It was like an execution back in the old days.
The demon experts were like executioners, while the hooded captives were like condemned criminals.
Once all the hoods were lowered, Ye Zichen’s fury peaked. He was on the verge of losing his temper.
Zhuge Kongming, Little White….
All of his friends from the Sacred Beast Clans were here. But that wasn’t all…. Lu Li, Li Jiayi, Su Zhu… Even Yin Shang and a few others who weren’t yao, much less sacred beasts. Some of the captives were people Ye Zichen hadn’t seen in ages, yet Gu Li had brought them here anyway.
The last two revealed were Fox Empress Su Qingyan and Clan Head Su Wan.
Their auras were incredibly weak, and blood gushed from wounds on their chest and stomach. Even so, Empress Su Qingyan was still conscious, and her furious gaze was locked onto the demon and yao experts behind Gu Li.
“Qingyan! Wan’er!” Xuan Ji’s aura surged forth, and three thousand blue strings danced and fluttered through the air. The special emissaries landed at Gu Li’s sides, while Demon Emperor Kui Lin and the kings of the West and South, as well as the other imperial-level experts, immediately locked onto Xuan Ji and Ye Zichen’s companions.
The demon-yao army then followed the same, locking onto the forces of the Upheaval Alliance and Profound Pavilion.
“Well, Brother Ye? What do you think? My gift was quite generous, right?” Gu Li grinned. “It took quite a bit of effort on my part to find all of them. Even so, I know it’s not quite a complete set. There’s a few of them who weren’t so convenient to locate. Chang’e, Xiao Yumei, Zuo Mei, and that girl… Ling’er, was it? Anyway, this was all I could manage. Still, I trust it’s more than enough. I’m afraid you haven’t seen Lu Lu and Li Jiayi in ages!”
“Gu Li, if you’ve got something against me, come at me directly. Why get them involved?” Ye Zichen roared. To his friends, this was a disaster, and one they’d done nothing to provoke!
Little White and Zhuge Kongming had, perhaps, accompanied their clans to reinforce the foxes, then been defeated and captured. But Lu Lu? Yin Shang? And Li Jiayi? What about them? Li Jiayi in particular wasn’t even a diviner yet. If not for her relationship with Ye Zichen, there was no way she would have gotten mixed up in all this.
In the face of Ye Zichen’s fury, Gu Li merely stuck out a finger and cleaned out his ear. “What do you mean by that, Brother Ye? Aren’t you pleased? I gathered them all up so you could reunite. It’d be one thing if you simply didn’t say ‘thank you’, but now you’re getting mad at me? I’m truly struggling to understand. Aren’t these people your friends and loved ones?”
“Gu Li….”
“Oh oh oh, look at you, your expression is so sour! How about this? I’ll let you have a quick chat with them, alright?” Gu Li grinned, scanned the captives, then pointed. “Let’s go with you!”
The one he pointed at was Xia Keke. As soon as they pressed her acupoints and unsealed her senses, she shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Big Brother Zichen, don’t worry about us! Hurry up and run! There are too many of them! They don’t dare touch us anyway! If they do, they’re doomed!” A moment later, she turned to Gu Li and glared. “Stinky little brat! If you’ve got the balls, go ahead and kill me!”
“How dare you address our Holy Lord with such rudeness?” A demon was just about to hit her when Gu Li stopped him, then had him re-seal her senses.
“It seems our friend is rather agitated. Let’s try the next one instead. How about you? You look awfully listless, and you’re not talking. I hope you can show us a nice, heartwarming scene.”
As he spoke, Gu Li unsealed Su Yan’s acupoints. Just as he expected, she didn’t blow up like Xia Keke had. “This has nothing to do with you, so don’t overthink things. There’s been nothing between us for a long time. Ever since you recklessly threw your life away, leaving me behind…. From that moment on, our bond was severed.”
“I was captured, but it seems this is the foxes’ fate, as well as my fate. It has nothing to do with you!” Su Yan’s voice was low, and her words chilled Ye Zichen’s heart.
As expected…..
She was still angry at him for using his soul to seal Denglong with no regard for his own life. Actually, Ye Zichen understood completely. At the time, Keke had already gone, and Su Yiyun had been taken from her as well. At the time, Ye Zichen was the only one left for her to lean on, yet he’d knowingly chosen a path he’d thought he’d never return from.
It was only natural that she’d resent him!
Ye Zichen had never been so foolish as to expect her to forgive him. At the time, he really had thought death would end his troubles. He hadn’t considered Su Yan or her feelings, which was wrong of him.
After Su Yan spoke, she lowered her head and said no more. She didn’t meet Ye Zichen’s gaze.
In stark contrast with Xia Keke’s outburst, Su Yan’s mood was far more stable. However, neither girl’s words or communication style was what Gu Li was hoping for.
Su Yan showed no signs of saying anymore, and she seemed cold and aloof, so Gu Li didn’t waste time re-sealing her voice. He just left her as she was and ignored her.
“It seems your loved ones are either too feisty, or not feisty at all. How boring!” Gu Li shook his head, as if in pity. He scanned the captives once more, but looking into their eyes, he shockingly didn’t find anyone who seemed suitable. None of them seemed like they’d give him the type of conversation he wanted. “Forget it. Let’s just skip this stage!”
Gu Li stretched his remaining arm, then gestured to his subordinates. They then proceeded to re-cover the captives’ heads, then lead them behind the fallen tree. No one could tell what they did back there. Before long, they returned, but now, all the prisoners were dressed in identical prison uniforms. Furthermore, their numbers had nearly doubled.
“Brother Ye, don’t get upset. I had female demons change their clothes, so no other men saw any of your womens’ bodies. They…. Still belong to you.” Gu Li smiled amiably, his eyes narrowing into slits, but Ye Zichen and his companions were in no mood to pay attention to petty details like his expression. They spread out their divine senses, only to discover several other divine senses in the area blocking their attempts to investigate.
They couldn’t investigate with their divine senses, so they could only rely on their naked eyes to tell who was who beneath those hoods!
“Everyone, please don’t try to use your divine senses. I prepared a nice little game for you, but if you use your divine senses, you’ll ruin the balance!” Gu Li spoke, then tossed Ye Zichen a dagger. “Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance. There are also twenty unimportant people here.”
“Use this dagger to kill one of the captives. If you kill one, you can save another. But when you kill them, you can’t take their covering off, nor can you take their coverings off before choosing who to save. It all comes down to luck!
“If you’re lucky, who knows? You might be able to save those you most want to save. But if you’re unlucky…. Well, there’s nothing I can do about it either. How about it? Wanna test your luck?”
