As Yu Beidou’s words faded, Gua Shi’s cold laughter echoed: “My blood divination pinpointed you. What has that to do with Jiang Wang? You deliberately sent a broken talisman to him, hoping to divert disaster and use the State of Qi to capture me, yet you treat everyone as fools? Do you truly believe you can deceive me? Moreover, if I truly coveted the Immortal Palace’s secrets, why would I only seek Jiang Wang now? I knew him back in the State of Yong, yet I made no move against him!”

He turned to face Jiang Wang. “When Zheng Fei and Li Shou acted in Qing Yun Ting, you were there, weren’t you? You even rescued a person. Did I pursue you after that incident? Ask yourself, if I had sought you out at that time, would you have had any hope of escape?”

Jiang Wang remained silent.

Yet, silence itself is a form of response.

Gua Shi’s gaze returned to Yu Beidou: “I brought my people here today specifically to end you. How was I to know Jiang Wang’s whereabouts? It was you who deliberately revealed that you had a friend trapped within the Innate Chaos Array, claiming you sought the Blood Demon’s lifeblood. That’s when I dispatched my followers to search… In the end, Jiang Wang risked his life. Was it because of you, or because of me?”

From Gua Shi’s perspective, the entire affair took on a dramatically different narrative, yet it was logically sound and clearly presented.

Yu Beidou’s tone held a hint of surprise: “Good nephew, how can you twist black and white so brazenly?”

Gua Shi retorted with a cold sneer: “Uncle, who is twisting black and white? Your heart knows the truth! Remember, deceiving someone once is easy, but deceiving them for a lifetime is impossible!”

Having already learned of their relationship from the revealed demon, Jiang Wang wasn’t overly surprised.

Watching their heated exchange, a battle of wits and words, he couldn’t help but interject: “Are… are I that important to you both?”

“Of course!” Yu Beidou quickly affirmed: “This individual is steeped in evil, and the Blood Demon is an even greater scourge upon humanity. I am suppressing them with all my might and cannot afford to be distracted. And you, with your unparalleled talent, a true prodigy of this age! In this critical moment, who else but you can help rid the world of these evils?!”

“So, you alone decide what is good and what is evil? What defines good, and what defines evil?” Gua Shi countered: “You, who are jealous of talent and plotted the demise of your own senior brother, are you truly good? Furthermore, even if I am an evil person, when have I ever harmed Jiang Wang? Who orchestrated his peril, who caused this esteemed prodigy to be reduced to this state of broken ear and severed limb?! You, the great benevolent one, why do your words overflow with deceit?”

“Alright, alright,” Jiang Wang’s voice cut through their impassioned argument, a faint melancholy in his tone. “My meaning is… since I am so important, perhaps you two could discuss something equally important?”

Important?

Gua Shi was momentarily taken aback.

What could be more important than a debate between good and evil for a hot-blooded youth of such unparalleled talent?

“Cough!” Yu Beidou was the first to grasp his meaning, and he offered a price: “I will add twenty spirit stones!”

“Ha! Uncle, do you truly believe so little of the Jiang Clan’s Young Master?” Gua Shi, with his accurate perception, immediately raised the stakes: “Jiang Qing Yang, unlike certain self-important charlatans, I speak plainly. If you assist me today, I will bestow upon you one thousand spirit stones, a dharma robe, and three secret techniques of the Outer Building realm! If you have any enemies, regardless of their cultivation level, I will perform a blood divination to pinpoint them!”

“That sounds rather appealing…” Jiang Wang turned his head towards Yu Beidou: “Senior Yu, are you not prepared to increase your offer?”

Yu Beidou’s tone instantly became one of righteous indignation: “Is the righteous path of the human world not worth defending? Is the safety of humanity not worth your wholehearted effort? If you align yourself with demons, what makes you different from them? For a meager, ephemeral gain, do you intend to abandon your principles? If this matter were to spread, where in the world would you find a place to stand?”

“Killing you would prevent it from spreading,” Gua Shi helpfully reminded him.

Yu Beidou glared at him, his anger evident, and Gua Shi returned the gaze with equal defiance.

Jiang Wang simply let out an “oh” and leaned forward, looking towards the white, beardless Blood Demon: “Would you care to make an offer?”

Liu Huai seemed to have not considered this possibility.

He had merely observed Gua Shi and Yu Beidou’s dispute in silence, feeling it had nothing to do with him.

Whether it was a demon or an enemy of humanity.

How could he possibly be bought over?

After a moment of stunned silence, he spoke with hesitation: “If you help me, I will take you to the Myriad Worlds’ Wilderness Tomb?”

Jiang Wang sighed and turned to Yu Beidou: “Perhaps I should help you eliminate the demon first? I see no hope for him. This one should come cheap; just offer whatever you deem fit.”

Yu Beidou chuckled: “This one is not easily dispatched; it will take more than a moment to kill him. You should deal with the demon first!”

“Jiang Wang! We can still negotiate!” Gua Shi immediately interjected: “Having been led into danger, your life hanging by a thread, are you not even the slightest bit angry? Eliminating the myriad evils, even for a prodigy like yourself, was a near-death experience, was it not? Are you truly willing to be manipulated like this? You were already tricked into Broken Soul Gorge, then tricked into this array. How much further do you plan to be deceived? Until you die? Do you truly harbor no resentment?”

After listening to his words, Jiang Wang let out a long sigh, looked at his empty left leg, and then turned towards Yu Beidou, his eyes becoming serious: “To be honest, I am indeed very angry. I have no obligation to risk my life for you, regardless of whether you pursue justice, principle, or the great righteousness of humanity. You had no right to deceive me into this situation and demand my life.

A master once told me—’Judging others by your own standards is already harsh, but judging the world by your standards makes you evil without realizing it, a demon among demons.’

Senior Yu, I deeply believe these words to be true.”

“That was truly a master of great wisdom,” Yu Beidou praised, then suppressed the smile on his face and spoke with equal seriousness: “What I wish to tell you is that according to my divination, your journey to Broken Soul Gorge this time would not be perilous. Clearly, I overestimated myself and underestimated my nephew, miscalculating one step within the Innate Chaos Array, which forced you, in the Inner Mansion realm, to confront four Outer Building demons directly. This is my mistake, which I cannot deny, and I will certainly find a way to compensate you.

I expended immense effort just to re-establish contact with you within the Innate Chaos Array, but by that time, your battle had already concluded.

Perhaps you will believe these words, perhaps you will not. If you believe me, I am grateful. If you do not, that is also understandable; you have every right.”

This was likely the most serious statement Jiang Wang had ever heard from Yu Beidou.

There were no meaningless pronouncements about “peerless heavenly artifacts” and the like, only the admission of error from a contemporary master of divination, a figure who claimed his “divination encompassed half a lifetime.”

“As the foremost figure in divination techniques, you, Yu Beidou, would make a miscalculation?” Gua Shi scoffed coldly: “That will only fool young people!”

“Hahaha,” Yu Beidou burst into laughter, a laugh that seemed filled with profound amusement: “Human calculations are no match for Heaven’s calculations. How can everything be calculated exhaustively? If I were incapable of miscalculation, how could I have allowed your master to stray from the right path all those years ago? If I were incapable of miscalculation, how could I have allowed you to evade me for so long? If I were incapable of miscalculation… divination technique, what would it be worth today!”

He laughed, looking at Jiang Wang: “I too wish to calculate the entirety of the ghosts and gods! But my divination, from the very beginning, only encompassed the first half of a lifetime! Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!”

With the ghost-head saber still embedded in his forehead, the blood sac bulging at the back of his head, and his face covered in blood and dirt, his laughter was laced with tragedy—

“If the latter half of a lifetime cannot be calculated accurately, what is the point of calculating the first half? To calculate that the wood has already become a boat, to calculate that there is no turning back, to calculate that matters have reached this point, to calculate that nothing can be forced! Hahahahaha…”