Ning Luo found it unbelievable.
As he saw it, he and Song Ziyan were both key figures, the ones most likely to know the whereabouts of the Soul-Pacifying Bead. Even if the Old Devil wanted to kill another person, it should never have been him.
Song Ziyan thought the same. When she discovered that the Brain-Devouring Snake was actually targeting Ning Luo, a moment of bewilderment surfaced on her jade-white face.
Zhao Changfeng, however, felt completely reassured.
He knew full well that the Old Devil had left "eyes" here and had long since seen that Ning Luo knew nothing about the Soul-Pacifying Bead's whereabouts. He had also noticed Song Ziyan's hidden feelings for Ning Luo.
Because she cared whether Ning Luo lived or died, once he became the demonic snake's target, Song Ziyan would lose all composure. There was a chance she would reveal where the Soul-Pacifying Bead was.
"Second Senior Brother, save me!"
Already panic-stricken, Ning Luo suddenly realized his life hung by a thread. He shot toward the nearby Zhao Changfeng like an arrow and, just as Song Ziyan had earlier, cowered behind him.
The Old Devil, whose very purpose was to force Song Ziyan to speak this way, stirred his will slightly. The demonic snake immediately slowed before lunging toward Ning Luo again.
With Ning Luo hiding behind Zhao Changfeng and treating him as a human shield, Zhao Changfeng was once again forced to face the bloodthirsty demonic snake.
Song Ziyan did this, and now Ning Luo too. These people...
Zhao Changfeng could not help letting out a bemused laugh.
A slender, gleaming silver sword suddenly protruded beneath his left armpit, its tip pointing toward the gradually approaching demonic snake.
Even as Ning Luo used Zhao Changfeng's body as a shield, he prepared to fight back. If the snake ate Zhao Changfeng and still wanted more, or passed him over because it insisted on eating Ning Luo first, Ning Luo was ready to fight to the death.
"Second Senior Brother, I'm certain the bead is on our junior sister. I don't want to die either."
Hiding behind Zhao Changfeng, Ning Luo murmured to him in a voice only the two of them and the highly accomplished Old Devil could hear.
"I know."
Zhao Changfeng answered softly.
Ning Luo was stunned.
The next instant, the sword-wielding wrist beneath Zhao Changfeng's armpit was clamped tight as though caught in an iron shackle.
Ning Luo's five fingers suddenly loosened, and the Spiritglow Sword flew from his hand. At the same time, Zhao Changfeng's broad back slammed into him like a mountain.
Thud!
Caught unprepared by the heavy blow, Ning Luo staggered backward again. Zhao Changfeng turned with the momentum and thrust the sword at him.
Shhk!
Just as he had suddenly stabbed Lin Xingyan, his own Spiritglow Sword now pierced his heart and lungs. He fell to the ground with the same agonized wail.
"S-Second Senior Brother?"
Lu Tao and Xu Yifei, who had been living in constant terror, stared at Zhao Changfeng as he held the sword, looking at him as though he were a stranger. It all felt unreal, like a dream.
"Junior Brother!"
"Zhao Changfeng! How dare you kill our junior brother!"
Song Ziyan suddenly screamed hysterically.
Losing control of her emotions, her exquisite little face twisted slightly. She could not believe what she had just witnessed.
"Oh? Interesting, very interesting!"
Teng Kun grinned and gave Zhao Changfeng a long look. "Since another one has died, I can come back in four hours."
Whoosh!
By the time the demonic snake shot over, Zhao Changfeng had already moved far away. He watched it repeat its earlier trick, burrowing into Ning Luo's eye socket to feast on his brain.
"Zhao Changfeng! You deserve a thousand cuts! Give me back my junior brother's life!"
Song Ziyan lunged at him, clawing wildly.
"Ning Luo's life matters, but mine doesn't?"
"Junior Sister, four hours ago, you used the same trick on me that Ning Luo just did. You nearly got me killed."
"Ning Luo learned it from you."
Zhao Changfeng stood with sword in hand, watching Song Ziyan approach with an indifferent expression. In a calm, emotionless voice, he said, "If you really want to die, you might as well do it sooner. Don't waste everyone's time."
"Lu Tao! Xu Yifei!"
Zhao Changfeng barked their names.
Overawed by his bearing, the two instinctively answered loudly, "Here!"
Zhao Changfeng said solemnly, "Our junior sister knows where the bead is! As long as you two help me surround and attack her, I guarantee you won't die! If you want to live, take this gamble with me!"
The two froze for a moment, then answered together, "All right!"
The next instant, they attacked Song Ziyan from either side while Zhao Changfeng charged straight at her with his sword.
Of the four Lingxiao Sect disciples, Zhao Changfeng had the highest cultivation, but he did not know whether Song Ziyan had some lethal move hidden up her sleeve. Unwilling to risk facing her alone, he called on Lu Tao and Xu Yifei to finish the fight quickly before complications arose.
With the two joining in, the battle became entirely one-sided. Song Ziyan fended off one attack only to expose herself to another.
"You've gone mad! I'll never forgive you! Neither will my parents!"
Song Ziyan shouted, beside herself.
"Tsk, tsk. I just love watching fellow disciples slaughter each other. Truly a feast for the eyes."
The Old Devil watched from beyond the bars with relish for a while. Then his single eye suddenly turned cold, and he snapped, "Stop, you brat named Zhao! I want the bead's whereabouts. If she dies, none of you will live either!"
Lu Tao and Xu Yifei also cried out, "Second Senior Brother, don't!"
Shhk!
For the third time, the slender silver sword pierced flesh. It plunged into Song Ziyan's heaving chest and emerged through her back.
"Z-Zhao Changfeng..."
The light in Song Ziyan's eyes gradually faded, yet she kept staring fixedly at Zhao Changfeng's face. Suddenly, she felt that only now did he truly live up to his name, radiating an incomparably sharp presence.
"You... you... I don't know you."
Song Ziyan breathed her last.
"Second Senior Brother, why did you kill her?!"
"What on earth were you thinking?!"
Seeing that Song Ziyan was clearly beyond saving, her two accomplices, Lu Tao and Xu Yifei, wailed as though mourning their own parents.
Zhao Changfeng turned his head and glanced at each of them. Both immediately fell silent.
Then he pulled out the Spiritglow Sword and stabbed it into the waist and abdomen of Song Ziyan's fallen corpse, gently turning the hilt a few times.
Seeing such cold-blooded brutality, Lu Tao felt a chill in his heart and involuntarily retreated several steps.
"Boy, you're certainly good material for demonic cultivation, but you've ruined my grand plan!"
Teng Kun flew into a rage. Bloody light spilled from his single eye as he bared his teeth. "Now that she's dead, where am I supposed to find that bead?"
"Uh..."
The Old Devil's swelling fury and murderous intent abruptly halted.
A pale blue bead the size of a fingertip appeared in his sight, pinched between Zhao Changfeng's two bloodied fingers. It gave off a gentle glow that soothed the mind.
Inside the bead, two slender gray figures seemed to be desperately battering its walls.
"The Soul-Pacifying Bead!"
"Master! Mistress!"
As Lu Tao and Xu Yifei cried out in shock, Zhao Changfeng shook the blood off the pale blue bead and casually tossed it to Teng Kun beyond the bars.
As though throwing away trash.
The two souls desperately trying to escape the bead glared fixedly at him, just as Song Ziyan had before her death, but he paid them no mind.
"Good! Good lad!"
Old Devil Teng roared with laughter. Opening his mouth, he spat out a mass of emerald-green Soul-Scouring Demonflame that enveloped the Soul-Pacifying Bead and burned the two frail, bodiless souls inside to death.
"Song Zejun, Zhou Jin, you husband and wife really had everything planned out. You even managed to fool me!"
"Boy!"
Now in excellent spirits, Old Devil Teng narrowed his single eye and smiled at Zhao Changfeng. "I keep my word! Since you got me the Soul-Pacifying Bead, I'll let the three of you leave once Demon Mountain stops in a little while."
Hearing this, Lu Tao and Xu Yifei, who had escaped death, went limp and dropped to the ground. Their expressions looked half laughing, half crying.
Their junior sister was dead, their junior brother was having his brains devoured by the demonic snake, and their master and mistress, who had exhausted every scheme to preserve their souls by a stroke of luck, had been destroyed by a mouthful of the Old Devil's demonflame.
Their harmless, hardworking second senior brother had suddenly become cold-blooded and decisive. With two thrusts of his sword, he had carved a path to survival for them.
But why had everyone become so unfamiliar?
Especially their second senior brother...
"Senior Teng!"
Zhao Changfeng bowed. Only when the Old Devil shifted his gaze from the Soul-Pacifying Bead to him did he speak again in earnest. "The Lingxiao Sect is gone, and you said yourself that I'm good material for demonic cultivation. I wish to join the Crippled Demon Sect!"
"Oh?" Teng Kun looked slightly surprised. His blood-red eye rolled as he said with interest, "Aren't there still two people from the Lingxiao Sect alive besides you? How can you say it's gone?"
At these words, Lu Tao and Xu Yifei felt their scalps prickle and abruptly sprang up from the ground.
"S-Senior Teng."
"You clearly said that as long as we handed over the Soul-Pacifying Bead, you would spare our lives!"
Cold sweat poured off them both.
"That's right."
Old Devil Teng nodded with a smile and patiently explained, "But were you two the ones who found the bead for me? Since the Zhao boy found it for me, your lives should be his to decide."
"If this boy hadn't taken this unnecessary extra step, you could have left shortly. I guarantee I wouldn't have ordered anyone to kill you afterward."
"But if he intends to join my sect, he must sever every tie to his past."
"Including you two."
"Boy!"
As Lu Tao and Xu Yifei trembled with fear, the Old Devil suddenly raised his voice and barked, "If you want to join my sect, kill these two junior brothers of yours first! If you're afraid fighting two at once would put you in danger, I can even help restrain them."
"No need." Zhao Changfeng shook his head and answered solemnly, "I promised them that as long as they helped me surround and attack Song Ziyan, I would keep them alive."
"Like you, Senior Teng, I honor my promises. My word is my bond!"
"So I would rather give up joining the demon sect than break my promise to keep them alive!"
Zhao Changfeng spoke with unwavering resolve.
Teng Kun spread his lips in a grin and chuckled. "Are you serious?"
Zhao Changfeng nodded lightly.
"Good. From this moment on, you're my disciple!"
In exceptionally high spirits, the Old Devil settled the matter with this unexpected answer. Then he told Lu Tao and Xu Yifei, "Once Demon Mountain stops, you two can leave on your own."
Having once again found life in the jaws of death, the two froze before being overwhelmed with joy. Xu Yifei, who considered himself clever, hurriedly said, "S-Senior Teng, I... we'd also like to join your esteemed sect!"
Lu Tao nodded repeatedly. "Yes! We'd like to join too!"
"You two?"
Teng Kun let out a bemused laugh.
First he shook his head, then gave his blunt assessment. "You two are too stupid to deserve a place in my sect. With your temperaments and abilities, you wouldn't survive three months there. Treasure your lives and leave while you can."