Free Web NovelChapter 627: Fang Canran's Weak Spot
He Lingchuan said slowly, “At the time, that signet ring was on a man’s hand.”
His words came slowly, but his feet did not stop moving.
Ninth pass.
This time, it was Fang Canran’s attention that was drawn away. “Who?”
“The man’s surname was Shao.” He Lingchuan smiled. “Has Mr. Fang ever heard the name Shao Jian?”
Fang Canran abruptly fell silent.
He Lingchuan happened to pass by the mirror. While Fang Canran was distracted, he drove an elbow straight into the mirror’s surface.
With several sharp cracks, the perfectly clear mirror shattered into seven or eight pieces.
The array eye was broken!
He Lingchuan instantly saw Fang Canran standing in the rear hall and threw Fleeting Life saber straight at him.
No, it can’t be! Has the Heart-Piercing Mirror really been broken?
How?
The man looked at him as if he had seen a ghost. He froze for an instant, then turned and fled.
Fleeting Life reached him, only to be rebounded by the Coming-and-Going Armor.
He Lingchuan had already pounced after it. He caught Fleeting Life in one hand and unleashed a flurry of slashes at Fang Canran.
The golden shield before him was struck countless times before it finally shattered.
By then, Fang Canran had only just escaped into the rear garden. The skyful of saber light suddenly gathered into a single beam and came to rest against his neck.
“If you want to die, move.” The light in He Lingchuan’s eyes was even sharper than the saber’s edge.
In just two short instants, strong and weak had changed places.
The saber’s cutting aura flickered, nicking Fang Canran’s neck and drawing a small bead of blood. He did not dare move. At the same time, he could not understand it. “H-how did you break free of the earth immortal rope? How did you find the array eye?”
And why did the Soul-Shocking Lightning have no effect on He Lingchuan?
He truly could not see through the young man before him. Why had every method he had so carefully arranged failed one after another?
“Of all things to use for an array, why did you have to use a mirror?” He Lingchuan was too lazy to explain. Did he look like a teacher who loved educating people?
“Mehehehe, he isn’t even afraid of embarrassing himself. This old master is the ancestor of mirrors!” The Soul-Stealing Mirror laughed wildly in his chest, though only its master could hear.
“Hands behind your back.” He Lingchuan had already put away the earth immortal rope. He took out a spider-silk rope instead, looped it around Fang Canran’s neck, then tied both of his hands with practiced ease.
“This is how you tie someone up properly. Understand?” How many captives and monsters had He Lingchuan caught out in the Panlong Wasteland? Setting aside everything else, he had learned at least fifteen ways to bind someone with rope.[1]
As for the Soul-Shocking Lightning, heh. Its force had all been blocked by the Soul-Stealing Mirror. When it came to seizing or shaking the soul, in front of the mirror, that thing was just a little brother.
“You had to break the Heart-Piercing Mirror on the ninth pass exactly for it to work. If you hit the wrong one, the cycle would reset and scramble, and who knows which pass the array eye’s flaw would move to!” The mirror was smug. “This little trick was far too tender, far too tender. How could it hide from Grandpa Mirror’s discerning eye?”
Bound up in He Lingchuan’s ropes, Fang Canran’s eyes shifted again.
He still had one divine technique called “the cicada slips its shell.” It allowed him to leave restraints behind on his outer clothing and slide free.
However, before he could find the right moment, he felt a stab of pain at the back of his neck. He Lingchuan had actually stuck silver needles into two major acupoints on his back, cutting off the circulation of his true energy at once.
It was not that He Lingchuan had foreseen this divine technique. He had simply been irritated by Fang Canran’s endless tricks and decided to block his true energy outright, lest he produce more trouble.
“You!” Fang Canran’s vision darkened. At last, despair set in.
Why am I being countered at every step? Every single step!
This kid clearly looks like a careless fool who only knows how to improvise, so why?!
“Let me go. Whatever you want, I can give it to you!” With things having gotten to this point, Fang Canran strove to quickly move his enemy. “I can give you enough wealth to spend for several lifetimes, and I can also help you obtain an official post that will let you sleep without worry! Harming me brings you no benefit at all!”
“But it relieves my anger. Isn’t that enough?” He Lingchuan smiled. “There’s nothing more satisfying than returning a man’s methods upon himself. Now it’s my turn to ask you. Where did the ring on your hand come from? What is your relationship with Shao Jian?”
He had deliberately thrown out that name while the man was anxious, then watched Fang Canran’s expression. Sure enough, when Fang Canran heard the name “Shao Jian,” his pupils contracted slightly again. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
Though it lasted only the briefest instant before Fang Canran returned to normal, that unconscious reaction could not deceive anyone. He Lingchuan had struck the deepest secret buried in his heart.
This was the second time Fang Canran had heard Shao Jian’s name from He Lingchuan’s mouth, and his reaction remained intense.
“What?” Fang Canran said hoarsely. “I don’t know him!”
“Chief Steward Fang, now you’re making this boring. A person should be reasonable.” He Lingchuan patted him on the back and pointed at the torture tools on the table. “You and I had no grudge. You were the one who attacked me first, then wanted to gouge out my eyes and pull out my tongue. If I use those same methods on you, that’s fair, right?”
Fang Canran swallowed. “Apologies. My ancestors had some enemies in the past. You kept staring at my ring, so I thought those enemies had found me.”
A wise man did not take a loss right before his eyes. His manner immediately softened.
“What did your ancestor do?”
The tables had turned, and it was now suddenly Fang Canran’s turn to explain himself.
“Also business, small trade.” Fang Canran lowered his voice. “People who do business can give favors, but they can also make enemies.”
He Lingchuan poured himself a cup of tea, raised it to his lips, then remembered the earlier ambush and threw it out.
This fellow was like him: his mouth ran wild, and he lied with a sincere face. Not a single word he said could be verified.
Watching his movement, Fang Canran could not suppress his curiosity and asked again, “Why was the earth immortal rope useless against you?”
“Useless? It’s very useful.” He Lingchuan took the bundle of rope from his chest and examined it closely. “It’s a fine treasure, indeed.”
This rope resembled State Preceptor Sun Fuping’s net. Once it caught someone, it would not let go. After Sun Fuping died, that net had fallen into He Chunhua’s hands.
“It’s just that not long ago, I was ambushed by the heavenly gods and nearly lost my life.” He said slowly, “Since then, I’ve become much more cautious.”
He had had enough of the helplessness he felt when facing the gods directly. Was he, He Lingchuan, someone any random person could casually ambush?
Of course, he would not tell Fang Canran that when he had used the excuse of going to the private chamber earlier, he had released a clone.
So the one who collapsed to the floor was the clone.
The one Fang Canran tied up with the rope was also only the clone.
No matter how tightly the rope tied its target, once He Lingchuan’s clone disappeared, what use could it have?
Afterward, when the wind had gusted through and Fang Canran went to close the window, He Lingchuan’s true body took the chance to lie back on the ground and slip the rope loosely around his own hands.
He had already observed the rope clearly. Without reciting the incantation, it would not activate. But for safety, he still used Fleeting Life to cut halfway through it and held the severed end in his palm.
In his view, Fang Canran’s way of tying rope was completely amateurish, with no method and no beauty. He had relied entirely on the rope’s own power to restrain the enemy.
With such a casual binding, even Fang Canran himself could not remember exactly how he had tied it afterward, so how could he notice something was wrong with the rope? If he had been as skilled with knots as Willow, there was no way He Lingchuan could have restored the knot and slipped it onto his own hands in just a few breaths.
From this alone, He Lingchuan could tell Fang Canran rarely carried out ambushes personally.
Details determined success or failure.
In short, Fang Canran wanted to deceive him, and he had wanted to deceive Fang Canran.
For things to reach this point only proved that neither of them had truly succeeded.
Hearing the two words “heavenly gods,” Fang Canran’s brow moved slightly. “What do you want? I am the Golden Horn Clan’s steward and the owner of Pleasant Enjoyment Manor. Just as you said earlier, if you kill me, you won’t escape involvement either!”
Their current position was one in which neither could conveniently erase the other physically.
He Lingchuan slid the signet ring off Fang Canran’s hand and held it up against the light. In a matter-of-fact tone, he said, “What does that matter? I can simply report you to the gods. Everything afterward will no longer be my concern.”
Fang Canran’s expression did not change, but the vein at his temple twitched.
That sentence had struck Fang Canran’s weak spot.
“But I truly don’t know how to answer you.” He let out a long sigh. “Why don’t you ask something else?”
This man’s lips are truly sealed tight. He Lingchuan did not actually want to torture him. After all, Fang Canran still had uses. So after thinking for a moment, he said, “Fine. Then let’s discuss how you drugged, bound, and attempted to privately interrogate a Chiyan special envoy without cause. That is a serious crime. Has Chief Steward Fang thought about what price he will pay?”
“You have no evidence, and no witnesses.” Fang Canran looked down at the ropes binding him from head to toe. “Right now, the one tied up is me.”
“But if Young Master He is willing to reconcile, I will certainly offer a generous gift to calm your nerves.” After all, Fang Canran was currently at a disadvantage in this contest, and it would not do to anger the other party further. He immediately softened the atmosphere. “50,000 taels of silver. How about it?”
He Lingchuan knew that if he began bargaining, the topic would be shifted, and this whole storm would be considered over.
“I don’t think that’s appropriate.” He shook the signet ring. “When I mentioned Shao Jian earlier, your emotions fluctuated greatly. You also possess this ring. Mm, this ring has five spiral lines. It is the credential of the founder of the Red Snail Merchant Guild.”
“The founder of the Red Snail Merchant Guild was Shao Jian. He spent his whole life opposing the gods.” He Lingchuan said leisurely, “You dare wear this signet ring so openly on your hand because you think no one can recognize it?”
Since this fellow refused to open his mouth, He Lingchuan had to find the right point of breakthrough.
Fang Canran insisted, “I don’t know this person, nor did I know the ancestral ring had such origins!” He sighed and said, “If I had known, would I still have worn it on my hand?”
True, a normal person wouldn’t wear something that enrages the gods on their hand. He Lingchuan smiled. But is Fang Canran normal?
“Then you also don’t want to know why I recognize this ring?”
“If Young Master He is willing to enlighten me, I would naturally like to hear it.” If Fang Canran did not want to know, why would he have planned all this tonight?
“I did indeed see Shao Jian.” As soon as He Lingchuan opened his mouth, he repeated his earlier claim. “In an ancient city in the west.”
Fang Canran’s gaze focused slightly. “You truly saw him? How old are you?”
Shao Jian passed away more than 150 years ago, yet this young man is actually saying that he’s seen him.
Could He Xiao, like the two State Preceptors, be an ageless aberrant creature?
“Seventeen.” He Lingchuan said lazily, “I never said I saw a living Shao Jian.”
Fang Canran’s brow furrowed. “Forgive me, I don’t quite understand what you’re saying.”
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