The No.1 Undercover in the Immortal World-Chapter 352 - 341 Please Leave a Will
Jiang Chenyu, who would rather die than submit, did not want to die.
Submission was out of the question, but she could discuss conditions.
It’s just that her terms held no allure for Lin Yun.
"If I kill you, you won’t be able to take issue with the Flower Fairy, and I can help her avenge her grievances, and feel more at ease. It would be more straightforward to just kill you."
"Wait!"
Jiang Chenyu heard the sound of the wind, which seemed to be Lin Yun drawing his sword, so she hurriedly said, "Whatever you want, I can give to you!"
"Really, anything?"
Lin Yun said meaningfully.
Jiang Chenyu immediately tensed up, a man talking with such emphasis, does he want me?
"Everything but myself," she said.
"Look at you, I didn’t say I wanted you!"
Lin Yun felt that his innocence had been insulted. Do I look like someone who covets the flesh of others?
Jiang Chenyu: "..."
Although it was a bit embarrassing to be denied by Lin Yun, at least she managed to protect her virtue.
She let out a sigh of relief and said, "I have control over the Guanghan Palace Arsenal, I can give you a set of Immortal Artifacts."
Goodness, true to the Guanghan Palace, even Immortal Artifacts are given away in sets. Considering that Dongfang Hongyue was clad in Spiritual Artifacts, and they were both leaders of a Sect, the difference between them was too vast.
However...
"I have no interest in Immortal Artifacts. Do you see this? This is a Divine Artifact. Oh, that’s right, you can’t see. Let me let you feel it."
With those words, Lin Yun used the Qiaobian spear, resting its tip against Jiang Chenyu’s chest; she felt she could sense its sharp qi, which could easily pierce through her.
To be honest, I’d rather not feel it.
"I possess Divine Skills. Guanghan Palace has a set of Divine Skill Forbidden Techniques, I can teach you," she offered.
Jiang Chenyu was truly trading her most treasured possessions with Lin Yun now, but Lin Yun still wasn’t enticed.
"All of these things would be available to the Flower Fairy once she inherits the Guanghan Palace. Instead, why not tell me what else can you offer me, aside from Guanghan Palace’s possessions?"
Jiang Chenyu was taken aback. It seemed that apart from herself, she had nothing else to trade.
Jiang Chenyu’s face was suddenly filled with despair, and the cabin fell silent again.
Lin Yun suddenly felt something was amiss. He had never intended to give Jiang Chenyu a way out, yet found himself naturally entering into negotiations, perhaps a professional habit kicking in.
Seeing Jiang Chenyu’s sorrowful expression, Lin Yun felt somewhat reluctant.
He tried to comfort her. "Rest assured, I’ll try to make it quick to spare you some pain. Besides, you don’t have to worry about Guanghan Palace too much. Since you’ll be gone, there’s no need to be so concerned with such matters."
Jiang Chenyu: "..."
Is this supposed to be consoling? Why do I feel even more like crying?
Seeing Jiang Chenyu becoming more withdrawn, Lin Yun could only advise her to take a broader view.
"In the end, everyone must die. At least you had a brilliant life. Dying now, it can’t be too regrettable, right?"
"It’s very regrettable! There are so many regrets!"
Jiang Chenyu suddenly raised her voice. "Do you have any idea how difficult it was for me to cultivate to this realm? Ever since inheriting my master’s last wishes, to make Guanghan Palace stronger and more glorious, I’ve been diligently cultivating and taking great care in all my affairs to build the Guanghan Palace we see today."
It has to be said that under Jiang Chenyu’s leadership, Guanghan Palace’s reputation did indeed soar. Although not quite as powerful as the Taiqing Daoist Temple, it had the highest reputation in the jianghu, until she appointed the first calamitous Saintess.
A hundred years of painstaking teaching, only to be swindled by men in the end.
Then, she appointed a second calamitous Saintess, nurtured her for decades, and although she was outstanding, she was there for vengeance, which plummeted Jiang Chenyu’s own realm to the bottom, and now she was about to lose her life.
A sudden sense of injustice filled Jiang Chenyu’s heart.
"The Flower Fairy seeks revenge for the Thousand Mechanism Valley matter, and you want to kill me to protect her. But what about me, what did I do wrong?"
Lin Yun: "..."
From the perspective of a modern person, Jiang Chenyu, as a representative of the Righteous Path, did do something wrong.
If we consider the Righteous Path as law enforcement, then Thousand Mechanism Valley would be a suspect. When the Demon Race reported to law enforcement that Thousand Mechanism Valley was engaging in actions threatening public safety, they refused to cooperate with the investigation. Law enforcement subsequently took coercive measures and executed the suspect thoroughly.
In Lin Yun’s view, it was correct to take coercive measures, but the mistake was in being too thorough in killing.
Without a confirmed conviction, people were directly killed off, and what’s more, after failing to find any evidence, they confiscated and auctioned off Thousand Mechanism Valley’s property, and even sold it to the true Demon Sect.
As a descendant of Thousand Mechanism Valley, how could the Flower Fairy not harbor hatred?
Moreover, since a mistake was made and so many people were killed, at the very least, one should feel guilty.
However, according to the mindset of the Cultivation World, non-cooperation leads to combat, and combat does not guarantee survival; this is also the logic of a cultivator.
That’s why Jiang Chenyu felt she had done nothing wrong.
"You don’t think exterminating Thousand Mechanism Valley was wrong?"
"They resisted utterly, we had no choice," she asserted.
Lin Yun countered, "What if the other six Orthodox Sects used collusion with the Demon Race as a reason to search Guanghan Palace, what would you do?"
"That is absolutely slander. Guanghan Palace would resist to the end!"
Jiang Chenyu grew agitated just hearing it. How dare they slander Guanghan Palace like this, and even search it!
Guanghan Palace had many forbidden areas with numerous treasures. Who knew what those people were up to!
"See, this is a classic double standard."
Jiang Chenyu: "..."
Seeing Jiang Chenyu fall silent, Lin Yun knew she was at a loss for words, seemingly guilty. Although she was stubborn as a dead duck and refused to admit her error, Lin Yun did not press her.
Speaking so much with Jiang Chenyu was not his intention to dawdle; he simply wanted to extract more information from her. There were many mysteries surrounding the events of that year, and Jiang Chenyu might know something about them.
"I have another question, when people from Thousand Mechanism Valley surrendered, why didn’t you leave a single survivor?"
This question from Lin Yun plunged Jiang Chenyu into recollection. She slowly said, "I asked the same question back then. They claimed that they couldn’t control their killing intent, and by the time they realized it, everyone was already dead. That’s why we always suspected that Thousand Mechanism Valley must have had connections with the Demon Race.
"But even after searching the entire valley, we found no concrete evidence. Such abilities to bewitch people’s minds are elusive and lack solid proof."
Despite this, the Orthodox Sects still treated Thousand Mechanism Valley as if it conspired with the Demon Sect, because the Demon Race was only a legend, hidden from sight with no one having encountered it.
Cultivators don’t concern themselves too much with evidence.
If it feels reasonable and the conclusion seems right, then that’s usually sufficient.
At that time, only the White Lotus Sect was capable of affecting one’s mind like that.
The Righteous Path did not eradicate the White Lotus Sect because it was relatively well-behaved, at least not causing world-destroying catastrophes, just a simple rebellion.
The Righteous Path never intended to completely wipe out the Demon Sect. Since the White Lotus Sect was behaving, they left it be, but Thousand Mechanism Valley had raised Yuxuan’s alarm, and so it was taken seriously for a time by the Righteous Path.
It was only after Hu Yuling was exposed that the Orthodox Sects realized that the Demons had always been around, hidden very deeply.
Thus, at this point, Jiang Chenyu changed her statement.
However...
Lin Yun had already thoroughly questioned Hu Yuling. She had only snitched and framed others, and had not done what Jiang Chenyu claimed.
The Orthodox Sects had already shouldered the blame for exterminating a sect; there seemed to be no need for lies.
Hence, at that time there indeed must have been a third party beyond the Righteous Path and the Demon Race, using the power of mind bewitchment, leading the Righteous Path to annihilate Thousand Mechanism Valley entirely, and possibly, this same ability prevented Thousand Mechanism Valley from surrendering in the face of a formidable enemy.
Lin Yun grew even more suspicious of the Valley Master of Thousand Mechanism Valley.
If she truly was behind this, it shouldn’t have been difficult to achieve.
"I understand now. Palace Master Jiang, do you have any last words?"
Jiang Chenyu: "..."
So you use me and then discard me?
At least talk to me a bit more!
Feeling Lin Yun’s intent to kill, Jiang Chenyu had already started preparing a forbidden technique.
The heritage of Guanghan Palace is ancient, and its most important aspect is the wealth of knowledge.
The forbidden techniques of Guanghan Palace, passed on internally, can cope with various situations.
Overcoming the strong while weak, counterattacking at death’s door, desperate escapes...
Jiang Chenyu was proficient in all kinds of secret techniques.
Some techniques come with a heavy price, but when life is at stake, any technique that can save you is good, for as long as the green hills last, there’ll be wood to burn.
Moreover, the restitution power of the Taiyin True Scripture is very strong. Even if the damage reaches the core, there are ways to heal.
But now Jiang Chenyu’s cultivation level was low, and after practicing all night, she had only accumulated a bit of weak True Qi.
Luckily, with this little True Qi, she could perform the forbidden technique, Moon Shadow Lightstep.
She would transform herself into a streak of moonlight, fleeing into the shadows, which would consume her own vital essence.
Yet, her True Qi was so weak that the initiation time was very long.
She had hoped Lin Yun would talk more, giving her a chance to escape, but he went straight to asking for her last words.
"I am five hundred years old this year."
Jiang Chenyu, anxious in her heart, sped up the circulation of her vital essence, while speaking to Lin Yun with a melodramatic tone.
"Oh, that’s quite an age!"
Jiang Chenyu almost spat out her old blood as her forbidden technique’s operation nearly collapsed.
No one had ever called her old before.
"I once sought advice from the Taiqing Daoist Temple for methods of longevity. With my current cultivation level, barring any accidents, I could live another five hundred years."
Jiang Chenyu said with some sadness in her voice, "I really want to live another five hundred years. Could you give me a chance?"
"I’d like to give you a chance, but you and the Flower Fairy are mortal enemies. I can’t rest assured if I release you. The only option is to kill you unless..."
Lin Yun suddenly thought of Hu Yuling; if he didn’t kill Jiang Chenyu, the only other option would be to brand her with a Slave Mark.
Unless what?
Jiang Chenyu continued to speak to Lin Yun insincerely while operating her technique.
Just a little bit more!
"Unless you sign a servant contract with me, swearing fealty to me, vowing not to disclose the Flower Fairy’s identity, then I can give you a way out."
Regarding the incident of Thousand Mechanism Valley, Lin Yun was almost certain that Jiang Chenyu, the Orthodox Sects, the Flower Fairy, and even Hu Yuling were merely pawns.
If that was the case, in reality, they were not mortal enemies.
Lin Yun did not necessarily need to kill Jiang Chenyu. Making her a servant, a master who could reach the Enlightened Realm, would also reduce his karmic burden.
However, how could Jiang Chenyu possibly accept such terms.
In the midst of their conversation, her spell was finally ready...
