Chapter 1641: Suspicion
Translator: Lordbluefire Editor: Lordbluefire
The bandit head glanced at the corpse of the Jialan Monarch on the ground. His revealed eyes were immeasurably deep. After that, like nothing has ever happened at all, he glanced in another direction and commanded, “Everyone hand over your harvest from the Skyfall Mine. For those who refuse to comply, don’t blame me for slaughtering all of you without mercy.”
The hearts of everyone here trembled, how would they still dare to resist? Even the immortal emperors brought here by the Jialan Monarch were standing there in a daze, dumbstruck.
The Jialan Monarch had actually died, killed publicly by someone. Could they even resist?
What was the difference between resistance and death?
At this moment, it was clear that their lives were more important. Huge waves rocked their hearts, even now, they felt a sense of surrealism like they were in a dream. This world had gone mad, the previous time bandits appeared, they were led by Ye Qianyu and were already strong enough, causing great casualties for the Jialan Monarch’s forces. At the end, it was due to assistance from the Lifire Palace that the Jialan Monarch managed to settle everything, leading to the imprisonment of Ye Qianyu and capturing Qin Wentian.
However, a hundred years have passed and bandits appeared again. In addition, the bandits were more ruthless and tyrannical than before, even more audacious and crazier, directly killing the Jialan Monarch.
No matter how was the relationship between the Jialan Monarch and the Lifire Empyrean, he was still one of the nine monarchs of the Lifire Palace and was considered as a subordinate of the Lifelong Saint Hall as well. You, as a bandit, daring to plunder a mine and even kill a monarch, was definitely a great taboo. The Lifire Palace would definitely pursue this all the way till the end.
Usually, for bandits, the person doing the investigation and pursuing would naturally be the monarch responsible for the area where the bandits plundered. However, the monarch was already killed. How would the Lifire Palace take this lying down?
This group of bandits best be prepared to suffer the anger of the entire Lifire Palace.
However, all these were matters for the future. The subordinates of the Jialan Monarch, the guards and the excavators, all of them handed over their harvests obediently, not daring to pull any tricks. These bandits only wanted wealth, and true to their word, they didn’t kill anyone else and acted like how ordinary bandits would act. The only exception was that the Jialan Monarch was killed!
“Let’s leave.” After collecting the harvest, the bandit head waved his hand as the group of them soared into the air and quickly vanished from sight. The experts at the Skyfall Mine have yet to return to their senses, all of them staring dumbly at the Jialan Monarch’s corpse. Someone then spoke, “Bring this news to the Lifire Palace with the swiftest speed or trouble would soon fall on our heads.”
As for those bandits, they quickly left the area and came to a desolate mountain range. All of the bandits had unkind looks in their eyes as they stared at the leader of this operation. “Why did you kill the Jialan Monarch? Are you crazy?”
Evidently, before they started the operation, they had no idea that this man would kill the Jialan Monarch.
“What’s done is done and you guys have achieved your objective too. Why bother saying so much. Let’s disperse.” The bandit head calmly spoke, it was as though the killing of the Jialan Monarch was merely an insignificant matter.
“We initially only agreed to plunder the mine. Because of your strength, we are okay with allowing you to be the head of this operation and you were supposed to block the Jialan Monarch and the rest of the experts. However, you actually killed him. Are you trying to harm us? Who are you exactly?” One of the bandits coldly spoke. The bandit head coldly looked at him as a terrifying killing intent gushed forth, causing the pressure in the air to be extremely heavy. The bandits instantly froze, feeling a chill in their hearts.
Only now did they realize that this man, who even dared to kill the Jialan Monarch, could kill them easily to seal their mouths if he so wanted to. They actually still dared to question him? When they thought of this, all of the bandits turned pale.
“You know that we are panicking. This is too crazy, we just don’t understand.” Another bandit spoke, his tone becoming much warmer. Clearly, he was worried that the bandit head would slay them all in a fit of anger.
“The deed is done, stop talking about it. You guys have also received your share of the plunder, it’s much more profitable compared to you all being unaffiliated cultivators. Also, we are only doing this once. In the future, we will split up and have nothing to do with each other, and will never appear as bandits again. With no clues available, how can they trace it back to you all?” The bandit head calmly spoke. “Go on and disperse. None of you knows the identities of each other as well. We will have nothing to do with each other in the future.”
The eyes of everyone flickered. This bandit head was right. They were only doing this once and there were no clues for the investigation to be traced back to them. They decided to become bandits because life as unaffiliated cultivators was simply too tough, lacking in cultivation resources. And this bandit head found them one by one and displayed his startling strength to convince them for this one big job. They all agreed, leading to the heist today.
“Farewell.” Numerous figures soared through the air, no longer bothering to talk or interact with each other. It’s better this way that no one knew who the others were. In that case, if someone was caught in the future, he wouldn’t be able to implicate the others. Plundering a mine and killing a monarch…if they were caught, they would definitely be executed.
…
The northern governor’s manor of Lifire City.
In the governor’s manor, a white-robed figure could be seen walking out. This figure was incredibly handsome and exuded a carefree and transcendent aura. Many people within the manor inclined their heads, their gazes filled with an intense reverence and respect as they stared at him in the air. This was their governor, a governor that exuded boundless magnificence. That year, he defeated the other emperors from the eight world palaces single-handedly. How glorious was this?
Although their governor has been keeping a low-profile during these years, nobody dared to show him any disrespect. When they saw the white-robed figure, it was like they were seeing a god. He was the symbol of their belief and was like a divine existence.
The white-robed figure turned his gaze over and stared at the people below. Everyone could clearly see his handsome face and feel his exceptional demeanor.
“I’m going to temper myself outside, I’m not sure how long it will be. If there are people looking for me, just tell them I’m not here. Unless there’s a major incident, do not disturb me.” The white-robed figure calmly spoke. After that, his silhouette flashed as he vanished from sight.
Everyone stared at the departing figure, feeling somewhat frustrated. Even for the subordinates of the governor’s manor, it wasn’t easy for them to meet with this white-robed figure.
Was the northern governor going out to temper himself again? They wondered where would he go this time.
…
The death of the Jialan Monarch swiftly spread to the Jialan Emperor Palace, and then to the Lifire Palace. In fact, there were people who directly used the teleportation array and brought the Jialan Monarch’s corpse to the Lifire Palace to report this.
Inside the Lifire Palace, many experts gathered outside the great hall.
The Lifire Empyrean personally arrived. When he saw the Jialan Monarch’s corpse, his face instantly turned to ice.
Although the Jialan Monarch was someone from the Jialan Clan and he didn’t want him to have this position, but no matter what, the Jialan Monarch can be considered as his subordinate. Even if he didn’t want the Jialan Monarch to be in this position, he would deal with this himself. Yet there were actually bandits daring to kill his subordinate in the territories controlled by his Lifire Palace?
Plundering a mine and slaying a monarch, such an incident actually happened in his territory. From this, one could tell that the Jialan Clan would definitely use this chance to kick up a big fuss and stab him in the back by whispering things to the Realmlord. How did he, the Lifire Empyrean, govern his territories exactly?
“Tell me everything that happened clearly.” The Lifire Empyrean had a dark look on his face. After that, the people below fearfully recounted everything to him.
“You are saying that the Jialan Monarch might recognize the bandit head and even guessed his identity but he didn’t have time to say it?” The Lifire Empyrean frowned when he heard the report. That person bowed, “Your subordinate thinks so. Given the Jialan Monarch’s tone then, it was like he already knew who the bandit head was. However, this subordinate doesn’t dare to confirm this. After all, the Jialan Monarch didn’t call out any names and died soon after that.”
“Although Jialan’s strength wasn’t too strong, it was sufficient for him to rule unchallenged over a certain area. There wouldn’t be too many people capable of dealing with him. For people who could dominate him in a fight and kill him so easily, only a rare few are capable of this. In addition, since the bandit head only killed the Jialan Monarch alone, it can be deduced that there’s hatred between them. By process of elimination, who do you guys think the bandit head is?” The Lifire Empyrean icily spoke. He wasn’t merely asking the people from Jialan Emperor City, he was also asking the experts from the Lifire Palace.
The eyes of the people from the Lifire Palace flickered incessantly, all of them thought of one person. But nobody dared to say anything.
When the people of the Jialan Emperor Palace heard the Lifire Empyrean’s hint, they thought of one man as well. But similarly, they didn’t dare to say anything.
“What’s the matter? Just speak freely, the people here are all my trusted aides.” The Lifire Empyrean coldly spoke.
“Your subordinate is fearful of speaking the wrong things.” The Jialan Monarch’s subordinate bowed.
“Speak.” The Lifire Empyrean coldly commanded, causing that person to tremble. He bowed again, “There’s one person who was once a bandit and he does have a motive to kill the Jialan Monarch.”
The eyes of everyone flashed, gleaming with sharpness. The words of this subordinate completely matched with their thinking.
Although that person had always kept a low profile, every time he chose to do something, he would do it in an explosive and tyrannical manner. In the past, the moment he assumed the governor’s position, he immediately slew three of his vice governors. After that, he kept a low-profile for many years and when he next acted, he slaughtered several immortal emperors alone and captured the Ancient River Auction House, shocking the entire northern city regions. After doing that, he became low-profile again all the way until he defied the Lifire Empyrean’s order, shocking the entire Lifelong Realm with his performance at the grand banquet.
It was very possible. Given his possibility, he might really act explosively after keeping a low-profile for tens of years. Did he kill the Jialan Monarch?
At this moment, even the Lifire Empyrean had cold light flickering in his eyes. Would it really be him? Would he be so audacious, daring to provoke his authority?
During these years, both of them were in tacit understanding and things were peaceful. He didn’t cause any trouble for the other party and that person was also humble and low-profile, quietly being his northern governor, creating no trouble at all. If things continued this way, the Lifire Empyrean wouldn’t mind pulling him closer to his side.
However, if he bore a grudge for that past incident and really killed the Jialan Monarch for it, that would mean a challenge to the Lifire Empyrean’s prestige and had crossed his bottom line.
This wasn’t simply smacking his face. It had another layer of meaning. Today, he could kill the Jialan Monarch. In the future, after he grew in strength, wouldn’t that mean that he could kill him, the Lifire Empyrean as well?