CH 99

It wasn’t long before the troops led by Tengyun Pavilion were totally obscured by the wind-eroded pillars of Devil City and later vanished from sight.

Gu Feidi and Su Yang went around, keeping a wide berth from the Central Plains martial artists who remained outside and headed into Devil City from a different direction.

The route markings set up by the Devil Sect in Devil City were put together using rocks and stones, most of which were set into the ground beneath the wind-eroded stone pillars. The markings were not complex and were fairly easy to identify, but if one wasn’t familiar with the Devil Sect’s rules, these stone markings appeared to be ordinary rocks in the eyes of passers-by.

The previous time they had entered the Devil Sect, it wasn’t appropriate for Su Yang to let Gu Feidi know about these markings since there were flower aides at his side. This time, they were alone, so Su Yang told Gu Feidi about the rules set up by the Devil Sect on the route markings.

After comprehending the route, Gu Feidi smiled and said, “You’re showing me how to identify the Devil Sect’s route markings. Aren’t you afraid I’d harm the Devil Sect in the future?”

Su Yang rolled his eyes at him, “You mean we’re currently going to do meritorious things for the Devil Sect?”

Gu Feidi smiled and gently patted Su Yang on the head.

Both of them were unable to ascertain Tengyun Pavilion’s position at that time, so after deliberating for a moment, they resolved to head directly to the Devil Sect headquarters.

Soon after that, they ran into a group of three low-level Mei Hall flower aides after turning round a boulder.

When the both sides met, all were stunned for a second.

The Devil Sect flower aide straightaway cupped his fists and said in a low voice: “Mei Nianqi* greets Young Saint. Why is Young Saint here with Tengyun Pavilion’s Young Pavilion Master?”

(*TN : Nian = twenty, Qi = seven)

Su Yang placed his arm on Gu Feidi’s shoulder and smiled: “Currently, he’s not Tengyun Pavilion’s Young Pavilion Master, but this Devil Sect’s Young Saint’s lady wife. Of course he’s with me.”

Gu Feidi stared blankly at the flower aide. He angled his toes slightly, activated his internal strength and discreetly took precautions.

The flower aide said: “Apologies, Young Saint, we can’t allow you into the Devil Sect’s headquarters.”

Su Yang raised his eyebrows: “Ng? You’re going to stop me?”

The flower aide signalled to the two behind him, moved to draw out a scimitar from his waist and said to Su Yang, “Don’t blame us for the offense!” 

As he finished speaking, he advanced and swung the blade he was holding in a full circle to slash at Su Yang——It appeared that he didn’t want to force them back. Instead, he was going to kill Su Yang right there.

Su Yang was about to unsheathe his sword, but was stopped by Gu Feidi. Gu Feidi held the Long Cherished Heart Sword, tilted his head slightly and said, “Conserve your internal strength.” 

Having said that, he faced the three flower aides alone. He wasn’t heavy handed and didn’t stab directly at their fatal points.

However, the three flower aides seemed to desire death. Two tangled with Gu Feidi and another one struck at Su Yang.

There was clearly something abnormal with this situation. Gu Feidi couldn’t help frowning and he flipped the Long Cherished Heart Sword in his hand to deeply stab the two flower aides who were fighting against him before turning round to assist Su Yang.

Su Yang did not sit and wait for death. Ultimately, he still drew out his sword and opposed the flower aide.

“No point using Tengyun Pavilion as an excuse, right?” He frowned at the flower aide before him. “Prior to you, I’ve also come across someone from Lian Hall who’d come to kill me……so it’s true that there’s someone within our Sect attempting to seize power?”

Upon hearing this question, the flower aide’s gaze instantly erupted with resentment. He gritted his teeth and said: “As such, I can’t let you return to our Sect to warn Sect Leader!”

After speaking, he flipped the scimitar in hand and his moves changed to become more formidable than before. Each remorseless strike was aimed at Su Yang’s fatal points.

Su Yang swung his sword to block the opponent’s blade, then turned his head and said to Gu Feidi: “Don’t hold back!” 

In fact, there was no need for him to say so. Gu Feidi has already caught the exchange between him and the flower aide. He immediately killed the two traitorous flower aides by employing his two moves of ‘Startled Swan’ and ‘Falling Sand’.

Su Yang saw Mei Nianqi’s murderous gaze and internally let out a faint sigh. He waved his hand and thrust the sword through his heart.

He had no choice but to kill him in order to stop the fight.

He disliked this sensation, but……the Jianghu was like that, the battlefield was like that and there wasn’t a choice when he was involved in either.

“What do we do with the bodies?” He feigned composure and turned to ask Gu Feidi “Just leave them here?”

Gu Feidi’s gaze fell on Su Yang’s face and he noticed that he was somewhat downcast. He stepped forward and gave him a reassuring hug.

“There’s no time to deal with them, just leave them here.” He said, “You……don’t have to feel responsible for any of this. If you truly don’t want to act against those from the Devil Sect, then just leave it to me. Those things that you’re unwilling to do, I’ll do them for you.”

Su Yang shook his head and smiled: “I can’t keep letting you kill on my behalf. Since I want to be involved in these Jianghu matters, I ought to be doing what I’m able to.”

Having said that, he stowed away his thin sword, dropped his hand and hooked Gu Feidi’s little finger, “When these godawful messes are over, let’s remain in Lesser Jade House, alright?

Gu Feidi grasped Su Yang’s hand and smiled as he agreed: “Alright.”

As noon approached, the sun rose high.

The scorching sun soon heated up the arid Wasteland a little. The winds carried the warmth into Devil City and gradually dispersed the severe winter cold.

The two of them rested against a boulder and took a few casual bites of dry rations. Su Yang held the water sack and shook it: “Water’s running low, we should hurry to the headquarters as soon as possible.”

Gu Feidi nodded and stuffed the last piece of cake into his mouth. As he scanned the huge scattered boulders in the distance, his face was a bit somber.

“What’s the matter?” Su Yang asked, “Are you still worried about Tengyun Pavilion, afraid that they’ll also encounter people from the Devil Sect?”

“I’m not even worried about them confronting a battle,” Gu Feidi said, “It’s just that it may be quite dangerous if anyone gets separated from the main group here within Devil City.”

Once he finished speaking, he smiled to himself and shook his head: “But it’s pointless to worry. Given that they’ve already advanced in, they’ve probably made the necessary preparations. Let’s go. It’s better that we take care of ourselves.”

Both of them marched for another half day until the sun slanted westward, then they abruptly detected the sounds of the swords clashing nearby.

“Shall we take a look?” Gu Feidi mouthed.

Su Yang nodded. The two of them altered course and held hands as they crept closer to where the sounds were coming from.

Unexpectedly, there were no Tengyun Pavilion troops there; only Pu Lingyun accompanied by a Tengyun Pavilion guard fighting against four Devil Sect flower aides. There were two unconscious people in a nearby corner. From the  appearance of their attire, it was another Tengyun Pavilion guard and a Devil Sect flower aide.

Their numbers were not favourable. Pu Lingyun struggled to hold her own and was forced to retreat step by step. The Tengyun Pavilion guard who was with her had already sustained a lot of injuries and his movements gradually became more subdued.

Seeing this scene, Gu Feidi and Su Yang exchanged a look. Without giving a thought about hiding themselves, they dived headfirst into the field and helped block the attacks from the Devil Sect flower aides against the two.

“Xiao shixiong!” Pu Lingyun called out in astonishment, “How did the two of you get here!”

Gu Feidi didn’t reply, instead he asked, “Why are you here alone?”

Pu Lingyun said, “We were sandwiched by the Devil Sect flower aides after entering Devil City and fought……I carelessly got separated from the troops during the chaos, then……got a little lost……” 

Here, the pair of shixiong-mei were talking and over there, the Devil Sect’s flower aides were somewhat confused to see Su Yang standing together with the people from Tengyun Pavilion.

After looking helplessly at each other for a moment, someone finally stepped up and said loudly: “Subordinate Mei Shi* greets Young Saint……and requests that you don’t get involved in this matter!”

(*TN : Shi = ten)

Su Yang let out a smirk: “Oh, you all want to prevent me from going back to the headquarters?”

Mei Shi said: “Sect Leader has instructed that no one is allowed into the headquarters, including the troops from Lian Hall and Mei Hall that have been dispatched out, as well as……you, Young Saint.”

Su Yang raised his eyebrows and smiled: “Why? Aren’t you going to tell me that you want to kill me?”

Having heard that, Mei Shi couldn’t help widening his eyes and staring at Su Yang in disbelief.

Behind him, a flower aide narrowed his eyes and winked at another and, immediately——the two flower aides joined hands, brandished scimitars and suddenly slashed at Mei Shi’s back!

Who’d have expected that Mei Shi was already on guard. He turned around and raised his sword to block both blades.

“Young Saint!” He called out in a low voice, “Unrest has sprouted within our Sect. Requesting again for you not to get involved. Leave as soon as possible!” 

He’d finished speaking but was no match for the two flower aides. He was heavily stabbed into the abdomen and staggered a few steps back. However, he received another direct strike and it looked as if he was about to get killed right there.

In that instant, the scimitar was blocked by Gu Feidi’s Long Cherished Heart sword.

Gu Feidi dashed ahead, forcing the two flower aides to retreat and joined forces with Pu Lingyun to kill them.

Su Yang strode over to Mei Shi, who was severely injured and had difficulty getting up. He held his sword as a precaution and patronisingly asked: “You’re not on the same side as them?”

Mei Shi remained kneeling on the ground as he pressed the wound on his abdomen and struggled to look up at Su Yang. : “The subordinate used to attend to Sect Leader on Jun Hua Island and am under Sect Leader’s personal command……our Sect is under threat……the threat isn’t significant. Sect Leader has his own plan…… and requests for Young Saint……to stay away in order to safeguard yourself……”

Su Yang pointed his sword at him and didn’t move away. He asked: “Why should I trust you?”

Mei Shi gasped for breath and was silent for a moment before saying: “If Young Saint doesn’t believe me, you can examine this subordinate’s back for the……red spider lily tattoo.”

Red spider lily tattoo?

This was the first time Su Yang had heard about this and it wasn’t apt to reveal his ignorance before the flower aide, so he turned and looked at Gu Feidi questioningly.

Gu Feidi kept silent and said, “We’ll talk about this later. This flower aide……how should we handle him?” 

Before Su Yang could say anything, Mei Shi said anxiously: “Young Saint! This subordinate implores for you not to go back into the Sect……”

“Didn’t you say that the current threat isn’t significant?” Su Yang frowned and asked, “Since the threat isn’t significant, why won’t you let me go back?”

Mei Shi opened his mouth but couldn’t answer.

Su Yang heaved a sigh, fished out a packet of wound medicine from within his lapels and tossed it to Mei Shi, “Go and find yourself a safe place to treat your wounds. Don’t bother with my affairs anymore.”

When Shizun had given him the phoenix agate, she’d mentioned that he and Gu Feidi had to make a trip to Devil City. Although Shizun did not specify that they should enter the Devil Sect headquarters, she did however, explicitly state that they weren’t supposed to just walk round Devil City and leave.

As such, he had no choice but to get involved in whatever was happening in the Devil Sect, if not, he might miss the future juncture where they proceeded to the Icefield’s Eluo Ghost Tent.

Furthermore, Su Yang was actually a little preoccupied with the circumstances of the Devil Sect’s annihilation. It was alright if he’d kept away from it earlier, but since he’d already arrived there, he still wanted to confirm no matter what——to confirm whether or not it was possible for him to escape the Devil Sect’s Young Saint’s fate.

With this in mind, Su Yang turned to look at Gu Feidi and said, “Let’s go. We should hurry to the headquarters as soon as possible.”

Gu Feidi nodded: “Alright.”