Chapter 31: CH 31

“Boss Su is indeed naturally intelligent. It’s good to be a wise man and have no regrets when you leave this world.” Su Gou bowed and clasped his hands. “Are you ready to die?”

Su Ru Hui sighed. “You demons are quite considerate. Killing and cremation all in one go.”

As he spoke, he turned his head and met Su Yu’s eyes. He asked with a smile, “Xiao Yu, he just called me Boss Su. You don’t seem surprised at all.”

Sang Chi Yu lied without changing his expression, “Who is Boss Su? I haven’t heard of him. Why did he call you Boss Su?”

This lie was foolproof. Sang Chi Yu, who was now a teenager, was only seven or eight years old when Su Ru Hui was making waves, so it was normal for him to have never heard of this name.

“With Little Su Daren by your side, your journey to the underworld won’t be lonely.” Su Gou nodded. “I have other matters to attend to. Boss Su, please die quickly.”

He was about to activate the killing formation when Su Ru Hui suddenly shouted, “Actually, I still have an ace up my sleeve.”

Su Gou shook his head and laughed. “Don’t struggle anymore. The Ice Cellar is hidden deep underground, and no one outside knows the situation here. No one will come to save you.”

“This big brother, I still have a purpose in talking with you for so long.” Su Ru Hui smiled. “Let me test you. How long does the Thunderfire Star formation need to be activated before the ice in the cellar melts?”

Su Gou lowered his head. His feet were already soaked. The Thunderfire Star formation had been activated for at least the time it took to burn an incense stick, and the intense flames had caused all three people in the room to sweat profusely. Su Ru Hui had already taken off his robe because he was dressed too thickly. Su Gou moved his feet, and the water rippled beneath them. With this much water, the ice cellar was probably already more than half melted.

But so what?

Su Gou’s ceramic face smiled as usual. “Boss Su, do you have an unrealistic idea of wanting the frozen corpses of the demon race in the ice layer to save you?”

“That’s right. That’s exactly my unrealistic idea,” Su Ru Hui’s smile was extremely irritating. “I was born lucky. Except for defeating Sang Chi Yu, I can make any crazy idea come true.”

Sang Chi Yu was speechless once again.

He suddenly felt that Su Ru Hui was deliberately teasing him. But how could this guy know that he was Sang Chi Yu? His height and appearance were not the same as before, and even his voice was that of a fifteen-year-old boy. Su Ru Hui couldn’t possibly have figured it out. He couldn’t help but turn his head to look at Su Ru Hui. The guy’s expression was as usual and he didn’t look his way. He felt a little relieved. This guy was just naturally talkative.

Su Ru Hui said quietly, “Su Gou, look behind you.”

Impossible, Su Gou shouted in his heart. There was no way the corpses of his kin could come back to life. Even if they did, how could they confront him with bared teeth? He slowly turned his head. Under the bright flames, the two ice walls had already melted away, and the bodies of the demon race were nowhere to be seen.

Su Gou felt a chill run down his spine. He lowered his head and saw his shadow on the ground getting larger, becoming burly and fierce, with fangs bared. He raised his head and met the eyes of a three-headed dog perched on the rafters. It was the one frozen in the innermost layer of the ice, with two heads separated from its body. Now it was using the eyes on its remaining head to stare at Su Gou sinisterly. Light and shadow danced on its strange face, and its two large copper bell-like eyes glowed green, like two spirit stones.

More green eyes opened behind it. The demons gritted their teeth and approached slowly.

Su Gou didn’t know what method Su Ru Hui used, but he knew that Su Ru Hui couldn’t be allowed to live.

He urgently reached out to stir the killing formation. The three-headed dog leaped down and bit off his arm. He struggled with the demons, and several pale hands stretched out from inside the ceramic puppet he was inhabiting. The smooth porcelain face started cracking, and gradually shattered, revealing his horrifying face hidden underneath. Black as iron, with tentacles moved like surging waves – that was his true face.

Su Ru Hui was stunned. This demon was really ugly. Would Sang Chi Yu’s original form also be this ugly?

[Information unlocked. Hundred Hands Centipede, with 108 hands. Once sewn 108 gloves for himself. Highlighted attention, only broken iron bullets can kill him.]

The corner of Su Gou’s eye caught Su Ru Hui clapping three times, and the three-headed dog turned its head, biting his severed arm. The killing formation instantly went out, and all the flames subsided. His body began to transform and elongate. Countless hands and feet stretched out, and the ceramic puppet shattered like rain. He gritted his teeth and fought his way through, his hands and feet shaking wildly, piercing the bodies of countless demons. These demons were even more abnormal than him. Even if they lost half of their brains, they still struggled to stand up, their mouths biting towards his neck.

He gradually had an answer in his heart, these “demons” were not his clansmen.

They were not demons!

He roared and writhed around the ceiling, throwing the “demons” to the ground, smashing them into pieces. Many of the “demons'” eyes dimmed and their movements became sluggish. He was overjoyed in his heart and crawled towards Su Ru Hui. He could kill Su Ru Hui!

Suddenly, a sharp whistle sounded in his ears. A surge of flames rushed towards his center of vision. Then, a sudden pain hit his chest. A bullet had penetrated into his chest. He couldn’t support his body. His hands and feet loosened, and he crashed to the ground like a collapsing mountain.

“Only a broken iron bullet can take the lives of your clansmen.” Su Ru Hui looked down at him. “You have the innate ability to regenerate flesh and blood, and have strong self-healing abilities. The demons in the snow mountain were all killed by firearms, using broken iron bullets. Broken iron bullets shatter upon impact. If it can’t be dug out, you can’t heal yourself. Am I right?”

“I underestimated you,” Su Gou looked around at the scattered demon corpses. “What are they?”

“My Mechanical Arsenal. Have you heard of it?” Su Ru Hui squatted down. “The Secret Sect collected my First-Rank Beast Puppets, and everything here was made by me, including the Thunderfire Star Formation you just used. My beast puppet is not bad, right?”

“Is it based on my clansmen?”

“That’s not it. It was inspired by a toy puppet my old man left me.” Su Ru Hui sighed, propping up his face. “You see, you’re too confident in your disguise. Someone noticed you the moment you set foot in the Sect. He deliberately made you mistake the Mechanical Arsenal for a refrigerated morgue for your clansmen’s corpses.”

“Why did he do this?” Su Gou asked hoarsely.

“I guess it’s for me. My identity has also been exposed, and someone suspects me. You brought me here. If I can control these beast puppets, without a doubt, I am Su Ru Hui. If I can’t, I am Jiang Que Xie. If I am Jiang Que Xie, and you kill me here, the next moment Secret Sect soldiers will be here, and you will be captured. It was you who killed me, not related to the Secret Sect, and the Jiang family won’t blame the Secret Sect,” Su Ru Hui explained.

“If you are Su Ru Hui…” Su Gou trailed off.

Su Ru Hui stood up and fired the spirit fire gun at the wall, blowing a circular hole through it. Through the hole, the three of them could clearly see the gears behind it. The mechanism had been activated, and the gears were spinning rapidly. Sang Chi Yu’s eyes narrowed, and he asked, “What mechanism is this?”

The system provided an answer: [An enormous Wind Stealing mechanism, a super-amplified version of the Wind Stealing Star Array. It contains 105 gears and is made up of 88 Wind Stealingl Star Arrays. The mechanism is powerful, and can even eavesdrop on the host’s flatulence.]

Su Ru Hui fired a few shots at the gears, but they were undamaged. It was made of meteorite iron. Su Ru Hui drew Su Yu’s sword and inserted it into the gears. The gears stopped rotating, but stubbornly continued to try to move, making a cracking sound under the strain.

Su Ru Hui laughed. “What a huge Wind Stealing mechanism. If I am Su Ru Hui, he will know everything I learned from you.”

Sang Chi Yu’s heart sank. Apart from him, who else knew Su Ru Hui’s identity? Who was behind this?

The saber shattered, and the gears started turning again. Su Ru Hui inserted his own saber into the gears.

Su Ru Hui grabbed Su Gou by the collar and said, “We don’t have much time left. I’ll ask you one last question: what is Sang Chi Yu’s true form? If you tell me, I’ll help you get out of here.”

Su Gou was about to speak, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. Many thin, thread-like things invaded his body, taking advantage of the cover of his black, wriggling tentacles on the ground.

Sang Chi Yu stood behind Su Ru Hui, his right hand behind his back, his palm releasing countless meridians.

Su Gou stared at Sang Chi Yu, his pupils almost shrinking to a needle. So this boy was Sang Chi Yu in disguise!

Sang Chi Yu’s gaze was indifferent, as if he was looking at a lump of dead flesh.

Su Ru Hui shook him and urged, “Hurry up and tell me.”

Su Gou’s ugly face froze in a shocked expression. He was dead.

Su Ru Hui was surprised. “He’s too weak. How did he die so quickly?”

Oh well. Su Ru Hui searched his body for a compass or a letter, and found an envelope sewn into the lining of his white linen robe. He tore open the fabric and took out the envelope, which had a short message written on it:

“Jiang Xue Ya is in the deepest level of the Secret Sect’s torture chamber. – Shen Tu”

Jiang Xue Ya wasn’t in the hands of the demon clan. Su Ru Hui was surprised to learn that she was being held captive by the Secret Sect. What had his senior sister done, and why was she imprisoned by the Secret Sect?

And who was this Shen Tu?

“Jiang Xue Ya?” asked Sang Chi Yu, also confused.

Su Ru Hui checked the remaining beast puppets on the ground, looking for any that were still usable. Most of them were ruined, with their eyes no longer emitting the glow of spirit stones. They had either been destroyed by Su Gou or their spirit stones had been depleted. The person behind this attack had been extremely accurate, deliberately leaving the beasts with spirit stones that were about to run out of power, ensuring that each could only be used once.

There was no choice but to abandon the beast puppets. Su Ru Hui led Su Yu to open the giant stone gate and head straight down to the bottom floor. They saw no one on the way down, and all the soldiers who used to guard this place were nowhere to be seen. Su Ru Hui felt increasingly uneasy as they descended.

At the bottom floor, there was only one cage with a thick chain hanging inside it, but no one was inside.

“She’s been moved,” Su Ru Hui breathed a sigh of relief. If she had really been there, Su Ru Hui wasn’t sure he could have gotten her out.

The two of them retraced their steps and headed back to the surface, where they found to their surprise that the meteorite iron gate was open, and they encountered no resistance as they made their way out.

“What kind of trick is this?” Su Ru Hui thought to himself.

—

In the Secret Sect’s torture chamber, the Ice Cellar.

After Su Ru Hui and Sang Chi Yu left, the man who had been lying in the prison cage silently stood up. His body melted into a puddle of mud, turning into a shadow on the ground. He slipped out of the cage and slithered like a snake to Su Gou’s side.

Special power, Shadow of the Drifting Current.

He reverted to his original appearance, tall and slender with snow-white skin and a red mark half an inch long on his forehead.

Su Gou’s stiff eyes moved. Je was not dead yet, just pretending to be dead. Although he was not far from death, he could still struggle to say a few words.

“Lord Shen Tu, you heard everything.”

“I heard, I’m not deaf.” Shen Tu squatted down and looked at him.

Su Gou smiled bitterly. “I was too careless. I never understood why Su Ru Hui could become the first on our clan’s kill list. Now, I understand. Wang Jun put a lot of effort into making the list, telling us that the people on the list pose a great threat to our clan, but I was still naive.”

Shen Tu patted his head. “Poor little centipede. Can I pickle you in alcohol and eat you after you die? Mortals say that centipedes pickled in alcohol can strengthen male virility.” He asked again, “What does male virility mean?”

Su Gou’s face stiffened for a moment, struggling to deliver his last words, “Send a message back to the Snow Palace, wake up Elder Wang Jun, and tell him we have found the child who was lost in the mortal realm. The young man named Su Yu who is with Su Ru Hui is the Holy Child, Sang Chi Yu.” Su Gou said hoarsely, “Elder Wang Jun has been recovering from his wound for so long. It’s time for him to wake up.”

After he finished speaking, he closed his eyes and lost all signs of life.