Previous Chapter ◊ Table of Content ◊ Next Chapter

Chapter 30: You Are My Faith (XI)

---

When the people in the other group heard their companion shout out “King level apostle,” they were all alarmed, speedily taking out their weapons and staring vigilantly at Shang Ke’s group.

When the man who identified Shang Ke saw that Tylor and the others were indifferent, he once again spoke loudly, “You guys don’t believe me? I saw with my own eyes how this man killed my fourteen companions at Red Cloud Wasteland. It was only after staking my life that I could luckily escape.”

Red Cloud Wasteland? Shang Ke searched through the original’s memories, and there did seem to be something like that. The only difference was that this person hadn’t even “staked his life” before escaping without a trace.

Everyone looked toward Shang Ke, with a pale face and gentle appearance. His brows contained a bit of weariness, but his eyes were kind, and he was completely calm.

Tylor stood by his side, his gaze cold.

The other people also had indifferent expressions, with no reaction toward that person’s words.

“Sire has probably mistaken the wrong person.” Kaiser spoke with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, “This person is our companion. There’s no way he is a King level apostle.”

“Even if you don’t believe me, you should at least verify it first.”

“Verify?” Youri smiled as he said, “You’re suspicious that he is  a King level apostle, but I think you guys look more the part.”

Their gazes were all slack and their spirits clearly weren’t good, a clear sign of being invaded by the devil qi. Compared to them, Shang Ke’s group was full of vigor, and their minds were also clear. Shang Ke alone bore the negative influence brought upon by the devil qi, so his body was exceptionally weak. His group was not so bad as to be unable to distinguish whether or not his weakness was a pretense.

That person stared at them, stunned. He did not dare to believe that they actually did not have any suspicions against someone he had identified as a dangerous King level apostle.

“Have you all been brainwashed? To actually believe in a King level apostle?” That person shouted agitatedly, “Take care or you won’t even know how you died.”

“We will not trouble Sire. Please go.” Tylor coldly saw them out, and did not plan to continue talking to them.

“No way!” That person roared, “He is the murderer that killed my companions. I can’t just let him off like this!”

“What do you want to do?” Tylor asked.

“Kill him to take revenge for my companions!” That person brandished his weapon with a cruel glint in his eyes.

The people beside him also assumed fighting postures.

Shang Ke really wanted to remind them of what the purpose of their journey was and where they were. In this abyss thick with devil qi, any gap in their hearts would be magnified without end. If their faith wasn’t firm enough, they could be swallowed by the darkness at any moment.

“Don’t do anything,” Shang Ke pulled Tylor’s hand and whispered, “Most of the people in this group have been invaded by the devil qi, and any kind of stimulation may cause them to fall into madness. If we could dispel the devil qi in their bodies…”

“You just stay here obediently.” Tylor gave him a severe glance, ordering, “You’re not allowed to help other people absorb devil qi as you wish.”

“Shang Ke, you just need to worry about taking care of your child. Leave the rest to us,” Kaiser added from the side.

“That’s right, Shang Ke, you should take a good rest. Those people who are slandering you are not worthy of you saving them,” the others spoke in agreement.

Shang Ke: “……”

A “villain” who had managed to make everyone believe he was the Holy Mother, it was a rather amazing accomplishment when you thought about it…

In fact, he did not plan to save others rashly. After all, his energy was limited. If he continued to help others absorb devil qi, then his body would be unable to bear it. He needed to leave at least one last breath in his body until the end in order to seal the Devil’s Tree with Kaiser and the others.

However, Tylor and the others seemed to believe that, so long as it was a person, he would give his life to save them.

Both sides quarreled for a time, and in the end, they still fought.

Shang Ke held Pupu and quietly spectated the fight while under his companions’ protection.

At that moment, a hidden arrow suddenly shot out, going straight for Shang Ke’s vitals.

“Shang Ke!” Tylor and Kaiser both shouted.

Shang Ke had the original’s memories. Although he was not as nimble as before, his body still dodged on reflex, allowing the danger to bypass his vitals. The arrow instead hit his arm, the blood immediately dying his sleeve red.

Shang Ke couldn’t help but secretly curse. He would be attacked even while just standing on the sidelines, just which god did he offend?

Tylor’s eyes focused on the direction the arrow came from and his sword flew from his hand, shooting into an area of the forest. A man fell out of a tree with a groan. Tylor’s figure disappeared, appearing beside the man in an instant. He picked the man up and smashed him hard against the tree, before dragging him before the others.

The battle had already finished, with only the wounded left on the ground, crying out in pain.

Kaiser and the others did not leave behind any major injuries. They had not planned to kill them in the first place, but just wanted to teach them a lesson.

However, when they saw that Shang Ke was injured, they were all very indignant. After Tylor dragged the sneak attacker back, a couple of them immediately rushed up to beat him up more.

“How is he?” Tylor crouched by Shang Ke’s side and asked the doctor.

The doctor answered as he cut open Shang Ke’s sleeve, “So long as the wound is handled appropriately, it shouldn’t be much trouble.”

Tylor saw Shang Ke’s furrowed brows and pale face as he leaned weakly  Kaiser’s shoulder, a couple beads of sweat dripping and dampening his hair.

“Ah, what is this?” the doctor suddenly exclaimed.

Everyone’s looked over and saw that, on the arm dyed with blood, there was the faint image of a flower tattoo. The color was both deep and light, the petals unfurling in layers and extending all the way to his chest. Like a gorgeous blaze, it seemed to twist and burn on his fair skin, beautiful enough to render people breathless.

“My god, I have never seen such a beautiful tattoo before.”

“What, what? Let me see! Let me see!”

His upper body bare, Shang Ke suffered the inhuman feeling of being gawked at. Even the doctor had forgotten what he was supposed to be doing.

This group of bored people, was there a need to make a fuss over a tattoo?

Shang Ke raised his eyes to look at the doctor, powerlessly asking, “Doctor Abe, can you pull out the arrow?”

The doctor met Shang Ke’s languid and somewhat misty eyes, and immediately shouted madly in his heart, No, don’t look at me like that! My hand is going to shake!

Shouldn’t an injured person look weak, pale, and pathetic, with dispirited eyes and their expression twisted in pain? Then, why was this man still such a beautiful evildoer? This simply did not conform to common sense, alright?

Tylor’s face sank, and he wished he could immediately wrap Shang Ke up so that he wouldn’t be defiled by this group of people’s gazes.

With great difficulty, the doctor calmed his mind and began to take care of Shang Ke’s wound seriously.

Pulling out the arrow, staunching the blood, and wrapping his arm, everything was done smoothly.

After he finished dressing the wound, Tylor draped a robe over Shang Ke’s shoulders, easily taking him from Kaiser’s embrace and bundling him tightly.

Kaiser felt a bit upset when he saw Shang Ke being held so carefully by Tylor.

Right at this moment, a miserable scream came from behind.

Everyone looked towards the sound’s origin, and saw that one of the wounded originally lying on the ground had suddenly gotten up and raised his dagger to stab the chest of one of his companions.

Soon after, a couple more people staggered up and began to crazily attack the people near them.

They were invaded by the devil qi!

The same thought appeared in everyone’s mind as they watched in bewilderment as the group of people killed each other.

“Big Brother!” the archer who had been caught shouted and struggled to move toward the chaotic crowd.

“Philippine, don’t come over here!” A man yelled back as he dodged throughout the crowd.

The archer was held down by Tylor’s men. Unable to throw them off, he could only watch as his older brother was trapped in a dangerous situation.

Philippine? Shang Ke’s mind jolted when he heard this name. Wasn’t he one of the seven warriors?

“I beg you guys, please save my brother.” Philippine looked at Shang Ke and the others with a pleading gaze.

“Hmph, they reap what they sow. Why should we save them?” Most of them felt this way.

Shang Ke looked toward Tylor, and didn’t even have the chance to speak before Tylor spoke, “We can stop them from killing each other, but they have to deal with the devil qi on their bodies themselves.”

Shang Ke fell silent before agreeing, “Then let’s stop them from killing each other first.”

Tylor turned to look at Quincy.

In a short period of time, all the people who had went crazy were subdued.

“Brother, brother.” Someone dragged Philippine’s older brother over and threw him in front of him.

Philippine rushed to his side and was about to check on him when the other suddenly opened his eyes, his hand going straight for Philippine.

“Be careful!” Philippine did not manage to protect himself in time and was clawed, with several lines of blood appearing on his face.

“Brother!” Philippine stared at his brother in disbelief. He was normal just a moment ago, but in the blink of an eye, he had been invaded by the devil qi.

A couple people went forward to hold Philippine’s older brother down.

Philippine looked at his deranged older brother with an expression of anguish as he cried out, “Brother, brother!”

Philippine’s brother wailed in pain, his expression extremely twisted.

“Tsk, don’t tell me this entire group has been invaded by the devil qi?” Youri spoke with a frown.

Shang Ke looked at the dozen or so unconscious people. The marsh abyss was far more terrifying than what everyone had imagined, especially since it was their first attempt at sealing the Devil’s Tree. Those who had came to the innermost part of the marsh were almost completely wiped out.

“No, my big brother wouldn’t be invaded by the devil qi!” Philippine once again rushed to his brother and held his shoulders, shouting, “Brother, brother, wake up! Use your power to dispel the devil qi, you can surely do it.”

Philippine’s older brother turned a deaf ear to his pleas and he continued to yell and struggle.

Philippine’s tears flowed as he called out, “Big brother, I beg of you, don’t give up! We said that we were going to bring home glory together. Brother…”

Philippine’s brother seemed to become clear-headed for a moment, but he very quickly descended back into madness.

“Brother, brother!”

Everyone couldn’t help but feel sympathetic for the boy at the scene.

Just when Philippine was about to despair, a hand suddenly stretched over and overlapped his on his brother’s shoulder.

“Shang Ke, what are you doing?” Tylor held his waist, wanting to pull him back.

“It’s just one person.” Shang Ke looked back at Tylor. “It’ll be fine.”

“He was the one who shot the arrow that hurt you!”

“It’s fine, I believe it wasn’t on purpose.” Your mom, it wasn’t on purpose! That arrow was aimed at his heart!

Shang Ke wore a smile, but he was cursing angrily in his heart.

Tylor gazed at him for a while before finally releasing his hand. Since this was his choice, then he could only respect it. His only bottom line was that he had to ensure his own safety.

Philippine did not understand and stared in confusion at Shang Ke, until he noticed that the devil qi in his brother’s body was slowly flowing toward Shang Ke. Astonished, he finally understood what was happening.

He was actually absorbing the devil qi from his brother’s body?

No, not only his brother’s, but also that within himself!

With their hands together on Philippine’s brother’s shoulder, large quantities of devil qi were absorbed into Shang Ke’s body.

Philippine stared at the traces of devil qi that were flowing out of his body. He had not expected himself to have also been invaded by the devil qi.

He was looked at Shang Ke with a shocked expression. Because Shang Ke was absorbing the devil qi, his complexion paled, with traces of black gas flowing from his eyes. His lips were a captivating blood red, and his robe had slipped off his shoulder, exposing his upper body. The flower from before, the Flaming Red Sky, had appeared once again before their eyes, causing his pale face to look even more devilishly charming. The wound that had been properly bandaged began to show traces of blood, dying the white gauze red.

The traces of blood stabbed into Tylor’s eyes, and his gaze turned terrifyingly dark.

Didn’t he say it would be just one person? Why did it turn into two now?

This liar!

After a while, Shang Ke finally finished absorbing the devil qi and his body went limp, falling into arms that had been ready for him since long ago.

Philippine gazed deeply at the weakened Shang Ke. In his eyes was gratitude, some guilt, and other complex feelings.

He supported his brother and spoke in a barely audible voice, “Thank you. And, I’m sorry.”

Tylor picked Shang Ke up and carried him to the carriage in one fell swoop.

No one stuck around, and before long they had taken the Philippine brothers along and continued on to their destination.

Philippine’s brother had already returned to normal, and beside his mental state being slightly tired, his body was fine.

No one wanted to pay attention to them, but because they knew the way, they had to be taken along.

On the way to their destination, there were people who mocked and ridiculed them from time to time. However, the Philippine brothers never retorted.

They laughed at Philippine, his brother, and their group for being too weak-willed, and being so easily invaded by devil qi.

Philippine fell silent for a while before suddenly saying, “We originally had five groups, with two hundred people altogether.”

“What?” Everyone was flabbergasted.

Philippine continued, “After we entered the marsh abyss, everyone began to be invaded by the devil qi. Some went crazy, some killed themselves, and some turned into apostles. Among them were countless famous experts. In four days time, we experienced a terrifying rain of blood and despair, until we met you guys. In the end, we only had thirty something people left struggling at death’s door.”

Everyone had expressions of shock and disbelief.

Philippine looked at them, his tone lifeless as he continued, “Why do you think you guys have been able to get to this point so smoothly? It was not because you guys are stronger than us, but because you have someone with you who is capable of taking all of your nightmares.”

Everyone fell silent, turning as one to look towards where Shang Ke sat in the carriage.

While they were indulging in self-satisfaction, who knew just how many crises that person had silently resolved for them…

---

Previous Chapter ◊ Table of Content ◊ Next Chapter