The Gloves Come Off

"You... you all..."

He opened his mouth as though he had suddenly understood something.

But it was too late.

A Tang Sect disciple drove a sword through his chest from behind.

Qiangu Zhangting looked down at his chest, then raised his head for one last look at Na'er before collapsing.

The melee continued.

But Chen Xing was already manipulating an illusion from the shadows, separating and surrounding the remaining Spirit Pagoda members one by one.

Nearly another half hour passed.

By the time the three factions finally stopped fighting, more than thirty people lay on the ground.

The Spirit Pagoda had lost the most.

Shrek and the Tang Sect had suffered casualties too.

And the Dragon Pearl had long since vanished.

Chen Xing and Na'er exchanged a smile, then each switched off the Soul Tool they had used to record the fight and tucked it away.

"Let's go."

Deep in Dragon Valley, at the end of a passage.

Chen Xing activated the Disguise Ring and changed his face.

He now looked exactly like the Tang Sect disciple who had openly pursued Na'er moments earlier!

Two days later.

Outside the entrance to Dragon Valley.

Long Yeyue of Shrek, Zang Xin of the Tang Sect, and Qiangu Dongfeng of the Spirit Pagoda arrived almost at the same time.

They should have arrived sooner, but each faction had been delayed by other matters.

Long Yeyue's face was livid.

"Qiangu Dongfeng, what is the meaning of this?"

Zang Xin frowned deeply.

"I want to know why your Spirit Pagoda people went for the kill in there."

Qiangu Dongfeng's face darkened. He said nothing, but his eyes kept searching for his grandson.

Just then, Na'er emerged from Dragon Valley.

Her clothes were disheveled, her face pale, and blood still stained the corner of her mouth.

She walked slowly, as if she had no strength left.

"Na'er!" Qiangu Dongfeng hurried over. "Where's Zhangting? Why hasn't he come out?"

Na'er looked up, her eyes reddening.

"The young master... Shrek and Tang Sect disciples attacked him together. By the time I got there, it was too late."

Qiangu Dongfeng's face went white.

"What did you say?"

Na'er took a damaged Soul Tool recorder from her clothes and handed it to him.

"I recorded this inside, but Soul Power damaged the recorder. Only part of the footage survived."

Qiangu Dongfeng took the Soul Tool and channeled Soul Power into it. Images unfolded in midair.

The footage was blurry, but it clearly showed Qiangu Zhangting surrounded by Shrek and Tang Sect disciples, being punched and kicked.

It did not show Na'er watching, or Qiangu Zhangting calling to her for help.

There was only chaos, only the attack, only Qiangu Zhangting's furious, unwilling roar before he fell.

Qiangu Dongfeng clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles cracked.

"Shrek! Tang Sect!"

Long Yeyue's and Zang Xin's expressions changed too.

"That's impossible!" Long Yeyue cried. "Our Shrek disciples would never do such a thing!"

"Then how do you explain this footage?" Qiangu Dongfeng's voice trembled.

Just then, a Tang Sect disciple staggered out of Dragon Valley.

He was covered in blood and clutched something tightly to his chest.

"Elder Zang... I have evidence..."

Zang Xin hurried over.

"What evidence?"

The Tang Sect disciple handed him a bloodstained Crystal Ball, and tears spilled from his eyes.

"This... a junior brother gave me this before he died... He said... he said I had to get it out..."

Zang Xin channeled Soul Power into it, and images appeared.

They showed events from two days earlier.

In the Surface Secret Realm of Dragon Valley, before the chaos had begun.

The gray-haired Tang Sect disciple—the young man who had reached out to Na'er at the entrance to Dragon Valley—

was walking with several fellow disciples.

He suddenly stopped, his expression changing.

"Watch out. The Spirit Pagoda people followed us."

Before he finished speaking, Qiangu Zhangting charged out of the shadows with several Spirit Pagoda disciples.

"So you're the Tang Sect people cozying up to Na'er?" Qiangu Zhangting said through gritted teeth. "Get them!"

The Spirit Pagoda disciples surged forward.

The gray-haired Tang Sect disciple shielded his companions, snatched up a recording Crystal Ball, and thrust it into another Tang Sect disciple's arms.

"Run!" he roared. "Give it to Elder Zang! Don't let the Spirit Pagoda get away with this!"

"Senior brother!" the disciple cried.

"Don't look back!" The gray-haired youth charged forward, using his body to block a beam of Soul Power from the Spirit Pagoda.

The beam pierced his chest.

He glanced down, yet managed to pull his lips into a smile.

"Run..."

The Tang Sect disciple fled in tears.

The footage cut off there.

When it ended, Zang Xin's face had gone cold.

"Qiangu Dongfeng, take a look."

Qiangu Dongfeng took the Crystal Ball and glanced at it. His whole body went rigid.

"This... this is impossible..."

"Impossible?" Zang Xin gave a furious laugh. "A Tang Sect disciple died getting this evidence out, and you call it impossible?"

Long Yeyue stepped closer for a look, her face livid. "Qiangu Dongfeng, your Spirit Pagoda has some nerve."

Qiangu Dongfeng jerked his head up. "My grandson is dead too! You think your people are innocent?"

"Your grandson led an ambush on the Tang Sect and died in the melee. Who's to blame?" Zang Xin refused to back down.

"Say that again!" Qiangu Dongfeng's Soul Power erupted.

Long Yeyue and Zang Xin stepped forward together, standing shoulder to shoulder.

"Shrek and the Tang Sect stand together," Long Yeyue said coldly. "If you want a fight, you'll have one."

Zang Xin's voice was grim. "But think carefully about whether the Spirit Pagoda truly wants to start a war with us here."

An elder from the Spirit Pagoda hurriedly grabbed Qiangu Dongfeng. "Dongfeng, don't act rashly."

Qiangu Dongfeng's chest heaved as he glared at Long Yeyue and Zang Xin.

He hated them.

He hated Shrek and the Tang Sect.

More than anything, he hated how stupid his grandson had been.

But he also knew that if they fought now, the Spirit Pagoda would gain nothing.

"Fine." Qiangu Dongfeng gritted his teeth. "Just fine."

He turned to leave, throwing one last sentence over his shoulder. "This isn't over."

Na'er stood behind Qiangu Dongfeng, head lowered, without saying a word.

She knew Chen Xing had altered the footage in the Soul Tool recorder she had given him.

She also knew Chen Xing had fabricated the footage in the Tang Sect's Crystal Ball with an illusion.

Chen Xing stood outside the crowd, wearing the Concealment Ring and watching it all play out.

Tang Wulin stood beside him, also wearing a Concealment Ring, staring at everything before him in shock.

"Brother... you arranged all this?"

Chen Xing gave a slight nod.

"But the footage Na'er showed me was real. I saw it happen with my own eyes..."

"Yes, it was real."

"Then the footage in the Crystal Ball..."

"Fake."

Tang Wulin opened his mouth but could not find a word to say.

"Brother, that's just too..."

"Too what?"

"Too ruthless."

Chen Xing smiled and said nothing.

Both sides had evidence, and both believed the other was responsible for the killings.

With that, the Spirit Pagoda's feud with Shrek and the Tang Sect was sealed.

That evening, just as Chen Xing had expected, the three factions fell out completely.

Qiangu Dongfeng left with the Spirit Pagoda members, throwing out one more line before he went.

"This isn't over."

Long Yeyue and Zang Xin also led their people away, their eyes burning with anger at the Spirit Pagoda.

Chen Xing took Tang Wulin with him, following at a distance as they made their way leisurely toward Heaven Dou City.