Chapter 211: The Swindler and the Monster

When some of the people on the stairwell saw Cang Xu use necromancy, they were also alarmed.

It was when they just landed on Mystifying Monster Island.

There was not enough food, thus the first mate assembled the first exploration team.

Cang Xu had volunteered.

Someone secretly disdained him, “That old man, does he not know himself? Instead of obediently hiding in camp, he wants to travel into the rainforest, he simply is courting death!”

……

Everyone that had been pursued by the scorpion group was at the end of their rope.

Bai Ya was wounded and unconscious, and the rest berated Cang Xu.

“It was because he saved you that Bai Ya was harmed!” One of them grabbed the old man by the collar and lifted him up.

Cang Xu coldly snorted, then suddenly waved his arm.

With a pow, the exploration team member’s grip was broken.

The exploration team member was caught off guard, and they recoiled back two steps. He looked at Cang Xu with bewilderment, the old man’s strength seemed to have gone against his expectations.

……

In a cave, Cang Xu had recounted his life to the body-double youngster.

“I occupied a position of power and at first, no one thought highly of me. They believed that I was extremely feeble, that I was only a simple scholar, and that one assassination could end my life. But in reality, I held the position for over thirty years.”

“He was called Lan Tu and he daydreamed all day of becoming a knight. He was my most trusted aide and assistant. After being seduced by the feudal lord’s third young miss, the youngster decided to betray me. He accused me and claimed that I was a dangerous criminal who had been hiding for many years, that I had malice towards the fief and the feudal lord’s entire family, and that I had been secretly conspiring against them.”

“You can eat me, Lord Zhen Jin!’

……

Everyone stopped their footsteps as the three templar knights fixed their attention on Cang Xu.

The teleportation gate was emitting a blue light.

Jia Sha had both succeeded and failed.

Because Cang Xu stood in front of the teleportation gate.

Zhen Jin got up, the rapier in his hand was clearly trembling.

Jia Sha’s voice broke the weird serenity, “Hehe, I didn’t expect that the final winner would actually be you! Hmph, an insignificant iron level.”

Honestly speaking, Cang Xu’s life level wasn’t that great, he was only an iron level. He belonged to the lower levels of cultivation ranks.

However, right now, both sides had depleted too much of their strength, and were approaching their limits.

The sudden reveal of Cang Xu’s iron level strength and his abundant magic power had instantly overturned the entire war situation.

Jia Sha deeply sighed, “You win, congratulations, Cang Xu. Now you can escort me and Zhen Jin through the teleportation gate. In the future, even if imperial might surrounds you, you can use us as negotiation chips.”

Zhen Jin’s face changed, then he yelled, “I am the Bai Zhen Clan’s sole heir, I. I can pay the ransom, a generous ransom!”

Below, everyone’s hearts jumped, they sensed things were anything but reassuring.

The teleportation gate was already opened.

Cang Xu was already on the fourth floor, no one could stop him.

He could go through the teleportation gate and escape with his life!

A moment prior, everyone sincerely believed that Cang Xu wouldn’t abandon his companions. But in the wake of Cang Xu exposing himself as a necromancer, everyone’s confidence in him took a dive.

This was what necromancers were!

In the empire, and even every other continent had long propagated that necromancers were callous to the extreme, killed people like flies, lacked all humanity, and were dangerous criminals that played with souls.

Now the focus of everyone’s eyes, Cang Xu smiled, then tilted sideways to look at Jia Sha, “You deserve to be called a Sheng Ming templar priest, that even at this stage, you still seek to grasp victory from defeat.”

“……”

“Unfortunately, you don’t understand. Regardless of whether one is upper or lower class, regardless of whether one is a priest or a criminal, everyone has a heart. Even I do…a necromancer with an impaled heart.”

Just as he said that, Cang Xu ignored Jia Sha’s dramatic change in expression as he attacked again.

Necromancy was cast, causing the three templar knights to freeze, and their movements became stiff.

Uinsg this opportunity, the monstrous youngster gave a rallying cry and crashed into the three knights, finally ascending to the fourth floor!

“Great job, Cang Xu!” The young man burst into laughter.

Cang Xu smiled back.

Plop.

A moment later, the young man spat out some blood, the unbearable pain caused him to kneel on the ground.

Cang Xu’s expression changed.

“What are you doing? Cang Xu!” Soon after, Zong Ge charged up and shielding the young man.

Now on the fourth floor, he finally regained control, and all over him, there was a silver light.

Silver battle qi!

This half beastman was a silver level cultivator.

“Hold on, it wasn’t Cang Xu, I am the reason.” The young man intervened on behalf of Cang Xu.

After being struck by lightning, the young man had already realized what the problem was.

“My transformations caused this!”

“I changed my bloodline to that of those remodeled magic beasts. Those magic beasts were all incomplete beings, they needed the magic prohibition environment to exist.”

“The fourth floor doesn’t have the magic prohibition, and my compound transformations into those remodeled magic beasts are no longer stable!”

The young man tried to lessen his transformations.

Sure enough, the pain rapidly receded.

Only after he turned back into the appearance of Zhen Jin, retaining just the scorpion shell, did the sharp pain alleviate enough that he was able to endure it for the time being.

He slowly stood up, and his body too radiated with silver light.

Like Zong Ge, he had also awakened his internal battle qi.

The youngster spared a moment to sigh ruefully: the battle qi he had so looked forward to was once again within his grasp on the control hub’s fourth floor.

The three templar knights retreated back to Jia Sha.

The body double youngster and the half beastman were silver fighters, and with Cang Xu, an iron level necromancer, Jia Shan and Zhen Jin couldn’t turn the tides.

The overall situation had been decided!

The others quickly ascended up the stairs, including the big guy, and all of them piled into the four floor.

“Zi Di!” The young man cred out.

“Don’t get any closer, or else I shall skewer her head!” Zhen Jin clutched Zi Di’s neck and dragged her up, simultaneously using his other hand to point the rapier at Zi Di’s chin.

Zi Di was in terrible shape, she was covered in cuts and her blood drenched her apprentice mage gown.

She was deathly pale, without blood. Her once pure and glittering amethyst like eyes had become dull.

“Let me go, that’s my president!” Fei She growled, his mind was in complete disarray.

“As long as you agree to let me go, I will release your beloved woman!” Zhen Jin tenaciously stared at the body double youngster, half threatening, half begging.

But at that moment, his movements froze, as if he had fallen into a world of ice and snow, his entire spirit had gone rigid.

“Now!” Cang Xu urged, he had used magic on the sly.

A soundless cast!

The necromancer had a deep mastery of casting.

The body double youngster suddenly stepped forth, and like a human arrow, he reached Zhen Jin in the blink of an eye.

Thump.

Silver battle qi flashed.

Zhen Jin coughed out blood as he tumbled away like a sack. The rapier in his hand fell on the tiles with a clang and slid away.

The body double youngster embraced Zi Di, the latter’s heavy injuries caused the young man’s heart to sink.

He promptly undid Zi Di’s handbag around her waist and took out healing medicine.

The young man used a trembling hand to sprinkle the medicine on Zi Di’s wounds and pour it into Zi Di’s mouth.

But the medicine simply wasn’t enough.

“Lord President!!!” Fei She also wanted to run over, however he tumbled halfway there, battered and exhausted.

As if sensing the young man’s warm hug, Zu Du slowly opened her eyes.

“Zi Di!” The young man was overjoyed. 

Ai Di weakly smiled to the young man, and barely opened her mouth, “I…knew you would come back.”

“Sorry I came late, sorry I came late.” The young man lowered his head and wept, he was brimming with self-blame.

“No, I should be the one who says sorry. I…should have said sorry earlier. I am not your princess, I am only…a swindler.” In the last moments of her life, Zi Di finally had the courage to confess to the young man.

Her heart was filled with both love and remorse.

“Forgive me forgive me…” Zi Di gazed at the young man, she wanted to extend her hand and caress the youngster’s check.

However, darkness surged, and her dusky field of view went black.

The girl’s hand stretched out halfway, then flopped down.

The young man’s heart trembled with horror as he reached out to hold the young lady’s hand.

Ice cold.

Regardless of whether it was the girl’s hand or the young man’s heart.

“No, no, no…” The young foolishly stammered, tears rolling from his eyes.

“Don’t sleep, you can’t sleep, Zi Di.”

“Wake up, wake up and look at me.”

The young man kept repeating himself, but nothing responded back.

The eyes of the girl in his arms were shut, and she no longer breathed.

“Please, please there has to be a way.”

“There must be something, there has to be something that can save Zi Di!”

“Right, the heart magic core. As long as turn Zi Di’s flesh into that of a Strong Life White Rhinoceros, she can avoid death!”

But the young man failed.

Perhaps it was possible, but he had never tried and didn’t know what to do. The red light couldn’t separate itself from his body, let along extend itself to Zi Di’s.

“Help me, someone help me now!” The young man exasperatedly beseeched his companions.

Many of them couldn’t bear to look at him.

“I can!” Cang Xu ran over.

Fei She also came to Zi Di’s side, then when he saw that Zi Di was dead, his legs gave out and he need to the ground, howling in grief.

Cang Xu quickly examined Zi Di, then shook his head, “She is already dead.”

“But you must have some method, right?” The young map looked up at Cang Xu.

Facing the young man’s eyes, Cang Xu gave an indeterminate nod, “Her body is already dead, but as for her soul, I can still do something.”

“I can try to transform her soul into a ghost.”

“Gho, ghost?!” Fei She’s eyes widened with fright.

The young man’s expression also changed.

“This is the only thing I can do. At the same time, I am also very unsure about it. Not everyone’s soul can be transformed into a ghost, and making things more difficult, Miss Zi Di has depleted too much of her spirit. To be honest, there is a miniscule chance she’ll be able to be reborn as a ghost.” Cang Xu stated frankly.

He gave the body-double youngster the power to choose.

Was it better for Zio Di’s corpse to be desecrated by necromancy for that slim chance, or should he let Zi Di pass away in peace?

A mere second later, the young man issued his decision, “Then do it, Cang Xu, you must do everything you can!”

“Of course, my Lord. I sincerely hope that I have the power to help you.” After saying that, Cang Xu began to chant and use necromancy.

However, when the necromancy flowed into Zi Di, she didn’t react.

Ten seconds, twenty, thirty seconds, one minute, two minutes…

Cang Xu sighed, “I failed.”

Fei She slumped down, paralyzed.

The young man was a sluggish as stone, as his entire being fell into the abyss of despair.

On the other side, the fight Zong Ge was dominating was also spinning to its end.

He had hacked the three templar knights to death, captured Jia Sha, who was out of divine power, and Zhen Jin, who had been seriously wounded by the youngster, surrendered willingly, his fighting spirit gone.

“Don’t kill me, my father will pay a great sum to redeem me. All of you will become wealthy!” Zhen Jin shouted.

“Hehehe.” But Jia Sha actually laughed, “Even if you win, you won’t dare to kill me, because I control the teleportation gate. Do you think you can pass through the teleportation gate? Without my permission, you cannot escape!”

Everyone was startled.

“He is right!” Zhen Jin promptly shrieked, “Not long ago, as the tower spirit was dying, Zi Di’s and his spirit fought over the authority. With Zi Di dead, Jia Sha won, he is now our sole hope to escape this place!”

“That…” Zong Ge and the others hesitated.

“Don’t forget, I am also a magician. Since your spirits eroded the authority here, I can do the same.” Cang Xu interjected.

Everyone had just begun to smile when they were extinguished by Jia Sha, “You have the ability to, but the time as passed! The magic power reservoir has been spent, the lightning that keeps striking the third floor is consuming your slot to escape. Hehehe, by the time you break in and obtain the authority, the magic power reservoir will have been long drained. The best way to escape is cooperating with me!”  

“Don’t forget me, priest, don’t forget about me!” Zhen Jin reminded at once.

“Shut up!” Tripleblade slapped Zhen Jin to the ground.

Zhen Jin’s head hi the tiles, bloodying his skin with cuts.

After being disciplined, Zhen Jin finally shut his mouth.

Zong Ge’s expression was as heavy as water, the situation was for more critical than he had expected, “We can all be teleported? How many can be teleported? Can you prove what your words?”

Jia Sha glanced at Cang Xu, the latter had already begun to use his magic power to erode authority, “Cang Xu can prove it, as long as he occupies a point of authority, his spirit can check how much magic power is left in the reservoir.”

A half minute later, Cang Xu sighed, “He’s right. There is only a little magic power, it can only teleport five people.

Everyone was in an uproar.

There were many present, far more than five.

Jia Sha broke out in giggles, “You better talk it over well, who will leave, who will stay?”

For a moment, the expression of many changed, the mood shifting to a more subdued state.  

“Don’t let that old bastard stir things up!” The body-double youngster shouted.

Everyone gazed at him, he was walking towards them, his face stained with both blood and tears. But his eyes were still resolute and clear, “We will leave together, if we can’t, then we will die together!!”

The direct and efficient declaration and unflinching look caused everyone’s hearts to relax.

“That’s right, that’s how it should be!”

“We shall listen to you, your Lordship.”

“To die together, to live together!!”

“Hahaha, even if we die, we will still profit by begin buried with these bigshots.”

Everyone shouted, all of them approved of the youngster’s words.

“These people are all insane, they are actually listening to that monster!” Zhen Jin’s eyes widened, fear was filling them. But because Tripleblade had slapped him, he could only madly roar in his heart, he didn’t dare to make a sound.

Jia Sha’s expression changed, “Are you certain? Are you sure you want to give up this last chance?”

“Hehehe.”

“I urge everyone to calm down a bit.”

“Why don’t you think about your wives, your children, your parents, or perhaps the burdens and expectations you are shouldering?”

“Even though most of you will die, some of you can survives, why do you want to give that up?”

“Even dead men can request many things from the survivors.”

Like a sharp arrow, the priest’s words pierced everyone’s hearts.

“Shut up, if it weren’t for you coveting the divine artifact, we could have left already.” The body-double youngster walked over, hate filled his face.

Jia Sha smiled, “What use is it in speaking about that now?”

“You only want to see us strife with each other, and fight amongst ourselves. Since you hold teleportation authority, the final decision on who can or cannot escape lies with you.” As the young man said this, he drew a dagger.

It was Zi Di’s dagger, it had mainly been used for collecting medicine, and was of extraordinary quality.

In the spider forest, Zi Di had tossed this very dagger to the body-double youngster so he could free himself.

“What are you doing…ack!” Jia Sha suddenly scowled.

The young man ruthlessly thrusted the dagger into his belly.

“What am I doing? Taking vengeance of course! Not only for Zi Di, but for everyone’s animosity.” At that moment, the young man looked quite terrifying, he looked like the blackened surface of lava that, at any time, could wrathfully rush out and swallow everything!

Sensing the youngster’s killing intent, Jia Sha stopped pretending.

What kind of person was Jia Sha?

How could he compromise with these lowly underclass people?

He only wanted to enjoy watching them tear each other to shreds as he lay dying.

Cang Xu then spoke, “Jia Sha has deceived us, he is in an extremely terrible state, and has exhausted all of his potential and vitality. Without immense merits that would grant him at least a legend level divine spell treatment, he will soon die.”

Jia Sha shrugged his shoulders high and pointlessly smiled, “Then we shall die together.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t get off that easily.” The body-double youngster took a step back, then looked at all the others, “Next, you all should come take your revenge.”

Everyone stared blankly at him, but soon got his meaning.

“I will go first.” The closest companion quickly walked to Jia Sha, took the dagger, then stabbed him once

Jia Sha grunted, his eyes seemed to be shooting flames.

Immediately afterwards, another companion took over to stab him with the knife. Before leaving, he didn’t forget to spit on Jia Sha’s face.

The priest angrily shuddered all over, “You group of untouchables, untouchables!!”

Another companion walked over and stabbed Jia Sha.

The young man crossed his arms, supervising this to the side.

Finally, it was Bai Ya’s turn. The youngster trembled as he took the dagger, his eyes closed as he thrusted forth.

The dagger pierced Jia Sha’s body.

As death approached, Jia Sha nevertheless howled with laughter, “Your sins cannot be forgiven, you will all die, all of you must die. You will never obtain the Gods’ redemption, your souls will be cast into hell and the abyss…ack!”

His stunned expression froze on his face.

He rigidly gazed ahead, like he was seeing some unimaginable sight.

Everyone followed his gaze and looked yonder.

A moment later, everyone else was shocked dumb.

A ghost was unhurriedly shaking out of Zi Di’s corpse and wafting in the air.

“Zi Di!” After recovering, the youngster cheered with joy.

Fei She clapped Cang Xu’s back, “You did it, you did it!”

The clap Cang Xu staggered Cang Xu and he almost fell, shock spread across his face, “Her broken soul became a ghost, nigh impossible, unless…”

A possibility floated into his mind, and Cang Xu decided to ask, “Miss Zi Di, did you once cultivate necromancy?”