Chapter 1952 – A Single Life (9)
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Deep at night, a seemingly ordinary carriage stopped at the back doors of a luxurious and opulent mansion. The curtains of the carriage were pulled open and a mysterious person in a black cloak stepped out and walked through the door.
His footsteps were light, as if he were just a ghost.
He grasped a special entry token, one that allowed him unimpeded access to a chamber in the deepest depths of the mansion.
Within this chamber, a 30 some year old man had already been waiting for a long time.
This man was tall and his shoulders were broad. Beneath two thick eyebrows, a pair of hard eyes gleamed.
This man emitted a faint killing intent. This was a presence that could only be formed by slaughtering on the road of martial arts for many years.
In front of him was a decanter of wine. At this time, he held onto the decanter with one hand and was pouring the wine into a bronze cup.
His hands were strong and steady, as if cast from iron. As the wine was poured from the large decanter, the cup filled to the brim with not a single drop spilling out.
At this time, the front door of the chamber opened. The mysterious cloaked man from the carriage paced over and respectfully bowed to this 30 some year old man.
“Marquis Yutian, your subordinate has returned.”
The black-cloaked person courteously said.
This man called Marquis Yutian was the Lin Family’s son-in-law, Zhou Yutian. He had married Lin Ming’s second younger sister, Lin Ping, and was the son-in-law of the current emperor. He had been granted the title of Marquis and commanded one of the elite forces of the Vermilion Bird Divine Kingdom – the Silver Armor Legion.
Of course, the reason Zhou Yutian was able to possess such a high status was because he had a variation bloodline. He was an extremely strong and talented individual and had even become the champion of a grand martial arts meeting.
Five years ago, after Lin Ming disappeared to go to the Eternal Demon Abyss during the survival course, Zhou Yutian and the Silver Armor Legion were the ones responsible for searching for him.
“Mm.” Zhou Yutian lightly responded. He waved to a seat across from him and said, “Come, enjoy this 10,000 year fog flower wine, it is a welcoming gift for you!”
The black-cloaked man’s eyebrows leapt upwards. He looked at the cup of wine, slightly surprised. 10,000 year fog flower wine was extremely precious and drinking it would be greatly beneficial to a martial artist’s cultivation.
He apologetically said, “Marquis, this subordinate handled matters poorly. After failing to assassinate Lin An five years ago, I allowed the Marquis to fall into danger instead. I fled for five years afterwards and only returned now, so I don’t have the face to drink wine with the Marquis.”
Zhou Yutian laughed. “If I doubted all of my subordinates then there would be no one left. Five years ago you failed to kill Lin An, but that was not because of your mistake but because I underestimated him. I never thought that there would be a Divine Sea powerhouse protecting him in secret. Although your move failed, you still managed to expose Lin An’s depths to me. Luckily, when he disappeared from the survival course and I sent the Silver Armor Legion out to search for him, I restrained myself from doing anything. Otherwise, with the many eyes and ears of the Silver Armor Legion, it would have been inevitable that this mysterious person found out the truth…”
As Marquis Yutian spoke to here he coldly snorted, hateful killing intent flashing in his eyes.
“Thank you Marquis for your forgiveness.” The black-cloaked person tossed down the cup of 10,000 year fog flower wine.
Zhou Yutian smiled with satisfaction. “How is the matter that I had you attend to?”
“Reporting to the Marquis, this subordinate journeyed to the Holy Demon Continent and has succeeded in finding the bloodline of the previous Blood Slaughter Steppes’ Steppes Master, the one who bears a grudge against Lin Ming from the past… this subordinate carried out a secret investigation and can confirm that over 200 years ago, the former Steppes Master was killed by Lin Ming. Afterwards, Lin Ming became a twelve-winged Heavenly Demon and ascended into the position of the new Steppes Master. He planted slave seals in the bodies of many of the supervisory Elders to take control of the entire Blood Slaughter Steppes.
“Afterwards, the bloodline of the previous Steppes Master was forced to flee. But after Lin Ming left, they managed to develop themselves in secret. They now have a tremendous influence. Because of their family’s enmity with Lin Ming, they are willing to cooperate with us.”
As the black-cloaked man spoke he took out a token. “Marquis, this is a sound transmission mark that this subordinate obtained. This subordinate has already formed a communication route. By using this transmission mark, you can locate the one leading the bloodline of the previous Steppes Master.”
“Wonderful!” Zhou Yutian happily nodded. He took the token and swept through it with his divine sense. Indeed, this was the real deal.
“The Marquis’ plans are truly divine. I assume that when I was sent to the Blood Slaughter Steppes, all of these plans were formed in advance. That person’s parents are in the way far too often. Does the Marquis plan to do something with those two old geezers…?” As the black-cloaked person spoke to here, he slashed his finger along his neck.
Although Lin Ming had already flown to the stars over 200 years ago, these people still feared mentioning Lin Ming’s name. Thus, they would only call him ‘that person’.
Zhou Yutian frowned. He coldly said, “How can I possibly move against them. If those two old codgers have any problems then if that person were to investigate what happened, I would die without a burial ground! But that doesn’t matter at all. Those two idiots wander about like muddled fools. Even if I let them live, eventually supreme authority will fall into my hands regardless! As for the Second Prince, he is a useless degenerate that doesn’t need to be feared at all. Only Lin An is still too heavily favored. My worry is that those two old fools are waiting for Lin An to grow up so that they can give him more power. Now, I don’t know why but Lin An is becoming increasingly sharp. I have to remove him as soon as possible… but, I also don’t know who is protecting him in secret. Ah, how troublesome…”
“Marquis is wise. This Lin An must be killed before he has grown. Then, even if that person returns from the Divine Realm he definitely won’t do anything just for an adopted son of his parents. After waiting for another one or two thousand years, that person’s parents will also pass away from natural deaths, leaving behind all authority in Princess Lin Ping’s hands. That is equivalent to the entire Vermilion Bird Divine Kingdom being under the control of the Marquis!”
The black-cloaked person chuckled as he thought of this, and Zhou Yutian also laughed. But at that moment, the black-cloaked man violently shook and grabbed onto the table. His eyes widened. He could feel an agonizing pain spread through his body. A cruel and sinister strength was invading his meridians, melting away his marrow!
He looked at the bronze cup. Then, he gazed up at Zhou Yutian in disbelief.
“You… you…”
Black blood began leaking from the edges of the black-cloaked man’s mouth. His lips turned pale white and sweat streamed down his body.
The wine he drank just then – it was poisoned!
Zhou Yutian watched with terrifying calmness. He indifferently looked at the black-cloaked person and slowly said, “Using heaven swallowing blood, divine demon grass, mortal dragon flowers and other types of heavenly materials, this is seven seed poison that I produced myself. It is tasteless and colorless, and I even added on a little of the Poison Laws I cultivate. I mixed it with the 10,000 fog flower wine. After drinking it you will lose your skills and your essence energy will deplete until you die…”
“But… why…”
The black-cloaked person grit his teeth, glaring at Zhou Yutian with hatred, so enraged that his eyes nearly popped out of his head. The man threw back his black cloak, revealing a thin and narrow face and an expression that seemed to be dying from despair. The man’s body continued shivering.
Zhou Yutian drew out a sword from his spatial ring. He looked at the black-cloaked man and laughed. “You have followed me for such a long time yet you still ask such a stupid question? You know far too many things. The powerhouse that guards Lin An might have some method to find you. If he did, the consequences would be inconceivable!
“Five years ago when you failed to assassinate Lin An, the reason I didn’t kill you and sent you to the Holy Demon Continent was because I still had a mission for you. Now that your mission is complete, keeping you alive will only put myself in danger. That isn’t a good decision at all…
“In order to accomplish great things, one must be merciless and cruel. Although I believe I can kill you myself, that will cause far too much movement. Since I used seven seed poison and 10,000 year fog flower wine to serve as your funeral wine, you should be more than content to die.
“Don’t blame me for this.”
As Zhou Yutian spoke, he thrust his sword towards the black-cloaked man!
The black-cloaked man had already lost all his energy. This sword would easily kill him.
The black-cloaked man looked at the sword with despair and hate. He waited for death to arrive. But in that instant, the death he anticipated didn’t come. Rather, Zhou Yutian had frozen where he was.
His sword seemed to be frozen in the void, completely unable to be moved.
“Who!?”
Zhou Yutian was frightened out of his wits. This was his private hidden chamber that was protected with layers upon layers of array formations. There shouldn’t be anyone able to silently sneak in here without him knowing. The only exception was if… this other person’s strength had reached an incomprehensible boundary!
Could it be that this was the peerless powerhouse secretly protecting Lin An?
Thinking of this, Zhou Yutian felt a cold sweat stream down his back.
And at this moment, the void in front of Zhou Yutian began to shake. A pair of jade-soft hands reached out from the void and tore open space as if it were paper.
Then, a youth in robes stepped out from the void. This youth had straight eyebrows that slanted towards his temples. He looked around 18-19 years old. This person was the reborn Lin Ming.
Seeing this face, Zhou Yutian looked like he saw a ghost. His eyes filled with disbelief. “You… you… you… Lin An!?”
He could hardly believe what he saw. To locate his hidden chamber, to easily tear open the void and teleport, to ignore all array formations and even monitor his conversation, these were methods that even late Divine Sea powerhouses weren’t capable of!
And all of this had been done by Lin An! Lin An was a mere 20 year old hairless little boy!
Could it be that… the sword strike that cut down the fleeting fire centipede was not sent by some hidden Divine Sea powerhouse, but by Lin An himself!?
Zhou Yutian felt his entire worldview be completely overturned in that moment. “You… who are you!?”
Zhou Yutian didn’t believe that a 20 year old boy had such abilities!
Lin Ming coldly sneered. “You’re quite skilled. Although the Sky Spill Continent and Holy Demon Continent are linked together now, the two continents are still far too distant from each other and not many exchanges occur. Even so, you managed to investigate the matters about when I went to the Blood Slaughter Steppes and even found out that I killed the previous Steppes Master. Your plans aren’t bad at all!
“After your subordinate failed to kill me, you wanted him to flee to the Holy Demon Continent and unite the evil rabble that is the previous Steppes Master’s bloodline, and then use them to subvert the leadership of Vermilion Bird Divine Kingdom? This idea of killing two birds with one stone is quite good, and your methods are also ruthless enough. You remind me a little of that Yang Yun from 200 years ago. But what a pity, you are not Yang Yun, and you fall far, far short of him…”
Lin Ming’s words were spoken unhurriedly. But as they fell onto Zhou Yutian’s ears, they were like a bolt of lightning that struck from nowhere.
In particular, those words ‘Even so, you managed to investigate the matters about when I went to the Blood Slaughter Steppes and even found out that I killed the previous Steppes Master’, caused Zhou Yutian to go cold all over. Just how was this Lin An? This was clearly Lin Ming!!
“You… you… you…”
Zhou Yutian shivered and his will cracked. No matter how great his ambitions were and no matter how ruthless his methods were, he couldn’t summon any courage to face the legendary character in front of him!
Now that he looked straight into Lin Ming’s eyes, he nearly collapsed!
That’s right, only that person could have such abilities. And, he actually thought to assassinate him secretly. Wasn’t this just bringing about his own destruction?
But why, why would that person return from the Divine Realm? Why would they turn into a baby and slowly grow up again?
Zhou Yutian could no longer understand what was happening, and at this time any further thinking stopped. Lin Ming’s mental strength was like a pointed needle that stabbed into Zhou Yutian’s spiritual sea.
“Since you are my second sister’s husband, I didn’t want to kill you. But you wanted to take advantage of my parents’ kindness and harm them. You touched my bottom line, so die.”
As Lin Ming spoke his soul force punctured Zhou Yutian’s spiritual sea. Each piercing brought incomparable pain. This was the pain of having one’s soul torn apart. Zhou Yutian’s eyes turned wide and blank and his mouth flapped like a dying fish.
Zhou Yutian wanted to cry out but he couldn’t. He grabbed his neck, trying to choke himself to death. From this it could be seen just how much pain he was in.
After 10 breaths of time, Zhou Yutian died. He fell onto the ground like a dead dog.
And behind Lin Ming, the black-cloaked man had already seemed to have lost his soul.
Lin An was actually that person…
The black-cloaked man’s lips shivered and his face turned white.
Lin Ming used the Magic Cube to extract all of Zhou Yutian’s memories. In that instant, all of Zhou Yutian’s rebellion plans were known by Lin Ming, including the tools and materials he had hidden to start it. All of these things were hidden by Zhou Yutian in extremely secret places and could be used as evidence that he was plotting a rebellion all this time.
Moreover, there was even a witness this time.
Lin Ming flicked his fingers and a ball of light shot into the black-cloaked person’s spiritual sea. This was a slave seal.
With this slave seal, Lin Ming didn’t worry that any secrets would be revealed.
Lin Ming said with cold indifference, “I will give you three days to testify against Zhou Yutian. After that, I will allow you to die in peace. Your family and your descendants will not be implicated but will be properly placed somewhere else instead.”
The cloaked man knelt to the ground. Facing Lin Ming, the pressure was far too great. There simply wasn’t any way to disobey Lin Ming’s will.
As Lin Ming spoke, his figure vanished once more. After several breaths of time he reappeared. He had collected the evidence of Zhou Yutian’s plot and sent this evidence with the black-cloaked man to surrender himself to Lin Xiaodong.
……..
On this night, the capital of Vermilion Bird Divine Kingdom was busy with movement. Martial law was declared on the streets. Soldiers, elite legions, and powerful martial artists were sent to surround Marquis Yutian’s mansion, and all of his people were captured and interrogated.
The corpse of Marquis Yutian was found in his hidden chamber. As for the evidence that he was plotting a rebellion, that was taken by Lin Xiaodong.
The matter of Zhou Yutian’s assassination attempt on Lin An five years ago finally came out. The black-cloaked man explained everything that had occurred regarding the fleeting fire centipede and the two teachers.
Everything that happened in the capital was watched by Situ Mingyue.
So, the one who tried to kill Lin An that time was actually Marquis Yutian…
Such a person had tried to kill the useless playboy that was Lin Ming, but not only did his assassination fail, but five years later he himself was the one to die…