Chapter 1224: You’ll shoulder this

The two young men started running along the underground tunnel.

About half an incense stick’s worth of time later, they made it through the long underground tunnel and reached a tall cliff.

A large rock slab stood on the side of the mountain, on which several large words were engraved:

[Eastern Desolate Grotto]

—–this place was the Eastern Desolate Grotto in the Tomb of Myriad Beasts.

Gu Qing Shan looked down, only to find bottomless darkness that went far beyond his vision.

“I’ve finally returned”

The red robe young man said emotionally.

He jumped down, quickly entering the darkness before completely vanishing.

Gu Qing Shan waited for a while.

As a display of respect, a servant like him must allow the young master to jump down first and also maintain a certain distance from the young master’s descent.

A few moments later, a faint fluctuation of teleportation could be felt.

The young man’s presence vanished.

Gu Qing Shan could now jump down.

He touched the wrought iron bracelet on his wrist, then also jumped down the cliff.

Strong wind howled as it breezed past this descending body.

Gu Qing Shan rapidly fell down.

Soon enough, some fluctuation could be felt coming from inside the cliff, focused on his bracelet, as it lightly scanned over his entire body.

The bracelet emanated a faint glimmer.

This glimmer was responded with an intense threatening presence before it swept past Gu Qing Shan’s body and moved away, allowing him to descend.

Gu Qing Shan couldn’t help but feel his hair standing on their ends.

The mere willpower of those entities from earlier had given him a feeling that he couldn’t win against them with force.

Although he already knew what they were through the young man’s memories, he still wanted to personally take a look.

Gu Qing Shan released his inner sight to observe his surroundings.

Only to see that on the surface of the cliff, a large number of corpses and skeletons had been buried closely together, not leaving even a bit of space between them.

These skeletons gave off a brutal presence that circulated back and forth around Gu Qing Shan’s body.

Gu Qing Shan could clearly sense some sort of consciousness within this presence.

He wasn’t at all doubtful that if he lost the wrought iron bracelet that proved his identity, some sort of danger would immediately manifest to kill him.

Time flew.

Gu Qing Shan was then enveloped by a cluster of rapid light and slowed down until he eventually stopped in mid-air.

The skeletons were still all over the cliffs around him, emanating their terrifying presence.

All of a sudden, a flash of light.

Gu Qing Shan felt heaven and earth switching places, followed by a sudden change in his surroundings as his feet touched the ground.

A completely different world was now in front of Gu Qing Shan’s eyes.

A forest of cherry blossoms.

The cherry blossom forest was a few hundred feet away from where he was, it had no other wild plants, only fresh grass and fallen petals of flowers, under the evening sun, it appeared incredibly calm and peaceful.

Someone called out to him: “Li San, you sure were lucky to survive”

Gu Qing Shan looked back.

Another young man who was leading a pair of thin horses stood right below the teleportation platform.

This was another of young master Zhang’s close aides, Feng Liu.

Servants like them had no names, only an in-house number ranking[1], it wouldn’t be until they became official Professionists would they be bestowed a name by the clan.

Gu Qing Shan disembarked the teleportation platform and replied: “I was lucky indeed—– where’s young master Zhang?”

Feng Liu answered: “Madam Patriarch’s wife had just brought young master back with a group of carriages, I stayed here to wait for you”

“Thank you”

Gu Qing Shan leapt onto one of the horses.

The two of them rode back while occasionally chatting about random things.

“You definitely didn’t know, the Spirit Bones of the clan’s experts suddenly broke all at once——- each of them was a Spirit Bone that cost a fortune, but they all shattered without a warning. The entire clan is completely panicked”

“However, miraculously, young master Zhang’s Spirit Bone was completely intact within the Spirit Bone Hall, up until you both returned”

Feng Liu glanced at him and asked: “Li San, what exactly happened?”

“…I can’t really tell you the details, just wait until the young master makes an official statement himself” Gu Qing Shan replied.

Feng Liu paused, then chuckled: “Nice going, not only did you not die from the calamity, but you even learnt how to keep your mouth shut”

Gu Qing Shan only chuckled in return without saying anything else.

This matter most likely isn’t as simple as it seems, so while acting as a servant, it would be best for me to stick closely to a servant’s mentality and stay completely silent before the clan gives its verdict.

Very fortunately——

I’ve learnt from my mistakes and specifically chose the most mundane-looking one among the corpses, which turned out to be a servant.

This world isn’t like the Suspended world where the Sect Master and Grand Elder were busy killing one another without any time to care about the young master’s actions.

In this place, if I had taken the identity of a clan expert, as soon as the Spirit Bone broke, I would have been exposed, after which I would have to think of a way to flee or hide myself again.

Although it wouldn’t be too much trouble, it would still be troublesome.

The two of them quickly exited the forest while riding on the horses and reached the open.

A grand prosperous city appeared in front of them.

The two entered the city and returned to a huge manor that took up a large area of the city, at which point they were greeted by the shout of a steward:

“Li San, the Elders of the clan have gathered at the clan meeting hall, both the Patriarch and Madam Patriarch’s wife were there as well, quickly follow me and answer everything clearly! If you don’t want to die, don’t say no!”

The final words were basically threatening him.

Gu Qing Shan acted scared and hurriedly asked: “Steward Liu, what exactly is going on?”

“Cut the nonsense, follow me!”

The steward grabbed Gu Qing Shan’s hand and led him inside.

Gu Qing Shan glanced at Feng Liu, only to see him already scurrying to hide, as if Gu Qing Shan was carrying some sort of unknown taboo.

Gu Qing Shan silently smirked.

Young master Zhang’s aides were mostly teenagers and young men of his similar age, so how could they have been used to such pressure?

Never mind Feng Liu, even Li San wouldn’t be able to handle such sudden shouts and threats from an upper authority.

He allowed Steward Liu to lead him forward, circled around the main building, and headed straight towards the clan meeting hall.

Suddenly, Steward Liu’s voice resounded in his mind:

“The young master caused a huge disaster, leading to all the men that he led outside to die, so someone has to take responsibility for this”

Gu Qing Shan hurriedly said back “But I wasn’——-”

Steward Liu cut him off: “I know it wasn’t you, but this is a serious matter, so the young master can’t be the one to shoulder it, neither could his brothers and sister, as this would be terrible for their reputations”

His tone became quicker as he continued: “Li San, keep this in mind, since you’re one of the young master’s close aides, you should step out at a moment like this to help him resolve the issue”

“I- I, what should I do?” Gu Qing Shan asked with a panicked tone and expression.

“You will tell them that you wanted to help the young master relieve his boredom and witness the scene of war, so the young master followed you” Steward Liu replied.

Watching Li San’s hesitant and confused expression, his tone suddenly became softer: “Don’t worry, just take responsibility for this matter, not only would the young master be grateful of you, his brothers and sisters would also know that you’re a servant who can take responsibility, you’ll definitely benefit from it from now on”

“I understand” Gu Qing Shan nodded.

Steward Liu asked: “Do you know what to say now?”

“I’ll say that I brought the young master outside”

“You’re a servant, how could you bring the young master out?”

“I convinced the young master, so he was interested. As long as the young master wishes to go, no one would be able to stop him”

Steward Liu patted his shoulder and replied with a pleased tone: “Hm, very quick-witted”

He started walking faster and took Gu Qing Shan into the clan meeting hall.

“Patriarch, Elders, I’ve brought him here” Steward Liu reported.

Gu Qing Shan glanced around.

Only to see the Patriarch, Madam Patriarch’s wife, the Elders, as well as the various branch family heads of the Fei Yu clan all gathered under the same roof.

Young master Zhang had the clear mark of a hand on his face, currently standing in the middle of them all with his head down, staying silent.

Two Elders were standing next to him, each with a treasure in their hand and had just retracted their spells.

“Patriarch, his soul vessel is intact”

“Patriarch, his body and other physical traits are also without issues”

Both of them reported at once.

The Patriarch of the Fei Yu clan was a middle-aged man with a considerably dignified presence, nodding to the two Elders: “I’ve troubled the Elders—— Li San, come here”

Gu Qing Shan walked forward, knelt on one knee and clasped his fist to bow:

“This humble one greets the Patriarch, the Elders, and the branch heads”

The clan Patriarch flashed a curt smile before slowly speaking: “I heard that you wanted to show the young master something new, that’s why the young master wanted to go out, was that the case?”

Gu Qing Shan snuck a glance at Steward Liu.

Steward Liu didn’t look at him, only nodded ever-so-slightly.

Gu Qing Shan then started speaking: “Patriarch, sir, I was sent out on that day to buy spices, soy sauces, and other condiments for the kitchen, after which I was temporarily called back. The young master then told me that he knew about a battlefield that had just begun and wanted to take us with him”

“So it wasn’t you? Are you sure you aren’t telling lies?” the Patriarch asked.

“It was naturally not me, my leave and entry, as well as my work for the day should have been in the clan’s records” Gu Qing Shan replied.

Steward Liu abruptly turned his head and stared at Gu Qing Shan.

Gu Qing Shan continued with a calm tone that wasn’t too fast or too slow: “The ordered items are still within my Inventory Bag, which contains the seals when they were stocked, they cannot lie”

He touched his bracelet, took out a few kitchen utensils and condiments, then arranged them on the ground.

The Patriarch glanced over them and nodded.

These seals were merely a means of book-keeping, but they could now be used to perform a time recollection technique.

The entire room was silent.

The only sound that could be heard was Gu Qing Shan’s curiously self-mumbling: “These records should be readily available; this humble servant does not understand why the Patriarch claimed that I had brought the young master out of the manor——– could the records of my work have gone missing?”

The atmosphere instantly became harsh.

[1] ‘San’ is literally number 3, ‘Liu’ is literally number 6