Chapter 688: The One Who Took the Blame

Translated by Crystal of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Once the Mage Assemblage was over, a month of peace finally came to the TongTian Continent. But it was just a month. Like a pot of oil, in the beginning, the heat was slow to rise, but once it reached boiling point, the heat would be able to burn someone's skin off.

That was situation in the TongTian Continent.

In that month, You XiaoMo wasn't in a hurry to refine pills. Once his dimension evolved, some drastic changes occurred and he needed to refurbish a lot of it. Like the wooden cabin and his yard, even the magic herb field, as if it grew legs, extended down to the hill. Since he wasn't sure if the distribution of the magic herb field was like before, he needed to double check on the plants.

What he didn't know, as he was busy taking care of his dimension, was that the Southern Continent had reached its boiling point.

Everyday, Ling Xiao was either in the palace or by the Weeping Ghost Shore. Most of the time, he was there to hear Tian Dao's report only if there was something they couldn't resolve or needed a hand on did he go out. However, most outings didn't last more than a few days, and sometimes he would be back on time for dinner.

But, every since he found out about his true origins, he hadn't once went to find Lin Gu.

Since Lin Gu knew of Lin Ming's pretense of being the Qilin Lord for many years, Lin Ming must have already told him about their conversation, thus it was likely that Lin Gu was waiting of Ling Xiao to find him. After he realized that Ling Xiao didn't seem to have any intention of doing so, he had discretely and not-so-discreetly asked Tian Dao to find out Ling Xiao's thoughts on the matter. It had been at least ten times.

Today, Ling Xiao was caught red-handed by Tian Dao at the Weeping Ghost Shore.

"Young master, there's something I want to talk about, do you have the time?" Tian Dao walked over, with his normal, solemn face.

Ling Xiao looked up to check the sun's location, it was almost sundown, and replied, "Not really."

Tian Dao went silent before continuing, "It's important."

Ling Xiao didn't shift, he said that last, last time as well. For somethings getting fooled once was enough, there was no way he was going to get fooled again. Even the last time it wasn't because he was careless but because every time Tian Dao came to him it was to report something serious.

"As an intelligence personnel, you shouldn't lie." Ling Xiao replied calmly.

Tian Dao was still expressionless as he said, "Thank you, young master for your warning, Tian Dao will keep it in mind at all times. I won't make the same mistake twice." He was also stressed, to not be trusted by his young master, but above his head loomed his previous master, that was even more stressful. Being stuck between them meant he didn't look good on both sides.

Ling Xiao's obsidian eyes stared at him for a while, as if to check if he was lying or not. At last, he barely believed him and followed him to the Smile Pavilion.

In the Smile Pavilion, Tian Dao took out the most recent information gained by the Weasel Beast.

This time, it was about the South Continent. Before their partnership with the Weasel Beast, although the informants of the Weeping Ghost Shore were pretty good, it was limited to Xi Jing. As for the places outside, they usually received the information much later, sometimes three or four days after. But every since they had the Weasel Beast's power, the could hear everything the day of.

It said, [The Vermillion Blood Clan and Cang Alliance are no longer fighting a major scale battle. Instead, it is only small fights. It seems like both sides have decided to take the time to recuperate.]

Unexpectedly, Tian Dao rejected the idea, "It's because of the Vermillion Blood Clan."

Due to the relationship between You XiaoMo and the Vermillion Blood Clan, the Weeping Ghost Shore paid extra attention to the clan, anything remotely relevant was recorded, even those occurred in their territory. Although it didn't look like a problem, Tian Dao felt the need to tell this to the young master and young master's wife.

Ling Xiao signaled him to speak up.

"Young master, do you still remember the time you and Master You stayed in the Xing Luo City? Something else happened during that time. Also, I heard that the young master fought against the Yu Xian City, causing them to lose many experts." Tian Dao explained.

Ling Xiao nodded, "Yes, that happened, is there a problem?"

Tian Dao's expression had a silver of oddity as he spoke, "From what I gathered, the Vermillion Blood Clan's been on the hunt for someone and that person had the same face as the one young master used before."

"Oh? Are you sure?" Ling Xiao's gaze brightened, finally something interesting.

Tian Dao knew instantly that he made the right decision and continued, "I'm sure. That person's supposedly called Qiu Ran, a mage, but not a very high leveled one."

Ling Xiao's expression became interesting. After a while he let out a light chuckle, "That's what I like to hear. From what you said, could the Vermillion Blood Clan, with their influence in the South Continent, still not capture him?"

Tian Dao nodded, "That's right, that person has some skill, escaping right under the eyes of the Vermillion Blood Clan, but I heard the Cang Alliance also offered a reward for his capture. Their reaction is a bit odd, since from my investigation, Qiu Ran is likely from another plane, which means it's unlikely that they would make enemies of each other."

"I got it, keep your watch on the South Continent and tell the Weasel Beast to have his underlings find out the whereabouts of Qiu Ran. If they find him, don't do anything but I want to know his movements." Ling Xiao quickly came to a decision on the matter.

Tian Dao didn't say anymore. He had long suspected that this Qiu Ran person was an enemy of the young master and Mr. You, otherwise, they wouldn't use his face while committing crimes.

"If there's nothing else then I'm leaving." Ling Xiao stood up, threw down these words and left the Smile Pavilion.

Tian Dao looked at his back, wanting to speak but in the end stopped and instead let out a long sigh. It was hard, being a biscuit filling, stuck right in the middle. Only when Ling Xiao's figure disappeared did a figure suddenly come out from the side of the Smile Pavilion.

Tian Dao looked back.

With an expression of resignation Lin Gu said, "Looks like he still hasn't accepted me."

Ever since they had their father and son talk, he had never left the Weeping Ghost Shore, just waiting for Ling Xiao to find him. However, Ling Xiao just went about his everyday life, as if it didn't concern him, while he had been waiting anxiously.

Tian Dao didn't know the complication behind it, but he did know that his master had suddenly become the young master's dad. He felt sympathetic towards his master, which was why he helped him ten times, but this time he was afraid that the young master wouldn't take kindly to it and said no more.

.....

Amongst the busy crowd of people, a sneaky figure weaved through the pedestrians. He kept his eyes low, walked with caution, as if afraid of being noticed, even though he looked very plain, almost a bit ugly. On his face was a very apparent black mole, that with one look, people would turn their gaze away in disgust. He walked into an conspicuous inn and got a room from the front desk. Without anyone noticing, he locked himself in and only once he made sure no one was monitoring did he let out a sigh of relief. He pulled out a magic pill from his magic bag and ate it. Instantly his outer appearance started to change.

Reflected in the mirror was a middle-aged man with a beard. He wasn't old but his eyes were eerie and cold, as if layered upon a mountain of ice. This man was Qiu Ran.

Qiu Ran never expected to be wanted by two of the major forces of the TongTian Continent the moment he arrived. If he didn't coincidently have a Self-Remoulding Pill he would have already been caught. Later, after he did some investigation, he finally understand the problem.

But because he didn't know what happened, he just knew it was by someone who looked very similar to him. However, no one, especially not the Vermillion Blood Clan would believe him, thus he could only runaway like some sewage rat, chased by everyone. Every time he thought of this, Qiu Ran couldn't help but want to kill that person who had the same face as him.

When he was in the Long Xiang Continent, he was a high leveled mage respected by everyone. Now that he was finally in the TongTian Continent, ready to make a name for himself, he was being chased and by the major forces too. Every time he remembered that he was taking the blame for someone else, he wanted to kill the real culprit. Every night he dreamed of doing so.

"Knock, Knock." A sound suddenly appeared by the door.

Qiu Ran wore an imposing expression, "Who is it?"

Instantly, behind the door, the server's sound could be heard, "Honorable guest, the stuff you ordered is here."

Qiu Ran let out a sigh of relief, "Come in."

The server opened the door and came carrying a basin of water. Just as he was about to close the door however, a shadow flashed across a window adjacent to the door.

At the Ghost Tomb Mountain Range Palace.

After spending numerous days cleaning his dimension, You XiaoMo decided to take a rest and start refining the Samsara Pill for Wei Bai. He knew that Fu CangQiong would be very anxious by now.

This time it could take up to more than ten days refining and he could not be interrupted during the process, so Ling Xiao told him to wait for two days. Due to what happened last time with the Giant Roc, Ling Xiao was weary of leaving him alone so he decided to personally guard him this time, after he finished his work.

Two days later, when they were both ready, You XiaoMo took out his Heavenly Cauldron and in the bright sunlight without a cloud in sight, he started to refine the Samsara Pill.