Chapter 689: When It Comes to Disguise, I Am the King

"Sir!"

Seeing Yang Lixin collapse into a pool of blood, the several Constables nearby immediately rushed over and knelt beside him, all of them appearing deeply sorrowful.

They had not expected their superior to suddenly hold a blade to his own throat, nor had they expected him to truly commit suicide.

In this moment, everyone felt an inexplicable grief. Their sorrow was not feigned; clearly, Yang Lixin must have been highly respected.

"Sir Shen!" one of them gathered the courage to look up and meet Shen Yu's gaze. "Sir, I don't know what exactly Magistrate Yang did, but he was a good official."

"If not for him, Lujiang City would still be in a state of panic. He even gave away most of his own salary to the poor, while living on nothing but simple tea and plain rice himself."

"I know he was a good official. It is not that I cannot forgive him; it is that he could not forgive himself."

Merely seeing it in his memories was not enough to empathize, but just now, Shen Yu had been able to clearly feel Yang Lixin's emotional fluctuations—a sensation of being on the verge of struggle and collapse.

His memories had not been deliberately sealed by himself, but rather, his subconscious had been unwilling to recall those events, which was why he had subconsciously forgotten everything like this.

He was evading the reality of having slaughtered the innocent, evading the fact that he had become a person whose hands were stained with blood.

When all those memories resurfaced and reality could no longer be evaded, he had no choice but to end his own life to bring it all to a complete end.

Just as Yang Lixin himself had said, once night fell, he could not control himself. This was not a matter of whether he wanted to or not; he was no longer in control of his own self.

Before this, he had been nothing but a weak scholar, his thin frame unable to protect more people. To gain the power to protect the common folk, he had already sold himself.

Yang Lixin was right; it was easy for him to stand there and talk. He had power and strength, so naturally, he felt nothing was wrong, and everything seemed like a matter of course.

But for those without power, without the ability to protect others, how helpless and self-reproachful must they feel when facing everything?

If it were him, perhaps he would have made the same choice. Of course, it was possible he would be far more cowardly than Yang Lixin.

At the very least, that man had the courage to stand up for the common folk and, regardless of danger, plead for those who had been murdered by countless villains. As for himself, he would likely have tried every means to hide, thinking only of how to preserve himself.

Heh, if things don't happen to oneself, one can never truly understand the hardships of others.

Actually, looking at it from another angle, by letting Yang Lixin recover his memories, wasn't he also indirectly killing him?

He had considered himself a righteous person, yet in the end, he was nothing.

Just then, the power within Yang Lixin's body suddenly surged violently, and Shen Yu immediately shielded the several Constables.

The next moment, his corpse exploded on the spot. Had Shen Yu not shielded the surroundings in advance, this power alone would have been enough to destroy everything for miles around.

Only then did Shen Yu realize that the reason the Mother Insect inside the woman had been detonated was likely not because Yang Lixin had done it actively, but because they possessed the same power within them.

The Gu Insect inside the woman and Yang Lixin's power originated from the same source, controlled by the same person.

Shen Yu had initially only suppressed the Mother Insect inside the woman and had not sealed the power on Yang Lixin; he hadn't known there was a problem with Yang Lixin at the time.

But once the Mother Insect in the woman was suppressed by Shen Yu and showed abnormalities, the power within Yang Lixin did not need his own control; it would immediately react automatically to silently destroy all traces of its existence.

Wherever an anomaly appeared, the power within them would be triggered there. Just now, when the woman was controlled by him, the Mother Insect inside her self-destructed due to this very reaction.

Now that Yang Lixin had committed suicide, the power within him that did not belong to him also showed an anomaly, naturally triggering the same reaction.

One had to admit, the person who bestowed this power upon them must be terrifying—terrifying to the point that even without appearing, they were capable of controlling everything.

"Brother Yang, I will definitely take care of your affairs. I want to see exactly who it is!"

His old friend had been full of passion, only to end up in such a state. No matter what, he had to find out who had done all this.

Gazing toward the outside of the city, Shen Yu's figure left the spot, and by the time he appeared again, he was already at the edge of Luoyue Lake outside the city.

Although he did not know who exactly was controlling Yang Lixin, he could tell from Yang Lixin's memories that he only knew he would go to Luoyue Lake every time after killing someone!

Including that woman from earlier; when she was tied up and thrown into the river, she must have been thrown in here as well.

Standing quietly on the surface of the lake, for some reason, Shen Yu suddenly felt a sense of palpitation in his heart. It was as if, beneath this calm water, a great terror was hidden.

Looking down at the clear lake water, Shen Yu suddenly had the feeling of gazing into an abyss.

Just then, the lake surface suddenly boiled, and the water surged upward as if ten thousand waves had been stirred.

It was as if it had instantly transformed into a giant net, shrouding him within it. Before Shen Yu could react, this giant net turned into blades that pierced the heart. Countless water droplets were countless sharp, peerless Sword Qi.

The next moment, Shen Yu fled in an instant, tearing through space to evade. Yet even so, these blades still descended upon him, as if they had followed him through the torn space.

Endless water droplets completely submerged him, leaving him not even a moment to react.

"Hoo!" Taking a deep breath, Shen Yu stood on the spot, drenched in sweat. The surrounding ground was already soaked; it was the scene after the lake water had spilled, as if the site had just experienced a torrential rain.

"What terrifying attack power, what horrific strength!" Even though he was now out of danger, Shen Yu still felt a lingering fear.

If not for his Absolute Defense just now, he might have been annihilated by this sudden strike. Fortunately, under Absolute Defense, he ignored all attacks, which allowed him to survive successfully.

Luoyue Lake was not just problematic; it was absolutely, deeply problematic, and its strength was terrifying to a degree.

Calming his mind, Shen Yu seemed to grasp the key to the problem. It seemed that only when one was at their most decadent and painful could one encounter the person that the woman and Yang Lixin had met.

Immediately, Shen Yu returned to the vicinity of Luoyue Lake, the Time Golden Chapter having long since concealed his aura; anyone looking at him would only think he was a failed, down-and-out scholar.

From head to toe, he radiated feelings of decadence and despair. He looked like a broken loser, a person in total despair.

Staggering toward the direction of Luoyue Lake, Shen Yu held a wine flask in his hand, gulping down large mouthfuls of wine.

In no time at all, he had become drunk. When it came to disguise, he was the king; it was a transformation from the inside out. Even a titanium-alloy eye would absolutely not be able to see through it.

Arriving at the edge of Luoyue Lake, Shen Yu threw away the wine flask in his hand, as if he had completely given up and chosen liberation. Then, with a splash, he jumped into the lake water.

Inside the lake, he began to struggle desperately, as if it were an instinctive reaction to falling into the water.

As time passed, the intensity of Shen Yu's struggles grew weaker and weaker, as if he might drown and die at any moment.

But just then, a force of unknown origin lifted him up, and a figure appeared on the surface of the lake at some unknown time.

As he was being carried toward the shore, that figure was already standing before him.

The cold eyes seemed to contain not a shred of emotion, just watching him quietly. Those eyes seemed capable of piercing through the human heart, as if nothing could remain hidden before them.