Chapter 26 Clear Conscience
Chapter 26: Clear Conscience
“Look, you two just don’t quit, do you?”
Su Huanhuan sat cross-legged in her small deerskin rocking chair, swaying back and forth, coldly eyeing the two uninvited women before her.
“Last time Gu Jing came barging in here with her sword without warning and I didn’t even make a fuss. Now you’ve brought our Young Sect Leader Luo along too?”
“What, do you think I’m your best friend that you can just drop by whenever you feel like it?”
Today, Su Huanhuan wasn’t wearing her usual bright red outfit, but instead a practical black combat attire. Clearly, she had been busy with quite a few covert missions recently.
Now that she was beginning to see the bigger picture, the more she looked at Luo Hongyu’s deadpan face, the angrier she became, almost wanting to sweep this harbinger of doom out with a broom.
Unfortunately, Su Huanhuan couldn’t beat her in a fight.
Faced with Su Huanhuan’s barbed mockery, Gu Jing remained silent, only taking the red jade from Luo Hongyu’s waist and showing it to Su Huanhuan.
“…Huh.”
Su Huanhuan’s eyes flickered slightly, but her face maintained a cold smile.
“Your sword attendant has a problem and instead of fixing it yourselves, you come to me? What for?”
“And you, Young Sect Leader Luo. That night you explicitly said that righteous immortals like you have no business associating with demonic sects like mine. So why rush to my demonic lair now?”
“Last time I gave you a lead out of the kindness of my heart. Don’t tell me you think I’m as stupid as Luo He, ready to follow your every command?”
The dynamics had changed, and Su Huanhuan switched to full offensive mode, firing three questions at Luo Hongyu who stood to the side.
Satisfying. Su Huanhuan loved seeing her like this—wanting to speak but holding back, wanting to retort but unable to.
So what if she’s the Sword Sect’s Young Leader? She couldn’t talk back now.
I can call myself “your grandauntie,” but can she?
Hmph…
“I didn’t come here today to argue with you.”
Only after Su Huanhuan had her fill did Luo Hongyu finally speak.
This was the first time she’d heard Luo Hongyu use such a soft tone. Usually, she would never use such gentle phrases as “didn’t come to.”
“Also, Shen Huai is dead.”
“…Dead?”
Hearing this from Luo Hongyu, Su Huanhuan finally set aside her desire to vent and began to think seriously.
“When did he die?”
“Last night, by my sword.”
“Are you stupid? Why kill him?”
“He used my sword to kill himself.”
Luo Hongyu looked at Su Huanhuan, who was resting her chin on her hand in thought, and spoke calmly.
“Time is short. Even if I contacted the senior sword attendants of my sect, it might be too late.”
“I need you to tell me who Shen Huai really was, and where Luo He is.”
“…”
This was indeed quite troublesome.
For Shen Huai to die so decisively, he clearly had planned ahead.
But still…
Su Huanhuan changed her position in the rocking chair, glanced at Luo Hongyu, and yawned.
Luo Hongyu said she didn’t want to argue… but Su Huanhuan hadn’t agreed to that.
After all, she wasn’t the one in a hurry now.
“As for who Shen Huai was, I do have some clues.”
“But where Luo He is, heh…”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“…”
Since entering the teahouse, this was the first time Luo Hongyu showed dissatisfaction.
She frowned at Su Huanhuan, who maintained a lazy, playful expression, and slowly said:
“That year at the Black Bronze Gate, all your Embroidered Phoenix Tower guards died from the bone dragon’s corrosive breath. If Luo He hadn’t…”
“Hahaha, now you’re bringing up old debts? Young Sect Leader Luo, you really are amusing.”
Su Huanhuan laughed lightly, her pretty face still wearing that characteristic thin smile devoid of any warmth.
“I’m from the demonic sect that you, Young Sect Leader Luo, despise the most. Don’t tell me you’re trying to talk about feelings of obligation with me?”
“Besides…”
She sat up straight in her rocking chair.
“Luo He has been at your beck and call for so many years, even risking his life for you. If we’re talking about who owes whom more, you owe him far more.”
“Not to mention this time, he’s hiding who knows where like a stupid dog, suffering in silence, making all of you unable to find him.”
“If you want to bring up old debts, Young Sect Leader Luo, do you have the face to say these things to me?”
“Or do you think all of this is what that fool Luo He deserves? Hehe, that’s actually what I think.”
“…”
“Luo Hongyu, let me tell you, you’re actually the one who—”
“That’s enough.”
Gu Jing stepped between them, cutting off Su Huanhuan’s words.
She looked at the cold-faced Su Huanhuan and lowered her eyes.
“If there’s blame to be assigned, it’s all my fault.”
“Whatever you wanted to say, say it to me instead.”
“…Heh.”
Su Huanhuan indifferently glanced at Gu Jing and sneered.
“You’re right about that, Lady Autumn Sword.”
With Gu Jing’s interruption, Su Huanhuan lost interest in continuing her sarcastic remarks.
Mainly because she knew Gu Jing was nothing like Luo Hongyu. Apart from that perpetually self-pitying, inexplicably sorrowful demeanor, you couldn’t get any other reaction from her.
And with that look like she was asking to be scolded… Su Huanhuan feared that insulting her would only be a reward.
She sighed with waning interest and once again reclined sideways in her rocking chair.
“That Shen Huai isn’t human, he’s a ghost.”
“…A ghost?”
“Yes.”
Su Huanhuan glanced at Luo Hongyu who had responded, and continued speaking flatly.
“To be more direct, he’s a ghost cultivator, a being that cultivates in ghost form…”
“Though they’re allowed to exist and cultivate under heaven’s rules, they’re outcasts despised by both righteous and demonic paths.”
“Some accomplished ghost cultivators use ghost techniques to create physical bodies for themselves, living among mortals. This Shen Huai was one such identity.”
“But Shen Huai has been a renowned sword cultivator for decades…”
“Yes, and doesn’t that just show how formidable this ghost cultivator is? They could casually take over a vessel that had been cultivated for decades.”
As she said this, Su Huanhuan couldn’t help but furrow her brow, silently wondering how that mute fool Luo He managed to attract such troublesome attention.
“The ghost cultivator’s name is Huoxin. She’s at the Tribulation Crossing realm, equivalent to our Incarnation realm—a major malevolent ghost.”
“As far as I know, she probably owes some favors to certain people in the demonic sect, which is why she helped them deal with you… heh, you’re quite notable, I must say.”
“If someone at the Divine Transformation realm simply wanted to kill me, they wouldn’t need to be so secretive.”
“Ghost cultivators have three precepts, one of which prohibits them from directly taking the life of living cultivators whose cultivation is lower than their own.”
“So, good luck to you.”
Looking at Su Huanhuan, who seemed quite eager to see how her fate would unfold, Luo Hongyu pondered for a moment before asking:
“You’re also a disciple of the demonic sect. Telling me all this, won’t it cause you trouble?”
“What, are you concerned about me?”
“It’s not concern for you. I simply wish to have a clear conscience… for Luo He as well.”
“…Is that so.”
For some reason, when she said this, Luo Hongyu felt she caught a glimpse of mockery and pity intertwined in Su Huanhuan’s captivating red eyes.
“Then I also wish you… a clear conscience, esteemed Young Sect Leader Luo, and Lady Autumn Sword.”
“What I know and what I can tell you is just this much. About specific information on ghost cultivators, your Sword Sect certainly has plenty of materials, so I don’t need to tell you more.”
“Whatever you do after this has nothing to do with me. Don’t come looking for me again. Ladies, take your time leaving, no need to see you out.”
After Luo Hongyu and Gu Jing left, Su Huanhuan remained lying in her rocking chair, which emitted a faint creaking sound.
Suddenly, she spoke to an apparently empty spot beside her:
“Did you hear that, stupid fox? She said she wants to have a clear conscience toward you.”
“Do you know how hard I had to try not to laugh?”
Luo He emerged like a shadow from the darkness of the room, facing Su Huanhuan’s smile full of mischievous delight.
“Tell me, I’ve helped you again.”
“How do you plan to repay me this time?”
…