The head of the Cougar fell to the ground.
"How did it get in the village without anyone noticing it? I want the answers within a day." Tai Qi said this and left.
"Wow!! The one who killed the Cougar was none other than the Clan leader."
"He is so strong, Elder Ren and elder Daen were struggling to fight it, but the Clan leader killed it without batting an eye."
"He is really strong, I am surprised that someone can be this strong?"
"Even his demeanor is on another level. He left after only saying a single thing."
The people who were still running for their lives stopped after seeing the head of the Cougar fall.
They were shocked to see that Tai Qi ended the battle within a second of arriving. More importantly, the Clan leader came to help.
Elder Ren balances himself, brushes the dust off his clothes, then takes a deep breath and expels it, and looks around.
He sees Yang Zhai standing not far away from him. Then he looks around and sees many corpses lying on the ground.
Thereafter, he walks close to the corpse of the Cougar and sees strange lines drawn on it.
"What are these? Could it be that someone was using these lines to control this beast? If so, then it's no good, there's a possibility of another attack if someone was really controlling it."
Elder Ren mutters to himself. To him, these lines are strange and unrecognizable. But, he can see that these lines are not natural.
He is just about to go, when he hears a voice from the fallen head of the Cougar.
"Ple…ase…save…her."
"It is still alive, and it can even speak."
Elder Ren sees it as strange and walks close to the head. He kicks the head and turns its face upward. Its eyes are open, and a tear can be seen in its eye.
Elder Ren's eyes narrow when he sees its eyes. To him, they look familiar. But how?
Elder Ren sits down and moves his head close to hear more clearly.
"Please save... Mah… Q…," With this, the Cougar loses the last ounce of vitality in its eyes. It died.
Elder Ren could only hear this. He examines the head more carefully and sees that these eyes really are familiar to him. He is curious and begins to scrutinize¹ it even more.
After looking more carefully, his eyes open wide,
"How can this be? No, there must be something wrong here." He cannot believe his eyes and begins to examine the corpse of the Cougar as well.
"It really is Yua Emi, I am sure of it."Elder Ren stands up and murmurs with shock. He did not expect something like this to happen.
"Now, this is really bad. Forget about another attack, even this attack was more than enough." Elder Ren shook his head. To him, this situation had appeared out of nowhere. He now regrets even finding the truth about this Cougar's identity.
"It really is a blessing to be ignorant." Elder Ren is thinking while looking in the direction Tai Qi left.
Now, he is thinking of how to deal with this matter and whether to tell the Clan leader about this: after all, he has killed Yua Emi without even realizing it.
The next day,
Yang Zhai is standing in a hall, in front of many elders. Elder Shu Ti, Elder Ziaho De, and the Clan leader are present. There are also more elders present, such as elder Eun Woo, elder Nain Ki and many more.
Yang Zhai is standing in the center of the hall.
"So, do you know why we are here?" Clan leader, Tai asks Yang Zhai.
"No, clan leader." Yang Zhai replies with respect.
"I heard that you used your fellow brethren to save yourself, is that right?" Tai Qi looks at Yang Zhai carefully, waiting for the answer.
"No, clan leader, I did no such thing. I am sure someone lied about me to you."
Yang Zhai denies the accusations without any hesitation. But, there appears a nervous expression on his face, showing that he was scared.
"So, did you not sacrifice your brethren to save yourself two days ago at the venue of the competition's first round?"
"No, clan leader, I did not." The nervousness on Yang Zhai's face grows.
The surrounding elders all are looking at Yang Zhai, as if they can see through him.
Yang Zhai, so you really did sacrifice others to save yourself, I did not expect that you were like this: Eun Woo shook her head when she saw Yang Zhai, she was surprised and saddened. To her, this is surprising.
"I will ask you once again, did you do it or not?"
"I, I, I…" Yang Zhai begins to stutter,
"We have witnesses here. Three elders saw themselves, you used some method to make many people fall and get captured by the Cougar so that it would be delayed a little, giving you more time to run, isn't that right?"
"Clan leader, I, I, I…am"
"You what? Just say it, sacrificing your own brethren to save yourself is considered evil and is punishable by death."
Yang Zhai was still speaking when he heard Tai Qi's raised voice,
"I am sorry, I did kill them. I had no choice. I did not want to do that, but, but, when I thought about the competition between the Ma clan and our clan, and how I was needed for the clan's benefit, I could not let myself die. But, I, I am living with an immense regret, I can't go on with this sin. But, please, I hope that you can delay my punishment until the final round, I promise I will kill myself after that, please. After that, I won't ask for forgiveness as my punishment is only death for what I did."
Yang Zhai falls to his knees, tears are falling continuously on the floor of the hall. An immense regret can be seen on his face. He is punching the floor again and again, so much so that his hands are getting injured and bleeding.
Everyone looks at Yang Zhai with shock in their eyes. Even Eun Woo is shocked by Yang Zhai. She cannot believe that Yang Zhai killed his brethren for the benefit of the clan.
"No, no, don't give me time for the competition, I can't live with myself. For the whole last night, it was like, like, I was forcing myself to stay alive."
Everyone is shocked again by Yang Zhai again. He sacrificed his brethren to save himself, but now, he wants to kill himself because he sacrificed his brethren. Was he innocent or mad?
Tai Qi is looking at Yang Zhai, quietly. Everyone else is looking at the Clan leader instead.
The third elder signals to the Clan leader and shakes his head.
Is he crazy?!! Eun Woo is eagerly looking at Yang Zhai and thinking inwardly.
Yang Zhai, on the other hand, is calm inside. But, from the outside, he can't wait to die.
After a while, the door of the hall opens and a man enters the hall.
Everyone looks at the man as he goes to the Clan leader and mutters something in his ear.
"What?" A slight change in Tai Qi's expression can be noticed by the elders. They can see that something has happened.
"Yang Zhai, as we can see that you did everything for the clan's benefit, I think that your resolve and our brethren's sacrifice should not go to waste. Your punishment will be decided after the final round of the competition. Until then, I hope you don't disappoint us. However, if you win your battle in the final round, you can be spared from the death penalty."
Clan leader, Tai Qi says this after being quiet for a while.
However, nobody is shocked to hear this. They know that Yang Zhai was not going to be punished, even if Yang Zhai had killed his brethren on purpose. But, after seeing that Yang Zhai has done everything for the clan's benefit, the chance of getting him punished was reduced to zero.
As for the Clan leader announcing that Yang Zhai's punishment will be decided after the competition, it was just to remain fair and was just a fake appearance.
And Tai Qi even took advantage of it to motivate Yang Zhai into working hard for the final round, thinking that Yang Zhai would do everything to win to save himself.
And besides, I need Yang Zhai to kill Jun Haru: Tai Qi thought.
"What? No, clan leader, please don't show me any mercy, I deserve death for what I did. Please, kill me." A shocked expression appeared on Yang Zhai's face. He insists on being killed.
"No, don't insist anymore. And besides, you can't waste your brethren's sacrifice by dying. If you are really regretful, go and train hard and win the competition for which they died." Third elder Zihao De moves forward and says.
"Huh…, you are right, I can't die yet, I need to think of the clan's benefits, I need to win the competition for the Clan. Clan leader, thank you for giving me another chance, I promise that I will work hard and win the final fight. After that, I will kill myself. "Yang Zhai wiped his tears after hearing Zihao De. He turns around and leaves the hall.
"Clan leader, what happened?" Second Elder Shu Ti knows that something is wrong and asks.
"Ai Hao died."
This sentence shocked everyone in the hall.
!*****!*****!
1-Scrutinize: Examine or inspect closely and thoroughly to see even the minute details.