1733 Friends of Life or Death

The dozens of core assassins from the God of Death Palace paved the way.

Qin Kai walked on the road wearing a black God of Death cape. He was six feet six inches tall with slender hands and feet. There were six dragons on his black cape, dimming with crimson fluorescent light that seemed about to fly out.

As he stood in front of Zhang Ruochen, the ground shook, and Zhang Ruochen's bones made a cracking sound, and the invisible force intimidated all the monks around.

Zhang Ruochen squinted his eyes, and he saw the shadow of a four-armed blood demon above Qin Kai's head, and it was more than twelve feet tall.

The four-armed blood demon was formed by murderous Qi, and it was called 'Murderous Qi Saint Look'.

The Murderous Qi Saint Look wasn't a real saint look, but sometimes, it was more terrific than real saint looks. For a top-tier assassin like Qin Kai, all he needed to do was to release the Murderous Qi Saint Look, and it was enough to horrify many monks.

Those core assassins who were ferocious were all silent out of fear as if they had just met their kings.

Zhang Ruochen looked around, and they found Ji Fanxin and Xie Chengzi standing at the top of a palace nearby.

Zhang Ruochen was very pleased that Ji Shixin didn't choose to run away.

Zhang Ruochen carefully released a trace of mind power, forming an invisible thread, extending toward Ji Fanxin, preparing to talk with her.

Qin Kai was highly vigilant. He twitched his eyebrows and pointed his finger forward. 

Bang!

He dispersed Zhang Ruochen's mind power thread.

Qin Kai looked toward where the mind power thread extended, yet he couldn't find anyone there as Ji Fanxin and Xie Chengzi had hidden themselves.

"Seems like you're not alone, and the two of them have impressive cultivation." Qin Kai just released mind power for inspection, but he didn't find Ji Fanxin and Xie Chengzi, which was to his surprise.

His mind power had reached level fifty-nine, meaning that he was almost a mind power supreme saint. There were only a few creatures under supreme saints who could dodge his inspection.

Zhang Ruochen was very glum given how powerful Qin Kai was, but he didn't panic. He said calmly, "It was Elder Qi who tried to kill me first, and I was forced to protect myself."

That Killer Heavenly King who brought Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin to Elder Qi was standing behind Qin Kai and seemed to have a great status. He said with a deep voice, "Nonsense. Elder Qi was just trying to charge you a deposit. Why would he ever want to kill you? I bet Elder Qi attacked you because you couldn't afford the deposit while trying to get away with being punished by the God of Death Palace."

"Can't afford the deposit?"

Zhang Ruochen took out a storage bag and threw it to Qin Kai. "I've always heard that the God of Death Palace values reputation the most, and it's always absolutely neutral, never interfering with any power struggle among the fields, yet I'm really disappointed today.

"That Elder Qi of yours was a monk from Black Demon Field, wasn't he? Was he really devoted to working for the God of Death Palace? Are you sure that he never betrayed the God of Death Palace for Black Demon Field?"

That Killer Heavenly King sneered. "Elder Qi joined the God of Death Palace more than seven hundred years ago. Why would he betray the God of Death Palace?"

Zhang Ruochen said, "I put an order of around one point four billion saint stones in the God of Death Palace. I think that should make me an important client of the God of Death Palace, shouldn't it? Don't you think Elder Qi trying to kill me is damaging the God of Death Palace's reputation?"

"That's just your side of the story."

"Enough..." Qin Kai whispered, and that Killer Heavenly King immediately shut up.

Qin Kai threw the storage bag back to Zhang Ruochen and said, "The saint stones inside are indeed enough to pay for the deposit. We do need to overhaul this deal given how suspicious it looks."

That Killer Heavenly King said, "Brother Qin, we can't just let Elder Qi die without investigation. What about our dignity?"

"Our dignity is indeed important, but our reputation is also important. If a guest who has a deal more than one billion saint stones dies in the God of Death Palace for no reason, nobody will do business with the God of Death Palace in the future.

Qin Kai stared at that Killer Heavenly King and said, "A deal worth more than one billion saint stones should've gone to our palace leader. This is a huge issue, so it's not up to us to decide."

That Killer Heavenly King bowed, lowered his head, and agreed.

Zhang Ruochen felt a bit relieved and thought, Power and wealth are the basics for surviving. If it weren't for the one-point-four-billion-saint-stone deal I made at the Life and Death Cliff, the God of Death Palace would've killed me without any concern.

Qin Kai walked into the weapon-refining pavilion to check the fighting traces.

Demonic Sound transmitted her voice to Zhang Ruochen. "What should we do now, master? Should we seize this chance to run away?"

Zhang Ruochen shook his head and said, "Qin Kai might be as powerful as the top ten godly disciples, so it'll be almost impossible to flee in front of him, and besides, this tomb is incredible, and we might not be able to get away."

"Are we just going to sit here and wait?" Demonic Sound couldn't be more worried. 

Zhang Ruochen said, "The fight traces can reveal a lot of things. We can only hope that Qin Kai is perceptive enough."

Demonic Sound was still worried. "Even if Qin Kai can see that Elder Qi prepared a lot to kill us, Elder Qi was a senior from God of Death Palace after all. Qin Kai will definitely help cover the truth and prevent a scandal from spreading. This won't end well for us."

Zhang Ruochen had obviously thought of that, and if that really happened, he'd have to take out the godly scepter to contact the Moon Goddess. As long as the Moon Goddess was here, the God of Death Palace would spare their lives for her sake.

Of course, he wouldn't ask the Moon Goddess for help unless he had literally no other choice.

If he had to resort to the Moon Goddess every time something bad happened, he wouldn't have any leverage against her anymore.

After a while, Qin Kai walked out of the weapon-refining pavilion toward Zhang Ruochen.

Demonic Sound knew that Zhang Ruochen had been poisoned by Mirage Venom and that he was extremely weak, so she tried to stop Qin Kai.

However, Zhang Ruochen shook his head.

At the next moment, Qin Kai grabbed and then let go of Zhang Ruochen's left arm.

After letting go, Qin Kai said, "You were indeed poisoned by Mirage Venom. Can't believe you made it until now instead of turning translucent. Come with me!"

"Where're we going?" asked Demonic Sound.

"No need to ask. Just follow me."

Qin Kai walked down the stairs and took back Elder Qi's weapon-refining pavilion, which turned into a delicate figure the size of a fist, going into his storage object.

Demonic Sound transmitted her voice to Zhang Ruochen. "You can't follow him, master. We'd better fight him to the death. With the Time and Space Secret Guide, we might stand a chance getting out."

However, Zhang Ruochen disregarded it and followed Qin Kai.

It wouldn't be a difficult job for Qin Kai to kill Zhang Ruochen and Demonic Sound given his power, yet he did no such thing. Instead, it seemed that he was trying to find evidence to acquit him.

Which made Zhang Ruochen very curious. Had Qin Kai known that there was something wrong with Elder Qi already?

Or was there another reason?

Qin Kai was walking at the front, and he nodded seeing Zhang Ruochen follow him calmly. He mumbled, "No wonder he's affirmed by that guy. Impressive indeed."

Qin Kai stopped in front of the stone gate of a cave.

Boom!

The stone door was opened automatically.

Qin Kai turned around, looked at Zhang Ruochen, and said, "Go in. Someone's waiting for you."

"Who?" asked Zhang Ruochen.

"You'll know when you get in!"

Qin Kai walked into the stone cave first.

Zhang Ruochen followed, and after that, he saw a very familiar shadow standing under the stone wall, wearing a grey cape and carrying an iron sword.

They looked at each other.

Zhang Ruochen smiled, as all his confusion was gone now. He asked, "When did you join the God of Death Palace?"

The man carrying an iron sword smiled rigidly and said, "I'm just a hired assassin for the God of Death Palace. I can leave whenever I want."

Qin Kai walked to a stone desk and took off his crystal mask. "The palace leader has always wanted to admit him as a disciple and have him become a core disciple by joining the God of Death Palace, but he turned down the palace leader several times. Not even a Killer Emperor does that."

It was Le who was carrying the iron sword.

Le stared at Zhang Ruochen and said, "Sacred Central Empire lost a lot of people after the assassination carried out by the Heavenly Kill Organization. Even Dragon Guarding Pavilion lost two members, which is why the vice pavilion leader asked me and Han Qiu to join the God of Death Palace to retaliate against Heaven Field Sect. Of course, we've only been taking tasks to kill the monks from Heaven Field Sect."

Zhang Ruochen shot a glance at Qin Kai who was sitting near them.

Le knew Zhang Ruochen's concern, so he said, "Don't worry, brother Qin Kai and I are friends of life or death. He won't tell any other monk about the secrets that I spill today."

Zhang Ruochen said, "Does that mean that you asked him to help me?"

Le nodded and said, "When you placed an order to kill Shang Ziyan, Yan Xi, Xun Ya, and Gong Ziyan, I'd already figured that it was probably you, and when Elder Qi's Life Pearl broke, that confirmed it."

"Why? Have you guys known that Elder Qi has been working for Black Demon Field the whole time?" asked Zhang Ruochen.

"You don't even know the half of it," said Qin Kai.

Le said, "The intelligence system of the God of Death Palace has spread across the entire Heaven World, including our own organization. Elder Qi wasn't just a monk from Black Demon Field, he joined Heavenly Kill Organization a long time ago. He was a spy from Heaven Kill Organization in the God of Death Palace. We didn't kill him because we wanted to use him to lure more prominent beings out."

"I see."

Zhang Ruochen asked, "Didn't you say that Han Qiu also joined the God of Death Palace? Where is she?"

"She got very angry after learning that Elder Qi was trying to ambush you, so she went to kill the subordinates of Elder Qi already," said Le. "Nobody could stop her."