Before Redpine True Person died, he had a brief conversation with Jing Jiu.
One sentence in it was very important.
Jing Jiu said that whoever had told Redpine True Person to fetch Cao Yuan wanted him dead.
That inference might have been right or wrong, but either way, since Redpine True Person was going to die by his sword, and everyone aboard the warship would die as well, what was the point of saying it?
Because he knew someone had been maintaining remote contact with this black warship, watching everything that happened here.
Killing Redpine True Person and everyone aboard the warship might not draw that person out, but those words could.
If that person still intended to uphold his own Dao, he needed to offer an explanation, both to Jing Jiu and to himself.
"Lay down the butcher's cleaver and become a Buddha on the spot. When Chisong was willing to join our cause, I had no reason to refuse him."
That calm voice echoed like a bell through the gradually shattering warship. "You should not have killed him."
Cao Yuan's voice had sounded like a bell before, too, except it was somewhat hoarse and unpleasant, like a cracked bell.
Of the two, Jing Jiu still preferred Cao Yuan's voice.
"Clearly, he never laid down his cleaver. Otherwise, Cao Yuan would not have raised his blade against him."
He looked toward a spot diagonally above him in the warship.
The warship was too badly damaged and had long since lost the ability to adjust its orientation on its own. Everything had floated up and was flying about in the air.
There was a cable there, connected to a Vibrating Sound Amplification Valve. That was where the voice was coming from.
He did not ask whether the other party was