CHAPTER 96: HE SAW ME AND JUST FROZE

A series of figures emerged from all directions, with some even coming out of the lake itself, and before long, the helmsmaster and his men found themselves surrounded by over three hundred people.

Several figures also appeared in the sky, including Gao Qingyu and Huang Yifan, but Meng Hejun wasn't among them.

"Wu Shanzhou! Never did I think that you would be the helmsmaster of the One Heart Church's White Cloud Prefecture branch helm," Gao Qingyu sighed.

Wu Shanzhou was a widely respected civil official of the White Cloud Prefectural Office, performing his duties with diligence while maintaining a spotless reputation.

Who could've imagined that he would be a One Heart Church helmsmaster?

Wu Shanzhou's face instantly turned deathly pale.

He looked up at Gao Qingyu with a bleak and resigned expression as he sighed, "So this is how things end for me. How did you find out our plan? Who sold us out?"

There had never been any signs of a mole in his branch helm, and that was something he had always taken pride in.

"Was it someone from the headquarters?" Wu Shanzhou asked.

"You shouldn't be asking me that, Old Man Wu, and even if you're going to ask someone else, this is not the right time," Gao Qingyu sighed.

"In that case, who should I ask? And when?" Wu Shanzhou asked with slightly furrowed brows.

"You should wait until after your death, then linger on the path to the afterlife for a while. Once a superior that you're familiar with goes down there, you'll be able to get your answer from them."

"Alright, I'll be waiting for you down there, Gao Qingyu!" Wu Shanzhou chuckled.

"Is there really no turning back for you, Old Man Wu?"

Wu Shanzhou burst into laughter at this question.

"You've captured so many church members over the years, how many of them have turned traitor? And how did that turn out for them? There's no turning back for anyone! It's not a matter of right and wrong, or good and evil, this has always been a path of no return!"

Wu Shanzhou knew that his fate was sealed. There was simply far too massive a disparity in power between his men and the Protectionist forces around them.

Clearly, the enemy had been prepared well in advance.

A glimmer of black light suddenly appeared in his eyes as he yelled, "Brothers, it's time for us to go and serve the Heavenly Centipede Deity on the other side! Try to take as many of them down with you as you can!"

A collective, thunderous roar drowned out the sounds of the storm as a fierce battle erupted.

Meng Hejun and the others remained hidden in the shadows, but the branch helm received no reinforcements from beginning to end.

"All of you, stay here, I'll go speak to Gao Qingyu," Meng Hejun instructed, then flew out into the night.

Gao Qingyu's sword was plunged deep into Wu Shanzhou's chest, but he didn't pull it out right away as doing so would immediately put an end to Wu Shanzhou's life.

"Any final words? Was it all worth it in the end?"

Meng Hejun stood off to the side, looking on with rapt focus.

She wanted to tell Gao Qingyu to save his breath.

These church members never said anything of worth, and they would use any display of hesitation from the enemy to stall for time and find an opportunity to take their enemy down with them.

However, she knew that Gao Qingyu would be too stubborn to listen, and that was why she had come out of hiding to keep an eye on him.

As the dean of White Cloud Warrior Academy, Gao Qingyu had an obligation to all of his students, and thus, he was unwilling to pass up any chance at securing information from the enemy, no matter how slim.

Gao Qingyu seemed like a sly and shameless man that was willing to resort to any underhanded means to accomplish his objectives, but he was always determined to do everything in his power to guide his students onto the right path, one that was free from the influence of the demonic churches.

This was his lifelong goal and his lifelong belief!

Gao Qingyu had once said to his staff: "You can learn my underhanded tactics. They may seem embarrassing to use at first, but they can help you in many walks of life. However, the thing that you should learn most from me are my fundamental intentions! No matter what shameless, underhanded, deplorable tactics I stoop to, my ultimate goal is always to make this world a better place!"

***

Hence, even though he knew that Wu Shanzhou was a One Heart Church helmsmaster, he was still holding onto hope that he would be able to dig some useful information out of him.

Blood was gushing out of Wu Shanzhou's mouth as he croaked, "You don't understand!"

"I want

to understand! Do you need me to take care of any family matters for you?"

Wu Shanzhou merely looked at him in silence.

"I swear on my honor as the dean of White Cloud Warrior Academy that I will help you fulfill your final wishes. In exchange, all I want is some information, just a little bit is fine," Gao Qingyu said in an earnest manner.

Wu Shanzhou remained silent, and it was as if he were considering Gao Qingyu's offer, but a faint ray of black light was flowing up the length of Gao Qingyu's sword from where it was impaled into his heart.

Meng Hejun immediately intervened, cutting down Wu Shanzhou with her sword while grabbing onto Gao Qingyyu's wrist to disarm him.

The ray of black light took on the form of a parasitic insect as it raced up the length of the sword, but Gao Qingyu was disarmed by Meng Hejun right before the insect could reach the hilt.

At this point, Meng Hejun had already put an end to Wu Shanzhou's life, and the ray of black light disintegrated into a plume of black smoke.

Wu Shanzhou's decapitated head had fallen to the ground, and that contemplative look remained frozen on his face, as if he were still considering Gao Qingyu's proposal.

Gao Qingyu heaved a long sigh as he stared at his bloodstained longsword.

"It's futile!" Meng Hejun said. "I was once like you, Dean Gao, but I quickly came to learn that there's no humanity left in these people."

There was a hint of dejection in Gao Qingyu's eyes as he sighed, "I thought perhaps he would have a change of heart on the verge of death. Even if he gives me just a little bit of information, I thought I'd be able to piece together these tidbits of information to have it all culminate in something useful."

"And how many times have things worked out that way for you?" Meng Hejun snapped.

"Just once. Still just that one time," Gao Qingyu sighed.

"Do you still remember how many times you've made this same mistake and taken this same risk just because of that one time in several hundred years?"

"I've lost count," Gao Qingyu replied with a wry smile.

"Don't do things like this again, Dean Gao. Otherwise, you could easily end up dead someday."

"I still think it's worth the risk. Who knows? Maybe I'll get lucky again someday," Gao Qingyu said with a smile. "If I can uncover any useful information that'll benefit all of our students to come, then my life is a small price to pay. You did the same thing back when you were the dean, Mistress Meng."

Meng Hejun heaved a faint sigh.

"Fucking idiot!" Huang Yifan scoffed.

"Did you hear that, Mistress Meng? I can't believe he would say that about you!"

"What? No I didn't!" Huang Yifan exclaimed with a flabbergasted expression.

Meng Hejun had already turned to him with a cold gaze.

"Mistress Meng, I wasn't talking about you!" Huang Yifan hurriedly protested with an imploring look on his face, while Gao Qingyu had already snuck away.

"Quit wasting time! Go and clean up the battlefield!" Meng Hejun yelled.

Huang Yifan immediately fled the scene.

With that, the crisis was averted, and everything had gone exactly according to plan.

Even now, Meng Hejun was still not quite able to believe that this wasn't a trap arranged by the One Heart Church.

Meanwhile, all of the warriors hiding in ambush were cursing their luck.

They had missed out on all the accolades!

They were told to remain in ambush in case of unforeseen mishaps, but the operation couldn't have gone any more smoothly, and with that, they were forced to watch as their comrades claimed all the credit for taking out an entire One Heart Church branch helm!

On top of that, they had been forced to stand in the pelting rain in the dead of night, and even now, they were still under orders to stay put!

Soon, the spoils were tallied, and everyone that had taken part in the battle was ecstatic.

Given the number of enemy casualties, it seemed that they had just eradicated the entire prefectural branch helm!

"There was one fifth-rank King, two Warlords, eight Lords, thirty Generals, and 125 Great Grandmasters ranging from the fourth rank to the ninth."

This was a massive victory, yet some of the academy instructors were looking quite dejected.

"What's wrong?" Gao Qingyu asked.

"There was an eighth-rank General by the name of Li Mingfu among them. I taught him ten years ago," one of the instructors said in a grim voice.

Gao Qingyu closed his eyes as he felt the cold rain splash down onto his face.

"He saw me and froze. I wanted to kill him myself, but was unable to bring myself to do it, and in the end, Instructor Yan had to step in for me. I'll accept whatever punishment the academy decides to hand down upon me. It was my incompetence as an instructor that led to this."

"No punishment will be given. This is a very normal occurrence," Gao Qingyu said.

"I still want a punishment, nevertheless. It'll make me feel a little better. He saw me and just froze..."

The instructor repeated before his voice trailed off into a heartbroken silence.

Gao Qingyu heaved a forlorn internal sigh.

He knew that the image of that student's final moments were going to haunt the instructor for the rest of his life.