Under the moonlight, Wu Hei guarded his sleeping child. He had taken off his clothes to use as a cushion and cover for the child, leaving him in a sleeveless short shirt on his upper body, exposing both of his arms.
Only at this moment could one see that his sturdy, muscular build was no less impressive than his father’s.
The three fellow disciples stood silently nearby. Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie occasionally looked up to check the moon’s position. Wu Hei also glanced up from time to time, estimating that the hour of the rat had already arrived.
The others could clearly feel Yu Qing’s breathing. It would sometimes pause for a while before he took another breath, and at other times it was heavy and rapid, highly irregular. He kept his head lowered, as if petrified, and no one knew what he was thinking.
Of course, he would occasionally look up at the moon’s position. It was obvious that the closer it got to the hour of the rat, the more chaotic his breathing became.
Everyone understood that such abnormal behaviour meant he must have realised himself that Qiao Qie’er was not entirely clean.
A figure flashed over. It was Ning Chaoyi. Since the hour of the rat had arrived, he had dropped the gold and come over again to see if Yu Qing had already been lured away.
Seeing that Yu Qing was still there, he immediately warned, “Brother Lin, you cannot be like this. Your face screams that there is a traitor. Anyone would be afraid to expose themselves.”
Yu Qing showed no reaction.
Nan Zhu sighed, “He is not in the mood to smile right now. Mr Ning, there is no need to worry too much. We will help handle things here.”
Ning Chaoyi nodded slightly, said no more, and quickly left.
He headed straight for the canyon where the gold was being transported, jumped down, and found only Shen Qingcheng. Qiao Qie’er was nowhere to be seen. He immediately flew up to the cliff face and asked Shen Qingcheng, “Where is Wang Shaojun?”
Shen Qingcheng was completely unaware for the moment and replied with an “Oh”, “She said she had something to do and went to find Lin Erqing and the others.”
Has she already gone over? Ning Chaoyi was slightly stunned. Did he take a wrong turn and miss her?
He immediately flew back up the cliff and sneaked towards Wu Hei and the others. He carefully observed his surroundings along the way but did not spot Qiao Qie’er.
When he reached the vicinity of Yu Qing and the others, he hid and observed again. He still did not see Qiao Qie’er arriving. Instead, he caused Wu Hei to quickly turn his head and stare at his hiding spot.
He had no choice but to reveal himself. He approached the group again and asked in a low voice, “Has she not arrived yet?”
Nan Zhu shook his head.
Ning Chaoyi had to sit down. He simply sat there and waited. Since he and Qiao Qie’er were secretly on the same side, his presence here was not a problem. At the same time, he whispered, “She is no longer working in the valley. I do not know where she went. I asked, and Shen Qingcheng said she mentioned having something to do and coming to find you all. She is probably making preparations and might arrive soon.”
Yu Qing kept his head lowered, repeatedly flicking a small pebble with one finger, fully revealing the hesitation in his heart.
“Sigh!” Nan Zhu sighed lightly again. He started looking at the stars and the moon, looking at the sky and the ground, looking at his mood. He really wanted to ask someone, if Qiao Qie’er truly had a problem, what should the old fifteenth do? From childhood to adulthood, this was the first time he had seen the old fifteenth so at a loss.
Mu Aotie kept his jaw clenched and remained silent, while Wu Hei maintained his otherworldly calm.
Wait! Everyone was waiting for Qiao Qie’er to arrive, waiting for her to come and lure Yu Qing away.
However, after waiting for a long time, and with the hour of the rat almost half over, they still had not managed to wait for Qiao Qie’er to arrive.
Nan Zhu finally could not hold back, “Mr Ning, what is the situation? Where is she?”
Ning Chaoyi looked left and right, not knowing how to answer. Yes, he also wanted to ask, where was she? Had she not already told Shen Qingcheng that she was coming to find Lin Erqing and the others? Could she have come earlier and overheard their conversation here?
But he felt that was impossible. He looked at Wu Hei. Given this man’s cultivation level, it should be very difficult for Qiao Qie’er to get too close without being detected by him, right?
“I will go check over at the canyon.” He stood up again and left quickly.
The distance to the canyon was not far. Upon arriving, he jumped straight down, but Qiao Qie’er was still nowhere to be seen, which immediately struck him as strange.
He flew back up to the cliff face to ask Shen Qingcheng, “Has Wang Shaojun not returned yet?”
Shen Qingcheng paused her work, “No, she might still be chatting over at Lin Erqing’s place.”
Ning Chaoyi was speechless. Did he not know whether she was chatting over there or not? He had just come from there.
He jumped into the canyon and began searching back and forth within it.
Shen Qingcheng, clinging to the cliff face, watched his figure disappear into the darkness. She sensed that something was abnormal and secretly pondered what on earth was going on.
Suddenly seeing her mother’s figure jump down from the cliff, she immediately flew down as well. Reaching her mother’s side, she asked in a low voice, “Mother, why do I feel that Ning Chaoyi is acting a bit abnormally?”
Lu Xingyun looked around, then finally leaned close to her daughter’s ear, whispering for a while to reveal the truth…
After searching the canyon, Ning Chaoyi returned to Wu Hei’s side and silently sat down next to Nan Zhu.
This time, it was Nan Zhu who took the initiative to ask him, “Is she over at the canyon?”
Ning Chaoyi silently shook his head, “She is not there…”
Yu Qing, Mu Aotie, and Wu Hei immediately all turned to look at him in unison.
Nan Zhu pressed, “What do you mean? Are you playing games with us?”
Ning Chaoyi sighed, “Do you think I would play games with you over something like this? I am wondering if she went to meet with them over there to discuss things first, and will only come over once a plan is settled? Otherwise, there is no way to explain her sudden departure. She is missing now, so she must be up to something. Let us just wait a bit longer. We do not mind waiting a little more time. She will show her face sooner or later. Let us see how she wants to play this.”
Nan Zhu immediately looked thoroughly disappointed. He really wanted to ask him, was this really just a matter of waiting a little longer? For someone, every moment of waiting was endless torment!
It seemed that this Mr Ning had no reason to mess around with such a matter, so everyone could only continue to wait…
The bright moon shifted. On the highest mountain peak, several figures flew down and landed.
The four demons, Bai Lan, Gao Yuan, Jiang Shan, and Old Mother Rat, arrived at the summit with some of their men.
The four demons scanned their surroundings. Old Mother Rat muttered, “Where did the people go?”
Just as she finished speaking, a figure flew out from the great canyon behind the mountain. After a few leaps, a graceful silhouette floated down gracefully in front of them. It was Qiao Qie’er.
As soon as the two parties met, Qiao Qie’er immediately asked, “Why are you only arriving now?”
None of the four demons answered this question. They had only revealed themselves late, not arrived late. Having heeded Gao Yuan’s warning, they had lain in ambush and observed the surroundings for a while to avoid falling into any traps.
Bai Lan retorted, “Why are you alone? Where is A Shiheng?”
Qiao Qie’er remained composed and pointed calmly towards the great canyon, “He is down there. There is a cave below, and he went inside to explore.”
Hearing this, Gao Yuan immediately asked, “What is there to explore in a cave in the middle of the night? Is there something down in that cave?”
Qiao Qie’er replied, “How would I know what is there? I had to find a reason to lure him out, otherwise how could I keep him fixed here? I just happened to find a cave here, so I let him go explore it.”
These words caused the corner of Gao Yuan’s eye to twitch violently. His peripheral vision met with his three accomplices, and he then gave a forced smile, “I see.”
Qiao Qie’er asked again, “For no apparent reason, why did you have me lure him out alone?”
Bai Lan snorted, “Do not play dumb. Naturally, it is to avenge my husband’s murder!”
Qiao Qie’er said, “Avenge your husband’s murder? Can you really make that decision? Forgive my bluntness, but the four of you do not seem like people with that much power. There must be someone behind you. I assume they have come as well, so why not come out and meet?”
Gao Yuan replied, “Whatever you have to say can be discussed slowly later. Let us deal with the matter at hand first. Go and call A Shiheng out.”
Qiao Qie’er said, “Since you want to kill him, why call him out? Let me tell you, I only discovered today that there is a master at the Upper Profound realm on my side. Provoking him is not a good thing. Going directly to the deep underground cave to make a move will also conveniently avoid making too much noise. Would that not be perfect?”
Gao Yuan slowly turned his head, exchanged glances with the other three, and finally turned back to say, “Fine, you have thought of everything. You lead the way.”
Qiao Qie’er slowly turned around. Her gaze lingered deeply on the direction where Yu Qing and the others were located. A trace of reluctance flashed in her bright eyes. Only then did she face the great canyon, leaping into the air and flying away, her aquamarine skirt disappearing into the darkness.
Gao Yuan and the others exchanged glances and also flew down one after another. They took out luminous stones to illuminate the way in mid air, eventually drifting down to the bottom of the valley one by one.
Qiao Qie’er pointed to a pitch black cave at the bottom of the valley and made a hushing gesture, indicating that the person was exploring deep inside this cave.
Gao Yuan tilted his head and signalled, “You lead the way!”
Qiao Qie’er also took out a luminous stone and walked alone into the depths of the pitch black cave.
Gao Yuan and the others exchanged glances once more, then followed behind her at a moderate distance.
The cave must be very deep. Qiao Qie’er could imagine this. Judging from the size of the giant golden snake, without sufficient depth underground, it would be impossible to accommodate it.
However, she could not be certain of the giant snake’s exact location. She could only bite the bullet and walk forward alone into the gloomy depths. The ground beneath her feet seemed to have been worn into a curve by the metallic belly of the snake.
Gao Yuan suddenly blurted out, “Why does it feel like this cave has been polished by something?”
Qiao Qie’er turned around and made a hushing gesture to him. Without stopping her steps, she continued forward, unaware that a cold sneer had appeared on the corners of Gao Yuan’s mouth behind her.
Gao Yuan slowly made hand signals, slowing down the pace of the group. Later, he held his hand out to block them and simply stopped, watching the faint light and the figure ahead gradually move deeper.
At this moment, Qiao Qie’er’s heart was filled with regret. There were some things she did not know how to explain to Yu Qing. She felt that no matter how she explained, it would be pale and powerless. The fact was that she had been deceiving him from the very beginning.
She had originally thought that she would explain everything after the secret was unravelled. After all, her life was not just about love and romance. There were other people’s existence and lives at stake. If Yu Qing truly could not accept it and truly could not forgive her deception, then there was nothing she could do.
It was not until she discovered that the so called secret was actually the legendary Golden Ruins that her heart gradually sank into an icy abyss.
And precisely at this time, the people behind the scenes wanted to kill Yu Qing.
She did not know how to face Yu Qing, nor did she know how to explain. Perhaps only by doing what she was doing right now could she truly prove something to Yu Qing, proving that her feelings towards him were pure and that she had not used any schemes.
Incidentally, she could also eliminate those who had followed them in and posed a threat to Yu Qing’s life.
She wanted to use the attacking power of the giant golden snake here to bury these people underground.
Of course, she had also left something to remind Yu Qing that Ning Chaoyi and those people were traitors.