Chapter 377 – Evenly Matched

Though they had decided to rescue Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi, in reality, they were not that brave.

Lu Heng and Jiang Xinghai summoned a lot of their courage before they flipped over the wall of the Chancellor’s Manor. When they were on the other side, a large group of guards awaited them.

With Gu Lifu standing in front, he stared at the two of them until they felt uneasiness rising in their bodies, before he waved towards the guards to arrest them.

“Interrogate them, and check whether they were involved in the killings.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Heng felt extremely wronged. Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan were definitely innocent – members of the Langya Troop were not cold-blooded murderers!

Gu Lifu huffed, “The evidence is right here, don’t look as if you’ve been wronged.”

He then ordered the remaining guards to patrol around the area to prevent any suspicious people from entering.

Afterwards, other than Lu Heng and Jiang Xinghai who were thinking of rescuing Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan from the Chancellor’s Manor, Lin Rong had cried to her father wanting to break them out of “prison”. However, she was too obvious in her actions. Before she could step out of her chambers, she was restricted by the guards that were sent by Gu Lifu. She stayed in her room and cried, feeling helpless.

As for Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan who were about to be executed the day after, they received the “best” treatment ever since they had stayed at the guest house. The person who was keeping watch had changed to the Spirit City’s Vice Chancellor, Chu Jiang. There were also a few layers of Protective Shields that were put up outside of their guest house. If they dared to move even an inch out of their house, a blue arc would flash across the Protective Shield.

“Do you really think you can keep us inside here just by putting up a few layers of Protective Shields?” Gu Lingzhi stared at Chu Jiang, “I’ve told you that the killer is working with somebody else, why don’t any of you believe me? How can you execute us just based on the fact that there were no murders while we were locked up under house arrest? Don’t you think you’re all looking at this matter too subjectively?”

Chu Jiang merely smiled in response, “Indeed we are looking at this too subjectively. However, presently, all the evidence points to both of you elders as the killers, I can’t do anything about it either.”

Yet, there was not a sliver of helplessness in his eyes. Instead, there was hatred in his voice as he thought about all the warriors that had died.

How long would it take for them to train the number of Gold Class Warriors that had died this time? Just thinking about this alone made him want to skin the killer alive.

“It was all part of the killer’s plan!” Gu Lingzhi sounded panicked, “By doing this, you’re just allowing the killer to get away with his crimes scot-free! Don’t you want to take revenge for those people who had died?”

“Of course,” Chu Jiang laughed lightly, “Revenge will be taken tomorrow when the both of you are executed.”

“You’re an idiot!” Gu Lingzhi insulted, “You’re all idiots!”

“Don’t waste your time on him anymore,” Rong Yuan ruffled her hair gently, “There’s no point trying to explain ourselves to idiots.”

Chu Jiang almost choked on his own saliva when he heard what Rong Yuan had said. He almost swore at Rong Yuan without caring about his reputation. They had agreed to act out such a scene, but couldn’t they be more cordial with their words? Did they say such hateful words on purpose?

If Gu Lingzhi knew what Chu Jiang was thinking of, she would reassure him that she did not mean what she said. However, only the heavens would know if Rong Yuan meant what he said or not.

After Rong Yuan said that, he outstretched his arm violently towards Chu Jiang. A blue arc streaked across; it was the Protective Shield that detected the shift in Rong Yuan’s spiritual energy and attacked him. Even though he had the cultivation of a Demigod, it still caused his head to pound.

“How dare you!” Chu Jiang barked. He was holding onto the Spiritual Plate that could control the Protective Shield. Suddenly, the Protective Field around the house lit up. “Quick, get the Chancellor here, tell him that the criminals are trying to escape!”

The guard immediately rushed towards the main hall of the Governor Mansion. Rong Yuan cursed under his breath before he and Gu Lingzhi started to attack the Protective Shield around the house. “Do you really think you can trap us here using this Protective Shield?”

“Even if the Shield doesn’t hold up, the Chancellor will be able to stop you!”

“Chancellor!” Chu Jiang elatedly exclaimed, “Stop them, they are trying to escape!”

“We’re not going to stay here to be accused of something that we did not do!” Gu Lingzhi was furious, “I didn’t think that everyone in the Spirit City were such idiots. We were obviously framed, and no one had thought of such a possibility. I must’ve been blind to have tried so hard to help all of you catch the killer.”

“How dare you try to talk your way out of this even until now?” Lin Chongyuan replied blandly. His monotonous voice made him sound as if he was reciting off a script. Luckily, his personality had always been cold and serious, so even though he was not good at acting, it did not show.

To prevent Lin Chongyuan from saying anymore so that no one would see through his act, Rong Yuan sped up and using his Dragon Sword, he unleashed one last attack. Instantly, the Protective Shield was split right down the middle. The remaining few layers were also dissolved by Gu Lingzhi’s continuous attacks and now, the both of them directly faced Lin Chongyuan and Chu Jiang.

Lin Chongyuan’s eyes narrowed, he did not expect Rong Yuan to be so powerful. There were a total of 12 layers to the Protective Shield, but he had split it right in half with just one attack. If Lin Chongyuan was the one who was trapped inside, he would struggle a great deal to get out. However, Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan had gotten rid of it so easily. He could not help but think to himself that he would not have stood a chance against Rong Yuan if they ever fought against each other, even though Lin Chongyuan had the Earth-Level Spiritual Weapon passed down to him by his ancestors.

“Chancellor! Use the spiritual treasure passed down by our ancestors!”

Chu Jiang’s words interrupted his train of thoughts. Lin Chongyuan threw the possibility of Rong Yuan defeating him to the back of his mind. He used his right hand to remove the storage function of the ring on his left ring finger. Then, he threw the ring towards the both of them.

Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan could feel a strong spiritual pressure being exerted on them. It felt like there were thousands of objects pressing down on them.

“So, this is the ultimate weapon of the Spirit City? Not bad!” It was no wonder the Spirit City could occupy the only source of spiritual energy in the Lost Lands for so long.

It was an ordinary-looking ring that could also act like a Storage Ring, yet it could also expand at a tremendous speed. By the time it flew above their heads, it had expanded to a diameter of three meters.

Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan altered their spiritual energy, but the moment their spiritual energy came into contact with the ring, it was immediately absorbed by the ring. It only served to energize the ring even more. It now shone extremely bright.

The ring had the exact same spiritual powers as the formation that was found at the bottom of the Endless Sea Realm – absorption of spiritual energy. Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan were shocked. In an instant, Rong Yuan’s warlike character was triggered, his eyes shining with eagerness. Instead of altering his spiritual energy, he trapped all of his spiritual energy in his body and made it flow through his veins, gathering all his spiritual power in one arm. He then charged towards the ring and smashed it with all his might.

Dong!

The impact caused a low rumbling sound to emit, and the soundwaves caused even the ground to tremble. Those who were standing nearby felt the impact of the soundwaves and clutched at their chest, coughing up blood from their mouths.

Lin Chongyuan looked at Rong Yuan, bewildered.

The ring was a spiritual treasure that was made by his ancestors to specifically thwart Martial Artists that came from the outside world. It was forged with consideration of the special environment in the Lost Lands. As long as one was trapped by the ring, there was no way he could break out of it regardless of cultivation level.

However, he did not expect Rong Yuan to have such a strong physique in addition to his cultivation level.

Lin Chongyuan was also starting to feel the urge to fight. He stepped forward to exchange blows with Rong Yuan.

They fought eagerly with each other, which made Gu Lingzhi and Chu Jiang, who were standing at one side slightly speechless. Weren’t they supposed to be acting? Why are they fighting all of a sudden? The tenacity at which they fought did not look like an act. Helpless, Gu Lingzhi could only start exchanging blows with Chu Jiang as well.

Instantly, the immediate surroundings of the guesthouse were in chaos. As they fought, dust and rocks flew everywhere. For the guards who did not have a high level of cultivation, they had to retreat even further so that they would not be implicated. Looking at the four of them dueling with each other, they had concluded one thing – it was no wonder Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan could have killed so many people for so many nights consecutively without getting caught. Only Martial Artists with that level of cultivation could have gotten away with something like that for so long.

These cold-blooded outsiders, how dare they mislead them on purpose and tell them that the killer was a demon beast that could morph into a human being? Demon beasts were not intelligent, how could they have developed spiritual knowledge?

As they crowded around the four people who were fighting and exchanged opinions, it was obvious that most of them believed that Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi were the murderers. Amongst them, one person’s lips curled up.

As long as people kept blaming Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi, they would be executed eventually. Then, there would be nothing in the Spirit City that could ever threaten it anymore. To be accurate, there was nothing in the entire Lost Lands that could ever threaten its existence anymore.

It should really thank Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi for appearing at such a timely manner. If it was not for the both of them, how else would it find another scapegoat to drain out all of Lin Chongyuan’s spiritual energy?

It was a rare opportunity for Lin Chongyuan to be able to fight a worthy opponent. At this moment, he fought with all he had. Rong Yuan’s spiritual powers were on par with his, so he could put his true powers on display without any worries.

It was a pity…that the timing was not right yet, and there were many things that he had to handle afterwards, so he could not thoroughly enjoy dueling with Rong Yuan.

Rong Yuan had the exact same thoughts. In the Tianyuan Continent, Martial Artists relied greatly on their spiritual energies to fight. There were only a few Martial Artists who placed emphasis on their physique. He was influenced by Gu Lingzhi to toughen up his physique. It was difficult for him to find someone whose physical body was as strong as his, and he was enjoying every moment of exchanging blows with Lin Chongyuan.

The impacts of the blows had caused the guesthouse to be completely destroyed. If they continued to fight, even the manor next to it would be destroyed. Thus, Rong Yuan finally let Lin Chongyuan’s fists hit his body and he fell to the ground. Immediately, the crowd that was watching cheered joyously.

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