The Attack of the Wastrel

Hey guys, great news!  Two more top-performing sneak peek Chinese novels licensed from Zongheng have left VIP-only and are available for you to read, each with fifty chapters and a 2/day schedule!  These novels are Yama Rising, translated by Minotauruz (who did the great translation of Demoness' Art of Vengeance) and Star Odyssey, translated by OMA who did Warlock of the Magus World and City of Sin!  Both are veteran and highly capable translators, and I'm excited to bring this to y'all.

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Unable to go into the Secret Chamber, Wu Liguo thought that Gu Lingzhi could only get her hands on some unimportant documents.

He had been waiting for Gu Lingzhi to take out these documents so that he could teach her a lesson before she embarrassed herself thinking that she had information that could bring the North Qiu Kingdom down.

The fact that the North Qiu’s Pan Family had been able to remain in power in the Tianyuan Continent for so long was not solely because of the few Demigods that were part of the Royal Family but mostly because they had the backing of the Deity King Pan Luo! Being Pan Luo’s slave, other than not betraying him, they had also become useless rulers of the Tianyuan Continent where no True Gods existed. The only thing that they had to do was report to him about what was going on in the Tianyuan Continent every one hundred years, in exchange for the power as rulers of the North Qiu Kingdom.

Even if there were not any Demigods and even if their plans had been foiled, they would not fail as long as they had Pan Luo to support them. Furthermore, Pan Luo relied on the people in the Pan Family to give him information about the Tianyuan Continent and the Spirit Tribe. Pan Luo would not sit and do nothing if they deteriorated in power.

The reason why Wu Liguo had known so much about the Pan Family’s secrets was because he was part of the Pan Family to begin with. A few thousand years ago, in order to cement the North Qiu Kingdom’s power in the Continent, Wu Liguo was sent to the Muji Kingdom as a spy.

Even though he had these winding thoughts in his head, he kept an amicable smile on his face. He looked like a genuine and friendly old man who was asking about the younger people’s trivial family matters. Only Gu Lingzhi, who had taken a look at the secret letters and knew about his real identity, could see through his act.

“I’m not lying to all of you,” Gu Lingzhi said as she retrieved some letters from her Storage Ring.

After seeing the labels on those envelopes, Wu Liguo wanted to mock her. The envelopes that had purple and gold flowers on them meant that they contained normal letters containing useless information, which were not enough to expose anyone or anything. It seemed like he had overestimated Gu Lingzhi’s abilities. Though she had stayed in the Royal Palace for so long, she had only managed to get information that was of low significance.

Externally, however, he pretended to be shocked as he looked at Gu Lingzhi, “Lady Gu, this is…”

“These are the documents that Pan En has been sending to the Dayin Kingdom’s Prince, the contents of it are the plans that they have come up with.”

Gu Lingzhi passed one of the letters to Wu Liguo before distributing the rest of them to others. 

Wu Liguo did not hesitate as he opened the letter to read it and it was just like what Gu Lingzhi had said – it was a letter from Ding Wei to Pan En, reporting about the development of Rong Yuan and Ding Rou’s relationship. Other than that, there was not much useful information. It was nothing like what she had told them – that she had important information to share with everyone.

“Lady Gu, the collusion between the North Qiu Kingdom and the Dayin Kingdom has long been exposed. This isn’t new information,” Wu Liguo retorted, his voice laced with anger.

With his status and power, he had the right to be angry just by seeing a few useless letters. It would not be possible to teach her a lesson if she had truly taken out letters that had useful information in it.

The expression on his face immediately changed from one that was gracious to one that was strict. He then scolded her, “Nonsense! Is this what you mean when you said that you had ‘evidence’? Lady Gu, after infiltrating the Royal Palace and not sparing a thought for your fiancé, is this the best you can come up with?”

He emphasized every word clearly, so that the audience would be reminded of the incident when she had “abandoned” Rong Yuan for Pan En. Even if it was to retrieve information, it was immoral of her to do so. When she had gained the favor of Pan En, who knew what Gu Lingzhi had done in order to get the information that she wanted?

Wu Liguo had chosen the right time to say the right words to evoke the disapproval from others as well. Even if others had not misunderstood, his words could have caused Rong Yuan to distrust her. It was a win-win situation for him.

However, his words had failed to result in the reaction that he wanted. Unexpectedly, they all looked at him weirdly, trying to fathom what his words meant.

“Why are all of you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?” Wu Liguo said with an incredulous look on his face. Everyone knew that Gu Lingzhi had started to take sides with Pan En, even if there had been something between the both of them, it was completely normal. All Wu Liguo did was voice out the thoughts that everyone had already been harboring from the beginning. Why was everyone looking at him like that?

“Why are we looking at you like that?” Zhong Xiru retorted with his own rhetorical question. After which, the strongest Martial Artists in the room got up at the same time, as if they had received orders beforehand, and blocked the doors of the room. They stood up straight, which showed that they were ready to fight.

“What… what are all of you doing?” Wu Liguo stammered as he started to panic. From the current situation, it seemed like they were going to gang up on him.

“Hey, we’re doing exactly what the Pan Family had been doing earlier – catching our targets,” Mei Ying laughed gleefully. He did not surround Wu Liguo like the rest, instead, he and Su Ruo stood in front of Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan in a protective stance.

Previously, when Gu Lingzhi had taken out the stack of letters, she had given a useless piece to Wu Liguo. However, the letters that she had distributed to the rest were the exact same letters – a complete record of Wu Liguo and his background – how he had appeared all of a sudden in Muji Kingdom as an orphan when he was eleven, studied in a school, and became the 37th disciple of the Prince from the Yun Family in just under a month before he had come to the Sacred Lands. It was so comprehensive that everyone believed its authenticity.

They were in disbelief about Wu Liguo’s true identity. He was actually from the Pan Family! He was even directly related to the previous Emperor of the Tianyuan Continent!

The report was so detailed that they had no choice but to believe it. There were even details of a cultivation technique that they were previously unaware about. Back then, Wu Liguo had learnt the technique from the North Qiu Kingdom, but he claimed to have learnt it from a certain Secret Territory. The report revealed that it was actually a Heaven-Level technique originating from the North Qiu Kingdom.

A few Demigods had always thought that Wu Liguo’s technique was very similar to those of the Pan Family’s, but now they knew for sure that it was indeed a technique that belonged to the Pan Family!

How could they let him escape after knowing this piece of information?

“Brother Mei, what are you talking about? I don’t understand,” Wu Liguo sensed that something was wrong and could no longer put on a brave front, stepping backwards in fear.

However, he was surrounded by people. There were two Demigods that were right behind him, there was no way that he could escape.

“It’s okay if you don’t understand, as long as you surrender to us. Since you’ve done some virtuous deeds over the past few years, we may lighten your sentence,” Mei Ying waved his arm towards Wu Liguo’s direction so that he could see what had been written on the letters that they had received.

After reading the letter, Wu Liguo finally understood why he had been surrounded. Though he was filled with fear, he was also extremely doubtful. His identity had always been the North Qiu Kingdom’s top secret. In the Royal Palace, only Pan En who was elected as the next king knew about this. How did Gu Lingzhi know about his identity? There were some things on the report that even he had forgotten about.

“You…” Wu Liguo stammered, not knowing what to say. What was the point of asking her if she had gotten the information from Pan En? Pan En had been killed by them an hour ago. Before he died, his eyes were full of pleading, yet Wu Liguo had heartlessly ignored it. The most important thing now was to think of a way to escape the room.

Wu Liguo instantly changed his expression to one of remorse and helplessness. In a hoarse voice, he said, “It’s a good thing that all of you know my true identity. I’ve been haunted by my conscience all these years. If you want to kill me, do it!”

Wu Liguo closed his eyes.

With this attitude, the people who had intended to kill him started to hesitate.

They had agreed earlier on that Wu Liguo was a kind, old man. Amongst the crowd, there were many of them that had received favors from him before. Thus, they instantly thought of the good things that he had done for them when he said that. The idea of letting him go even popped into their heads.

Wu Liguo’s words implied that he did not agree with the North Qiu Kingdom’s methods, but since he belonged to the Pan Family, he had no choice but to follow their instructions. If he could turn over a new leaf, stop assisting the Pan Family and advise them to change their ways, it would be a win-win situation.

Sensing their hesitation, Gu Lingzhi sighed to herself. Though it was not loud, it was clearly audible in the room that was silent.

“Wu Liguo, you’re such a great actor. It’s such a waste of your talent not joining the theatrical troupe.”

Even though Wu Liguo was desperate to escape unscathed, his eyes blazed with fury.

Actor?

Actors were the lowest caste in the system and were jobs filled by people who had failed to awaken their Spiritual Roots. They were only of a slightly higher status than whores, but their main role was still to entertain the people in power. Yet, Gu Lingzhi had the cheek to humiliate him using such a derogatory term. He swore that if he made it out alive today, he would torture Gu Lingzhi using the most despicable methods that he could think of!

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