"I got you now, you bastards!"
A chilling voice crept from behind the four. Their body froze and looked back in reflex to see Gu Santong's furious gaze.
Scared out of their wits, the four shivered as they lowered their heads, not daring to look him in the eye.
Gu Santong scratched his nose, sweeping the four with a cold eye and snorting, "Who was it that threw the punch on me? Step forward!"
"He did it!"
The four didn't even lift their heads as three demons pointed straight at Violent Demon.
Violent Demon felt like kicking these bunch of ignoble bastards' arse, but he was weak as a kitten before Gu Santong's stern gaze. He then showed a miserable and crying smile, "It's not my fault, I never would've done it if I wasn't compelled!"
"Oh, who forced you then?" Furrowing his brow, Gu Santong fists tightened.
Swallowing dryly, Violent Demon squeaked, "It's…"
Creak!
Violent Demon shuddered in that instant and his jaw froze open, but could not utter a sound. As if something was shoved down his throat.
Then, a cheerful cry entered their ears, "Gu Santong, you're finally here. Thank the heavens, I thought we'd never see you again!"
Zhuo Fan and Li Jingtian staggered their wretched bodies over. While Li Jingtian's face was tense from anxiety, by contrast, Zhuo Fan's was that of joy, as if guileless. He even went as far as give Gu Santong an old fashioned cozy hug.
The four demons now knew why Violent Demon was choking on his own voice. Zhuo Fan's Bloodworm was doing its thing!
These two had the life of the four demons in their hands. And offending any side now was certain death no matter how they sliced it. So the three demons buried their heads in the dirt to avoid looking at anyone.
Violent Demon's face twitched and shivered. He was fearing for his life. Thinking Zhuo Fan would take his life to protect his own.
Getting out of Zhuo Fan's hug, Gu Santong stared at him with resentment. Zhuo Fan was startled and faked innocence, "What's wrong?"
"Why did you run? Why did you set up a lightning array here?" Gu Santong snapped at him. Li Jingtian swallowed dryly, his whole body frozen, while the four demons shivered.
Only Zhuo had a downright shocked expression, "What are you talking about? Who set an array?"
"You didn't set the lightning array?"
"As if! You think we'd still be trapped with you if we could?" Zhuo Fan rolled his eyes.
Gu Santong was speechless, the four demons startled, all while confusion predominated to all present.
"You're saying you've been trapped in there as well?" Gu Santong spoke, his tone still carried anger, albeit subdued.
Sighing, Zhuo Fan shook his head, "Of course, or we'd have long returned with the ingredient!"
"What, you've been trapped here just to get an ingredient?" Gu Santong cried, now his anger deflated.
Zhuo Fan nodded, running his mouth, "Gu Santong, do you know why there's a 6th-grade lightning array here?"
Gu Santong shook his head, a telltale sign he bought into Zhuo Fan's lie completely.
"Because there's a precious 8th-grade ingredient here. Someone used the array to protect it!" Zhuo Fan spoke, "To help you get that ingredient, we had to go into the lion's den, and barely got out alive. But thankfully you got here just in time! But why do you say we ran away? Didn't I tell you we'll be going on an ingredient hunt?"
"Uh, that's…" Gu Santong blushed, fiddling with his hands, like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Somewhat aggrieved and somewhat guilty.
They were braving danger for his sake, yet he was here casting blame on them – for shame!
Zhuo Fan sighed, giving Li Jingtian a look, and the two showed a carefree smile. Gu Santong sure was an abomination, but pure as a child, and more importantly, easy to fool.
The Four Scheming Demons were struck dumb.
They had feared the kid for his power. But even after three centuries, he was still but a child, easy to dupe. Why didn't they think of that?
But Gu Santong's shyness only lasted a second as he pointed at Violent Demon with a frown, "Why then were they moving around the array so freely, even giving me a punch? You were clearly against me!"
Shuddering, they all felt shock and fear, with the four demons lowering their heads.
Li Jingtian's brow was soaked, his lips dry, and looked anxiously at Zhuo Fan for help. [He may be a child at heart and mind, but everyone knows the chaos he caused Tianyu three hundred years ago!]
[It's not that easy to dupe him after all!]
This was Zhuo Fan's plan all along. If they couldn't hold him with the array, then they'll throw in a play. They'd fake being victims as well, braving the danger of death for the kid's sake.
This worked to explain why they were in the array, and also scored sympathy points with the kid. Without any real evidence, even if the kid was dubious, he couldn't just trash them when they were giving their all in finding him ingredients!
So, Zhuo Fan and Li Jingtian never once showed themselves as the array worked, just so they could enact this play, and give themselves a way out.
Who'd have thought however, that the Four Scheming Demons Zhuo Fan asked to keep the kid busy went as far as punching him!
Now this was throwing a wrench in his act…
[Steward Zhuo, how about we throw these little shits to the wolves?]
Li Jingtian spoke with his eyes.
Zhuo Fan squinted, as the four demons looked nervously at him. They could feel it in their bones how his next words had the power to save them and condemn them.
If Zhuo Fan made them scapegoats, they'd have no chance at all, except at a swift death.
At this very moment, no one moved.
Gu Santong stared at Zhuo, waiting for his answer. Li Jingtian was also looking at him, waiting for his decision. Four Scheming Demons were begging him with their faces, their miserable and pitiful faces.
Eveyone's lives rested on him!
"Uh…"
Zhuo Fan finally opened his mouth, and instead of answering, he gave Gu Santong a question, "Do you know arrays?"
"Nope!" Gu Santong was blunt
"I guessed as much! That's great!"
"Eh?" Gu Santong glared at him and Zhuo Fan rushed to say, "Ha-ha-ha, don't misunderstand. I only want to explain to you clearly so as to not weigh your conscience with innocent killings!"
Zhuo Fan rubbed his chin as he began, "Arrays are graded from one to twelve according to their power. As for their type, they are trapping, killing, and bewildering arrays. That thunder array was of the killing type. But it also had a trapping array hidden. Did you notice?"
Gu Santong nodded. He knew the second he got in the array he'd have to smash his way through if he wanted out.
"But did you notice the bewildering array as well?" Zhuo Fan gave a vague smile.
Gu Santong shook his head, "You're saying a bewildering caught me?"
But then he snorted, "No way. I didn't feel any illusions around me. What I see may be fake, but my nose has never let me down. That guy hit me and I caught him red handed…"
Being pointed at, Violent Demon shivered in fear. In that moment, he was more of a wimp than Wimp Demon.
Everyone looked at him with derision, [This is the first goddamn time I'm hiding behind forth bro!]
But in the face of all this, Zhuo Fan waved it off, "I didn't say you were caught in an illusion, but he was. Let me ask you this. Did you four really attack Gu Santong?"
Shuddering, the four reacted to Steward Zhuo's meaning. He was giving them a way out!
So they shook their heads and bowed, "We thought you were someone else! Please forgive us!"
"Is that so? Then who was that little monster you kept raving on about?" Gu Santong stared them down.
The four pointed at Zhuo Fan on the spot, "Him!"
Zhuo Fan's face twitched and his anger boiled. Wasn't that saying they wanted to kill him? But this was not the time to bicker with these four morons!
Gu Santong looked dubious at him, "You're also a monster?"
"Uh, before meeting you, they indeed called me that!" With an awkward chuckle, Zhuo Fan's fists crunched and Lightning Wings unfolded behind him, "Can anyone do this?"
Gu Santong's eyes twitched, "I see. I always thought you used a flying demonic treasure when in fact it is tied to your body. You're indeed monstrous enough!"
That ended that.
Gu Santong was still dubious, but could find no plausible excuse to beat the crap out of them.
Everyone else gave Zhuo Fan a big round of thumbs up, in admiration for his sophistry, and putting an end to this deadly situation.
Zhuo Fan sighed and rejoiced inside. [Thank god we met Gu Santong. If it was anyone else, this blatant lie wouldn't fly and would've got us all killed instead. All because they harbored doubts.]
Anyone would rather kill a thousand innocents than miss the culprit!
This was where Gu Santong was different. Zhuo Fan knew he guarded the imperial family for three hundred years all for the sake of a promise. But only after being his prisoner did he fully understand that to this kid, words were gold, and he needed a good reason when handling anyone.
When he slaughtered half the empire's cities, that was because others pushed him. He didn't start it!
So Zhuo Fan made a heroic, reckless and gutsy gamble. But even this had only a fifty-fifty chance. If Gu Santong was still stubborn they could only resign to their fate and the kid's temper.
Thankfully, the kid was quite moral, not swinging around his weight without proper reason!
Taking a deep breath, Zhuo Fan smiled. But then Gu Santong suddenly said, "Hold on, since you all did this for an ingredient, where is it?"
They all froze up again.
An 8th-grade ingredient was a heavenly treasure. How were they supposed to just find it?
Gu Santong's glare once again descended…