The residual explosion continued to chaotically engulf all within its range, forcing Zue Yin to grit her teeth and dispel the remaining flames with Yaan on the floor beneath her.

Yaan lay there half dead as she did this. He was slipping in and out of consciousness with no idea of what was going on at this point. There was will power, and then there was your actual, physical limit. He had more than overdrawn on his limits today, he no longer had even a spec of energy to move.

Even as flames burned around him, even though his robes were currently on fire, he still didn’t move. He couldn’t even move his eye lids, that’s how drained he was. He was unable to even think right now. Even a life and death crisis would be unable to rouse a trace of energy from him in this state…there was nothing left he could do, but wait to recover a trace of his energy.

Perhaps if he had the energy left to think about his current state, he would worry. But, he did not. Yaan just lay there, vaguely aware of the pressure leaving his body when Zue Yin leapt to her feet and turned to him in shock. She seemed to be yelling something, and she looked…anxious?

Yaan had no idea. Slowly, he closed his eyes….

“Oh no you don’t! Don’t you dare fall asleep, I forbid it, you hear me?! Damnit, if you don’t wake up, you’ll definitely die, everyone will target you! You can’t die before our rematch damnit!”

Zue Yin felt helpless. She knew just how bad a state Yaan was in, because she could see it. Without the mysterious hat, his appearance, body and aura were all fully exposed to the world. She became increasingly stunned as she examined his wounds, dumbfounded that he was actually still alive, despite all these grievous injuries!

“Stabbed through the heart, poisoned severely, multiple abdominal stab wounds that he was actually fighting with earlier, 4…no, 6 broken bones, multiple fractures, multiple organ rupture, multiple severed arteries, and these burns…” When she looked at his burns, she swallowed slightly. As a practitioner of fire spells, Zue Yin understood the pain of being burned very well. Perhaps, this pain was the only thing keeping him just about conscious.

“Hey look, that kid is…”

“Should we…?”

“But Ghu Lin, he’s-”

“All of you scram!” Zue Yin suddenly jumped to her feet and shouted, glaring at everyone around her. “This person was betrayed by the Ghu Clan, no matter what bullshit they’re about to spew! I hereby declare that Yaan is entering an alliance with the Zue Clan for the duration of this inheritance!”

“Zue Clan?”

“What, the Zue Clan, where?”

“Where are they, I thought they weren’t attending this year because of-”

“Me!” Zue Yin turned bright red, fuming as she cried out aggrievedly.

“I’m the Zue Clansmen! I’m Zue Yin, my grandfather is Zue Yang, the current Zue Clan Lord, and an Origin Soul realm powerhouse! Since Yaan saved my life, my Zue Clan will obviously treat him as our guest! If anyone attacks Yaan or myself in this trial, I’ll use these talismans to send my grandfather a message, telling him exactly what happened here!”

Everyone stared at Zue Yin, hesitating and looking at one another. After some chatter, they realised that she really was Zue Yin, the young prodigy of the Zue Clan. Whilst some depraved people wanted to revel in destroying this young genius, the majority of the rational minded folk wanted nothing to do with the most doted on granddaughter of an Origin Soul realm powerhouse.

Of course, Ghu Lin wasn’t one such person. As Zue Yin quickly kneeled down and poured some unknown liquid into Yaan’s mouth, her eyes kept darting about.

From start to finish, Ghu Lin had been staring at the pair of them, unmoving. Honestly, there was no need to rush…Yaan was half-dead at this point, and that poison he had been afflicted by was nothing to scoff at. Yaan was no longer a serious threat in this trial. No, in Ghu Lin’s eyes, he was basically already dead.

Ghu Lin glanced back at the Ghu Clansmen and their guests. All of the guests were looking extremely uneasy, whilst even the clansmen eyed Ghu Lin uncertainly.

No matter what, he had ambushed a Ghu Clan guest. Whilst Ghu Lin was supposed to be their leader for this exploration, he didn’t hold absolute power over them. If they believed that he was misusing his power, they could reasonably choose to ignore him.

And out of all of the dissent expressed by those present, Ghu Nadda’s was by far the strongest.

“Ghu Lin…!” He growled out. He was feeling aggrieved and confused, but not because of Ghu Lin himself. He felt pained because he knew that Ghu Lin would only do this if he had been ordered to do so by an elder of the clan. And if it was as he said…then the perpetrator was the North Ghu City Lord.

“Nadda.” Ghu Lin turned towards Nadda and spoke plainly. If it were in the first trial, he wouldn’t have even deemed Nadda as someone deserving a response. He had seen this person’s capabilities in the 3rd trial though, he understood that Ghu Nadda could not be underestimated.

“Why…? Yaan is a Ghu Clan guest…no matter what, we do not harm our guests…what reason could you have for doing this? If this was your own decision, you have broken clan law…if this was an order from above, then is this not clan corruption…?!”

The Ghu Clansmen all starred at Ghu Lin silently. Most dared not speak out, but Nadda had said exactly what they were thinking. However, there was that document from earlier…

“Ghu Lin, we need an explanation…!” Nadda almost growled now.

After a long moment of silence, during which time Ghu Lin continued to stare at Yaan, a faint smile finally appeared on his lips. Startled, Nadda followed the direction of his gaze, his jaw dropping as he watched Yaan slowly sit up, before lifting himself to his feet and facing them. His body was trembling and he could barely stand, but the fact that he had even woke up and wasn’t yet dead shocked most people senseless!

The layout of this ‘battlefield’ was now quite strange. On one side was the Ghu Clan, headed by Ghu Lin and Ghu Nadda. A hundred feet away were the others, led by Aque Li and the Aque Clan. Aque Li stood at the forefront, silently holding the line and preventing anyone from doing anything rash. As Yaan stood up, he briefly moved his gaze towards Aque Li and paused, making eye contact for half a second before looking away.

Between the two sides stood Zue Yin, and now Yaan stood besides her.

“You…how are you standing?” She asked with wide eyes. Yaan didn’t answer at first, but instead consumed another three pills. Recognising all of these pills, Zue Yin swallowed, looking at Yaan like he was truly a monster.

“Forcing yourself to remain conscious with medicines won’t last forever…” She murmured.

“It only needs to last until my body dispels this damned poison…” Yaan sighed.

“And the burns?” She glanced at him.

“They can wait, flesh burns won’t affect my ability to survive.”

She stared at him in awe for a while, unable to comprehend how someone could stand there with full body third degree burns without so much as batting an eye. His gaze was actually serene…

No…his gaze was cold. Unlike the burning sensation that racked Yaan’s body with agony, his heart felt icy cold, devoid of emotion. Seeing this gaze, Ghu Lin’s faint smile turned into a light chuckle, before he stepped forwards unhurriedly, returning to his plain expression.

Yaan stared at him, waiting. Ghu Lin knew what he wanted and was happy to oblige. He pulled out that same scroll from before, unrolling it and reading the contents. At this moment, the entire palace became silent, as everyone listened in shock to Ghu Lin’s unhurried yet lengthy declaration.

“Yaan, the red robed child, whilst a Ghu Clan Guest in name, only gained this position via extortion and manipulation. His crimes against both the Ghu Clan and the world are as follows:

Firstly: withholding information regarding the root cause of the beast tide in the North. Secondly: selling this information to the Ghu Clan at an exorbitant price, a price that the Ghu Clan had no choice but to accept, in order to quell the beast tide in the North. Thirdly: Forcing myself, the North Ghu City Lord, to agree to a poison oath, in order to extort an exorbitant sum of wealth from the Ghu Clan whilst protecting himself from all repercussions. Fourthly: Inciting a cultivation war between the Ghu Clan and the eight remaining Northern factions against the Yuso Clan, resulting in the complete annihilation of the Yuso Clan. Fifthly: Generally scheming against the Ghu Clan, including against a Grand Elder, and making use of the Ghu Clan forces for his own benefit. In summary, the title ‘Ghu Clan Guest’ was unjustly extorted by Yaan himself, and as such, he should not be considered a true ‘Ghu Clan Guest’.”

As Ghu Lin read through the list, each word he spoke resonated with the ink on the parchment. The words then appeared high above in the sky, such that all could see and hear.

The more Ghu Lin said, the more Yaan’s eye twitched. Whilst all of that was somewhat true, it was a bit of a stretch to say that he had ‘extorted’ the Ghu Clan, right? They engaged in a fair trade, it’s not like Yaan forced them to do anything!

However, there was one line in all of that which allowed him to finally understand the true reason for the North Ghu City Lord betraying him like this. It was in his ‘second crime’.

‘Selling this information to the Ghu Clan at an exorbitant price, a price that the Ghu Clan had no choice but to accept.’

“Haha…hahaha!” Just as everyone was staring up dumbfoundedly, hardly able to believe that this was all real, but forced to accept the truth upon seeing the Origin Soul realm insignia at the end, Yaan started laughing. People slowly turned towards him, their expressions now completely different compared to before.

This child…this child with a black corrosive hole in his chest, with a body soaked in blood, with his flesh burned into near charcoal around half of his body, this child with a narrow cold gaze and a mocking smile that seemed to look down on everything around him…

Terrified them.

If all of those things Ghu Lin and the city lord claimed were true, then, then…that notorious war in the North, responsible for the deaths of three Origin Soul realm powerhouses, was all because of this ‘child’?!

As Yaan continued to smile darkly, the light entirely faded from his eyes and was replaced by a deep, dark abyss. He stared at Ghu Lin and sneered.

“So basically, the city lord decided that rather than paying me back for the spirit heart, that he would just kill me? Right, in the contract, it did state that after 10 years, he no longer needed to repay anything else…hahaha, I see.”

Seeing Yaan’s smile, Ghu Lin remained silent. Yaan noticed a small blade slip into his palm, but he ignored it.

“Since I had no idea how much a spirit heart was actually worth, I made the city lord vow to give me ‘appropriate compensation’. Haha…I was too foolish…I only wanted to get a fair trade, but now I can guess that ‘appropriate compensation’ is impossible for the city lord to actually repay.”

As Yaan said the term ‘spirit heart’ a few times, most people had no clue what he meant. However, a select few others felt their hearts skip a beat. They suddenly approached closer, now involving themselves in this silent battle. Ghu Lin noticed this and hurried up his footsteps.

“I was too naive…” Yaan muttered, shaking his head, as if all the movements and all the schemes around him meant nothing. “I thought that my scheme was so perfect, without a single flaw. It went off without a hitch, it really felt like everything went according to plan…”

Ghu Lin paused and stared at Yaan.

“To dare scheme against an Origin Soul realm powerhouse with hundreds of years of experience, all whilst remaining in the shadows, out of harm’s way…indeed, you were too naive.”

“Haha…that’s true.” Yaan smiled, not denying it. His smile made Ghu Lin feel a faint premonition, causing him to stop momentarily.

“But scheming against you? Now that is something I can handle.”

Whoosh Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Yaan leapt backwards, ignoring his re-torn injuries as his Agile Sword Arts took him back towards the crowd behind him. He left ten feet between them for now, because he wanted to be sure of something.

BOOOOM!

“Good.” Yaan smiled coldly, the darkness in his gaze now seeping out into his aura. He watched as Ghu Lin was sent flying backwards through the air, dropping his hidden weapons to the ground.

Yaan briefly glanced back at Aque Li and gave him a faint nod. Aque Li smiled and nodded back, feeling glad when Yaan walked back the final few steps and stood by his side.

“Funny how things change, isn’t it?” Aque Li half laughed and half sighed. Yaan couldn’t help but nod.

“Gah! You left me behind! Since when did you make this sort of arrangement, I didn’t hear a thing?!” Zue Yin rushed back towards them, a few minor cuts on her arms but otherwise unscathed. She glared at Yaan and Aque Lin, before turning back towards the front. As Ghu Lin was launched backwards, the Ghu Clansmen were all caught offguard. They didn’t give chase, but stopped.

Soon after Zue Yin, there were three others who quickly arrived around their new little group. All three were staring at Yaan intently.

“The spirit heart, where-”

“I’ll tell you before I leave the trial. If I tell you now, there’s no way to be sure that you won’t just turn on us.” Yaan cut off the short haired woman bluntly. She became silent and frowned, but after a moment, nodded.

The two other men didn’t say anything, only nodding to show their agreement.

Zue Yin looked back and forth between everyone, feeling totally lost.

“What’s going on, what’s a spirit heart?!”

“That’s not important. What’s important is how we convince the Ghu Clan to leave us alone for the next 20 hours.” Aque Li sighed.

However, Yaan smiled. He turned back towards the Ghu Clan side, where Ghu Lin was speaking to the other clansmen, yet they seemed to be ignoring him…

Following his gaze, Zue Yin finally noticed this too and looked confused.

“What is-”

“The Ghu Clansmen are all self serving to the extreme. Before, the war was advantageous to their side, because they had me…since I’m a body temperer, the rewards I gain from killing are a full rank higher than Qi masters.” Yaan explained.

It seemed the others hadn’t realised this. They stared at Yaan with shock and dropped jaws.

“You, you, you must be rich! Is that why they had you finish all the kills?!” Zue Yin asked eagerly.

“Haha…” Yaan laughed wryly. “Yes, but they also stole about 75% of everything I earned.”

“Still…that’s a lot…” The new woman looked at him with a flash of greed.

“Try to rob me and you’re out of this group.” Yaan replied directly. She snorted coldly, but said nothing else.

Turning back to the Ghu Clan, Zue Yin was still confused.

“So what you’re saying is, that because there’s not enough benefits involved, they won’t restart the battle without Yaan on their side? But don’t they still need to kill Yaan? I’m sure the city lord would reward that…”

The others nodded grimly. It was at this point that Yaan and Aque Li shared a look. They had understood what needed to be done from the very start…it was the only way to escape this calamity.

“Ah!” Zue Yin cried out. Everyone turned sharply as Ghu Lin slowly walked towards them. Behind him was Nadda, wearing a dark expression. When he glanced at Yaan, he looked pained, apologetic, conflicted….and enraged.

Also besides Nadda were two others; a small girl with purple hair, who seemed to be in a daze and not paying much attention. The other was a woman, only, an extremely tall and muscular woman, wearing an Amazonian leopard skin type outfit. Both of these individuals were at the 4th Layer Qi Palace realm!

Yaan’s side flinched. Even without Yaan…even then, the Ghu Clan was too formidable…who knew how many other hidden characters they had!