Chapter 105: Divert Water

Chapter 105: Calling the Waters

Shen Yu did not immediately lead his men to the imperial palace. Instead, he held his troops in place, waiting for the most opportune moment.

Wu Xiu dared not make any major moves now, holed up day after day in the secret chamber of the imperial palace, forcing Wu Shao to write prescriptions for him.

"Is this the prescription you wrote for me? Do you think I've already gone mad?" Wu Xiu looked at the prescription Wu Shao had given him and let out a cold, angry laugh.

Wu Shao ignored him, continuing to grind the medicinal herbs in front of him.

Since he couldn't escape, he might as well keep himself busy, if only to avoid having to look at Wu Xiu.

Wu Shao's attitude only further enraged Wu Xiu. He violently ripped the head off the poisoned man beside him and drank the fresh blood to suppress his fury.

Wu Shao glanced at him, a blatant smile spreading across his face: "Looks like you're starting to suffer the backlash."

Wu Xiu had always believed that practicing his evil arts would make him invincible, even immortal. But treading the path of wickedness meant bearing the corresponding backlash. In the early stages, he could still patch himself up by drinking fresh blood, but at this stage, even fresh blood couldn't turn things around anymore.

Wu Xiu might have seemed unbeatable, but in truth, his internal organs were already starting to rot. The day they rotted away completely, he wouldn't survive even without any outside help.

So Wu Shao didn't understand what the point of all this was. Even if he actually unified the star system, he wouldn't last much longer.

"I have my own ways!" Wu Xiu shot back firmly.

Wu Shao spelled out his plan plainly: "You want me to write out the method to cure the Gu poison, isn't it so you can pull out a way to be free from the Gu Poison King's control while still achieving immortality? But you don't have the skill to write such a method, do you?"

Wu Xiu wanted to dominate the Gu Poison King himself, but he knew his abilities were insufficient, so he could only beg Wu Shao for help. As long as Wu Shao was willing to help him, his plan could become a reality!

"Senior brother, help me. I believe you must have a way." Wu Xiu was still clinging to the delusion that Wu Shao would help him.

Wu Shao couldn't even be bothered to look at him: "You've brought this on yourself. There's no saving you now."

If Bai Ruoshui hadn't died, maybe he really would have softened. But now that Bai Ruoshui was gone, helping Wu Xiu would mean betraying his most precious disciple.

Hearing his mockery, Wu Xiu grew somewhat hysterical: "So what? If I can't live, then no one else should either! I'll drag everyone down with me!"

Wu Shao lowered his head, unwilling to keep talking to him. The man had lost his mind; there was no point in saying anything more.

Wu Xiu stepped forward and seized him by the throat, his eyes bulging as if they were about to pop out of his head: "Tell me the method to cure the Gu poison!"

Wu Shao looked at him calmly: "You've even forgotten the method to cure the Gu poison. You really are going downhill day by day."

Wu Xiu had also studied it, but back then his mind was already off the righteous path, so he was nowhere near as skilled as Wu Shao in this area.

Wu Xiu's rage surged, and he lost control of the strength in his grip.

Just as Wu Shao was about to pass out from lack of air, Wu Xiu released his grip and let out a cold shout: "Come out!"

Bai Yeye appeared before him like a manipulated puppet. Wu Xiu took all his anger out on him.

Ignoring his own struggle to breathe, Wu Shao struggled to his feet and stood in front of Bai Yeye.

"If you're feeling displeased, go ahead and kill me. Don't drag innocent people down with you!"

Wu Xiu narrowed his eyes at the sight. He didn't know Bai Yeye's true identity, but seeing how much Wu Shao cared for him, an idea immediately took shape.

"I'll give you one hour. If you can't write it out, I'll kill him right in front of you, slice by slice."

Wu Shao's gaze was as sharp as a knife: "You beast! What else can you do besides these dirty tricks?"

Wu Xiu didn't care about the insults at all, even mocking him for not cursing dirty enough: "You just keep repeating the same two phrases. Save your breath and write the damn prescription."

"Without him, who else can you use as a source?" Wu Shao threatened him.

Wu Xiu burst into laughter upon hearing this: "He's just a convenient candidate, not the only option. My patience is limited. You'd better start writing quickly."

Wu Shao was afraid he would actually go through with it, so he could only hand over the genuine method.

Wu Xiu couldn't tell whether this method was real or fake, so he decided to test it on a live person.

His first choice was, of course, Wu Shao, the one who had written the method.

"Senior brother, if the method you've given me is wrong, then don't blame me, your junior brother, for making you dig up our master's grave yourself."

Wu Shao showed no reaction whatsoever, because he knew that even if he fought back, it would be useless.

Wu Xiu ordered one of the poisoned minions to claw at Wu Shao. In an instant, Wu Shao collapsed to the ground, black blood starting to seep from the corners of his mouth.

Once enough time had passed, Wu Xiu finally spoke: "Get up."

Wu Shao stood up like a manipulated robot, his eyes completely devoid of light.

Wu Xiu was just about to test whether he was real or fake when water suddenly started seeping in through the cracks of the door, accompanied by a gurgling sound.

Wu Xiu's face changed. The mermaid had called the waters?!

Without panicking much, he walked over to the bat throne and knocked on the bat perched on it, as if saying goodbye to it.

"Open the door!"

Bai Yeye obediently stepped forward and opened the door. The surging seawater rushed in and flooded the secret chamber. Wu Xiu was well-prepared, ordering Bai Yeye and Wu Shao to follow behind him.

He knew he'd been exposed and had already planned his escape route. But he didn't leave the palace right away. Instead, he went to the emperor's bedchamber.

Shen Yu never would have imagined he'd dare to hide things in a bedchamber he could search anytime.

By the time he swam out of the emperor's bedchamber, he found it already surrounded by the mermaid tribe. Their eyes blazed with murderous intent, as if they couldn't wait to tear him apart on the spot.

"Yeye!" Shen Yu couldn't help but shout when he saw the controlled Bai Yeye.

Wu Xiu immediately grabbed Bai Yeye by the throat and threatened: "Everyone back off, or I'll kill him!"

"You can't kill him. Only you die today." Bai Yuanzhou strode through the mermaids, his eyes filled with boundless killing intent.

Wu Xiu froze when he saw him. Wasn't he already dead?!

In that split second of hesitation, Bai Yeye broke free of his grip and snatched the Gu Poison King out of his hands. At the same time, Wu Shao, behind him, drove a sharp blade into the most vulnerable spot on his spine.

Wu Xiu turned to look at him, disbelief written all over his face.

Wu Shao never killing him had been his greatest assurance, just as he would never kill Wu Shao. But today, he'd actually done it.

Wu Shao's hands were shaking too. "It's because of you that I haven't been able to trust anyone all these years. Finally, finally, Ruoshui came along. He was going to set my life back on the right track, and you killed him. Why, why didn't you just kill me too back then!"

The happiest days of his life were the ones he spent with Bai Ruoshui. The purity radiating from Bai Ruoshui had pulled him out of the shadow of betrayal.

Especially back then, when he'd wanted to leave and Bai Ruoshui had said he was his father. At that moment, Wu Shao thought that even after all this was over, he wouldn't go back to the mountains. He would stay by Bai Ruoshui's side, do his duty as a father, take care of him and protect him, until the day he didn't need him anymore.

But Wu Xiu had destroyed all of that. That beautiful, innocent child would never come back.

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