novelraw Chapter 308: Long Xuan's Sinister Plan
Chapter 308: Long Xuan's Sinister Plan
Long Xuan quickly made a bold guess about the possible culprit.
Firstly, he could rule out the forces that were thrown off the ship—it’s impossible for someone to be foolish enough to sabotage their own ship.
Only a few people would dare offend so many factions at once.
The five major leaders were undoubtedly the most suspicious candidates.
The Qian and Cai Chamber of Commerce could basically be ruled out too. Businesspeople rely on reputation, and both Cai Shao and Ninth Young Master are astute individuals; they’re unlikely to do something so damaging to their own reputation.
That left three potential suspects: Qin Kai, Zhu Yue, and Shui Juanyun.
Among them, the person with the worst reputation would obviously be the most suspicious. And here, without a doubt, the Red Demon Pirates are the most notorious faction.
These pirates are notorious for pillaging, killing, and looting wherever they go. Whenever trouble arises, everyone naturally suspects them first.
Given that they’re constantly up to no good, who else would people suspect if not them?
Long Xuan made a quick deduction and concluded that Qin Kai was the prime suspect, and by a considerable margin.He was sure that many others shared his view, otherwise, they wouldn’t have angrily pushed the Red Demon’s ship off the island.
For the maddened Gu cultivators, there was no need for evidence to act. The one with the biggest suspicion was simply assumed to be the culprit.
Desperation makes people fearless, and no one is afraid of a band of Red Demon Pirates.
"Who the hell did this? Damn them!"
Just then, Qin Kai emerged from the inner city and, upon hearing the devastating news, almost fainted in anger, swearing on the spot.
He was on the verge of a complete meltdown. This was the Red Demon, their largest and main ship—the pride of the Red Demon Pirates.
Their only eight-story treasure ship, it was the captain’s prized possession.
With the ship now sunken, he could only imagine the captain’s wrath. He shuddered just thinking about it and grew even angrier.
Suddenly, a chubby little guy ran over and started pointing toward certain groups in the crowd.
Qin Kai's eyes turned cold and, seething with rage, he looked toward those people and shouted, “You even dared to sink the Red Demon! Courting death, are you? Kill them all! Leave no one alive!”
In a fit of fury and without thinking twice, Qin Kai led the pirates in an assault, ignoring the overwhelming number of people.
Very soon, intense fighting erupted on that side, plunging everything into chaos.
Hearing the commotion, Long Xuan shook his head.
There’s an old saying: "The law does not punish the crowd." The crowd here outnumbered the Red Demon Pirates by a wide margin.
In his opinion, Qin Kai's charge was unwise. Regardless of the outcome, this brawl would severely harm the Red Demon Pirates.
“I think he did it,” said Di Xin as he walked over. “This Qin Kai is the kind of person who acts selfishly and doesn’t care about consequences. He’s smart but only in petty ways.”
“Pushing most of the ships off the island is a foolish move bound to anger everyone.”
“The other four leaders are rational. Only Qin Kai would do something this reckless.”
Thinking about Qin Kai, Long Xuan remembered his petty tricks, like how he lost all his wives and children in gambling. Suddenly, Long Xuan paused, as if he realized something, and looked at Di Xin. “Did that letter mention how far one must be from the inner city before they lose their memory of it?”
“I can still remember him losing his wife and children, so it seems the memory hasn’t vanished, right?”
Di Xin frowned, glanced at the inner city gates in the distance, and then looked at the dozen or so crew members who had just come out of the inner city, asking, “Have any of you lost your memories of the inner city?”
A dozen people shook their heads.
“No, I still remember our captain’s glorious victory, defeating the God of Gambling twice in a row.”
“Yes! I still remember how the captain invented a new game of chess and made a scene. Our captain’s going to be famous!”
“I remember too! The captain’s moves were so impressive, they made my scalp tingle. Who would have thought there’s an ancient monster in the inner city who’s lived for millions of years? His God of Gambling Gu was truly mind-boggling.”
Hearing the sailors chat animatedly, Di Xin’s face suddenly changed as she realized the gravity of the situation.
Long Xuan’s face darkened as he instantly grasped the seriousness of the problem.
Undoubtedly, this time’s Sky Island ruins was different from previous instances. For some unknown reason, those who entered the inner city hadn’t lost their memories.
This was now a huge problem.
Those who exited the inner city knew that he had won the God of Gambling’s Repair Insect. This was dangerous news.
The Repair Insect could make any Gu King go mad with envy. Once the news leaked, it would trigger a worldwide scramble among the strongest factions.
If none of the inner-city entrants lost their memories this time, there’s no doubt that word would soon spread globally about his possession of the Repair Insect.
Realizing this, Long Xuan’s hair stood on end, and he was completely unsettled.
Damn! What was that God of Gambling up to? The Sky Island ruins has been opened countless times, and no one has ever kept their inner-city memories.
But now, of all times, this oddity happened to him? How could it be such a coincidence?
Long Xuan’s expression became grim.
“Just make a bold guess—in what circumstances would the God of Gambling leave inner-city entrants’ memories intact?” Long Xuan asked, lost in thought.
Di Xin responded without hesitation, “If he’s planning to leave soon, then naturally, there’s no need to erase their memories.”
“Only in that case would he no longer fear the outside world knowing of his existence.”
The crowd fell silent at his words, feeling a chill down their spines.
“Damn! Who the hell let that monster out? They’re utterly heartless!”
“That old monster could very well command an army of millions of puppets, enough to flatten any region!”
“If that monster gets out, chaos will spread across the world!”
“Whose fault is this?”
“This is bad—we need to leave immediately; something big is about to happen!”
Long Xuan could no longer stay to watch. Just thinking about the worldwide interest in the Repair Insect made him uneasy. He couldn’t afford to stay there any longer.
He had already made up his mind that, once he left here, he would hide his identity for a while. Long Xuan would disappear, and his name would be unusable for the foreseeable future.
The power of the Repair Insect should not be underestimated. The insect alone could turn a single broken Breakthrough Pill into a hundred pills, a treasure powerful enough to make the strongest factions fight over it.
The thought made Long Xuan’s skin crawl.
Things ultimately progressed in a direction he didn’t want to see.
He and his crew hadn’t gone far before they were surrounded by a group of Gu cultivators dressed in blue.
This group unleashed a swarm of water-formed humanoid creatures, attacking without saying a word.
Seeing their attire and attack style, Long Xuan felt a chill.
On this island, there were only five factions that posed a real threat to him—the five great clan leaders. Each one possessed enough power to be a danger to him.
Once in a fight, he couldn’t guarantee he would come out victorious.
And leading this group was none other than Shui Juanyun, along with his Shui clan Gu cultivators.
The Shui clan was a super-clan from the Central Lands, and each of their Gu cultivators wielded considerable power, far beyond what his ordinary crew could withstand.
Long Xuan hadn’t expected Shui Juanyun to make the first move against him.
After all, whenever the allied forces suffered heavy casualties, Shui Juanyun would always sigh in empathy, leading everyone to think of him as a well-intentioned man.
But now it seemed that appearances were deceiving, and hidden behind his façade was a completely different person.
“Boy! It’s just your bad luck! My memory hasn’t faded, so you have no chance of taking the Repair Insect for yourself!”
With a cold sneer, Shui Juanyun lunged at Long Xuan, sword flashing ruthlessly.
At this critical moment, Long Xuan didn’t dare hold back any longer. He took out his famed blade and broke Shui Juanyun’s sword technique with a single strike from his Ten Absolute Blade Technique.
After his move was broken, Shui Juanyun couldn’t block the next attack in time and was slashed at the neck.
However, his neck suddenly turned into water, allowing the blade to pass through harmlessly before it reverted back to normal.
Long Xuan was shocked. This man could switch freely between flesh and water, transforming any part of his body under attack into water to evade damage.
This man was truly an immortal.
Shui Juanyun touched his neck, enraged. “Boy, you should feel honored; you’re the first to make me reveal my Water-Transformation Gu ability!”
With that, Shui Juanyun raised his sword again and charged at Long Xuan, completely ignoring his attacks.
Meanwhile, Zhu Yue, the instigator, finally came out with her forces from the inner city. She was momentarily stunned by the chaotic outer city.
All around, the Red Demon Pirates were clashing with various Gu-cultivating factions.
Members of the Cai clan were fighting the Qian clan.
The Shui clan was also locked in battle with another group.
Elsewhere, small skirmishes were breaking out, with some ambushing Gu cultivators emerging from the inner city.
The entire outer city was engulfed in smoke and chaos.
A Zhu clan Gu cultivator nearby clicked his tongue. “Not sure what’s going on with the Red Demons, but it seems like the Cai and Qian clans let their bet spiral out of control.”
“And with Ninth Young Master losing all his Gu insect to the God of Gambling, he’s now a broken man. Cai Shao probably sees this as the perfect opportunity to eliminate them.”
“Without Ninth Young Master’s leadership, the Qian clan’s Gu cultivators are doomed.”
“Over there, Shui Juanyun is clearly trying to snatch the Repair Insect, so he’s ambushed that group.”
“Huh? It seems like many people are after the Repair Insect as well; even more factions are gathering there.”
Upon hearing the words “Repair insect,” Zhu Yue’s eyes lit up with greed. She said, “Although the Repair insect can’t restore living things, it can repair the eggs of high-grade spirit Gu, which is crucial for my clan’s plan to create countless Gu from refined materials.”
“Let’s go; we must seize the Repair insect at all costs!”
Following her command, the Zhu clan’s Gu cultivators charged toward the battlefield with a frenzied look.
In the ongoing battle, Long Xuan noticed more and more people running toward them, and his heart sank.
He knew he couldn’t continue fighting here and had to retreat quickly.
These people weren’t just here to watch; they would likely join in the siege against him.
Long Xuan immediately took out his strongest Gu and placed it on his shoulder, shouting, “Shui Juanyun, you’ve taken my Repair insect, and we are now mortal enemies!”
“We’re leaving. Let them have the Repair insect for now!”
With that, Long Xuan pulled back, escaping through an opening previously created by Yang Zhan.
Inwardly, he felt a surge of relief. Fortunately, he had been cautious enough to keep a Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivator as a hidden trump card.
If not for Yang Zhan’s high-level expertise today, he would never have broken through the encirclement so quickly. If the battle had dragged on, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Watching Long Xuan and his crew flee, Shui Juanyun snorted coldly.
“Do you think you’re the only one with Spiritual Sea-stage power?”
“The protective barriers of those outer-city buildings can only be breached by Spiritual Sea-stage Gu cultivators. There’s no way we, the well-informed major clans, would come to the Sky Island ruins without Spiritual Sea-stage power.”
“Pursue them! Inform the others to stop hiding; we must obtain the Repair insect at any cost!”
“Sky Island hasn’t fallen yet—I want to see just where he thinks he can run!”
Unintimidated by the Spiritual Sea-stage power, Shui Juanyun waved his hand forward, leading the Shui clan Gu cultivators in pursuit.
But they hadn’t gotten far before a swarm of Zhu clan Gu cultivators intercepted them.
“Shui Juanyun! Hand over the Repair insect!”
Zhu Yue singled out Shui Juanyun, cracking a whip toward his head.
Shui Juanyun’s head instantly turned to water, ignoring the blow.
“You foolish woman! When did I ever have the Repair insect? You believe his nonsense? He never gave me the Repair insect!”
Shui Juanyun was furious—he hadn’t seized the Repair insect. It had been with that man the entire time, and he hadn’t even seen it.
Yet when he saw the Integrity Gu on that man’s shoulder, he was at a loss.
Your master lied openly, and you, as an Integrity Gu, don’t even react?
Since when does an Integrity Gu lie? This is insane!
At this moment, Shui Juanyun realized the gravity of the situation. The Integrity Gu’s silence meant that everyone believed he had the Repair insect, stolen from Long Xuan.
“Damn it!” Shui Juanyun’s face turned pale. He knew that if he was branded a thief today, he would never find peace for the rest of his life.
Even the clan master would likely assume he had taken the Repair insect, leaving him with no defense.
As he feared, Zhu Yue dismissed his explanations with a cold smile. “You think you’re fooling anyone? He already proved himself with the Integrity Gu. How could the Repair insect still be with him? Are you saying the Qian clan’s Integrity Gu can lie? Ridiculous!”
“You really think I’m a child?”
With a sneer, Zhu Yue attacked with even more ferocity.
The others chimed in. “Young Master Shui, if you took it, just admit it. There’s no shame in killing and robbing for treasure. No need to insult our intelligence!”
“The Shui clan’s power is at least ten times greater than his, and you say you didn’t get the Repair insect? Who would believe that?”
“Exactly! If you have it, just let us have a look. We promise not to take it from you.”
Voices echoed from the crowd.
Shui Juanyun felt as if he might cough up blood.
How regretful! He hadn’t even reaped any reward and yet was ensnared in this mess. This was sure to be the greatest injustice in the history of the Gu world—he was in deep trouble.
As expected, all the Gu cultivators present were convinced that Shui Juanyun had stolen the Repair insect.
Those eager to act had already started to surround the Shui clan’s Gu cultivators.
With the crowd pinning down all of Shui clan’s forces, they couldn’t chase after Long Xuan and his men, who were now long gone.