Chapter 67: Betrayal

Just like Qin Yu, the three of them managed to escape the tower initially. Unfortunately, they had been captured after their escape.

"Da Ge, I caught these three people who escaped from the tower."

“Only three?” Can Bao asked in an indifferent tone.

“This…” The gleam on Three Eye’s face vanished and was replaced by awkwardness. “Don’t worry Brother, the other two will not escape my grasp.” There were five who escaped, the other two being Qing Yun and Qin Yu.

Can Bao said nothing else and he swept his apathetic gaze over the three of them. Two in the Middle Stage of the Immersion Realm and one in the Beginning Stage. They were not the strongest but they still managed to escape the Tower. This surprised Can Bao.

“Where are you from?” Can Bao asked calmly.

“We...we are from Luosang City.” Li Yijian was the first to answer. He was terrified when facing Can Bao. The young man before them was of a similar age, and yet he had an extremely scary aura. A mere gaze from him made Li Yijian feel as if he was plunged into a freezing vault of ice. Dugu Feiyan and Mo Badao felt the same way as well. They had no way of determining Can Bao's strength.

“You’re all from Luosang City?” Can Bao’s eyes shifted slightly. He did not expect all of them to come from the same place. It seems like Luosang City produces a lot of talented individuals. The three who escaped all came from that city.

“Do you know the man who escaped with you, the one who was hunted by the Blood Demon?” Can Bao asked the crucial question—this was what he wanted to know the most.

“Yes, he’s from Luosang City as well.” This time around, Dugu Feiyan answered hurriedly, out of fear that a late reply would infuriate them. “He’s called Qin Yu, from the Qin family of Luosang City.”

Qin Yu was betrayed just like that. Dugu Feiyan had never considered the fact that they would have died in the Tower if it was not for him.

Mo Badao remained silent but a look of contempt flashed on his face when he heard Dugu Feiyan betray Qin Yu without hesitation.

“Luosang City again. Interesting.” Can Bao looked intrigued. “How strong is that Qin Yu?”

Almost everyone present had the same thoughts: Qin Yu must have terrifying abilities to be able to defeat the Blood Demon.

“He possesses a very skillful method that he uses to hide his abilities. He looks like he is at the peak of the Origin Realm, but he is actually in the Middle Stage of the Immersion Realm.” It was Li Yijian who answered this time around. He had fought Qin Yu personally and had the best understanding of him amongst the trio.

“Middle Stage of the Immersion Realm?” Can Bao was in disbelief and so were the others. Killing the Blood Demon with that level of ability? What a joke. Even if Can Bao himself were to face the Blood Demon who was armed with the Demonic Blood Devouring Sword, he would be unable to resist.

“Brother, he dares to lie. I’ll end his life then.” Three Eyes’ sinister gaze shot towards Li Yijian and made him shiver.

“No no no, I’m completely honest. If there is anything even remotely false about my statement, I would meet a tragic end.” Li Yijian sworn an oath out of sheer terror. [1. Editor’s note: Original raws uses a Chinese Idiom that translates to “dying without a burial place”]

However, Three Eyes had no regard for his oaths. He continued to walk towards him with a twisted smile.

“Wait.” Shi Yan called out from the side.

Three Eyes stared at Shi Yan with confusion. “Why?”

Shi Yan did not reply Three Eyes and in turn spoke to Can Bao. “Brother, I remember. Mo Feng had left words written with his blood right before his death. They were “The one who killed me was a Chu…...” [2. Editor’s note: The Chu (初) character is used in both ‘Origin Realm’ (初境) and as a family name.]

Mo Feng, the man guarding the first floor of the tower, was killed within it. The perpetrator was still unknown and Can Bao had always felt shameful and angry about this.

Now that Shi Yan had suddenly brought this up, he seemed to link some things together as well.

“Brother, we all initially thought that the man who killed Mo Feng had the surname Chu or had a Chu in his name. When we got to ask the ten strongest men remaining, none of them fit the criteria.” Shi Yan continued.

“You mean to say that the statement was supposed to be ‘An Origin Realm cultivator killed me’?” Three Eyes was extremely shrewd and guessed it at once.

Shi Yan nodded. “Yes, that statement was incomplete. I then went back to study it closely and there were a few blurred strokes behind the word ‘Chu’. Now that I think about it, they resemble the other half of the word ‘Jing’.” [3. Editor’s note: This is “境”, the 2nd character of the term “初境” (Origin Realm).]

“However this does not point to Qin Yu as the culprit. What if there were other cultivators at the Origin Realm?” Three Eyes frowned as he questioned.

“Impossible.” Shi Yan disagreed immediately. “Only the strongest three hundred cultivators would emerge from the few thousands competitors and enter the battlefield. Origin Realm cultivators would be sacrificed and would have no chance of entering the Tower. Even if there was such a person, it must be fake. He must have purposely hid his abilities and faked his level of cultivation to be in the Origin Realm. Thus, this Qin Yu is the greatest suspect.”

“If it really was Qin Yu, how could he kill the Blood Demon when he is merely in the Middle Stage of the Immersion Realm?” Three Eyes still had doubts in his heart and refused to believe Shi Yan’s deduction.

“He did not rely purely on his abilities to kill the Blood Demon. Instead, he used despicable means. The Blood Demon must have died from poison.” The things which Shi Yan had said enlightened everyone else and many agreed with his analysis. They had seen the corpse of the Blood Demon and he had really died from the Yin Demonic Qi.

“If the Blood Demon really died from poison, he wouldn’t be the Blood Demon.” Can Bao suddenly spoke up and his cold voice made everyone’s heart quiver. They looked at him with confused gazes.

“Brother, he really did die from poison. His body is entirely corroded by the Yin Demonic Qi.” Shi Yan spoke with a more severe tone.

“The real Blood Demon is immune to any type of poison.” Can Bao spat out the words coldly. “The man had indeed died from poison but only because the Demonic Blood Devouring Sword had abandoned that body in exchange for a new Blood Demon. It’s a pity…”

Can Bao stopped midway and a murderous aura surfaced on his scarred face.

“I’m dying of curiosity. How did that Qin Yu manage to kill the demonic spirit of the Demonic Blood Devouring Sword. Do you get what I mean?” A piercing light shot out of Can Bao’s icy eyes as he released an overbearing aura around him.

“Understood. Trust us, Brother. I, Three Eyes, will capture that bastard alive within a day, even if I have to dig a hundred metres into the ground or flip over the entire mountain range. I will bring him to you so that you can do whatever you want to him.” Three Eyes promised loudly as he brimmed with immense confidence. “Brother, I will leave now. Men, follow me!”

Three Eyes shouted as he brought his men and sprinted to the foot of the mountain. He left the three of the captives there with no instruction. However, he need not say anything as there would be people dealing with them.

“Shi Yan, keep the three of them. After all of this, let them lead the way to Luosang City. We will wipe out the entire Qin family.” When he uttered the last word, his aura raged around him manically and almost suffocated those standing around. His aura was terrifying.

……

Within a cave, Qin Yu finally opened his eyes. 一个山洞内，秦雨终于睁开眼睛。

He opened his eyes to see Mu Rongyue, who was bawling her eyes out and sobbing beside him. The Princess who was famous for her strong personality was actually crying so dramatically. Others might not have thought much about this but Ruo Feng, as her guard, was puzzled. He knew Mu Rongyue’s personality and he had rarely seen her crying like that. It seemed like the Princess had really changed because of a man.

Qing Yun appeared to be aloof but she felt an unknown ache in her heart when she stood at the side. She was suffering badly from her heartache and tears welled up in her eyes uncontrollably.

“Xiao Yue, why are you crying? I’m fine.” Qin Yu moved his body as he spoke. His sudden words startled everyone around him and all of their gazes fell on his face as they watched him sit up.

“Brother, you’re still alive…” Mu Rongyue dashed into his arms with no consideration for other things as she sobbed out loud. Qin Yu was almost knocked onto the floor due to the impact.

“Erm…” Qin Yu grimaced. He was conscious during the past few days and he knew that he had worried Mu Rongyue and the others.

“Xiao Yue, stop crying, I’m fine. I’m still well and alive, aren’t I?” Qin Yu stroked Mu Rongyue’s shoulder as he comforted her in a tender tone.

Mu Rongyue did not respond and simply cried. No one would know how worried she was and how much pain her heart was in.

Qing Yun saw how “intimate” Mu Rongyue and Qin Yu were and felt slightly uncomfortable. However, she did not say anything and discreetly wiped off her tears and spoke calmly. “Seeing that you’re fine, I’ll be leaving.”

“Wait.” Qin Yu called out to her and hurriedly comforted Mu Rongyue.

Mu Rongyue was not an immature girl and she knew that now was not the time to cry. She just had to vent her pent up emotions and thus she stopped her sobbing soon enough and stood up alongside Qin Yu.

Qin Yu’s clothes were tattered and torn and his grey clothing was now extremely bloody. Now that he stood up, the torn rags almost fell off all at once. Fortunately, he had one last piece of “clothing” covering his body. Otherwise, it would be awkward for him when the two ladies were watching him.

This “clothing” was not real clothes. It was the Golden Silk Armour and was taken from Qin Fang after Qin Yu killed him. It had protected him from countless attacks. However, since the Demonic Blood Devouring Sword was no ordinary Spirit Weapon, the Golden Silk Armour was full of cracks despite it being extremely protective in nature.

“Miss Qing, thank you.” Qin Yu couldn't care less about his tattered clothes as he walked to Qing Yun’s side and thanked her genuinely. They may have had misunderstandings, fought and bore grudges against each other. However, at this moment, all of these meant nothing.

Qing Yun’s body quivered as she shook her head. “There’s no need to thank me. Hadn’t you saved me before? We’re equal now.”

Qin Yu nodded. “Fine, we’re equal. However, you can’t leave now. I bet the Hunters outside are searching for us madly.”

“I know, but we have to go out eventually. It’s not safe if we stay here for too long.” Qing Yun turned around and looked towards Qin Yu as she spoke in a relaxed way.

Qin Yu and Qing Yun’s gaze met as a sharp glint flashed across his eyes. “Hence, we have to collaborate and kill our way out.”

Qin Yu remained silent after this as he stared at Qing Yun and waited for her reply.

Qing Yun remained quiet for a while and finally nodded. “Sure, we’ll collaborate. However, there’s only four of us. We’re too weak.”

“Weak?” Qin Yu smiled as a bloody light emerged from his hand. The smell of blood spread out in the cave and the coldness of the blade light seeped into the atmosphere. This immediately lowered the temperature of the air, and everyone in the cave felt cold. This was the kind of cold that penetrates the body and chills the heart.

“Demonic Blood Devouring Sword.” Qing Yun had seen the Blood Demon use the sword within the Tower and thus recognized the blood-red knife which appeared in Qin Yu’s hands. This shocked her. “How did you get hold of this sword?”

“I killed that dude, so naturally his sword is now mine.” Qin Yu replied calmly.

“What, you killed the Blood Demon?” Qing Yun was so shocked that her voice changed.

Previous Chapter Next Chapter