âWhatâs wrong?â The Solitary Eight looked at her.
Qiu Honglei recalled the figure that had just flashed across her vision, and she grew suspicious. âTest the food.â
The Solitary Eight werenât clueless newborn hatchlings, and quickly caught on. One of them took out a needle to test out the food, but the needle did not change color. It hadnât detected any poison.
Zu An was speechless at the lack of knowledge in these backwards civilizations. Silver needles only detected sulfides. The only way the silver needles would react is if the container that stored the poison wasnât air-tight, allowing some sulfides to appear in the arsenic.
Many poisons donât even contain any sulfides! A silver needle wonât cut it!
âSomethingâs not right. There is definitely something wrong with this food,â Qiu Honglei said decisively.
The rest of them turned to look at Solitary Wood. Zu An was curious. Why were they looking at him?
The green-haired manâSolitary Woodâplaced his little finger into the soup and licked it. He closed his eyes, as if in deep thought. A moment later, he said with an icy voice, ââMonarchâs Loyaltyâ! I might not have been able to detect it without Lady Saintâs warning!â
Zu An was stunned. So, wood element cultivators have an affinity with poisons! Thank goodness Snow didnât try to poison me back thenâ¦
âWhat?!â The othersâ expressions grew dark. Solitary Lightning was even more furious. In a flash, she seized the waiter who had served them.
The waiter drew a dagger from inside his sleeves when he realized that he had been exposed. Unfortunately, he was no match for a powerful Solitary Eight member from the Devil Sect. Solitary Lightning grabbed his throat. âSpeak! Who prompted you to do this?!â
Unfortunately, she used too much strength, and he was choked to death instead.
âTrash!â Solitary Lightning tossed his corpse aside, and went after the other waiters in the inn.
They began to flee when they realized that something wasnât right. Unfortunately, there was no way they could outrun the Solitary Eight.
The fight in the inn was over almost before it had begun. Most of the waiters were killed on the spot, but the few that were captured ended their own lives by breaking the poison pills stored within their teeth.
âTheyâre all deathsworn soldiers!â The Solitary Eight were stunned. Whoever commanded such deathsworn soldiers was no ordinary power. âWho dares to target us?â
Qiu Honglei coldly issued an order. âSearch the other areas of the in.â
Solitary Wind, Fire, and Metal headed out to search the tavern. They returned in a moment, shaking their heads. They had found nothing.
Qiu Honglei scanned her surroundings. The other guests of the inn had fled, leaving behind a huge mess. She frowned. âForget it, thereâs no sense in chasing after them. Go out and buy some food. We will prepare our own food and rest here for the night. We set out tomorrow morning.â
âWhat? Weâre still staying here for the night?â Solitary Windâs voice was overflowing with worry. âWhat if our enemies attack again?â
Qiu Honglei shook her head. âI donât believe they have the ability to make another move. Itâs already dark outside, and if we set out again, weâll have to sleep outside. We can take advantage of this inn and get some rest.â
When the Solitary Eight dispersed, Zu An said with a frown, âHave you already figured out our attackersâ identities?â
Qiu Honglei smiled. âI should be asking you that question. It seems like theyâve gone through quite the effort to rescue you.â
âRescue me?â Even though Zu An had his suspicions, he wasnât certain.
âOf course it was to rescue you! Speaking of which, those two beauties seem to care about you a great deal. They havenât given up yet. No⦠they shouldnât have had the time to move so many men. It is most likely the Sang clanâs young miss who planned this,â Qiu Honglei mumbled to herself.
âHow can you be so sure?â Zu An asked curiously.
âBecause I saw Sang Qian just now.â Qiu Honglei smiled. If she hadnât noticed him all of a sudden, they might have been poisoned already. âMonarchâs Loyaltyâ, huh? It seems theyâre quite formidable, managing to get their hands on such a precious poison.
âSang Qian?â Zu An frowned. Did that fellow do it on purpose? He probably revealed himself because he doesnât want me to be saved.
His expression darkened considerably. He and Sang Qian were enemies to begin with, so he already knew that Sang Qian wanted to kill him. But if youâre going to do it, then do it openly! Why do you have to resort to despicable methods, and send so many people to their graves? This made Zu An extremely angry.
He came from a civilized world, after all. This was the first time he had seen so many people die for his sake, and he felt awful inside.
Even though these people had died at the hands of the Solitary Eight, he didnât blame them. They had their own mission to carry out, after all. This was a world where the strong preyed on the weakâit was either kill, or be killed. Each person had to rely on their own skill and ability. That was just the way it was.
However, Sang Qian was the one to blame for these deaths. Serious killing intent surged within him.
He had made up his mind. He was going to take that manâs life the next time they met, no matter what. He would no longer show consideration for Sang Hong.
It took him a while to finally calm down. When he did so, he said in a low voice, âI want to ask you for a favor.â
âAs long as itâs within my abilities, sure.â Even though Qiu Honglei had noticed the sudden change in him, she didnât know what had triggered him to act in this way.
âI want to bury these men and let them rest in peace.â He looked at the corpses strewn about the place. His tone was extremely sad.
Qiu Honglei felt troubled. âI didnât bring any servants along with me, and I donât believe the Solitary Eight will be willing to do that.â
Zu An shook his head. âItâs all right. Iâll do it myself.â
âWhy?â Qiu Honglei was rather surprised. She didnât understand why Zu An would do this.
âEven though I donât know them personally, they died trying to save me. This is all I can do for them,â Zu An said quietly.
Qiu Honglei fell silent.
She was the saint of the Devil Sect, and someone who had enjoyed a high status from as far back as she could remember. Even in the two years sheâd spent in the Immortal Abode on an undercover mission, sheâd had endless servants at her disposal, to order around as she saw fit. This was something that sheâd never had to worry about.
She wasnât the only one in the world like this. The noble elite of this world and other powerful cultivators did not grasp the concept of human equality. Many people werenât even human in their eyesâjust slaves, servants, or pawns.
That was why she hadnât understood Zu Anâs reaction at first. However, as she watched him dig one grave after another in the rear courtyard and then carefully bury those deathsworn soldiers, something changed within her, and she was extremely moved.
âIâm sorry,â Qiu Honglei apologized. In a way, these people had died because of her.
Zu An shook his head. âThey wanted to poison all of you, so it was inevitable that you would kill them. That is why I donât blame you for it. Instead, thereâs only one person to blame.â
Qiu Honglei was an intelligent woman, and she immediately understood what he meant. âYouâre talking about Sang Qian, arenât you?â
Zu An didnât reply, but went about burying the corpses, his face deathly serious. Then, he found a board and began carving. âA grave for loyal men, set up by Zu An.â
Qiu Honglei watched Zu Anâs lonesome figure. It suddenly occurred to her that she didnât actually understand this man at all.
â¦
Elsewhere, the Sang family members, Pei Mianman, and Zheng Dan were fleeing for their lives. They knew that there was no way they could defeat the Devil Sect now that they had been exposed.
When they were finally in the clear, Sang Qien gave Sang Qian an angry look. âWhy?â
âWhat do you mean, why?â Sang Qian seemed to be trying too hard to look natural.
Sang Qien said, âIf you hadnât shown yourself to Qiu Honglei, they would never have realized that they were being poisoned. There would have been no need for those deathsworn soldiers to sacrifice themselves! Do you know how much our Sang clan invested to nurture them?â
Sang Hongâs expression was dark as well. The Sang clan wasnât as established as many of the other clans, and they didnât have as many deathsworn soldiers. These few were more or less all they had.
Sang Qian said disapprovingly, âI didnât foresee that this would happen either! How am I supposed to know that woman Qiu Honglei would be sharp enough to notice me?â
Pei Mianman was furious. âDid you do it on purpose? Youâve wanted to kill Zu An from the very start!â
Zheng Danâs eyes became as cold as ice, leaking out a hint of killing intent.
Sang Hongâs voice also grew heavy. âQianâer, youâve really disappointed me.â
I donât care if you want to kill Zu An, but did you have to do it now? Youâve even cost our clan so many deathsworn soldiers!
Being vicious and merciless is all well and good, but stupidity cannot be tolerated.
Sang Qian erupted in fury. âFine, fine, fine! Itâs all my fault! Since all of you think that Zu An is so great, then go make him your big brother, and make him your son! Iâve had enough!â
He turned around and ran off. Sang Hong subconsciously took a step after him, but he let go of the idea. Instead, he stopped Pei Mianman and Zheng Dan from pursuing him as well.
Sang Qianâs figure quickly vanished from sight.
He ran at full speed, getting angrier the more he ran. He stopped at the edge of a cliff and yelled out curses at Zu An, venting all of his anger and frustration.
You have successfully trolled Sang Qian for 999⦠999⦠999â¦
Just then, he heard a bewitching female voice. âHandsome young man, I take it you know Zu An?â