Chapter 324 - Disappeared Again

The Attack of the Wastrel

‘Pan Wen’ jumped in shock at the thought that she had been discovered. However when he turned around he saw Pan Yu glaring in another direction.

Pan Yu was not referring to ‘Pan Wen’?

‘Pan Wen’ followed Pan Yu’s gaze and found someone that should not be there. It was Pan Yue!

At the sight of him, ‘Pan Wen’ almost gasped.

Pan Yue married Ye Fei and he supported the Alliance in recent years. With his many contributions, he had become an integral part of the Alliance and Gu Lingzhi had almost forgotten about his original identity.

God damn it, why was he there?

There was no question that the Pan Yue in front of her was the real Pan Yue. After so many years of knowing each other, she knew Pan Yue inside out. From the cheeky look in his eyes, Gu Lingzhi could tell that this was no impersonator.

“What a time to come…” Gu Lingzhi sighed to herself.

She had calculated the risks and benefits for saving Mao Dingling. However, she would not hesitate saving Pan Yue. Regardless of how dangerous it was, Pan Yue was Ye Fei’s husband and Gu Lingzhi would take any risk to save him.

Just as ‘Pan Wen’ pondered to himself, the Imperial Guards surrounded Pan Yue in a flash, raising their swords and spears against him. Pan Yu shouted angrily, “You traitor! I can’t believe I used to dote on you. Your poor mother died too early or she would have been utterly disappointed to know that you joined the Alliance!”

Pan Yue disregarded the glares at him as he laughed sadly, “Father, I just do not want you to go down the wrong path.”

If the continent was unified, there was no way for the Spirit Tribe to rise to power again. The Spirit Tribe served as a balance of power against the Deity King and their disappearance meant that the Pan Family would serve as slaves to the Deity King forever.

This was worse than what they had to go through then.

Pan Yue understood this logic but he could not explain that he foresaw this through an illusion. Even if they enjoyed power in the continent, it would never overcome their background as slaves. He could tolerate the slave mark on his soul but he could not bear if his descendants had to go through what he did. Not only did the slave mark mean they were bound to the Deity King, it also sealed the maximum cultivation rank they could achieve! As long as a soul was marked by another person, there was no way for them to become a True God!

From another perspective, Pan Yue still belonged to the Pan Family. He was selfish and he would use any means possible. He would not hesitate to sacrifice others for his own goals. While the Pan Family chose to sacrifice the men of the continent for their goal, Pan Yue chose to sacrifice his family and himself.

Pan Yu definitely did not see eye to eye with Pan Yue and he yelled, “How am I wrong? Have I not worked hard enough to ensure the wellbeing of our family? Are you blaming me for making your brother the Crown Prince over you? I wanted to give it to you, but look at what you have become!”

Pan Yue lost all hope in the Pan Family at that point. He did not want to waste his words to persuade his father and he focused on deflecting the attacks that came his way.

However, Pan Yu had no intention of stopping and he stood behind the barricade of guards as he continued to lament, “I blame myself for doting on you. How can you turn against your family now? Do you know what they are here for? If they achieve their goal, the North Qiu Kingdom is finished!”

“So be it then! Anyway, the Pan Family is already rotten to the core!”

“You…you bastard! You traitor!’ Pan Yu cursed, his voice getting louder and angrier at the same time. He struggled to breathe and calm himself down. How could the Fifth Prince’s personality be so different from the other princes? Were they even from the same family?

Pan Yue was occupied with defending himself against his attackers. Although the Imperial Guards knew not to kill him, it was only a matter of time before he was caught. ‘Pan Wen’ narrowed his eyes and observed the guards around him carefully. Rubbing his chin, he turned around to his guards and commanded, “What are you doing standing there? Aren't you going to help out? Can’t you see how angry Father is?”

The guards hesitantly looked at Pan Yue and Gu Lingzhi. It was not their duty to capture a traitor as their first and foremost responsibility was to protect the prince. However, they did not dare to disobey ‘Pan Wen’.

Although the Fifth Prince was a playful devil, he was doted on by Pan Yu. He acted like a good child in front of Pan Yu but was a devil on the outside. His siblings had been jealous of him for a long time and now that Pan Yue had lost favour with the king, the royal siblings could not wait to crush him.

The guards naturally formed the conclusion that ‘Pan Wen’ wanted to suppress Pan Yue as well. ‘Pan Wen’ wore a stern face and glared at them once again before he barked out the order a second time. The guards reluctantly left his side and fought against Pan Yue.

Without the pesky guards that followed him everywhere, ‘Pan Wen’ strode towards an isolated place as he kept his eyes on the battle. Once he found a suitable place, he put on his disguise as the Black Thorn before runninng out at lightning speed towards Pan Yue.

At that point, Pan Yue was already exhausted after being surrounded by so many guards. His only thought at that moment was Ye Fei’s safety in the Alliance.

After such a long time together, he had not told her about his identity. If anything went wrong, would she become a widow because of him?

Ye Fei did not know her own surname either and if the two wanted to be buried together when they died, where would their graves be?

As that thought, Pan Yue chuckled to himself. With Ye Fei’s personality, there was no chance that would happen. If he knew that this would happen, he would have told her about his true identity.

Gu Lingzhi, who had now disguised herself as the Black Thorn, rushed over at the sight of Pan Yue chuckling to himself and she frowned at Pan Yue’s crazy habits.

How did Ye Fei end up loving a man like him?

Many people were in the area and no one would have expected that Pan Yue would have an ally who was willing to sacrifice herself with him. When the Black Thorn got closer to the scene of the battle, she discovered what was amiss but it was too late to do anything.

Against a Demigod, the Black Thorn had no other choice but to run away. However, against a group of attackers whose cultivation rank was lower than her, she was like a wolf among a herd of sheep. Before the guards could even touch her, the Black Thorn weaved past them.

“It is her! It is the person who fled with Lord Fashen!” The guards who recognized the Black Thorn’s mask screamed in realization. Pan Yue jumped in surprise and elation when he realized that Gu Lingzhi had come for him.

No matter what abilities Lord Fashen had, there was no way for him to escape the palace and he could only be hidden somewhere within it. The only way to capture Lord Fashen was to force him out of his hiding spot. If Gu Lingzhi was captured, Lord Fashen and Rong Huachang would also be caught with her.

As such, Pan Yu instantly commanded everyone to surround the Black Thorn. She had to be captured alive to be interrogated for the whereabouts of Lord Fashen and Rong Huachang.

This command relieved pressure off Pan Yue as the guards who were initially focused on him turned away. He caught a breather and slowly drew closer to the Black Thorn.

As one of the few people who knew about the existence of the Inheritance Space, Pan Yue also knew that living people could be kept within it. When he knew that his master had led Mao Dingling and Rong Huachang on the mission, he knew that the Inheritance Space might come into good use.

Just as he expected, he heard that Rong Huachang’s self-destruction was stopped by a masked lady the next day and the three of them escaped and disappeared into thin air.

Bam! The Fengwu Sword clashed against the attack of an Imperial Guard and the Black Thorn used the momentum from the collision to fly backward to Pan Yue. She exchanged eye contact with Pan Yue and Pan Yue signalled to her to run to his palace.

The Black Thorn nodded and she knew that Pan Yue wanted to protect her secret of the Inheritance Space by entering his palace. However, this was different from the previous time where she managed to find a place that was empty. Pan Yue’s room was surrounded by guards.

The two backed steadily towards the palace, having established a silent connection between each other. With reinforcements, Pan Yue received a surge of energy and he retreated faster than the Black Thorn. Just as the pair were about to retreat back to his room, one of the Demigods fighting against Mao Dingling flew over and chased after the Black Thorn. He fiercely shouted, “Where do you think you are going?”

It was Pan Liwen. Having heard the shouts of the guards, he extracted himself from his battle with Mao Dingling and chased after the Black Thorn.

He shared the same thoughts as Pan Yu at that point. As long as Gu Lingzhi was captured, Lord Fashen and Rong Huachang would be discovered.

“Cough!” The booming voice of Pan Liwen shocked Gu Lingzhi and the shock from the shout disrupted her internal flow of energy.

Pan Yue was about to reach her radius of the Inheritance Space at that critical moment. Without any fear, the Black Thorn glared at Pan Liwen and raised the Fengwu Sword above her head bravely before she fiercely drew it down.

Shoosh….. 

A large thousand-feet-long fireball burned through the sky, scorching everything in its path as it headed for Pan Liwen.

“Small fry!” Pan Liwen scoffed before he waved his hand. Strong winds blew through the air and instantly destroyed the fireball.

Boom! Gu Lingzhi smirked as the fireball was destroyed.

At the same time, the fireball burst into flames that rained down through the sky. As the flames touched the ground, it burnt all objects it came into touch with.

With their clothes on fire, the guards panicked and rushed to save themselves. On the other hand, Pan Liwen sustained minimal injuries due to his high cultivation rank and only a portion of his hair that came into contact with the flames were burnt. He slowly lowered himself on to the ground as small black ash floated in front of his eyes.

All of a sudden, the black ash erupted into flames and exploded in front of him before he could react.

A Demigod being injured by a Martial Sage, what a joke! 

His eyes burned with anger as he glared in the direction of the Black Thorn. However, he was utterly shocked by what he saw.

…The Black Thorn and Pan Yue had disappeared once again.

This time, they had disappeared in front of everyone’s eyes.

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