Qi Ziru heard and saw it, saw his nephew’s frantic, desperate figure, and sighed in his heart. He knew it was basically impossible for Shen Youkun to escape the Masked Giant's clutches.
With things having come to this, he couldn’t even protect himself, so he had no time to worry about his nephew.
His gaze returned to Shi Chun's face, and he nodded slightly, as if sincerely praising, “With your cultivation and theirs, you actually crippled them with just one palm strike! What a domineering palm force! No wonder Shen Youkun repeatedly said you were powerful.
The two of them together couldn’t even withstand a single exchange in your hands. Truly worthy of being the chief of East Nine Plains.
It was my arrogance and poor judgment, I deserve this outcome, no injustice!”
This was the first time Shi Chun had examined him so closely. His gaze fixed on the two talismans and the tightly clutched small black cloth pouch in Qi Ziru’s hand.
Hearing Qi Ziru’s words, he then stared at his face, “Who are you?”
Qi Ziru calmly replied, “Does it still matter?”
Shi Chun raised an eyebrow slightly in dissatisfaction at this answer, “It seems you’re new here. This place isn’t somewhere just anyone can get into, regardless of the crime.
I heard Shen Youkun got in because of something called the ‘Hundred Children Banquet.’ What about you? What did you do to get in here?”
The so-called “Hundred Children Banquet” was not a good thing, and it was something Shen Youkun himself confessed when he was under house arrest.
Perhaps having eaten too many good things, he wanted something special, so that fellow Shen Youkun developed a taste for “brain tofu.” Later, to pursue tenderness, he simply began targeting children.
When hosting banquets for a bunch of his cronies, he actually arranged a hundred pairs of child boys and girls for the feast, which was then exposed, leading to him being sent here.
Shen Youkun had quite a few complaints about this.
What was wrong with eating something from his own territory? Didn't he have the final say over things in his own territory? And it wasn't like he was the only one doing it. He had no complaints about being punished, but he resented the person who exposed it and caused the scandal to spread.
Qi Ziru still said, “Does it still matter?”
Seeing the other party respond so perfunctorily, Shi Chun’s tone sank, “Do you think I don’t dare to kill you?”
Qi Ziru calmly countered, “Didn’t you come back just to kill me?”
These words left Shi Chun somewhat speechless. Indeed, he had come back to silence them.
Soon, Shen Youkun’s “ahh ahh” wails could be heard, and he arrived, dragged back by Wu Jinliang, who was gripping his hair.
Under the bright moonlight, Wu Jinliang, dragging a sabre with one hand and a person with the other, ran swiftly, not treating the person as a human.
Before long, he flung Shen Youkun in front of Shi Chun, who tumbled at Shi Chun’s feet.
Shen Youkun immediately got up when he looked up and met Shi Chun’s downward gaze.
He knelt down, pressing his forehead to the ground, trembling, truly scared to the point of shivering.
Qi Ziru, beside him, couldn’t bear to watch.
He closed his eyes regretfully, regretting that he shouldn’t have gotten involved in the affairs of the Land of Exile for his nephew; it wasn't worth it.
Wu Jinliang stepped forward, placing a foot on Shen Youkun’s back, and chuckled, lecturing, “Shen, you really don’t learn from a beating, do you? Haven’t we told you, if you provoke us again, we won’t let you off?”
Shen Youkun, still prostrate on the ground, immediately muffled a protest, “I didn’t provoke you, you came here yourselves.”
“Uh…” Wu Jinliang, leaning on his sabre and stepping on Shen Youkun, couldn't help but scratch his head. He gave Shi Chun a dry laugh, “Chuntian, it really seems like we initiated it this time.
Oh, wait…” He suddenly lifted his foot and stomped twice on Shen Youkun’s back, pinning him down, “You clearly enticed us with a pile of supplies first! And you still dare to say you didn’t provoke us? You’re clearly treating our words like farts, daring to secretly send us things, clearly not putting us in your eyes, and still daring to argue…”
Shi Chun raised a hand to wave him off, indicating he should stop and step aside. Only then did Wu Jinliang cease.
Shi Chun wasted no time and asked directly, “Who will tell me why you are digging up that skeleton underground?”
Shen Youkun, who had been whimpering, immediately fell silent, quietly tilting his head and stealing a glance at his uncle.
Qi Ziru also shot him a disdainful look and said coolly, “Shen Youkun, they risked coming back to silence us.
We’re going to die whether we speak or not, understand?”
He was warning Shen Youkun to keep quiet.
Shen Youkun trembled, understanding.
“You dog!” Wu Jinliang was displeased, glaring fiercely at Qi Ziru, “Chuntian, I’ll take one and we’ll interrogate separately. They’ll talk.”
Shi Chun, however, stared at Shen Youkun on the ground and asked a rhetorical question, “So, you also know the truth.”
As these words were uttered, Qi Ziru’s brow twitched.
He suddenly realized something, and as he expected, the chief abruptly drew the sabre from the ground. A cold flash streaked past his eyes with a whoosh, and his vision spun into the air.
Thud, a head fell in front of Shen Youkun. He suddenly widened his eyes; nephew and uncle facing each other in such a manner was something he had never imagined.
Immediately after, hot blood splattered onto his face.
“Ah!” Shen Youkun suddenly let out a woman-like shriek, then flipped over backward, sitting on the ground, kicking his legs as he crawled away, watching his uncle’s twitching, fallen body with his own eyes.
Still in shock, the blood-stained blade was pressed before his eyes. Shi Chun knew him better and had more confidence in him, threatening, “Speak or not?”
Shen Youkun’s Adam’s apple bobbed repeatedly.
He swallowed hard and said with a tremble, “You’ll kill me to silence me even if I speak.”
Shi Chun held the blade over his head, “You can tempt me with a large amount of supplies.
Presumably, your family already knows of my existence. I truly don’t want to be troubled by your family after I leave.
My worries, Brother Shen, you’re not foolish, you must understand.”
Hearing this, a flicker of hope appeared in Shen Youkun's eyes.
Shi Chun continued, “I don’t want to stay here my whole life, and besides, it’s not safe here. Your family’s reach has already extended in.
I hope Brother Shen can mediate well for us. As long as Brother Shen cooperates, won’t it be better for everyone to have a way out? My meaning should be clear.
If Brother Shen doesn’t believe me, then I can’t do anything. Brother Shen might as well take a gamble.”
These reasonable words made even Wu Jinliang nod secretly, and his gaze towards Shen Youkun softened considerably, showing a bit of hope.
In the end, Shen Youkun decided to take a gamble.
Regardless of his uncle's warnings and reminders, and regardless of whether his family would spare him after he spoke, he decided to first secure the immediate chance to live. His reasoning was not without merit: if there was no present, what was the point of talking about the future?
So he confessed his relationship with Qi Ziru and the purpose of the excavation, answering every question and spilling everything he knew.
The result surprised Shi Chun greatly. These nephew and uncle duo actually didn’t know what that purplish-glowing Nebula was, and this was the mystery he urgently wanted to solve.
However, this also explained why, despite digging up such important items, neither the nephew nor the uncle was present at the site to oversee it. It was indeed possible that they didn’t know.
“Chaos, chaos…” This answer also made Shi Chun mutter repeatedly.
He thought of the strange scene he had seen in his right eye.
He could see it just now, but it had disappeared. He wanted to see it again, but no matter how hard he thought or how he cast spells, it was useless.
He couldn’t trigger that illusion-like bizarre scene again.
Shen Youkun, who had already stood up and answered, looked at him eagerly, waiting for reassuring words.
Shi Chun, returning to his senses, met his gaze. He felt a little regretful.
He wondered if this fellow was hiding something, not knowing who the excavated Dragon Bone was to be handed over to, or even where or with whom to connect. Qi Ziru hadn't told him the truly important things.
Otherwise, he might have tried to dig a bit more to see if he could gain more means of self-preservation.
In Shen Youkun’s expectant gaze, Shi Chun slowly gave his reply, “From now on, our grievances are cleared!”
Shen Youkun was first stunned, then turned pale with fright, his entire body in a panic, waving his hands repeatedly, but not fast enough to outrun Shi Chun’s speed in drawing the sabre from the ground.
Swish! A cold light flashed, and hot blood soared. Another head rolled, its wide-open eyes filled with disbelief.
Shi Chun shook the blood off his sabre and slipped it into the scabbard on his back.
Staring at the rolling head on the ground, Wu Jinliang was startled, “Aren’t you keeping him to deal with the Qi family?”
Shi Chun: “You’re overthinking.
According to what he said, the Qi family could cripple his uncle as easily as they did, let alone him. Our grievances with him are just personal matters in the eyes of the powerful figures who control the Qi family, and they might not take them too seriously.
But if it gets linked to the affairs of this place, the Qi family will absolutely leave us no way out.”
“Sigh.” Wu Jinliang scratched his head. Never mind, the person’s dead, so whatever you say makes sense.
He turned and excitedly rushed towards Qi Ziru, reaching out to pick up the black cloth pouch and the two talismans tightly clutched in Qi Ziru’s hand.
Shi Chun’s gaze swept over, and he urgently cried out, “Don’t move!”
Wu Jinliang, who was bent over with his hand extended, froze and looked up in surprise, “What do you mean? Shen Youkun said that this ‘Universe Bag’ isn’t an ordinary magic treasure even in the outside world.
How can we miss such a valuable treasure? Taking it out would be enough to exchange for a life free of worries about food and drink.”
“Don’t touch it!” Shi Chun warned again, then walked towards the body he had killed on the hillside, “No matter how good it is, we can’t touch it.
We can’t take a single thing from their bodies. If we want to live, we have to endure.
Remember, we have never been here before, and everything that happened here has nothing to do with us!”
Wu Jinliang, whose hands itched with desire but wasn’t foolish, understood. Forcibly retracting his hand, he then flashed to follow Shi Chun.
Seeing Shi Chun pull back the Masked Giant’s face covering, he exclaimed in surprise, “It’s him? Isn’t this Tian Zhan, the chief of Youle Stream? Have you forgotten? You’ve met before and were even courteous to each other.”
Shi Chun frowned slightly but said nothing.
He then found the heads of the other two sedan bearers, uncovered their true faces to look, and only stopped when he realized he didn’t recognize them. He looked around, took a deep breath, said, “We cannot stay here long,” and then flashed away.
Wu Jinliang, looking around, hoisted his great sabre and quickly chased after him. The two quickly disappeared into the night.
Not long after the two left, a figure flew leisurely in the sky.
It was a very strange middle-aged man.
Late at night, with no rain, he was flying with a large black umbrella.
His figure was tall, his shoulder-length dark hair flowed in the wind, and his face was handsome with a slight stubble, exuding a mature and attractive masculine charm.
Dressed in black robes with golden patterns, covered by a loose violet gauze robe, he was elegant and unrestrained, exuding an air of isolated supremacy.
Suddenly, he hovered in mid-air, stopping his flight.
His searching gaze, which had been scanning the area below, fixed on a valley. The extensive signs of trench-filling and earth-moving below were very obvious, definitely not naturally formed; it was precisely where Shen Youkun had organized his men for large-scale excavation.
He had come due to the collapse in this area. The collapse did not seem like something normal cultivators in the Land of Exile could cause, so he hurried to this area to investigate.
His gaze suddenly shifted, catching the moonlight reflecting off scattered weapons outside the valley, which drew his attention.
The next moment, the person vanished into thin air, reappearing instantly beside the scattered weapons, slowly pacing with his umbrella open.