two-on-two situation.
Moreover, Chen Jing knew that his master had a martial art specifically designed to defend against sneak attacks, and Miss Pan Ya was a Qi Realm cultivator with protective aura, so he had no reason to be afraid.
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