Chapter 728 – Secrets and Suspicions
In the meantime.
In front of a smaller stone to the left.
Shrouded in a thin layer of water mist, Shui Xiu's curled-up body trembled slightly. A hint of consternation and terror glimmered in her delicate and lustrous eyes.
She slowly propped up her body and shifted it toward Ge Ming. Her eyes, which had always looked somewhat timid, was at this time gazing at Ye Qingyu and his hood-veiled face.
She had never expected that the hero who saved her and her uncle would actually also be a baddie out to kill her uncle!
As if she recalled something, her gaze froze and she exclaimed, "Brother! You're… that big brother!"
Although her voice was quivering and weak like catkin in the wind, there was an excitement and firmness in her tone that abruptly woke up the despairing Ge Ming.
"You know him?!" A strange luster flashed across Ge Ming's pupils.
Shui Xiu, who had by this time already shifted beside her uncle, recounted in detail the sequence of events of her first encounter with Ye Qingyu.
After she finished the account, she looked at the silent figure once more, feeling sort of conflicted inwardly.
She had unmistakably seen this big brother confess that he was out to kill her uncle for the sake of the bounty. Yet, she dared not believe that the big brother who gave her water was also a baddie that sought to take the life of her only relative.
After listening to Shui Xiu, Ge Ming pondered for a while before he spoke up once more, saying, "Hoho, that's hard to believe. You're kinda different from the other people who want to kill me…"
Ye Qingyu did not say a word.
After a silent few breaths' worth of time.
As if he had decided, Ge Ming spoke in a rather heavy tone, "Since you'd rescued Shui Xiu, let's make things easier. My life shall be right here for you to take at any time. However, I have a request before I die…"
Already certain what Ge Ming's request would be about in general, Ye Qingyu took a glance at the bewildered Shui Xiu and then nodded his head, saying, "Tell me about it."
"I hope you can bring Shui Xiu out of the Black Demon Pool after I die. She has lost the protection of the water mist qi and has no way of making it out on her own, cough cough… I'd also like you to bring her to the Divine Secret City, the eighth Chaotic city, and find a person called Liu Yue'er, cough… She'll naturally understand if you bring Shui Xiu to her… cough cough…" After saying everything in one breath, Ge Ming's toxic qi-infested heart and lungs began to tremble, causing him to cough repeatedly.
Startled by the coughing noise, Shui Xiu hurriedly reached her hand out and soothed her uncle's back.
The panicky little girl opened her mouth slightly as if she wanted to say something yet was somewhat hesitant.
After an intense bout of coughing, an increasingly pale-faced Ge Ming looked at Ye Qingyu with a sincere expression in his eyes.
"Okay," Ye Qingyu nodded his head, "I promise you."
Seeing the shadowy figure nod his head in consent, Ge Ming finally revealed a plain smile and felt completely reassured.
There was a hint of reluctance to part, yet also a hint of resolve in his tender eyes as he gently caressed Shui Xiu's hair, "Shui Xiu, go find Aunt Yue, she'll take care of you on my behalf, cough… Do not hold a grudge or seek revenge, cough cough… If possible, forget about the Seven Fingers Race and have a good life…"
The latter shook her head desperately as the teardrops in her eyes rolled down like beads of jade.
Suddenly, using energy she found out of nowhere, she stood up and tottered a few steps forth, then kneeled in front of Ye Qingyu and said sobbingly, "Big brother, I know… you're a good person… you… Shui Xiu begs you to not kill uncle… please… don't kill uncle, okay?
A hint of compunction and pity arose in Ye Qingyu's eyes.
He raised his hand and held Shui Xiu up, then gently wiped away the teardrops on her cheeks. Briefly unsure how to explain things to the kind-hearted girl, he finally opened his mouth and said, "Shui Xiu, you have to understand that everyone must pay a price for their past wrongdoings, including your uncle."
"Wrongdoings?" There was some doubt in Shui Xiu's tear-filled eyes as she strenuously thought back for a while. She then said with some hesitation, "Big brother, could it be… what you're talking about… are those rumors that uncle killed… It's not true… Big brother, believe me, uncle's not that type… He was framed… He didn't kill my uncles and aunts, some bad people framed him."
Due to her anxiety, Shui Xiu was a little incoherent and could not explain well.
However, Ye Qingyu seemed to have caught the gist of what she was saying.
Could there yet be some unknown secret behind this matter?
With an inquisitive expression in his pupils, Ye Qingyu turned his gaze toward Ge Ming.
The latter arched the corners of his lips in difficulty and raised a smile of extreme resignation. Leaning on a stone, he laughed mirthlessly and said, "Your Honor, I presume you're referring to my massacre of a lower domain race. Hoho, how ironic. Perhaps you don't know that the race I'm rumored to have destroyed is the Seven Fingers Race…"
What!
The exterminated race was the Seven Fingers Race?!
That's Ge Ming's own race!
Ye Qingyu's face went blank.
He had not seen these hidden details in the recorded information of the Alliance of Domains' wanted list or that of the administration hall.
"The reality is this ridiculous. Even if I was a lunatic, how could I possibly have massacred my own race… cough cough… those are the kin who gave birth to and raised me…" There was a feeling of sorrow in Ge Ming's voice as he looked deep into the distant darkness where demon qi was surging.
A shock finally showed on Ye Qingyu's face.
Unbelievable.
For some unaccountable reason, he felt that Ge Ming was telling the truth.
If that's the case, doesn't it mean he was wronged?
I'm afraid there's some unknown secret behind this.
As he looked at Ge Ming and then at Shui Xiu, he recollected everything that had happened earlier. The two remaining members of the Seven Fingers Race had stuck together and did not seem to be faking anything. He had never imagined that the felon who was found guilty by the Alliance of Domains and had been wanted for many years had actually been framed.
However, Ge Ming was the gambling demon after all.
He was good at gambling.
And even better at bluffing.
Could he be saying this just so he might escape?
Ye Qingyu could not find a trace of deceit or hypocrisy as he took another look at the earnest-looking Shui Xiu and the despairing-faced Ge Ming who had a hint of anguish in his eyes.
As if sensing Ye Qingyu's gaze, Ge Ming laughed somewhat self-mockingly and said, "I know it's impossible for Your Honor to believe… In any case, I'm already a dead man walking, and so I don't want to justify myself too much. Your Honor, you may take my head and collect the bounty, as long as Shui Xiu lives. I'm certain Your Honor is someone who keeps his promises."
After a moment's hesitation, Ye Qingyu asked, "That's right. Do you have any evidence that may prove your innocence?"
"Big brother! I'm the evidence! Uncle really didn't kill our people, our elder, dad and mom, and all of the Seven Fingers Race…" There was a staunch resolve in Shui Xiu's eyes as she casually used her sleeves to wipe away the tears on her face.
However, both men were clear that Shui Xiu's testimony did not amount to conclusive evidence.
"Would I have spent so many years on the wanted list if there was evidence…" Ge Ming's voice grew weaker.
He inhaled deeply from his lungs, but instead of seizing the time to correct his breathing like before, he seemed to indicate a lack of concern for his own life.
"Big brother, please believe Shui Xiu. Uncle really didn't massacre the Seven Fingers Race. He's the successor of our race, and the genius we're most proud of…" The little girl's voice became increasingly anxious as teardrops fell from her face like jade beads.
She rattled on desperately without caring how much Ye Qingyu believed her words.
She simply felt that the more she spoke, the higher the chance big brother would believe her and spare uncle's life.
But Ye Qingyu offered no response.
He simply kept quiet as if thinking of something.
However, there was a hint of despair in Ge Ming's eyes.
He heaved a sigh of relief and continued to look tenderly at Shui Xiu. Waving his hand, he said, "A one-sided statement is indeed uncredible. Shui Xiu, come over and don't bother your big brother. I'm tired of all these years of hiding, and besides, I was struck by the [Thousand Swords Arrow] and the [Heart Devouring Rune], such that I'm certain to die even if I don't run into Lu Li and Yang Wanqu again. Since I'm dying anyway, I'd rather die by your big brother's hands than those hypocrites'."
There was an unwillingness in Shui Xiu's eyes and an incomparable sadness on her delicate and thin face.
Although she wanted to explain on, she could deeply feel her present powerlessness.
With quivering footsteps, she turned around and returned beside Ge Ming, whereupon she threw herself into his arms while continuing to murmur, "Big brother, please don't kill uncle… please…"
After another moment of silence.
With a flash in his eyes, Ye Qingyu, who had remained motionless all this time, suddenly lowered his head to look at Ge Ming as if he had decided.
An extreme chill rose from his palm.
Ge Ming gradually closed his eyes, his expression never so calm before.
Shui Xiu, who he had closed off a half-meter away from him using a water mist qi, was trembling all over and brimming with tears as she entreated, "Don't… Don't…"
Just then.
Ye Qingyu abruptly smashed a palm forth.
Like a true dragon wreathed in ice crystals, his palm force charged toward Ge Ming's life-gate (the small of his back).
"I can finally have a good sleep…" In the face of death, Ge Ming raised the corners of his lips and formed an extremely happy smile.
But he felt a strange sensation.
As he awaited death in a posture of serenity, he did not feel the pain of vitality being drawn from his body.
Instead, he felt an extremely pleasant chill rapidly flowing into his heart and lungs through his life-gate before slithering like a spirit snake to his limbs and bones.
After several dozens of breaths, the toxin which had invaded his tendons and bloodstream was silently dispelled.
"You…" Somewhat rejuvenated, Ge Ming slowly opened his eyes that carried doubt and astonishment.
