Chapter 146: Heaven Wills a Killing

"You shouldn't have saved me."

Amidst the dim glow of the fire, the person who had just awakened stared at the flames for a long time through layers of bandages, their hoarse voice speaking slowly.

"That was the only way I could get an ending where no one is left owing the other."

"Cough, cough." A somewhat feeble fit of coughing echoed through the cavern. A figure sat within the dim cave, where whirlpool-like swirls of fiery red spiritual energy were visibly rotating around him, subsequently surging into his somewhat frail-looking body.

Ye Mingke opened his eyes, his complexion as pale as snow. He turned his gaze toward the bastard who had just woken up, only to lock eyes with that pair of eyes reflecting the firelight, causing him to freeze slightly.

Those eyes reflected the flames, yet they were gray, filled with a desolation he had never seen before.

Though more than a day had passed, he was not in a state of transformation this time; even though his heart had absorbed a considerable amount of fire spiritual energy, it had not yet healed.

His heart remained in a missing state.

Yet, sitting across from him in the firelight, the person with those eyes felt like someone truly heartless.

Ye Mingke averted his gaze, rolled his eyes, and said in a mocking tone, "I know, but big brother is angry. Who wouldn't be angry if someone pierced straight through their heart? Heh, wanting to clear your debt to me like this—how naive!"

Those gray eyes looked at Ye Mingke in silence.

The atmosphere in the cave grew chilly once more.

Ling Chen, who had been trying to get close to the fire to warm up, yet hesitated out of fear of melting, couldn't help but raise his head and chuckle, "Who wouldn't be angry if someone pierced their heart? Anyone pierced would be dead, and of course, the dead don't get angry."

Those gray eyes flicked slightly.

Irritated, Ye Mingke slapped Ling Chen directly toward the fire pit. Ling Chen shrieked continuously, coming to a sudden halt right at the edge of the flames. To his surprise, even though he was very close to the fire, perhaps because he was made of a special wax, he showed no tendency to melt.

"I knew it! I distinctly remember my wax figure wasn't that easy to melt, but ever since I turned into a wax figure, I've been terrified of fire. This is a great chance to bake myself a bit so my body isn't so soft and won't warp in the wind."

Transformed into a little wax figure, Ling Chen—who was increasingly developing the traits of a chatterbox and a comic relief—warmed his body by the fire with a deadpan expression while muttering incessantly.

With him causing a commotion, the atmosphere in the cave was no longer quite so icy.

"How long have we stayed here?" Ying Kui asked in a low voice.

"A day, plus tonight. But I've already run far ahead of schedule," Ye Mingke replied.

"We've stayed too long. They could appear at any moment."

"The last time we set an ambush to surround you, the timeframe was too short for true powerhouses to arrive in time. Coupled with me as a variable, you barely managed to escape."

"I didn't escape. I left only after killing every single assassin from that day," Ye Mingke said indifferently.

Ying Kui looked at Ye Mingke with a trace of astonishment in his gaze.

"Your strength truly exceeded all of our expectations. Our intelligence analysis on you showed that you were progressing at a terrifying speed, likely having already reached the Tongyuan Realm. No wonder Jian Jiu chose to slaughter the entire Yangjing Watchguard Bureau when he rescued you that day. Once your true strength is exposed, any mortal cultivator who touches the taboo of the Thirteenth Heaven of Martial Arts will be placed on the priority hunt list."

"Jian Jiu." Hearing this name, Ye Mingke paused slightly, took a deep breath, and asked, "How is he doing after returning?"

"Not dead, not crippled, not crippled in cultivation—merely punished and confined to the Lock-Dragon Well. He is Penglai's most prized disciple; there is nothing to worry about." Whatever Ying Kui was thinking of at the moment, his tone turned somewhat self-deprecating by the end of his sentence.

Hearing that Jian Jiu was safe, Ye Mingke slowly let out a breath, failing to catch the faint sorrow hidden in Ying Kui's words.

"Were you sent by the Watchguard Bureau to hunt me down?" Remembering something, Ye Mingke suddenly looked up at Ying Kui and asked with a teasing smile, "Ever since I left Yangjing, I've been waiting for the assassins from Yangjing to arrive. I didn't expect them to take so long, and I certainly didn't expect it to be you."

"According to regulations, I cannot reveal anything. The only thing I can tell you is to run immediately—run for as long as you can, and hopefully live long enough for me to clear my debt to you. It would be even better if you could die by my hand after I've cleared it," Ying Kui said in a flat voice, seeing right through Ye Mingke's seemingly playful probing.

"More than a dozen cultivators in the Tongyuan Realm, all of them assassins who possess secret techniques to conceal their spiritual aura, and who even laid a trap after gathering intel on my intent to ambush wild cultivators—setting up a trick like that must have taken quite a bit of effort."

Unfazed by Ying Kui's cold rejection, Ye Mingke continued to look straight into Ying Kui's eyes. His gaze was crystal clear as he smiled and said, "Furthermore, you've already leaked a crucial piece of information just now: you all had no idea my strength had already surpassed the Thirteenth Realm of Martial Arts. Why would a petty rebel worth at most the Tongyuan Realm warrant such a massive mobilization?"

"And this grand mobilization took place many days after the chaos in Yangjing, so it shouldn't be the mortal Watchguard Bureau I destroyed that wants me dead, but rather the East Sea Immortal Islands? Or... something even higher up?"

The face of the Ying Kui being stared down didn't flicker in the slightest; only within the inky depths of his pupils did faint ripples slightly flash. He lowered his gaze slightly, dodging Ye Mingke's bright eyes.

"All I can say is that even though your strength exceeded all of our expectations, the only reason you survived this time is purely because of your luck. So, run!"

"Luck? Even this is luck? Right." Seizing upon the extremely obscure information hidden within Ying Kui's words, Ye Mingke mused, "True enough. My idea to gallop a thousand miles to ambush wild cultivators was entirely spontaneous. The time you had to receive the news was definitely short, so the manpower that could rush over and set up the layout shouldn't be too vast. Even so, there were over a dozen Tongyuan Realm assassins. If the timeframe had been stretched out further, cultivators of the Hualing realm, or even higher realms, might not have been unable to arrive."

"You really made a grand spectacle of it this time!"

Though he roughly guessed the gravity of the situation through Ying Kui's cryptic words, Ye Mingke did not panic. Having survived numerous trials, he was no longer the naive youth who had just stepped out of Nameless Town. Pondering for a moment, he roughly mapped out his next plan in his mind.

"Thanks, brother," Ye Mingke patted Ying Kui's shoulder casually.

"You and I are neither friends nor brothers," Ying Kui said with a stern face.

"Fine, fine, if you say we aren't, then we aren't," Ye Mingke rolled his eyes. Knowing he had no time to dawdle, he stood up and began busying himself with putting out the fire in the cave and clearing away any traces left behind, while rambling on in explanation, "We're setting off together now. Ordinarily, I shouldn't drag you along, but you've been struck by the Thunder-Fire Curse. If I don't continuously help you purge the fire toxin, I'm afraid you won't survive on your own."

"We are enemies. Although I don't know how you managed to survive with a shattered heart, you should understand that I genuinely intended to kill you with that sword," Ying Kui said coldly, watching the busybody who was rambling like an old woman.

"Alright, if you say we're enemies, then we're enemies. In that case, you've been captured by me. There we go, captive-brother, let's move!" Swiftly erasing all traces, Ye Mingke slung a sword case wrapped in green cloth across his back, turned around, and extended a hand toward Ying Kui.

The cave, its fire now extinguished, was pitch-black and freezing, save for the shadow of a locked-hand posture—possessing warm hands and the only pair of bright eyes...

A pair of figures, one tall and one short, gradually walked away amidst the sparse stars and moon in the rugged mountain wilderness. Suddenly, a hoarse voice and a clear voice sent ripples echoing through the night.

"Where are you walking?"

"Guess?"

"Don't take the untrodden mountain trails. Disguise yourselves and take roads with more human traffic."

"Why?"

"Authentic immortal sects have cultivators capable of sensing heavenly secrets. If you travel through the wilderness without contacting anyone, the fluctuations of heavenly secrets are minimal and very easily divined."

"That's a bit troublesome. I previously thought the mountains were safer, so I kept drilling deeper into the remote wilderness. Who knows how long it will take to reach populated areas now."

"Then you're on your own."

"It's fine, this piece of information is truly important. Thanks anyway, brother."

"I said, I am not your brother."

"Alright then, thanks a lot, dedicated captive-brother!!!"

In the pitch-black night, the Q&A faded gradually into the distance.

In the spring night, a fine drizzle began to fall...

Two days later, beneath the gates of a small town, a pale-faced Ying Kui—wearing coarse linen clothes and barely able to walk on his own—looked up at the characters inscribed on the city tower's gate.

Beside him was Ye Mingke, similarly changed into coarse rustic clothes, carrying a small mountain of firewood on his back. Transformed once more into the rustic youth of a mountain-backed town, he stepped in straw sandals with utter naturalness, appearing purely as a bright-faced village boy.

A burly soldier leaning idly against the city gates with a red-tasseled spear, collecting the entry toll, noticed a sickly dark-faced young man blocking the path to the main gate. His wide eyes widened further as anger flared.

Ye Mingke hurriedly stepped forward, familiarly slipping a few copper coins into the palm of the mortal gate guard, and flashed a rustic, toothy grin. "Big brother soldier, the one behind me is my village cousin. He's in poor health, so I brought him to the city to see a doctor and sell some firewood along the way."

The burly, rough-featured soldier weighed the copper coins—two more than the usual entry fee—in his hand. His expression eased slightly. Pocketing the coins, he spat on the ground, brandished his red-tasseled spear, and barked, "Get lost, get lost quickly!"

Ye Mingke nodded and smiled slightly, reaching out to grab Ying Kui so they could enter the city together. When his tug failed to move him, he turned back to look at Ying Kui with a puzzled look in his eyes.

Ying Kui withdrew his gaze and looked at Ye Mingke, his eyes complex, yet he finally lifted his feet and followed Ye Mingke into the small town.