Reborn As A Villainous Cannon Fodder

Chapter 489: Ch 489 – If I win, the Holy Maiden comes with me.

In an instant, many elders slammed the table and rose to their feet, directing their accusations squarely at the elderly Sect Master seated in the main position.

After all, they were also important elders of the Liuli Sect. Now that the Sect Master had hidden such a treasure for himself, when the Divine Abyss Gate came knocking, the entire Liuli Sect would have to share the risk.

Who would be happy with that?

Moreover, if this Destined Holy Maiden had really been picked up by Jing Cang’s son through sheer luck, that would be one thing. But to have stolen her from the Divine Abyss Gate next door, now the Liuli Sect didn’t even have the moral high ground. How could such shamelessness command respect?

“Hah… what a farce…”

Watching the elders argue among themselves, Wen Ruxiu, the Crown Prince of the Divine Abyss Gate below, felt a touch of irony.

He smirked coldly to himself, curling his lip as he watched the elderly Sect Master become the target of everyone’s criticism.

Bang!!!

“Silence, !”

“Yino, explain!”

The old man, advanced in years, was so angry that veins bulged on his forehead.

He glanced at Yino, then closed his eyes and fell silent.

Yino wasn’t surprised.

Jing Cang was Jing Chen’s father. He must have fully realized Dia’s special background and non-human bloodline that night when Jing Chen brought Dia and Ye Chaerin to plead their case.

However, Jing Cang had ultimately chosen to turn a blind eye and agree.

Jing Chen had clearly recognized Dia’s unique bloodline. As Sect Master, he might have been unwilling to take risks and provoke the Divine Abyss Gate, but as a father, who could refuse such a filial, understanding, and talented daughter-in-law?

Dia possessed extremely powerful illusion talent. If things could be settled and she bore Jing Chen a child, then even if the Divine Abyss Gate came demanding her return, Jing Cang would have already gained immensely, because the future of the Jing family would be infused with entirely new talent.

However, based on the current historical context…

Jing Chen and Dia were likely still in the throes of passion and hadn’t yet produced offspring.

This was probably why Jing Cang was displeased.

Now, Jing Cang was leaving it to Jing Chen to explain because he was somewhat disappointed in Jing Chen and, as Sect Master, couldn’t bring himself to lose face further.

This situation is truly tricky…

Thinking this, Yino, due to his sense of immersion, also felt some pressure under the old father’s gaze.

But he was no pushover.

Now, Yino possessed numerous top-tier collectibles, and Ruoning had gained the soul attachment of the Primordial Phantom Butterfly. By all reasoning, Yino already had the strength to dominate in this Illusion realm.

In the real world, Yino might have to tuck his tail and play humble before the Crown Prince of the Divine Abyss Gate.

But this was the Illusion realm. No matter how impressive Wen Ruxiu was, could he compare to Yino’s cheats?

So…

Why panic? Just do it!

“When I met Miss Ruoning in the East Sea, she was in a desolate, abandoned, and dim dungeon.”

“At that time, Miss Ruoning was disheveled. She was merely a delicate woman, yet her hands and feet were bound by chains, suppressed countless seals. Even before the dungeon’s entrance, there were countless ferocious, snarling demons…”

“That so-called dungeon, deep within, hide a massive altar to an evil god!”

“Everyone, in such a situation, as a member of the righteous path, what fault is there in me rescuing Miss Ruoning? If any of you were in my place, could you truly stand by and watch a delicate woman on the brink of death?”

“Moreover…”

“The Divine Abyss Gate’s is utterly shameless, They have no face!”

“If she truly were the Holy Maiden of the Divine Abyss Gate, would a famed righteous sect like the Divine Abyss Gate treat their own Holy Maiden by imprisoning, sealing, and confining her at an evil altar?!”

“Rather than calling her a Destined Holy Maiden, why not be straightforward and say she was a living sacrifice captured by cultists worshipping the Demon Abyss of the East Sea?!”

Yino became more and more impassioned as he spoke, staring directly into Wen Ruxiu’s cold eyes. Their exchanged glances were fraught with hidden agendas.

Yino could observe that when he mentioned evil gods and cults, the disdain in Wen Ruxiu’s eyes shattered completely.

He began to grit his teeth, his gaze turning murderous, his expression twisting with loss of composure…

Exactly.

The inside information that Jing Chen hadn’t known in the original work, Yino understood perfectly.

The so-called Divine Abyss Gate, nominally one of the five great immortal sects, was essentially a cult organization co-opted by the Great Dragon Dynasty.

The Divine Abyss Gate wasn’t much different from groups like the Full Moon Sect.

The only distinction was that the Full Moon Sect worshipped the Pain Mother Goddess of the Western Region’s Demon Abyss, while the Divine Abyss Gate worshipped an ancient evil dragon at the edge of the East Sea.

The Divine Abyss Gate’s advantage over those cults was that the evil god they believed in, at least in legend, took the form of a dragon.

Thus, during the ancient dragon-phoenix war, the Divine Abyss Gate had sided with the dragons.

Later, when the Dragon Emperor and the Human Emperor established the Great Dragon Dynasty, the Divine Abyss Gate, as one of the meritorious contributors, naturally transitioned from a cult to an orthodox sect.

The Dragon Emperor didn’t interfere with the Divine Abyss Gate’s beliefs, and the Divine Abyss Gate largely ceased practicing evil ways among humans.

The Primordial Phantom Butterfly…

She wasn’t human by nature. If anything, with her wings, she leaned more toward the phoenix branch of spiritual veins.

Therefore, by reason and emotion, even the Dragon Emperor turned a blind eye. Now, what right did a minor sect like the Liuli Sect have to interfere with the Divine Abyss Gate’s beliefs? This was precisely the point Yino seized upon.

He used it to once again place the label of “cult” upon the Divine Abyss Gate, dredged up from the long river of history.

And this was exactly what made Wen Ruxiu lose his composure.

Because no one in the world knew better than he did the true nature of the Divine Abyss he worshipped.

A Divine Abyss Gate that sacrificed demons, was it righteous or evil?

This had been a topic no one dared to discuss openly for years.

“Liuli Sect’s Chief of Illusion Arts…”

Seeing that many Liuli Sect disciples were stirred by Yino’s account, the young man in dark, gold-embroidered robes at the center of the red carpet below instead smiled faintly and slowly spoke with curling lips.

He stood with his hands behind his back. Though he was secretly grinding his teeth, on the surface he maintained an air of nonchalance as he looked up at Yino:

“So, you are that Liuli Sect genius, quite renowned in Jiangnan, who broke through to the Nascent Soul stage at twenty?”

“Indeed.”

Yino also stood with his hands behind his back, chest out, not showing the slightest regard for Wen Ruxiu.

This scene unavoidably piqued the interest of the robed young man below.

He narrowed his golden eyes, which reflected ancient cursed symbols, first sweeping an arrogant gaze over the numerous elders and the Sect Master present, then spoke coolly and abruptly:

“Since your sect is unwilling to return what is rightfully ours, how about, under the witness of the Heavenly Eye, we settle this with a martial duel between the chief disciples of our two great immortal sects?”

“If I win, the Holy Maiden comes with me.”

“If I lose, I leave on my own.”

Wen Ruxiu curled his lips into a cold, enchanting smile.

“What could be wrong with thi— ”

Yino also shrugged with a cold laugh, but just as he confidently prepared to accept the challenge, an unprecedented wave of fear surged from the depths of his soul. In an instant, Yino’s eyes widened, his pupils first focusing sharply then dilating.

Wait…

This isn’t my emotion; it’s coming from Jing Chen…?

Yino raised his eyebrow, glancing back out of the corner of his eye, only to see that Ruoning behind him was also, unknowingly, drenched in sweat.

Ruoning doesn’t know the Divine Abyss Gate, meaning the Dia within her soul is also afraid of Wen Ruxiu…

“What is wrong? are you scared?”

Below, the Crown Prince of the Divine Abyss Gate continued to smirk meaningfully.