Chapter 288 Disloyalty
When Lyu Liang and the other people returned to the absolute territory of Tianshu Pavilion, Zhao Mingquan finally got a chance to explain everything to them.
As expected, it was indeed related to the masked girl of Blue-soul Blood!
According to him, one person whom he was familiar with, had introduced a masked girl with blue hair to him, but he just could not remember what had happened afterwards.
According to their analysis, the person that could make Zhao Mingquan totally vulnerable, had to be one of his close friends. But, what made things tricky was that Brother Mingquan was easy-going and got along well with people in various trades.
His close friends who would go for a drink with him, included those in high positions like the deacon in the Dark Reign, as well as those in low positions, like the gatekeeper.
“But, I’m always on the alert when there is a stranger! When I saw that girl, I felt a little uncomfortable, so I secretly placed one kind of ‘Guide of No Aura” on her. As soon as she appears within the range of 100,000 feet around me, I will be able to sense her!” Zhao Mingquan said, and the people around him immediately brightened up!
Lyu Liang could not help wanting to get at that person right away, since she had set a deadly trap for Lyu Liang, for so many times. This final hit she made had almost been fatal. Lyu Liang had always been a nice person, but now, he was completely infuriated!
“Brother Mingquan, could you please reproduce the ‘Guide of No Aura’ for me? That bitch just keeps trying to kill me. But it is hard to track her down. Every time she finishes arranging everything, she disappears in a flash. I’m like a pig to be slaughtered. Now it’s time for me to fight her voluntarily!” Lyu Liang pounded the table and jumped to his feet. He was truly furious.
“No problem! That’s easy! I am also eager to lure her out and kill her! I’m a wise man, but because of her, I almost caused my friend’s death. That’s so stupid!” Zhao Mingquan was also enraged by that woman. Without any hesitation, he waved his hand, and a beam of semi-transparent, long and thin airflow directly floated into Lyu Liang’s body. “My job is to guard the absolute territory of Tianshu Pavilion, until you guys came. And now that you are here, I can go back and report to my master. The ‘Guide of No Aura’ cannot be reproduced, so I am giving it to you. I just hope that you would have killed the formidable enemy, the next time I come here!”
Lyu Liang accepted it happily, thinking that it was much better to deal with it himself, than bothering other people.
Qiao Youliang was aware of the situation. He found his residence and entered it to go to sleep. The next second, there was already a loud snore.
Later, Zhao Mingquan apologized over and over again, and then went away reluctantly. After he left, Feng Mazi took out a scroll and unfolded it in front of Lyu Liang, saying, “Junior Brother, let’s settle the important business first. The timing is all up to you. You could do whatever you want to do in the next ten years.”
The scroll was the scattergram of the entire mining area. There were many colors, as well as the signs and textual description of several buildings. After Feng Mazi explained about them, Lyu Liang gradually understood their meanings.
The colors were mainly red, yellow, blue, gray and black.
The red color represented the area that was covered by the middle-level world, which was the most widely marked color. The part that belonged to Tianshu Pavilion was also a red one inside it.
The yellow area represented the area that was covered by the low-level world. They were scattered, with only a few areas. According to Feng Mazi, the Mineral Veins there basically had little value.
The blue area was exclusively owned by the Plain Girl Pavilion, and was normally closed to other sects. It was an area of the middle-level world.
The gray area was a wasteland with no life, or supernal materials and agrarian treasures in it. As for its Power of Law, there was also no certainty like that of the Death Sea.
At last, there were three black areas in total, in the whole map. It was a dead area, that was absolutely forbidden for people to enter. The place where Lyu Liang had come across the horror beast was one of the black areas indicated in the map.
Now that he knew the distribution, the next thing he needed to do was to claim the slave team that he was going to be in charge of, so that he could explore the mines anytime.
The absolute territory of Tianshu Pavilion was very large, with nearly every one of them owning an independent space about 1,000 feet around. Inside the space, there was an area with Spiritual Qi for cultivation, a rest area and a reception area, as well as a Chaotic place for imprisoning the slaves.
“After we have selected, Plain Girl Pavilion will send the chosen slaves out here. The team of the Yang Family should already be in your cave residence. I am warning you again. You are here for the first time, so don’t go down to the mineral vein alone! Besides, if you need extra hands, tell us directly!” Feng Mazi gave him the details, and then went back to their own cave residences with his companions.
While temporarily forgetting about his hatred for the masked girl, Lyu Liang gently clenched his fists and murmured secretly in his heart, “Yang Ying, I don’t know if you are safe now, but for your clansmen, I will help you bring them back safely to our world!”
…
After Lyu Liang stepped into his own cave residence, he first went to the Chaotic area. As soon as he reached there, he saw a bunch of people of all ages and both sexes. In general, there were more men than women, and mainly young and middle-aged people, with a couple of old guys with white hair and beards.
Suddenly, the Guiding Talisman inside Lyu Liang’s body was triggered, while a stream of familiar aura floated toward him from both sides!
“Sister Xuan! Yingzhao!” Lyu Liang exclaimed. He’d been looking for them everywhere, but could not find them, in the end. Right at this moment, he had surprisingly come across them! The two missing people were together at this place!
Lyu Liang turned to look in the direction of the aura. He first looked toward the left side.
The normal slaves were generally terrified and shivering all over, with their heads down, but there was one slave dressed in plain clothes, who was staring at Lyu Liang, with wide open eyes. That was Zheng Xuan!
On the other side, also among those slaves who were keeping their heads down, was a tall and strong man who had his face tightly wrapped, with only his eyes showing. No matter how hard Lyu Liang looked at him, he was the man named Wu Yingzhao, who had not used any shapeshifting method!
“Who is the leader?” In front of so many people, Lyu Liang remained prudent even though they were all the clansmen of the Yang Family. What if there were one or two bad guys? Once he revealed his real identity, he may get into some unexpected trouble.
“I’m Yang Dingshan, a distant cousin of Yang Dingtian, who was the former clan elder. Now I’m the acting clan elder of the Yang Family.” A hunchbacked old man with a crutch, walked out, trembling. He even bent a little bit more.
Even though Lyu Liang was on the verge of rushing forward to support him, he remembered his identity, and tried hard to control himself and just nodded stiffly. Then he waved his hand and said, “All the others, please go away. And you, follow me! Well, and also you two, come and serve me!” The two people he asked to serve him were naturally Zheng Xuan and Wu Yingzhao.
Once the other people left, Lyu Liang took Yang Dingshan to his cave residence. After setting a couple of restriction formations, he immediately revealed his original appearance, while the other two behind the old clan elder, also walked to Lyu Liang and revealed their original appearances, after a flash of brilliance.
Before Lyu Liang had time to say something, Yang Dingshan was already terrified and directly knelt on the ground, shivering and saying, “Please spare my life, milord!”
Lyu Liang was speechless. They just did a shapeshifting. What did that remind that old gentleman of?
“Please stand up, old gentleman! I’m not here to enslave you. I have been entrusted by Yang Ying to get you guys out of here…” Lyu Liang strode forward and helped the old man up directly. Then he explained in detail about his history and the plan.
Within less than one hour, Lyu Liang started from the time that he and Yang Ying came to know each other, until he sneaked into Tianshu Pavilion to save them. Yang Dingshan was surprised and bewildered at first. At last, he became very emotional.
“Ying’er has been actually… actually worried about us all the time. I’m sorry that my brother and sister-in-law died early, or else… Thank you, benefactor! Thank you very much!” Yang Dingtian was weeping bitterly, and tried to kneel again.
Lyu Liang was just by his side, so he stopped the old man right away, and hurriedly said, “Old gentleman, don’t be too courteous. Yang Ying has saved my life before, so I’m willing to help you escape from this place. Now I need to know how many clansmen in total does the Yang Family have, and where they are. The most important thing is whether everyone is loyal to the Yang Family!”
Their loyalty to the Yang Family was the thing that concerned Lyu Liang most. As there were plenty of clansmen, even one bad person could probably bring a disastrous consequence to the whole family.
Feng Mazi had said before that there was one strict law in the Nether Big World, that was specifically made for the slaves in the mining area.
Slaves could be killed or discarded, but could never be saved!
If someone dared to do that, not only the person would be killed, the sect or family that the person belonged to, would also be implicated.
“We are all loyal to the family! Because our desire is to get out of here every day! The 300 clansmen here are the only survivors of the Yang Family . There were originally more than 1,000 households in our family, but after my brother and sister-in-law were punished by the Dark Reign, we are reduced to this condition…” As Yang Dingshan said that, he started to weep again.
Lyu Liang sighed deeply and said, “My plan is that I’ll bring you down to the mine a few days later. Then I will fake a few accidents, so that I could bring you into my cave residence in batches. Heaven-deceiving restriction formations have already been set up in my cave residence. When the time is right, we will get out of here together!”
Yang Dingshan thanked Lyu Liang profusely and then left. Zheng Xuan and Wu Yingzhao stayed back. At that time, Liu Xiaoxue also appeared inside Lyu Liang’s cave residence. She embraced Wu Yingzhao tightly.
Moments later, when they had all calmed down, they started to talk about their own experiences.
Lyu Liang had been holding back many questions that could only be answered by Qiao Youliang. Therefore, after talking for a while, he excused himself and left temporarily.
When Lyu Liang came to Qiao Youliang’s room, Qiao Youliang was staring at the roof blankly, as if he were thinking about something. Just as Lyu Liang was about to call him, he suddenly turned. Wearing a solemn expression on his face, which was rare, he asked deeply, “Why do you believe him?”
“Who?” Lyu Liang was stunned at that unexpected question.
“Yang Dingshan!” What Qiao Youliang said, surprised Lyu Liang again.
“Ah? Why shouldn’t I believe him? I’m here just to save the clansmen of the Yang Family. And he is the leader, well… Is there anything wrong with him?” Lyu Liang fixed his eyes on him, starting to feel a little uneasy. Anyway, it was his first time to come here, so there was no way for him to know the specific conditions of the Yang Family. He just naturally chose to believe Yang Dingshan, the acting clan elder.
Then Qiao Youliang said something, which made Lyu Liang feel relieved. He said, “Well, no. I’m just curious why you will believe a person that you have just met for the first time. Let me ask you, if Yang Dingshan leaks out the details about you, what are you going to do?”
Lyu Liang replied without any hesitation, “I’ll take proper counter-measure for different conditions! I do things with a clear conscience! If what you said does happen, I will try my best to fight my way out, and save as many people as possible!”
Looking at Lyu Lian’s resolute eyes, Qiao Youliang laughed bitterly and said, “I really admire your pure heart. But, I have to tell you. In this world that is full of intrigue, maybe you still trust other people instead of just trusting yourself, but at least you should have the initiative all the time!”
“I get it! Thanks for your warning.” Lyu Liang cupped his fists and bowed respectfully to Qiao Youliang. At the same time, he also started to ponder about Qiao Youliang’s suspicion endlessly…
…
At this time, the leader of Plain Girl Pavilion, Fairy Still Water, was standing in the main palace of the Plain Girl Pavilion, in a submissive mood. One person standing higher than her, was the most mysterious high-ranking deacon in the Dark Reign called Kong Liang. There was another one who was standing in a lower position. He was actually the person who had been weeping bitterly in front of Lyu Liang, Yang Dingshan! Besides them, a few disciples of Plain Girl Pavilion dressed in white palace clothes, were standing behind.
“Milord! What I said is definitely true!” Yang Dingshan was no longer the frail person he had been before. He tried to straighten his stooped body, and said solemnly.
“I get it. And I believe what you said. That’s it for now.” Kong Liang waved his hand, not surprised at all.
“M… milord! You are not going to do anything about it? He is planning to…” Yang Dingshan was stunned. His eyes were wide open, and he felt incredulous.
“The requirements you demanded before, the Dark Reign will meet your needs.” Kong Liang said coldly, with an expression of disdain flashing on his face.
“Yes! I understand! I’ll retreat then and continue to keep on eye on those people! Humph! A few nobodies dare to go against the law of the Dark Reign. They just want to die!” Yang Dingshan suddenly looked sharp, and then hurried to leave after a few more comments.
“Milord! Please issue an order! The Plain Girl Pavilion would like to take this case!” After Yang Dingshan went away, Fairy Still Water also became excited.
“Are you an idiot? Issue an order now? What order? Before he does that, he is Man Zi of the Tianshu Pavilion! If you want to kill him, you have to catch him red handed!” Kong Liang was so furious about her idiocy, that he gave her a good scolding, right to her face.
“Yes! You are very wise, milord!” Since Kong Liang had taken care of Feng Hanyue so easily last time, Fairy Still Water had started to worship him like a god. She waved her hand to the disciples of her sect and said, “Remember, you did not hear anything! Do not leak anything that happened just now, to the others! Go away!”
After all the disciples left, Fairy Still Water continued to ask, fawningly, “So you mean that we let them do that right now, and then we will…” As she spoke, she made a movement of “cut”.
“Your intelligence… How did you qualify to be the leader of Plain Girl Pavilion?” Kong Liang did not answer her. Instead, he asked her an embarrassing question, while staring at her meaningfully.
“… M… Milord, you are right!” Fairy Still Water froze on the spot. She had no idea what was wrong with herself, and had to be patient with him at this time, even if what he said, was really offensive.
“This thing is a mess right now… I have not figured out a way to deal with it, either. But it’s indeed a good chance to kill Lyu Liang, I will not miss it! You go away, too. When I need you, I will look for you. Anyway, you are in charge of this place!” Kong Liang sighed and stopped talking, without an intention to say anything else.
Fairy Still Water bowed deeply and disappeared right away.
“Ah, Lyu Liang, if we are not enemies, we may have been friends! But I’m sorry that you have to die! Only your death could make that milord recover his conscience!” With a sharp expression in his eyes, Kong Liang clenched his fists and said, “If you could still get out of the mining area alive with so many dangers around you, I will never let you go to the western part in the future, even if I might be put to death by milord Shenhuang!”