A few days ago, Jiao Qingyuanâs concern for me was genuine, absolutely sincere, there was no way it was fake.
And given Jiao Qingyuanâs ability, itâs impossible for him to be possessed or body-snatched.
Yet he actually tried to kill me.
Why?
A few seconds later, Su Yue felt the cold below, and could no longer see the scene above the cliff.
"Luckily, I had the foresight to always keep the Beast-Selecting Sinew tied around my arm!"
Swish!
Su Yue took a deep breath and immediately performed the Myriad Ropes Return to Origin technique.
Swish, swish, swish!
A series of four Beast-Selecting Sinews were hurled out by Su Yue, each wrapping tightly around four protruding boulders.
Swish!
For safety, Su Yue threw out another Beast-Selecting Sinew.
Crack.
The Beast-Selecting Sinew was stretched taut, vibrating intensely.
The terrifying pulling force almost tore Su Yueâs arm apart.
Defense enhancement!
Buzz.
A layer of azure light covered Su Yueâs body, and the pain in his nearly fractured arm instantly lessened.
Clatter.
Clatter.
Above his head, more loose stones fell.
Su Yue crashed headfirst into the cold cliff, injuring himself severely; if it werenât for the defense enhancement, he might have been knocked out by the impact.
A narrow escape.
A total of five giant stones, along with the unrivaled tenacity of the Beast-Selecting Sinew, barely kept Su Yue suspended in mid-air.
Su Yueâs mind was a blank slate.
Feeling the pervasive cold, Su Yue finally understood what it meant to be scared out of oneâs wits.
Just a little mistake, and he would have been smashed to pieces.
"I swear, from now on, no matter what hodgepodge of combat techniques there are, I have to learn them."
Having survived, Su Yue was genuinely thankful for his past extravagance.
If not for the Myriad Ropes Return to Origin, he would have been dead today.
This is simply a divine skill, just like Spider-Manâs webbing, it can be life-saving in critical moments.
Moreover, Su Yue was also grateful he learned an auxiliary combat technique, which prevented his arm from being torn off, because rescuing a limb would have been pointless; on a thousand-foot cliff, the inertia is terrifying, and an ordinary person would surely end up dismembered.
"Damn, can I even dare to go back now?
"No, better to wait for the war to end, and then use the Invisibility Technique to stealthily make my way back.
"If I recklessly go to Wang Anhu and them, blurting out that Jiao Qingyuan tried to kill me, I would be in even greater danger.
"To them, Jiao Qingyuan has always been suppressing the cold air, so itâs utterly impossible for him to come kill me, and they might think Iâm hallucinating.
"What the hell, why would Jiao Qingyuan want to kill me for no reason."
Su Yue pressed against the cliff face, carefully analyzing everything.
He absolutely cannot go back now; are there cameras here? Jiao Qingyuan has too many ways to prove he wasnât at East Battle Dao.
The cold suppressed by the mine is his best alibi.
As for how he had time to come to East Battle Dao, Su Yue absolutely couldnât figure it out.
Perhaps, Jiao Qingyuan needing full power to suppress the cold was a lie all along.
After all, heâs the only one suppressing it, others know nothing about the depth of the mine.
According to Wang Anhu and the others, before Jiao Qingyuan, another Grandmaster was suppressing the source mine, but heâs dead now, so he canât prove Jiao Qingyuan could come kill me.
What the hell did I do to deserve this.
Su Yue cursed angrily. His top priority was to climb back up.
No choice, the bottom of the cliff, is deadly cold.
...
Diligence Value +30
Diligence Value +32
Diligence Value +35
...
The prompt in his mind warned him that he was in particular danger.
Go back to Earth first.
Yes!
Even if he canât prove right now that Jiao Qingyuan wants to kill him, he must at all costs return to the Wet Ghost Tower first, then back to West Martial, where Jiao Qingyuan canât clandestinely try to kill him either.
He needs to find a place that shelters him first.
If worse comes to worst, heâll find Wang Yetao or Mu Jingliang.
Relying solely on his word, the authorities wouldnât kill Jiao Qingyuan directly, especially someone as universally recognized as an ascetic hero.
A near-perfect ascetic; he indeed has no motive to betray humanity.
He needs to find a way to prove that Jiao Qingyuan doesnât need full power to suppress the cold.
Su Yue looked vexed.
What a mess; he thought East Battle Dao was the safest place, but whoâd have thought the least likely person to kill him would batter him off the cliff.
Jiao Qingyuan, the old fox.
He didnât even use any combat technique on him, there was only a gust of astral wind.
Hold on.
Jiao Qingyuan, the old fox, even if I prove he doesnât need full power to suppress the cold, what then?
I just fell off a cliff.
Foreign assassins could force me off a cliff too.
He can easily blame it all on the foreign race.
Mysterious motives indeed.
Damn you.
In the end, Iâll be the thankless fool who stirs up trouble and slanders a hero.
This unsolved mystery simply canât be explained clearly.
Su Yue climbed and climbed.
He was in awe of the founder of Myriad Ropes Return to Origin, full of admiration.
As long as he manipulated the Beast-Selecting Sinew, the other end could fasten to the boulders protruding from the cliff, thereby achieving his slow ascent.
Almost there.
Su Yue looked up.
He vaguely saw the blurry edge of the cliff again.
A few seconds ago, those venomous eyes were still watching him coldly from the cliff, and when Su Yue thought of those two eyeballs, his scalp tingled.
"Huh... Is this a cave?"
Su Yue was climbing.
Suddenly, right before his face, he saw a cave.
Su Yue thought for a moment and decided to run inside.
There were no terrifying auras emanating from the cave, it should be safe, and he needed a rest.
But Su Yue always exercised caution.
He did not stomp haphazardly but followed the edge, leaving as few traces as possible.
"Could there be a Nine Yang Divine Skill manual in this cave?
"Itâd be embarrassing if I found a manual, only to see itâs a Nine Yang Soymilk Machine instruction booklet."
Su Yue recalled a joke to ease his inner tension.
But he was always ready to go invisible at any time.
...
Above the cliff.
The war on battlefield Zone A finally ended.
How sad.
It was still a battle that yielded no gains.
Although the casualties for the foreign race were three times that of the Yan Gui Corps, the Yan Gui Corps lost an entire cart of source mines, and half the Third-Grade Martial Artists who came to mine were killed.
This was even because Yan Chenyun had ordered a quick retreat, otherwise, the mining team would have been completely wiped out.
The foreign race seemed to only be after the source mines; after hauling them onto their wooden carts, they retreated entirely.
At East Battle Dao.
The foreign attackers also collectively withdrew their forces.
"Whereâs Su Yue?"
Everyone returned, exhausted; the foreign attackers this time were Fifth-Grade Powerhouses, one in ten thousand, making the battle particularly tough.
Bai Xiaolong returned to the barracks and suddenly shouted.
There was no trace of Su Yue anywhere.
"What? Su Yue is missing? Quickly search the area."
Jia Weisu also exclaimed.
...
In the mine.
No one expected Jiao Qingyuan to only just return, but he was truly exhausted from suppressing the cold air.
Thus, Su Yueâs guess wasnât wrong.
He could indeed leave for a few minutes, though at a greater cost.
Pfft.
Jiao Qingyuan spat a mouthful of blood, his mouth curled in a cold smile.
Those eyes, as if watching Su Yue from the cliff.
Sinister and eerie.