Free Web NovelChapter 9: Chapter 9—Truth
Chapter 9—Truth
A little while ago—
Lei Cheng narrowed his eyes, glancing at Mo Ming.
"When did you become Yun Che’s master?"
Mo Ming was trembling. Sweat coated his forehead in a thick sheen. Even his heartbeat—loud and unsteady—was audible to Lei Cheng standing several steps away.
Mo Ming swallowed hard. "Are you... A Bizarre cultivator? Why did you take my son’s appearance—and is he... alive?"
"Just answer what I ask."
Lei Cheng—still wearing Yun Che’s form—raised his palm. A massive brown boulder, several tons in weight, materialized in the air above Mo Ming.
It crashed onto his back.
Crack! Crack!
"Ah—!"
Mo Ming screamed. His spine was shattered as his body crumpled to the floor.
"I cannot feel my body—" He writhed in agony, tears streaming down his face.
Lei Cheng crouched in front of him. "Yun Che is your son? Not your disciple?"
Mo Ming didn’t answer. He winced through gritted teeth, jaw clenched so tight the muscles twitched. "Just kill me."
His eyes turned crimson, veins bulging along his forehead.
Lei Cheng shook his head and snapped his fingers.
In a flash of white light, Mo Ming stood upright and unharmed. He raised both hands before his eyes and stared at them, turning them over slowly.
"I can feel them." His voice was high and disbelieving. His lips curved upward—but before the relief could fully bloom—
"Would you like to experience it again?"
Lei Cheng asked quietly.
Mo Ming dropped instantly to his knees, pressing his forehead to the floor. "Please—don’t kill me. I’ll explain everything."
He drew a shaking breath and began.
"Yun Che—the personal servant of Young Master Lei Cheng—was killed. By me, and my son—Long ago."
For a brief second, the room felt unbearably quiet.
"Killed?"
Lei Cheng’s voice cut sharply through the room.
Mo Ming nodded. "Yes. He is dead. The one who has been serving as Yun Che all these years... is my son."
A small tear slipped from Lei Cheng’s eye. He closed his eyes briefly.
’No wonder. The one who betrayed me was never the boy I saved from the streets.’
’All of it... for money.’
He screamed internally, a bitter smile crossing his face. He finally had his answer—but it brought only sadness.
He turned toward the fake Yun Che, still unconscious in Lei Cheng’s form. ’I already got what I needed from Mo Ming.’
He snapped his fingers. White light swept through the room. Mo Ming stood restored to his original spot as though nothing had happened—unruly temperament back, and his cocky, sharp eyes back in place. He turned toward Lei Cheng and commanded curtly, "Yun Che—keep an eye on the brat Lei Cheng." Then he walked out.
Lei Cheng nodded flatly. ’Memory wiped. Now... get everything from the fake Yun Che.’ He took a slow breath. freewёbnoνel.com
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Back to the present—
Lei Cheng turned his gaze calmly to the fake Yun Che as the illusion vanished, and their true appearances returned.
Yun Che bit down hard enough for blood to seep from his lips.
"So—you won’t answer on your own."
He flicked his finger.
Both of them began to fall. fгeewebnovёl.com
Lei Cheng descended steadily, feet pointed down, perfectly composed—as though gravity itself was cooperating with him. The fake Yun Che was not so fortunate. His body flipped horizontal, his face parallel to the ground, plummeting headfirst, rolling left and right uncontrollably, limbs flailing as the speed increased.
"Stop—stop—Young Master—I’ll explain! I’ll explain!"
Lei Cheng raised his palm. The surroundings snapped back—the room returned around them in an instant.
The fake Yun Che wiped the sweat from his face with both hands and patted his chest, heart still hammering against his ribs. His knees gave out, and he dropped onto his backside, breathing in ragged, heavy bursts.
Lei Cheng waited in silence until the shaking stopped.
"Huff... it was around six huff... years ago." The fake Yun Che knelt, still panting. "My father huff... planned to kill Yun Che."
Lei Cheng nodded, expressionless. The fake Yun Che glanced up at Lei Cheng’s blank face—and his heartbeat began to spike all over again.
"What is your name?" Lei Cheng asked, settling onto the bed.
"I am... Mo Yong."
"Continue."
Mo Yong clenched his fist. "Yun Che died beneath my father’s fist, and I—"
Lei Cheng raised his palm, stopping him. "Killing a young child is very easy for a Level Three martial cultivator. What I want to know is... how did you take his place? Was it Bizarre powers?"
Mo Yong confirmed with a slow nod. "Yes. It is difficult to maintain a false identity inside a powerful clan under so many watchful eyes. But my father had a friend, Bizarre cultivator Shen. Using his supernatural abilities, he changed my appearance to match Yun Che’s... that of a servant." He gritted his teeth at the last word.
"Oh. You’re angry about wearing a servant’s face."
Lei Cheng grinned—hollow and bitter. ’Angry about the face—not the life he stole to wear it.’
’Yun Che.’
He paused. The eleven-year-old boy surfaced in his memory—chubby, round-cheeked, his light skin marked by scars and calluses from years of begging, dressed in a big loose robe, his hair always unkempt and messy, a wide smile always on his face. ’He had never much cared for grooming himself.’
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"Why are you wearing such loose, oversized robes?" eleven-year-old Lei Cheng had asked, watching the chubby boy hand him a meat dumpling.
"To save money," the boy answered with a cunning glint in his eye, still chewing his own dumpling. "If it’s loose and big, it’ll still fit me for years as I grow."
The boy had laughed proudly after saying it.
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A faint, sad smile crossed Lei Cheng’s face. It vanished the next moment. "Is the appearance you have now your own—or his?"
Mo Yong pointed at himself, lips curving. "This is my own. In the beginning, I wore his appearance—but over time, as the Bizarre power gradually faded, my true features gradually came through. Everyone simply assumed it was the natural change of a boy becoming a young man."
Lei Cheng clicked his tongue. ’A person changes greatly as they grow—hair, face, build, all of it shifts. No one would question it. Not when they had watched him grow up with their own eyes.’
’It’s not that Father lacked intelligence. No one would ever expect this kind of operation.’
He stood and gestured for Mo Yong to continue.
"The Bizarre cultivator Shen demanded money regularly—to keep his silence. Payment to maintain the secret."
Lei Cheng frowned as a memory surfaced—Mo Ming and his appetite for lucrative work. When escorting goods to another city, he had always demanded thirty percent of the trip’s profits before agreeing to move. It had always seemed like mere greed. ’Now it made perfect sense.’
"It is costly," Mo Yong muttered, jaw tight. "More than half of what we take goes straight to that trash."
"Of course, he blackmails you." Lei Cheng’s voice rose slightly, cold and sharp. "You are doing dirty, illegal work. You handed him a leash the moment you made that deal—and he will never let it go."
He fixed Mo Yong with an icy stare.
"Now, answer me this. Why didn’t you simply kill me? Why go to the trouble of poisoning my food, year after year—wiping out my talent?"
Lei Cheng’s eyes narrowed slowly.
