Chapter 16. Shifu, you don’t trust me?

The rolls of thunder were reverberating through Seven Star Rivers; flames with lightning brewing in the sky were turning black clouds purple again and again.

The battle between Bei Shu and the cultivator with the short whip attracted the attention of almost everyone in Seven Star Rivers, but not all of them stopped fighting.

The Nine Layers of the Abyss was a place where the weak fell prey to the strong; no laws or morals binded people. Many people had already taken advantage of the sky turning dark and were now plundering burning houses and killing people for treasures. A winner was finally determined between those two cultivators who were fighting to death not far from Changming and his companions. One of them had his abdomen cut open and died on the spot, and the other looted him clean of his talismans and spiritual tools. But it was not enough, and he raised his head to stare at Changming and the others.

To plunder a burning house: to take advantage of somebody’s misfortune.

After all, there were three of them, while he was alone, so he only glanced at them from afar a few times and then disappeared into the darkness. Xu Jingxian did not attach importance to him. In her opinion, there was nothing to worry about if her enemy was alone.

But very soon, they were suddenly attacked from behind!

The one who mounted this sneak attack was precisely that mid-level cultivator.

A straight slender knife that was three chi long flew towards Changming silently.

Chi: ⅓ of a meter.

At the first glance, he could tell that Changming was the weakest and the least dangerous among the three of them. Moreover, their clothes were tidy, exquisite and strange-looking; it was obvious that they were fledglings who had just entered this place from the outside. Not to attack such fat and unprepared prey was simply an intolerable injustice.

At the same time, two more people raised their hands, targeting Xu Jingxian and Yun Hai from both sides.

Xu Jingxian sneered. The rest of the half-maggot-devoured thin silk quickly flew out of her sleeve, ferociously whipping her enemy!

The one who tried using his sword to pierce Yun Hai soon realized that he was piercing the air.

Obviously, Yun Hai had just been standing in front of him a moment ago motionless, but in the blink of an eye, he disappeared.

The man flew past and turned around with a hiss, but he was half a step back. A sharp pain shot through his shoulder, and a piece of his flesh with his clothes still attached to his skin was cut off from his body by an unknown technique, making him shed blood like water!

And Yun Hai who disappeared a moment ago was now standing behind him, as if nothing had happened. Yun Hai’s smile almost told the man: You are only this good, yet you dare overestimate your abilities?

Lu Wei had everything planned out carefully.

His eyes lit up when he saw Changming and the others, and he immediately realized that, apart from Changming, the other two were not to be trifled with, and the chances of success when attacking three people at the same time were close to zero.

The only and the best solution was to let his companions make an empty show of strength in front of the others to draw their attention away, then use this opportunity to lay his hands on Changming, succeed, stop the attack right away and withdraw together with his friends swiftly.

Relying on their knowledge of the terrain, they could guarantee that the man and the woman would not be able to catch up with them.

He had experienced a lot during the time he had spent fishing in the troubled waters of Seven Star Rivers, and had long since found a way to survive — to oppress the timid and fear the wicked, to bully the weak and stay away from the strong. His cultivation was not considered low in Seven Star Rivers, but he was definitely not the strongest, so he could only look for gaps to stick in a needle to gain profit: find people to form an alliance with and look for opportunities to take advantage of others; this way, he would survive for a long time.

Look for gaps to stick in a needle: use every opportunity.

He indeed relied on his ability to make discerning judgments and on his adaptability to changes to stay in Seven Star Rivers for many months. He quickly raised his cultivation level and seized lots of weapons.

This night was the best opportunity for burning, killing and pillaging.

He would have never thought he would make that kind of a slight mistake, leading to his complete downfall.

This slight mistake was Changming, who he regarded as unimportant.

As Lu Wei saw it, this man’s steps and breath were heavy, and his body was frail and powerless; even if he was a cultivator, his skills could be overlooked; perhaps, he could be a cultivator using poison. The two people that accompanied him did not seem to be close to him; they were neither from the same sect, nor friends. When a danger occured, they would abandon him without any further thoughts.

When Lu Wei attacked the other with his knife, he did not expect Changming to move towards him at once.

A streak of white light flew out from Changming’s sleeve, rushing towards Lu Wei. The latter wanted to evade it subconsciously, but realized that it was nothing but a white snake. He couldn’t help but be angered for such a trick, and sliced the white snake!

Suddenly, he sensed a chilling to the bone intention coming from behind his back. Lu Wei felt as if his back was frozen by ice. He couldn’t help turning his head, and saw the small white snake turn into a giant creature. The huge head of the snake was looking down at him; it stuck its tongue out and leaned forward to bite him.

Lu Wei was taken aback. He stretched his arm to catch Changming and stop it!

But the latter had already retreated behind Xu Jingxian nimble-handedly and fleet-footedly.

Xu Jingxian: …

The cultivator who attacked her was a bit weaker than she, but that didn’t mean she could handle him with ease, especially after her thin silk was cut into two pieces. Not far away, a wave of spiritual power from the battle of Bei Shu with the owner of the short whip shook the surroundings with its qi, which affected them as well; and now she had to protect Changming at the same time. Xu Jingxian was distracted, and her arm was almost caught by the opponent’s weapon. She was furious and directly used her golden bell. The tinkle of the bell confused her opponent’s mind, and the thin silk strangled his neck at once.

As the terrified screams calmed down, Xu Jingxian retracted her thin silk, and the head of her enemy fell down, his blood splattering everywhere.

At this point, she hated Changming. She turned her head to scold him, showing no affection and interest as she did in their first meeting.

“Can you be at least a bit more useful?”

“The lady is so formidable!” Changming praised her wholeheartedly.

Could this ‘being useful’ save his life? Obviously, it couldn’t.

Xu Jingxian exhaled angrily. Just to think that at first she expected that this talented and pleasing to the eye man would benefit her in the future. That was precisely being deceived by eyes that only saw the appearances of things.

Yun Hai had also killed the cultivator that attacked him.

Lu Wei realized that the situation had turned against his favour, and did not want to fight with the white snake at all. Seeing that the white snake did not move the slightest when he slashed its tough scales, he resolutely retreated and prepared to run away. But just when he leaped up, his ankle was wrapped tightly by the thin silk.

The silk was very soft, but it turned into a steel blade when it touched the skin. Lu Wei felt terrible pain, and could not help but scream, and his body fell down from the roof. Xu Jingxian was still irritated, so she flew down to beat the drowning dog. The person being tortured by her could only shed bitter tears, not even having control over his own death.

To beat the drowning dog: to hit a person who is already down.

Everyone looked at Lu Wei wailing and begging for mercy, but showed no sympathy. This person was nothing but a murderer who looted treasures, now suffering from the result of his own evil actions.

Only Changming who just had to use his Art of control was feeling unwell because his spirit was exhausted. He felt dizzy, so he could only catch Xu Jingxian’s sleeve to keep his balance.

But Xu Jingxian didn’t notice his unusual behaviour and jumped down from the roof to beat Lu Wei viciously. Changming had almost lost his footing and involuntarily leaned over to the side.

A hand reached out to support him.

“I was obviously closer to you, why did daoyou Changming go to daoyou Xu?”

Yun Hai was standing very close to him. Changming closed his eyes and felt faint and dizzy, as if the sky and earth were spinning round.

He wanted to move this hand away, but it didn’t move.

The other seemed to be helping him out of consideration, but in reality he was firmly holding his waist, sealing all of Changming’s ways of retreat.

Xu Jingxian was still violently hitting that cultivator under the roof, and the victor in Bei Shu’s fight in the distance was not yet determined.

But it seemed that Yun Hai was determined to get the answer, and didn’t intend to let him go otherwise.

His soft and gentle words brought to Changming not a warm and soothing feeling or sad memories, but ice-cold murderous intentions.

These murderous intentions were concealed, strained like a string. If the answer wasn’t what the other side wanted to hear, then the hand that was supporting his waist would turn into a sharp killing weapon in a flash.

“Daoyou Changming doesn’t trust me so much?”

Yun Hai’s voice went down a little, as if Changming’s distrust was a terrible crime.

But those years he was his first disciple, he never said such things in such a voice.

Yun Weisi would only be bewildered and ask seriously: Shifu, you don’t trust me?

But this Yun Hai—

He looked exactly the same as Yun Weisi, and was a lot more dangerous. When his third disciple Zhou Keyi was sad or happy, it was written all over his face, but Yun Hai showed no feelings, and nothing could be guessed.

Changming could always guess other people’s hearts, but this Yun Hai was a total stranger to him, and he couldn’t figure out his thoughts after that little time that they had spent together.

But he was soft-hearted for a moment.

Only for a moment.

“Daoyou Yun, why do you say such words? We are just strangers coming together by chance; I know nothing about your skills, of course I don’t want to endanger you.”