Chapter 128: The Divine Manifestation
A storm of emotions surged through Wen Qing’s chest—guilt, anger, disbelief, and a deep, choking pain.
Han Shu had been his eldest disciple. Born into tragedy, the boy had nonetheless been upright and diligent—Wen Qing had always favored him above the rest. When Wen Qing and his second senior brother had descended into the Underworld to investigate the Chi Xiao incident, they had sought Han Shu out directly.
On the surface, Han Shu had claimed ignorance. But then—behind their backs—he had led them straight into a Heaven-Slaying Formation, grievously injuring them both. If not for his second senior brother’s desperate defense, sacrificing his golden body, Wen Qing would have perished there and then. When Han Shu found himself unable to finish the job, he had sealed them within this formation instead, leaving them to die slowly.
To think he had raised such a monstrous traitor—he had cursed himself a thousand times for his blindness. Yet now, his little junior niece was telling him that the one who had betrayed him hadn’t been his disciple at all. The real Han Shu might have been dead for months—and as his teacher, he hadn’t even known.
The truth came too fast. Wen Qing’s chest ached so badly he almost couldn’t breathe. Was he truly that poor a master? His thoughts drifted back to the Taiqing Sect, destroyed millennia ago; to his teacher’s thinly veiled disappointment in him. His fragile self-confidence shriveled to dust, leaving only hollow self-loathing behind.
“By the way,” Yun Jiao suddenly said, noticing how utterly deflated he looked, “I forgot to mention—Han Shu’s seal token still held a trace of his soul. I kept it. It might be possible to save him.”
“What? Truly?” Wen Qing jerked his head up, hope flashing in his eyes.
“Little ghost, what you said—really?” Xi Teng blurted out too, face lighting up. “My senior brother still has a remnant soul?”
Yun Jiao nodded. “Mm. Unless my ancestor decided to swat it into dust already.”