Chapter 11654 — You're the Real Experts at Screwing People Over
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
Once the crimson apes grew more numerous, every last soul present would become their prey.
The most maddening part was this: at the very start, under Li Hongshou's instigation, the three Ancestors of the Prince of Qi's Estate had forcibly sealed the ancestral hall off from the outside world to make certain Wei Zhao died.
Within the allotted time, even they themselves could not break through.
In other words, they had built themselves an iron cage and tossed the key away for good measure—and then Li Hongshou went mad and let the crimson apes in.
Had any single link in this chain of blunders been missing, the situation today would not have been half so thorny.
Wei Zhao could not help but marvel, "When it comes to screwing people over, you lot really are masters."
"…"
The tall old man was on the verge of collapse. His face worked with anguish as he said, "This really isn't the time for that, is it? The pressing matter now is for us all to join hands and pull through together. As for all the grudges and grievances of the past—can we settle them later?"
The nearest crimson ape was still three paces from him, yet by his senses its fangs were already pricking at his jugular.
No human being could endure such pressure.
That he had not burst into tears in front of everyone was already a testament to his command of his own expression.
Wei Zhao looked to Zhang Tailing. "Daoist Zhang, why not shut the gateway of space first? These apes are few enough now that we can manage, but once their numbers swell, we truly won't be able to hold them back."
Zhang Tailing at once said to Li Hongshou, "Hong'er, give me the bronze mirror. We truly cannot go on like this."
Li Hongshou hurriedly clutched the ancient bronze mirror to her breast, her face a mask of ferocity. "Master, don't force me. I mean to make them accompany my young junior brother in death. No one who comes today can talk me out of it!"
"Foolish child!"
Zhang Tailing sighed.
He gave a casual wave of his hand, and the next second Li Hongshou cried out in shock as the ancient bronze mirror tore free of her embrace and flew into Zhang Tailing's grasp.
Before Li Hongshou could lunge to snatch it back, Zhang Tailing reached out and wiped away the blood upon it.
A gateway of space linking to the outer realm required not only a specially made implement, but fresh human blood as its guide.
Under normal circumstances, once the blood was gone, the gateway of space would fail.
Yet perversely enough, not only did the gateway overhead show no sign of closing, it began to give off an eerie, penetrating glow.
The next second, the glow enveloped Li Hongshou.
Her body convulsed, and blood came surging wildly from all seven of her orifices, smearing itself upon the ancient bronze mirror of its own accord and keeping the gateway of space in operation.
Zhang Tailing frowned and hurriedly shielded Li Hongshou.
Once Li Hongshou had been steadied, he turned his hand back to wipe the blood from the bronze mirror—and the very same scene played out again!
With the strength of a peak early-stage Heaven Rank venerable, he was wholly unable to stop it, utterly at a loss for what to do.
Silence fell over the assembly.
As things stood, either the gateway of space was left to run, or Zhang Tailing wiped it clean again and again until the blood in Li Hongshou's body was drained completely dry.
From the standpoint of the three Ancestors of the Prince of Qi's Estate, the latter choice was obviously the one to be made without hesitation.
But for Zhang Tailing, this was a choice with no good answer.
In all his life he had had neither kin nor close ties, and had taken only two disciples. His young disciple was dead; Li Hongshou was his last attachment in this world.
Were it not so, a man of his drifting, cloud-and-crane temperament would never have let himself be drawn into this at all.