Chapter 1696

That icy, yin-cold inner breath had already invaded Hu Xiaotian's meridians and entered his Dantian Qi Sea; his Dantian Qi Sea, disturbed by this yin-cold alien true qi, became tumultuous, soon raising furious waves that battered his qi sea space like ferocious beasts charging back and forth, though the beasts' strength was rapidly waning.

Li Yuncong's sudden attack caused Bu Wu's internal energy to drain rapidly; Hu Xiaotian could be said to have crawled back from the brink of death. Bu Wu, who had originally intended to gouge out Hu Xiaotian's eyes, let his fingers drop—compared to taking revenge on Hu Xiaotian, shaking off Li Yuncong behind him was now the most urgent matter. Li Yuncong seized this rare opportunity, continuously sucking Bu Wu's internal energy into his own body.

What frightened Bu Wu was that he felt another suction appear, coming from Hu Xiaotian; after a brief numbness, Hu Xiaotian's body began to slowly recover, and he was also drawing Bu Wu's internal energy. His Dantian Qi Sea had already adapted to Bu Wu's yin-cold internal energy. Hu Xiaotian understood his situation all too well—his limbs were still immobile, the only thing regaining vitality was his Dantian Qi Sea. Although Li Yuncong had saved him at the brink of death, that did not mean he could assume Senior Eunuch Li Chen Zhou harbored goodwill toward him; this Senior Eunuch is deeply scheming, his heart vicious, and it's possible he might turn on Hu Xiaotian after disposing of Bu Wu.

Facing simultaneously two masters who controlled the Void Grand Law, Bu Wu, despite his peerless divine skill, was already unable to resist; he panicked and said, 'You… who exactly are you?'

Li Yuncong let out a strange, grating laugh and said, 'You don't know who I am? Why are you tracking me? I am your brother Mu Yuming!'

Although Bu Wu had already guessed it, hearing Li Yuncong personally admit his true identity still shocked him greatly. Because of this fellow brother's treachery, he had been imprisoned in the Tianlong Temple for thirty full years, the suffering and injustice he endured being hard to describe. Over these thirty-plus years, he thought day and night, his mind fixed on one thing: finding Mu Yuming and tormenting him by any means to ease a bit of his hatred. Yet he not only failed to take revenge, but was instead seized by his enemy, his life falling into the opponent's control. What sorrow, what pain!

Bu Wu gritted his teeth and said, 'You beast, you actually used such means to harm your own brother!'

Li Yuncong sneered, 'What kind of good person are you? Initially you lured me into the Tianlong Temple's Sutra Pavilion, clearly just using me as bait; if I hadn't seen through your scheme and struck first, the person trapped for thirty years would probably have been me.'

Hu Xiaotian had previously heard Bu Wu talk about the matter between the two brothers. Bu Wu had blamed everything on Li Yuncong, but from Li Yuncong's words it appears the one who first schemed to harm the other was actually Bu Wu.

Bu Wu struggled with all his might, yet between the two masters who wielded the Void Grand Law he was like a mosquito trapped in a spider's web; no matter how he struggled he could not break free, and he lamented, 'If it weren't for you, this beast, seducing my sister-in-law, I… how could I have conceived the desire to kill you?'

Li Yuncong said, 'Back then you devoted yourself solely to martial arts, never caring about Hong Ying's comfort. You left her alone in an empty room—when she fell ill, who tended to her? When she was bullied, who spoke up for her? Do you know her resentment…' He paused abruptly, then roared, 'You heartless, unrighteous scoundrel—you actually killed her!'

Hearing this, Hu Xiaotian felt it was pure melodrama; it turned out the two brothers had such a past—apparently Bu Wu, back then, only cared about training and neglected his wife, so the brother enthusiastically took on the duty of looking after the sister-in-law. Looking after her, looking after her, they ended up in bed together, which explains why their hatred runs so deep.

Bu Wu said, 'I didn't kill her; how could I let her die so easily? I want that slut to know the fate of betraying me, I want her to witness your miserable end with her own eyes, I want her to wish she were dead, to suffer all her life…'

Li Yuncong shouted sharply, 'You're so ruthless!'

Bu Wu said, 'That still doesn't compare to you—you caused me to spend thirty years in darkness in the Tianlong Temple.'

Li Yuncong gritted his teeth and said, 'Who harmed me? I and Hong Ying were mutually willing, yet you tore us apart; it was you who forced me to hide my name, it was you who made me unable to be a man, hiding my identity in the imperial palace; I originally didn't want to seek your misfortune, but after all these years you still won't let me go—you're courting death yourself, who else can I blame?'

Bu Wu's voice had obviously grown much weaker; just moments ago he had been struggling, trying to break free from the two-sided encirclement, but now he had completely given up hope, the only thing left he could use to attack was his mouth. Bu Wu said, 'You might not even know—before we sneaked into the Tianlong Temple, that slut was already pregnant.'

Upon hearing this, Li Yuncong's heart was greatly shaken; the greatest hatred of his life was being castrated and entering the palace, losing the right to be a man and any chance of offspring. Now hearing Bu Wu say that Hong Ying had been pregnant back then, his emotions naturally surged, and he forcibly suppressed his agitation, asking, 'Where is that child?'

Bu Wu gave a hehe laugh.

Li Yuncong snapped, 'What are you laughing at? What's funny?'

Bu Wu replied, 'What do you think?'

Li Yuncong, overwrought with worry, his voice trembling, said, 'Did you kill him?'

Bu Wu said, 'Are you in great pain now? Full of regret?'

Li Yuncong let out a strange cry, then suddenly kicked Bu Wu hard in the body, sending him flying and crashing heavily to the ground. Two Dangyi tribesmen heard the commotion and gathered around, pointing at Li Yuncong and asking, 'What are you doing?'

Li Yuncong's body shot forward like lightning, rushing at the two with astonishing speed; without even striking out, his overpowering protective gang qi flung the two Dangyi tribesmen away, they fell to the ground with broken bones and torn tendons, dead.

Li Yuncong seized Bu Wu's throat, gritted his teeth, and said, 'Tell me!'

Bu Wu shook his head and said, 'You have no chance to know.'

Li Yuncong let out a loud roar and delivered a heavy punch to Bu Wu's abdomen, doubling him up like a large shrimp; Bu Wu felt despondent—his internal energy had been siphoned off by Hu Xiaotian and Li Yuncong working together, nine-tenths gone, barely any left, and the remaining energy could no longer shield his viscera; with a puff he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

Li Yuncong said, 'I won't kill you; I'll keep you by my side to torment you a little, I want you to know that living is far harder than dying.' He hoisted the limp, mud-like Bu Wu onto his shoulder and turned his single eye toward Hu Xiaotian.

At this moment Hu Xiaotian's Dantian Qi Sea was surging and turbulent; although he had absorbed a considerable amount of Bu Wu's internal energy, his limbs had not yet regained free movement. Seeing Li Yuncong's gaze turn toward him, he couldn't help but silently lament, 'This old eunuch still doesn't know how to deal with me?' The corner of his mouth twitched into a faint smile as he said, 'Lord Li, long time no see!'

Li Yuncong's face was dark and gloomy, killing intent flashing in his single eye as he whispered, 'You actually came here as well.'

Hu Xiaotian deliberately sighed and said, 'Since parting with Kangdu, time has flown; my caravan was ambushed and slaughtered on the Ankang Grassland, so I naturally came to investigate.'

'Have you found out the exact cause?'

Hu Xiaotian glanced at Bu Wu and said, 'We should ask him—who sent him to lurk here to deal with me?'

Bu Wu remained silent.

Hu Xiaotian said, 'Actually, even if you don't say it, I know—it's Hong Beimo, right? He wants to eliminate me to prevent me from exposing his secret, correct?' Hu Xiaotian deliberately steered the topic toward the secret, thereby reminding Li Yuncong that he himself is the one closest to the truth of the imperial mausoleum; after all, Li Yuncong once proposed cooperating with him, intending to hand over the mausoleum after Hu Xiaotian seized the realm. But times have changed, and now even Hu Xiaotian himself isn't sure what Li Yuncong is thinking.

Li Yuncong gave a sinister, probing laugh and said, 'You're afraid I'll kill you, aren't you?' How cunning he is—he instantly saw Hu Xiaotian's predicament; indeed, now would be the perfect moment to strike and kill Hu Xiaotian, but what would be the point of killing him?

Hu Xiaotian hehe-laughed and said, 'Lord Li, where does that come from? You've given me your teachings, and I have always regarded you as an elder to be respected.'

Li Yuncong sealed Bu Wu's acupoints, slowly nodded, and said, 'I know exactly who you are; we certainly have no need to kill you, but given your martial prowess, if I don't kill you today I will never be able to control you later—do you think I should let this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity slip away for nothing?'

Hu Xiaotian secretly thought 'Oh no,' but still kept a smile on his face: 'Lord Li, do you still remember our previous agreement? Why don't you carefully ask Bu Wu to see if he knows the secret of the imperial mausoleum?'

Li Yuncong said, 'In the world all things mutually generate and overcome; the Void Grand Law is not without other martial arts that can counter it. The reason you fell for his trick just now is because he understood the weakness of the Void Grand Law, using his own internal energy to break into your Dantian Qi Sea. If we had arrived a moment later, you would probably already be a corpse, so we saved your life.'

Hu Xiaotian smiled and said, 'Thank you!' He acknowledged that what Li Yuncong had just said was true.

Li Yuncong said, 'There's nothing to thank for; we never intended to save you. This Void Grand Law is what we passed on to you, and we never expected you to have such fortune, yet looking back, we unintentionally helped you achieve this astonishing accomplishment.'

Hu Xiaotian said, 'So I actually feel quite grateful toward Lord Li in my heart.'

Li Yuncong said, 'You're saying all these nice things now just because you're worried we'll harm you; you don't need to do this—given our character, how could we possibly do good deeds?' He walked toward Hu Xiaotian with a smirk, appearing like a kind old man, but in Hu Xiaotian's eyes this eunuch was more terrifying than ever. (To be continued~^~)