Chapter 537: Du Tingxiu (3)

"Do you know exactly how many people from the Du Clan died back then?" Luo Qi asked, turning his gaze slightly away, not wanting to remain immersed in the fear of fate.

"I don't know the exact number; there are no records. I could only ask people who have been around for some years, and such memories are never entirely accurate. I estimate that, including the children who disappeared, the number should be between one hundred fifty and three hundred," Han Yi replied.

"So many people!" Luo Qi said in a low voice. After a moment of silence, he couldn't help but add, "How were they so prolific?"

"Their family was always fertile and productive; you could call it a family talent," Han Yi said.

Luo Qi did not want to comment further on the characteristics of Du Zhengyi's family. "No matter what happened, it shouldn't have led to the extermination of the clan; that is too extreme. Even if Du Tingxiu was truly a traitor back then, and even if the Du Family really followed him, there are always principals and accomplices in such matters. How could it justify killing all the adult clansmen and taking away the Du children?"

Han Yi did not pay much attention to this question. "Our way of dealing with traitors has always been cruel."

"So if you attacked Du Zhengyi, would you also be considered a traitor by the Qionglin?" Luo Qi asked, as if casually.

Han Yi glanced at him coldly. "Of course. That is reasonable. I told you before, I am not looking to settle a personal vendetta with Du Zhengyi."

Luo Qi nodded, wearing an expression of great understanding, and continued, "Du Tingxiu was such a... according to you, a gentleman. Why would he suddenly want to kill his close friend? And even raise the banner of rebellion while his friend was in the process of becoming the Head Venerable?"

"I believe it wasn't a personal grievance. A figure like Du Tingxiu would never kill out of jealousy or love," Han Yi said offhandedly.

Luo Qi suddenly remembered Shi Xiansheng. The old lady had once been Pei Shu's lover; she must have known Du Tingxiu as well, perhaps as a close friend too. He didn't know the details, only that they hadn't ended up together. Shi Xiansheng, this extraordinary woman who had once galloped through the winds and clouds, had spent her whole life in the Black Market. Now that he thought about it, the matters within this might be very complex.

He didn't speak, so Han Yi continued, "I think it might be that they had a disagreement on matters of great principle, a disagreement that eventually tore their friendship apart. Since it happened when Pei Shu was about to become the Head Venerable, it makes even more sense. Du Tingxiu discovered that Pei Shu would have the opportunity to thoroughly implement the path he opposed, so he had to make the choice he deemed correct—to kill Pei Shu. If Pei Shu had died mysteriously, that would have been that, but as it turned out, Pei Shu was fine, and the matter was exposed. Du Tingxiu fled back to his clan, attempting a desperate struggle. In truth, everyone knew that no matter how strong the Du Clan was, they had no way to change the world with just those few people, so Du Tingxiu's final choice could be called tragic."

No, that is not it.

Luo Qi's thoughts began to turn. Based on his observations of the Qionglin, all of Du Tingxiu's characteristics indicated that he would certainly have been selected and bound to become a Gushan Guard. The logic of the Magic World is that if a Mage is powerful enough and can be bound (and is not a Mind Archmage), they will definitely be bound. Because Du Tingxiu was not a Mind Mage and had spent his life active in the core of the Qionglin, even if he had many personal thoughts, he would not have betrayed the Qionglin—at least not to the extent of murdering a Venerable and leading men in rebellion. Unless he could determine that the Head Venerable could no longer represent the Head Venerable, and that the Head Venerable was no longer consistent with the Magic World that bound him when the Entanglement was established.

In other words, only when Pei Shu was a traitor to the Magic World would he have attacked Pei Shu. That is to say, the true situation at the time must have been that Pei Shu was the traitor, and Du Tingxiu and his clan were the true maintainers of the Qionglin. It was just that in the eyes of the world, everything was the opposite; ordinary Mages did not know those deep-seated secrets, and Pei Shu occupied the position of Head Venerable.

But this made Luo Qi's curiosity focus on Pei Shu. What exactly had he done to challenge the Gushan Guard? Pei Shu had always been the only candidate for Head Venerable. Luo Qi could be certain that the Head Venerable could access the secrets deep within Gushan; Pei Shu only needed to wait patiently, and everything would have followed naturally. If Shi Xiansheng leaving him was also related to this matter, then had Pei Shu done something that both his closest friend and his beloved could not tolerate?

Luo Qi could not fathom the actual situation. Who could know what things in an old man's complex life could not wait? It wasn't that Luo Qi was thick-skinned, but he believed he truly had a chance to become the Head Venerable; as long as he had the patience to wait a hundred years, he could also go into Gushan and dig up those secrets. But he couldn't wait a hundred years, because Du Zhengyi definitely did not have a hundred years. Perhaps Pei Shu also had something at the time that made him unable to patiently wait a few more days; Luo Qi could understand him.

Of course, there was a slight possibility in what Han Yi said, that the two super Archmages were both aiming for a grand blueprint at the time, and the conflict between them was as great as the conflict between Kongzi and Voltaire. Then, with the Du Clan, the guardians of the old world, gone, Pei Shu, the reformer of the new world, should have brought an epoch-making change to the Magic World. But Luo Qi had lived for so many years, hearing about the great traditions of Mages every day, while life remained like stagnant water without a single ripple.

Luo Qi silently pondered these causes and effects, while the image of Du Zhengyi eventually slitting his throat circled in his mind. If that day came, everything he had done would be meaningless, and everything Du Zhengyi had done for him would also be meaningless. Everything would be for naught; the things they did, positive and negative, would ultimately reduce their two worlds to an empty set.

"What's wrong with you?" Han Yi asked, looking at him. "Why is your expression so sorrowful?"

Luo Qi was startled and came back to his senses.

Han Yi said, "You are quite sentimental. It's been so long; the dead have rotted down to nothing but bone fragments."

"Leave me alone; I'd cry even watching SpongeBob. Let's get back to the more serious gossip," Luo Qi said candidly. "So, Du Zhengyi really does seem like a descendant of Du Tingxiu. But what real evidence could you possibly have? Even if you found evidence, and had a midwife swear that Du Zhengyi is Du Tingxiu's descendant, so what? As a Head Venerable, what's wrong with having affection and loyalty for an old friend? Can this shake Du Zhengyi's position and make the Qionglin willing to re-evaluate Du Zhengyi for Sister Chu Yao? You'd be better off telling Du Zhengyi these things and letting him go kill Pei Shu to avenge his father; that way, the Qionglin couldn't protect Du Zhengyi anymore."

When he said this last sentence, Han Yi almost knocked over the butter tea in his hand, looking up in astonishment to glare at him.

Luo Qi was expressionless. "Of course, this is just one of many possibilities."

What made Luo Qi equally astonished was Han Yi's next sentence: "How do you know Du Zhengyi won't go that far?"

Luo Qi widened his eyes and exclaimed in surprise, "My god, I always thought I was the craziest one! Did you drink the wrong tea?"

"Before Du Tingxiu rushed to the Qionglin to break with Pei Shu, he disappeared from the Magic World for a period of time," Han Yi said, slowly smiling.

As if jolted from his lethargy, Luo Qi's heart tightened. All his intuition told him that no matter how surprising Han Yi's previous words were, they had only now finally approached the key. Du Tingxiu's final whereabouts must have had a direct connection to his ultimate break with Pei Shu. In other words, perhaps it was during that final journey that Du Tingxiu discovered Pei Shu's secret. "You found his final trail?"

Han Yi nodded and spat out two words: "Ganzhou."

"What?" Luo Qi exclaimed in shock.

"How coincidental, Du Zhengyi also recently sent people to Ganzhou to investigate. Luo Qi, tell me, did he discover something?" Han Yi said triumphantly.

*I say*—Luo Qi muttered in his own mind—*it's not that he discovered something, it's us. *

"How do you know? Who did he send? Everyone knows Du Zhengyi is a lone wolf; he has no one to send."

"Wen Lin, a little bitch who used to be under Fan Shi, I don't know how she got involved with him. Chi Yu once told me that she betrayed Fan Shi, and she disappeared after Fan Shi fell out of favor. They went looking for her, and it's said she's working for Du Zhengyi, and she's in Ganzhou." Han Yi laughed. "Too coincidental, isn't it?"

(End of chapter)