The woman shook her head and sighed, but the ordinary-looking middle-aged man did not answer. Suddenly, he stopped sweeping and turned his head to look outside the door, with a fierce gaze.
“What’s wrong?”
The woman glanced suspiciously at the entrance of the courtyard but saw no one. She could not help but ask.
A trace of confusion also appeared in the eyes of the middle-aged man, and after he confirmed repeatedly, he shook his head, “I mistook. It’s nothing.”
Meanwhile, Su Li was standing on a stone platform hundreds of meters away from the courtyard, looking at the courtyard in warmth and peace. She seemed to think something from her deep eyes.
“That person could sense my trace, so his cultivation must be higher than Huashen Realm.”
There was a practitioner in Huashen Realm standing behind Su Dieyin?
Su Li pondered. The relationship between that person and Su Dieyin’s mother was obviously not so simple, which explained why Su Dieyin could make rapid progress in cultivation. She had full support from the one in Huashen Realm.
“I wonder what the result would be if I have a fight with him.”
This thought flashed through Su Li’s mind. She had understood some Destruction Will of Sword and her understanding of the Will of Sword had come to a higher level. She speculated that it would be not difficult to fight against a practitioner of Huashen Realm, who just comprehended the Will Power.
However, the middle-aged man gave her the impression that he was not at the beginning of Huashen Realm.
After staring at the courtyard for a moment, Su Li leaped off the stone platform and disappeared.
At the same time, the middle-aged man sensed that the looming peek was gone. He did not show any difference on his face, and continued to sweep the ground, while many thoughts flashed in his mind.
“They have followed up, so it’s not safe to stay here any longer.”
He looked vaguely at Su Dieyin’s mother, sighed in his heart, and said nothing at last.
Su Li left Su Dieyin’s mountain and returned quietly to her courtyard.
Su He was taken away just now, which deterred many impulsive disciples who planned to strike the courtyard out of envy. So, the courtyard was quiet during this period, only Su Xianyun and other several disciples would come to visit.
Su Li was happy to see so. The more pressure Su Dieyin got, the more room she would have for her action, for Su Xianyun and others would be quite occupied.
“The fourth elder and the twelfth elder do not dare to put a finger on me in a short time. Su Dieyin’s arrangement was very smart and can stall their movement, but Su Dingxian, the old fox, may think of a way to break the situation soon.”
Su Li sorted out the information she got that day and mused secretly, “The key to breaking the situation is nothing but the uncertainty about my body condition. So…”
A smile gradually appeared on Su Li’s face, “Let me add some fuel to the fire.”
Outside the main hall, Ya’er stood by obediently in the doorway with her head lowered, waiting for orders that Su Li could give at any moment.
After Su He was taken away, she was discouraged, and only wanted to serve Su Jiuzhou without a second thought until this matter was finished and she could leave.
But apparently, her minds didn’t stand up to a test.
“Rustling …”
What’s that?
A rustle of something sounded in her ears as if a mouse were grinding its teeth.
“Rustling …”
Again?
Ya’er listened carefully and finally found the sound came from inside the hall. How could there be rats in the hall, which was protected by tactical matrix?
“Could it be from Su Jiuzhou?”
After this thought came to her mind, she became curious. She looked around, no one was noticing her, and she could not resist sneaking into the hall after consideration.
The rustling sound came into her ears from time to time, as if it were leading the way.
Ya’er had no doubts, followed the sound to the bedroom, and found the stone door of the adytum for practicing was left unlocked and a flash of red light leaked out through the door.
She bestirred herself, crept to the door, and peeked inside.
A smell of blood came to her face, and her heart shuddered, for she had seen a shocking scene.
The entire wall of the adytum was covered with beads of blood, as if a large amount of blood sprayed on the wall, flowed down from above, and stained the entire wall into blood-red.
She looked downward with her pupils trembling and found more blood converging into a small pool in the middle of the stone room where the ground was uneven.
“Where did so much blood come from? Whose blood is this?”
Ya’er suppressed the urge to flee immediately from the place, continued to look with her widely opened eyes, and finally saw a figure crouching in the blood mist and wiping the wall.
The face looked pretty and innocent, but it looked, for Ya’er, extremely horrible in such a bloody atmosphere.
“Is it… Su Jiuzhou?!”
Ya’er clenched her hands and her thoughts changed rapidly, “Is she destroying the corpse to obliterate the evidence after she killed someone? But there is no corpse? No … didn’t the rumor say that she had lost all her cultivation? How could she kill somebody?”
The doubt of Ya’er did not last for long, because she saw that Su Li, who was cleaning the wall, suddenly shuddered and covered her mouth with her hand. A large amount of crimson blood flowed down through her fingers like a small waterfall, followed the lines on the ground, and converged into the blood pool.
“This… is Su Jiuzhou’s blood!”
Ya’ers pupils suddenly shrank. Countless thoughts in her mind were gone, and only one guess was left.
“I’ve heard that Su Jiuzhou was seriously injured, and lost all her cultivation. The head of the branch is making every effort to help her rebuild the cultivation. Based on the scene I’ve seen, Su Jiuzhou’s body is corrupted and it is impossible to rebuild her cultivation.”
“If she manages to re-cultivate, she will constantly vomit blood. The blood serves as a medium to dissipate all the cultivation from her re-cultivation?”
Ya’er’s body tensed, and she was shocked by her thought.
If she guessed right and reported what she saw to the first elder, she would definitely be greatly rewarded. But if she guessed wrong, her fate…
Ya’er seemed to struggle with herself, for the price of her decision was her life!
Did it worth it?
Ya’er seemed to get a response in the dark. Su Li stopped coughing and vomiting blood. She removed her hand from the mouth, and stared dazedly at the blood in her palm, whispering,
“Master, I’ve let you down.”
Hearing these words, Ya’er became more confident of her speculation and walked on tiptoe away with full of joy.
She must have guessed correctly!
“I must report this to the first elder before someone else does!”
Ya’er was flooded with an indescribable urgency. The bright future of cultivation had blinded her and the words she warned herself before had been forgotten.
Shortly after she left, Su Li’s pale face gradually regained color. With one swipe of her hand, all the blood was gathered into a huge ball. After the impurities in the ball were eliminated, the blood turned into blood lines returning through the pores into Su Li’s body.
The blood was real.
The temporary loss of the blood couldn’t injure her at all. Her blood poison was so strange that she just figured out some easy uses of it. If she just let the blood spread out, she didn’t know what would happen. So, it was better to take it back to her body.
“You made it!”
The Black Lotus Ring appeared and grinned, “As long as Su Dingxian dares to make the first move, the second branch of the Su Family will be in your pocket.”
“Don’t be reckless.” Su Li said in peace, “Even if Su Dieyin is backed up by the practitioner of Huashen Realm, she still allows Su Dingxian to develop. Maybe Su Dingxian is not as simple as he looks.”
“Hum …”
Black Lotus rolled his eyes, for this little girl smiled to Hua Yan, occasionally to Yan Ziye, even to Mei Ruohan.
She had always spoken with him in a cold tone and never given a smile to him.
“Who did I ever piss off and why did I meet such a host?”
The more Black Lotus thought about it, the angrier he got, and finally he just went back to the Black Lotus Ring and wouldn’t come out.
Su Li was too lazy to care about him. She strutted out of the courtyard, and left the sphere of influence of the second branch soon. Then, she flew to the territory of the seventh branch.
Shortly after Su Li left, Su Dingxian brought a large group of people to the courtyard, and Su Xianyun and others got this message immediately.
Just as Su Xianyun was summoning the elders from Su Dieyin’s side, the two groups gathered in front of the adytum door.
The two sides stood facing each other and the atmosphere was tenser than ever.
Su Xianyun looked gloomy, for Su Dingxian came with his people shortly after the master left. It was no accident by no means.
He saw the fourth elder and the twelfth elder who were expressionlessly mixed in the group and had no intent to come over, and his heart sank slowly.
The master’s situation was getting worse.
“Hum!”
Su Dingxian entered the adytum and caught the trace of blood even it was extremely faint.
“First Elder, the adytum was not like this before, it was covered by blood everywhere! Su Jiuzhou’s blood!”
Ya’er panicked when she saw the adytum became clean and dry.
Su Dingxian showed a gentle smile and waved his hand to Ya’er, “Do not panic. Sins are not known till they are acted. No matter how spotless Su Jiuzhou could clean this room, there would be some things remained.”
Ya’er felt flattered after hearing the comforting words from First Elder. She stood aside, and blushed.
Su Xianyun and Su Zheng looked gloomier.
Su Jiuzhou spat blood?
Why didn’t they know it? Did Su Jiuzhou possibly hide it from them?
“Where did she go?”
Su Xianyun looked around, and the hall was quiet. It seemed that no one was hiding in it.
Su Dingxian walked to the wall without haste, and gently stroked over the slightly rough wall, where he felt traces of being wiped. He laughed even more joyously.
“Su Jiuzhou is badly sick and dying, but the head of the branch is obsessed and wanted to save her by allocating a large number of precious cultivation resources to her. How to explain her behavior?”
Speaking of this, Su Dingxian suddenly turned around, his gaze like a knife fell upon Su Xianyun, “Su Xianyun, you are the first disciple of the head of the branch and the young head of the second branch of the Su Family. Are you… aware of this?”
Su Xianyun’s body trembled slightly, resisted the pressure, and retorted loudly, “It’s nonsense! The master has been dedicated to the second branch, trained so many outstanding disciples for the second branch, and would never bend for personal gain. In my opinion, somebody with ulterior motives deliberately forged this adytum to frame the master!”
Su Dingxian didn’t expect that Su Xianyun dared to refute, so his face went cold, “Su Jiuzhou has absconded from the crime scene. Are you going to defend her?”
“Haha…”
Su Zheng laughed out loud, pointed at Su Dingxian without any fear, and cursed, “Su Jiuzhou has escaped? In my opinion, you have captured her so that she could not testify against you. Su Dingxian, do not forget that you are the first elder of the second branch, and Su Jiuzhou is the fourth disciple of the head of the branch and the future pillar of my second branch. You are eradicating dissidents out of your selfishness. Aren’t you afraid of the punishment from the old ancestor?
As soon as this remark came out, all people there changed their faces, including Su Xianyun and other elders.
Su Zheng, a hothead, had no idea that his words had ruthlessly offended Su Dingxian. If there were not so many witnesses, he would have ripped off the kid’s head.
“Bastard! You are disrespecting seniors. Is this what your master taught you?”
The fourth elder stood out and scolded, for he was blamed for Su He by Su Dingxian before. Now he saw the opportunity to stand out and atone his fault.
Su Xianyun pulled Su Zheng’s coat corner, but Su Zheng seemed not to feel it at all. He turned his head, and cursed with a tone of mockery, “Even if I am a bastard, I have more manners than a flip-flopper. What do you think, Fourth Elder?”
Once the fourth elder heard the words, his face turned dark red, and he got so angry that he couldn’t speak with his lips shivering.