Chapter 1299: The Demon Canon in Hand

Everyone's gaze turned toward Wu Chang in unison.

Wu Chang said, "Since matters have reached this point, I won't hide it from any of you. I intend to protect this man. The reason is simple: the Demonic Sect came begging me."

"The Demonic Sect?" Luo Qiu gave a soft laugh. "Others may not understand, but I do. Since when can the Demonic Sect order you around?"

Wu Chang shot him a sidelong glance. He heard the mockery of old affairs hidden in those words, but remained unmoved. "They didn't order me. Listen carefully. They begged me."

Luo Qiu said, "The Demonic Sect begged you to save Yuan Gang? The two sides have nothing to do with each other. Why would the Demonic Sect step forward for him?"

"I won't hide this from you either. There were things even I learned only recently." Wu Chang's gaze swept the group. "Not long ago, I received a message from the Demonic Sect, left the Sacred Realm, and made a trip to Demon Ridge. Only then did I learn Yuan Gang's true identity. That is why, after I returned, I had him brought straight here."

His true identity?

The others were more or less curious. Zhangsun Mi asked, "What sort of identity could Yuan Gang possibly have?"

Wu Chang answered, "Holy Son."

Zhangsun Mi blinked. "What?"

Wu Chang explained, "The inheritor of the Demonic Sect Saintess. Yuan Gang received the Saintess's inheritance. He is now the Demonic Sect's Holy Son."

Everyone looked at one another.

Mu Lianze frowned. "Wu Chang, are you joking? The Demonic Sect has always had Saintesses through the generations. How did a Holy Son suddenly appear?"

"The Demonic Sect has always misunderstood me rather deeply," Wu Chang said. "They insist on believing I would harm the Saintess. To guard against me, they arranged for a man instead."

The others were inwardly amused.

He spoke as though the Saintesses had not in fact been harmed by him.

Wu Chang continued, "The Saintess secretly entrusted the Demonic Sect's inheritance to Zhao Xiongge. Because of Zhao Xiongge's relationship with Niu Youdao, Zhao Xiongge passed the Saintess's inheritance on to Yuan Gang. That is how Yuan Gang became the Holy Son. Don't think only you find it strange. Even I find it awkward, but the facts are what they are."

Mu Lianze asked, "Even if that's true, you knew nothing at all about this Holy Son before now?"

"They believed I would harm him, so naturally they concealed it from me." Wu Chang said, "They concealed it so thoroughly that even Yuan Gang himself did not know he had received the Saintess's inheritance. This time, they truly had no other choice. That was why they came begging me."

Lü Wushuang gave a cold laugh. "Then how do you explain what happened earlier? First you informed everyone that he should be seized, and afterward you sent Hei Shi racing to Wentian City to take him."

"Because I noticed something unusual in the Boundless Desert." Wu Chang replied without hesitation. "I saw signs of what looked like Demonic Sect inheritance on Yuan Gang and wanted to understand what was happening. But because of the rules among the nine of us, it was inconvenient for me to act recklessly, so I could only handle the matter through Misty Pavilion's procedures."

He looked around at them. "Think about it yourselves. If I had known his identity all along, if I hadn't discovered the anomaly only in the desert, would I have waited until now to act? Would there have been any opportunity for the rest of you to interfere? If I hadn't learned his true identity only recently, why would I wait until I returned from the outside world before going to Wentian City to take him?"

Some of the others frowned. Others fell into thought.

Put that way, his explanation did seem to fit.

Luo Qiu said, "And you would actually protect the Demonic Sect's Holy Son?"

Wu Chang's face remained expressionless. "The world misunderstands me too deeply. They say I slaughtered the Demonic Sect. They say I murdered my adoptive father. None of that is true. I came from the Demonic Sect and have always protected it. The fact that the Demonic Sect still stands today is proof enough. How could I sit by while its Holy Son meets disaster? Whoever makes an enemy of the Demonic Sect's Holy Son makes an enemy of me."

Several people nearly laughed aloud.

Had they not known the truth, they might almost have believed him.

But everyone understood what he was doing.

He had played the whore and still wanted a chastity arch erected in his honor.

In fact, many of them had always assumed that this was precisely why the Demonic Sect had survived to the present day: no matter what Wu Chang had done in the past, it was still the sect he came from.

"So I hope all of you will give me some face and let him go this once." Wu Chang continued, "If you don't believe me, go investigate the Demonic Sect yourselves and see whether what I've said is true."

"Rest assured. Earlier, I wanted him detained and questioned only because I wanted to understand why he possessed signs of Demonic Sect inheritance. I had no other design. Now that I understand the situation, so long as all of you let him go, I guarantee I will release him immediately and return his freedom. Nothing else you may be imagining will happen to him."

"If any of you later discover that what I've said today was false, you may come settle accounts with me at any time. You may also seize him again whenever you wish."

Lü Wushuang, in order to conceal her own secret, had already compromised and declared that she no longer wanted the Scorpion Emperor. In truth, she merely intended to act in secret from now on.

Wu Chang was much the same. Once he obtained what he wanted, why would he still need to keep Yuan Gang detained? Outwardly, he too had made a concession.

The Nine Saints exchanged looks.

Whatever the truth of the matter, unless they had first made thorough preparations for a coordinated attack, none of them could guarantee that another could be kept from escaping.

Starting a fight was easy. Letting someone get away would bring endless trouble afterward.

Now Lü Wushuang, Yuan Se, and Wu Chang were all entangled in separate suspicions. What should be done still required careful discussion.

In short, Lü Wushuang and Wu Chang had both given explanations. Without solid evidence, the rest could only let matters pass ambiguously for the moment.

This had always been how the Nine Saints restrained one another. Whether a particular matter was worth shattering the balance that had formed among them had to be weighed carefully according to circumstances.

No one intended to remain here any longer than necessary.

As the others began leaving, Wu Chang suddenly called, "Thank you all for giving me face. Take care on the road. I won't see you off. Lü Wushuang, stay."

The others turned back.

Yuan Se immediately spoke. "What is it that can't be said openly in front of everyone?"

He was worried that Lü Wushuang might suffer a disadvantage if she remained alone. Or perhaps, more accurately, he was worried she might say something she should not.

Wu Chang said, "Fat Yuan, you should clean your own ass first. You're not welcome here. Get lost!"

Yuan Se chuckled, completely unconcerned. "Beauty Lü, someone is framing us. There are a few things I really do need to discuss with you. I'll wait outside. Call if you need anything."

He turned and left. Every step sent the flesh on his enormous body trembling as he passed through the others.

The remaining Saints had already guessed why Wu Chang wanted Lü Wushuang to stay.

Yuan Gang had killed Lü Wushuang's disciple, while Wu Chang now wanted to protect Yuan Gang.

The two probably still had something to settle between them.

Once everyone else had gone, Lü Wushuang sneered. "What? You want to beg me to show mercy?"

"Beg you?" Wu Chang laughed disdainfully and stepped closer. With his height, he looked down on her almost literally. "You were right about one thing. I was the one who released those rumors."

Lü Wushuang's eyes narrowed.

Wu Chang continued, "I was waiting for someone to start killing people to silence them, so the matter would become impossible to wash clean."

Her pupils contracted sharply.

She understood at once.

If Wu Chang had known the truth before releasing the rumors, then he must have prepared evidence in advance.

Yuan Se killing witnesses now would not erase the matter.

"I hope you'll give me some face," Wu Chang said meaningfully. "There's no need to damage our relationship over a dead person. Let this matter end here. I do not want anything happening to Yuan Gang. You understand what I mean, don't you?"

"Hmph!"

Lü Wushuang swept her sleeve and departed.

Only after confirming that all the honored guests had left did Hei Shi return to report.

"Sacred Venerable, they're all gone."

"Bring the man out."

"Yes!"

Hei Shi accepted the order and hurried away.

Before long, Yuan Gang was carried out.

His condition was extremely poor. He was barely conscious, and wounds covered his body.

Wu Chang grabbed him with one hand, flashed out of the Demon Palace, and shot straight into the sky.

Hei Shi hurried outside and watched him vanish.

He knew the Sacred Venerable could no longer wait.

After yearning for the Demon Canon for so many years, now that it was finally within reach, Wu Chang could not bear to delay even another moment.

...

When they landed again, Yuan Gang, half-dead and covered in wounds, was thrown down outside the entrance to Zhao Xiongge's cave.

Zhao Xiongge glanced at Wu Chang standing there, then immediately crouched beside Yuan Gang.

After confirming that it really was him, Zhao Xiongge used magic to examine his injuries.

They were severe.

Some places had even been flayed, leaving sections of white bone exposed along his limbs.

Seeing the steel needles still inserted throughout Yuan Gang's body, Zhao Xiongge reached out to remove them.

"No hurry," Wu Chang said. "He won't die. Hand over the thing first."

Zhao Xiongge pulled one blood-soaked steel needle free before standing.

"You are certain no one inside the Sacred Realm will trouble him again?"

"So long as your side causes no trouble, naturally there will be no trouble." Wu Chang's voice was cold. "I brought the man to you. Now where is the thing I want? Do not test my patience. Hand it over immediately."

Clang!

Zhao Xiongge threw the bloody needle onto the ground.

He knew Wu Chang's state of mind had already reached an extremely dangerous edge.

Without further argument, Zhao Xiongge sprang from the cliff.

Wu Chang followed immediately.

One man repeatedly rose and fell between air and ground, racing across the terrain. The other slowed in the sky and followed from above.

They returned to the same place as before, the deep ravine where Zhao Xiongge had once brought Niu Youdao.

Zhao Xiongge dropped into the ravine.

Wu Chang descended more slowly, his cold gaze sweeping the surroundings in alert vigilance.

At the angle where the stone wall met the earth, Zhao Xiongge struck out with one palm.

Boom!

The ground split open.

After digging for a moment, he pulled out a stone.

Magic cracked the stone apart, revealing a metal box within.

Zhao Xiongge threw it toward Wu Chang.

Wu Chang caught it.

He inspected it briefly with magic to make certain there was no problem, then opened the box and saw the tightly wrapped oiled-paper parcel inside.

He tossed the box away, tore open the wrappings, and grasped the metal scroll within.

Four characters were engraved on its surface:

Li Ge's Handwritten Notes.

The name Li Ge alone was enough to excite him.

The ancient workmanship, the archaic air, even the feel of the object in his hand told him immediately that this was something old.

He looked up and asked, "This is the Demon Canon?"

"The so-called Demon Canon was never some formal canon or scripture," Zhao Xiongge said. "It is this handwritten record."

The thing Wu Chang had dreamed of obtaining for so many years was finally in his hands.

His fingers were actually trembling.

After discovering how to open it, he pulled.

The metal scroll extended with a faint scraping sound that was exquisite music to his ears.

The workmanship was extraordinarily intricate.

So was the ancient aura about it.

Most striking of all was the writing.

At a glance, it was obvious that someone with tremendous cultivation had directly carved the characters into diamond-hard metal using magical power.

The rounded, profound quality contained in those strokes was not something a counterfeit could simply reproduce.

To casually engrave writing into metal this hard spoke volumes about the cultivator's strength.

Wu Chang's whole body and mind trembled.

Very quickly, he became absorbed in the contents.

The later sections especially held his attention.

After finishing, he released a long breath.

Then his brows slowly furrowed.

"The Person from the Mirror... Person from the Mirror..."

If the inheritor disobeyed the instructions, the Person from the Mirror would come and execute them.

The implication hidden in those words made him feel a faint threat.

He raised his eyes toward Zhao Xiongge.

"What does 'Person from the Mirror' mean?"

"Don't ask me," Zhao Xiongge replied. "If the Saintesses through the generations had known what it meant, you so-called Nine Saints would never have had the chance to run rampant."

"I'd like to know what it means too."

"But aside from Li Ge herself, probably no one does."

Wu Chang fell silent.

Then he pulled the scroll open again and rapidly scanned through it once more.

"Is this all there is to the Demon Canon?"

Before seeing it, he had yearned for it for years.

Now that it was in his hands, why did it suddenly feel somewhat like a tasteless chicken rib?

Zhao Xiongge said, "Do you think this scroll has room to hold much more?"

"Or do you think Li Ge would have needed to create several separate scrolls just to record different things?"

[End of Chapter 1299]