Chapter 190 – Double Dealing
The Tu Guardian was skilled at both his deep voice and affectionate feelings, which left everyone present stunned. He was really a man who knew how to use tricks in his crooked rhetoric.
In his opening remarks, he directly admitted the crime committed by the lion race demons. But, he also blamed Long Pifu for his reckless retaliation.
It seemed, in this way, he had managed to neither offend the demon side, nor the human side. Also, he had mentioned that they would take the responsibility to execute Yao Xie, but it wasn’t because they had any sense of justice, but because only the dead couldn’t reveal their secrets! They had to kill him anyway, in case the latter would disclose their true face.
Long Pifu gave this Tu Guardian a middle-finger salute, of course in an unnoticed way. While at the same time, he had to maintain an appropriate expression to suit the situation. Since they had slaughtered enough of the lion race demons, and Yao Xie would die anyway, he had no option but to compromise.
After a bout of slight coughing, Long Pifu arched his eyebrows as he bowed to Tu Guardian once again, “Respectful Tu Guardian. Thank you for your comments on this matter. You couldn’t be more right. We were too reckless. Alas, I lost my temper when I was told that Yao Xie dared to break the Alliance Treaty signed by our three prefectures. Since the culprit will soon be executed, I think we should call an end to this incident!’
Meanwhile, the Demonic Saints among the lion race demons were pissed off, but they didn’t show their true feelings in their expressions.
To the demons, they had thought that Immortal City would be on their side; to their disappointment, however, the guardians had just winked at the farce without the slightest intention to help them out. They even heard from rumors that Immortal City was involved in the Luo Shen Mountain Ambush, no wonder that the guardians decided to sacrifice the demons to vent the indignation of the Mars Prefecture…
As Demonic Saints, they were far weaker than any of those immortal guardians. Hence, they wouldn’t dare to confront these four guardians. Instead, they had to swallow their bitter feelings.
Despite these complaints, the demons still had a fake smile plastered on their faces, because they were afraid that the guardians would completely abandon them. One of the Demonic Saints was trying to make his voice heard, “Your Highness, our lion race demons suffered great casualties in this war, including many advanced cultivators…”
“Enough, I know that!” Tu Guardian responded with a cold, reproaching glance, as he broke in rather impatiently.
If the demos kept nagging about the consequences of this battle, he would be too irritated to intervene. But, as people of Immortal City, who had the privilege to mediate between the two sides, he turned to Long Pifu, “Old brother Long, you have been too cruel to these lion race demons. I think you should compensate them for their losses!”
“No problem!” Long Pifu replied with a submissively smile, and added, “A meeting will be held for the compensation scheme when we get back to Dragon City. I’ll have my people deliver the compensation to the lion race demons!”
The lion race demons all looked at both Long Pifu and Tu Guardian, as if they were giving a two-man comic show.
“Go back to preside a meeting on the subject of compensation? We would probably have to wait thousands of years until we see any form of compensation!” Some of the demons whispered suspiciously.
“Each one of us should learn a hard lesson from this incident. For any unresolved matters, please fight in the Prefecture War! If you dare to launch another private battle without the approval of Immortal City, you’ll be harshly punished. Ok, everyone return home!” Tu Guardian nodded his head, as he finished these final words. He looked rather satisfied with the result.
The battle had seen many deaths on the lion race demon’s side. Now, the demons all went back home, to reunite with their families. Meanwhile, the Mars Prefecture team retreated peacefully as commanded. And Yao Xie was said to be killed by people of Immortal City eventually.
Heaven Demonic City returned to its normal tranquility. This entire time, rain had been falling down. Finally, a red sun rose high up in the sky, and its beams began to shine through the clouds, before shining on the whole city. That made the already bloody, war-stricken Heaven Demonic City looked even redder…
……
Qingwu hadn’t been in the mood to do anything, ever since she had returned home from the Luo Shen Mountain.
Although she was told by her grandfather that there was still a 60% chance for Qinghan to come back, she couldn’t make herself feel happier. Also, Ye Qingniu had told Qingwu that another immortal cultivator would appear in the near future and their ancestor, Ye Ruoshui, was trying to help Qinghan, too. At first, she was shocked to learn that their family would have another immortal cultivator. But, she chose to believe in her grandfather’s words, though she had no clue who this lucky person was.
Right now, she was in the pavilion where Ye Qingyu lived, in a daze. Her grandfather had told her that Qingyu still needed some time to recover, before she would wake up. These days, beside her personal cultivation, visiting Ye Qingyu became a routine for her. Most of the time, she would sit on Qingyu’s bedside, staring at this white-haired girl with compassion.
Everyday, she would come here to see if Qingyu had woken up yet.
However, she had no idea how she was supposed to talk to Qingyu, once the latter had woken up. Should she tell her all that had happened to her brother? Qinghan had gone to the Prefecture War and he had gained the Spirit Immortal Dan, and he had done all of this for her, his sister! Now, her brother was trapped in one of the most dangerous places on the continent, the Luo Shen Mountain.
Qingyu had been asleep for over a year. What would be her response be if she was told that her beloved brother had actually been put in unpredictable danger because of her? That would definitely be a heavy blow to her! She would most likely faint once again on hearing this grievous news.
But… how should Qingwu explain everything that had happened to her? Or how should she conceal it from her?
Despite all the confusion and uncertainties she had to face Qingyu, Qingwu did hope that Qingyu would wake up as soon as possible.
Because this was what Qinghan wished for… and Qinghan’s wish would be her wish as well…
While on the other side, she did have some selfish fear for Qingyu’s recovery. Given her feelings for Qinghan, and what they had done that night, she was afraid to face Qingyu. Suffering from these contradictory feelings, she was in a very bad mood.
While at the same time, Qingwu wasn’t alone, when it came to heartbroken grief. On the island of the Tranquil Lake, Qingcheng found it hard to be happy and carefree. The picturesque peninsular scenery was breathtaking as usual, but she had no feeling to appreciate it.
During these days, she was always forced to wake up from nightmares. After washing her face and rinse her teeth, she would slip herself into her pink robe, and wear a peach flower on her head.
After that, she would pick up her musical stringed instrument, and her silvery sword outside. Playing ancient classic music, and performing a sword dance turned out to be her favorite pastime.
The melody was rapid and strong, for she was performing the same sword dance that had received standing ovations back during the Summer Fire Festival – Dance of the Calvary!
The same melody, the same dance, but not the same person. No matter how she played, she just couldn’t express the unbridled freedom and vicissitudes Qinghan had done that day.
Qingcheng frowned her beautiful eyebrows, and her pearlescent eyes had already turned lackluster. The days without Qinghan were so agonizingly difficult for her.
Feng Zi had returned to West Wind City, and kept himself in his room to cultivate. He had rejected all the invitations from his disreputable old friends, for he had made a vow that he would diligently cultivate to improve his power by leaps and bounds.
Hua Cao went back to Falling Flower City. Like a changed person, he had never continued on with his favorite hobby – stalking; and even showed no interest in the two girls the Yue Family had given him.
It was all because of the Prefecture War he had been through. His attitude had changed. The things he used to consider to be interesting had lost their previous lure. Now, he found these things not only boring but childish. Like Feng Zi, he kept himself away from anyone’s interruption. Also, he searched and gathered numerous spirit Dan and cultivation methods from his family, and cultivated diligently ever since he had returned home. This sudden change of attitude surprised many of the old folks in his family.
Long Sainan was now back in Dragon City, preparing for her next breakthrough in cultivation – the Realm of the Emperor! She would soon be on the stage of the real advanced cultivators.
Without much excitement and surprise, however, Sainan remained calm and level-headed. But, during the process of absorbing the Laws of Heaven and Earth, she was, several times, distracted by a figure of a teenager that popped up in her mind now and then. She was terrified to find this. For 28 years, she had never had such feelings before. Why did her heartbeat quicken whenever she thought of this teenager?
Could it be… that she had some romantic feelings for this young man, who was roughly ten years younger than her? Could her heart have been unlocked by this young man? As a 28-year old girl, this would probably be like receiving the sweetest drop of dew after a long drought.
From XianXiaWorld