799 The Life-or-Death Moment Between Spring and Winter

There were so many questions, and Fang Zhengzhi knew that these questions were very likely the key to solving the mystery of Yu Er's disappearance.

There were so many questions in his mind that he furrowed his brows, but he could never obtain the answer to some of the questions.

For example, how did the Yan Cloud Cavalry fight the war at Ten Mile Lake? How did they die? How heavy were the Demon's and Monster's losses?

Was there anyone who knew the answers to these questions?

Without witnessing the war, no one could possibly know about these details. In that case, he could only identify the critical issues amongst all the questions and deduce the truth.

That made things much easier.

He could forget about the reason behind Leader Lan's retirement for the time being. After all, anyone would die from old age or illness. Even a Sage might die from severe injuries or even old age. He didn't need to know how Yu Er contested against Qian Ye and why did she fail either. As long as there was a competition, there were bound to be winners and losers. Fang Zhengzhi already understood the concept of "Winner takes it all" very thoroughly, so he wasn't going to spend so much effort thinking about it.

In conclusion, the most important question was… Where was Yu Er imprisoned?

This was a very direct question, but it was also the toughest one, because Qian Ye wouldn't possibly answer the question.

Everything was back to square one, but after a round of brainstorming, there were much more information than before. For example, it was now certain that Yu Er and Qian Ye contested against each other for the leader's position, and Yu Er was imprisoned after she lost.

Moreover, there wouldn't be many people… Who knew where Yu Er was imprisoned!

Since Yu Er was capable of competing against Qian Ye for the leader's position, she must be a prominent figure in Ling Yun Tower. This meant that she definitely had a group of loyal supporters.

Following this train of thought, Fang Zhengzhi figured that apart from Qian Ye, only her most loyal followers knew where Yu Er was.

However, neither Qian Ye nor her loyal followers would possibly him where Yu Er was.

After all, given how cautious and emotionally-restrained Qian Ye was, she wouldn't leave behind many loose ends.

Wait a minute!

Speaking of loose ends…

Why did Qian Ye keep Cang Yue by her side? Furthermore, why did she care so much about her? Most importantly, from Cang Yue's expressions and what she had said… She probably knew about it too!

In other words, Cang Yue knew where Yu Er was!

It was really suspicious that someone as cautious as Qian Ye would keep her enemy's servant by her side. Furthermore, she even convinced the servant not to save her master!

Fang Zhengzhi couldn't figure out how that was possible. Was Qian Ye treating Cang Yue so nicely because she felt guilty about imprisoning Yu Er? Was she benevolent because she was impressed by Cang Yue's outstanding talent?

Neither of the two explanations seem plausible, especially given how Qian Ye had treated the disciples of Ling Yun Tower.

Fang Zhengzhi was extremely confused, and he couldn't wrap his head around this issue.

Therefore, he stopped thinking about it!

That had always been his style. Anyway, since Cang Yue was the key to solving the problem, he could find out where Yu Er as long as he could get Cang Yue to open up. He just needed to rescue Yu Er after that, and all the problems would be solved.

Meanwhile, Lin Mubai seemed to be devastated by Qian Ye's accusations. He was so upset and regretful about losing the 13 Heaven Dao Tablets.

Ping Yang, on the other hand, was in a daze. She seemed to be confused by the truth of the war at Ten Mile Lake, as well as the history between Lin Mubai and Yu Er.

The atmosphere turned a little weird.

Fang Zhengzhi glimpsed at Cang Yue and noticed that she wasn't looking at them. She was looking downwards at Qian Ye's back instead.

"Hmm?" Fang Zhengzhi squinted his eyes.

At this moment, Qian Ye became agitated and started scolding Lin Mubai for losing the 13 Heaven Dao Tablets. She seemed to be moving closer towards him intentionally too.

"Lin Mubai, do you know about the sacrifices Yu Er made so that you could keep the 13 Heaven Dao Tablets? Yet, you lost the tablets, and to make things worse, they were taken by the Demon Race. How could you be shameless enough to keep living, and even come looking for Yu Er?" As Qian Ye was speaking, she took a step forward. Her eyes were glowing with a chilling golden light.

"I… I…" Lin Mubai couldn't say a word against Qian Ye. He was trembling and completely unaware that Qian Ye was inching towards him.

"During that war, master put her life on the line to prevent the Demon and Monster race from winning. She was severely injured as a result, and she soon passed… Ai, how could you have the audacity to come to Ling Yun Tower?" Qian Ye continued.

"I've let Leader Lan down, but I feel…"

"Hmph, let her down? Do you think that's enough to repent for your sins? Do you know that you have not only let master down, but you also let mankind down? Do you know how important the Heaven Dao Tablets are? How could you allow them to be taken by the Demon Race? Do you want to witness mankind's extinction?

"Mankind's extinction…"

"That's right. You've personally witnessed the war between humans, demons, and monsters. Do you really think that the demons and monsters would let it go? If it wasn't because of you, the war wouldn't have taken place, and Yu Er wouldn't have to be punished!"

"Punished?! Was Yu Er punished because of that war? She was imprisoned because of that? Does that mean… I'm the cause of all her sufferings?" Lin Mubai trembled, unable to believe what he had just heard.

"What did you think was the cause?" Qian Ye moved closer towards Lin Mubai and continued in a chilling tone, "When Yu Er returned to Ling Yun Tower a dozen years ago, she was already repenting her mistakes. Master did not intend to imprison her, and she even wanted to make her the next leader!"

"What happened after that? Why did…"

"It was because of you! Everything was because of you! Master knew that Yu Er was pregnant with your child, but you should know about Ling Yun Tower's rules since the beginning. Us disciples of Ling Yun Tower have chosen to take on the path of emotionlessness and devoid ourselves of all humanly emotions. In that case, how could the successor of Ling Yun Tower be allowed to have a child?"

"Child… Are you saying that what Hua Fei did had led to Yu Er…"

"That's right! Master helped Yu Er to conceal the truth and even allowed her to give birth to Ping Yang. She only told all the other disciples that Ping Yang was a kid that they found outside. In that case, Yu Er could still take over as the next leader. However, Chen Feihua came to Ling Yun Tower because of your uselessness and retardation. Did you really think that she was capable of taking a new-born baby away from Ling Yun Tower?"

"It was Yu Er who purposely handed Ping Yang to Hua Fei. She did that so that I could be reunited with Ping Yang…"

"You're right. She begged for master's approval because she wanted Ping Yang to return to Great Xia Dynasty so that you can get your life together. From there on, news got out that Yu Er gave birth to a child. After that happened, even master couldn't protect Yu Er anymore. In order to prevent the rumours from spreading, master had to…" Qian Ye suddenly shut up when she realised that she had said too much.

"What did she have to do?" Lin Mubai took a step forward, unable to mask his eagerness and desolation anymore.

"She had to…" Qian Ye was hesitating. She appeared to be in pain because she was extremely reluctant to bring this up.

"Mother, mother…" Ping Yang couldn't wait to hear the truth from Qian Ye either.

At this moment, everywhere in Ling Yun Tower was filled with a depressing vibe. Even Cang Yue and the disciples kneeling on the ground were completely silent.

Everyone seemed to be waiting!

Fang Zhengzhi was waiting just like the rest. He literally did not expect Qian Ye to answer the question that had been bothering him since the beginning.

Although no one knew if she was speaking the truth, but he could at least deduce that Leader Lan was more inclined to make Yu Er the next leader of Ling Yun Tower, rather than Qian Ye.

In that case, no one knew if there were other things or critical information that Qian Ye had purposely left out.

Everyone was depressed and waiting for an answer!

However, that changed when a ray of sunlight fell from the sky.

It wasn't very bright, in fact, it was almost negligible since it was already noon. However, it looked like a real golden long sword.

This ray of sunlight was heading… For Fang Zhengzhi's head!

"Eh? I… Damn it!" Although Fang Zhengzhi was waiting for Qian Ye's reply as well, he sensed the approaching danger almost instantly. Therefore, he subconsciously cursed.

Despite that, Qian Ye already moved before Fang Zhengzhi reacted.

Rather, Qian Ye disappeared the moment the sunlight descended, and she was already beside Fang Zhengzhi in the next instance.

"Die!" She muttered softly.

Her hands reached out at the same time, each holding a glittering golden ball.

The two golden balls were obviously something special. Apart from being crystal clear, they contained two completely different paintings. The first one depicted many birds flying above a turquoise mountain with a waterfall as white as silk. The waterfall crashed into a huge jade-green pond, splashing white froth everywhere.

It was a naturalistic painting.

On the other hand, the second painting of an icy land. There was another mountain and another waterfall in this painting as well, but the waterfall had already frozen. It turned into numerous spikes of icicles that connected with the frozen lake below.

Two paintings!

Both contained a mountain and a waterfall, but they represented two opposite artistic concepts. One was spring, the other winter.

Qian Ye held the two golden balls and struck towards Fang Zhengzhi's head and his chest.

She was so close and so fast!

It was a sneak attack!

Furthermore, it was a sneak attack from the leader of Ling Yun Tower. One could tell that she spent a lot time preparing for this.

"Crap! Fang Zhengzhi, move away!" Lin Mubai was focused on Qian Ye the entire time, so he was quick to react to her movements.

However, he seemed to be too late.

He wanted to stop her, or even block the attack with his body, but it was impossible, because Qian Ye was too fast.

Ping Yang wanted to do the same, but just like Lin Mubai, she wasn't capable of stopping such a rapid attack.

"Fang Zhengzhi!" Ping Yang shouted and stabbed towards Qian Ye with her Blazing Qilin Spear without any hesitation, even though she knew that it couldn't possible stop her.

The crimson flame and the golden light on the tip of the spear were just a centimetre away from the sunlight that descended.

However….A centimetre sometimes meant the difference between heaven and earth.

Ping Yang's spear couldn't even stop the falling ray of sunlight, so it couldn't possibly stop the two golden balls heading for Fang Zhengzhi's head and chest.