Chapter Ninety-Five: The Reason

As soon as the Prince of Li and the Great General of the Lin Kingdom stepped into the underground tomb hall, their eyes were firmly, almost greedily, drawn to the long blade hanging at Li Ju’s waist.

As two seasoned internal-arts masters, they naturally knew how to distinguish a divine weapon.

“So you are the internal-arts expert Water City invited to help restore their kingdom.”

Only then did the Prince of Li finally tear his gaze away from the Long Soul Cleaver and look at Li Ju.

“If you know what is good for you, then—”

Pfft!

Before he could finish speaking, the three men with him were instantly engulfed by an overpowering surge of force. Blood sprayed, and their bodies fell lifeless to the ground.

Li Ju slowly withdrew his aura. After his spiritual essence had been strengthened and he had broken through to the half-step Minor Three-Origins realm, his control over that aura had become more and more effortless.

“Too much nonsense.”

Li Ju strode toward the exit of the tomb.

If others had been able to chatter endlessly before him, it was only because he had not been able to kill them in an instant and had been forced to listen until they finished. But for two mere internal-arts masters to waste his time with such drivel in front of him could only end in immediate death.

After learning the techniques of the Demonic Sect and refining a demonic body, Li Ju could hardly be called patient or good-tempered. The fact that he had not already burst out in bloodthirsty slaughter was already proof of how hard he was suppressing his demonic nature.

“So that is General Li. How could he be with the Prince of Li and the Great General of the Lin Kingdom?”

At that moment, General Wang behind Li Ju recognized the identities of the three men Li Ju had just killed.

But after doing so, his expression changed drastically.

“It seems your prince may not be in very good condition.”

Li Ju said offhandedly as he listened to General Wang, never once slowing his pace.

“Your Highness...”

Realizing what might have happened, General Wang hurried after him toward the tomb entrance.

When the two men emerged from the tomb, what met their eyes was a corpse with wide-open eyes and a face frozen in unwilling resentment.

“Your Highness!”

General Wang rushed forward in three quick steps, threw his arms around the Water City prince’s body, and wept bitterly.

As a long-faithful servant of the Water City royal house, the sight of the last bloodline of that house being extinguished before his very eyes was a despair beyond words.

“Since the royal bloodline has been cut off, then this old minister should go and follow Your Highness as well.”

General Wang laid the prince’s body down, raised the saber at his waist high overhead, and was just about to drive it into his own heart.

“You are not permitted to die yet.”

At that moment, Li Ju, standing nearby, reached out and stopped General Wang’s suicidal act.

“I promised you I would help Water City restore its kingdom. A promise once given must be fulfilled.”

“At the very least, until I have helped Water City successfully restore its state, you cannot die.”

Li Ju said expressionlessly.

“With the royal line gone, what meaning is there left in restoring Water City?”

General Wang said in grief.

He had always been loyal to the Water City royal family, not to Water City itself.

“I will take it that you have already fulfilled your promise. Please, let this old man follow His Highness away!”

As he spoke, General Wang once again tried to drive the blade into his chest.

Bang.

General Wang collapsed unconscious to the ground.

“For the sake of my admirable habit of keeping my word, I suppose I’ll have to wrong you and let you die a little later.”

Li Ju lifted the unconscious General Wang onto his shoulder and swam up toward the surface of Mirror Lake.

Hum.

Crack... crack...

After Li Ju left, the tomb gate shut itself. The round pearl at the center of the door turned into a streak of light and flew off into the distance.

Three days later.

Riding a camel, Li Ju once more set out on the road.

Before leaving, he had successfully helped Water City drive away the invaders from the Lin Kingdom, restored Water City to its former state, and then handed the restored city directly over to General Wang, who had just awakened from unconsciousness.

Meanwhile, after the Lin Kingdom had lost two internal-arts masters in the Mirror Lake tomb, its strength had been badly diminished. It was already too busy dealing with its own troubles to care about the loss of Water City.

Everything had gone perfectly.

The only unknown was whether, after taking charge of Water City, General Wang would still, in an act of loyalty, follow the Water City royal family into death.

But whatever General Wang chose to do afterward no longer had anything to do with Li Ju. Once Water City’s restoration was complete, his fate with it was at an end.

“Next, I need to cross the Great Oasis and reach Stone Valley.”

Li Ju rode his camel while comparing the map.

The Great Oasis was a splendid place. As he traveled through it, he could smell the fragrance of flowers and grass everywhere, hear the soft murmur of running water everywhere, and see forests flourishing in lush abundance everywhere.

Everything about it was enough to make one feel refreshed and at peace.

There was only one thing that left Li Ju somewhat vexed.

“I’ve said it several times already, but I still have to say it again...”

“You really are like a ghost that never goes away.”

Li Ju looked helplessly at the person blocking his path.

“I really did not expect you to be able to find me one step ahead of the Demonic Sect.”

Li Ju dismounted and patted the camel’s body.

The camel immediately understood and broke into a run toward the distance, its retreating figure so frantic it looked as though it were using all the strength it had for nursing.

“But this time, do you really think you can kill me?”

Li Ju lowered his eyelids slightly, and a powerful aura slowly rose from his body.

“If it were only me, of course I still wouldn’t have that confidence.”

The person standing opposite Li Ju, Ling Yuan, said as he held a broken wooden pole.

“But there are also us.”

At that moment, two more figures emerged from the forest and stood beside Ling Yuan.

“Three experts at the Minor Three-Origins realm, and each of them armed with a divine weapon...”

“You really do think highly of me.”

Li Ju narrowed his eyes at the three men across from him.

From the two newly appeared men, he also sensed a thick aura of death. Clearly, they too were ancestors of the Seven-Three Sect who had somehow survived for several hundred years.

“Your Seven-Three Sect has only five divine weapons in total, and this time you brought out three of them. Aren’t you afraid they’ll all be lost here?”

Li Ju drew the Long Soul Cleaver at his waist and glanced at the divine weapons held by the three members of the Seven-Three Sect.

“No. Today our Seven-Three Sect’s divine weapons will not suffer any loss. On the contrary, we will gain one more.”

Ling Yuan shook his head and turned his gaze to the Long Soul Cleaver in Li Ju’s hand.

“It is not Bat Soul, but the Long Soul Cleaver. It seems your position in the Demonic Sect is not as valued as we imagined.”

“So you have already decided you can take me for sure.”

Li Ju did not explain Ling Yuan’s mistake about the Long Soul Cleaver being something bestowed on him by the Demonic Sect.

“I find it very hard to understand. Just for the matters between me and your Seven-Three Sect before, you are willing to expend such effort to hunt me down. From the way your sect acts, you should not be so foolish.”

Li Ju said in a low voice.

“Your disputes with those junior disciples are nothing at all. That is not the reason we came here to surround and kill you today.”

“The true reason our Seven-Three Sect has developed murderous intent toward you is...”

“You have refined a demonic body.”