Nalan Shan persisted in kneeling on the ground and even when the previous Spirit Master stretched a hand out to help him up, he did not move in the slightest. That scene just further saddened the previous Spirit Master and he felt even more remorseful.
"It's all your Master's fault. Your Master has failed as a teacher, having possessed power for so many years but was not able to judge a person clearly, to have taken a vicious tiger for a trusted kin. Your Master has caused you to suffer much grief. You should not have come, shouldn't have come….." The previous Spirit Master's voice trembled, not from fear, but self admonishment.
He hated himself for his incompetence, hated that his eyes had not been able to see, that had not only thrown himself into a hopeless quandary, but had also dragged Nalan Shan down.
Nalan Shan shook his head.
"Being able to acknowledge you as my Master, has been Nalan Shan's greatest pride. I have no regrets."
The Master and disciple had their hands held together as they looked into each other's teary eyes, a moving and tragic sight.
Among the surrounding human spirits who were watching, quite a number of them were feeling sorrowful from that. They hadn't really believed that the previous Spirit Master would so something so traitorous as selling out the Spirit World, and they were feeling it was even more impossible now.
"The bond between the Master and his disciple is truly deep and I cannot help but be moved watching both of you. But, have the two of you finished with what you wanted to say?" Wu Jiu had watched them for awhile, before he finally opened his mouth to interrupt the conversation between Nalan Shan and the previous Spirit Master.
Nalan Shan's brows bristled as he turned coldly to sweep a chilling gaze over the figure of Wu Jiu, his eyes filled to the brim with hatred.
"Wu Jiu, you betrayed your Master and ruined the name of our ancestors, to have committed a deed that go against all morals. You are not human!"
Wu Jiu laughed and said: "Not human? Haha. I am not human at that! I am a human spirit. Could it be that you and our Master are humans?"
Nalan Shan was not skilled with words and could not compare to Wu Jiu's sharp and incisive mouth, unable to do anything but to glare hatefully at Wu Jiu.
"Don't look at me like that. I have not harmed Master in the slightest and since you've come here today as agreed, I will naturally release our old Master. I'll even get someone to escort him back into the mountains properly, to allow him to continue with his seclusion. Nalan Shan, you do not need to hate me so much. I am doing all this just because of you. If you had not persisted in harbouring the fugitive, I wouldn't have needed to employ such a method, that made our old Master go through such suffering. At the end of it all, Nalan Shan, this is all your fault!" Wu Jiu said venomously, his eyes narrowed as he stared at Nalan Shan, his gaze so sinister like it had been soaked in poison.
Nalan Shan was so furious his entire body was shaking. But led by Wu Jiu's words, and the fact he had felt that he had dragged the previous Spirit Master into this, Nalan Shan felt so remorseful upon hearing Wu Jiu's words that he was unable to say anything at that moment.
The previous Spirit Master saw that Nalan Shan was being manipulated and he drew in a deep breath as he held Nalan Shans hand to say: "This matter isn't your fault. With everything that you have done, you have your Master's support. The one that is wrong is Wu Jiu. If he did not harbour evil intentions in his heart, how could he possibly be able to do something so utterly heartless and devoid of morals?"
Wu Jiu then said with a laugh: "Master is being so biased. It is clear that you were implicated into all of this because of my junior fellow disciple. How could you blame me? But it's alright. Since my junior has come, Master, you're free now and you can go back into the mountains and continue with your life as a recluse. Wouldn't that be better? In these affairs of the Spirit World, you had better not interfere as you had committed such a embarrassing deed in the past."
The previous Spirit Master was so infuriated by Wu Jiu his face turned green. Nalan Shan could endure Wu Jiu's slander upon himself but he could not tolerate the humiliation he was putting the previous Spirit Master under!
"Wu Jiu! No such deed have been committed at all so why are you heaping such baseless accusations upon Master's head? You wanted me to come, and so here I am. This matter has nothing to do with Master and if you continue to falsely accuse Master, I will immediately extinguish my own spirit body right here. Then no matter how resourceful you are, I will then like to see what you will be able to come up with!" Nalan Shan threatened to kill himself, and Wu Jiu's face immediately changed.