Chapter 123: Just Not Falling For It

Daoist HuoLong was obviously prejudiced against Little Fatty and did not completely believe what he said. Thus, he personally went to conduct his autopsy on Tu QianCheng’s corpse before finally saying with a frown, “Tu QianCheng has 3 broken bones, his inner core punctured and even his YuanYing destroyed. Even if he did not do anything, he would not have been able to live for long with such serious injuries. Since he retaliated, he was not able to control the large amount of spiritual Qi rampaging throughout his whole body. As a result, all his meridians were destroyed and bones crushed!” 

Obviously, Daoist HuoYun misunderstood the damage caused by the Bone Eroding Immortal Voice as cultivation deviation. One can hardly blame him for his wrong interpretation as the injuries from both of them were extremely similar. Plus, there were no musical instruments nearby. He would have never expected that it was caused by a sound wave, resulting in this convenient misunderstanding. The worried Little Fatty heaved a sigh of relief. 

“Ha!” As the sect master heard that, he was immediately enraged. He immediately pointed towards the foundational cultivator on the ground as he scolded in fury, “Someone who is on the verge of death is actually able to scare you to the point of peeing in your pants and escape with your tail between your legs! You even abandoned my daughter and pudgy boy here. You...you...what guts you have!”

Since this matter pertained HongYing’s safety, the sect master was completely enraged. 

The foundational cultivator was almost scared to death as he hurriedly pleaded, “Sect master please calm down. We did not know that Tu QianCheng was already on the verge of death. You did not see how frightening he was back then! With a single wave of the Phoenix Crying Blade, all four of our magical artifacts were destroyed! If not for junior nephew Song Zhong protecting us with his wind copper bell, we would have probably been ma.s.sacred then!”

“What?” Before the sect master could say anything, Daoist HuoLong immediately interrogated, “You’re saying that this little fatty still have a wind copper bell? And it managed to block the attack of the Phoenix Crying Blade?”

“Yes, yes!” The foundational cultivator hurriedly nodded as he added, “The bell may not seem impressive, but it is really powerful! It even repelled the Phoenix Crying Sword!”

“Eh?” As Daoist HuoLong heard that, his expression immediately changed and stared fiercely at Little Fatty. Then, he began to ask with a sinister voice, “You’re good, little fatty. You sold me a useless iron bell and still have a wind copper bell with you! How many bells exactly do you have?”“This...?” As Little Fatty heard that, he immediately said with a bitter laughter, “Reporting to grand senior uncle, I only have these two bells. They are all trash which aren’t worth much!”

“You are able to exchange such a worthless trash with me for a set of Five Element Essence Sword. You’re good!” Daoist HuoLong answered exasperatedly. 

Little Fatty was loss for words as he heard that. 

Thankfully, the sect master coughed twice and said, “Senior brother, the matter of the bell is already over. Let’s not harp on the past anymore, alright?”

“Fine, I will not bring up the matter of the iron bell. But now that he suddenly have another wind copper bell, I would like to take a look at it!” Daoist HuoLong said with a cold laughter, “I wonder if this little fatty would show me some face?”How would Little Fatty not dare to show a YuanYing cultivator face? Despite the unwillingness in his heart, he could only helplessly take the wind copper bell out and place it on the floor. 

Daoist HuoLong then used his spiritual sense to scan the bell. Although this seemed to be an ordinary wind copper bell, there was actually a treasure hidden within inside it. But because of it’s high grade, it had the ability to conceal itself. As such, Daoist HuoLong’s spiritual sense was not able to detect anything as he scanned it. 

Daoist HuoLong frowned upon the unsuccessful search. However, Little Fatty was still unaware about what was going on and was in a complete nervous wreck, afraid that his treasure would be found. 

At this moment, the First Lady also completed her scan and said, “That’s strange, how could an ordinary bell like this block the Phoenix Crying Blade?”“Perhaps Tu QianCheng had exhausted his spiritual Qi completely. Thus, the might of the Phoenix Crying Blade was greatly reduced, losing the ability to break this bell after destroying the 4 magical artifacts?” The First Lady guessed. 

“Not necessarily so!” Daoist HuoLong lowered his head as he said with a cold laughter, “There are bloodstains on the floor and two deep footprints. It seemed like someone blocked an extremely heavy object!” As he said that, he looked towards the foundational cultivators in doubt. 

The foundational cultivator then tactfully answered, “It was SongZhong who received the copper bell which was sent flying by the Phoenix Crying Blade, thus the bloodstains!”“Oh, really?” Daoist HuoLong’s eyes then lit up as he asked, “From the marks on the ground, the force of the bell should have been rather great. It should have been sustained from the Phoenix Crying Blade. But the problem is, the Phoenix Crying Blade is extremely sharp and shouldn’t have any difficulty slicing through a wind copper bell. From the marks on the ground, the force within the blade should have been more than enough to slice through the wind copper bell and slaughter all of you! But in the end, the Phoenix Crying Blade was unable to do so, what does this say?”

“It means that the wind copper bell is much stronger than we had thought, thus it being able to stop the attack of Phoenix Crying Blade. Only then would the force of the attack send the bell flying, injuring pudgy boy!” The sect master finally said in enlightenment. Then, he asked in bewilderment, “But, this wind copper bell is right in front of us and we can’t see anything special about it? It is only four to five foot thick, not a bit steady at all!”

“Heh heh, unless there is a secret hidden within it which we have not found!” Daoist HuoLong then smiled to Little Fatty with a cunning laughter and said, “Brat, you really have many secrets!”

As Little Fatty heard that, he was immediately shocked but quickly regained his composure. Then, he calmly said, “Grand senior uncle thinks too highly of me, what kind of secret could I possible have? It is just a trashy wind copper bell, the same as the previous bell!”“Really?” Daoist HuoLong’s eyes narrowed as he said with a voice full of killing intent. Obviously, he was reminded of the incident when he was deceived by Little Fatty.

“Really, really! Everything your disciple said is the truth!” Little Fatty then added with a cunning smile, “If you really don’t believe me, why don’t you buy it back again?”“Get lost!” Daoist HuoLong was immediately enraged. He then roared, “Only an idiot would buy it again! Don’t try to bluff me again!”

Once bitten, twice shy. Daoist HuoLong, who had been previously fooled, was now extremely circ.u.mspect. Despite the bell’s extraordinary performances, there were many doubtful points about it too. Daoist HuoLong was still helplessly stuck with the previous impression of Little Fatty and thought that he wanted to re-enact the previous scene. Thus, he was instantly enraged. 

But what Daoist HuoLong did not know was that after he scolded, Little Fatty heaved a sigh of relief in his heart. After all, his precious copper bell was still hidden within in. If Daoist HuoLong were to really buy it, he would have definitely been heartbroken. At least Daoist HuoLong was still pretty idiotic, letting go of such a good chance.

Hearing the vulgar words of Daoist HuoLong, the First Lady could not help but glare at him and say, “Senior brother, watch what you say!”

“Hmph!” Daoist HuoLong knew that it was indeed his fault as he snickered and stopped saying anything. He only scanned the cave as though he was looking for something. 

Seeing the situation, the sect master and his wife naturally knew what he was thinking of. It was obvious that he was looking for the Phoenix Crying Blade but did not have the cheek to ask its whereabouts after reprimanding Little Fatty. Thus, he could only do the search on his own. 

The sect master and his wife naturally were interested about the Phoenix Crying Blade too. It is just that they were previously too concerned about pacifying their daughter that they did not mention it previously. Seeing that their daughter was alright, they could also relax and find the treasure. 

The First Lady then patted HongYing’s shoulders as she asked with a smile , “Ying’er, did you see the Phoenix Crying Blade of Tu QianCheng?”

(T/N: Ying’er is a more intimate way to call her daughter, HongYing.)   As Daoist HuoLong heard the First Lady asked, he immediately stopped searching and began eavesdropping. 

“Heh heh, mum. Look at this!” HongYing smiled exuberantly as she took out the Phoenix Crying Blade. Actually, when the 3 YuanYing cultivators entered previously, the Phoenix Crying Blade had also appeared, protecting HongYing from the violent gales of their entry. Due to the brevity of  its appearance, and that everyone were wary of Tu QianCheng’s ambush, n.o.body noticed HongYing at all. Thus, they did not see it previously.

Now that the Phoenix Crying Blade appeared again, the 3 cultivators who had previously faced him before, immediately recognised it. “Wow, the Phoenix Crying Blade!” The First Lady immediately said joyfully, “It chose you as its owner?”

“En!” HongYing said excitedly, “After Tu QianCheng died, it imprinted itself into my consciousness, scaring me completely back then!”

“That’s the process of choosing an owner. It should have taught you the way to wield it, right?” The sect master asked in joy.

“That’s right!” HongYind answered excitedly, “The Phoenix Crying Blade imparted me a set of blade techniques!”“That’s it!” The First Lady also said with a smile. 

The family of three were extremely happy and talked with laughter. But, Daoist HuoLong at the side was completely depressed. It must be understood that this expedition comprises mostly of his disciples. Of the four destroyed magical artifacts, three of them belonged to his faction. In the end, after the matter was over, the other party managed to get all of Tu QianCheng’s possessions and the Phoenix Crying Blade. Not only was his camp not able to have anything, they even loss 3 magical artifacts! How would he not be depressed?

Thinking about this, Daoist HuoLong could not take it any longer. He then coughed twice before talking to Little Fatty. “Little fatty, apart from the Phoenix Crying Blade, Tu QianCheng should have left other things behind right? For example, a dimensional storage ring!” As he said that, his eyes swept the only remaining hand on Tu QianCheng. On one of the fingers, there was a clear mark left behind from wearing a ring for over long periods of time. From the mark, it was also obvious that the ring on it was only just removed. 

Little Fatty silently cursed this old fox; he was even able to deduce something like that. He initially thought that he did a pretty good job of covering up. But, it seemed that it was his own wishful thinking. Since he already found out, Little Fatty also did not dare lie as he took out the dimensional storage ring and say, “Tu QianCheng only had this dimensional storage ring on him. He does not have anything else, really!”

“Really?” Daoist HuoLong then took the ring over in doubt and said, “From what I know, Tu QianCheng committed countless of crimes and robbed numerous cultivators. He should be extremely wealthy, why is it that there isn’t a single magical artifact here?”“Maybe he exploded them all when escaping!” Little Fatty shrugged his shoulders and said. 

“En!” Daoist HuoLong also thought that it made sense and did not say anything else as he began scanning the other things in the ring. In the end, after he saw it, he was almost angered to death. The items in the ring were extremely pitiful. Not to mention him being a YuanYing cultivator, even a JinDan cultivator would be richer than this!After seeing everything in the ring, Daoist HuoLong’s first thought was that Little Fatty took everything. He immediately raged, “Are there really only so little things in the ring? Did you hide anything?”

Little Fatty was immediately shocked as he wanted to defend himself. But, the sect master by the side suddenly said, “HuoLong, the item belongs to him. How is it your business if he hid anything?”

“What do you mean by his?” Daoist HuoLong immediately said unhappily, “Tu QianCheng died because he over exerted himself and his grevious injuries. Everyone present there had made contributions, how can he be the only one to receive all the rewards!”

“This is because he did not escape!” The sect master immediately roared seeking justice, “I really didn’t expect you to be so shameless. Your disciples are all so cowardly and ran away before the battle. Now, you actually have the cheek to ask for the spoils of war! Can you at least leave some face for yourself?”

Daoist HuoLong immediately let out two awkward coughs. Then, he suddenly said with resolution, “Senior brother, those useless disciples of mine do indeed have their mistakes. But, it can’t be denied that they managed to protect everyone after sacrificing their magical artifacts, preventing your daughter from being killed. Now that HongYing has the Phoenix Crying Blade, it can be considered to be her fortune and I have nothing to say about that. But you can’t possibly let the disciples who saved her, sacrifice their magical artifacts for nothing and not gain anything in return right?”Hearing what Daoist HuoLong said, the First Lady walked over with a frown, “Senior brother does make sense, but it can’t be argued that Tu QianCheng only died because Little Fatty stayed behind to fight with him, also saving the lives of your disciples. Thus, Little Fatty has the most contribution and should receive the largest cut. You shouldn’t have anything to say about that right?”

“But he did not lose anything, but 3 of my disciples lost their magical artifacts!” Daoist HuoLong replied anxiously.“The key is not who lost what. The key is the heart!” The First Lady then said with a cold laughter, “A person who fought courageously, and a person who ran away from battle. If we were to reward the latter and let the prior lose out, who amongst us will fight courageously in the future?”

“This~” As Daoist HuoLong heard that, he was at a loss for words as he said, “Fine, let this darn fatty take the biggest cut. But before that, I hope that he can take all the spoils of war out! Then we can split it fairly!”

As the sect master heard that, he said immediately, “All of the spoils of war are here, take it or leave it!”