After Annan Feng left, peace returned to Star Pass. People lay collapsed across the ground, and few in the entire pass remained conscious.
"Sect Master, why did we help him?" Zhuo Yue asked in bewilderment after returning.
Yun Shuang had impersonated a member of the Dark Hall. Not only had they refrained from punishing him, they had actually helped him. Zhuo Yue could not quite follow Black Radiance's reasoning.
"Would you say we've delivered coal to him in the snow?" Black Radiance asked with a smile.
"Delivered coal in the snow?"
Zhuo Yue's furrowed brows gradually relaxed. Realization dawned on him. "You wanted him to owe us a favor, then use that to win him over?"
Black Radiance clasped his hands behind his back. "Killing a Five-Star World Lord is indeed inconvenient, but merely stopping one is quite simple."
"Besides, Yun Shuang was certain I would intervene. That was why he told Luo Wan and the others early on to follow you away from danger."
Zhuo Yue raised his brows. "Yun Shuang's schemes run that deep? He even guessed that you and I would intervene?"
Black Radiance's gaze was unfathomable. "His thoughts run deeper than you imagine. Even I cannot see through him."
"Moreover, he remains calm in the face of danger. Just now, he appeared to be sent flying backward, but he actually did it deliberately. He wanted to use that momentum to distance himself from Annan Feng and give me room to enter the fray."
The more Zhuo Yue considered it, the more chilling it became. "Then, from the moment he began rescuing her, everything was within his calculations?"
Black Radiance nodded. "He must be particularly familiar with a World Lord's methods. And with his cultivation, bringing Qiu Xia out of the Pass Lord's Residence right under Annan