Volume 1 Volume 5 Chapter 156

Volume 5 Chapter 156: Preparation (Part 3)

"You have seen the contents of that green slip, haven’t you?"

At first, Xu Qingfan had some doubts about this matter, but looking at Li Yuhan in front of him, for some reason, he gradually started to believe in the truth of it.

"No."

Hearing Xu Qingfan’s words, Li Yuhan seemed a bit surprised, then shook his head to deny it.

"You have indeed seen it."

Xu Qingfan let out a slight sigh, but his tone became even more certain than last time.

"I wonder why Martial Uncle Xu is so sure?"

Li Yuhan asked.

Xu Qingfan slowly explained, "There are three reasons. First, I mentioned before how important the green slip is, but since you returned it, you have shown no curiosity at all. It’s quite strange."

Li Yuhan calmly replied, "Martial Uncle Xu, you know my curiosity is not as strong as others."

Xu Qingfan ignored Li Yuhan’s reply and continued, "Second, you are Li Yuhan. I have said many times that once I die, you must check the green slip right away and act according to its contents. You can’t forget that. You have never let me down before, and you won’t this time either. There was more than a day between when everyone thought I was dead and when I appeared, which is enough time for you to check the green slip several times."

Saying this, Xu Qingfan shook his head with a bitter smile and said, "I almost wish you could make a mistake this time, but it seems very unlikely."

"Everyone makes mistakes, including me. You can imagine, there have been so many things happening at once lately, and I can’t keep track of everything." Li Yuhan argued.

Xu Qingfan still did not acknowledge his explanation and stared at Li Yuhan, slowly saying, "Third, and most importantly, you are very strong—stronger than me—but you do not lie. Throughout our conversation, you have remained too calm. Although it seems like there are no flaws, your calmness is the biggest flaw. In this situation, you shouldn’t be so calm."

Li Yuhan fell silent. He slightly lowered his head, but after a moment he raised it again and silently met Xu Qingfan’s gaze in the dark. He did not back down; his eyes were still as clear and sincere as when Xu Qingfan first met him, but Xu Qingfan’s heart gradually grew colder.

After a long silence, the darkness in the room made the silence feel even heavier.

"I don’t care whether you have seen the content of this green slip or not. It doesn’t matter if you have or haven’t. I just want you to know that everything I have done, which may seem hard to understand, has always been for Jiuhua. I explained this clearly in the green slip."

In the darkness, in the silence, after a long time, Xu Qingfan finally spoke.

Li Yuhan suddenly smiled slightly and replied, "Martial Uncle Xu, everything I have done has also been for Jiuhua, not for any one person."

"That’s good."

There was silence again.

Xu Qingfan suddenly felt a bit annoyed with the darkness in his room that had once drawn him in, because he always felt that in the darkness, he couldn’t see Li Yuhan’s expression, nor could he understand his true feelings from Li Yuhan’s face, even though for Xu Qingfan, day and night, light and darkness made no difference.

"Never mind," Xu Qingfan broke the silence, speaking a bit wearily. "I remember you said that some people really trust me and have tried to meet me through you several times?"

Li Yuhan replied, "Indeed, there are a group of people like that. They were once outstanding cultivators from small sects or rogue cultivators, hiding before the disaster, but were captured by the ‘Yin’ organization, wanting to turn them into ‘Beast Madness cultivators’ to disrupt the cultivation world. However, at the critical moment, Martial Uncle, you saved them. Later, because of their notable strength, they were placed in various teams and were saved by you again at Wolf Howling Mountain. They are very grateful for your two rescues and their experiences during that time, and they have come to me many times, wanting to meet you in person to show their thanks."

Xu Qingfan nodded and said, "Choose five people from those people who have the purest intentions towards me and are the friendliest, as well as the highest level of cultivation. Give me their names."

"Okay, I’ll take care of it right away." Li Yuhan nodded. As always, he never refused any request from Xu Qingfan.

"Alright, it’s nothing now," Xu Qingfan said slowly.

Li Yuhan bent down to leave, and Xu Qingfan personally escorted him to the gate. Li Yuhan again mentioned that it was not proper to do so, just like before.

However, when Xu Qingfan returned to the house, his expression seemed even darker in the shadows.

In the dark room, Jin Qinghan and Dongfang Qingling had appeared at some point, quietly waiting for Xu Qingfan’s return.

He nodded at the two and then asked, "How is the investigation going?"

Jin Qinghan replied, "Senior Brother Lv indeed has not seen the green slip. At that time, he was only thinking about getting revenge for you and completely forgot about it. But Li Yuhan does not know that the green slip has been in his hand all along; he can check it anytime without being discovered."

Xu Qingfan nodded, then turned his gaze to Dongfang Qingling, who said with a strange expression, "In recent days, Li Yuhan has behaved quite normally, but there are two strange points. One is that after he returned to ‘Ronghua Mountain,’ he asked several disciples of Jiuhua about their opinions on you and sect leader martial uncle’s separation, and his expression was very strange. The second is that he has increased offerings to some elders who have not had good feelings toward you, and his relationship with people like Gongsun Huasa has started to improve."

Xu Qingfan’s heart began to sink.

It seems that Li Yuhan not only read the content in the green slip but also took action.

"Senior Brother Xu, what exactly happened? What is wrong with Li Yuhan?"

Jin Qinghan finally couldn’t help but ask curiously. Dongfang Qingling also looked at Xu Qingfan with wonder.

Xu Qingfan shook his head, looking a bit weary, as if he had no strength left to respond.

Xu Qingfan focused on the big picture, striving to gain fame for Jiuhua and maintain its existence, while Li Yuhan handled the various matters within the sect, paying attention to the details and helping Xu Qingfan find what was missing. They relied on each other and were the most in-sync partners, but now, the trust between partners or reliance was no longer there.

After a moment of silence, Xu Qingfan looked up at Jin Qinghan and said, "Junior Brother Jin, starting today, you need to devote some of your energy to secretly investigate Li Yuhan’s actions." He then turned to Dongfang Qingling and said, "Junior Martial Sister Dongfang, I know your abilities, but I had been thinking of letting you work hard to improve your skills first. However, it seems you must step forward now. From today, you are in charge of assisting Li Yuhan with the sect’s affairs."

Although they didn’t know exactly what had happened, both Xu Qingfan and Dongfang Qingling unconditionally trusted him, so they nodded in agreement without hesitation.

"It looks very impressive, but at this moment, the only ones I can trust are you two."

Xu Qingfan murmured in the darkness.

※※※※

On a narrow path in the mountains, under the night sky, Li Yuhan stepped out of Xu Qingfan’s yard and slowly headed towards his room, looking even more tired than Xu Qingfan.

He had seen the green slip.

On Wolf Howling Mountain, while everyone was upset about Xu Qingfan’s death, he stayed calm and first checked the green slip that Xu Qingfan had repeatedly asked to be looked at right after his death.

The contents shocked him beyond measure.

Just as Xu Qingfan had thought, within Jiuhua, the only person Li Yuhan had always respected and trusted was Zhang Hualing. It was Zhang Hualing who saved him from the edge of life and death and brought him into Jiuhua. This was also the reason he did not betray his master during the previous Jiuhua disaster, standing firmly by Zhang Hualing’s side. It was also why he had devoted himself to helping Xu Qingfan, because Zhang Hualing had asked him to.

However, the contents of the green slip revealed that Xu Qingfan had been planning to kill Zhang Hualing, fearing that Zhang Hualing might soon step into evil and lose his mind.

Li Yuhan believed Xu Qingfan’s words, for these were things Xu Qingfan wanted everyone to handle after his death; there was no way he would lie about them.

Yet, because of this, he was even more shocked, as if something he held dear in his heart had suddenly vanished.

But that was not the reason he began to distance himself from Xu Qingfan; he was certainly loyal to Zhang Hualing, but even more loyal to Jiuhua.

In fact, if Xu Qingfan had not come back to life, he would have followed Xu Qingfan’s plan.

He did this because he could clearly sense from the hints in the green slip that Xu Qingfan left this message because he was infected by the "Beast Madness," and before that, Xu Qingfan had also been transformed by that evil dark magic, just like Zhang Hualing.

Zhang Hualing might walk the dark path, but what about Xu Qingfan?

The next two leaders of Jiuhua might also step into the dark path; is that not a kind of irony?

Li Yuhan did not want this irony to become reality; he could no longer trust Zhang Hualing, even if Zhang Hualing remained clear-headed. He could no longer trust Xu Qingfan, even if Xu Qingfan was seen as Jiuhua’s future hope. But the whole world trusted them. His character did not allow such dangerous things to happen.

The moonlight was clear, but Li Yuhan suddenly missed the late Sheng Yushan; he held on to his beliefs, yet no one could fight alongside him—neither Zhang Hualing, nor Jiuhua, nor anyone else.

At that moment, he felt more alone than Xu Qingfan, yet his gaze remained firm.

He trusted the current Xu Qingfan, but he could never allow Xu Qingfan to become the Master of Jiuhua in the future!

On the other side, after Dongfang Qingling and Jin Qinghan left, Xu Qingfan sat in silence for a long time in the dark. Suddenly, he stood up, pushed the door open, and quickly flew towards Zhang Hualing’s courtyard.