Chapter 432: Caught Someone?

Lu Sangjiu jumped in surprise and couldn’t help but ask, "What’s wrong with you?"

Cangming clutched his chest, his face ashen as he shook his head. "I’m fine."

He paused, then couldn’t help but look up at her. "Are... you worried about me?"

Lu Sangjiu was, in fact, concerned for him, but only because she knew a portion of the credit for her successfully overcoming this crisis belonged to Cangming.

She had always been one to clearly distinguish between kindness and hatred—debts owed to her must be collected, and debts she owed to others must be repaid.

Cangming had caused her death once, and she intended for him to pay with his life.

But now that Cangming had helped her, she would look for an opportunity to repay the favor.

It was on this basis alone that she had asked out of concern.

But clearly... explaining all this would be a hassle, and there was no guarantee Cangming wouldn’t read too much into it.

Lu Sangjiu wanted no ambiguous emotional entanglements with him, so she denied it flatly. "You’re reading too much into it. I just remembered I have your Gu Worm in me. If you die, I die too."

"I’m not worried about you. I’m just afraid you’ll die and take me with you. That’s all."

Her words were harsh, and Cangming could indeed feel no discernible change in her emotions. So... she was telling the truth.

A flicker of dejection crossed his face, but he concealed it well.

"Don’t worry. I don’t die that easily."

He said as much, then called out to someone. "Take her to my courtyard."

"You... can stay in your old room."

Although Lu Sangjiu was still wondering what had suddenly gotten into him, she didn’t want to get bogged down in it now. She said nothing and turned to leave.

On the way to Cangming’s courtyard, Lu Sangjiu couldn’t resist asking the person guiding her, "Is your Sect Leader injured?"

The man paused, surprised. "No. The Sect Leader hasn’t even left the grounds recently. How could he be injured?"

Lu Sangjiu frowned. "Is that so?"

’But he was clearly coughing up blood.’

As she was thinking, she suddenly noticed there seemed to be fewer people around the sect than usual. She changed the subject, asking, "Where has everyone gone? Why are there so few people on patrol?"

Knowing Lu Sangjiu was the Sect Leader’s honored guest, and since this information wasn’t a secret, he answered directly, "For the past few days, everyone has been working with people from the Cultivation World to hunt down He Guang and his followers."

"Hunting down He Guang? They’ve found him?"

Lu Sangjiu was pleasantly surprised to hear this.

The man nodded. "They’ve been found, but that group is slippery. Catching them won’t be a sure thing."

The two chatted about it for a bit, but the man didn’t know much more. Lu Sangjiu failed to get any more useful information by the time they arrived at Cangming’s courtyard.

It wasn’t until she returned to her room that Lu Sangjiu had a sudden, dawning realization. ’The hunt has been on for several days? Then Cangming...’

She knew the terms of their contract very well. If Cangming was absent from the hunt, it would be a violation of the clause requiring both parties to cooperate against He Guang.

It wasn’t a major violation, so the backlash probably wouldn’t be too severe. This aligned perfectly with him coughing up blood earlier.

’Why didn’t Cangming go?’

Lu Sangjiu knew the answer perfectly well... Her breakthrough to the Divinity Transformation Stage required a massive amount of both Spiritual Energy and Demonic Qi. Neither could be missing.

Cangming had stayed behind to help her.

Her heart sank at the realization.

Debts of gratitude are always the hardest to repay, especially when they are entangled with matters of life and death.

Her single-minded resolve to kill Cangming wavered ever so slightly. ’...But if I don’t kill him, am I supposed to be controlled by this Love Gu forever?’

’And if I do kill him, how can I ever repay this debt?’

At that moment, Lu Sangjiu almost wished she were still tangled up with Ye Zhiyao in the Thousand World Tribulation.

If she had escaped through normal means, she still might have had a chance to survive.

But alas... it was just a cruel twist of fate.

Lu Sangjiu’s mood soured, so... she chose to cultivate.

’Whether to kill him, whether I *can* kill him... I need to be strong enough first before I can even think about it.’

Besides, the conditions for cultivation here were excellent. Making the most of her time to cultivate was better than stewing in her thoughts.

Time flew by. Perhaps sensing that Lu Sangjiu was cultivating, Cangming never once came to disturb her.

During that time, she did sense Cangming standing outside her door for long periods, but he never knocked or came inside.

This put her completely at ease, and she continued to cultivate!

After cultivating for an unknown length of time, Lu Sangjiu’s cultivation stabilized at the Mid-stage Divinity Transformation.

Pushing any further would be counterproductive, so she finally pulled herself out of her meditative state.

’Sigh... what a shame. If I could’ve kept cultivating, I could’ve kept avoiding Cangming.’

’Not a bad way to run from my problems, right?’

Otherwise, seeing his face would just leave her feeling frustrated and conflicted!

But since she’d stopped cultivating, she couldn’t stay in her room any longer... or she’d start to grow mold.

Besides, the matter with He Guang was still on her mind. She needed to go out and get an update.

As it turned out, the moment she stepped out of her room, she came face-to-face with Cangming.

Lu Sangjiu: "..."

’Was this bastard just camping outside my door?’ she wondered.

It would be awkward to retreat back inside now, so she cut straight to the chase. "Have they caught He Guang and his men?"

Cangming shook his head. "No."

Lu Sangjiu waited a moment, but no further explanation came. She had to ask again, "Not a single one? Have you lost their trail again?"

Only after she pressed him did Cangming patiently begin to explain.

"They’ve suffered heavy losses among their subordinates. Ting Chan is dead. Now, it’s basically just He Guang and two Body Integration Realm experts. The rest are nobodies and can be ignored."

Hearing that Ting Chan was dead, Lu Sangjiu couldn’t help but interrupt. "Ting Chan... Who killed him?"

Cangming shot her a look, his fingers tightening slightly. After a long pause, he answered, "...Xie Ningyuan."

’Of course, it was him.’

Lu Sangjiu thought, ’Ting Chan killed Xie Ningyuan’s master. It’s only natural he’d want to take revenge with his own hands.’

With this outcome, his wish had been granted.

She felt happy for him.

This feeling of joy was transmitted clearly to Cangming.

His face remained impassive, but the chill in his eyes deepened. He suddenly spoke, "He Guang was cornered. He voluntarily dispersed a portion of his cultivation and is now at the Mid-Tribulation Crossing stage."

"This means he can now attack at will. He has already killed a great number of people."

Those two sentences successfully diverted Lu Sangjiu’s attention. A chill went down her spine. "He’s gone on a killing spree?"

Previously, He Guang had only sown discord between the Immortal and Demon factions to achieve his "cleansing" plan. Aside from his high cultivation level preventing him from acting rashly, he also feared that accumulating too much sin from killing would draw the attention of the Heavenly Dao.

Being targeted by the Heavenly Dao usually means one’s Heavenly Tribulation will be far more powerful, drastically reducing the chances of survival.

That was why He Guang never dared to get his own hands dirty, relying on indirect methods to evade the Heavenly Dao’s judgment.

But now... it seemed he had truly been pushed to the brink. He’d crippled his own cultivation and was now killing without restraint.

’In that case, just how chaotic must the outside world be right now?’