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Translator: Fate
Proofreader: Silavin
On the top of a mountain filled with piling strange rocks and thriving ancient trees, the cold and dreary moonlight and the mountain breeze highlighted the silence of the woods.
Stunned, Su Qingge peered at Gu Changge as he approached. Especially after she heard his words, she could feel a ring in her head as her mind went blank, being at loss for words. The instant Gu Changge came over, she actually prepared herself to confess that she was the real Successor of Demonic Arts, and wreaking havoc in the world was the only purpose she existed.
On the other hand, Gu Changge, as the greatest within the younger generation, was fated to oppose her as it was his destiny to destroy her. However, she was taken aback by how Gu Changge told her not to be afraid. In that instant, her other soul, who had been assuming that Gu Changge was an apathetic, ruthless man, trembled, unable to say a word.
As Gu Changge was speaking, he even stepped forward as he silently dragged Su Qingge to his rear. “There must be some kind of mistake. Elder Mo, you might have captured the wrong person.” He looked at the somewhat confused Elder Mo, speaking with a calm voice, seemingly protective over Su Qingge.
“Young Master…” Upon Gu Changge’s gesture, Su Qingge grew even more dazed. Her voice shook as her eyes reddened.
Frankly, she did not expect that at such a moment, Gu Changge’s instinct wasn’t to question her, but to shield her behind his back. Seeing how Gu Changge cared about her, and trusted her so much that he was willing to start a fight with an Elder of Immortal Academy, she felt deeply moved as she was unable to calm herself down.
Gu Changge came over after knowing a young prodigy went missing, so she would certainly be a major suspect. Essentially, there was no reason for her to venture out in the open so late at night instead of staying in her own cultivation cave. And given Gu Changge’s wisdom and intellect, there was nothing that would escape his eyes.
Despite having anticipated Gu Changge’s tone of speech and expression, Su Qingge failed to foresee that Gu Changge’s trust for her had reached such a level. Though, perhaps to him, she was merely a harmless servant he brought over from Lower Realm.
“What do you mean, Young Master Changge?” Then, Elder Mo, who was rather stunned, understood Gu Changge’s message and subconsciously asked with a husky voice. As an experienced veteran, he easily knew why Gu Changge would react this way.
It was obvious that the young lady was Gu Changge’s subordinate. At the same time, she was a Successor of Demonic Arts. The person he had been pursuing, and she was right beside him. Yet, he knew nothing about it and was still protecting her. Such a scene made Elder Mo feel greatly amazed. In fact, amazement would be an understatement.
A second ago, he was so anxious that his body was drenched in cold sweat, but with the situation twisted around this way, he realised even Gu Changge himself was not immune to deception. It was as they said, no man could ever escape the beguilement of a beauty.
Therefore, Elder Mo was now contemplating how to get himself past the lie, since Gu Changge didn’t suspect Su Qingge to be the Successor of Demonic Arts.
Hearing that, Gu Changge retained his calm, but he certainly added intimidation in his voice. “Why are you doing this, Elder Mo? Do you think Qingge is the Successor of Demonic Arts? Is that why you brought her over?”
As Gu Changge stared at Elder Mo, gleaming runes and traces of heavenly lights surged in his eyes. He no longer cared about the boundaries between a disciple and an Elder, as he was absolutely persistent and wouldn’t allow anyone to question him.
Upon those words, Elder Mo seemed somewhat baffled, as though he didn’t expect Gu Changge to say such a thing. He subconsciously shook his head as he heaved a sigh, bitterly grinning. “Young Master Changge, you’re the one who took the situation wrongly. No matter how foolish I am, I am still aware that there is only one Successor of Demonic Arts in the world, who is unquestionably Ying Shuang. Why in the world would I mindlessly capture an innocent person?”
“I was just concerned. I saw this young lady wandering outside in the middle of the night, which was why I warned her to return to her cave. Since this young lady is your subordinate, then things couldn’t be more perfect. Perhaps this young lady came to look for you seeing how you disappeared so late at night. Having said that, Elder Mo intuitively smiled with an enthralling look.
In response, Gu Changge nodded as his emotions slowly waned. “Ah, so that’s what it is. Please excuse me for accusing you, Elder Mo.”
“Worry not. Since the young lady is affiliated with you, Young Master Changge, she must definitely not be related to the Successor of Demonic Arts. And I am quite certain about that.” Elder Mo hastily waved his hand and laughed.
Accordingly, he took another glance at Su Qingge and smilingly while advising, “Young Lady, do be careful in the future. You might draw the Successor of Demonic Arts wandering off so late at night. Oh, yet another disciple has fallen…”
At that moment, Su Qingge had regained her composure, after which she nodded and answered, “Understood. Thank you for the reminder, Elder.”
Although she had no idea as to why Elder Mo would assist her, now that her identity as the Successor of Demonic Arts was known, it was clear that Elder Mo had leverage on her. Hence, she decided to play along and see what Elder Mo had to offer.
“If that’s the case, I shall excuse myself. I’ll have to see whether the fallen disciple left any clue behind.” Without loitering, Elder Mo promptly turned into a divine rainbow and vanished from the mountain as he left the region, heading towards the cave of the disciple who was attacked by Su Qingge. Although he seemed to be investigating, his intention was to help Su Qingge remove any accidental evidence that might draw suspicion onto herself.
After witnessing Su Qingge’s ability earlier, Elder Mo was now certain of her identity. Given how even Gu Changge himself was deceived, it went to show how terrifyingly sly and calculative Su Qingge was. Nevertheless, that was only befitting for the Successor of Demonic Arts.
On the other hand, be it abilities or personality, Ying Shuang bore no resemblance to the Successor of Demonic Arts, and now, he seemed like nothing but an unfortunate brat that was framed as the Successor of Demonic Arts.
“What a turn of events…” Elder Mo was astounded.
On the mountaintop, the moonlight remained the same, but the vibrant gleams and the wafting white mists made it no less serene.
After watching as Elder Mo disappeared, Gu Changge wordlessly calmed down.
For some reason, Su Qingge felt that his gaze when he looked at her was full of judgement and thoughts, but mostly a chilly sensation that intimidated her.
“Young Master…” Su Qingge softly blurted. As she was about to grab Gu Changge’s sleeve, the man silently dodged the contact.
Gu Changge remained quiet as he stared at her, and Su Qingge understood what he was expecting. If she failed to give him a satisfactory explanation, she would be unable to save herself from what happened today. Thereupon, she felt pressured as one slight mistake could cost her to lose Gu Changge’s trust forever.
As such, she grew even more distressed. If Gu Changge were to treat her with such indifference in the future, she would rather have her identity as the Successor of Demonic Arts exposed and gain his trust.
In fact, everything Gu Changge said to Elder Mo was merely to protect her, but now that the Elder was gone, there was no need for him to persist with his protective act.
To Su Qingge, Gu Changge’s perception of her was significantly more important than her identity as the Successor of Demonic Arts.
“I am sorry, Young Master. I shouldn’t have kept this from you…” After hesitantly planning her words and tone, she nervously spoke.
“Ah, so you’re capable of explaining yourself after all. Do you think Elder Mo would have let you off so easily if I hadn’t intervened?” There wasn’t much of a raise in Gu Changge’s voice.
Su Qingge was too timid to look him in the eye, as remorse was written all over her jade-like snowy face.
“I acknowledge my mistakes, Young Master. Truth be told, yesterday night, I left my cave and came over here to look for something. Previously, from an auction, I acquired a mysterious jar that is related to the Seven Tools of World Domination, but I never told you about it.”
“As a matter of fact, the mysterious jar is one of the Seven Tools of World Domination. And at a specific distance, the mysterious jar could detect the presence and location of the rest of the Tools of World Domination. That was the reason I came over last night. I was honestly here to look into the whereabouts of Seven Tools of World Domination, but I ended up bumping into Elder Mo.”
And so, Su Qingge clarified her intentions. To be fair, she wasn’t lying since that was actually her secondary purpose of venturing into the mountains, but she certainly omitted the truth about her being the Successor of Demonic Arts.
As she was speaking, something flashed in her palm. It was an unremarkable jade jar with ancient carvings that could be easily erased on it.
“Seven Tools of World Domination?” Gu Changge countered as he laughed out loud, which sounded rather sarcastic to Su Qingge. “You never told me anything about this before.”
Naturally, Gu Changge had heard rumours regarding the Seven Tools of World Domination, but he never deliberately searched for them. Essentially, he knew that as long as there was even the subtlest sign of the tools’ existence, they would ultimately land in the hands of those with abundant Fortuity. Thus, all he needed to do was to wait, as his prey would present it to him themselves.
Regardless, he was still surprised by the fact that Su Qingge was in possession of the Jar of World Domination.
“I am sorry, Young Master. I shouldn’t have kept it from y—” Su Qingge guiltily apologised.
Nonetheless, before she could finish, Gu Changge cut in with a straight face. “Forget it. I won’t pursue it any further, since it is your personal affair. But I must tell you, this has repeated again and again, and I don’t know how many more times this will happen. A man’s patience is only so thin. I have no clue what else you are hiding from me, but I’m not going to ask either. So know your limits, Su Qingge.”
Finished, Gu Changge was about to leave as he turned around, but the instant he turned around, Su Qingge threw herself onto his chest with her tear-filled eyes.
“I am so sorry, Young Master. I won’t hide anything from you anymore from now on.” Tightly hugging Gu Changge, she apologised with her trembling voice, as if she was afraid that he would never care about her again once he left.
Truly, she was afraid, but her identity as the Successor of Demonic Arts must remain unrevealed to Gu Changge as its exposure would definitely put them against each other. Therefore, she could only pray that she could be able to hide her true identity from Gu Changge for eternity.
Hearing that, Gu Changge grew silent, before letting out a sigh as he wiped off the tears at the corner of her eyes.
“I hope so.” He sounded rather complicated.
In that instant, Su Qingge couldn’t tell what Gu Changge might be thinking as her heart palpitated.
With that, the two departed from the mountain.
On their way back, Gu Changge never spoke as everything that took place tonight went according to his prediction. Besides, he was in ‘full-on-drama’ mode, so he wasn’t at all surprised. Be it Su Qingge or Elder Mo, nobody knew of Gu Changge’s true identity, and to him, those two were nothing but pawns.
It was as Su Qingge mentioned a long time ago, in Gu Changge’s eyes, she was merely a servant by his side, who was meant to be teased when he was in a good mood and disregarded on other days. In fact, her identity as the Successor of Demonic Arts was hardly mention-worthy to Gu Changge. But of course, her beauty and her intelligence were her biggest asset, so no matter how poor her performance was, she could still be an eye candy.
Later, various thoughts flashed across Gu Changge’s mind as he was contemplating whether to kill of Ying Shuang. Since Su Qingge came in contact with what he called the Organisation of Demonic Arts, Elder Mo would definitely contact her in the dark very soon.
Hence, as long as Gu Changge paid attention to Su Qingge’s whereabouts and actions, he could effortlessly master the state of the Organisation of Demonic Arts.
Other than Elder Mo, no one else was aware of Ying Shuang’s true identity, and Elder Mo would certainly assume that Ying Shuang was nothing but a scapegoat arranged by Su Qingge, who was oblivious to Ying Shuang’s location. Thereupon, even if Ying Shuang were to mysteriously go missing, no major disturbance would be caused as Elder Mo would surely assume it was Su Qingge’s doing.
Very soon, Gu Changge came up with an impeccable strategy. [Before that, Ying Shuang still has some use. I should make preparations for Sky King Zhi Yang. That bastard has been pestering Gu Xianer. It’s time to teach him a lesson.]
…
Swiftly, the case wherein another young prodigy was attacked spread, causing great panic and turbulence as no one expected the Successor of Demonic Arts would strike another disciple down so quickly after the last incident, especially how it happened right under the noses of Gu Changge and Elder Mo during their search. Thus, such an incident brought great fear to all the disciples. Even the Unranked Disciples grew anxious.
From the incident, it was clear how vicious and bold the Successor of Demonic Arts was. He was completely unaffected by the fact that he was in the territory of the Immortal Academy. Even the Elders could do nothing about him, so there was no way young prodigies could contribute in any way.
At once, Immortal Academy was surrounded in a solemn, restless atmosphere, in which disciples grew ever warier.
“The Successor of Demonic Arts is getting so bold, consecutively killing two young prodigies… Chuchu, this is a great opportunity for you to smell him out. I remember one of your Talents allows you to replay the scenario in question, right? If we could discover even the slightest clue, we may be able to discern who the Successor of Demonic Arts is.”
Sitting in a cave with wafting mists and strange beams amid the gloomy forest, Wang Zijin was contemplating as she stared at Jiang Chuchu, who was cultivating in front of her. She sounded somewhat unhappy, as if she was bored.
“Why are you suddenly so interested in the Successor of Demonic Arts? You must be too bored, huh?” In response, Jiang Chuchu opened her eyes and calmly replied.
Typically, Wang Zijin would never care about the Successor of Demonic Arts despite being the Successor of the Mortal Palace.
As a matter of fact, the only reason she got herself involved in the incident in the Eternal Overcast Battlefield was because she held a grudge against the Successor of Demonic Arts, who sent an assassin after her back when she was in the Immortal Gu Family.
And now, she was only talking about hunting down the Successor of Demonic Arts because she was too bored and needed something to do.
“What do you mean by I’m too bored? The Successor of Demonic Arts has grown this audacious. Also, what’s wrong with me, a Successor of the Mortal Palace, looking for him, to bring justice and restore peace to the world, huh?” Wang Zijin argued, “What about you, Jiang Chuchu? When did you learn to slander others?”
“Well, then go. I know for a fact that I won’t be able to uncover anything.” Jiang Chuchu shook her head as she retained her emotionless face. “Even the Elders who are in the Sacred Emperor Realm couldn’t locate him, so what can I even do?”
[Besides, even if we were to discover the slightest clue, what am I to do? Expose Gu Changge?] Jiang Chuchu was disaffected as she was overwhelmed by her complicated feelings. During her time in Immortal Academy, she had honestly been secretly paying attention to Gu Changge. Though, she had no idea whether he had noticed her, or perhaps he did notice her but decided not to care or entertain her.
Recently, what happened in the depths of the Eternal Overcast Battlefield kept reappearing in her mind. She couldn’t stop those memories, hence she felt confused and disturbed.
[If he did not care about me, why would he rescue me and eliminate the disaster in that Eternal Overcast Battlefield? But right now, after all that, he continuously ignores me. It… it’s as if I am nothing but a stranger to him.] She thought as she couldn’t help but be devastated by that.
“This isn’t like you. You were always resentful of the Successor of Demonic Arts and your brows would turn vertical as you draw your blade whenever you heard about him. You would never remain this calm and entertaining this conversation.” Hearing that, Wang Zijin walked to Jiang Chuchu’s side with a doubtful face, gazing at her with her charming, blinking eyes.
Composed as ever, Jiang Chuchu answered, “Why should I get myself caught up in something I can’t accomplish?”
“Wow, you’ve changed. You’re no longer the Jiang Chuchu I know. You stopped looking for the Mortal One’s reincarnation, nor are you going to combat against the surging disaster known as the Eternal Overcast. Even now, you’re so passive when it comes to the Successor of Demonic Arts.”
“All you do everyday is cultivate, cultivate, cultivate. That or zone out all day.” Then, suspicion arose in Wang Zijin’s voice. “Jiang Chuchu, you’re not in love, are you?”
Immediately, Jiang Chuchu’s face froze, seeming somewhat awkward, after which she quickly recovered her senses and blandly questioned, “What are you talking about? Given our current strength, how are we to face the Successor of Demonic Arts if we were to stop cultivating?”
“Cut the bullshit, Jiang Chuchu. I knew something happened between you and Gu Changge. Why don’t you just admit it? Whatever. But now, it’s obvious you’re changing the subject. Let me warn you, Gu Changge is like the Atlantean King. Despite his facade of being a good man, he’s extremely evil. He’ll have you completely devoured. Make sure you don’t regret it and come crying to me,” Wang Zijin advised with a knowing look.
“You—” Hearing that, Jiang Chuchu finally showed some anger, as if her thoughts got exposed.
*Whoosh!* The next second, vibrant lights and intertwining runes surged in her palm as the aura was forming a heavenly sword. Right as she was about to teach Wang Zijin a lesson, a tender voice of a man could be heard coming from outside the cave.
“Is Saintess Zijin in?”
In that instant, the familiar voice left Jiang Chuchu and Wang Zijin dumbfounded.
Many thanks!
Many thanks
Many thanks
Many thanks