Chapter 4058 — The Black-Robed Man Returns

"Don't be alarmed. It's me. I've been wearing a mask all this time—this is my true face. My apologies, Brother Wang, for keeping it from you for so long," Wei Zhao explained.

"Ah, so it's Brother Lin! No harm done, no harm done. I can actually make a mask that changes one's appearance myself. A man roaming the jianghu must always keep an ace up his sleeve—completely understandable." The Tattered King laughed in sudden realization.

Wei Zhao nodded, and asked with concern, "I've taken care of all the trouble outside. It hasn't affected your forging, has it?"

"That it hasn't. We're still only at the preheating stage at the very start of the forging. True, we can't stop halfway now, but for at least the next few days, all we need do is wait patiently at the side. There's nothing much to do for the time being," said the Tattered King.

"Good. I was afraid those people might ruin our grand undertaking." Wei Zhao breathed a sigh of relief, and rather than idle about, sat down beside the Tattered King to discuss the subsequent stages of the forging. This time, apart from forging a weapon for himself, he had another task: to observe and learn.

He was, after all, a forger himself, and in this field he ought to improve somewhat. Otherwise, should he need forging done in the future, surely he could not keep coming back to ask the Tattered King for help every time?

Meanwhile, far away, Yu Jiang, who had been taken back by Nan Tianxiong, was in no such cheerful mood. After the three of them went to the Law Enforcement Hall and carefully examined the corpse, the conclusion came swiftly: the Third Elder, Nan Tianyong, had indeed died at Yu Jiang's hands!

Earlier, misled by appearances, Nan Tianyong had not examined things closely; now, looking properly, they realized they had all been played for fools by Yu Jiang!

With the evidence irrefutable, Yu Jiang had no defense left this time. The last sliver of hope in his heart was extinguished as well, and at last he sank into utter despair.

"You monstrous, ungrateful wretch! How could the Third Elder have taken on a disciple like you? He was blind to have done so! Tomorrow I shall have you carved into a thousand pieces and put to death by slow slicing as a living sacrifice to the Third Elder's spirit in heaven!" Faced with this outcome, Nan Tianxiong was so enraged his eyes seemed ready to split.

Whoever had killed Nan Tianyong, he could have accepted it—but to be killed by one of Nan Tianyong's own disciples was truly intolerable. What a pathetic death, one that could never be laid to rest!

And what was worse, he and Nan Tianguan had been deceived for so long by a nobody like Yu Jiang. Thinking back on it now, he could not help but feel his face burn with shame. How humiliating!

A disciple murdering his master—such an affair, in any era and any place, was an out-and-out scandal of enormous proportions. Though Nan Tianxiong and Nan Tianguan desperately wished to keep it quiet, no wall in this world has ever been truly impenetrable. From the very moment they examined the corpse, word had already begun to spread.

In less than half a day, the matter of Yu Jiang murdering his master had spread through the entire Sandie Pavilion. In the streets and alleys, over tea and after meals, nearly everyone was discussing it.

First it was Xu Lingchong's attempted rape and flight, then the kidnapping of Shangguan Lan'er, and now, immediately after, the enormous scandal of Yu Jiang killing his master. Sandie Pavilion—or more precisely, Chongtian Pavilion—had truly had one wave scarcely subsided before another rose during this period.

Yet even though the matter had become known to all, it could not change Nan Tianxiong's resolve to put Yu Jiang to death by slow slicing. This was his family matter; even the Sandie Pavilion and the Law Enforcement Hall had no right to interfere.

Indeed, since it had already been made public anyway, Nan Tianxiong simply decided to stop hiding it: he would openly set up an altar for the rites in the Chongtian Pavilion plaza and, before a countless crowd, offer Yu Jiang as a living sacrifice to the Third Elder, Nan Tianyong!

To Nan Tianxiong, though doing so might invite criticism, it was nonetheless the perfect way to wash away the shame Yu Jiang had brought upon his family.

The news spread like wildfire. By noon the next day, a dense crowd of hundreds, even a thousand, had gathered in the Chongtian Pavilion plaza—not only disciples of Chongtian Pavilion, but disciples of the other two pavilions as well, who had come at the news to watch the spectacle.

Yet, before the eyes of the crowd, the brothers Nan Tianxiong and Nan Tianguan suddenly stood everyone up. There was no help for it: Yu Jiang had vanished!

Staring at the empty basement, Nan Tianxiong was so furious that his three souls nearly leapt from his body—yet at the same time, even he found it incredible.

From yesterday until now, he had never taken a single step out of the room above, and this fully enclosed basement had only one exit: the one beneath his own feet. The surrounding area was shrouded in strict protective formations; escape by any other route was simply impossible.

And yet this very impossibility had occurred right under his nose. Yu Jiang, who should have been waiting with closed eyes for death, had evaporated from the world without the slightest warning.

Had he not known his elder brother's character so well, Nan Tianguan might even have suspected that the leader had softened for a moment and secretly let Yu Jiang go. But that was impossible.

Where the death of the Third Elder, Nan Tianyong, was concerned, Nan Tianxiong could only wish Yu Jiang to suffer a few more cuts and die more miserably; there was absolutely no chance he would simply spare the man's life.

After a long while, Nan Tianxiong finally forced out a single sentence: "It seems some expert has stepped in and spirited him away."

"What?" Nan Tianguan was startled. "Brother, you were standing guard here yourself—who else could slip past your eyes and ears and rescue Yu Jiang from the basement? That seems hardly possible."

"I think so too, but there is always a higher mountain beyond the highest, and a heaven beyond the heavens. The facts are right here before us—what more can you say?" Nan Tianxiong said helplessly.

Now Nan Tianguan was speechless as well. In his eyes, Nan Tianxiong, a fine cultivator at the Golden Core stage, was already exceedingly powerful—but within the Sandie Pavilion, there were still plenty whose strength far surpassed Nan Tianxiong's.

What neither of them could fathom was this: over the past few months, that brat Yu Jiang had been currying favor and playing the good boy before the two of them. When on earth had he become entangled with a figure of such power?

Yu Jiang's disappearance immediately set off another mighty uproar. Not only did it leave the brothers Nan Tianxiong and Nan Tianguan utterly disgraced, but more importantly, this was already the second case of someone fleeing in fear of punishment and vanishing after Xu Lingchong—and the interval between the two was less than a month.

In the underground secret chamber, Yu Jiang slowly opened his eyes. By the faint, dim light he surveyed his surroundings, then suddenly gave a violent start and pleaded, "Uncle-Master, I beg you, spare this insignificant life of mine! It was indeed my fault for harboring wicked thoughts then—I deserve death, I am worse than a pig or a dog—but I am still of use to you! Only spare me this once, and for this life—no, the next life, and the one after that—I will serve you as an ox and a horse..."

Halfway through his words, the black-cloaked figure shrouded in shadow cut him off: "Save your breath. I am not Nan Tianxiong. You need not fear; I will not kill you, nor will I hand you over to Nan Tianxiong."