CHAPTER 58: CHAPTER 55: THE DEATH OF QING YU (PART 2)

Sword Qi flew toward Qing Yu, who was murmuring to himself as he struggled to rise from the ground.

"Phfsh"

Despite being weakened by Qingzhou, the Sword Qi of an Innate Expert was not something that an utterly undefended body could block. The Sword Qi almost cleaved Qing Yu’s upper body in two. Through the smooth wound, one could see Qing Yu’s internal organs, as fresh blood continuously sprayed out of the massive injury.

"It’s over."

Xiao Gao’s body went limp, and he collapsed onto the ground, his face deathly pale. The overexpenditure of his essence blood left him no strength to fight, or even to flee. Though escape was futile. Seeing Qing Yu fall rigidly to the ground, Xiao Gao’s heart sank continually; having killed Qing Yu, returning meant death either way, so he might as well die here.

"You’re seeking death."

Anger surfaced for the first time on Qingzhou’s calm face. With a thrust of his longsword to the chest, he pierced the heart of the despairing Xiao Gao.

The last thing Xiao Gao saw was Qingzhou’s cold eyes, completely incongruous with his face full of rage.

"It turns out..." Alas, he was too weak to say anything more because he was dying.

"Ah," Qingling screamed, hurriedly jumping down from the White Crane to help Qing Yu up, "Junior Brother... Junior Brother... how are you, what should... what should I do..."

Qingling was at a loss, with one hand attempting to press down on Qing Yu’s wound, but recoiling at the sight of the bloody injury. She had never left the mountain before, and on her first time, she encountered such a scene. For Qingling, who had always been in the Zhenwu Sect and was naively carefree, this sight was too shocking.

"Right, Uncle Master, I’ll take you to Uncle Master Xuanfeng, he’ll surely have a way."

Qingling’s voice already carried a sobbing tone, tears accumulating in her eyes, threatening to overflow. Even though she had just met him today, the thought of her nominal junior brother dying in front of her was enough to make Qingling want to cry unconsciously.

"Junior Sister..." Qingzhou stood silently behind Qingling, looking at her half jade-white Daoist robe stained red with blood, and at Qing Yu, whose light in his eyes was rapidly fading.

"Am I going to die..." Qing Yu murmured to himself.

In his final moments, his eyes still showed a hint of confusion, showing no fear or unease at the coming of death, as he slowly closed his eyes.

"Senior Brother, Junior Brother is dead..." Qingling looked at her bloodied palms, with a few drops of blood beads on her face, blankly staring at Qingzhou.

...

Qingzhou said nothing, just remaining silent, keeping Qingling company.

The sound of the wind rose, Luo Yan finally arrived, but it was already too late.

Outside Yang City, on a small path between the mountains, a figure wrapped in a black cloak slowly walked.

The Six Gates had swept through the area for hundreds of miles for many days, clearing all the bandits and robbers from the mountains, either killing them on the spot or capturing them for later punishment.

Not even the wild animals, many of which had been killed during the stay of the Six Gates constables, dared to come out, hiding in their nests.

A few miles away, the march of a two hundred thousand-strong army echoed through the mountains and reached this place.

"I’ve been waiting for you a long time..."

The cloaked Black-clothed Man raised his head, revealing a clean, youthful face, and looked at the smiling scholar in white not far in front of him.

"Qing Yu."

The Black-clothed Man was none other than Qing Yu who should have been ten miles away inside Yang City at this moment. By now, the Qing Yu inside the city should be dead.

"Lu Qifeng?" Qing Yu asked calmly.

"Oh," Lu Qifeng raised his eyebrows, "You know me. Did Li Xin tell you?"

"I guessed."

If it had been Li Xin who informed Qing Yu, Li Xin would not have an easy time in the Six Gates from now on. In fact, it was not unlikely that Lu Qifeng would take down Li Xin directly upon his return. Skilled individuals were welcome in the Six Gates, but those with capability yet not loyal were up to no good, and the dungeons of the Six Gates awaited them.

Indeed, Qing Yu had guessed it. If it had been Li Xin’s information, Qing Yu would not have asked, he would have asserted.

In Li Pingsheng’s study, there was information about worldly society, including the Four Great Divine Capturers of the Six Gates, placed in a highly visible position, as they were the masters he would soon be serving.

Chasing Wind Divine Constable, Lu Qifeng, with peerless Qinggong, and his Wind Listening Technique was unrivaled in the world, always appearing as a scholar. Coupled with his direct disciple, Luo Yan, who was also in Yang City, Six Gates had not only dispatched Luo Yan to the city but also had Innate-level experts secretly present. With this, Qing Yu boldly assumed as much.

Even if he was wrong, it was just a wild guess.

"Your Wind Listening Technique is renowned; you should be able to hear the recent movements of Li Xin, to know it wasn’t him who spoke."

"The Wind Listening Technique is not omnipotent, and it can’t be maintained for a long time. At the very least, I don’t know when you used substitution; you’re very tight-lipped, and when you’re being monitored, you seldom reveal anything of substance," Lu Qifeng said, intently observing the young man in black before him, who, despite being only a Postnatal realm teenager, was not to be underestimated.

"Just a little trick, you eventually saw through it anyway," Qing Yu said expressionlessly.

In fact, it was not just a little trick. To create a decoy that could pass off as the real thing, Qing Yu put forth great effort.

The Lianhua Treasure Book contained the Face Changing Skill, which could produce effects similar to one of the Four Great Evil Techniques, even under ancient and rudimentary conditions. However, Qing Yu’s medical skill had not yet reached the point of performing surgery, so he could only search far and wide for a young man with facial features and age similar to his own, make some minor adjustments, and achieve the effect of a decoy.

Just having a similar face was not enough; ensuring the decoy’s loyalty was crucial, as he would have to die on his behalf—a feat impossible without loyalty. Qing Yu achieved this through the Mind Control Technique, using drugs over several days for brainwashing and hypnosis induction, making even the decoy believe he was the real Qing Yu.

The martial arts aspect was covered by the Exorcism Sword Manual, which promised quick mastery in exchange for castration, combined with spiritual medicines acquired from the Li Family and the Forbidden Technique from the Lianhua Treasure Book that sacrificed potential to boost inner strength, similar to the slower-acting side effects of the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique, resulting in a perfect decoy.

Unfortunately, despite all the planning, Qing Yu was still caught by Lu Qifeng.

Today’s hurdle didn’t seem easy to overcome.

"So, you want to resist?" Lu Qifeng asked, noticing Qing Yu’s slightly tensed body.

"I don’t believe I’ve offended the Six Gates, unless you also believe that the Zhenwu Sword is with me and are interested in it."

"You haven’t offended the Six Gates. In fact, you’ve helped the Six Gates a lot. The Six Gates are not interested in the Zhenwu Sword either, which frankly is just a symbol. What would outsiders do with it? What interests me more is you, Qing Yu."

——A new map will be launched soon, and there will be only one update today as I need to conceptualize the new map.——