Uncle

Autumn had arrived. A bleak wind swept over the river, and the grass and trees were withering, lending the scene an air of loneliness and sorrow.

Old friends had met again, finding a familiar face far from home, yet an indescribable sense of impending bloodshed hung in the air.

Deng Gang gave Liu Zhijian a long look.

It was here that he and Liu Zhijian had once drunk and made merry, accepted the invitation of the Wave-Subduing Gang's young gang leader together, then entered the Flood Dragon cave abode and launched their uprising in Yandang, embarking on a legendary path swept along by the tides of the times.

Now that they met again, it was hard to say how much friendship remained between them.

They might even have to turn their blades on each other.

Qiao Yuniang looked slightly uneasy and gently tugged at Deng Gang's sleeve. "Your Majesty..."

"It's all right." Deng Gang offered a few words of reassurance, then rose and went to sit cross-legged by the fire. He picked up a roasted fish and swallowed it whole, then washed down the burning heat in his mouth with a swig of unrefined wine. With a hearty laugh, he asked, "That young gang leader of the Wave-Subduing Gang... what was his name again?! I've actually forgotten it. He was a fine young hero, after all, and a benefactor of mine besides."

Liu Zhijian thought back for a moment. "His name was... Zhao Changfan."

He glanced at Deng Gang and said calmly, "Qi Refining cultivators have already left the mortal world behind. Remembering everything at a glance is a trivial little trick, hardly worth mentioning. It's only been a year. How could you have forgotten, Brother Deng?"

"Only a year? Why does it feel as though a lifetime has passed?!" Deng Gang looked somewhat dazed. After a moment, he smiled and said, "My memory really has been getting worse. Perhaps I've taken too many pills."

"Your Majesty..." Qiao Yuniang stepped forward carefully, then bowed to Liu Zhijian. "Yuniang pays her respects to Elder Brother."

"Mm." Liu Zhijian showed the empress of the Deng Kingdom little warmth. He did not even rise to return her greeting, saying only, "You're too courteous, Fellow Daoist Qiao."

Qiao Yuniang's expression stiffened. For all her quick wits and resourcefulness, she was at a loss for words.

"There's no need for that, Brother Liu." Deng Gang suddenly gave a carefree smile and drained a cup of unrefined wine. Instead, he urged Liu Zhijian to relent. "Yuniang had no choice either. She's hardly any better off than I am."

"Besides, she's with child now. You were the one who taught me that shocks and emotional turmoil are bad for the unborn child, Brother Liu."

Qiao Yuniang's expression finally changed drastically. She looked at Deng Gang with a complicated gaze. "You..."

Hearing this, Liu Zhijian said no more and drank in silence.

Deng Gang ignored Qiao Yuniang and chuckled. "Did you know, Brother Liu? That day in the Flood Dragon cave abode, I wasn't actually unconscious."

"When I was a child, my uncle taught me how to feign death with turtle breathing. That day, I wanted to appear weak before our enemies, so I could step forward at the crucial moment and strike back from a desperate situation."

"I never imagined that you came from Supreme Mystery, Brother Liu. Just revealing who you were frightened everyone into submission and left me no chance to show what I could do."

"Still less did I expect you to pass up that strand of Kan Water Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and choose the Flood Dragon Essence Blood for me instead."

Liu Zhijian was taken aback. He gave Deng Gang a long look. "Since you've known everything for so long, Brother Deng, you've saved me the trouble of explaining."

"Heh, how could I claim to know everything? It was only when death was upon me that I looked back on the past and noticed a few things amiss." Deng Gang set down his cup and said seriously, "I have a question. Please answer me honestly, Brother Liu."

Liu Zhijian grew serious as well. "Go ahead, Brother Deng."

Deng Gang fixed Liu Zhijian with a burning gaze. "That day in the Flood Dragon cave abode, did you already know the truth, Brother Liu? When you passed up the Kan Water Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi and chose the Flood Dragon Essence Blood, did you truly mean it, or were you putting on an act for me?"

Liu Zhijian's expression was complicated. He made no vows or oaths, but met Deng Gang's gaze and slowly said, "I only learned the truth after I returned to the mountain and entered the Dao through Qi Ingestion."

"Good!" Deng Gang let out a long breath, a genuine smile appearing on his face. "My life has been utterly absurd. My name, my origins, my family, my wife-truth and falsehood are impossible to tell apart."

"But in you, Brother Liu, I found one true friend."

"Mortal World Turbid Qi throws the Dao heart into the greatest turmoil. I regret not heeding your advice, Brother Liu."

Liu Zhijian listened in silence.

The schemes of higher cultivators were like a great net.

How could Deng Gang break free merely because he wished to?

Even ants clung desperately to life, let alone cultivators.

Deng Gang could not help asking, "May I ask, Brother Liu, is there still a path to survival for me?"

Liu Zhijian rested his hand on the black case at his waist and spoke slowly. "Before I came, my master told me in private that if you hadn't consumed the Blood Qi of Human Pills, Brother Deng, I wouldn't need to act."

"If you could flee west all the way to the foot of Supreme Mystery Mountain, my master would be willing to shelter you for ten years."

"Thank you for going to such trouble, Brother Liu." Deng Gang was touched, but he knew that for the sect master of Supreme Mystery Mountain to be willing to offend the person pulling the strings behind the scenes and shelter him, Liu Zhijian must have pleaded on his behalf. He turned and asked, "Yuniang, those Essence Treasure Pills you usually brought me... they weren't really Human Pills, were they?!"

Qiao Yuniang lowered her head and said nothing.

Deng Gang understood at once. He asked no more, and instead seemed almost relieved. "Such is fate. What can be done?"

Liu Zhijian's face showed that he could hardly bear it. He added, "There is one other path. If you can kill me and then conquer Supreme Mystery Mountain, Brother Deng, gathering a fate far surpassing that of the great Fubo demon, perhaps you'll have a chance at Foundation Establishment."

"Then you'll naturally be able to break through the net and escape with your life."

"Foundation Establishment..." Deng Gang nodded slightly, deep in thought. Then he turned and asked, "Yuniang, where's the Foundation Establishment Pill?!"

Qiao Yuniang's expression was complicated. She stepped forward and opened a wooden box, revealing a cyan treasure pill inside.

"The woody fragrance is strong, and its medicinal power is pure. It should indeed be a Foundation Establishment Pill, not a Blood Qi Human Pill." Deng Gang rose, took it, and swallowed it in one bite. Then he said to Liu Zhijian, "Brother Liu, life and death are decreed by fate. Don't blame me for showing no mercy!"

With that, he abruptly activated a Secret Method and drew on the medicinal power of the Azure Cloud Sect's Foundation Establishment Pill to push Flood Dragon Transformation to its limit. A hideous dragon claw lashed out fiercely!

Liu Zhijian had been on guard from the start. Holding a black fishing rod in one hand and keeping the other on the black case at his waist, he wore a complicated expression.

Deng Gang's hideous dragon claw clamped tightly around Qiao Yuniang's neck.

"Let go... I'm carrying... your child..." Caught off guard, Qiao Yuniang looked at him mournfully and pleaded in a low voice.

"Even if it were born, it would only become someone's plaything and follow the same old path I did." Deng Gang's expression was calm. With a slight squeeze, he snapped Qiao Yuniang's neck.

Throughout his westward tour, Deng Gang had abused the common people, accumulating a great deal of the Resentment of the Myriad People.

Now he had killed his wife and child, committing an atrocity against the bonds of human decency.

The baleful air around Deng Gang was nearly overflowing.

On the dragon boat behind them, Qiao Yunbai's face was grim.

It was not that he cared that a chess piece had suddenly seen through the game, much less that he grieved for Qiao Yuniang's death. Rather, he regretted the loss of the child in her womb, which had originally been an excellent piece for controlling the mortal realm of the Deng Kingdom.

Deng Gang did not go to fight Liu Zhijian of Supreme Mystery Mountain. Instead, he turned and charged east!

The mortal officials and generals still did not know what was happening. Shocked that His Majesty had suddenly lashed out and brutally killed the empress, most of them froze in place in their panic.

Deng Gang paid them no heed, singling out the Azure Cloud Sect disciples to kill.

Though pills had forced him into cultivation, he had nevertheless reached Late-Stage Qi Refining. Now that he had taken a Foundation Establishment Pill, he was comparable to someone at Qi Refining Perfection. Ordinary Azure Cloud Sect disciples were no match for him.

"You're courting death!" Qiao Yunbai flew into a rage and naturally had to act to protect the younger disciples. A pestle-shaped Law Artifact glowing with cyan light flew from him and smashed fiercely toward Deng Gang.

Deng Gang took the blow head-on with his Flood Dragon body. Though unhurt, he was sent flying a long way.

No end of painstaking effort had gone into nurturing and refining Deng Gang as a Human Pill.

He could not be too weak, or he would struggle to gather a Manifestation and fate.

Still less could he be too strong, lest he break free of the net and escape the game.

Naturally, they had measures in place to guard against that.

For instance, Deng Gang could have a high cultivation realm and a powerful body, and he could have all the pills he wanted.

But powerful Techniques and top-tier Law Artifacts were absolutely out of the question.

Qiao Yunbai naturally knew Deng Gang's weaknesses. Holding his Law Artifact, he sneered. "Don't even think of escaping into the river, you wicked Flood Dragon. West is the only way open to you!"

Seeing that his plan had been exposed, Deng Gang said nothing. He glanced at the Law Artifact, then turned and fled north toward Danzhou City.

"Stop there, young friend. This road is closed." Xue Yang of Rosy Clouds Resting Mountain stood in midair on a flying shuttle aglow with rosy light, every bit an immortal.

The fact that he possessed a Law Artifact capable of flight showed just how formidable his background was.

Deng Gang did not even try. He immediately turned and fled south.

"Good Gou'er... there's no need to run." Dong Linyuan of Little Dragon Mountain appeared, a chain-shaped Law Artifact in his hand, and barred Deng Gang's way.

Hearing the familiar form of address and looking at the familiar figure, Deng Gang's eyes instantly turned red, though he had long suspected the truth. An indescribable grief and hatred surged in his heart. "Uncle!!!"