Chapter 161: Who are you?

The old man no longer had the strength to make an expression.

He had originally thought himself a hero, maneuvering between two wild beasts to secure a path of survival for his people.

In the end, all his schemes and calculations had only resulted in his own demise.

He spoke in a hoarse voice.

"I have no means of self-preservation."

"But I do have the means to lead the way."

"Lord Li, after I die, if you follow these fireflies, you will reach the 'Pupa Chamber'... I only hope that, for the sake of our lives, you will show mercy to my people."

Li Miao, however, had no intention of pitying him and let out a cold snort.

"One thing is one thing; you Great Shamans were accomplices in refining Gu soldiers for the Ming Sect. I never intended to spare your lives."

"Those who deserve to die will die; only those who do not deserve to die may live."

"Instead of begging me, you should think about whether there is anyone among your people who is fit to survive."

The old man's expression relaxed.

"With those words from you, my lord... that is enough."

"The children under thirteen have not been allowed to touch witchcraft... they know nothing of these filthy matters. They can all live."

"Thank you, my lord."

Before his voice had even faded, a strained "gurgle" sound came from his throat.

He collapsed to the ground.

Li Miao watched him quietly as he thrashed on the ground, gradually ceasing to move.

After a long while, the old man's corpse lifted its head, revealing a cold, sinister smile.

"Lord Li... now that your ears are gone, can you listen to what I have to say?"

"This thing of mine is not only useful to the Emperor; perhaps it is useful to you as well."

"Oh?"

Seeing Li Miao stop, the corpse bared its teeth.

"The Five Decays of Heaven and Man—my daughter has merged the three paths, yet she does not suffer from the Five Decays."

"I can teach this method to you, my lord."

Li Miao glanced sideways at the corpse and said indifferently.

"Let's hear it."

"Lord Li, you must have seen the Gu insect on Mount Taishan that can absorb and transfer cultivation realms, right?"

The corpse chuckled.

"My method allows you, my lord, to temporarily store your cultivation realm in others... and retrieve it when needed. This way, not only will you be free of the Five Decays of Heaven and Man, but you also won't have to be like the Heaven-Man experts kept by the Imperial Court, sleeping all day; you can roam freely."

"Moreover, you could take a Gu insect containing the 'Sumeru' realm and offer it to the Emperor. With his spirit full and energy sufficient, the Emperor's health would naturally improve greatly, and you, Lord Li, could rise rapidly in rank."

"As for me, I only want a small piece of the Miao region to hide in. Is that not worth it?"

The corpse appealed to his emotions and reasoned with him, its tone full of sincerity, as if it had truly come with the utmost honesty.

Whether it was his own Wu Gong or his official rank, as long as he agreed to her, he could rise to the top.

Anyone else would likely have nodded in agreement... or at least hesitated.

Li Miao, however, let out a cold laugh.

"As expected, it's still the same old clichés."

"Are you finished? Wait for death."

Having said that, he prepared to raise his hand.

"Lord Li! What do you want? Whether it is power, Wu Gong, or beauty, with my help, you can achieve twice the result with half the effort!"

"Why must you insist on making things difficult for me!?"

The corpse shouted violently.

Li Miao had no desire to listen to her babble any longer.

Official rank? If Li Miao wanted to be promoted, he should have been a Guard Commander ten years ago; why wait until today?

Wu Gong? Did he need the Miao King to help him avoid the Five Decays of Heaven and Man?

Beauty? Had Li Miao ever lacked that?

Furthermore, to accept the help of witchcraft is to be controlled by it. Li Miao was not some greenhorn like Mei Qinghe; how could he fall for the Miao King's trap?

Boom!

With a muffled sound, the old man's skull exploded.

Li Miao stepped over the corpse and followed the fireflies leading the way ahead, continuing his journey.

————————

"What did you say!? The Miao King's name... is what!?"

Outside the building where Li Miao had found the old man, Yong Jie grabbed a Great Shaman by the collar and asked urgently.

"Ge Puqi..."

The Great Shaman replied weakly.

Although Li Miao had not dealt a killing blow, these Great Shamans had fought him and naturally suffered significant injuries. After Li Miao left with the old man and three Great Shamans, the remaining ones stayed behind to heal using their Gu insects.

Yong Jie and An Ziyang followed Li Miao's footprints and found this place.

The two of them claimed to be from the Embroidered Uniform Guard, so these Great Shamans naturally dared not refuse to cooperate.

Yong Jie asked about the sequence of events, and these Great Shamans confessed everything one by one.

But unexpectedly, when mentioning the Miao King, An Ziyang casually asked: "What is the Miao King's maiden name?"

And thus, the scene just now occurred.

Yong Jie suddenly let go, letting the Great Shaman fall to the ground, clutching his neck and gasping for air.

He took a few steps back, his breathing heavy, his eyes turning red, his hands clenched into fists, his nails digging into his palms until blood flowed.

An Ziyang watched from the side, thinking to himself.

"The Miao King... is Master Yong Jie's wife? Is she Ling'er's mother?"

"Then, is Ji Tianrui, who killed Master Xingchi, Ling'er's half-sister by the same mother?"

"This is going to be lively."

Yong Jie was now trembling all over.

"How could this be, how could this be..."

He could never have imagined that his missing wife, Ling'er's mother, was actually the Miao King!

She was the mother of the murderer who killed his master!

She was one of the culprits behind the witchcraft disaster in Tai'an City!

Was their love, and Ling'er... all just a conspiracy?

How was he to conduct himself?

Just as Yong Jie was lost in thought, An Ziyang seemed to remember something and turned to ask the Great Shaman: "You just said that Ge Puqi was parasitized by the Miao King's Gu insect and then gradually became more and more like the Miao King, right?"

"Then, how long is this process of 'becoming more and more like'? Are there any reversals? Does she have the Miao King's memories, or is it just that her personality becomes increasingly similar?"

The Great Shaman pondered for a moment and replied.

"We are not very clear about the current Miao King, but the first Miao King took three years to completely change her personality. The memories remained the original ones, but things important to the Miao King became equally important to her; things the Miao King didn't care about, she would no longer care about either."

"As for whether there are reversals... we are not clear about that either."

An Ziyang nodded, rubbed his chin, and turned to walk in front of Yong Jie.

"Master, listen to me first."

"Things may not be as you think."

"At the very least, if your wife was the Miao King before she met you, she should have had no reason to leave the Miao region and run inexplicably to the Huguang region to give birth to Ling'er."

"Perhaps the one who gave birth to Ling'er back then was Ge Puqi. And the one who gave birth to Ji Tianrui was the Miao King."

"You must pull yourself together. In any case, this is currently just the one-sided story of these Miao people. How things really are, and what your wife thinks, can only be confirmed after you see her and ask her yourself."

"Lord Li should have already gone to kill the Miao King; let's set off quickly, we cannot delay!"

Yong Jie lifted his head abruptly.

After a moment, he clenched his fists tightly.

"Young Hero An, thank you!"

"Yes, no matter what, I must see her with my own eyes and ask her myself before making a choice!"

"Let's set off now!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 162 =====