Chapter 324: 322. The Burned Girl (3/4)
The bustling market gradually quieted down, with hundreds of people gathered outside the alley, craning their necks to peer inside. Actually, the market has guards to prevent violent incidents from occurring.
Shortly after the battle in the deep alley ended, the guards arrived. It’s not that they were slow but rather that the battle ended too quickly.
At this moment, there were over a dozen people standing in the alley, led by a man wearing silver armor. He had sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, with a radiant smile and a very clean appearance. His gaze was also very clear.
He was the guard commander of this area from the City Lord’s Mansion, Bai Hao of the Divine Profound Realm in the Middle Realm.
"Commander, the cause of death has been determined—it was a sword wound that pierced the heart." A guard squatting beside Liu Zaitian stood up, his expression grave, "Commander, there’s only a small amount of damage around the area."
A person died, but only some wall debris fell—this was something he couldn’t quite understand.
Bai Ze swept his gaze around, searching for clues, "Does anyone know who he is?"
"No idea." The crowd shook their heads, but one person added, "According to people on the street, the aura they sensed belonged to someone in the Divine Profound Realm. However, since he’s of the Divine Profound Realm, surely many people know him. Just asking around should reveal his identity."
The Divine Profound Realm is not a significant figure in Cloud Sea City, but certainly not someone unknown.
"Commander, I know him." Suddenly, a young man shouted from outside the alley and squeezed through the crowd, leading Liu Yuan inside, "Manager Liu, that kid died in there."
Liu Yuan flashed a smile but quickly concealed it because he didn’t want others to realize that they orchestrated this upheaval. Although there wouldn’t be any major trouble, questioning was inevitable.
"You did well." Liu Yuan patted the shoulder of the young man beside him.
Bai Hao looked Liu Yuan up and down, asking, "You really know the deceased?"
"Reporting to the Commander, yes, I could recognize him even if he turned to ash." With that, he walked forward triumphantly and pushed aside the market guards surrounding the area, but his expression froze instantly, "This... How could it be Lord Zaitian!"
Lying on the ground was not who he thought—it was not the Great Demon who killed the Liu Family members, but rather their own Divine Profound Realm member from the Liu Family!
The Divine Profound Realm attacking a mere youth, how could this be?
"You!"
Slap!
Liu Yuan spun around and slapped the young man’s face directly, then kicked him, "Speak, what exactly happened?"
"I... I just lured him inside... He was alone. According to the plan, Lord was supposed to... ambush him... I came to inform you." The young man’s one-half of the face swelled quickly as he stammeringly explained.
He was also shocked, why was Liu Zaitian the one dead?
"What good are you!"
Liu Yuan, furious, raised his hand, ready to slap again.
But he was interrupted by Bai Hao, "This is one of yours... then take him back and bury him quickly."
He understood now; it was an unsuccessful ambush, leading to being counter-killed. His interest in investigating was gone.
"Manager Liu, there must be someone else involved. That kid was alone; he couldn’t defeat Lord Zaitian even if he cultivated since birth, and that dog isn’t by his side. Someone must have been the mantis behind the cicada!" Carrying Zaitian’s body, the youth walked away.
Hearing his words, Liu Yuan asked again, "Are you sure?"
"Absolutely sure."
"Then who dared to strike at this moment? Could it be the Mu Family?"
Yes!
It was quite likely to be the Mu Family.
In Cloud Sea City, only their two families could stage such a Divine Profound battle.
He’d never believe that the young man could kill Liu Zaitian. The man was too young.
And that dog, even if it came, couldn’t silently kill Liu Zaitian; a life-and-death battle between Divine Profounds would likely destroy the market instead of leaving the surrounding walls intact.
"Commander, this is a conspiracy... someone killed our Liu Family’s Divine Profound member."
Liu Yuan turned abruptly, looking at Bai Hao.
...
Now speaking of Wen Ping.
After meeting Zhantian Qingxuan and the others at the market gate, he took a different path to walk inside. Yet, news of a deceased Divine Profound member spread swiftly, and he heard discussions all along the way.
However, Wen Ping didn’t pay much attention.
Unbeknownst to him, at the market entrance, a middle-aged woman appeared.
The beautiful woman was about thirty or forty years old, but her exact age was unknown. Because of her still charming looks, she attracted much attention as she walked by. Yet most intriguing was the maid behind her.
The maid was actually quite slender, with fullness where needed, forming a contrast with the woman.
But, there are many beautiful women—why does everyone look at her?
Because her half-face appeared particularly gruesome and terrifying, burned from the bridge of her nose to her ear. Although she tried covering it with her hair, a breeze would reveal it regardless.
"Hurry!"
The woman suddenly urged the girl behind her.
The girl hurried her steps to catch up with the woman, but her hurried pace caused the boxes she was carrying to wobble, as if about to fall.
"Look at you, what good are you? You can’t even balance things properly. How did I end up buying someone as useless as you?" The woman shot a disdainful glance at the girl beside her, "Hold tightly; even one piece inside could sell you, and I’d still lose out."
"Yes." The girl meekly responded.
She was like an obedient dog, no matter how much her owner disliked her, she seemed to have no choice. She could only choose to either earnestly do her tasks or try to appeal to her owner.
Clearly, the girl chose to earnestly do her tasks.
The woman continued, "Wait for me here; I’m going inside to buy something."
"Yes." The girl replied, watching the woman enter a shop. She immediately wanted to turn and look around, but as she turned, she collided with someone’s shoulder, nearly toppling her frail frame.
And the one she bumped into was, naturally, Wen Ping.
Wen Ping quickly steadied the boxes on the verge of falling and the girl who was about his age.
As he held her hand, a familiar feeling surged.
"Ah!"
The girl shrieked and hastily pulled her hair down, covering the burn marks on half of her face.
"Who are you?" Wen Ping felt she was familiar, so familiar that if he saw her whole face, he’d certainly recognize her.
"You’ve mistaken me for someone else!" The girl replied hastily, fleeing swiftly in one direction, her steps brisk.
As if escaping.
Watching her retreat, Wen Ping fell into contemplation.
After a long while, Wen Ping came to realize.
"It’s her!"
She didn’t disappear with the Kao Shan Sect.
If she wasn’t dead, why didn’t she come back to find him?
How could she appear thousands of miles away in Cloud Sea City?