Chapter 3839 — Inner Struggle
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Even though Yu Jiang had been in frequent contact with Nan Tianyong, just how powerful a peak late-Foundation Establishment expert truly was, and whether a man in such a dying state could still muster the strength to rise up and kill—to Yu Jiang, all of this remained unknown.
Tempting as patricide was, until he had confirmed Nan Tianyong's true condition, Yu Jiang still dared not act rashly.
"Master, how are you feeling? Are your injuries serious?" Yu Jiang asked with feigned concern, all the while hiding the sword qi at his fingertips behind his back.
A long while passed, and Nan Tianyong did not speak—or strictly speaking, he was simply incapable of speech now. He was barely holding on to his last faint breath; were he to force words out, he would likely fail to draw the next breath and drop dead on the spot.
The top-grade true qi bomb Wei Zhao had been holding in for a full hour was no joke, after all. Its power was enough to pose a lethal threat to any peak late-Foundation Establishment expert—and what was more, in the instant Nan Tianyong was struck, his contempt had left him utterly unguarded, and Wei Zhao had even managed to hurl the true qi bomb right into his face!
At such close range, with such a terrifying attack, the fact that Nan Tianyong had survived at all, that he was still clinging to a thread of life, was already a testament to his formidable strength. Any other ordinary peak late-Foundation Establishment expert would long since have been a corpse by now—perhaps not even a whole one!
Seeing that Nan Tianyong could not speak at all, Yu Jiang relaxed a little, and furtively revealed his sword qi. Killing one's master was, after all, a monstrous transgression; even though Yu Jiang had already resolved to do it, when the moment truly came, he could not help but tremble inside.
"Tch, what's there to be afraid of? One stroke of the sword, and riches and honor—worth at least fifty years of bitter cultivation!" Yu Jiang silently cheered himself on, drew a deep breath, and prepared to behead his bargain of a master with a single stroke.
Yet just at that moment, from the direction of the market behind him, there suddenly came the sound of footsteps and a clamor of voices. Yu Jiang started in alarm, then quickly realized—these people must have been drawn over by the tremendous commotion from before!
Sure enough, the sound of discussion drew closer and closer.
"Look ahead—several hilltops have been smashed flat!"
"That's nothing. Look at this crater—my God, what kind of expert could do this? Could it be someone at Foundation Establishment great perfection?"
"Huh? There seems to be someone up ahead?"
"..."
At this, Yu Jiang panicked.
If there had been no one around, then killing this bargain of a master and pinning the blame on Wei Zhao would have been all benefit and no harm. But as things stood, with so many eyes watching, if he dared do such a thing and any one person with ill intent took notice, his fate would be utter and irreversible ruin.
Patricide could only be done in absolute secrecy. Should even the slightest hint leak out, he would inevitably become the target of universal condemnation—the Threefold Pavilion would want him dead, Nan Tianyong's kin and friends would want him dead, and even these onlookers would besiege him under the banner of justice.
From then on, Yu Jiang would be the enemy of all under heaven, with not a single inch of ground left to stand on!
Had his own strength already been unmatched under heaven, that would have been one thing—at worst his reputation would be ruined. But Yu Jiang was only at mid-Foundation Establishment. With such strength, to bear the monstrous crime of patricide would mean, without question, that his whole life from then on was destroyed, with no chance of ever rising again.