Warring Kingdoms: The Tale of the Jade Phoenix and the Dragon Blade

Chapter 65: Clouds behind the Sun (第九天堂的陰謀)

Clank clank. A sound of footsteps can be heard resounding the silence of the Fifteenth cloud of the Ninth heaven. Wan MianSu, came walking off holding a pile of ancient scripts and writings in her arms. In the corner of her eye, she saw a dark shadow of a tall man beside the corridor leading to the dungeons. She blinked her eyes to clear her vision but the man had already fled.
'I must be imagining things.'

The Fifteenth Cloud was the final judging platform for Gods who'll be stripped out from their ranks or immortality. No one had been pleaded guilty recently until, Jin Ren, the perpetrator for Zhuge Liang's misconduct and treachery will be persecuted in front of the whole numbers of immortals.

MianSu walked far and entered a secret chamber where the Elders had gathered. Among them was Diao PeiLong, Ran Xu Er, and her... She sat on the chair with a smile on her face. She wanted to talk about the execution of Jin Ren and what good will it benefit for all of the Immortals.

"Our secrets will die with him. If we continue the plan and dump him on the mortal realm, people might think that he's crazy and ignore him. We'll strip off his immortality so that he may not live long."

"Sister MianSu. Your plan is a good one however, we must not ignore the fact that XuanWu and XuanZheng are now reconciled."

MianSu's face suddenly contorted into a cold state with a vicious look on her eyes.

"Those b*tches. Haven't Zhuge Liang got rid of them?"

"Apparently not sister. XuanWu's daughter, Na YingLuo summoned Sun WuKong."

"Impossible! No half immortal could do such great power!"

"What should we do now sister?"
"For now, we will execute Jin Ren rather than strip him off his immortality in an anonymous way."

Xu Er placed her hand below her chin and thought deep before speaking her mind out.

"But sister. If we execute Jin Ren, that means the High Immortals won't just stand there and hold someone responsible isn't it?"

"I thought so too but let's just put it this way. I have a small branch trimmed from the ancient evil tree. We'll extract it and make Jin Ren drink it up. We'll transform Jin Ren into a Xuan Lang (evil wolf). Once he loses his mind, he'll be mad and start killing everyone that he'll see on his path. When the sisters will arrive, they won't even recognize that the one that they'll slay was him."

PeiLong and Xu Er agreed to her contingency plan. Jin Ren was a valuable asset to be silenced. Because of his involvement, he will soon be ripped off his tongue (strip away his right to defend himself).

'Jin Ren. Tomorrow, you'll be silenced forever.'
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With a white hat covered with long cloth and white robe embroidered with orchids, Gu XiNiang set off from the Shifting Flower Sect into the busy roads of Suzhou. She had been riding her horse nonstop since she had departed from the Palace by dawn. Weary from the long journey, XiNiang found an inn and decided to stay there for a night.

She sat at the counter of the bar as the innkeeper prepared the keys for her room.

"Here it is Madame. Enjoy your stay."

"Innkeeper if I may ask... How far is the Kingdom of Jade Phoenix from here?"

"About 6-8 hours on horseback by regular trail but if you try the trail leading to Demon Valley, you'd arrive at WenXi city by 3-4 hours."

"I see. Are there any recent unusual happenings lately?"

"Uh yes. I have heard from the waiter about cicadas and dark magic that feeds on human souls. If you want to know the full details, you can ask the waiter over there."