Chapter 215

Chapter 215: Wen Xuan’s Self-Injury Ruse Fails

Wen Xuan spoke fast, words tumbling out: “We strayed into a Purplegold Serpent’s territory. Everyone was badly hurt. I barely made it out alive.” He had noticed that when Shen Sang Ruo first heard those screams, her face showed worry. He knew then that Little Ruo was not the kind of person who could stand by while others died.

He pressed on, voice urgent: “The rest of the Flying Cloud Sect is still trapped in the Purplegold Serpent’s territory. Little Ruo, please, help us. I know you still hold anger toward us, but this is about lives. You were once in the same sect with them. Luo Chu is there too. He is your Senior Brother.”

More piercing screams echoed from afar, chilling to hear.

Wen Xuan stared at her with desperate hope and said hoarsely: “You are not going to watch them die, right?”

His wounds were real and deep. Anyone who saw him would feel a sting of pity. Even a stranger might not ignore it, much less a Junior Sister who had once been close to them.

But Shen Sang Ruo’s mind held only one question as she looked at him: [Did you not say you would wait for me in the west?] Wen Xuan gave a bitter smile and answered the thought she did not speak: “I knew you would not go.”

Her eyes stayed cool as she asked in return: “Since you knew that, why do you think I would help you?” She did not waver and said lightly, almost bored: “If you want to live, just crush your token and you will leave the Secret Realm safely. Where is the danger to your lives?”

Wen Xuan shook his head in disbelief, hurt and angry written across his face: “But that would mean the Flying Cloud Sect is eliminated. What about our ranking in the Sect Grand Tournament? How will the world see us? Little Ruo, you lived in the Flying Cloud Sect for years. How can you be so heartless to the sect and to us?”

He begged again, voice cracking: “Little Ruo, I am asking you, please, save us. Do it for the sake of what we once had.” Then he clenched his jaw and said, as if making a grand offer: “If I kneel to you, will you help us, Little Ruo?”

He believed Little Ruo was not like Bai Mu Mu. She would not humiliate him in that way.

But before his knees touched the ground, Shen Sang Ruo turned away. His face froze in place.

She spoke without looking back, her voice growing colder: “What matters more to you, rankings or lives? Choose for yourselves. That is not a reason to coerce me. I am not of the Flying Cloud Sect. I have no duty to help you.” [And your sect has shown clear hostility to Ninghua Sect. For all I know, this is your ruse.] The doubts were many. Why should she gamble Ninghua Sect’s ranking on their story?

Wen Xuan’s tone darkened with anger: “We look like this and you still will not help?” The chill wrapped around his heart. They had done many wrongs to her, true, but they had woken up and were trying to make it right. Why would she not give them a chance? Why was she so ruthless that she could watch them die? His gaze, full of hate, slid over Ye Huai and the others one by one and finally landed on her. “Little Ruo, do you really mean to treat us like this?”

She gave him no answer except the sight of her back as she walked away.

The gentleness left his face, replaced by twisted resentment. His chest heaved as he clenched the small object in his hand, then crushed it hard. He bit out each word: “Little Ruo, you have gone too far.” It was something Bai Mu Mu had given him. If he failed to lure Shen Sang Ruo’s group into the Purplegold Serpent’s domain, this was the backup. Once he crushed it, the Purplegold Serpent would come straight to him.

His original target had only been her four seniors. He had not wanted Shen Sang Ruo hurt. But now jealousy, rage, and hatred tangled together and swallowed his reason. [Shen Sang Ruo forced me. She made me teach her a lesson.] As for the Ninghua Sect team, he wanted their lives.

The ground swelled and raced toward them, as if some huge creature tunneled beneath the surface. A crushing aura rolled in fast.

The Dodder Flower Sprite squealed when she saw the smear of egg white and yolk: “He crushed a Purplegold Serpent egg. Run.” Her shrill voice trembled. “The Purplegold Serpent fiercely guards its young, and it takes a hundred years to lay a single egg. Its aura is already near a rage.”

An enraged Purplegold Serpent had power close to Nascent Soul, Late Stage. Shen Sang Ruo ground her teeth. Wen Xuan truly meant them ill. It was a bitter-meat ploy after all, self-harm to bait them into disaster. [We must retreat now.]

Wen Xuan laughed softly, his voice turning eerie: “You cannot leave. If you will not save us, then all of you can stay. Little Ruo, you forced me.” In the shadows, Bai Mu Mu hid a smile behind her hand, eyes bright with triumph. No matter how cautious Shen Sang Ruo was, as long as she stayed inside the Heaven-grade Zone, she could not escape Bai Mu Mu’s palm. She had even doctored this Purplegold Serpent for extra viciousness. Shen Sang Ruo would die for sure. Bai Mu Mu whispered to herself with gentle malice: “Go die.”

The purple-black giant tore out of the earth. The tips of its scales flashed with bright gold, and its tongue flicked in and out. Its hundred-meter body coiled in a ring and hemmed them in. Its pupils narrowed to slits, and the surge of pressure pressed the air from their lungs. Its rage had reached the peak.

Song Wei Yan shouted in fury at Wen Xuan: “How does this help you? You crushed its egg. It will kill you first.”

The Purplegold Serpent fixed on Wen Xuan’s scent and went berserk. Its jaws yawned wide, fangs bared as it struck straight at him. One bite could swallow him whole.

Wen Xuan smiled with smug confidence and said lightly: “That is not certain.” But a beam of white light wrapped him, and when the light faded, he was gone.

Shen Sang Ruo’s eyes narrowed as she spoke into the empty air, voice cutting cold: “The Purplegold Serpent already locked on your scent. Do you think you can run?”