Yu Tianheng's Betrayal? Calamity Poison Qi! Is Someone from Spirit Hall Fishing in Troubled Waters?

Dugu Ce looked at Yu Yin.

Yu Yin nodded gently:

"I know these people. The direct line really has bullied them plenty over the years.

Ce'er, if you want to use them, go ahead."

"Get up and speak," Dugu Ce said.

The middle-aged man rose nervously, hunched over with his head lowered.

"What's your name?" Dugu Ce asked.

"Your Highness, this humble one is Yu Chengsi. My Martial Soul is the Thunder Python, a degraded offshoot of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. I'm a fifty-eighth-level Soul King."

"Fifty-eighth level?"

Dugu Ce raised an eyebrow.

"That's not bad for a branch member."

Yu Chengsi smiled bitterly.

"No matter how good we are, we're still branch members. Yu Yuanzhen doesn't even spare us a proper glance.

If Your Highness is willing to take us in, we'll swear our lives to you."

Dugu Ce pondered for a moment.

"The Dragon-Serpent Sect has only just been established. We're in need of people.

Since you're willing to join, I'll give you a chance.

But there's one condition:

Once you enter the Dragon-Serpent Sect, you must obey its rules.

Anyone who betrays the sect will be killed without mercy."

Yu Chengsi kowtowed repeatedly.

"Yes, yes! This humble one understands!"

"Stay with my mother for now and serve as her guards."

Dugu Ce pointed to Yu Yin.

"If she loses even a single hair, every one of you will be buried with her."

"Rest assured, Your Highness!

We'll protect Madam with our lives!"

Yu Chengsi thumped his chest as he promised.

Dugu Ce said no more. He led Yu Yin and Dugu Yan toward True Dragon Mountain.

Behind them, Yu Chengsi and his group followed respectfully from a distance, not daring to approach.

On the way, Yu Yin asked softly:

"Ce'er, you've founded a sect, but your mother can't do much to help.

There is one thing, though, that I'd like to ask of you."

"Please, Mother."

"You have the blood of both the Dugu and Yu families in your veins.

You've destroyed the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, but I don't blame you.

Still, many of those branch disciples are innocent."

Yu Yin took Dugu Ce's hand.

"If you can spare them, then don't kill them."

Dugu Ce fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

"All right. I promise."

Yu Yin smiled and said no more.

By the time they returned to True Dragon Mountain, it was already noon.

Dugu Xuan and Dugu Bo were both away. Only Dugu Yan accompanied Yu Yin to settle in at the rear of the mountain.

Dugu Ce stood alone on the mountaintop, looking down at the scattered groups of Soul Masters converging on True Dragon Mountain. A trace of coldness flickered in his eyes.

Footsteps sounded behind him.

Dugu Ce didn't turn around.

"Yu Tianheng, shouldn't you be staying in the stone house? What are you doing out here?"

Yu Tianheng stood three steps behind him, his face pale. Red marks from the Soul Power chains still lingered around his wrists.

He took a deep breath, his voice hoarse.

"I came to tell you that there are a few people among the Yu family's branch members who can't be allowed to live."

Dugu Ce turned around and regarded him with interest.

"Oh? Let's hear it."

"Yu Chengsi,"

Yu Tianheng said through gritted teeth.

"He looks honest, but he's actually ruthless.

Back when your father was humiliated at True Dragon Mountain, he was the one who led the jeering and urged Yu Yuanzhen to deal harshly with him."

Dugu Ce's gaze turned cold.

"Go on."

"And Yu Chengsi's two younger brothers, Yu Cheng'en and Yu Chengde, are both his lackeys."

Yu Tianheng clenched his fists.

"They have your Dugu family's blood on their hands.

If you take them in, they'll turn on you sooner or later."

Dugu Ce stared at Yu Tianheng for a long while, then suddenly laughed.

"You're ruthless, all right.

You betray your own clansmen without even batting an eye."

"Clansmen?"

Yu Tianheng gave a bitter laugh.

"When they drove your father to his death, they didn't treat me as one of their clansmen.

I was only five then. I saw Yu Chengsi spit in your father's face with my own eyes.

I haven't forgotten that grudge."

Dugu Ce fell silent for a moment, then turned to look at the figures approaching below.

"I understand.

Go back for now. When I need you, I'll call for you."

Even so, Dugu Ce had no intention of truly letting Yu Tianheng go.

Without Yu Tianheng noticing, Dugu Ce had already planted a trace of Calamity Poison Qi inside him.

If Yu Tianheng tried to run, he would drop dead within a few days.

Yu Tianheng gave him a long look, then turned and left.

Dugu Ce stood with his hands behind his back as the mountain wind howled past.

He murmured to himself:

"Yu Chengsi... It seems the waters of this Dragon-Serpent Sect run deeper than I thought."

In the distance, Dugu Bo came racing toward the mountaintop.

Dugu Bo swooped down from the sky and landed steadily on the summit. He glanced at Yu Tianheng's retreating figure, his brows lifting slightly.

"How did that kid get out?"

"He walked out on his own," Dugu Ce said calmly. "He came to tell me that Yu Chengsi once urged Yu Yuanzhen to harm my father."

Dugu Bo's gaze turned cold.

"Yu Chengsi? The one leading the group kneeling at the foot of the mountain?"

"That's him."

"And you're still keeping him around?" A flash of green light shone from Dugu Bo. "I'll go turn him into a puddle of water right now."

"Not yet." Dugu Ce stopped him. "We just took them in. If we kill one of them right away, who'll dare join the Dragon-Serpent Sect in the future?"

Dugu Bo snorted.

"So we just let him off?"

"Let him off?"

Dugu Ce's lips curled slightly.

"Granduncle, once the Myriad Poison Array is set up, I'll need someone to 'test the array.'

Since Yu Chengsi is so eager to help, why not let him be the one to test it?"

Dugu Bo was taken aback, then burst into laughter.

"Good idea! If he dies in the array, outsiders will think he wandered into the forbidden area without looking and brought it on himself. No one could blame us. Ce'er, you're even more ruthless than I am."

"Likewise." Dugu Ce looked toward the foot of the mountain. "Granduncle, how long until the array is ready?"

"The core area will be set up in three days."

Dugu Bo lowered his voice.

"But if we want outsiders not to notice anything amiss, it's best to wait another two days.

By then, I'll spread word that poisonous miasma fills the core of True Dragon Mountain and that anyone who enters will die.

If Yu Chengsi 'accidentally' wanders in... then he'll have brought his death upon himself."

"Let's do that." Dugu Ce nodded. "Also, has Grandfather sent any word about bringing the branch members into the fold?"

Dugu Bo shook his head.

"Brother Xuan hasn't sent word back yet.

But with his methods, there'll be results within three to five days.

There is one thing I should tell you first, though."

"What is it?"

"While I was patrolling the mountain, I spotted a group of people from Spirit Hall thirty li east of True Dragon Mountain."

Dugu Bo narrowed his eyes.

"A red-robed bishop was leading more than twenty Soul Masters. They were skulking around outside the mountain."

Dugu Ce's gaze sharpened.

"Spirit Hall?

The moment my teacher leaves, they show up?"

"They don't seem to be Second Worship's people."

Dugu Bo shook his head.

"That red-robed bishop was acting suspiciously and hadn't even raised a banner.

I suspect someone inside Spirit Hall is trying to fish in troubled waters."

"Have you found out who they are?"

"I didn't alert them." Dugu Bo sneered. "I only took a look from afar before circling back. Ce'er, what do you plan to do?"

Dugu Ce pondered for a moment.

"Let's not act hastily.

We'll wait for Grandfather to return and find out who they are first.

If someone from Spirit Hall really is trying to fish in troubled waters... then don't blame me for disregarding my teacher's face."