Chapter 1296: Three Blades, One Left

Three Blades, One Left

Long Jing found Chen Shu through connections, though who exactly that connection was...

An Mingyu.

When you cannot see the path ahead, better to ask the seer—let her cast a divination to show you where your desired future lies.

Actually, the blind man wasn't Long Jing's first choice; his first choice was Hu Wei. As everyone knows, the Grand Marshal has extensive connections—no one in the peak circles hasn't received his "favors" and "care," even if forced.

And the Grand Marshal has one virtue: as long as it's not something he cares about, he helps, but never asks.

Undeniably, the Grand Marshal has the charisma and means to gather disparate people together.

Unfortunately, Long Jing couldn't reach Hu Wei, so he settled for Hong Lin. Hong Lin, as a "brother of righteousness" with friends across the land, was also reliable in finding people—but strangely, Hong Lin was missing today too.

What could possibly have detained both of them?

With no other option, Long Jing turned to the blind man.

He told the blind man he needed to see Chen Shu immediately—life or death.

An Mingyu was extremely sensitive; even though Long Jing gave no reason, she vaguely sensed that the acrobat wasn't seeking Chen Shu as the 【Silent】 Chosen One, but as the Firebearer!

After all, Chen Shu was the one she and Qin Xin had brought into the Firebearers together.

Yet she didn't understand how Long Jing had learned of the Firebearer identity, or why he insisted on naming Chen Shu specifically.

There are so many Firebearers—couldn't any of them do better than that bald man?

The blind man fell silent.

Though the acrobat was one of those deeply unpleasant con artists, based on Seeing Zhen Xin's evaluation of him... he was foolish, but at least not evil.

After a moment's thought, An Mingyu agreed to Long Jing's request—but remembering Cheng Shi's warning, she avoided using 【Fate】's methods to predict Chen Shu's location, opting instead for a simpler approach.

The blind man, once a Firebearer himself, could instantly reach Qin Xin; Chen Shu's whereabouts were impossible for Qin Xin to ignore, so she quietly contacted Qin Xin and received a location in return.

When she handed the location to Long Jing, the acrobat muttered thanks and vanished instantly.

An Mingyu frowned, sensing something major was happening. Instinctively, she pulled out all her dice to cast a prophecy—but remembering the Starseed's stance, she hesitated and tucked them away again.

Yet the vague sense of the future had already seeped into her bones; she knew whatever demanded such solemn attention from Long Jing was no trivial matter, so the moment she parted from him, she contacted Seeing Zhen Xin, asking if her friend had noticed any anomalies lately.

But Seeing Zhen Xin didn't respond—An Mingyu's heart clenched sharply.

Just then, Qin Xin called.

"Who's looking for Chen Shu?"

An Mingyu replied honestly: "Chairman Gong. As far as I know, Chairman Gong and Chen Shu are like two parallel paths—they rarely interact. His sudden urgency suggests something's wrong. Qin Xin, do you know what's happened recently?"

What happened? So much has happened recently.

After returning from the Real Universe, Qin Xin hadn't even caught his breath before being dragged into the Trial. He'd been running nonstop, but thankfully this Trial wasn't difficult—he avoided his teammates for solitude, adapting to the 【War】 Authority within him while preparing to confront the Firebearer leadership after the Trial and reshape the Godmaking Plan.

He didn't know how to tell the blind woman any of this; he'd planned to contact her only after internal Firebearer affairs settled—but he never expected her to reach out now for such a strange reason.

Looking for Chen Shu!

And the person looking for Chen Shu was even stranger: Long Jing. Long Jing had never had much to do with Chen Shu—why the sudden urgency?

Had Chen Shu's identity been exposed?

Qin Xin frowned, comforted the blind woman, and prepared to go to Chen Shu's location to verify the truth.

Given Chen Shu's passion for the Firebearers, he certainly wouldn't hide anything from him.

But soon, Qin Xin's expression turned solemn, for he discovered he could no longer reach Chen Shu—just moments ago, he'd received Chen Shu's location, yet now the Firebearer had unilaterally severed their connection.

And the reason for the severance? Naturally, Chairman Gong had already found the 【Silent】 Chosen One.

When Qin Xin first contacted Chen Shu, the Firebearer was in the Trial evaluating his teammates' character—he desperately wanted to prove he could become an excellent Seeker of Fire, so he could bring his brother-in-law into the Firebearers.

But his Trial teammates were disappointing, nowhere near as exceptional as his brother-in-law, leaving him listless. So when he received Qin Xin's notice, Chen Shu immediately went to his designated meeting spot to wait, having prepared countless topics for a deep, heartfelt Firebearer exchange with Qin Xin—only to find not Qin Xin, but Long Jing.

The instant he saw Long Jing, Chen Shu assumed this con artist had cracked the Firebearer connection method and was impersonating Qin Xin to lure him.

He stiffened, his gaze instantly sharpening.

"Old Gong, impressive."

Long Jing, desperate, failed to follow the man's erratic train of thought and mistook his remark for praise of his connections—merely nodded vaguely in response and got straight to the point:

"Do you know what the Flame of Hope is?"

"?"

Old Gong's target is the Flame of Hope!?

That won't do!

The Flame of Hope is the guardian of the Firebearers—even if I've never seen it, I won't let you find Him.

Chen Shu's expression hardened. He hesitated, considering whether to strike while the man seemed weary—but before he could act, Long Jing flung the Dragon King's memory page onto his face and cried urgently:

"Quick! Cheng Shi needs saving!"

Chen Shu was stunned: "What happened to my brother-in-law?"

"..." Long Jing's voice faltered, his emotions nearly breaking. He wanted to say your sister's about to be widowed—but realized this wasn't the time for jokes, so he pointed at the page and urged him to read, muttering under his breath, "What happened? Your brother-in-law became a god!"

Chen Shu's shock deepened: "How do you know that?"

"????"

Long Jing was bewildered.

Wait, bro—you knew?

How did you know? On what basis?

Do 【Silent】 believers really know every secret?

Long Jing blinked frantically, uncertainly asking: "You know he's a Fool?"

In that moment, Chen Shu experienced his happiest instant.

He had held this secret too long—and now, finally, he had someone to share it with. He became ecstatic.

"Of course I know. How could I not know about my brother-in-law? I've known for ages. How did you find out?"

"Knew... for... ages?"

If even Chen Shu knew Cheng Shi was playing the fool, what did that make the clowns?

Pure clowns?

Long Jing's eyelid twitched wildly, the tip of his nose warmed slightly, and he felt as if the temperature here had suddenly risen a bit.

Although Chen Shu was glib, he was actually a very dependable person. He immediately read the memories in the page, and once he knew everything, he revealed an expression of "just as I expected."

"I knew my brother-in-law was no ordinary man. Even an Outer God covets him — that proves my eye for talent rivals the gods themselves."

"......"

Bro, isn't your focus a little weird here?

That's an Outer God! A god from beyond the cosmos!

It's one thing if you aren't shocked that there are other gods beyond the world, but how do you start praising yourself?

Long Jing was too drained to retort. He was about to urge Chen Shu to get on with the real business, when he saw Chen Shu's face turn grave and troubled:

"Oh no. Qin Xin found out."

"?"

"Old Gong, from whose mouth did you learn my location?"

Long Jing's face changed; he realized something and said in a low voice, "The Blind Man."

Chen Shu slapped his thigh:

"We're done for — the Blind Man knows too!

At this point, I won't hide it from you anymore. Qin Xin, the Blind Man, and I are all in a mysterious organization.

This organization concerns the future of humanity. It only accepts top elites. Uh... Old Gong, don't lose heart. Your ability may be a notch below mine, but I do recognize it highly. Once I become a Xin-Seeker, I'll pull you into the organization first — no, second. The first has to be my brother-in-law.

My brother-in-law... hey hey hey, don't get physical! Why are you getting worked up? I'm just giving you the background, aren't I!

The Fire of Hope is the god who protects our organization. If my brother-in-law wants to find It, he doesn't have to go through me — he can go to Qin Xin and the Blind Man. They can both find the Fire of Hope.

But he still came to me. Why?"

Long Jing caught on at once, suddenly enlightened: "He doesn't want Qin Xin and the Blind Man to know about this!"

"Exactly!"

Chen Shu slapped his own forehead, wearing a "the student can be taught" expression, but then his face immediately changed. Stroking his bald head, he mused, "Of course, it's also possible he thinks I'm more reliable than they are."

"......"

Chairman Gong was out of moves.

This was why he didn't want to deal with Chen Shu.