Chapter 1297: Who Is Guan Fangyi?

"This..." Hei Shi found it unbelievable. "How is that possible?"

"He came to see me precisely because of this..." Wu Chang briefly explained the situation.

After listening, Hei Shi remained suspicious. "Sacred Venerable, could there be something wrong with this?"

Wu Chang said, "I don't care whether Yuan Gang is truly his son. So long as Zhao Xiongge is willing to bring out the Demon Canon in exchange, that's enough."

Hei Shi nodded slightly. That was true. Nothing else mattered. What mattered was obtaining the Demon Canon.

They had racked their brains and coveted it for so many years. Now Zhao Xiongge had admitted possessing it and was even willing to hand it over. How could Wu Chang possibly let this opportunity pass?

No wonder he had disregarded everything else and taken Yuan Gang away first.

"There are still many difficulties," Hei Shi said hesitantly. "Even if Lü Wushuang is willing to let Yuan Gang go, how do we make the other seven agree?"

That was precisely the problem they now needed to discuss and solve.

...

On the upper floor of a small building, Niu Youdao stood alone at the railing, looking up at the starry sky. His eyes were filled with worry.

A message had arrived from Zhao Xiongge.

The heavy bait had already been cast.

As for what Wu Chang would do next, they did not yet know.

But Niu Youdao had been forced into this.

Searching his own conscience, he could not sit by and watch Yuan Gang die. Yet he truly had no way to save him. After thinking it over again and again, he could only throw out the Demon Canon.

Only bait large enough could compel Wu Chang to exert himself.

Yun Ji appeared and slowly walked over to stand beside him at the railing.

"I don't know what exactly you and Zhao Xiongge are doing, but I do know you've exhausted every effort to save Monkey. Trying to rescue someone from the Nine Saints... can it really succeed?"

Niu Youdao said, "I don't know."

"And if it can't?"

"What else can I do? Throw away everything and have everyone die with him?"

Yun Ji said, "To save him, and to prove the matter to Zhao Xiongge, you nearly let the Holy Rakshasa beat you to death. You've already done everything you could. For Monkey to have a brother like you, this life has at least been worth living."

"This life..."

Niu Youdao murmured the words, melancholy settling over him.

...

Huang Ban's face was filled with terror.

The people holding him released his arms.

He clutched his throat with both hands as blood gushed between his fingers, making wet choking sounds deep in his mouth.

Draped in light gauze, her graceful figure only half concealed, Consort Yuan extended her tongue and licked the blood from the tip of one slender finger. Smiling pleasantly, she watched Huang Ban collapse helplessly to the floor.

She had been the one to slit his throat and take his life.

Ding Wei was also being restrained.

Two scantily clad women twisted his arms behind his back and held him fast as he watched Huang Ban writhe on the ground until the man finally went still.

Ding Wei raised his head in fury.

"What are you trying to do? Are you going to kill me too?"

Consort Yuan turned and looked at him, still smiling sweetly.

"Ding Wei, there's no choice. Niu Youdao told Lü Wushuang that he was investigating you. Now word has leaked out."

"Niu Youdao was framing me!" Ding Wei roared.

At the same time, he seemed to realize something.

He began struggling desperately.

But his magical power had been suppressed, and he could not break free. The two women behind him exerted a little force and directly forced him to his knees.

Consort Yuan said, "Whether he was framing you is no longer important. You should understand that they will soon pressure the Sacred Venerable to hand you over so they can investigate the truth."

"Should the Sacred Venerable hand you over or not?"

"If he refuses, he'll be facing pressure from all of them together."

"But if he does hand you over, then he could not even protect his own disciple. How is the Sacred Venerable supposed to preserve his dignity?"

"More importantly, the Sacred Venerable must avoid direct involvement in this matter. I'm afraid you would not withstand those people's methods."

"If you ended up revealing that the Sacred Venerable and Lü Wushuang joined hands to suppress the matter of Xuan Yao assassinating Niu Youdao, then even if you truly had been framed, the Sacred Venerable would have no way to explain himself."

She licked another trace of blood from her finger.

Ding Wei looked up at the sight of her tongue moving over the blood and shuddered.

He shouted, "Don't worry! Please tell Master not to worry either! This disciple will never betray Master. Never!"

Consort Yuan looked down at him from above.

"Can that sort of promise really be trusted?"

"Does the Sacred Venerable need to bear that risk?"

"I want to see Master! I want to see Master!"

Ding Wei suddenly shouted toward the surroundings.

"Master! This disciple has been wronged! This disciple has been wronged!"

Consort Yuan crouched down.

Her index finger pressed against his shouting mouth, silencing him, then slowly slid downward until it came to rest over his heart.

"You know perfectly well that so long as you're alive, someone will keep dragging you into this matter."

"Why make yourself suffer so much?"

"The best solution is for you to disappear completely."

"Ding Wei, you should know whose intention this is."

"Don't hate me."

"You..."

Ding Wei had barely spoken when his entire body stiffened.

Slowly, he lowered his head.

Blood was seeping from his chest.

Consort Yuan's finger had pierced straight through his chest and into his heart.

"Heh... heh..."

A miserable smile spread across Ding Wei's face.

"Consort Yuan... sooner or later, you'll have a day like this too..."

Consort Yuan suddenly hooked an arm around his neck and whispered into his ear.

"I'm different from you."

"Let me tell you a secret."

"Your master and I are actually husband and wife."

Ding Wei's eyes widened.

Then mockery slowly appeared on his face.

Still wearing that derisive expression, he collapsed.

That look infuriated Consort Yuan.

Infuriated her badly.

She stood and barked, "Clean everything up!"

Then she turned and left.

In truth, far more than two people died.

Everyone who had participated in the assassination back then was swiftly and completely disposed of once the unfavorable rumors began spreading.

...

On the cliff behind Demon Ridge, Zhao Xiongge was speaking with a man sent by Wu Chang, nodding from time to time.

Nantian Wufang arrived and landed beside them.

The visitor cupped his hands toward Nantian Wufang, then flashed away.

Nantian Wufang watched him leave before turning back, his expression ugly.

"What exactly are you and Wu Chang doing?"

Wu Chang had already approached him as well.

Wu Chang wanted the Demonic Sect to acknowledge Yuan Gang as the Saintess's successor and establish Yuan Gang as the Demonic Sect's Holy Son.

Zhao Xiongge knew this too.

The man just now had come precisely to discuss the matter with him.

There were some things Wu Chang could force through with brute power, but no one knew what results coercion would produce. So Wu Chang also hoped Zhao Xiongge could help persuade the Demonic Sect to cooperate.

Faced with Nantian Wufang's questioning, Zhao Xiongge fell silent for a moment before slowly saying, "Wu Chang isn't talking nonsense. Yuan Gang truly is the Saintess's successor."

Nantian Wufang exploded.

"What kind of joke are you making? The successors of the Saintesses through the generations have always been women. How could the successor suddenly be a man?"

Zhao Xiongge remained calm.

"There are things you don't know. The Saintess who founded the Demonic Sect was always waiting for someone to arrive. Every Saintess who inherited the position after her was waiting for that same person."

On this point, Zhao Xiongge was not lying.

That person had appeared.

He had waited in their place, and he had finally seen him.

After seeing the Holy Rakshasa reveal her human form inside the Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm, Zhao Xiongge knew that the person awaited by generations of Demonic Sect Saintesses for hundreds of years had finally arrived.

Nantian Wufang's expression shifted with doubt.

"Don't tell me the person they were waiting for was Yuan Gang."

Zhao Xiongge's tone was firm.

"Yes. It was him."

The moment Zhao Xiongge handed the Demon Canon to Niu Youdao, he had known the dying Saintess's entrustment to him was complete.

The inheritance guarded by generation after generation of Demonic Sect Saintesses had reached its destination through his hands.

He did not know what consequences would follow.

But he was grateful that he had completed the task.

Wu Chang had successively driven two Demonic Sect Saintesses to their deaths precisely because he did not want the Demonic Sect's secrets to continue being passed down. He wanted to force those secrets into the open.

The Demonic Sect no longer had a Saintess.

Perhaps there would never be another one.

And yet perhaps Heaven had taken pity on them, because at precisely this moment, the person awaited by all those generations of Saintesses had appeared.

So Zhao Xiongge felt fortunate.

The dead should finally be able to close their eyes in peace.

The moment he handed the Demon Canon to Niu Youdao, he had been freed.

His heart had settled.

Now he could face these matters openly.

Even when telling this lie, he no longer needed to blink.

Nantian Wufang suddenly seized him by the front of his robes, fury blazing across his face.

"Zhao Xiongge, don't think I don't know that because of Shangqing Sect, your relationship with Maolu Villa has always been murky."

"Are you trying to hand over the Demon Canon just to save Yuan Gang?"

Zhao Xiongge suddenly became angry as well.

He grabbed Nantian Wufang's clothes in return.

"Then answer me this!"

"Before the Saintess two generations ago realized she was in danger, didn't she secretly issue a decree ordering people to search for her successor?"

"Weren't you the one who accepted the mission to find the next Saintess?"

Emotion surged across Nantian Wufang's face.

"The Demonic Sect's internal secrets are none of your concern!"

Zhao Xiongge yanked him closer.

"In truth, by following the selection criteria, you had already found the woman who met the requirements, hadn't you?"

"Yes!" Nantian Wufang shouted. "She became Saintess, and you got her killed!"

Zhao Xiongge cursed him furiously.

"Bullshit!"

"She should never have been the Saintess in the first place."

"She was only your second choice."

"The woman who should originally have inherited the position was someone else, wasn't she?"

"Nothing but nonsense. I have no idea what you're talking about."

Nantian Wufang slapped his arm away, shoved him back, and turned in anger.

Zhao Xiongge refused to let the matter end.

He grabbed Nantian Wufang's shoulder and forcibly turned him back.

His teeth were clenched.

"Who is Guan Fangyi?"

The moment those words came out, Nantian Wufang's gaze began to waver.

He slapped Zhao Xiongge's arm away again and turned aside, avoiding the burning stare directed at him.

"Don't you already know perfectly well who she is?"

"I don't!"

Zhao Xiongge was equally agitated now.

"You tell me."

"What are you trying to hide?"

"I'm not hiding anything!"

Nantian Wufang said, "I'm telling you this clearly. So long as I'm alive, the Demonic Sect will never agree to let Yuan Gang become the Holy Son!"

He moved to flash away.

Zhao Xiongge struck quickly and seized his wrist.

Holding him fast, he said one word at a time:

"Guan Fangyi was actually the Saintess!"

"Guan Fangyi was the woman who should have become the previous Saintess, wasn't she?"

Nantian Wufang violently swung his arm, trying to break free.

Zhao Xiongge held on with all his strength and refused to release him.

His voice turned fierce.

"But you never brought her back to the Demonic Sect."

"Because you didn't want her to inherit the position of Saintess."

"Because you had seen what the Saintess of that time was going through."

"Because you were afraid Guan Fangyi would follow in her footsteps."

"Because you were afraid she would die at Wu Chang's hands!"

"What made you protect her even at the cost of the Demonic Sect's inheritance?"

He abruptly released Nantian Wufang and pointed straight at his nose.

"The reason is simple."

"You fell in love with her!"

"You would rather watch her sink into the pleasure quarters than let her become entangled in all this conflict and lose her life!"

"So you found another woman who should never have been Saintess and had her inherit the position instead."

"And everything happened exactly as you wished."

"You saved Guan Fangyi."

"Then you stood by and watched the woman who should never have been Saintess get driven to death by Wu Chang!"

Nantian Wufang stared at him in horror.

Slowly, he backed away two steps.

Then all the strength seemed to drain out of his body.

He collapsed onto the ground, devastation covering his face.

Every trace of his usual graceful ease had vanished.

[End of Chapter 1297]