Tang Can’s eyes remained fixed on the heart-wrenching scene before him. The Duke’s selfless act of sacrificing himself to buy time for Sheng Yi, his loyal subordinate’s sacrifice to protect his master, and the evident misery of Sheng Yi.
His pale complexion mirrored Sheng Yi’s.
“How can it be? Did I get it wrong? No, no……” He slowly mumbled to himself.
Amidst the unfolding chaos, Lu Hai Miao stood by Tang Can’s side, her concern evident as she clutched his arm tightly, “Tang Can! Are you alright?”
Lu Hai Miao had remained by Tang Can’s side throughout the battle, even as she fought the retainer experts from duke Sheng’s manor.
She watched as Zi Lin, a woman like herself with the Dragon God’s bloodline in her body, choosing to sacrifice herself willingly for Sheng Yi.
Her suspicions grew.
Even despite the fact that the members of the Blood Spirits had appeared here.
Was duke Sheng truly the person behind it all?
And watching duke Sheng willingly stay behind to stop the enemies for his son, she was even more perplexed.
The uneasiness and confusion in her mind had stopped her from doing any more.
She remained at Wang Ren Mei and Murong Liu’s side with Tang Can, watching the situation unfold from the sidelines.
As Tang Can trembled, Lu Hai Miao recognized the agitation he was experiencing was from witnessing the distressing scene.
After all, his father had also sacrificed himself to save him.
“I was wrong! We were wrong! Duke Sheng was never the culprit!” Tang Can yelled miserably.
He closed his eyes in pain as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
Seeing the visible pain in his expression, Lu Hai Miao walked forwards and hugged him.
She didn’t say anything.
Her gaze slowly turned towards the two women next to them.
Wang Ren Mei watched as the duke coughed out blood due to the attacks of the three great ancestors. Then, the corners of her lips rose as she watched him collapse to the ground, dying.
Sighing a breath of relief, she happily patted Murong Liu’s shoulder, “Good work! Aren’t you going to chase after that fiance of yours?”
As she observed Sheng Yi Fei’s demise, Murong Liu sneered with cruel satisfaction. Her voice dripped with malicious glee as she revealed her sinister plan, “Hahaha! I’ve arranged a squad to intercept him at the riverside. He won’t escape the capital!”
She turned her head towards the corpse of the duke, mumbling to herself, “Sky Reaching realm? Sky Reaching realm? They will still die anyways!”
Then, she left.
She knew that her father would blame her for causing such a large commotion.
But she wasn’t afraid anymore.
With a sneer directed at Murong Liu’s departing figure, then, she quickly composed herself and turned back to address those behind her. Clapping her hands together, she inquired, “How’s the progress on transferring assets under Duke Sheng’s name?”
“We are collaborating with the first prince, Murong Ding, and receiving assistance from ministers in the imperial court. Most of the asset transfer has already been managed. I expect the remaining tasks to be completed by tonight.”
“En. What a pity. If it weren’t for the duke’s interference in the imperial court, we could have had our men infiltrate and gain some authority within the court as well.”
“We can do so now.”
“En. I didn’t expect today to go so smoothly, even the army didn’t stop us? Where’s the imperial guards?”
“I heard that they were dispatched to the south to suppress South Village and the South Village King’s rebellion. The Murong clan’s priority lies in managing the passing of the previous emperor, and moreover, we have the princes covering us.”
“En. It’ll be easy to take care of the remaining comrades of the duke, we’ll recruit some, kill some, and then split some. This matter will be personally handled by my father and his men, you may leave.”
“Yes. Eh, that, the young master of the Xue clan, Xue Xun Xiang, is still there waiting for you, will you…?”
“Send him away! He’s nothing but a coward that shies away from war!”
“Yes!”
Tang Can abruptly turned towards Wang Ren Mei, shouting, “Did you already know? That the duke had nothing to do with the Blood Spirits? Tell me, was this all in your plan?”
Wang Ren Mei looked at the young man standing next to her with a slight smile, “Naive child, what are you talking about? Didn’t you see the close to a thousand Blood Spirits’ members over there?”
And she turned around the moment she finished speaking, leaving only a sentence for him, “I really ought to be grateful to you for the Dragon Seeker Rings, without it, no one would’ve believed us, hahaha.”
As Wang Ren Mei’s mocking words reverberated in the air, Tang Can’s anger surged, and he felt an irrational urge to charge forward and confront her. However, Lu Hai Miao’s firm embrace restrained him.
She yelled, “What is the point of getting angry now! Duke Sheng is already dead! We were too hasty!
No one would’ve expected anyone to use the Dragon Seeker Rings as a trap to lure us into attacking the duke’s residence, this isn’t your fault!
Our mission now is to find the true culprit behind everything! That person has even borrowed our strength to get rid of the Blood Spirits, there must be an even bigger conspiracy brewing behind it all!”
Tang Can gradually calmed himself down, his expression returning to normal.
He mumbled to himself, “Yes, yes, the culprit isn’t duke Sheng, then, who is it?
Earlier, Sheng Yi seemed to be saying earlier that the Blood Spirits’ cult leader was, the cult leader was Murong Lin?
No, this must be a trap too, a trap, ah!”
Tang Can suddenly grabbed at his hair, screaming as he cried and howled.
Lu Hai Miao hugged him as her heart ached, the two locked in a tight embrace on the side of the battlefield.
In the centre, the three great ancestors heaved in relief as they took out a spiritual medicine from their bags of holding, healing their bodies.
They glanced at each other, then at the corpse of the duke in the centre of the battlefield, they could finally relax.
The great ancestor of the Wang Clan spoke first, “We finally took care of this huge thorn in our side.”
The Xue clan’s great ancestor snorted in response, his frustration evident. “Hah! Our losses haven’t been insignificant either! That old thief Du only knows how to stand by and reap benefits from the chaos. We cannot let him profit from this situation!”
The Wang clan’s great ancestor shook his head, he couldn’t care less, “What will Murong Tong’s side say?”
“We’ll see if Mo Wen Dao is useful, I gave him a bunch of eastern merchants, I don’t believe that the Mo Shan sect won’t be tempted.”
The cold gaze of the Liu clan’s great ancestor swept past the battlefield, “Now that the Blood Spirits appeared here unexpectedly, they’ve all died. What should we do?”
“What should we do? Can’t you tell from those Blood Spirits’ members? They’re obviously sent here to be scapegoats, now, we wouldn’t even need to tarnish duke Sheng’s reputation, the people gathered here to watch the battle will help us spread the news.
In my eyes, the true culprit’s actions in sending them here to die might be an act of subservience toward us.”
“Your imagination is rather kind, I worry that the culprit is scheming against us!” The Liu clan’s great ancestor swung his arm, his sleeve fluttering in the wind.
“I will send some people to continue investigating the hideouts of the Blood Spirits. We will definitely find them if they remain in the capital.”
After further discussions, the three great ancestors left.
They didn’t intend on bringing away duke Sheng’s corpse, instead, they simply left it there.
The spies of different influential forces watched the end of the battle from afar, amazed by the fight. Then, news of the battle spread like wildfire in the capital.
Zhou Miao, who was smoking as he leaned on the railings, spoke in perplexion, “Strange, why would the men of the Blood Spirits rush out to die? Why would they do that?”
Murong Lin glanced at him, casually responding, “Perhaps, they had no choice?”
As he listened to the system’s voice in his mind, he bubbled with joy, wanting to kill someone to further boost his mood.
“Ding! Zi Lin’s death is causing the protagonist Sheng Yi’s ‘Little protagonist halo’ to shatter, his protagonist value has dropped by 50.”
“Ding! Sheng Yi Fei’s death is causing the protagonist Sheng Yi’s ‘Little protagonist halo’ to shatter further, his protagonist value has dropped by 100.”
“Ding! The annihilation of duke Sheng’s manor is causing the protagonist Sheng Yi’s ‘Little protagonist halo’ to shatter further, his protagonist value has dropped by 50.”
“Ding! Congratulations to master for obtaining villain value of 200, you may use them to purchase items in the system shop.”
After everything, not only did he silence the Blood Spirits entirely, but he also obtained 200 villain value.
The Blood Spirits were destroyed with the deaths of the four blood paladins, even if there were survivors, they wouldn’t dare to take up the name of the Blood Spirits.
And no one in the Blood Spirits would know the true identity of their mysterious cult leader.
Ma Jian Chou yawned as he looked at the already dark sky, then at the teacups on the table and laughed, “What a pity, what a pity. Let’s go eat, shall we? It’s just about time for dinner!”
“Hahaha! True, only you would have such an appetite.”
The few of them returned to wash up, changing into clean clothes, then headed off to a restaurant to drink and feast.
Quite a number of people that had witnessed the great battle at duke Sheng’s residence were gathered in this restaurant, chattering away in the lively atmosphere.
At the same time, a person was looking down at Murong Lin from the third floor, sighing in amazement, “You really are vicious, my wonderful third brother1.”
Footnotes
1. Third younger brother actually, but it sounds stupid so I usually just put first brother, sixth sister etc.
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Puttty Translations 
“1. Third younger brother actually, but it sounds stupid so I usually just put first brother, sixth sister etc.”
Good choice.
Everything has been going quite well for Murong Tong, but I wonder if he’s going to expose Lin even though he’s been quite helpful.
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Thanks for the chapter!
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