A group of people cloaked in black all turned their gaze towards Bai Lan. Gao Yuan, Jiang Shan, and Rat Granny subconsciously exchanged glances. The three of them knew very well Bai Lan’s resentment towards “A Shiheng”. If the man in the iron mask had not been holding her back, and with the man carrying a child standing opposite, she would have rushed out to take revenge long ago. They estimated she would very likely go down.
Sure enough, Bai Lan replied at once, “If they dare to go down, what do I have to fear?”
The man in the iron mask stared at the faint figures on the opposite cliff to confirm once more. “Three of them went down. Who among you is willing to go down and assist Bai Lan?”
On this, no one made a sound.
Bai Lan looked around and knew she could not count on the others. She said firmly, “Thank you for your kindness, sir, but there is no need. With their meagre cultivation, I alone am more than enough.”
The man in the iron mask turned back to stare at her. “Those three are nothing. The main concern is the giant spider we saw earlier. We do not know what it is. You must be extra careful yourself.”
“Yes.” Bai Lan responded, then directly leapt off the cliff.
The man in the iron mask raised his hand and pointed to one side. “Gao Yuan, escort them past from that side. I will go and have another talk with that gentleman alone.”
“Yes.” Gao Yuan and the others acknowledged, rapidly flying towards that side.
The man in the iron mask shot out like a cannon, diagonally launching into the air…
At the bottom of the cliff, looking down from the top it had seemed pitch black, but in reality it was not so dark that one could not see their hand in front of their face. People and objects could be seen clearly, like the early morning when the sky had just begun to lighten. Looking up, one could see sunlight shining obliquely on the cliff walls from high above.
The three martial brothers, carrying the golden coffin and descending slowly, looked around in alarm and suspicion, vigilant of their surroundings.
On the cliff face, at first there was nothing, but after reaching the lower half, many large and small caves appeared, along with many fist-sized potholes, all of the sort made by something piercing into them. There were also many clear large and small scratches, some of which looked quite fresh. Even more bizarre was that in the areas below where sunlight was scarce, golden silk webs of all sizes hung everywhere. The large ones were enormous, as big as a large courtyard. They looked like spider webs, but were made of golden silk threads.
Just as the three were about to land, something suddenly whistled down from above. They looked up to see a huge boulder falling, crashing into one of the golden silk webs. The impact was too great. The silk web stretched out instantly but was ultimately torn apart by the boulder. The boulder crashed to the ground with a thunderous sound, though the impact had already been greatly weakened by the silk web.
From this one could see the resilience of these golden silk webs was no ordinary thing. Otherwise, with such a huge boulder falling from that height, there would inevitably have been a violent scene of flying earth and stone.
The three carrying the golden coffin landed simultaneously. Yu Qing took the opportunity to hoist the golden coffin onto his shoulder alone. His two senior brothers stood guard, carefully watching their surroundings. The marks left on the cliff walls were truly shocking. They were definitely not naturally formed, and there had been Wu Hei’s warning before this.
Even more bizarre was that the bottom of the abyss was covered in gold. Lumps of gold nuggets, small ones fist-sized, large ones as big as a table top. The problem was they were all exactly the same shape, lumps with a slight spiral pattern, large and small, covering the ground. It looked quite spectacular.
One downside was that it made it difficult to find footing, inconvenient for walking.
“If this place were close to the exit, why bother digging for gold? We could just carry it away. Why is the gold all in this shape, lump after lump? It does not look naturally formed. Was it made by humans or by monsters?”
Nan Zhu muttered softly at the side, while they all carefully walked towards the opposite bank.
On the opposite cliff, the man in the iron mask was once again in a standoff with Wu Hei.
“Back then, on the road to the capital for the imperial examinations, A Shiheng killed Bai Lan’s husband. This grudge, to her, is irreconcilable. After all, it is the murder of one’s husband. I could not easily advise her against it. She has now jumped off the cliff in pursuit. Of course, if we cooperate, at least for the time being we would be on the same side. I would naturally have to find a way to stop her. What do you think, sir?”
The man in the iron mask spoke in a calm and reasonable manner, handing the decision to Wu Hei. To some extent, he was also forcing Wu Hei into a dilemma.
Either abandon Ning Chaoyi and the others to go save Yu Qing’s trio, or stay to guard his companions and not save the three below, or take his companions down together into danger. And the man in the iron mask might not sit idly by either.
However, he did not know that Wu Hei already knew Ning Chaoyi and the others were spies sent by his side. Wu Hei could completely ignore Ning Chaoyi and the others.
But Wu Hei did not do so. Instead he asked, “They chose their own path. Why should I go down to save them?”
This was not an empty statement. There might be dangers below that even he would find difficult to face. He would not easily take his son down into danger, especially with this scheming person right in front of him. He had already made his position clear to Yu Qing earlier.
The eyes behind the iron mask narrowed, and he said nothing more. If the other party would rather sit and watch the three below die than stop watching him one on one, he also dared not act rashly. That earlier hard clash had left a deep impression on him.
The wind blew the man in the iron mask’s black cloak fluttering, and also ruffled Wu Hei’s long hair. Little Hei in Wu Hei’s arms was curious about the mask on the other party’s face, reaching out as if asking for it. The man in the iron mask ignored him, and the outstretched hand was also pressed down by his father.
Ning Chaoyi and the others all remained silent behind Wu Hei.
In fact, as long as Wu Hei was still willing to stand here and wait, it was a kind of attitude towards Yu Qing’s trio…
At the bottom of the abyss, Nan Zhu discovered that the golden silk webs nearby seemed to have some kind of oily substance on them. He could not resist using his sword to try touching them. He immediately found his sword was stuck. He pulled hard but could not break it. Using his internal power also could not shake it off. Instead, the golden silk threads were pulled longer and longer.
“Why do you have so many hands? Why touch it for no reason?” Yu Qing, carrying the golden coffin, cursed.
“Hey, how would I know?” Nan Zhu was somewhat exasperated. Later he simply raised his sword and slashed at the gold nugget beneath his feet.
Clang! The golden thread was cut, but it still stuck to the sword.
Just then, the three martial brothers suddenly looked up into the air together. They saw a figure floating down gracefully. After seeing clearly who it was, their expressions all turned grave.
Nan Zhu hurriedly tried to pull out his sword, but could not get rid of the extremely sticky golden silk hindering him. He had no choice but to grind it on the gold nugget.
Yu Qing immediately put down the golden coffin. Bai Lan also landed gracefully, confronting the three martial brothers.
Bai Lan, cloaked in her cloak, sneered incessantly. “A Shiheng, I have been looking for you for years. Today we finally meet!” The knuckles of her ten fingers were already cracking from clenched fists.
Yu Qing did not know that Qiao Qie’er’s death was directly related to her. It was only now, looking back on past events, that he suddenly felt what he had done was too childish, even somewhat absurdly laughable. Although back then that husband and wife had been causing harm first, for the sake of two thousand taels of silver worth of spirit rice he had killed their husband. Thinking about it now, it was indeed embarrassing.
In his current state of mind, seeing Bai Lan, he felt slightly apologetic. He did not want to pursue her relentless vengeance, wanting to let the matter rest. Therefore he said, “I am quite puzzled. How did you know your husband was killed by me?”
Bai Lan raised her brows, furious beyond measure. “You still want to deny it?”
Yu Qing raised his hand to stop her. “I do not want to deny anything. No matter how much I deny it, you would not believe me. I just find it strange. When I saw you with Gao Yuan and the others at Horseshoe Island’s Qiao Estate, I felt puzzled. Since you knew what happened, why could you still be with Gao Yuan and the others? Why did you not kill them to avenge him?”
Bai Lan was stunned by his words. She said warily, “At the end of your rope, still trying to play tricks to prolong your life?”
Yu Qing understood something. “So you do not actually know how your husband died. How could you think that my cultivation back then could easily kill your husband?”
Bai Lan was clearly moved. She realised that all along she seemed to have been blinded by hatred. Now thinking about it, yes, how could this scoundrel’s cultivation back then have easily killed her husband? After a period of uncertainty, she asked in return, “What are you trying to say?”
Yu Qing answered a different question. “Can your husband’s death really not be put aside?”
Bai Lan lifted her chin towards the golden coffin. “Can her death be put aside?”
“I understand.” Yu Qing nodded. Just at that moment, Nan Zhu happened to have ground off the golden silk stuck to his sword on the gold nugget. Yu Qing immediately signalled, “Old Seventh, Old Ninth, you two carry Qie’er and leave first. Allow me to settle this grudge with her.”
Mu Aotie said, “Let me do it.”
After breaking through to the Xuan level, he had not yet had a proper fight with a Xuan level cultivator. With his nerves taut, he was also somewhat eager to try.
Nan Zhu raised his brows. “Are you two fellows ill? Something the three of us can do together, yet you want to go one by one. What do you mean by that? Do you think this place is too safe?” After speaking, he could not help but look around himself.
Mu Aotie was slightly startled, and also reacted.
Bai Lan scoffed, not knowing where these three fellows got their confidence from.
Yu Qing said in a deep voice, “This is a grudge between her and me. I will settle it myself. Whoever dares to interfere, do not blame me for turning hostile. All of you, get lost to one side!”
Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie turned to look at him in unison, both somewhat surprised. They felt this “fierceness” from Old Fifteenth was somewhat unwarranted. You have no friendship with her whatsoever, only hatred upon hatred. What is this nonsense about settling one’s own grudge?
The two sensed that Old Fifteenth was somewhat off. This was not like Old Fifteenth’s style. They felt this move seemed to conceal some deeper meaning. After exchanging a glance, both retreated, carrying the golden coffin and withdrawing far away, but refusing to leave first.
Yu Qing paid them no more heed. With one hand on his sword, he stepped forward and said indifferently, “Did you not want revenge? I shall accompany you. Come!”
Bai Lan snorted. “Things have come to this, there is no rush. I can give you one chance. I can listen to your defence. As long as you can explain clearly and prove you are not the murderer, I can consider sparing your dog’s life!”
Ultimately, she had been swayed by some of Yu Qing’s earlier words. Her attitude of vowing to kill Yu Qing could no longer remain resolute. She had wavered.
Yu Qing said disdainfully, “Some things cannot be explained clearly. No matter how I defend myself, it is only my word alone. You would not believe it, and I cannot be bothered to waste words. Come. If you can take me down, you can force me to say whatever you want. If you cannot, I will send you to join your husband. Why bother with all this chatter?”
Bai Lan said, “You reckless fool!”