Chapter 2263: A Lie Exposed
Lu Yin pursed his lips. Once people with colder demeanors lost control of their emotions, they tended to explode more violently than others.
Xiao Qing stared blankly at Long Xi, who had suddenly appeared in front of her, momentarily dazed. "Pri- Princess?"
Long Xi sullenly stared at Xiao Qing. "Who sent you?"
Xiao Qing immediately panicked, and the communication crystal tumbled from her fingers and crashed onto the ground. The sound startled the maid, and she took a few steps back.
"Who sent you!" Long Xi yelled.
Xiao Qing trembled as she stared at Long Xi in terror. Like Long Xi, Xiao Qing was usually a rather cold and indifferent person, but at this moment, she looked as if a mask had been torn away by an overwhelming tide of fear. "Princess, I- I don"t know what you are talking about."
Long Xi looked at Xiao Qing with open disappointment. "I just heard your entire conversation. Talk to me, and I might not kill you."
The mention of death terrified Xiao Qing. She had spent many years within the White Dragon Clan, and had not once experienced any life or death crises. Her terror mounted ever further. "Princess, I never- I never hurt you or the White Dragon Clan!"
"Speak!" Long Xi screamed, her voice causing the house to shake.
Xiao Qing"s legs grew weak, and she collapsed to the floor. Sweat dripped from her head, and her eyes grew dull. "It- it’s the Celestial Frost Sect."
Long Xi let out a shaky breath as she stared at Xiao Qing, who was frozen on the floor. Long Xi had no idea how to even react.
It was at this moment that Lu Yin approached. "What did the Celestial Frost Sect order you to do while within the White Dragon Clan?"
Xiao Qing grew even more horrified when she saw Lu Yin. "Long Qi? No, Lu Xiaoxuan!"
Lu Yin had returned to his normal appearance when he released Long Xi from Zenith Mountain. A smile appeared on his face as he crouched down and stared at Xiao Qing. "Since you know who I am, you should also know that I won’t go easy on you. Answer my question, and maybe I"ll let you live. Otherwise, hehe…"
Xiao Qing clutched Long Xi"s legs and started begging, "Princess, please forgive me! I never did anything! I might have been sent here to Dragon Mountain by the Celestial Frost Sect, but I really never did anything! I’ve never hurt you! I didn"t do anything to hurt the White Dragon Clan!"
"Then what were you doing just now? The White Dragon Clan is doing their best to hide everything about the blood pool, but you just exposed it all to the Celestial Frost Sect," Lu Yin retorted with a small smile.
Xiao Qing grew even more pale. There was nothing that she could say to argue with the facts.
"Actually, I just remembered something. Back when the two of us went to visit the Ancestor Python in the Lower Realm, there was no reason anyone should have known when and where we were going. And yet, the Celestial Frost Sect knew our exact departure time. They were able to accurately determine where we would arrive, and Realmless sent a.s.sa.s.sins after us based on that information. Did you give us away?" Lu Yin suddenly asked.
Xiao Qing immediately denied the allegations, "No! I never said anything! I didn’t tell them!"
"Also, after I arrived on Dragon Mountain, I was sent to live by Hidden Dragon Lake, only to almost immediately be challenged by other people from different branch families of the White Dragon Clan. Did you tell them about me?" Lu Yin continued his questions.
Xiao Qing grew increasingly nervous. "No! I never told them anything! Those people’s strength would not have been able to do anything to you! I really didn’t say anything that time!"
"That time? So you were the one who leaked our itinerary when we went to visit the Ancestor Python?" Lu Yin sneered.
Xiao Qing started trembling, and her face turned even more pale.
Long Xi stared at Xiao Qing. "Just how many times have you betrayed me?"
Xiao Qing was terrified, and she did not dare to say a thing.
"Why don’t you start talking? Haven’t you already done enough? If you don’t say anything, I can’t see any reason to let you live," Lu Yin spoke slowly.
Xiao Qing instantly responded, "No, I never did almost anything! It’s just- it’s just that when Junior Progenitor Bai was trying to court the princess, I shared her schedule and whereabouts. Also, also…"
"What else?" Lu Yin yelled. The woman was too sheltered to not be absolutely terrified of death, and just intimidating her was enough to make her do anything.
Lu Yin scared the woman so badly that she blurted out, "I- I gave them the locations and schedules of all the candidates from the branch families!"
Lu Yin immediately understood. "No wonder the White Dragon Clan’s various descendants and all of Long Xi’s potential partners died. I remember being surprised to learn that the Celestial Frost Sect was powerful enough to search through the entire Middle Realm, as they shouldn’t have had that much power. So they succeeded because you gave them all the information."
Xiao Qing’s head hung low, and her heart dropped further and further. The fear of death had already overwhelmed her, and she did not dare to hide anything at all.
Long Xi closed her eyes. She had also been rather confused as to how the Celestial Frost Sect had tracked down so many descendants of the White Dragon Clan, as there had been at least a hundred youths who had traveled from all different directions. It should have been impossible for the Celestial Frost Sect to lock down so many different paths and hunt down so many people, but they had succeeded, and it had all been because of Xiao Qing.
It was Xiao Qing’s fault that all of those people had died.
"Princess, I never hurt you! Please, save me! Save me!" Xiao Qing begged.
Sadness filled Long Xi"s eyes even as a powerful killing intent flickered in their depths.
Lu Yin had no doubt that Long Xi would kill Xiao Qing without hesitation, so he set a hand on Long Xi"s shoulder. She looked over at him, puzzled.
Lu Yin stepped past Long Xi and squatted down into a crouch to look at Xiao Qing from the same level. "Tell me, who is your father?"
Xiao Qing"s trembling grew even worse than before, and her eyes started darting about. This question clearly frightened her even more than Long Xi"s earlier questions. She did not dare to answer, and she also refused to meet Lu Yin’s eyes.
Lu Yin had only asked out of simple curiosity, as from what he and Long Xi had overheard from the earlier conversation, her father had been sent to the Fifth Mainland as part of the army sent with Grand Elder Ni Huang to hunt Lu Yin down. It was possible that Lu Yin might recognize the man.
However, Xiao Qing"s reaction was too extreme, especially towards Lu Yin. She exhibited an odd type of fear. It seemed to be almost instinctive, but it was clearly greater than the girl"s fear of Long Xi.
This did not make sense, as even when Lu Yin had used the alias of Long Qi to make a ma.s.sive fuss on Dragon Mountain, humiliating the entire clan, Xiao Qing had not shown as much fear at this moment. Lu Yin had indeed threatened the girl, but she seemed to be reacting to something much, much greater than a mere threat.
"I just asked you who your father is," Lu Yin repeated.
Xiao Qing shakingly replied, "Qing- Elder Qing Xing."
Lu Yin was stunned. "Elder Qing Xing?"
Even Long Xi became a bit curious. "You’re the daughter of the Celestial Frost Sect’s Elder Qing Xing?"
Xiao Qing nodded.
"You seem very afraid to admit that," Lu Yin commented.
Xiao Qing instantly panicked. "My father created many problems for the princess at Bai Shaohong’s bidding, and he also killed many of the White Dragon Clan’s descendants. On top of that, my father was the one to contacted Realmless and ordered-”
She froze for a moment and stared at Lu Yin. “He ordered the a.s.sa.s.sination of Long Qi. That’s why I didn’t dare say anything."
Lu Yin stood back up and looked down at Xiao Qing lying on the ground. It was unexpected to learn that she was Elder Qing Xing’s daughter. Truthfully, one of the reasons why it was such a surprise was because someone as old as Elder Qing Xing normally would not have such a young daughter. It was quite shocking.
Long Xi also had not expected to hear such a thing. "No wonder you were so happy to betray my White Dragon Clan—you did it for your father. Truthfully, this can’t even be considered betrayal, but rather simply espionage."
Xiao Qing continued to beg Long Xi to let her go.
Long Xi wanted to attack, but Lu Yin suddenly spoke up. "Wait a moment."
Xiao Qing eagerly looked up at Lu Yin.
Long Xi felt rather confused. "You want to save her?"
Lu Yin replied, "She’s more useful to keep alive than dead. You can use her to obtain information regarding the Celestial Frost Sect. Just make the best use of her."
"What? And just forget all that she did?" Long Xi"s voice turned to ice. "She’s the reason why so many of my clan’s descendants died. Who will avenge them?"
"Princess, I can help you work against the Celestial Frost Sect! I can help you steal information! All that I ask is that you spare my life! Please, Princess!" Xiao Qing begged.
Lu Yin said, "I won"t stop you from killing her, but just consider your White Dragon Clan’s situation. She’s much more valuable alive than dead."
Long Xi glared down at Xiao Qing. There was a turbulent mixture of rage, killing intent, and disappointment swirling through those eyes. "I thought that you were like me, but unfortunately, I was wrong."
She then turned around and left the courtyard entirely.
Xiao Qing heaved a ma.s.sive sigh of relief, though bitterness filled her eyes. It was not as though she felt nothing for Long Xi after so many years, but rather, they were simply on different sides.
Lu Yin spoke up again, "It"s not always better to be alive rather than dead. If I keep you alive, I can also control you."
He raised a hand, and a Death Seal entered Xiao Qing"s body. She was not even an Enlighter, which meant that the G.o.d of Death’s Death Seal could provide extremely limiting control over the woman. There were many people who would rather die than see their stellular energy vortex destroyed, as losing their cultivation and power was more terrifying than death.
As for Xiao Qing, nothing scared her more than the prospect of death.
"All I need to do is will it, and you’ll die. If you don"t believe me, go ahead and ask some people from the Celestial Frost Sect to help you undo that seal. Of course, you’ll only get one chance, as you’ll be dead the moment you fail, and you won’t even have an intact corpse," Lu Yin coldly informed Xiao Qing.
The woman quivered. "I don’t dare! I’ll never try to remove it! Thank you, Long Xi! Thank you sir!"
Lu Yin arched a brow. It had been a long time since he had been referred to in that manner.
"In addition to placing a kill-switch in your body, I need you to meet with someone. Actually, part of the reason why you’re still alive is because of him." As Lu Yin spoke, he brought out Zenith Mountain and released Elder Qing Xing.
The moment the old man appeared, he stared at Lu Yin in confusion, as Qing Xing had no idea what was going on.
Lu Yin casually informed the man, "You can’t say that I"m unreasonable. I’ve saved your daughter’s life, but whether or not she manages to stay alive will all depend on her own luck."
Elder Qing Xing was completely stumped. "My daughter?"
To the side, Xiao Qing was still lying limp on the ground, and she stared at Elder Qing Xing in a daze. Wha-? What’s HE doing here?
Xiao Qing was overcome with the unique sensation of falling into h.e.l.l. She had never dreamed that Elder Qing Xing would actually be with Lu Yin. How was Lu Yin carrying someone along and keeping them so perfectly hidden?
Lu Yin pointed over at Xiao Qing. "You don"t even recognize your own daughter?"
Elder Qing Xing turned and stared at Xiao Qing. After a moment, he frowned. "She looks a bit familiar…"
Suddenly, the old man remembered. "Aren"t you Princess Long Xi"s maid?"
The moment those words were spoken, Lu Yin"s expression changed, and he whirled around to stare at Xiao Qing. A hand snapped out and grabbed hold of the woman’s hair, dragging her over to Lu Yin. Xiao Qing blanched, her face becoming completely white. Her eyes were large and darted about as she tried to struggle free, but how could she ever escape from Lu Yin?
Long Xi returned to the courtyard, curious as to why Lu Yin had suddenly attacked Xiao Qing.
"You actually dare to lie to me?" Lu Yin"s tone was glacial. He had not even considered that he would be deceived by a weakling whose life was being held in his hand. He had completely believed Xiao Qing when she had claimed to be Elder Qing Xing"s daughter. That was the only reason why he had kept her alive, as he believed she could be useful. Shockingly, she had been willing to lie even when confronted with death, and her lie had almost been perfect.
Lu Yin understood her mentality, as he had also done just about everything necessary to survive throughout his life, including sneaking around, using disguises, lying, and countless other deceptions. Despite all of that experience, he had still been deceived by a weakling whose life was held in Lu Yin’s hands.
Elder Qing Xing could not even start making sense of what was happening in front of him.
Long Xi stared at Xiao Qing. "You lied, which means that you die. Either everything you said is a lie, or your father is someone who you can’t reveal. So, tell me, just who is your father?"
She had grown much more curious about this question.
As for Lu Yin, he squeezed his grip on Xiao Qing"s hair even tighter. "I want to know who your father is, so tell us now."