36 God-tier Wolf Rider, Vice Fortress Lord Tian Guang!

Chapter 36: 36 God-tier Wolf Rider · Vice Fortress Lord · Tian Guang!

Hearing Zhang Guangmu's words, Lin Yan let out a cold laugh, completely unwilling to believe him and taking it all as nonsense.

Just by observing the wear and scratches, then trying twice more, he could deduce the correct Dark code?

This was simply the most ridiculous thing under heaven!

Utterly laughable!

Anyone with a remotely normal brain wouldn't believe his nonsense!

Lin Yan said in shame and anger, "If you don't want to tell me, so be it. Why humiliate me like this?"

On one hand, he felt that Zhang Guangmu was toying with him. On the other, the young man had seen through his thoughts regarding the number ninety-five, making him feel as though he had fewer secrets in front of the other party.

"If you think this is humiliation, then it is." Zhang Guangmu shrugged, noncommittal.

Hearing this, Lin Yan subconsciously looked at Zhang Guangmu's hands.

A moment later, he recalled several things he had previously overlooked. His pupils contracted slightly, every hair on his body stood on end, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

Zhang Guangmu had said before that this pair of Divine Artifacts, which seemed to contain Flame power, had been made by him personally...

Thinking about it carefully, that did indeed make sense.

After all, if such Divine Artifacts—capable of granting humans the power to fight Flame Wolves—had truly appeared in history, they could never have remained unknown!

No matter how much a divine object concealed its brilliance or how ordinary it looked, an artifact like this could never have been omitted from the historical records!

So...

There had been no traitor who betrayed him. The young man before him had used his own wisdom to create the Flame Artifacts and crack the Dark code!

"The so-called 'Tian Guang' is the 'Light of Natural Wisdom'!"

Lin Yan was leaning against the wall, looking at the pale-faced young man standing above him. His mouth was filled with bitterness. "His name really suits him..."

"His name really suits him!"

At first, he had focused all his attention on Lin Xuan, who controlled the Exotic Flame Wolf King, and had never noticed the unknown Assassin youth who had emerged from the Water Prison Trial.

Even when the youth had gained a slight advantage over Lin Xuan and had given himself a name, Lin Yan had merely treated it as a joke to be laughed about after tea and meals.

After all, Lin Xuan was his seventh son and might threaten his position and rule.

But now...

At some point, the Assassin youth with his still-tender features had quietly grown up.

After creating the epoch-making "Flame Artifacts," he was already able to stand on a higher plane and look down at Lin Yan...

At that thought, Lin Yan's gaze turned cold. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to stand and said in a deep voice, "You were originally an orphan. You were able to live until now only because you received my favor!"

"Later, you passed the Water Prison Trial and advanced to become a Wolf Rider. Only then did you gain the qualifications to speak with me!"

"It can be said that everything you possess now was given to you by me!"

"I gave you wealth and glory!"

"I gave you a status above others!"

"I made you who you are!"

"If you want to kill me, you will have to bear the infamy of being 'ungrateful.'"

"Can you bear a reputation like that?"

His harsh words rang out with force, every syllable powerful and sonorous, yet Lin Yan's body unconsciously hunched over.

He lowered his head slightly, maintaining a posture that made him appear a little shorter than Zhang Guangmu.

Perhaps even Lin Yan himself had not realized that this already counted as a form of self-compromise.

"Ungrateful? That's going too far."

Zhang Guangmu pursed his lips and chuckled. "All the orphans adopted by the Wolf Fortress were unfortunate wretches who had lost their parents in war."

"As time passed, people would forget what their parents had been like and what contributions they had made."

"But..."

"Wild geese leave cries behind as they pass, and people leave traces behind when they live."

"As long as one is willing to search carefully and spend a little more effort, it is still possible to find some clues."

At this point, Zhang Guangmu's tone gradually turned cold.

His gaze also became sinister, and his words were thick with resentment. "Esteemed Fort Master Lin Yan, do you know who my parents were?"

The moment he finished speaking, Lin Yan felt his mind go blank.

Thump! Thump!

Thump! Thump!

Lin Yan's heart pounded wildly. His breathing quickened, and cold sweat slid down his cheeks.

In theory, the orphans who could participate in the Water Prison Trial to test the strength of their will had all been repeatedly examined to ensure that their backgrounds were clean.

But the problem was...

There were always all kinds of "what ifs" in this world!

Wasn't the youth before him the best example?

If he had not witnessed it with his own eyes, who could have believed that those Flame Artifacts had been personally forged by a seemingly frail and slender youth?

There was nothing wrong with the Wolf Fortress's system!

However, no matter how excellent an operating mechanism was, it still had to rely on humans to exist!

In Lin Yan's eyes, the human heart was complicated and fickle, the least reliable thing in the world!

Even someone who had once been loyal and trustworthy could lose sight of their original intentions and forget their loyalty as time passed and their position and wealth changed.

Among the Flame Wolf Guards responsible for the Water Prison Trial, perhaps there had been a black sheep who had neglected their duty, occupied a position without doing their work, or acted out of misplaced compassion!

The instant he heard Zhang Guangmu's words, countless pairs of young couples who had died miserable deaths in the Wolf Fortress's power struggles appeared in Lin Yan's mind.

Their names and faces surfaced before his eyes one after another.

The Wolf Fortress Lord subconsciously gripped his long sleeves tighter.

He shrank back, not daring to look at Zhang Guangmu's face, and said in a trembling voice, "Could your parents... have been Leng Feng and Jin Xi?"

Before Zhang Guangmu could respond, he answered his own question. "That's right... It must be so!"

"From your appearance, I can vaguely see traces of them!"

"Back then, Leng Feng and Jin Xi were the famous golden couple of the Wolf Fortress. They were outstanding Wolf Riders."

"Before they married, each of them had many admirers..."

At this point, Lin Yan could not continue. Even the fine beard on his chin trembled slightly.

Because Leng Feng and Jin Xi had both been killed by him.

No matter what difficulties, reasons, or excuses he had, they were all meaningless to the people involved.

If Zhang Guangmu truly was the child of those two, then Zhang Guangmu's killing him would possess an inherent righteousness!

Lin Yan shut his eyes in pain and quietly waited for death.

The hatred of slain parents was irreconcilable!

With such a blood feud before him, no matter how one looked at it, Zhang Guangmu had no reason to spare or forgive him!

But...

After waiting for a long time, Lin Yan still did not feel pain or death.

In a daze, he seemed to hear the voice of the young Assassin "Tian Guang."

"Got you."

Lin Yan abruptly opened his eyes, his expression blank.

Zhang Guangmu tilted his head and said with complete seriousness, "Everything I just said about my background and my hatred was made up."

"You've done too many bad things. It was easy to find any pair of victims and make them fit."

Having said that, Zhang Guangmu rubbed his chin and teased, "As for the Leng Feng and Jin Xi you mentioned, well..."

"Good-looking people tend to look somewhat alike."

"You don't need to explain that part. I understand."

Zhang Guangmu paused, then said with a cheeky grin, "When I told the truth, you didn't believe me."

"When I lied, you were willing to believe me instead."

"It feels like you wouldn't be able to hold on to the Fort Master position for long even without me..."

It seemed like merely a taunt, but it made the Little White Balls that had followed them into the secret chamber frantically echo him.

"Exactly! Even without you, the Plot Protagonist Lin Xuan has already begun killing his brothers and plotting to take the Fort Master position."

"The boss is right!"

"See a spot and infer the whole leopard; see one leaf and know autumn—maybe that's exactly the kind of person he is?"

"His insight is maxed out. What a pity he isn't playing a detective!"

"As expected of Tian Guang. His wisdom is as vast as a dragon's..."

"You're all so cultured? If I encountered this situation, I'd only be able to say, 'Holy crap'... Damn it! I'm so useless!"

As the person involved, Lin Yan wore a dead man's expression.

What the hell was this "Light of Natural Wisdom"?

It was clearly the Light of Deception!

Where had this brat learned his gift for spouting lies as smoothly as flowers?

"Don't look so miserable. Before your value is fully squeezed dry, I won't kill you so easily."

After Zhang Guangmu interrupted him, Lin Yan's head buzzed. His thoughts were a mess, and he could not sort them out, so he could only passively follow Zhang Guangmu.

"I'm walking on the correct path."

Zhang Guangmu's embarrassingly chuunibyou yet impassioned voice poured into Lin Yan's ears, seeming to carry some sort of bewitching power. "I am justice!"

"I am righteousness!"

"In my hands, I hold peace and the future!"

Before Lin Yan could recover, he found Zhang Guangmu's face already inches from his own. "Now..."

"I need a little help from you."

"I want the position of Vice Fortress Lord of the Wolf Fortress!"

This was clearly Zhang Guangmu trying to play Cao Mengde's game from Romance of the Three Kingdoms: "holding the emperor hostage to command the feudal lords."

Zhang Guangmu felt that the wisdom and experience of the sages were perfectly fine to use directly. There was no need to rack one's brains and exhaust oneself thinking, only to struggle without reward or make matters worse through overcomplication.

As the saying went...

Without a legitimate name, words would not carry authority; without authoritative words, affairs would not succeed.

The superior status of Wolf Riders in the Wolf Fortress was something no one found strange.

That was the power of habit—and of a "name."

Hearing Zhang Guangmu's excessive demand, Lin Yan subconsciously wanted to refuse.

"Heh..."

The Wolf Fortress had never had anything called a Vice Fortress Lord.

Only names and artifacts could not be entrusted to others!

There was only so much power to go around, and it would be diluted!

Once the opening for a Vice Fortress Lord was created, the so-called Wolf Fortress Lord would gradually become a laughingstock!

Yet when the refusal reached his lips, Lin Yan still could not say it.

"..."

Having always made conquering the world and becoming the supreme ruler his goal, he valued his own life above everything else.

In Lin Yan's view, a king could fail, but he could never die so easily!

As long as one remained alive, there was always a chance to make a comeback!

If he died at Zhang Guangmu's hands in this secret chamber, there would be no "future" left to speak of.

"I... I, I will help you secure the position of Vice Fortress Lord."

Lin Yan said "I" three times in succession before finally making up his mind.

Earlier, he had been overwhelmed by Zhang Guangmu's sudden eruption of mysterious power and his completely unorthodox actions.

Now that he had recovered, Lin Yan immediately realized a terrifying and cruel fact.

A Wolf Rider could bind only one Flame Wolf in their entire lifetime.

And Zhang Guangmu and Flame Wolf Bai Yue had appeared here, which meant that the Golden-Necked Flame Wolf King had probably already died...

Therefore, the position of Lin Yan—a Wolf Fortress Lord with little actual strength—was like a candle flickering in the wind, liable to be extinguished completely at any moment!

From Zhang Guangmu's perspective, cooperating with a Fort Master who lacked the power to protect himself would clearly yield far greater benefits than supporting another new king.

Lin Yan understood.

He had the name, while Zhang Guangmu had the power!

Their temporary cooperation was the best choice at present, and Lin Yan's only way out.

Even if he had to be a puppet Fort Master, he would still be a Fort Master!

In a direct battle, Lin Yan was no match for Zhang Guangmu. But when it came to schemes and struggles for power, his advantage was enormous!

Thus, with Zhang Guangmu's "help," Lin Yan left the secret chamber and announced the achievements of "God-tier Wolf Rider Tian Guang" that very day.

Only then did Zhang Guangmu learn that he had apparently once ventured deep behind enemy lines and spent years undercover in the enemy camp?

That he had made enormous contributions to the Wolf Fortress's security, shed countless drops of blood and sweat, and experienced more than a hundred chaotic battles in which he had narrowly escaped death?

That he had now returned victorious and made unparalleled contributions to the Wolf Fortress's development?

And so, amid countless vehement objections, Zhang Guangmu was promoted to Vice Fortress Lord of the Wolf Fortress.

Before long, the people living in the Wolf Fortress gradually realized...

The various powers and status held by the young Vice Fortress Lord "Tian Guang" seemed to be no lower than those of Fort Master Lin Yan.