Kunlun"s disciples began cleaning the battlefield. Zhou Yi retreated quietly, complaining inwardly, "The Emperor of the human world is really foolish! The elaborate plan drawn up with Nascent Soul was chucked out completely. I"ve thought we could have taken advantage of Xu Linghe"s absence to wipe out all the Kunlun"s disciples. I did not expect such result." But Zhou Yi wondered why Ye Juechen stood up to save Kunlun"s disciple out of danger. "Is his behavior a pose to show Shenzong, or out of kindness?" If Ye Juechen did it for the latter reason, Zhou Yi thought it was a must to warn Nascent Soul of it so as to prevent Ye Juechen from ruining their great cause. Although they all served for Chidi, they had seldom connection. When the corpses had been cleared away and Kunlun"s disciple returned to Ao Ze"s main hall, Zhou Yi entered the hall and hid in the corner quietly. Looking around, he did not see his younger brother Zhou Jing, so he felt quite uneasy. He had asked Zhou Jing to take the disciples of the Hall of Rewards and Punishments to wait and scoop out in the back mountain. But didn"t they know that things had changed, and were still waiting there? But Zhou Yi gave a negative answer to the a.s.sumption, since he had told Zhou Jing that things would change after certain time and not to act rashly. "Why hasn"s my younger brother turned up? Is there anything wrong to him?" Zhou Yi was anxious at that time.
When Shenzong sat on the cloud couch, the noisy main hall becames quiet. And Zhou Yi was fl.u.s.tered. Shenzong rarely came to the hall unless there was something important to announce. Looking around, he found that all the Kunlun disciples were there, and even the injured Kunlun"s little disciples were carried to the main hall. "What happened indeed? Even the injured disciples can"t be absent." With the thought, Zhou Yi"s heart was entangled again. Since his brother was still missing, the fear welled up in Zhou Yi"s heart. "Did something bad really happen to him?" Zhou Yi took an inadvertent glance and saw Ye Juechen smiling at him significantly. Suddenly, Zhou Yi felt a chill struck him. It seemed that his brother"s whereabout was related to this person, and Ye Juechen took a look back on him. And no eye contact was exchanged afterwards.
"Take him up."
Shenzong"s voice scared Zhou Yi wet with cold sweat. He found his younger brothers trussed up tightly, and the disciples of the Hall of Rewards and Punishments were behind. His younger brother looked frightened, seemingly not knowing what was going on, while the disciples of the Hall of Rewards and Punishments wailed heavily, perhaps because they knew they would die soon. Zhou Yi clenched his trembling hands, warning himself not to be chaotic himself. Shenzong snapped his spiritual finger, and Zhou Jing bounced out tens of meters away from the Spirit Power"s attack. Only then did Zhou Yi realize how serious the matter was. He lowered his b.l.o.o.d.y head on the ground.
"You vile disciple, dared to commit high treason!"
On the hall, Shenzong was as chill as an icicle, who was so scary that little disciples did not dare to speak. Zhou Jing kept kowtowing. The moment Shenzong"s voice faded away, Zhou Jing had been greatly frightened to death. Zhou Jing had never seen the Mentor was in such fury before, as if the Mentor"s stern manner showed that he was eager to peel Zhou Jing"s skin off. But with more thought, Zhou Jing still could not figure out what"s wrong with himself. "I was in the back mountain at that time. But when I woke up, I found myself tied up. Did the people of the Hall of Rewards and Punishements betray me?" Zhou Jing took a glimpse behind, only to find that all the disciples of the Hall of Rewards and Punishments were tied up. "Does Shenzong find that I collude with Chidi?" The more Zhou Jing thought, the more frightened he was. "Who sold me out? Is it my brother, since only my brother is fine in the Hall?" Thinking about that, Zhou Jing felt his heart hurt as if cut by knives. "How could my brother sell me out?"
"Look at the good things you"ve done."
Shenzong grabbed something and threw it at him. Zhou Yi was in confusion firstly, and when seeing clearly what was on the brocade roll, he sat down heavily on the ground. "Isn"t it the map of Kunlun? The map is drawn in such details that only Kunlun"s disciples can do it. And in Kunlun, only I can draw such a elaborate map."
Zhou Yi held the map and crawl in the direction of Shenzong. He did not want to die, and it was clearly he had been framed!
"Do you convict yourself of the sin?"
Shenzong snapped his spiritual fingers, and Zhou Jing was once again bounced out, his mouth bleeding. Zhou Jing thought of his brother, and crawled toward the last life-saving straw, hoping his elder brother to save him. But Zhou Yi was also helpless and thought, "Someone did play tricks in the dark and tried to force his younger brother to admit that he has colluded with Chidi. What a vicious movement. If I choose to defend my brother, the person will take out more evidence to prove that Zhou Jing colluded with Chidi. Who is he? Only two possibilities. One, Shenzong has known that we removed the seal on the demon-suppressing paG.o.da, but could not find the chance to fix us. So he took advantage of the moment when Nascent Soul attacked Kunlun to frame Zhou Jing. By doing so, Zhou Jing was caught with the loot and could not clear himself up even he jumped into the Yellow River. To kill a person with a borrowed knife. Each knife p.r.i.c.ks into the vital part. I did not expect such result, either. And second, it was all done by Ye Juechen. To win Shenzong"s trust, he dragged Zhou Jing into the water. Afraid that Shenzhong had any suspect, he made Zhou Jing the scapegoat to show his own loyalty. What should I do now? Should I sit by and watch Shenzong beat Zhou Jing to death?" Zhou Yi"s teeth trembled. They had been living together since childhood. And Zhou Yi never thought one day, either of them would take a step first. His brother Zhou Jing squat down in front of him, and Zhou Yi thought, "If I carry the crime, Zhou Jing will be alive!" Zhou Yi bent down to help his younger brother to clean the corners of his mouth. In addition to fear, nothing was in his brother"s eyes. Only then did Zhou Yi know that he should not let his brother go this way. "If I could chooses again, I would rather my brother would stay away from the disputes and live a simple life. It is I who force my brother to embark on this road of no return. If I knew this result, I should teach him some ways to survive so that even if I am dead one day, my brother will still have some living hope. Kunlun is no longer a peaceful place. Except for me, there would be someone else. Whereever there are people, there are disputes. In order to stand out, everyone dares to make a reckless move. This is a Jinghu world. Kunlun is the Jianghu world for Kunlun"s disciples, and also a place of jungle justice. For the position of Sect Master, sacrifice is inevitable." Zhou Yi released his brother and walked to the main hall step by step. Shenzong just pressed hard on Zhou Yi and also played it to those Kunlun"s disciples engaged in illegal activities—Shenzong showed zero tolerance to those who colluded with Chidi. The main hall was utterly quiet. All of the people there were still shocked at the sudden plot.
"Master, the map is Zhou..."
When the sound of "Zhou"s voice just fell, Zhou Jing suddenly flew up, knelt on both knees to all the disciples in the main hall and confessed that the map was drawn by himself, and then gave it to Di Qing in the human world. Ye Juechen was moved by their brotherhood, never expecting that there were some true feelings between these two brothers who seemed to be selfish in normal times. But Ye Juechen could not understand how the map had fallen into Shenzong"s hands, and he remembered well that he had given it to Di Qing. The more Ye Juechen thought, the more fl.u.s.tered he became. In the whole Ao Ze, only Shenzong could force Zhou Yi to give in. Therefore, it seemed that Shenzong had known the truth of the seal on the demon-suppressing paG.o.da and guessed that it had been done by Zhou Brothers, but Shenzong just waited for the chance. And this time, the two brothers became the spies, which made Shenzong unwilling to stand any longer, so he decided to get rid of them through a borrowed knife. In fact, the Kunlun"s map was drawn by Ye Juechen who imitated Zhou Jing"s handwriting. Therefore, even the map was discovered, no one could trace it back to Ye Juechen himself. Ye Juschen guessed that Shenzong got the map probably when he fought with Di Qing. "Master"s movement to beat the dog before the lion is cruel indeed. He did it for all the Kunlun"s disciples in order to warn those who are disloyal to repent as soon as possible. Otherwise, they will have the same doom like Zhou Jing. Has the Master found something out?" Thinking of it, Ye Juechen was scared with cold sweat. He felt lucky that he had acted in a well-rounded way, and did not leave any evidence. But next time he warned himself that he must be more careful and never follow the footsteps of Zhou Jing.
"As the Deputy Hall Chief of the Hall of Rewards and Punishments, you dare to collude with outsiders. Considering you"ve been following me for years, I will leave you die with whole body."
Shenzong transformed a sharp sword and charged at him. Zhou Jing crept trembling toward it and held the sharp sword to p.r.i.c.k his own abdomen. Zhou Yi blocked the sword edge with his hands, because he knew that the sword would kill his brother, making them apart from each other forever. But Zhou Jing knew that he could not drag his brother because of his own foolishness. "Even I am alive, I can"t accomplish anything great. I will give the living hope to my brother, hoping one day he will become the Sect Master of Kunlun."
"Elder brother..."
Blood flowed from the fingers. And Zhou Yi held his brother tightly. At that moment, Zhou Yi only wanted to treat his younger brother gently. Zhou Yi"s younger brother whom he had despised from childhood gave the living hope to him, which embarra.s.sed him a lot! Zhou Jing"s blood reddened Zhou Yi"s clothes. "This is my brother." Zhou Yi"s heart was tearing. He knew that it was he who had forced Zhou Jing into the blind alley. "If I had not been so selfish and remained in my proper sphere, how could Zhou Jing die?"
On the cloud couch, Shenzong looked ruthless but felt sad inwardly. Zhou Jing had followed Shenzong for tens of thousands of years since the establishment of the Sect and was bewildered by greed. In the entire Kunlun, there were many more greedy disciples apart from Zhou Brothers. It seemed that those disciples had forgotten their vows made at the moment when the Sect had been built. If it went on like that, Kunlun would fall in a mess ahead of the three realms. Shenzong felt heart ached seeing that Kunlun was being swallowed by selfish desires. All the Hall Masters were ganging together. This was not the Kunlun that Shenzong wanted. His Master once warned him that Kunlun"s presence was to guarantee the peace in the three realms and that Kunlun could not lose its essence. But now how did Kunlun change? The disciples colluded with outsides and got Kunlun into trouble of Authority battle. Without some unusual methods to clear the Sect, Kunlun would perish before Chidi"s a.s.sault. Zhou Jing died as a last resort. Shenzong only hoped Kunlun"s disciples would take this as a precept and never erode Kunlun"s foundation. "How many disciples can know my good intentions? Today, Zhou Jing died and Zhou Yi will not be reconciled. But once the bristletail in the Kunlun is not cleared, the Kunlun"s foundation industry for tens of thousands of years will have to be cast to the winds." Shenzong was reluctant to see such a sight.
Zhou Yi carried his brother out of the main hall. He understood that what Shenzong had done today was done for him. Today, either he or his brother would die. Shenzong had to use the trick because he lacked evidence. In the main hall, all the little disciples were fl.u.s.tered, since they had never seen Shenzong was so cruel before. Even the disciples of the Hall of Rewards and Punishments were exiled to the wasteland and would not be allowed to return to Kunlun forever. Shenzong weakened himself by removing his a.s.sistants and subordinates as if he had severed his arms and peeled off his muscles and bones. But Shenzong did not have an excuse to expel Zhou Yi out of Kunlun. Zhou Yi swore, "One day, I will use your blood to sacrifice my Younger Brother Jing."
Ye Juechen felt fortunate that he could have a path out thanks to his tact, and dared not to ack rashly in the future. The movement to beat the dog before the lion was used on the right time by Master. In this way, not only could the Hall of Rewards and Punishments be eradicated, but also Zhou Yi was left alone and helpless. "What a tactful movement! I thought Master has become a dotard and never imagined that a simple map could catch all the forces that ZhouYi has fostered in one draft," thought Ye Juechen. When he returned to his wing room and began cleaning the drawing paint, for some unknow reason, his hands shivered, because he found the nicking tool and some drawing paint were missing. Ye Juechen checked them again. When making the final confirmation, he fell into a panic. Someone had taken away some drawing paint when Ye Juechen was off guard. The drawing paint was the most convincible evidence. If someone wanted him to fall like Zhou Jing, just hand them over to Shenzong. But the person left a line of life for Ye Jechen. "Is he Shenzong?" Ye Juechen did not think that he saved himself, merely because Shenzong found Ye Juechen still held his conscience in the battle.