Chapter 1457: Yuan Se, the Masked Bandit

Having witnessed the scene with his own eyes and seen Yin Ji summon and dismiss the demon foxes at will, Yuan Se was actually speechless for quite some time.

Luo Qiu’s wife was a demon fox?

So the reason this woman had vanished was that Luo Qiu discovered the truth and tried to silence her!

His gaze flickered as he thought for a while before testing her. “You should know where we stand with your Demon Fox Clan. You are the Clan Chief, yet even Luo Qiu would not spare you. Now you suddenly contact me. What exactly do you want?”

Yin Ji replied, “You should know what my Demon Fox Clan wants. We want freedom. This world belonged to my Demon Fox Clan to begin with. I also know what you want. Give us sufficient guarantees of your sincerity, and once the matter is done, have the forces of the mortal world withdraw from the Fox Immortal Realm. Then my Demon Fox Clan will help you seize all beneath Heaven.”

Yuan Se chuckled. “Your Demon Fox Clan alone can help me seize all beneath Heaven?”

“What if the Holy Rakshasa is added?”

“Holy Rakshasa?” Yuan Se’s smile changed abruptly. He muttered the words, as though recalling something.

Yin Ji said, “My clan overheard the humans talking. The Holy Rakshasa has appeared in the world! She will not listen to any of you, but she and I are old acquaintances and friends. Is that reason enough?”

Yuan Se’s eyes flickered. “Why me? Of all of us, why choose me instead of someone else?”

“Naturally I have my reasons for choosing you. You’ll know in time.”

“What kind of sincerity do you want?”

“That depends on what sincerity you can offer that will make my clan trust you.”

Yuan Se chuckled. “Now you’ve made things difficult for me. I’m afraid you’ll have to give me some time to think.”

“Fine. Then we’ll talk once you’ve thought it through. When you have, come here again. I will naturally come meet you. Farewell.”

“Wait!” Yuan Se raised a hand to stop her.

Yin Ji halted. “You’ve thought it through already?”

“Where is your sincerity?”

“Once you show yours, I will naturally offer mine in exchange.”

Yuan Se said, “Why not do this instead? Come with me. Then we can stay together and discuss matters whenever we wish. What do you think?”

“You’re thinking too much.”

Yin Ji threw down the words and flashed away.

Yuan Se gave a cold snort. With a whoosh, he became a blur and pursued her. In an instant, countless palm shadows came crashing down with overwhelming momentum.

Yin Ji twisted in midair and struck out with both palms to defend herself, but the continuous storm of palm shadows shattered her defense almost instantly. Her entire body was blasted away. The moment she struck the ground, she fled into the swamp.

“You think you can run? Do you still think you can escape?” Yuan Se chuckled darkly.

He plunged toward the ground like a meteor. Mud and mire erupted in a massive wave as the two figures vanished into it one after the other.

Before the spray of mud could even settle, another explosion rang out.

Yuan Se shot into the sky.

A streak of red light burst from the mud below. A fire dragon surged after him with astonishing force.

Yuan Se flipped downward and struck with one palm. The fire dragon exploded into countless blossoms of flame.

The flames instantly scattered across the sky. One fiery blossom after another rapidly collided, transforming in the blink of an eye into hundreds upon hundreds of flaming swords.

A rain of blazing swords shot toward Yuan Se from every direction.

Slightly startled, Yuan Se spun like a windmill, a torrential storm of palm shadows blasting outward on all sides.

Amid booming explosions, the shattered flames vanished into thin air. Only waves of scorching heat remained rolling through the atmosphere.

Hovering in the air, Yuan Se looked around. His gaze settled on the swamp below, and the smile had vanished from his face.

He knew Yin Ji’s strength. He had thought capturing her would be almost certain.

Who could have expected another person hidden nearby to intervene?

And that person was no weakling. They had actually helped Yin Ji escape.

The problem was that Yuan Se had never seen an art of fire like that before.

Who was it?

The surroundings had fallen silent.

Yuan Se knew he had failed. Finding Yin Ji again now would be nearly impossible.

“Yin Ji, it was only a joke. Wait for me. Once I’ve considered the conditions you proposed, I’ll come meet you again.”

Yuan Se amplified his voice with spiritual power, sending it echoing through the surrounding marsh. Then he flashed away through the air.

There was no point remaining.

After what he had just done, Yin Ji would not show herself easily again.

...

Inside the cave, Niu Youdao’s expression was not pleasant.

Yuan Se had disappeared.

They did not know when.

The meals sent to Yuan Se had continued as usual. It was only later, when Maolu Annex noticed that the amount of food left behind after his meals was wrong, that they realized something was off and determined that Yuan Se might no longer be there.

For Yuan Se to disappear at this particular moment meant that using Yin Ji as bait had worked.

He had most likely returned to the Sacred Realm.

But there was a problem.

Consort Yuan and the rest of Yuan Se’s attendants had not left. They were still inside Maolu Annex.

What did that mean?

It meant Yuan Se had gone alone.

It meant he intended to return.

In other words, the plan to lure Yuan Se away had failed.

Lü Wushuang said, “Now we have trouble. If he keeps staying like this, and you and Yun Ji remain away for too long, Gong Lince won’t be able to hold up the story much longer. If there is truly no other choice, you and Yun Ji can only have met with some accident and disappeared.”

They could only disappear.

They did not even dare die.

A death would require a corpse for verification.

They could hardly claim that both of them happened to die at this exact moment and that both corpses were destroyed beyond recovery.

Yuan Se’s guards were highly vigilant. A death at a time like this would already be enough to arouse suspicion. If even the bodies could not be found, it would be strange if Yuan Se did not investigate Gong Lince.

And once Gong Lince was investigated, his cultivation would be exposed.

Cold light flashed in Niu Youdao’s eyes. “It hasn’t reached that point yet. I have contingencies prepared. I’d like to see who wins in the end!”

Just then, someone hurried in from outside the cave.

It was Guan Fangyi.

The moment she entered, she reported urgently, “Master Dao, Yuan Se is back.”

Niu Youdao immediately asked, “Did you notice anything unusual?”

“He brought someone back with him. The person’s appearance was covered, so no one could see who it was. But from the descriptions given by the brothers who saw them, it should be a woman.”

“A woman?”

Niu Youdao fell silent for a moment, then suddenly blurted, “Luo Fangfei!”

Lü Wushuang nodded. “Most likely. Fatty Yuan actually brought Luo Fangfei straight here.”

The situation was broadly within their expectations.

Once Yin Ji exposed herself, Yuan Se was certain to seize Luo Fangfei and try using her as leverage against Yin Ji.

They simply had not expected him to bring Luo Fangfei here.

Niu Youdao said, “If it really is Luo Fangfei, news should arrive from the Sacred Realm within the next couple of days. Hongniang, go back immediately. Keep watch and find out where Yuan Se is holding her.”

“All right!”

Guan Fangyi put down a stack of intelligence reports recently gathered from Maolu Annex and quickly left.

As expected, a message from Sha Rulai arrived the very next day. It also included Yin Ji’s account of her meeting with Yuan Se.

The meeting had gone largely as expected.

What they had not anticipated was that Yuan Se would actually attack Yin Ji.

Fortunately, they had made ample preparations beforehand.

Sha Rulai’s own report carried obvious anger.

Yuan Se had directly barged into Daluo Sacred Land and abducted Luo Fangfei, and Sha Rulai cursed him for being utterly shameless.

Abducting her was one thing.

That shameless bastard Yuan Se had actually dressed himself up like some masked bandit, wearing black from head to toe and covering his face.

With his build and his level of strength, even an idiot could tell who he was.

And yet Yuan Se had somehow gone through with such a ridiculous disguise.

Sha Rulai summed it up in two words:

Utterly shameless!

Yuan Se dressed in black and masked?

Niu Youdao and Lü Wushuang looked at each other, both somewhat dumbfounded.

For a moment, they even wondered whether it could have been someone else.

Could Yuan Se really pull such a clumsy stunt?

Sha Rulai said he had already sent an urgent message to Luo Qiu. He also reminded Niu Youdao that he absolutely had to keep his promise and guarantee Luo Fangfei’s safety.

Between the lines, Sha Rulai seemed somewhat worried about Yuan Se’s fondness for women. He mentioned that Yuan Se kept quite a few beauties around him for pleasure.

Sha Rulai had not been so worried before.

But now Yuan Se had gone and put on a mask.

Did he really think everyone else was an idiot?

What exactly was he trying to do?

The whole performance was unsettling enough that Sha Rulai could not help worrying that Yuan Se might violate Luo Fangfei.

The letter made Niu Youdao worried as well. He asked Lü Wushuang, “From what you know of Yuan Se, would he do something improper to Luo Fangfei?”

“Not to that extent. She is Luo Qiu’s daughter. If he enraged Luo Qiu completely, even Yuan Se would have trouble dealing with the consequences. It isn’t as though he has never seen a woman before. He knows where the line is. I would believe he might kill Luo Fangfei. That sort of thing, no.”

“Luo Qiu can’t possibly sit by and do nothing. He should come looking for Yuan Se to settle accounts.”

Niu Youdao muttered the words, then abruptly turned to Yun Ji. “Send a reply. Proceed according to plan. At the predetermined location, capture Ghost Doctor and his disciples. Ao Feng must attack Wuliang Garden quickly and destroy the Wuliang Fruit tree. Also notify Hongniang and Yuan Fang to make their preparations.”

The corner of Lü Wushuang’s mouth twitched slightly.

This man truly was ruthless enough.

For the sake of the plan, he was even willing to destroy the only remaining Wuliang Fruit tree in the world.

“All right!” Yun Ji acknowledged and left.

...

Inside Nanzhou’s provincial capital, a vigorous-looking man in green robes entered the city on foot and headed straight for Maolu Annex.

When he reached the entrance, he ignored everything and forced his way directly inside.

The guards tried to stop him, only to be blasted aside by the immense force surging from his body.

The supposed Misty Pavilion personnel in the courtyard were startled by the scene. Someone hurriedly shouted, “Stop!” preventing the guards from blindly throwing themselves forward.

The visitor was none other than Luo Qiu, Sacred Venerable of Daluo Sacred Land.

Expressionless, Luo Qiu walked into the courtyard.

One of the Dayuan Sacred Land men operating under the name of Misty Pavilion stepped forward to salute him. Before he could even speak—

Smack!

His head burst apart.

The corpse collapsed at Luo Qiu’s feet.

The commotion instantly threw Maolu Annex into turmoil.

The Dayuan Sacred Land men who rushed out were alarmed when they saw Luo Qiu. When they then saw that he had killed someone without a word, none dared approach. They retreated one after another.

“Tell Fatty Yuan to get his ass out here and see me!” Luo Qiu barked.

Someone immediately ran to report.

Before long, the man returned and cupped his hands. “Sir invites you inside.”

Luo Qiu followed him into the rear courtyard.

There, on the steps beneath an eave, the massively obese Yuan Se stood with hands cupped in welcome.

“Rare guest, rare guest.”

Whoosh!

Luo Qiu flashed beneath the eaves and stopped directly before him.

“Cut the nonsense. Release her immediately!”

Yuan Se chuckled. “Brother Luo, I really don’t understand what you mean.”

Luo Qiu’s voice sank. “Do you think wrapping a pig in black cloth makes it human? I’ll ask you once. Are you releasing her or not?”

Yuan Se was not offended. Still smiling, he waved a hand and dismissed everyone watching from nearby.

With a half-smile, he said, “I knew Brother Luo was too clever to fool. And if I refuse to release her, what then?”

[End of Chapter 1457]