Another World: The Failed Magician

After swinging his sword a few more times and realizing he couldn't harm the pale figures, Li Zheng made a very bold decision.

Li Zheng gripped the longsword tightly in his hand, his eyes closed.

Just a short while later, those pale figures, emitting painful howls, stretched out their bloodied hands and gripped Li Zheng's legs tightly, slowly crawling up his body.

Even so, Li Zheng kept his eyes closed, gripped his longsword tightly, and did nothing.

Just as he was completely engulfed by those pale figures, a sword light pierced straight towards him from behind.

Just as the longsword was about to pierce Li Zheng's heart, he opened his eyes, swiftly swung his sword, and shattered the sword aimed at him into pieces.

Just then, Li Zheng heard a clear shattering sound, like glass being smashed.

Then all the pale figures and blood disappeared.

The scenery before Li Zheng's eyes returned to normal; it was still the ordinary tavern. However, Zuo Huai was now lying on the ground in a sorry state, holding a broken sword in his hand, blood streaming from his mouth.

"Zuo Huai, your illusion technique is indeed quite powerful, but it's a pity that your strength is not enough. If you were also a Martial King, I might already be dead under your sword. What a pity. Since you really want to die, then I will send you on your final journey."

As he spoke, Li Zheng raised the long sword in his hand and swung it at Zuo Huai, who was already lying on the ground.

A sword aura flew towards Zuo Huai.

Just as the sword energy was about to hit Zuo Huai, a scroll blocked it.

Li Zheng frowned slightly, raised his longsword, and prepared to strike a second time.

The familiar blood gushed out of the tavern once more. Countless pale figures crawled out along the blood trail and surrounded Li Zheng again.

Just as Li Zheng was trapped, Zhang Yu, who had been hiding in the forest behind the tavern, poked his head out.

After confirming that Li Zheng was trapped by an illusion, he ran over and carried Zuo Huai, who had collapsed to the ground.

With some difficulty, he carried him deeper into the forest.

After walking for a while, Zuo Huai said, "Put me down. Maybe you can still escape. The same illusion array can't trap Li Zheng for too long. Besides, you're an ordinary person now. If you keep carrying me like this, neither of us will be able to leave."

Zhang Yu found a relatively secluded spot, put Zuo Huai down, and sat down next to her.

"Of course I know, but how far can an ordinary person like me run? When your sword failed to kill him, our fate was already sealed. It's just that in the end, I didn't kill that bastard, which makes me a little angry."

Zuo Huai glanced at the broken sword in his hand and sighed softly: "Your illusion array was indeed very effective. It was my fault. Even under those circumstances, I was still unable to take his life."

"There's no point in saying all this now. All we can do now is pray that he doesn't find out about us."

"Oh, really? Chairman Zhang Yu." An aged voice rang out from afar, instantly causing Zuo Huai and Zhang Yu to break out in a cold sweat.

Looking at the aged figure, Zhang Yu couldn't help but sigh and say, "Wow, isn't it rumored that this old guy's Martial King realm is just for show? How come he's so strong!"

"It seems that old guy was just putting on an act all the time in the sect."

Li Zheng wasn't in a hurry when he saw the two people under the shade of the tree. He fiddled with the long sword in his hand and slowly approached them.

“I can understand Zuo Huailai killing me, but Chairman Zhang, I don’t quite understand why you’re involved.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu let out a cold laugh.

"Sect Leader Li, now that things have come to this, there's no need to pretend anymore. Was Ruo Xuanyin's death 20 years ago related to you?"

"Oh, I didn't expect you to know all this. Since you've done your research, I might as well tell you that Ruo Xuanyin's death was orchestrated by me."

"What I hate most is this kind of person, who thinks they can be a hero just because they have some talent. This kind of person is too naive and too troublesome. I had already warned her, but she still wouldn't let it go. She affected my interests time and time again. In the end, I had no choice but to plot to kill her."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu's eyes flashed with anger as he stared intently at Li Zheng.

"Oh! I forgot that Chairman Zhang and she have always had a good relationship. It was rather impolite of me to say these things so bluntly."

"Pah! You pretentious old fool, you dare to swagger around like this! Do you think I don't know why you left Zhao Qushan's team? You've always looked down on everyone, and you couldn't accept that Zhao Qushan was out of your control. So you regretted it and had no choice but to leave. You old fool, you gambled the entire Tai Xuan Sect, and now this is the end result. You're quite pathetic."

Even the usually calm Li Zheng was now filled with anger.

"What do you know? You two are about to die and you still dare to laugh at me. I only need to use a little trick to provoke Zhao Qushan, and he will naturally go to the palace. Why did I fail? When he becomes emperor again, I will still have a transcendent status in the entire Donglong. At that time, I can have as many Tai Xuan Sects as I want. It's just a pity that you two will not live to see it."

"Oh? Is that really so? According to your initial plan, even if Zhao Qushan sacrificed everyone, he should only be one step away from becoming a Martial Saint, am I right?"

"How...how do you know all this?"

"Old man, do you think you're so clever? You kept everyone in the dark, including Zhao Qushan, who planned this from the beginning. You never intended to help him become a saint. Your original plan was that after absorbing the demonic seed, Zhao Qushan would only reach the peak of Martial King strength, and you would take advantage of his weakest moment after breaking through to deliver the final blow. Then you would fill in the missing piece. In the end, you would become a Martial Saint, am I right, Li Zheng?"

Upon hearing this, Li Zheng's angry expression gradually turned somewhat gloomy.

"Oh! It seems you know everything, Zhang Yu. I'm increasingly reluctant to kill you. How about this: you tell me everything, and I'll let you both go more easily, how about that?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu was not afraid at all; instead, he burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! So you still don't know what's wrong with you? Threatening me like this. It's okay, even if you didn't threaten me, I would still tell you. After all, I'm still happy to see you get angry and embarrassed at the last moment."

At this moment, Li Zheng was staring intently at him, one hand gripping the long sword tightly, extremely angry, but he did not take another step forward.

Seeing Li Zheng like this, Zhang Yu seemed even happier: "Have you ever thought about this? As a former part of the Tai Xuan Sect, even if the Qingxin Sword Sect has declined, how could it be so difficult for them to deal with a Martial King? Moreover, as a former member of the Qingxin Sword Sect, how could Li Mingxu not know about the Snow Rain Sword Formation?"

Li Zheng had considered what Zhang Yu had mentioned, but at that time, Li Mingxu was already controlled by the demonic seed, and all his memories had been read by the demonic seed. His decision to go to Qingxin Sword Sect to seize Li Mengyu's innate sword body was also made by the demonic seed after absorbing his memories.

Even when Li Mingxu, who was controlled by the demon seed, decided to go to the Qingxin Sword Sect, Li Zheng was worried that if the Qingxin Sword Sect couldn't get rid of Li Mingxu, he would secretly take action and eliminate him.

Things went surprisingly smoothly; the demonic seed was easily elevated to the Martial King realm. Li Mingxu, the host, was also killed.

The only shortcoming was that he failed to seize Li Mengyu's innate sword body. At that time, he was prepared to take action himself, but he could sense that there was a powerful expert at least at the Martial King level who had locked onto him, which prevented him from making a move.

So much so that when Zuo Huai later told him the result, he only pretended to be angry, just putting on an act.

He thought about it again and still didn't feel there was anything wrong with it.

Seeing him deep in thought, Zhang Yu laughed even more unrestrainedly.

"Hahaha! It seems you old dog still haven't figured out where you lost! Let me tell you, you fool. Li Mingxu voluntarily allowed himself to be parasitized by the demonic seed from the very beginning. He erased all his memories of the Wind and Snow Sword Formation and transformed his feelings for Li Mengyu into an obsession with his innate sword body. Therefore, under these circumstances, the demonic seed that parasitized him was also affected by him."

"It was at this time that the Four Phases Sword Formation made up for the little bit of energy you were short of when you first thought you were going to become a Martial Saint."

"Why! When did you find out about our plan? And what benefit would Zhao Qushan's ascension to sainthood bring you? You've meticulously planned all this just to get this result? Isn't that ridiculous?"

"Is that really the case? You just can't see the situation clearly."

At this moment, Li Zheng's face was so black it could drip water, but he could only remain patient until Zhang Yu finished speaking.

"All your initial actions were based on the premise that Emperor Zhao Huai was nearing the end and unable to interfere with your plans, right? But did you ever consider that he actually knew your plans from the very beginning?"

"This! This is impossible. My senses can't be wrong."

At this moment, Li Zheng's expression finally revealed fear.

He had already thought of this from the very beginning.

Of course, he wouldn't believe Zhao Qushan's words at first. It was only after attending the morning court sessions every day that he carefully noticed that Zhao Huai's aura was gradually weakening. Although Zhao Huai was trying his best to conceal it, Li Zheng was certain that his feeling was correct.

Even after Crown Prince Zhao Quan returned to Donglong and temporarily replaced Zhao Huai, he remained suspicious. He even secretly helped Zhao Quan, wanting to see Zhao Huai's reaction.

As a result, Zhao Huai still did not appear, even as the crown prince gradually gained power and began his reforms. This gradually made Li Zheng make up his mind.

"Your intuition is certainly correct. The emperor does not have much time left, which is why he needs to expose a fatal flaw to you. After all, people are only defenseless when they are attacking with all their might."

Li Zheng broke out in a cold sweat.

“If you obediently wait until the emperor’s life ends, it will indeed be very difficult to deal with you. However, your ambition will not allow you to watch Zhao Quan destroy everything he has taught you step by step. You will definitely take action.”

"And as long as we capture you all in the final moments, we can not only eliminate Zhao Qushan, this major threat, but also wipe out those powerful families and the eight major sects. You think you are very clever, that you can secretly hide behind the scenes and extract Donglong's blood, but little do you know, you have been watched all along."

"Even the demon seed you rely on was only discovered by the emperor. Because once that demon seed falls into a deep sleep, there's really nothing you can do about it. But it was already broken thousands of years ago when the demon god was destroyed, and with the seal that's been in place for thousands of years, we just need to wait for an opportunity to completely destroy this demon seed."

"And you are the perfect opportunity. Zhao Qushan seems to have reached the strongest level, but he has also exposed the greatest weakness of the Demon Seed. As long as Zhao Qushan dies, the Demon Seed will cease to exist. So, you think you are clever, but everything you have done is actually within the Emperor's calculations."

Li Zheng's hand, which had been gripping the longsword tightly, began to tremble uncontrollably, and beads of cold sweat dripped from his forehead.

He could hardly believe that what Zhang Yu had just said was true. He had always thought highly of the old man on the dragon throne. But now it seemed that after decades, he hadn't truly seen through that man.

Li Zheng felt a wave of fear wash over him, but he quickly recovered.

"What you've said does frighten me, but what does it matter? You're all going to die here today."

"Oh, you really think so? You think I'm telling you all this out of kindness just to spite you?"

Just then, dozens of figures silently emerged from the forest.

Li Zheng looked at the old man leading the group with surprise in his eyes.

"Aren't you already dead?"

The old man was Lin Yu, the Grand Elder of the Qingxin Sword Sect, who was supposed to be dead.

"Hmph! Even you, a beastly old bastard, haven't died, so how could I possibly die?"

Zhang Yu, who was standing to the side, continued to speak with a smile.

"Of course, all of this was to deceive you! If the Grand Elder hadn't died, how could you have allowed the Qingxin Sword Sect to survive? You would never allow a power capable of killing a Martial King to exist right under your nose. So you had to fake the Grand Elder's death to put your mind at ease. Only by letting you know that the Qingxin Sword Sect has lost the ability to use the Snow Rain Sword Formation again can you stop taking this 'ant' seriously."

As the words fell, raindrops and snowflakes began to fall before Li Zheng's eyes, and the figures of the other people slowly disappeared from his sight.