Chapter 1493: Too Late

Once the demon fox had disappeared, Luo Qiu swept a sleeve, and the two people lying on the ground gradually regained consciousness.

Sha Rulai and Luo Fangfei were both surprised to find themselves sprawled on the ground. After climbing to their feet and seeing the surroundings, they were even more astonished.

The Desolate Marsh Deadlands?

Seeing Luo Qiu there as well, Sha Rulai became uncertain and wary.

“Father, are we in the Desolate Marsh Deadlands?” Luo Fangfei asked.

Luo Qiu gave a slight nod.

Luo Fangfei said, “Are we here to hunt demon foxes?”

Luo Qiu nodded again, faint complexity showing in the way he looked at his daughter.

Curious, Luo Fangfei asked, “Father, you personally came to hunt demon foxes?”

Luo Qiu gave a noncommittal grunt.

Luo Fangfei soon noticed something wrong. She raised both hands and asked, “Father, why is my spiritual power restricted? Undo it for me.”

Luo Qiu replied calmly, “Stay quiet and remain here.”

Luo Fangfei said unhappily, “If you don’t remove the restriction on my spiritual power, how am I supposed to hunt demon foxes?”

“You don’t need to act personally. Stay to the side.”

Luo Fangfei pouted, then turned and walked back to Sha Rulai. Looking at him with tender affection, she said, “Senior Brother, undo it for me.”

Sha Rulai was silent for a moment before saying, “My spiritual power is restricted as well.”

The implication was obvious: he had no way to help her.

“What is all this nonsense?” Luo Fangfei muttered behind Luo Qiu’s back, plainly complaining about her father.

Only she would dare speak that way. Anyone else would never have had the nerve.

But she was broadhearted and did not take the matter seriously. Judging by the situation, Senior Brother could only remain obediently here together with her. That actually made her quite happy.

Sha Rulai walked over to Luo Qiu and cautiously tested the waters. “Master, has something happened?”

Luo Qiu’s face remained expressionless. “You’ll know when it is time for you to know.”

Once he said that, Sha Rulai could not ask anything further. He could only fall silent and step away.

He was not Luo Fangfei. His heart was not nearly so carefree.

He had already begun to sense danger closing in and realized he might be in serious trouble this time.

Because he knew very well what had happened.

Although he did not yet know Granny Xue was dead, communication between Niu Youdao and the Demon Fox Clan had previously passed through his hands. He knew Niu Youdao had been setting a trap to eliminate Granny Xue.

The moment Wu Chang suddenly captured him, Sha Rulai knew Wu Chang must already have met Yin Ji.

And if Luo Qiu had managed to get him back from Wu Chang, that meant Luo Qiu already knew about Wu Chang’s meeting with Yin Ji.

Earlier, after returning to the Sacred Realm, their route had clearly appeared to lead toward Daluo Sacred Land.

Yet after Sha Rulai woke from unconsciousness, he found himself in the Desolate Marsh Deadlands instead.

What did that mean?

It meant Luo Qiu was avoiding eyes and ears and concealing something.

In other words, Niu Youdao’s side probably still had no idea Sha Rulai had been brought to the Desolate Marsh Deadlands. They could not intervene in time or mount a rescue.

There was no need to think hard about why they had come here.

The target was Yin Ji.

Both he and Luo Fangfei had been brought here. There was only one possibility: just as Yuan Se had once seized Luo Fangfei because of Yin Ji, Luo Qiu had now come personally to carry out the same sort of plan himself.

Using Luo Fangfei to threaten Yin Ji was understandable.

What made Sha Rulai uneasy was why he too had been brought along.

The more he thought about it, the more clearly he sensed that his own life was in danger.

He understood many things perfectly well, but he could not say them aloud.

The moment he did, he would expose himself.

Nor could he warn Luo Fangfei.

That would only cause Luo Fangfei to quarrel with Luo Qiu, and on a matter like this, she had no power to change Luo Qiu’s decision.

Speaking would accomplish nothing except make Luo Qiu suspicious of him.

All he could do was hope his own guess was wrong and wait quietly for the outcome he least wanted to face.

Was he afraid?

To some degree, naturally.

But he was helpless as well.

To guard against precisely this sort of accident, Niu Youdao had specifically warned him beforehand to keep his distance.

Who could have imagined Wu Chang would go to such lengths to capture him?

Luo Fangfei knew none of this.

She was delighted, happy as a little girl, lifting her skirts as she ran through the grass and gathered bright flowers.

Soon she had woven a flower crown and placed it on her own head.

From time to time, Luo Qiu glanced toward her.

There was deep complexity in his eyes.

Luo Fangfei did not stop with one.

She wove another flower crown and ran over to Sha Rulai, offering it to him. “Senior Brother, put it on and let me see.”

Sha Rulai forced a smile.

He glanced at Luo Qiu, then tilted his head toward him, signaling for Luo Fangfei to give her father one as well.

Luo Fangfei was obedient where Sha Rulai was concerned.

She immediately ran off happily, wove another flower crown, then returned to Luo Qiu with a smile. “Father, let me put this on you.”

Luo Qiu raised a hand to stop her and said stiffly, “What kind of appearance is that?”

He was the dignified Sacred Venerable Daluo.

What would it look like for him to walk around with a flower crown perched on his head?

Was he supposed to throw away all seriousness and majesty?

But Sha Rulai once again signaled Luo Fangfei with his eyes.

So Luo Fangfei persisted.

She caught Luo Qiu’s hand and forcibly stuffed the flower crown into it, saying with a trace of spoiled affection, “Your daughter made it for you. It is your daughter’s heartfelt gift. You’re not allowed to refuse it.”

She had actually forced it into his hands.

Luo Qiu was speechless.

He watched his daughter run off happily again, then lowered his eyes to the flower crown in his hand—the gift she had personally picked and woven for him.

His cheeks tightened slightly.

Behind him, Sha Rulai quietly observed everything.

He hoped Luo Fangfei’s actions might move the man’s heart.

...

The message had been delivered, but the demon fox had no way to place it directly into Yin Ji’s hands.

Following Niu Youdao’s instructions, Yin Ji had already gone into hiding.

Hei Yun stared at the writing carved into the stone in his hand, deeply anxious.

He wanted to discuss it with the elders, yet did not dare.

Niu Youdao had said there was a traitor inside the Demon Fox Clan.

The former Clan Chief had gone into hiding precisely because of that.

Niu Youdao had said he would identify the traitor as quickly as possible and only then allow the former Clan Chief to resume contact with the outside world.

But the contents of this message were too important.

Hei Yun truly could not make the decision himself.

In the end, he gritted his teeth, left the underground palace, and rushed straight toward Yin Ji’s hiding place.

Deep within the swamp was an underground cave illuminated by several luminous pearls.

Yin Ji was cultivating quietly there.

Hei Yun’s arrival broke the peace.

After receiving Niu Youdao’s warning, Yin Ji had thought it excessive.

She understood the Demon Fox Clan too well.

The clan was different from humans.

There might be grudges among its members, but she simply did not believe a traitor could appear within the clan.

She firmly trusted that her own people would never betray her.

Hei Yun, however, had become afraid.

He had witnessed Niu Youdao’s capabilities.

If Niu Youdao said such a thing, Hei Yun felt he had no choice but to guard against the possibility.

After exhausting every argument he could think of, Hei Yun finally persuaded Yin Ji to conceal herself temporarily.

But Yin Ji had not severed every channel of contact with the outside world.

She worried that if something happened, no one would be able to find her—especially now that Granny Xue had just been killed.

If the Sacred Realm launched retaliation, Yin Ji feared she might not be able to emerge in time to protect the clan.

And so she kept one external line open.

She retained contact with Hei Yun.

She believed Hei Yun absolutely could not be the traitor.

Hei Yun naturally knew there was nothing wrong with himself, so he agreed.

But Niu Youdao’s instruction had been for Yin Ji to cut off all contact with the outside world.

In other words, Yin Ji had not fully obeyed him.

And so Luo Qiu’s stone-carved message reached her.

The moment Yin Ji read it, grief and anger covered her face.

The hand gripping the stone trembled.

Luo Qiu had asked her to negotiate with him.

The place was the same location where she had arranged to meet her daughter last time.

Didn’t she want to see her daughter?

Luo Qiu said he had brought both her daughter and son-in-law.

He gave her two days from the moment the message was sent.

If she did not appear, if she refused to resolve the matter, then he would bring everything to a complete end.

If she failed to appear, then two days later Luo Qiu guaranteed he would kill both Luo Fangfei and Sha Rulai, completely severing every remaining connection between himself and Yin Ji.

“How can you do this? She’s your daughter!”

Clutching the stone, Yin Ji broke into tears.

Then she rose and started for the exit.

Hei Yun, who had been circling anxiously nearby, was startled.

He immediately spread both arms and blocked her path. “Former Clan Chief, you cannot go. This is definitely a trap Luo Qiu laid to lure you into showing yourself.”

From the moment he received the message, this was exactly what Hei Yun had feared.

Yet once the letter was in his hands, he had no authority to decide what to do with it.

The lives of the former Clan Chief’s daughter and son-in-law were at stake.

How could he decide on her behalf?

How could he keep such a thing from her?

The moment he received the message, he regretted it.

He regretted not listening to Niu Youdao.

If he had not known where the former Clan Chief was, he would never have had to make this choice.

Now he could neither watch the former Clan Chief walk into a trap nor sit by and let her daughter and son-in-law die.

The dilemma nearly drove him mad.

Yin Ji choked out, “Little Hei, move aside.”

Hei Yun shook his head and refused. “Former Clan Chief, wait. Just wait.”

“Send someone to contact Niu Youdao. He has a way. He’ll definitely have a way.”

Even as he said it, Hei Yun did not believe his own words.

Luo Qiu had given them only two days.

Even if they sent a Nascent Soul expert charging out of the Sacred Realm to find Niu Youdao, then waited for Niu Youdao to react and organize a rescue, there would be no time.

Besides, merely getting this stone all the way here had already consumed a considerable portion of that window.

Luo Qiu had clearly calculated everything carefully.

He knew the Desolate Marsh Deadlands covered an enormous region and that the demon foxes below could not fly, making communication inconvenient.

He also knew Yin Ji would need time to reach the meeting place.

If he left too little time, she might not make it.

That was why he had given her a relatively generous two-day limit.

Distraught, Yin Ji shook her head. “It’s too late.”

Hei Yun said anxiously, “Former Clan Chief, she is Luo Qiu’s daughter after all. He must be bluffing us. He won’t kill his own daughter.”

...

Yun Ji entered the secret chamber and reported to Niu Youdao, who was sitting cross-legged in meditation.

“Word came from the Ghost Doctor’s side. Xiao Tianzhen has definitely given up on revenge. The Ghost Doctor’s group is already on the road back to Medicine Valley.”

Niu Youdao did not open his eyes. He merely said quietly, “Notify Yuan Cong to withdraw.”

With Guo Man as an inside source beside the Ghost Doctor, that group’s movements could not be hidden from Niu Youdao’s side.

And it was hardly only Guo Man.

In a sense, Guo Man represented no more than the tip of the iceberg of Niu Youdao’s forces.

Over the years, he had not concerned himself only with the large, visible affairs.

From the shadows, he had also arranged countless branches and leaves.

By now, his power had grown enormous.

Across the mainland, overseas, and even within the Sacred Realm, there were few places his reach had not touched.

Without power on such a scale, he would never have dared cross hands lightly with the Nine Saints.

The moment he learned that the people from Medicine Valley had gone to Jinzhou because Xiao Tianzhen wanted revenge, he immediately sent word ordering Yuan Cong to intervene.

He did not want internal chaos breaking out in Jinzhou.

It was better for Jinzhou to remain under the control of Hai Ruyue and the existing group there.

This was merely one of the countless smaller branches of affairs he handled from behind the scenes.

[End of Chapter 1493]