Chapter 139 - Murderer

Falling to Gu Hai's plot, Ding Rui was sucked into the weiqi world in the blink of an eye.

Entering this strange environment, Ding Rui's expression changed. She immediately wanted to soar into the sky, and fly out of the weiqi world.

However, the s.p.a.ce around her suddenly started to distort.

In the next moment, Ding Rui's figure disappeared and appeared above the vast sea out of nowhere. She had arrived at the bottom of the weiqi world!

"What? How did I get here?" Ding Rui's countenance changed. Just as she wanted to quickly leave this place...

Her figure distorted again as she abruptly arrived next to the dragon vein.

"No, how is this possible?" Ding Rui cried out in shock.

The dragon vein let out a thunderous roar that shook the air as the half of its body above the ground crashed into Ding Rui with a deafening bang.

Despite the savagery of her zither army, it collapsed before the ten thousand zhang-long dragon body in the blink of an eye upon impact.

Puff! Ding Rui spewed a mouthful of blood as she fled towards the outer ring.

But right then, the s.p.a.ce around her distorted once more as Ding Rui, who had just flown into the distance, was teleported before the dragon vein once more.

BOOM!

Once again, a thunderous crash followed as the zither army of thousands upon thousands was devastated upon impact with the dragon vein. This time, half of it was smashed to pieces.

"Gu Hai, if you have the guts, let me out!" Ding Rui howled in anger.

She had realized that everything here was a game, the 29x29 heaven and earth weiqi game, and it was all under Gu Hai's complete control!

In the outside world, the floating island seemed as if it would collapse at any moment. But ultimately, it did not.

Gu Hai kept on placing piece after piece on the weiqi board, as if he was changing the internal structure of the weiqi game.

Hall Lord Long Wanqing might not be able to see Ding Rui clearly, but there were still those thousands upon thousands of valiant soldiers of hers, a majority of which she could see. Under the manipulation of the weiqi world by Gu Hai, Ding Rui was sent to the dragon vein, again and again, letting the dragon vein pummel her.

Long Wanqing, with a complex gaze, looked at Gu Hai. "You can actually control the weiqi world?" she wondered aloud.

Isn't this the same thing from a while ago? And now he is using it to deal with Ding Rui, but Ding Rui, on the other hand, doesn't have any energy to withstand it!?

Close by, Li Haoran slowly put away the three golden arrows as he coldly watched Gu Hai. At the sight of Gu Hai placing the pieces so casually, his face turned ashen.

"Ding Rui, you have reached the end of your rope today! Hall Lord only wants to know the cause of her mother's death. As long as you speak everything you know, I will plead mercy on your behalf to Hall Lord, and exempt you from the capital punishment!" Gu Hai declared in a calm voice.

As he spoke, his voice reverberated across the entire weiqi world.

"Yes, I just need to know how my mother died!" Long Wanqing said, clenching her fists.

Below them, the weiqi world was already in chaos. The dragon vein was madly twisting and thras.h.i.+ng, while Ding Rui was spent from all the struggling. Under the deafening impacts with the dragon vein, her entire zither army had been smashed to pieces, and the Guqin in her hand had also exploded into pieces in the blink of an eye.

BOOM! Ding Rui, who was entirely covered in her blood, was hurled far away once more even as she heard Gu Hai's voice.

"Hahahaha, tell you? If I tell you, can I survive?" Ding Rui screamed back, unyielding.

"Stubborn fool!" Gu Hai coldly stated as the s.p.a.ce of the weiqi world continued to distort.

Inside the weiqi world, Ding Rui was struck once more.

But suddenly, crackling noises reverberated around Gu Hai as mult.i.tudes of cracks appeared in the outer ring of the floating island abruptly! Numerous cracks had also appeared on the weiqi board suddenly.

"Not good, the weiqi world cannot hold on anymore!" Gu Hai's countenance changed.

Grabbing Long Wanqing by her waist, Gu Hai immediately leapt off the barrier and the floating island.

At the same time, below the floating island, peaks suddenly rose straight from the ground again and again. Mountain peaks appeared out of thin air. They looked extremely majestic.

Gu Hai, without a moment of delay or hesitation, hugged Long Wanqing as he escaped over the group of mountains.

ROAR!

BOOM!

The floating island exploded, and a storm of rocks swept in every direction.

The captured half of the dragon vein had suddenly broken free.

At this moment, two parts of a dragon's body suddenly rose from the ground and connected perfectly with the dragon body from the weiqi world, transforming into a single long dragon's body.

With a roar, the dragon body flipped over the edge, sinking towards the ground below.

"Not good!" Li Haoran's face twisted in horror.

Li Haoran stretched his hand out right away, grabbing towards the dragon body. A huge palm aura moved towards it with a grabbing motion.

Deafening rumbles rang out as the palm aura grabbed the dragon body. However, the dragon body was immensely powerful. Fearsome as the palm of aura was, it was not able to stop the dragon body.

The aura palm exploded to pieces with a thunderous bang, and the dragon body drilled its way into the ground.

Once again, the ground started to quake with ever-decreasing intensity before the quakes finally came to a stop.

A hideous look appeared on the Li Haoran's face.

Just a bit! I had caught the dragon, but I actually let it run away once more?

A grim expression came over Li Haoran's face. He turned his head away, looking into the distance.

In the distance was a b.l.o.o.d.y Ding Rui, coughing up blood after she crashed on a mountain peak.

It's all because of this old crone, Ding Rui! Otherwise, I would have had the time to prepare. Also, I would not have made a fool of myself, or missed!

Everywhere around them, the fleeing cultivators slowly crawled their way out of the wreckage.

"Finally, there are no more earthquakes!"

"It's over, it's finally over!"

"I thought I was going to die!"...

After rejoicing at their good fortune, countless cultivators looked in Gu Hai's direction together, only to see Gu Hai, still holding Long Wanqing to his side, landing before Ding Rui.

Ding Rui was already on her last breaths. Her entire body was a b.l.o.o.d.y mess, her hair in shambles. She looked no different than a crazed old lady who was about to pa.s.s away.

"Hall Lord, I have fulfilled my promise to you!" Gu Hai said as he released Long Wanqing from his embrace, a wry smile on his face.

Fulfilled his promise?

Earlier, Gu Hai had promised Long Wanqing that he would lead Long Wanqing out of the Ding Long Clan, open and aboveboard.

Indeed, he had taken her out, open and aboveboard. However, he had caused too much of a commotion. Everything within a thousand li of the Ding Long Clan was a ruin. All the mountains and rivers had collapsed.

A wry smile also crept up on Long Wanqing's lips as she looked at Gu Hai with a rather complex look.

"Throne Master Gu, thank you for your help this time!" Long Wanqing thanked him in an extremely earnest manner.

"It's nothing, I would like to thank you as well, for giving me the opportunity at the beginning!" Gu Hai shook his head and continued, "Hall Lord, please ask the cause of your mother's death first! Ding Rui doesn't have any energy left to counterattack!"

"Mhmm!" Long Wanqing nodded her agreement.

Li Haoran leaped off the flying s.h.i.+p, flying to Ding Rui's location. There was a gloomy look on his face as he looked towards Ding Rui.

"Ke ke ke, hahaha, ke ke ke! Gu Hai, I underestimated you, I should have killed you earlier, earlier, ke ke ke!" Ding Rui looked at Gu Hai with an extremely regretful look in her eyes.

"Throne Master Ding, my earlier proclamation is still in effect; as long as you tell Hall Lord who killed Hall Lord's mother in the past, Hall Lord will not kill you!" Gu Hai stated in a calm voice.

"Yes! Who killed my mother?" Long Wanqing asked, staring at Ding Rui.

"Speak!" Li Haoran also demanded in a heavy voice.

The corner of Ding Rui's lips rose into a sliver of a cold smile as she looked at the three before her and spoke, "Old Hall Lord's death? Ke ke ke, hahaha, Commander Li, don't you know about it?"

"Hmm?" Gu Hai and Long Wanqing turned their gazes on Li Haoran.

"What do I know?" Li Haoran asked in an ice-cold voice.

"Hahaha, don't you pretend, ke ke ke! Commander Li, you did it, can't you admit it? Who killed Old Hall Lord back then? Are you still going to put up your farce? Wasn't it you? Weren't you the one who killed her? Hahaha!" Ding Rui screamed at Li Haoran, her eyes wide.

"Commander Li!?" Gu Hai's eyebrows twitched as he raised his guard.

"You crazy old hag, what bulls.h.i.+t are you spouting? Believe it or not, I will kill you right now!" Li Haoran roared as his eyes widened in anger.

"Crazy old hag? Ke ke ke, Li Haoran, I am going to die anyway, why would I bulls.h.i.+t? Admit it, it was you, you killed the old Hall Lord, why don't you admit it? Long Wanqing, you are being deceived by his hypocritical mask. You are being deceived! He killed your mother!" Ding Rui stared at Li Haoran.

BOOM!

Li Haoran was furious and extended out his palm, smas.h.i.+ng Ding Rui's head into smithereens instantly.

"Li Haoran! Did you kill her to keep her mouth shut?" Gu Hai yelled out at once.

"Hmph, this crazy old hag had already gone mad. Do you also believe her words?" Li Haoran eyes widened as he rebuked Gu Hai.

Having witnessed Li Haoran killing Ding Rui, Long Wanqing's eyelids also started to twitch. However, her frown remained only for a moment before she shook her head and said, "Impossible, Commander Li couldn't have killed my mother! Ding Rui is crazy!"

"Hmm?" Gu Hai was perplexed.

"Had I been the murderer, Long Wanqing's grandfather would have long found me out. Gu Hai, I know you want to render merit before Long Wanqing, but, this crazy old hag was completely crazy, you don't need to follow after her!" Li Haoran stated in a calm voice.

"That's right, if Commander Li is the murderer, Grandfather would have found out for sure! Furthermore, Commander Li saved my life. He can't be the murderer," Long Wanqing defended Li Haoran right away.

"However, he didn't have to kill Ding Rui! Perhaps we could have asked her something else!" Gu Hai stated, furrowing his brow.

A complex look flashed past Long Wanqing's eyes after hearing that. Obviously, she agreed with Gu Hai. However, Ding Rui was killed by Li Haoran, and Long Wanqing did not want to blame him. After all, Li Haoran had saved her life once.

"Long Wanqing, you had the Dragon Drawing Jade earlier, why didn't you take in the dragon vein then?" Li Haoran asked, as a furrow appeared on his brow.

"The Dragon Drawing Jade needs the head of the earth dragon vein, only then is it possible. The dragon head wasn't there, it was just the body, therefore...!" Long Wanqing answered, also furrowing her brow.

"Dragon tail, dragon body, dragon head! Dragon head! I understand! I understand! This Nine-Five Island is an interlinked ploy left by Elder Guanqi!" Li Haoran's expression suddenly flickered.

"Hmm!?" Long Wanqing was confused.

"The Golden Tong, Ding Long Clan, both had Elder Guanqi's weiqi games. Didn't he leave them intentionally? Both sects were founded eight centuries ago, suppressing the dragon vein! There should be another sect for sure!" Li Haoran explained in a somber voice.

"The Peony Clan!" Long Wanqing's expression flickered.

"That's right, the Peony Clan is an ancient sect like the Golden Tong and the Ding Long Clan. Furthermore, it is located at the center of Nine-Five Island. If we treat Nine-Five Island as a weiqi board, it can be said to be at the Tian Yuan position. The dragon head is suppressed at the Tian Yuan location!" Li Haoran's expression changed.

"Peony...Peony! I remember! Gu Hai, didn't you say Feng Ling is the key to enter the weiqi game because there is a peony tattoo on Feng Ling's head! If the peony is the key for this weiqi game, then for the Peony Clan, wouldn't it be...!" Long Wanqing's eyes abruptly lit up.

"Peony Clan? Perhaps!" Gu Hai nodded in agreement.

Gu Hai had long figured it out. It was just that he didn't want to say anything.

"If so, then, Long Wanqing, bring you Dragon Drawing Jade and follow me to the Peony Clan immediately!" Li Haoran said without further ado.

Long Wanqing took a look at the corpse of Ding Rui and then looked at Li Haoran and nodded. "Alright!"

"Wait!" Gu Hai suddenly interjected.

"Hmm!" Long Wanqing looked at Gu Hai, confused.

"Hall Lord, I think, with so much commotion created at the Ding Long Clan, Grandmaster Liunian will come very soon. Let's wait for Grandmaster Liunian!" Gu Hai advised.

Li Haoran narrowed his eyes, looking at Gu Hai a bit before turning his gaze on Long Wanqing and speaking."Long Wanqing, we should strike while the iron is hot. The earlier we go, the better it is! Once Grandmaster Liunian comes here, he will know we have gone to the Peony Clan and will catch up very soon!"

Long Wanqing nodded. Obviously, she wanted to go with Li Haoran.

Whereas Gu Hai's face darkened slightly as he glanced at Li Haoran. Although he had been acquainted with Li Haoran for only a short time, Gu Hai was keenly aware that Li Haoran wasn't the kind of man he appeared to be.

"Hall Lord, do you believe in Grandmaster Liunian?" Gu Hai looked at Long Wanqing.

Long Wanqing, after a brief of silence, answered, "But of course! Mother once entrusted me to Grandmaster Liunian!"

"Then, please wait for Grandmaster Liunian. He will be arriving very soon!" Gu Hai advised once again.

"Gu Hai, you are repeatedly stopping Long Wanqing from following me. What's the meaning of this? Do you still think I will harm Long Wanqing? I am also under the orders to protect Long Wanqing," Long Wanqing stated coldly.

"Yes! Gu Hai, don't worry, Commander Li once saved my life, nothing will happen to me! Grandmaster Liunian will catch up with us very soon!" Long Wanqing a.s.sured him right away.

Long Wanqing was acting in disregard of others' opinions. She simply wasn't listening to Gu Hai's persuasion. As such, Gu Hai was getting anxious.

"Hall Lord, pardon me!" Gu Hai suddenly stated in a heavy voice.

Gu Hai suddenly drew the b.l.o.o.d.y saber and placed it on Long Wanqing's neck. A cutthroat look immediately appeared on his face.

"Huh?" Long Wanqing's eyes widened in shock instantly.

Li Haoran's eyes also widened. Why is Gu Hai taking Long Wanqing hostage?

"Li Haoran, if you really want to protect Long Wanqing, please withdraw. Otherwise, I will act against Long w.a.n.ging!" Gu Hai said in a very serious voice.

Li Haoran's face darkened in horror, staring at Gu Hai.

"Gu Hai, have you gone crazy?" Long Wanqing screamed angrily at him.

"Withdraw!" Gu Hai shouted at Li Haoran.