Chapter 392 - 374: Young Friend, It Seems You’ve Been Deceived

Chapter 392: Chapter 374: Young Friend, It Seems You’ve Been Deceived

Seeing that his prolonged assault was getting nowhere, Mr. Youquan said to Lin Qingfeng, "Since you are a disciple of the righteous path, you must be a reasonable man."

"This Anhe City is a blood-feeding ground, established by a contract jointly negotiated by the leaders of both the righteous and demonic paths! If you insist on interfering today, are you doing so on behalf of the righteous path, intending to break our covenant? Do you mean to disregard the pact between our two sides?"

At this, his tone softened, offering an out. "Considering you may have just recently emerged from your sect, ignorance can be forgiven. As long as you withdraw now, I will pretend none of this ever happened. I hope you will not, through a single rash act, ruin the grand plans of both the righteous and demonic paths, only to be hunted down by both sides!"

...

On the surface, Lin Qingfeng wore an expression of someone who looked down upon the whole world, but in reality, he was staring blankly at "Sacrifice," a member of the first echelon in the sect channel who had yet to form a Nascent Soul.

’Dude... Sacrifice, I know we’re running a sacrifice build, but did you sacrifice your internet speed too?’

’I always tell you to stop feeding so much, but you never listen, insisting it’s just a tactical reset. Well, look at you now! Other people’s experience bars fill up and they level up automatically. Yours has a leak you have to patch with duct tape!’

Lin Qingfeng glanced at the expectant Mr. Youquan across from him—who was clearly waiting for him to back down—and raised an eyebrow.

’Wait, what are you looking so expectant about? What were you just saying? A pact between righteous and demonic paths? A blood-feeding contract? Whatever, that’s not important!’

Lin Qingfeng was then seen pulling the [Celestial Furnace Sect Elder Order] from his robes.

This was the genuine article Yan Buliu had stolen earlier, and it still carried the residual aura of Mr. Huohua.

Lin Qingfeng held it in his palm and looked at Mr. Youquan of the Ghost Spirit Sect. "A pact? Isn’t that old news?"

"Mr. Youquan, you’ve lived a long life. You should know that the world is in constant flux. Times have changed."

Lin Qingfeng’s fingers traced the flame pattern on the Token as he said nonchalantly, "Some days ago, I had a little spar with Mr. Huohua of the Celestial Furnace Sect. Afterward, he personally came to my door to apologize and insisted on shoving this Elder Order into my hands, begging me to take over Anhe City."

"His hospitality was too earnest to refuse! Considering our shared allegiance to the righteous path, I had no choice but to reluctantly agree. In other words, the current Anhe City is an exclave under the full proxy management of my Guixi Sect, on behalf of the Celestial Furnace Sect!"

"What? For something this major, the Celestial Furnace Sect didn’t inform your Ghost Spirit Sect? Tsk, tsk... It seems your so-called alliance isn’t all that strong after all."

...

’The Celestial Furnace Sect?!’

He looked at the genuine Elder Order. It did indeed emanate the unique aura of the Celestial Furnace Sect, and it certainly carried the presence of that old bastard, Huohua.

’But how could that old bastard possibly give away his Elder Order voluntarily? And visit three times to beg him?’

’That’s complete bullshit!’

But... Mr. Youquan’s eyes darted. He didn’t expose the lie. Instead, he went along with Lin Qingfeng’s story and revealed a meaningful smile.

’If you say the Celestial Furnace Sect gave it to you, then the Celestial Furnace Sect gave it to you! The righteous path is definitely taking the fall for this!’

"So that’s how it is... So that’s how it is!"

"It seems the Celestial Furnace Sect, in an effort to shirk responsibility and get revenge on your esteemed sect, deliberately set a trap to frame the unsuspecting Mr. Lin and your Guixi Sect!"

Mr. Youquan sighed, looking as though he felt a great injustice had been done to Lin Qingfeng. "Mr. Lin! You’ve been deceived!"

"Those hypocrites from the righteous path are using your Guixi Sect as a scapegoat! They don’t want to bear the infamy of tearing up the pact themselves, so they’re pushing you out to take the fall!"

At this, Mr. Youquan’s tone shifted, becoming full of righteous passion. "But rest assured! In this matter today, my demonic path... will back you up! Since the righteous path has no place for you, you might as well leave such a hypocritical faction!"

"Young friend, with your world-shaking Cultivation and an up-and-coming sect with limitless potential behind you, why should you take any crap from those hypocrites? Why not... join our demonic path?"

"Just nod, and I will personally vouch for you! I’ll sort out this business in Anhe City for you! I’ll even bring my colleagues from the demonic path to help your Guixi Sect demand justice from the Celestial Furnace Sect! How about it?!"

...

Just at that moment.

RUMBLE—!!!

Billowing clouds of blood suddenly rolled in from the horizon, and a thick, metallic stench instantly enveloped the entire battlefield.

Within the surging waves of blood, countless guards clad in crimson heavy armor flickered in and out of view.

[Demonic Path: The Nascent Soul Ancestor of the Blood River Sect and his personal guard, the "Blood River Guard," have arrived on the scene!]

Above the churning waves of blood, a red-haired old man poked his head out. He looked down at the scene below and let out a strange laugh. "Well, well? Isn’t this the old ghost, Youquan?"

"How did you end up in such a sorry state? You were even forced to use your [Heaven and Earth Form]?!"

Xuehe first glanced greedily at Lin Qingfeng’s shimmering, divine sword avatar. Although he coveted its majestic Sword Intent, he was more interested in laughing at Mr. Youquan’s expense:

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, looks like you fell for a honey trap set by the righteous path, eh? Got trapped and beaten like a cornered dog?"

"Need me to lend a hand? But let’s get the ugly business out of the way first—I won’t help for free. Spirit Stones, resources, blood food... I want fifty percent!"

"And afterward, you’ll have to explain to the higher-ups that it was your own incompetence, not that my Blood River Sect broke the rules!"

Faced with Xuehe’s attempt to profit from his misfortune, Mr. Youquan showed no anger at all. Instead, he gave a wry smile, pointed at the Token in Lin Qingfeng’s hand, and said, "Old monster Xuehe, stop your gloating. This time... we’ve both been played by the righteous path!"

"This young friend is from the Guixi Sect! You know, the new sect that was rumored to have caused Mr. Huohua of the Celestial Furnace Sect to suffer a major defeat just the other day!"

"He was also deceived by the Celestial Furnace Sect and came to take over Anhe City with their Elder Order, which is what caused this misunderstanding between us! This is all a plot by the Celestial Furnace Sect to kill with a borrowed knife!"

"I’d heard before that Huohua suffered a loss at the hands of the Guixi Sect, and it seems those rumors were true! These righteous path hypocrites are far too vengeful!"

Hearing this, Xuehe’s eyes darted.

’Guixi Sect? Huohua took a fall?’

’He’d vaguely heard some gossip about it, though he didn’t know the specifics of their grudge or what these two had discussed earlier.’

’But with a pretext like this, if the demonic path didn’t use it to stir things up, could they even call themselves the demonic path?’

And so, the gloating look on Xuehe’s face vanished instantly, replaced by one of "righteous indignation."

"What?! Such a thing actually happened?!"

"Young friend from the Guixi Sect, I’ve long found that lot from the Celestial Furnace Sect disagreeable! To think they’d resort to such despicable tricks—they’re a complete disgrace to all Cultivators!"

"Don’t you worry, young friend! Since it’s all a misunderstanding, that means we’re on the same side! Today, my Blood River Sect will also help you get the justice you deserve!"

...

However, just as the two from the demonic path were getting into their coordinated act, RRRRIP—!! A beam of white sword light tore through the sky-spanning blood clouds and Demonic Qi!

Immediately after, a furious roar echoed through the heavens.

"A pack of lies!!!"