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Chapter 508 Ghost Stories
The fake lord felt a metallic taste in his throat and looked down at his chest.

A sword was stuck in his chest.

The sword hilt was held in the hand of Lu Qing, who had appeared behind him at some unknown time.

"You..." The fake fortress lord was both shocked and furious. The sharp pain that gradually came from his chest prevented him from saying anything more. He could only stare wide-eyed at Lu Qing.

Lu Qing now looks completely different from how she looked just now.

Where could one see any dark clouds, impending storm, anger, or bewilderment on his face?

Even with most of his face covered by a fake skin, his cold eyes and the sneer on his lips seemed to tell the fake lord that he hadn't believed a single word of the plans he had just made.

"Why..." The fake fortress lord dared not move. He himself was a martial artist, so he could feel that Lu Qing's sword was definitely aimed at his vital points. However, he had precisely controlled the force. If he had used less force, he would have had room to resist; if he used more force, it would have pierced his heart, leaving him no chance to say another word.

Such precise judgment could not have been achieved by chance. Lu Qing did this intentionally and with a specific purpose.

"Didn't I... explain myself clearly enough?" the fake lord asked, trembling as he endured the excruciating pain.

He simply couldn't understand how, when everything he had planned had gone so smoothly, and every single reaction from Lu Qing had been exactly as he had predicted, without the slightest deviation, how could this have happened...?

Absolutely perfect...

The fake lord's eyes widened, and he practically spat out the words through clenched teeth: "You... you never believed me from the very beginning..."

"Of course." Lu Qing slightly raised her chin, glancing at him with a half-smile, her hand gripping the sword firmly. "If I believed all that nonsense, I wouldn't be alive now."

I was just putting on an act to show you what I wanted; now that's enough, I'm ready to get down to business.

Lu Qing raised his other hand, holding the brass pendant in his palm: "I've heard your story, but I'd like to hear more about the real mastermind behind you, and what the truth is, according to him."

As he spoke, he swiftly thrust his sword forward, and in the blink of an eye, the gleaming blade pierced the fake lord's chest without a trace of blood.

Before the fake fortress lord could even groan, Lu Qing swiftly drew his sword and kicked the fake lord off the curved bridge, sending him crashing into the pool below.

A red splash quickly rose in the pool, just like the previous two times. As the water boiled and churned, when the surface calmed down again, the blood in the water had not yet faded, but only the clothes that the fake fortress lord had been wearing were floating in the water.

Zhu Yu had previously thought the man-eating fish in the water was really ferocious and couldn't help but feel terrified.

Seeing the fake lord fall into the water and be devoured without a trace, she felt a strange sense of satisfaction.

Runes and talismans also felt the same way.

“Master, although I pretended to be putting on an act for him, I really don’t like this guy!” Fu Lu glanced at the clothes in the water and snorted. “If you ask me, you really don’t need to take action yourself. This kind of filthy thing is enough for us two brothers to deal with. Why dirty your hands and your sword!”

Lu Qing toyed with the brass pendant in his hand, then tucked it back into his pocket: "This fake fortress lord keeps saying that his master—the senior brother who went to Jin Kingdom to make his way in the world—was acting on orders to bribe an inside man to poison me. If that's true, how did my grandfather's pendant, which he never parted with, end up in their hands?"
Even if it wasn't him, he was at least the mastermind behind it all, and he was inextricably linked to the murder of my grandfather and my entire family back then. It was probably more than just helping them get the Jade Snowbird.

So even if it's just a small fry, I'll kill him myself.

"So, you didn't believe a single word he said just now, right?" Zhu Yu felt a little better now and asked.

Lu Qing smiled upon hearing this and shook his head: "I don't believe him completely, nor do I disbelieve him completely. What he told me is probably a mixture of truth and falsehood; it may not all be true, nor may every word be a lie."

They were merely stating certain facts from a perspective that benefited their group, making it easier to mislead me and achieve their own goals.

Looking at the fake skin on his face, Zhu Yu suddenly realized: "No wonder you have been hiding your appearance ever since you entered the Brahma Land, especially before going to the Brahma King's Palace, you were even more vigilant, and you even wore a veil after disguising yourself."

So you wanted to make the people plotting behind the scenes reveal their true colors, to ascertain how much they already knew about your identity?

“That’s right,” Lu Qing said with a smile. “We’ve been leaving him hanging for so long, which has made him even more anxious.”

When people are anxious, they are prone to losing their composure and revealing their flaws.

Some people in this world know that I am the Carefree King, and some people know that I am the Golden-Faced Censor, but it is clear that the fake fortress lord just now knew both.

This is interesting.

“He even knows that the woman you were betrothed to is a lowly, uncouth concubine’s daughter from a lowly princely family, but he doesn’t recognize me.” Zhu Yu pointed out another detail that she found intriguing earlier.

Lu Qing raised an eyebrow at her, her eyes showing a hint of understanding.

“Master, that fake fortress lord must have some connection with this High Priest’s mansion.” Fu Wen looked towards the moon gate in front of him. It was quiet at the moment, and he didn’t know whether the servants in front of him were alive or dead. He then looked back at the corpses of the guards who died outside the room where the High Priest was in seclusion. “That fake fortress lord appeared very suddenly just now. It felt like he sneaked in. The guards of the Brahma Manor didn’t even have time to notice him.”

I suspect he was hiding in this high priest's mansion all along.

If that's the case, then all the servants in the High Priest's mansion know more or less about their plans... In that case, we can't let them live!

“Of course.” Lu Qing had obviously thought of this, so his reaction was very calm. “When we go out later, you and Fu Lu must make sure that no one is left behind.”

The talismans and runes responded immediately.

Zhu Yu remained silent, but noticing that Fu Lu kept glancing at her, she simply asked, "Is there something you want to ask me?"

Fu Lu scratched the back of his head and whispered to Zhu Yu, "Second Master, you...you mustn't have any other ideas..."

"What could I possibly be thinking?" Zhu Yu asked, puzzled.

“It’s just…” Fu Lu said softly, looking down, “that they think we’re indiscriminately killing innocent people or something…”