When Qian Chen returned to Four Seas Hall, he found the atmosphere—which had gradually begun to relax—suddenly taut with tension once more. All the senior experts, including grandmasters and great grandmasters, had gathered in Five Lakes Hall.
As he stepped inside, Bai Yuanliang, known as the Iron Fist of Guanxi, demanded in a loud voice, "Great Grandmaster Qian, might I ask where you have just been?"
Qian Chen smiled coldly. "I am neither a disciple under your tutelage nor a member of Four Seas Hall. Where I go—must I really report that to your esteemed self?"
Bai Yuanliang sneered. "The moment you vanished, Senior Laughing Maitreya was murdered! How could there be such a coincidence in this world? Senior Laughing Maitreya was attacked at his residence. Divine Monk Kongming arrived in the nick of time, yet right before everyone's eyes, Dragon Head still slaughtered Senior Laughing Maitreya and escaped!
"Senior Hong Sihai was tending to business at the time, and when Divine Monk Kongming traded blows with Dragon Head, he was unable to subdue him. Aside from you, who else possesses such skill?"
"Stop framing an innocent man!" Kang Qiandeng snapped angrily. "If Brother Qian were Dragon Head, how could he possibly have killed so many members of Twelve Yuan Chen?"
"Who is to say he wasn't trying to whitewash his identity?" Bai Yuanliang retorted brazenly. "Twelve Yuan Chen can never walk in the light, after all. Once Dragon Head's martial arts reached great completion, his appearance reverted to that of a youth. To cleanse his identity, he turned on the Twelve Yuan Chen who had followed him for so long. Not only could he forge a glorious reputation from this, but he could also eliminate all future troubles."
Li Qianqiu countered as well, "Ridiculous. If that were the case, why would he bother killing Laughing Maitreya?"
"Senior Laughing Maitreya once served as Big-Bellied Lord, acting as an undercover agent within Twelve Yuan Chen. He might very well have uncovered his identity, leaving him no time to cover it up and no choice but to strike swiftly." Bai Yuanliang's deductions were actually coherent and plausible.
For a moment, many among the heroes of the martial world wavered.
They looked at Qian Chen, whispering among themselves.
Qian Chen said placidly, "Do you know that I am well versed in over seven hundred ways to kill, understand over five hundred methods of creating an alibi, and know nineteen thousand kinds of poison—every single one capable of ending your life without a sound? Yet you dare provoke me?"
Terrified, Bai Yuanliang's voice trembled. "Did everyone hear that?! He is such a ruthless, savage figure that he dares threaten me to my face! If I die, it will certainly be his doing... What couldn't someone this brutal do?
"Perhaps he simply believed that if he silenced Senior Laughing Maitreya like this, no one would ever suspect him!"
"Enough!" Divine Monk Kongming spoke up. "This old monk does not believe Benefactor Qian could be Dragon Head. This matter, this old monk shall investigate to the very end! But until the truth comes to light, no one may slander Benefactor Qian!"
Hong Sihai also spoke in a flat voice, "The chivalrous fighters coming from the various major sects as reinforcements will arrive shortly. Under no circumstances must we allow Dragon Head to shake our morale at such a moment. Perhaps Dragon Head simply wishes to stir up chaos once more and sow mutual distrust among us.
"Four Seas Hall must entertain the heroes of every sect who have come to our aid.
"Later today, a banquet shall be held in Five Lakes Hall. Little Brother Qian is the hero who rendered immense service in breaking Twelve Yuan Chen; we must not let baseless speculation slander one who has earned such great merit."
The gathering broke up on an unhappy note. Qian Chen proceeded to the mourning hall where the corpses were laid out.
Looking down upon Laughing Maitreya, who had died from a sword piercing clean through his heart, Qian Chen felt a pang of sorrow. This naturally jovial, righteous fat man still bore a smile even in death, as if taking life and death in stride, open and at peace. Qian Chen had not met him many times, yet he still felt a touch of grief.
Was the jianghu always this treacherous?
Or was it only so around the protagonist?
Qian Chen had no answer.
"I have no proof!" He tilted his head back and sighed. "The reinforcements from the major sects will be here any minute. Relying on a handful of conjectures to bring that man down seems impossible no matter how one looks at it. What is more, if my suspicions are correct, with his martial arts, I might not even be his match.
"Coupled with the righteous path's reinforcements, who will inevitably side with him, even if there are a few comrades-in-arms, people whose lives I saved or who trust me to speak up on my behalf, the odds remain overwhelmingly high that the blame would merely be turned back upon me.
"This mission is on the verge of ending anyway. Why stir up unnecessary trouble?
"I've scraped together enough points to exchange for Geng Yuanzi's cultivation notes upon my return. If I make a move against him, even if I empty all my trump cards, I only have an eighty percent certainty of success at best. Factoring in the experts among the reinforcements, who would undoubtedly strike back given his renown, my chances drop below fifty percent!
"The path of the Dao is vast and boundless...
"Why bother?"
Dhyana Master Kongming's arrival interrupted Qian Chen's internal monologue. The monk said in a low voice, "I trust Benefactor Qian. You would never harm my junior brother."
Qian Chen felt an impulse to share his suspicions with him, but then thought better of it—once he completed the mission tonight, he would leave this world behind!
When that time came, whoever Dragon Head was, or whatever fate befell the martial world's righteous path... none of it would concern him.
"I will not be attending the banquet this evening," Qian Chen said. "The jianghu road is long; I had best return. I arrived singing into the jianghu, and now, my spirits spent, I shall depart by boat. That, too, makes for a fine tale. Please bid farewell to my other friends on my behalf... Great Monk, if fate allows, we shall meet again!"
Qian Chen departed carefree and unrestrained, leaving Dhyana Master Kongming shaking his head and sighing repeatedly.
Just then, as Qian Chen stepped out of Four Seas Hall's main gate, he saw a troop of horsemen galloping down North Street. The man leading them—a burly, bearded fellow mounted on a magnificent steed with prominent brow ridges—laughed heartily as he rode down the street. The residents of Linhai City buzzed with conversation: "That is Four Seas Hall's Lord of the Northern Sea, Tu Beihai, who oversees external warfare!"
"Tu Beihai rode through the night to seek reinforcements..." Kang Qiandeng remarked as well. "Has he returned with the reinforcements from the major sects now?"
Qian Chen saw Tu Beihai swinging a severed head in his hand, laughing loudly, "Eldest Brother, I'm back! On the way, I even killed a little thief who stole Brother Huang's seal!"
With that, he tossed the head onto the road.
Luo Shengyi's youthful head rolled twice across the street, coming to a stop right at Qian Chen's feet.
As the reinforcements from the major sects entered the city, the voice of the Lord of Reincarnation sounded in Qian Chen's ear: "Reincarnator has completed Mission Two: Assist Martial Alliance Leader Hong Sihai in slaying more than four members of Twelve Yuan Chen.
"For slaying Twelve Yuan Chen members: each kill grants a kill reward of 500 Merit, and each assist grants an assist reward of 200 Merit. Completed: Mist-Riding Lord (Kill), Gladiatorial God-Lord (Kill), Ghost-Devouring Lord (Kill), Flying Yellow Lord (Assist), Medicine-Pounding Lord (Kill), Dawn-Crowing Lord (Kill), Sun-Chasing Lord (Kill)...
"Side quest: Slay martial grandmaster-level experts (Qi Refining realm), rewarding 10 Merit per kill. Slay great grandmasters (Spell Comprehension realm), rewarding 100 Merit per kill.
"Slain: one great grandmaster, eight grandmasters.
"Total reward earned: 3,380 Merit... converted to 1 Moral Point, 380 Merit.
"Do you wish to complete the mission immediately and return to the Reincarnation Lands?"
"You people have truly pissed me off! Don't you know I've already slaughtered eight of the Twelve Yuan Chen like dogs?... Although I am an enlightened cultivator, killing people right in front of me like this... is enough to make even the Buddha rage!"
The faces of Huang Yuhan, the Kuai brothers, Liang Dou, and Luo Shengyi flashed before Qian Chen one by one. Luo Shengyi's bewildered expression before death filled his sight.
His face turned cold as frost...
Qian Chen answered the Lord of Reincarnation calmly: "No!"
"Being a clever-clogs this time has cost me dearly!"
His figure vanished from Linhai City, and with him disappeared Luo Shengyi's head.
Outside the city, where Luo Shengyi had met his death, an unmarked mound of earth was hastily raised.
Qian Chen stood alone before the grave. He had already donned a green robe and the snake-head mask of Mist-Riding Lord. The bronze serpentine visage lent him an eerie, chilling aura. Standing in the woods like a wraith, Qian Chen turned his back to the mound and said, "In the end, you still couldn't escape this calamity, could you?"
He touched the mask on his face and murmured, "And here I thought I wouldn't need this thing anymore.
"'Twelve Yuan Chen destroys Four Seas.'
"Before, I belonged to the righteous path of the martial world, so I killed several of the Twelve Yuan Chen. But now, I am Mist-Riding Lord, so naturally I must break the Hong Gate and slaughter the Four Seas... Haha... When Twelve Yuan Chen go about their business, they never care about evidence.
"My mission isn't even finished—return my ass!"
Qian Chen had thought that after millions of years of honing, his bones would carry only ethereal, immortal detachment. Yet right now, deep within his marrow, he suddenly felt the surge of hot blood once more...
It turned out he had never forgotten back on Earth, reading those old novels and stories...
That chivalric spirit of gratifying vengeance, of trampling down injustice!
To be free and unconstrained, yet unyielding!
To live forever, without turning into dead wood or senseless stone!
All his life he had sought carefree liberty... but that had never been bought with pure inaction, cowardly compromise, or indifferent apathy. In this life he prioritized caution above all, but that didn't make him a cowardly turtle pulling its head into its shell.
Hands clasped behind his back, Qian Chen looked at Luo Shengyi's grave from beneath the snake-head mask and smiled. "I am the Spirit of Longevity, Mist-Riding Lord. When Twelve Yuan Chen go to work... the target shall be... shown no mercy! Even if it is Hong Sihai, even if Hong Sihai is Dragon Head, it will be so. Speaking of which, my greeting gift hasn't been delivered yet!
"I'll take the Dragon Head's head as a gift and present it to the headless Martial Alliance Leader!
"See how vicious Twelve Yuan Chen truly are... we even slay our own boss.
"A remnant of Twelve Yuan Chen assassinating Martial Alliance Leader Hong Sihai, the man presiding over their extermination, on the day of the grand banquet. That feels so natural... so gratifying, doesn't it?"
His voice faded into the wind...
Without looking back, Qian Chen strode toward Linhai City.
Chapter 31