“You again.” Elder Jian squinted his eyes at the Savage Moon in shock, “Why do you have that demonic treasure? What happened to Elder Yun?”
Grinning, Zhuo Fan pointed Savage Moon at Elder Jian, “Oh, you recognize it.”
Jian Fan’s mind was in chaos, “Don’t tell me… how can that old guy die at the hands of a pup? But…”
The more he looked at the demonic treasure, the more Jian Fan felt shock, hatred, and above all, confusion…
Be that as it may, but no Hell Valley’s demonic treasure was allowed to fall into an outsider’s hand. Elder Jian then saw the naked killing intent in Zhuo Fan’s eyes.
Aware of the other’s intention, Zhuo Fan snickered as he sent a whisper to Lei Yuting, “Listen, aim for the old man’s heart and close your eyes as you attack with Lightning Finger. Ignore everything else!”
She turned to him in shock, [How can I hit him if I close my eyes? We won’t win against a Profound Heaven cultivator regardless!]
But she soon recalled Zhuo Fan’s unscrupulous character and understood his intention. The only reason he saved her was to use her as a live bait to throw into the jaws of death.
Lei Yuting nodded despondently. She was already prepared to die when she made the decision to come here.
Zhuo Fan curled his finger, making Blood Infant return to his body unnoticed as he shouted, “Now!”
Zhuo Fan went first and Lei Yuting followed his plan by closing her eyes and using Lightning Finger.
Startled, Elder Jian didn’t expect them to move first. But he didn’t mind as a Profound Heaven cultivator’s defense wasn’t something a Qi Condensation cultivator could pierce. The only danger to his life was posed by that Savage Moon. As such, Zhuo Fan had his complete focus.
Lei Yuting charged the lightning with her eyes closed, ignoring everything, while Zhuo Fan flitted left and right.
Elder Jian sneered, turning a blind eye to the girl.
When she was near Elder Jian, Zhuo Fan flashed in front of her and attacked with Savage Moon.
It was a simple thing for Jian Fan to grab Zhuo Fan’s hand and snap it in two.
“Humph, don’t think a petty diversion is enough to trick my eyes. I’ve lived far longer than you. Smoke and mirrors won’t work on me.” Jian Fan sneered.
“Yet… it still has!” Zhuo Fan’s smile remained.
Suddenly, Elder Jian’s heart was filled with unease.
Before he could make clear as to why, a red light flew from Zhuo Fan into his body.
From Zhuo Fan’s broken arm, blood spurted out like a stream and dyed the trees red.
Jian Fan watched Zhuo Fan with rage, “It… was you back then?”
He now knew what had entered his body not too long ago and allowed the three elders from Veiled Dragon Pavilion to use that chance and tear one of his arms.
Zhuo Fan grinned.
“You’re brave, I’ll give you that, to rob me of my arm!” Jian Fan gnashed his teeth, “Once I get out of your demonic creature’s control, I’ll tear you to pieces.”
Elder Jian focused all his Yuan Qi into his body while talking.
Zhuo Fan smiled, despite sensing the increasing pressure on Blood Infant, “Elder Jian, you’ve been tricked yet again.”
Lightning crackled as Lei Yuting’s fingers came from behind Zhuo Fan and struck Jian Fan’s chest.
Watching Zhuo Fan’s eerie smile with doubt, Elder Jian’s eyes bulged out from grievance and unwillingness to die like this.
“Elder Jian, you were wrong. I was the distraction.” Zhuo Fan smiled despite the blood leaking from his mouth, “You only paid attention to Savage Moon, but you forgot your wounded state. Weakened as you are now, you no longer have the same amount of Yuan Qi as before, ha-ha-ha…”
The fear in Elder Jian’s eyes grew thick.
[Such a cunning and vicious youth… ]
“How horrifying…”
This was how the expert Jian Fan breathed his last breath.
Zhuo Fan used himself as bait while leaving the final blow to Lei Yuting. Each step was filled with perils. The slightest mistake, the slightest hesitation would’ve meant death.
Yet when Zhuo Fan was involved, everything they did was as if they were dancing to his tune, resulting in Elder Jian’s ultimate demise. It was especially so when Zhuo Fan blocked Elder Jian from noticing the real danger hiding behind him, Lei Yuting’s Lightning Fingers.
Two Qi Condensation juniors killing a Profound Heaven expert! If anyone spoke of this, none would believe it.
Plop!
Zhuo Fan collapsed in his own blood.
Lei Yuting was crying in despair when she saw this. She thought Zhuo Fan wanted her to act as bait, but it exceeded her expectations when he took the most dangerous role onto himself.
All kinds of emotions swept her heart, pain, warmth and even something Yang Ming never managed to stir.
“Zhuo Fan, forgive me.” Lei Yuting kneeled at his side, watching his pale face.
Zhuo Fan waved, “This isn’t your fault. When Blood Infant was wounded, I also suffered internal injuries.”
He recalled Blood Infant from Elder Jian’s corpse, “This time, it’ll take a lot more time to heal.”
His wounds mattered little when compared to Blood Infant’s, which represented his life.
This only worked to increase Lei Yuting’s flow of tears. She now knew that the demonic creature wasn’t a treasure, but something bound to his life.
Yet even in such a perilous state, he chose to take a life-threatening hit for her.
She began to see Zhuo Fan with different eyes, but Zhuo Fan himself couldn’t care less.
Zhuo Fan pointed at Jian Fan, “Search him. A Hell Valley elder has to have valuable things on him.”
“Alright.”
Lei Yuting used her highly dexterous hands to complete this task with such skill that Zhuo Fan couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, [A bandit sure is skilled.]
Once Jian Fan was picked clean, Lei Yuting returned to Zhuo Fan. In her entire life, this was the first time she ever lowered her head in shame from doing something so unbecoming of her. But he couldn’t care less about the reason why she was hiding her face.
As she strewed the things before Zhuo Fan, she kept avoiding his eyes.
Zhuo Fan found it odd but didn’t care and started to rummage through Elder Jian’s stuff.
The first and foremost thing that caught his eye was the storage ring and soon found what he was looking for inside.
A light flashed and two jade slips appeared in his hand, Lei clan’s spiritual ranked martial art, Lightning Finger, and Cai clan’s martial art, Wind Kick!
He was clueless as to the secret involving the three clans’ martial arts but did not hesitate in taking them into his own ring.
What was left were some cultivation methods, martial arts and spirit stones. Zhuo Fan, as a former Demonic Emperor, couldn’t care less about those and threw the ring to Lei Yuting.
“According to bandit’s rule, half belongs to you.”
Lei Yuting shook her head, “The old man was your kill. They are yours.”
“I don’t want them, he has nothing of value!” Zhuo Fan smiled and turned his eyes to a bag.
It was only as big as a palm but Zhuo Fan knew of its remarkable quality. It was a bag that could store living creatures. And what laid within was none other than the Soul Devouring Crow.
Stashing it in his chest, Zhuo Fan smiled pleasantly. It held the largest interest to him. Who knew, he might even discover the secret of the Purple Lightning Gold Eye.
“Zhuo Fan, at least take the ring.”
Lei Yuting was shocked at the ring’s contents and still decided to give it to Zhuo Fan, “I know Luo clan is wealthy, but there are some spirit ranked martial arts and cultivation methods inside which are of far greater value than mere spirit stones. It will provide great help in restoring your clan.”
Zhuo Fan shrugged as he weighed the ring, “Such trashy things I have in heaps. There’s nothing rare or great about them. If you don’t want it, I’ll just throw it.”
He was about to do just that when Lei Yuting took the ring from his hand, “How can you be such a wastrel, to not even want spirit ranked martial arts? How did you manage to become a steward anyway? With how you act, Luo clan’s money will get flushed down the drain.”
Zhuo Fan smiled as he put Jian Fan’s corpse into his ring, “Time to head back. Veiled Dragon Pavilion has some explaining to do.”
Lei Yuting nodded and rushed to support him. As Zhuo Fan was far too weakened, he could only lean onto her shoulder, tinting her cheeks red in the process.
“Wait!”
Zhuo Fan stopped to look around, “Where’s Yang Ming?”
Lei Yuting looked everywhere but there was no sight of Yang Ming.
They forgot about him in the heat of the battle.
“Curses, he got away.” Lei Yuting gnashed her teeth.
Zhuo Fan shook his head, “No need to bother with an insect.”
But then he recalled his disciple, Zhao Chen, and killing intent flashed in his eyes, “But even insects can spell trouble. The next time I see him, he’s dead!”