Chapter 66: Between Chains

Cui Ruishan suddenly felt a chill down his spine, his hair standing on end. He dared not look at Ming Zhuo again and pushed away the head in his arms, saying, "I don't know... I... I don't know!"

Ming Zhuo kicked the head away with his foot. "You don't know? You once held the first child. You praised him for being 'full of spiritual energy,' a good material. You fed this child to the Sun God, but instead of recovering, he became weaker."

Cui Ruishan said, "It was Ming Lue who insisted on feeding him to the god. My Shixiong advised against it, and so did I!"

Ming Zhuo said, "Advised? Yes, you two advised to trade two children with us."

Fu Zheng listened with horror. "What trade?"

Ming Zhuo said, "Simple, use this second child to exchange for one flap of the Wind God's wings."

Everyone present knew that the Wind God, Qingying, had a special ability: every flap of his wings could change the fate of the world. Ming Han's move was to use the power of the Wind God to swap the fate of the Sun God dispersing to the Moon God.

Ming Zhuo continued, "Unfortunately, legends are just legends. From the beginning, you deceived Ming Han. Whether it was revealing the secret of eating people or providing sacrificers, it was all to induce the dispersal of the Sun God, leaving the Ming family with no deities to rely on. However, what you didn't expect was that Ming Han not only fell for it but also brought you an unexpected surprise."

Cui Ruishan, like a startled bird, said, "How... how can you blame us? It was Ming Han's stubborn decision to extend the life of the Sun God, insisting on using your mother to lure the Moon God Hui Mang!"

Thunder exploded outside the hall, and rain began to pour heavily. The flying veils inside the hall were splattered with blood, fluttering in the wind, swirling and dancing on both sides of the table.

Fu Zheng pressed his wound, his heart in turmoil. "Humans and gods... to be like this, how is this possible‽"

Ming Zhuo continued, "After you ate the second child, your cultivation soared. You were quite famous in the Four Mountains and Six Prefectures. Ming Han realised then that he had been played by you all along. To seek revenge and claim the throne, he kept it secret from everyone and falsely claimed that I was his son."

The elder sighed. "I should have known earlier. 'Birth mother unknown' was just a cover-up excuse made by the late Lord."

Lin Shifei was deeply distressed. "Ming Han is so vicious, using his own sister for such a thing! The princess was so beautiful, blind in her eyes, how could she know that the Moon God, aiya, that Moon God was a four-armed monster!"

So-called ancient gods were all deities transformed from the bodies of the Jiao Mother. Although they were closer to humans than other natural spirits, they still had certain non-human characteristics. Therefore, from the perspective of mortals, they could not be considered beautiful.

Ming Zhuo said, "A four-armed monster? I'd prefer a four-armed monster over a two-legged beast."

The elder said, "I know you hold a grudge and want to speak up for your mother, but grievances have their origins. Since these matters were all done by the late Lord and the Qiankun Sect, what does it have to do with us? Let us go!"

Lin Shifei also said, "Yes, yes! Lord, we have come here because we believed the slander of the Qiankun Sect. Now that the truth is revealed, why not let us go?"

They were eager to leave and naturally shifted all responsibility. Cui Ruishan sneered, "Disaster is upon us, and suddenly everything becomes the doing of our Qiankun Sect! I have nothing to say about the matter of eating people, but tonight's visit to hold us accountable, we are all involved!"

Seeing that they were about to quarrel again, Ming Zhuo said, "Wait, you've only just started, and already the Baiwei warriors are gone?"

These few people had experienced his fierceness before. Now seeing him smile, they couldn't help but feel nervous, unsure of what other tricks lay ahead.

Ming Zhuo slowly said, "Actually, except for me, everyone else in this divine palace is not alive."

Fu Zheng's face immediately lost all colour. "What‽ The officials, and those Baiwei warriors, are they all fake?"

Ming Zhuo smiled. "Yes, they are all fake, just paper figures."

Upon hearing the words 'paper figures,' they all turned pale. Ming Zhuo lifted one hand, revealing a paper figure between his fingers. "If we're going to settle scores, we have to go back fifteen years. That day, you came here to force Ming Han to give up the throne by exploiting the dispersal of the Sun God. Huang Qiu, you were the most outspoken, but unfortunately, you didn't know that Ming Han was being manipulated by the Cui brothers at that time."

The man named Huang Qiu looked at Cui Ruishan. "Exactly! I said, why did you two brothers suddenly change your minds that day? It turns out it was all for the sake of obtaining that second child to eat!"

Ming Zhuo said, "Exactly, that was when they deceived Ming Han with the legend of the Wind God."

Lin Shifei exclaimed, "Absurd! So you made the trade when the Sun God had already dispersed! Ming Han, that fool, actually believed your ghost words..."

Cui Ruishan said, "Who can blame anyone? It wasn't us who forced him! Besides, when that child was given to us, he was already a corpse!"

Ming Zhuo said, "Because Ming Han was foolish and suspicious, he feared that if he handed over a live child to you, you would use him for other purposes. So, before giving him to you, he killed him."

He spoke calmly as if he were talking about a bird or a bug rather than his own brother.

Fu Zheng shivered. "But... but he was his nephew!"

Ming Zhuo laughed. "Nephew? Born in this place, what kinship ethics can be discussed? Even if he were a nephew, he would have been killed for the throne."

Cui Ruishan suddenly said, "But you were there that day too!"

Ming Zhuo nodded. "Not bad, I was there too."

Lin Shifei looked puzzled. "What do you mean you were there too? I have no memory of that at all!"

Ming Zhuo lifted a hanging veil, and slowly walked in. "I was here that day, watching you humiliate Ming Han through this veil."

Huang Qiu said, "Since the late Lord has claimed you as his son since then, he wasn't completely heartless toward you."

Ming Zhuo said, "He was so afraid of death, naturally, he had to leave himself a way out. But it doesn't matter. You may not remember me, but you should remember this paper figure; my mother made it."

Cui Ruishan turned pale. "You but, how old were you. then? You were only four years old! How could you still remember..."

Ming Zhuo turned his back to them, holding up the paper figure. The thin paper glowed in the candlelight, transporting him back to that day. The day when the pipa resounded, Ming Han himself was humiliated and even had his sister come out to play.

"You like to hear the pipa, don't you?" he said. "Since that's the case, Hui Mang, play for them."

—— Zhēng!

The candles in the hall flickered, a gust of wind lifted the veils, and behind Ming Zhuo, a mist-like half-body statue emerged. The statue had no eyes, with a white silk band covering its face like a moon ribbon. Its skin was dark, and its four arms held an ancient-style pipa.

—— Zhēng!

The candles extinguished abruptly, and there was a faint sound of chains. Someone shouted first, followed by the overturning of the table. Lin Shifei said, "For the sake of the Jiao Mother, we are of the same origin. Don't kill—"

Blood splattered on the white veils, the brush fell with the severed head. Huang Qiu shouted, "Ming Zhuo, if you kill us, the Four Mountains and Hundred Sects won't spare you! And the Heavenly Sea Imperial Guards..."

Kill!

Cui Ruishan still had some strength left. He pushed the table away and ran outside in a panic. "Madness! You're mad! This is sorcery, this is demonic magic!"

The statue spun, its strings sweeping towards him as he ran. The flying veils around shattered, falling like shrouds.

Cui Ruishan reached the door, forgetting to cast spells, tripped over the threshold, and fell awkwardly to the ground. Hearing the pipa music, he felt his heart shattered, flailing his arms in panic, shouting, "Demonic! You're inhuman! You... it's none of my business, none of my business! It wasn't me who asked her to come out and play the pipa! It wasn't me!"

The rain outside splashed on his face, staring wide-eyed at the plaque above the hall, then at his own body. His head rolled half a circle, finally dropping at the doorway.

Fu Zheng's face was smeared with blood. He was so terrified by the sudden turn of events that his legs went weak. He shook his head frantically, "I wasn't there! Lord, I wasn't there that day! I'm from a small sect. I'm not from the Four Mountains; I'm from the Shenzhou Sect..."

When the finger of the god statue fell, Fu Zheng thought he was surely going to die and immediately fainted.

Inside the hall, only the wind remained. Hui Mang floated lightly, almost merging with the silk. Without the next command, it was somewhat bewildered, plucking at its pipa in mid-air, playing a desolate tune.

Within the flying silk, Ming Zhuo's face was pale as he knelt on the ground. His arms and body were wrapped in chains, each made of dark red curse texts that intertwined and extended into the shadows. Every time Ming Zhuo summoned Hui Mang, the chains would appear, as a price to be paid.

Ming Zhuo said, "You dog thing."

He clenched the chains around him tightly, pulling them fiercely. The chains clattered, and the curse texts flowed like blood, causing him immense pain. The veins on the back of his hand bulged, and the pain seemed to infuriate him, making him pull even harder.

At that moment, the white silk was suddenly lifted, and a few raindrops landed on Ming Zhuo's cheeks. Someone, slightly panting as if just coming from the rain, crouched down and almost through gritted teeth said, "Isn't this the Lord?"

Ming Zhuo was enraged, "Scram!"

Luo Xu, drenched and with rain still on his face, ignored Hui Mang and suddenly grasped Ming Zhuo's jaw. His expression was very calm, so calm it was almost cruel, "‘Bind him tightly,’ Ng? So, to bind me, you've ended up binding yourself so well."

Ming Zhuo's head couldn't turn under the grip on his jaw, adding a new layer of pain to his already tortured body.

Luo Xu used only a third of his strength, but Ming Zhuo couldn't withstand even that; the slight pressure made his skin flush red. He must have been very angry and murderous, as his amber eyes stared intently at Luo Xu, as if he might explode at any moment.

"Try running again," Luo Xu's thumb pressed slightly, his tone menacing, "I'm the one who's been too polite from the moment we met, right?"

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