LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 753: Scars
Chapter 753: Scars
After the meeting, as some left to make preparations to deal with the Seven Scars Guild, and others returned to what they were doing, Wu Long stopped before the door without exiting, and closing it instead, turned his head to Madam Liang who was following behind him.
"I almost forgot to add, but since you might have misunderstood when I said that Valley members will stay, I will clarify, you are coming with us"
Madam Liang widened her eyes at these words, "You want me to leave the operation of the Thousand Eyes Palace to my second-in-command? Is there a task you want me to take care of during the trip?"
"No, we're going to solve your problem", he spoke in his usual calm tone.
Madam Liang froze for just a moment, her eyes filling with shock, but then her expression eased into a wry, slightly shy smile.
"You knew after all...", she spoke in a soft voice.
"That your ancestry gave you an extremely long life even if you were a mortal without cultivation, but in exchange your lifespan is fixed even if you do cultivate? I didn't want to be the first to mention it, and waited for you to bring it up, but you were taking forever to ask me for help", Wu Long nodded.
"It's just...", she put a hand onto her neck, turning her face to the side and down, a troubled look appearing in her emerald green eyes.
"The story of how I failed to save someone dear to me, who had a similar condition was quite famous, so I'm not surprised you know of it. But don't you think I gained at least a bit of knowledge ever since leaving the Boundless Profound World?", he smiled, voicing what he knew she was hesitating to bring up.
She gulped, overcoming uncomfortableness, and turning her gaze back to him, spoke in a low voice, almost whispering, "I didn't want to remind you..."
His eyes very slightly widened, and then his smile turned more gentle.
It certainly was a painful memory, but the fact she didn't ask about something related to her own life because she did not want to poke that old wound left him speechless.
"For someone who even went to such lengths as making a deal with an organization as dangerous as the Palace of Secrets to deal with this condition, you are far too mindful of the interests of others", he spoke in a warm tone that slightly contrasted his words.
She didn't reply, but her eyes seemed to say, 'not always, and not to just anyone', knowing that he likely already knew the reason.
A soft, rather comfortable silence fell as they simply looked in each other's eyes.
There was a spark in his gaze that caused her cheeks to gain a very light rosy color, which was nevertheless very visible on her porcelain-like skin. But she didn't turn her eyes away this time.
The revelation of her secret set her free to show what was in her eyes to him.
He smiled after a bit, ending that silence with "I am glad we are on the same page now, Madam Liang"
And giving her a nod, left the room, while Liang Yuhan made a long slightly trembling exhale, and placing her hands on the table, slowly sat down in a light daze. She then chuckled to herself with a slightly embarrassed look in her eyes.
But through that embarrassment, if one looked very closely, shone another, very intense emotion.
The 'invitation' for the Seven Scars Guild was simple, but effective. All that was necessary was allowing the Crystal Wood Sect to catch a whiff of the news containing where and when Zhao Xieren was going to be.
They could not move openly at the moment, since the Martial Alliance delegation just arrived, and they were already in hot water because of the incident involving the missing groups from them and the Seven Extreme Swords Sect. Especially since Ember Palm Pavilion didn't waste a moment to use the 'evidence' Wu Long gave them.
And so, as Wu Long expected, just as he and Zhao Xieren, Kwon Qianhong, General Feng and Temple Master Shi, acted out a meeting between two distinct groups at a canyon, with a large river with powerful currents running through the rather rocky center, and lush forests on top of both cliffs, around a hundred people appeared at the edges of both forests, as well as two sides of the canyon.
Most of them wore black plain clothes, which weren't uniform, more reminiscent of a ragtag group, but were consistent in being subtle. But there were six of them who wore rather flashy clothes, and had distinct large scars on their faces.
"Hahaha! That's the one!", a man with a horizontal scar pointed his index finger at Zhao Xieren, his voice filling with glee at finally catching up with the latter, "The two with him were there too, the masked weakling and the thief, not sure who are the two they're meeting though..."
Kwon Qianhong almost choked on exasperation at being called 'thief', while Wu Long only smiled under his mask.
"Didn't you say he had gorgeous beauties with him?", the man with a long and broad, but rather shallow scar from his temple to his jawline on the other side, crossing his entire face, spoke while raising his eyebrow. There was a mild disappointment in his tone, which was also apparent on the faces of three more of the scarred men.
"I said what I said, they were with him the last time", the man with the horizontal scar shrugged his shoulders.
"Enough chit chat", the one standing among the six, with no scars, but who had the highest cultivation at 5th level Essence Gathering Realm spoke in a domineering tone that didn't allow any objections, his eyes narrowing at the people standing down in the canyon, "You've made a mistake in crossing my Seven Scars Guild, and have to pay the consequences" "Seven? I seem to only count Six", Wu Long chuckled, turning to Kwon Qianhong next to him, "You're better at counting Qian, maybe you see seven?"
"Haha, I only count money well, Boss. But I can confirm there's only six future charitable donors to our cause with scars there", Kwon Qianhong spoke with a grin.
"I resisted the urge of asking the last time, but I just have to...", Wu Long returned the direction the eye openings in his mask were facing to the apparent leader of their opponents, "Isn't naming your organization 'Seven' Scars Guild because there's seven of scarred men put you in a bind when one of them dies or just straight up leaves?"
"...", the one he addressed didn't reply, but his hand behind his back that marked his leisurely posture formed a fist, and his expression turned from arrogance into menace.
Sensing that displeasure, and seeing someone who seemed to be just an underling of Zhao Xieren speaking with their leader in such a frivolous way, aggravated the six scarred men, and one of them raised his voice, "Shut up! No one asked lackeys for their opinion! You best shut
up befo-...",
"Courting Death!!!", however, a powerful voice interrupted the man, as the smirk of amusement under Wu Long's mask froze, and General Feng took a step forward, "You have eyes yet you are unable to recognize Mount Tai, how dare an impudent mongrel like you speak with Master Wu?!"
"...", the scarred man momentarily seemed to forget how to speak, or rather, that seemed to apply to nearly everyone in the vicinity while Wu Long was withering away inside. "Wha-... what the-... y-you uh... damn... eh... damn bastard!", the scarred man then proceeded to stumble over his own words, completely flustered by such an unexpected and unusual
verbal attack.
"Zhiqiu?", Wu Long heavily sighed, asking through sound transmission in an almost pleading
voice.
"Hahaha, everything's ready", Lian Zhiqiu's amused voice came back to him with a sound transmission, as a formation that very covertly was enveloping the area activated fully, a barrier dome trapping everyone present, and simultaneously concealing them from the
outside.
"Whew~, thank you", Wu Long spoke with a palpable relief, since keeping up to aggravate the other side, keeping their attention from the formation after that moment would have been
difficult for his mental health.
"Wha-...", the six scarred men and their numerous underlings looked around with widening eyes, while their leader only furrowed his eyebrows without showing any signs of being
flustered.
At the same time, mysterious mist started enveloping the two forests behind the Seven Scars Guild, and shadows started appearing within that mist. The same mist appeared behind Wu Long, and gorgeous beauties walked from within, lighting up the eyes of the men around. "Hahaha, Father, one of these days you're going to completely ruin Wu Long's fighting mood and force him to just leave fighting to someone else while he recovers", Feng Yi shook her head as she could practically feel Wu Long's aura turn from excitement before battle to a somewhat withered state.
"...?", General Feng wasn't sure what his daughter was speaking about, eventually simply shrugging his shoulders as he turned his gaze to the enemy side in anticipation.
By his own request, those who appeared behind the Seven Scars Guild low-level members were the War God Palace under his command.
There were only a few low-level Essence Awakening Realm underlings among the Seven Scars Guild, which were countered by Transcendents of the Brilliant Sun Temple.
And that left the six realm leaders, in either 1st or 2nd level of Essence Gathering Realm, and their leader who turned out to be far more formidable than expected. However, before anyone could even say anything, one of the six men launched forward, with a gleeful smile on his face, "Hahaha! First blood's mine! I can call dibs on one of those beauties for drawing first blood and killing that ignorant masked one who angered you, right Leader?" "Hah! Presumptuous!", came to him in response in a loud deep voice, as General Feng's figure shot to meet the opponent "It's millions of years early for you to challenge Master Wu, mongrel. But I guess you'll suffice for me"
General Feng, as most of Transcendents on Wu Long's side was only in the gate of the Essence Awakening Realm, so despite the numerical advantage of Transcendents, none of the six scarred captains of the Seven Scars Guild feared this force, and thus the determination of the red-headed warrior in black armor wielding a spear to seemingly fight one-on-one was met with mockery in their gazes.
However, the moment the two locked weapons, the scarred captain wielding a saber, his own, and the expressions of others changed.
'What powerful Spear Intent... he's good', the Leader narrowed his eyes at the sight, also noting that despite his cultivation being lower, General Feng boasted overall prowess almost
equal to his opponent.
"You asked what I would do if one of my scarred captains died... it's quite simple, I'll give that man a scar to remember who he should follow", the Leader of the Seven Scars Guild then smiled toward Wu Long.