Book 2: Chapter 75: Emotionless Meng Tai

Clack! Clack! Clack!

Gu Hai played the Go stones one by one in the sky. The surrounding Go puzzles started scattering. Soon, one hundred Go puzzles had scattered.

Ding Rui showed an unsightly expression as she looked at the sky while struggling with the curse.

“Gu Hai, even if you undo the barrier, you cannot get the dragon vein!” Ding Rui said coldly.

“It does not matter whether I get it or not. You, old crone, are dead for sure. Imprisoning the hall master is a capital offense. Do you think you can evade punishment?” Gu Hai shouted coldly as he played Go.

“The death penalty? Humph! Since I dare to do so, I naturally will be fine. However, you, Gu Hai, before you formally became the Water Division Master, you already killed the Earth Division Master, Meng Tai. Do you think you can escape Elite Hall’s rules as well? I have someone to ensure my safety. However, what about you? You also face the death penalty!” Ding Rui said coldly.

“Someone is protecting you? Who?” Long Wanqing asked, raising her eyebrows.

She was the hall master. Who in Elite Hall had higher authority than her?

As Gu Hai played Go, he looked coldly at Ding Rui, who had nearly struggled free of the curse, and demanded, “Division Master Ding, you keep saying that I killed Meng Tai. What proof do you have?”

“Hahahaha! Proof? Everyone in the Innate Puzzle World saw it!” Ding Rui shouted coldly.

“Is that so? What if Meng Tai is still alive?” Gu Hai countered in a cold voice.

Ding Rui’s expression sank.

“Isn’t that true? Division Master Meng? How long are you going to hide for?” Gu Hai suddenly sneered.

“What?” Long Wanqing’s expression changed.

Didn’t Gu Hai kill Meng Tai?

A commotion started among the cultivators below.

Boom!

Suddenly, a loud sound rang out as Ding Rui shrugged off the final bits of the curse, instantly recovering to normal.

Dang!

The zither stopped ringing, and the surrounding sword qi suddenly vanished.

“Division Master!” Ding Rui’s subordinates said respectfully.

Leaning on her walking stick, Ding Rui looked at the sky coldly as she said, “You say that Meng Tai is still alive?”

“Hahahaha! Didn’t you see him at the Great Feng Mafia Family not long ago?” Gu Hai guffawed.

Ding Rui appeared sullen as she turned her head to look around.

The surrounding cultivators felt confused. Is Meng Tai hiding among us?

Not far away, the Life Slaughterer Go Master also looked around, appearing to be searching for Meng Tai as well.

“Hahaha! Life Slaughterer Go Master? I’m not tricking Ding Rui this time. Since you are here, how about a reunion? You have not met for a while already, right? It is also time for you to end the grudge between you and Division Master Ding, right? The hall master is standing here. Do you intend to betray Elite Hall as well?” Gu Hai said coldly.

The Life Slaughterer Go Master?

Everyone suddenly looked over. Even the Life Slaughterer Go Master’s disciples appeared confused.

Ding Rui looked coldly at the Life Slaughterer Go Master.

“Gu Hai, how did you discover me?” the Life Slaughterer Go Master asked in a sullen tone.

“What? Master!” the Life Slaughterer Go Master’s disciples exclaimed.

However, they saw the Life Slaughterer Go Master slowly remove his hood to reveal Meng Tai.

“Who is he?” Many cultivators revealed confused expressions.

After all, the true Meng Tai looked somewhat different from the one Gu Hai killed.

“Meng Tai, it is indeed you?” Ding Rui asked with a sullen expression.

Gu Hai continued playing Go in the sky. Now, Ding Rui seemed not to care. Rather, she was happy, hoping that Gu Hai would quickly solve the Go puzzles.

High in the sky, Gu Hai revealed a cold smile.

As Long Wanqing stood beside Gu Hai, she somewhat worriedly studied the Go puzzle. “They won’t come up?”

“Of course. Ding Rui hopes that I can solve this soon. It won’t matter when she kills me,” Gu Hai sneered.

“However…” 

“Don’t worry. Let them fight it out. This grudge has been building for twenty years!” Gu Hai said coldly.

“You are Meng Tai? Then, where is our master?” the Life Slaughterer Go Master’s disciples exclaimed.

“Humph!”

Meng Tai let out a cold snort as he waved his hand.

Boom!

The Life Slaughterer Go Master’s disciples went flying.

“Ding Rui, how awe-inspiring! Unfortunately, you do not seem to have changed in twenty years, still as ugly as ever?!” Meng Tai sneered as he held the black-clad woman.

“Humph! You were not my match back then, and you aren’t now!” Ding Rui said coldly.

Ding Rui extended her hand, holding her walking stick horizontally. Then, she thrust it in Meng Tai’s direction.

Boom!

A huge manifested walking stick stabbed over.

“Go!” Meng Tai punched.

Boom!

A manifested fist crashed into the manifested walking stick, knocking the manifested walking stick back. A loud sound rang out, and strong winds blew in the surroundings, kicking up sand and stone.

Ding Rui stepped back.

“This isn’t right. You were only slightly stronger than Li Wei back then. How could your strength increase so much after twenty years of torture?” Ding Rui’s expression changed.

“I was already this strong twenty years ago!” Meng Tai retorted coldly.

“That’s impossible. Back then, I was there. If you were this strong twenty years ago, how could you get captured by us so easily? How did you end up imprisoned?” Ding Rui argued skeptically while goggling.

“What if I did that on purpose?” Meng Tai countered coldly.

“On purpose?” Ding Rui raised her eyebrows.

“If I didn’t get imprisoned by you, I might have ended up like the previous hall master!” Meng Tai said coldly.

“What?” Ding Rui’s expression changed.

High in the sky, Long Wanqing’s expression changed as well.

However, the woman in Meng Tai’s arms shrank back a little and looked at Meng Tai. Although no one could see her expression, they could sense her shock.

“You already predicted the previous hall master’s death back then?” Ding Rui said as her expression changed.

“It was not my prediction. Instead, the various signs had already proven everything. Back then, we were all being monitored at all times. I knew too much. If that person believed the previous hall master had to die, what more me? I did not want to die, so there was only one way: to be restrained by you all. You listened to his orders, and I got restrained and imprisoned by you. That was how I avoided his pursuit. Twenty years! I hid for twenty years before you finally got fed up with being left out? Hahahahaha!” Meng Tai laughed coldly.

“Who was it? Who killed my mother?” Long Wanqing yelled as she glared at Meng Tai.

Meng Tai raised his head to look at Long Wanqing. Then, he said, “Hall Master? Ha! It is not that I don’t want to say, but I’m not sure, either. I only know that there is someone behind the scenes. This person never revealed himself. However, I could sense his presence. I do not know who he is, but Ding Rui might!”

“Huh?” Ding Rui goggled at Meng Tai.

High in the air, Gu Hai smiled coldly as he played Go. “Meng Tai, that means that back then, you did not get captured because of your wife, Feng Ling. You did not give up resisting because of Feng Ling at all. Was she just an excuse?”

The woman in Meng Tai’s embrace suddenly started shaking.

Naturally, that woman was Feng Ling. All along, she thought that Meng Tai got captured by Li Wei because of her. Now, she suddenly found out… 

“Unfortunately, Feng Ling got tortured for twenty years. You know all that. Don’t you care? You pretended to be imprisoned, not just because you wanted to live, but because you needed to protect a secret, a secret that only you knew?” Gu Hai said with a cold smile.

“What secret?” Ding Rui revealed a confused expression.

“Gu Hai, what do you know?” Meng Tai said coldly.

“The secret that hidden person was searching for was not with the hall master’s mother but you. In order to protect this secret, you sacrificed the hall master’s mother without a care. Then, you hid with this secret, purposely letting yourself get imprisoned. You tricked everyone—that hidden person, Li Wei, the hall master’s mother, Ding Rui, and everyone else!” Gu Hai said coldly.

“Gu Hai?” Meng Tai’s expression turned sullen.

Ding Rui frowned heavily, watching Gu Hai and Meng Tai chat while she felt surprised. What secret is there?

“Gu Hai, what is the secret? It has something to do with my mother’s death? What does it have to do with Meng Tai?” Long Wanqing shouted in shock.

“The secret is a person, the woman in Meng Tai’s embrace, Feng Ling! She is the key to who finally gets the dragon vein?” Gu Hai said coldly.

“Huh?” Everyone looked at the woman in Meng Tai’s embrace.

The black-clad woman in Meng Tai’s embrace shook within her cloak.

“Meng Tai, great scheme! How emotionless! Everyone fell for your scheme twenty years ago. The previous hall master thought so highly of you, yet you were willing to abandon her, letting her die to prevent your own loss. For the sake of protecting your secret, you handed your wife, Feng Ling, over to Li Wei to torture for twenty years, indifferent to it. For the dragon vein, you could imprison your master in the Great Feng Mafia Family, kill your junior sister, and more importantly, you were ruthless even to yourself, purposely letting yourself get imprisoned for twenty years. Hahahaha! In the end, you think you control everything? No, you have always been a pawn!” Gu Hai said coldly.

As Gu Hai spoke, he held on to Long Wanqing as he suddenly leaped into a patch of clouds in front.

“What are you doing? Aren’t there still four hundred fifty unsolved Go puzzles?!” Long Wanqing asked in shock.

“Who said that you must solve the Go puzzles before you can enter the Go puzzle world?” Gu Hai smiled.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, Gu Hai carried Long Wanqing into the white fog and disappeared.

“Oh no!” Ding Rui’s expression changed as she soared into the sky.

Meng Tai also immediately soared into the sky, carrying Feng Ling in his embrace.

Whoosh! The earlier white fog and clouds suddenly scattered.

Boom!

Ding Rui smashed her walking stick on the barrier, but the barrier did not budge.

Inside the barrier, Gu Hai revealed a faint smile as he looked up. “Division Master Ding, thank you for giving me enough time. Hahahahaha!”

As Gu Hai guffawed, he slowly headed to the dragon vein in the barrier.

“You bastard! You dastardly Gu Hai!” Ding Rui raged.

Initially, Ding Rui confronted Meng Tai, hoping that Gu Hai would completely solve the Twenty-Nine Line-Pair World Go Puzzle. Who knew? Gu Hai could enter the Go puzzle world after solving it halfway.

“Meng Tai! It’s all because of you!” Ding Rui shouted angrily as she looked at Meng Tai.

Meng Tai revealed a cold smile as he looked at Ding Rui. “You are just incapable. Feng Ling, let’s go in!”

“What?” Ding Rui goggled.

Gu Hai could enter the Go puzzle world because he comprehended the Go puzzle and could find the entry point. You, Meng Tai, can do that as well?

Buzz!

The instant Feng Ling touched the barrier, a light figure of a peony flower suddenly appeared from her head. The light instantly encased Feng Ling and Meng Tai.

Whoosh!

The two ignored the barrier, easily crossing it.

“No!”

Ding Rui swung her walking stick in shock and anger.

Boom!

The walking stick struck the barrier, but the barrier still did not budge.

“A key? Feng Ling is a key? A key that can pass through Old Mister Guan Qi’s barrier?” Ding Rui’s expression changed wildly.

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