Like a Ray in My Night (Part 4)

687 They Could Not Be Reconciled

While Zhi Guan and Liu Bao Ru dealt with the first group of disciples, Mu Qing stood in the main hall, holding Yun Bei Fen's body while looking at Song Yu Zheng and his two followers. He knew how important this youth was to his junior martial brother but ... to be honest, he'd rather not be responsible for this. It very much felt like he was holding a hot potato.

Thanks to Zhi Guan's previous deception, everyone was still wearing veils so he couldn't see anyone's expression but Song Yu Zheng's eyes were a telltale sign that trouble was right ahead. In the past few minutes, his gaze had been on an interesting journey that started at the door leading out of the hall, passed by his face, and finally reached the youth he was holding. As for what he was thinking ... he could make a guess.

When he sent Zhi Guan off earlier, it hadn't been in the most elegant way. That alone had been suspicious but by now, almost half an hour had gone by. If Zhi Guan had indeed only gone to get his sister to accompany them ... shouldn't he have come back by now?

But clearly, he wasn't, and there were only a few explanations for that: Either they had run into trouble which would mean that the righteous faction had coincidentally invaded them right at the time when his Master came to hand off the person he was holding now or ... the two of them were the invaders and had been helped by him when they realized that his Master was there.

Which of these two was more likely was as clear as day. And Song Yu Zheng wasn't an idiot. He might have been misled by Zhi Guan before but he should have had his doubts at the beginning and had only let go of them because his mind was focused somewhere else.

Mu Qing's thoughts were right on the money: Song Yu Zheng had felt that things were a little odd when Mu Qing suddenly sent Zhi Guan away but he had told himself that their plan might have worked a little too well. Maybe Mu Qing wanted to introduce Zhi Guan's sister to his Master and finally bridge the gap that his continued feelings for his previous fiancee had caused. It would have been perfect if that were the case!

But now, Mu Qing's Master had already left and this senior martial brother of theirs hadn't said a word about the woman he had met. Furthermore ... Zhi Guan and his sister hadn't yet come to the hall. It was ... suspicious, to put it lightly, and completely damning if you wanted to be more direct. There just was no way that this could be explained in any other way than them being traitors.

The problem was ... if they were, then so was Mu Qing.

Song Yu Zheng looked at this person who he had always felt a little ... complicated about. There wasn't a single disciple studying under Elder Feng who wasn't extremely talented and had made great progress in their cultivation. Mu Qing certainly wasn't the best but he was also the youngest on their side and had certainly been slightly side-lined because of his lingering feelings for that woman from the righteous side. Nobody wanted someone whose loyalty they couldn't be certain of to be supported too much.

Still, despite the difficulties, Mu Qing could be considered a model disciple of the demonic faction. After all, his level was high, he worked hard, and even though he might disagree with his Master on many choices, he did the tasks he was commanded to do. Even better, he was one of the few seniors willing to take the time to advise them and would genuinely take care of the younger disciples when out on missions. If you could depend on one person to try and save you in a dangerous situation, it would be him.

Maybe this was the benefit of having been raised in a righteous sect for the most part but his idea of how a sect should be was certainly different from many. He didn't consider himself to be the most important and instead wanted everyone to thrive together. Not just because it would bring himself benefits but because he genuinely thought this was how it should be.

Needless to say, most younger disciples especially in the Wu Yun Sect liked him. Even if many thought him and his ideas to be quite odd, they still looked up to him. They didn't want him to leave so naturally, they'd try their best to make him stay. This was also why Song Yu Zheng had jumped at the chance to try and get him interested in a woman he thought to be of the demonic faction.

If Zhi Guan and his sister weren't from the Yu She Sect though ... then if Mu Qing helped them escape as soon as his Master appeared, then it was obvious what this meant: This was still a woman from the righteous sect so there was really no way to keep him.

Yes, no matter what they did, Mu Qing would never truly be part of the demonic faction. They probably should have expected as much. He had grown up in the Teng Yong Sect and even though he had followed his Master to the Qu Yun Sect and mostly followed his arrangements, the view of the world the righteous faction taught had already been deeply accepted by him. This was why he acted differently from everyone else and it was also why he couldn't integrate into the demonic faction. Their sides ... were simply irreconcilable.