Chapter 331: Chapter 331 Why Is It You?
"Great Gale—"
A soft shout rang out, and the thick smoke was instantly swept away by a fierce wind. Within seconds, the smoke that had spread throughout the venue dispersed. Nangong Meng was forced back dozens of meters, his neck clutched by a scholar in white.
"Professor Li, what are you doing?" Nangong Meng’s face immediately darkened as he asked in a deep voice.
"Professor Li? Hahaha... It seems you really are a confused soul, not even knowing who they are looking for." The Professor Li behind him let out a sinister laugh, his skin visibly rotting at a rapid pace. With a gentle tear, a gloomy face appeared before everyone.
"Duanmu Qingsuang, you’re indeed not dead!"
"You’ve already plunged the Duanmu Family into an abyss, why still insist on wiping us out? I had already planned to leave Jade Country and never return, why must you press so hard?" Duanmu Qingsuang retorted.
"If we don’t wipe you out, how can we face all those innocent people you killed? If we don’t press you so hard, how can we face those families you persecuted? Since you are a criminal of Jade Country, then don’t even think about leaving Jade Country alive."
"Now that I have Nangong Meng in my grasp, so be it! I’ll take someone down with me." As his words fell, Duanmu Qingsuang’s body surged with Star Power in a frenzy.
"Wait! Do you really plan on repeating your mistakes? Let go of Dean Nangong, and I promise to apply for a lighter sentence for you," one of the Tianjian Bureau members shouted.
"Hahaha... What a joke! I, Duanmu Qingsuang, am flattered by the Tianjian Bureau’s high regard, to think that the mightiest executioner of Jade Country and the Yu Family would unite to annihilate my Duanmu Family. Even with a lighter sentence, I cannot escape death. If I don’t die, can the Yu Family sleep peacefully at night? It’s death either way, so I might as well take someone with me. It’d be less lonely to have someone to talk to on the Netherworld Road."
"You truly are beyond salvation. Speak then, what do you want?"
"I only wish to leave Jade Country. This is why I troubled Dean Nangong to escort me out. As long as I safely reach the Kingdom of Ice and Snow, I will not pressure Dean Nangong on whether he goes or stays."
"Dream on!" Nangong Meng shouted explosively. "Wang Lan, don’t mind me! The Star Martial Academy of Modu City can do anything but compromise. In its more than two hundred years, the Star Martial Academy has never compromised with anyone. Wang Lan, Ming Baiye, make your move! I’d rather die at your hands than at the hands of such a traitor."
"Oh? Dean Nangong seems to have quite the backbone, doesn’t he? It’s just a pity that I’ve sealed your Star Power, so it’s not up to you whether you like it or not," Duanmu Qingsuang sneered.
Wang Lan furrowed his brow, at a loss for what to do in the current situation. Duanmu Qingsuang definitely can’t be allowed to leave Jade Country. Think of the massive loss Jade Country suffered when Wang Mingling escaped thirty years ago! Duanmu Qingsuang, as the head of one of Jade Country’s top Star Martial Art families, is an even greater threat than Wang Mingling.
Moreover, although the situation just now was dangerous, it was far from being so critical that there was no time to react. Dean Nangong was a Titled Strongman in his youth! How could he fall to this state? Even if his cultivation realm has declined and his reactions have slowed due to old age, he shouldn’t have fallen to a level below even my Star Cloud Stage, right?
If Nangong Meng knew what Wang Lan was thinking, he would probably want to spray him dead with a mouthful of soda.
Him, at the Star Cloud Stage? He’s probably the only one in the world who considers himself merely at the Star Cloud Stage! Has anyone ever seen someone at the Star Cloud Stage defeat a Star Sea Stage cultivator? Not even Yu Ruoyun was that monstrous.
Ming Baiye’s face also twisted with conflict. Letting Duanmu Qingsuang leave was absolutely out of the question. But to stand by and watch Duanmu Qingsuang escape the country? That was even more impossible.
At that moment, a Soul Bead suddenly slipped from the sleeve of Nangong Meng’s robes, falling gently like a raindrop, as if the world had slowed the flow of time just for this bead.
BOOM—
A Purple Flame Arrow suddenly shot out from the Soul Bead, instantly piercing through Duanmu Qingsuang’s chest.
Seizing this opportunity, Nangong Meng broke free from Duanmu Qingsuang’s grasp and retaliated with a thunderball that struck Duanmu Qingsuang squarely in the chest. Duanmu Qingsuang’s chest visibly caved in.
BOOM—
With a loud noise, Duanmu Qingsuang’s body was sent flying backward, tumbling dozens of meters away.
The Tianjian Bureau members took action instantly, rushing towards Duanmu Qingsuang. Wang Lan was one of those who moved without hesitation.
"Dean Nangong, how are you?" Ming Baiye quickly came to Nangong Meng’s side and asked with concern.
"I’m old, very old..." Nangong Meng sighed deeply, shaking his head silently. "I never accepted getting old. Eld Di is already a hundred years old and still improving, so why couldn’t I? But now... indeed, I am old. In my prime, someone like him couldn’t even get within three steps of me, but today, he managed to capture me. Sigh..."
"Didn’t you also counterattack at the last moment and kill that scoundrel?" Ming Baiye asked.
"That was also thanks to Wang Lan’s Soul Bead grenade..."
Meanwhile, Wang Lan saw the basketball-sized hole in Duanmu Qingsuang’s chest and inhaled sharply. Without delay, his Star Power flashed as he established a connection with Duanmu Qingsuang.
"Captain? He’s more dead than dead, is this really necessary?" Yang Yang asked Wang Lan, his expression constipated.
Wang Lan leaned close to Duanmu Qingsuang’s mouth. "What? What did you say?"
Hearing Wang Lan’s words, Ming Baiye and Nangong Meng both paused. Ming Baiye wore a look of disbelief. How could someone with such injuries not be dead? Even if it’s said that good people don’t live long while calamities last for a thousand years, it shouldn’t be to this extent, right?
Nangong Meng’s expression, however, was rapidly changing.
Wang Lan suddenly looked up at Nangong Meng, his expression incredulous, his eyes filled with panic.
Seeing that look in his eyes, Nangong Meng’s face turned deathly pale in an instant.
"Dean Nangong, I have always regarded you as an upright, selfless, and revered senior," Wang Lan said, his voice trembling. "Although you were strict with us and often scolded us, we never complained. We even thought of you as the most respectable person in the entire academy, second only to the Head Dean. Why? Why did you do it?"
"Wang Lan, what... what are you talking about?" Although Ming Baiye voiced doubt, his body involuntarily created distance from Nangong Meng. His Star Power even began to surge, ready to erupt at any moment.
"You’ve never married, have no children, spent the first half of your life risking death for the country, and devoted the second half of your life to the academy, pouring your heart and soul into it. What exactly are you after..." Wang Lan continued, his voice filled with pain.
"Sigh—" Watching the pained look in Wang Lan’s eyes, Nangong Meng let out a soft sigh.
"This moment has finally come! I thought I would hate the person who would bring about my downfall and expose my true nature. But now, there is no anger or resentment in my heart. Only regret. ’A single misstep leads to eternal sorrow; by the time one looks back, a lifetime has passed.’
"If I hadn’t met that ungrateful wretch, I imagine none of this would have happened. I dreamed of being buried with the national flag draped over my coffin. I wanted my name to be engraved on the campus monument.
"Hahaha... Hahaha... I’ve lived my life with a clear conscience, weathered decades of storms, and yet, in these last two years, I fell victim to a despicable, shameless villain! Oh, how I hate this!"
As he spoke, Nangong Meng’s skin became redder and redder, just like the state of the Scorpion King before he self-destructed in the Nine-layer Pagoda.
"Damn it!" Wang Lan and Ming Baiye almost simultaneously became alert. "Everyone, spread out! Get away quickly!"
"Dean Nangong, calm down!" Wang Lan urged. "Self-destruction is the act of a coward. If you’re not even afraid of death, there’s no need to die like one, is there?"
"A coward? I am one now... Wang Lan, I was the one who sold off the academy’s Soul Beads. I was the one who bought large quantities of Space Stone from the Duanmu Family, and I also orchestrated the plot that led to Yu Ruoyun’s death."
"Why did you do this?" Wang Lan demanded.
"Because of Duanmu Qingsuang. I fell for his trap and was dragged onto his sinking ship. He was furious that you killed his son and enraged that the Yu Family kicked him when he was down, so he devised this plan to kill two birds with one stone. It would not only avenge Duanmu Yi but also stir up turmoil in Jade Country, allowing him to fish in troubled waters. Whether the royal forces succeeded in seizing power or were suppressed, he stood to benefit."
"Is that so? Wait a minute!" Wang Lan exclaimed.
BOOM— Suddenly, a loud explosion sounded, and Nangong Meng’s body burst open.
But the powerful explosion that was expected didn’t occur. Nangong Meng’s body just fell apart like a smashed watermelon, the blast radius not exceeding five meters.
As the dust settled, everyone’s faces became complicated.
There was no joy, no sense of relief, just disbelief, as if waking from a surreal dream.
"Who would have thought the true mastermind would turn out to be... Nangong Meng! But on reflection, it makes sense. As a veteran Titled Strongman and a high-ranking member of the academy, he had the capability to do these things. Thirteen years ago, after the old Head Dean retired, Nangong Meng was supposed to take over. If Eld Di hadn’t been parachuted in... I suppose Nangong Meng must have been very resentful."
"Mr. Ming, I feel... something isn’t right," Wang Lan said quietly.
"Oh?" Ming Baiye looked curiously at Wang Lan.
"I keep feeling he was hiding something, protecting someone. Take Mrs. Sun Li, the head of the medical department. She’s only in her thirties, a young and promising figure within the academy system. Yet, she’d rather commit suicide than expose the true mastermind. This mastermind must be someone of immense power and status. While Dean Nangong certainly held a high position and wielded considerable authority, I doubt he was influential enough to make Mrs. Sun Li sacrifice herself for his protection. That’s why I suspect Nangong Meng wasn’t the real mastermind. Also, he mentioned that if he hadn’t met that ’ungrateful wretch’... that person might not be Duanmu Qingsuang. It’s not that I underestimate Duanmu Qingsuang, but he simply doesn’t have that kind of strategic depth or influence. The Duanmu Family, though powerful, was merely a sharp knife, easily wielded by others. Nangong Meng’s final confession felt more like he was forcing an end to this matter."
Wang Lan analyzed to himself, oblivious to the increasingly strange expression on Ming Baiye’s face.
"Wang Lan..." Ming Baiye said gravely, "there are some people whom we cannot show even a hint of suspicion towards, even if we harbor doubts internally. We can be secretly vigilant, even investigate covertly, but we must never voice those suspicions."
Ming Baiye’s words caused Wang Lan’s expression to change slightly. He looked up at Ming Baiye. "Mr. Ming, do you already know who it is?"
"I don’t know, and no one can claim to know. Until ironclad evidence is presented, no one can say they know. I know you’re not the type to act recklessly; you understand priorities. I will tell you about one person’s identity. However, you must keep it to yourself. Do not speak of it without solid evidence and absolute certainty of being able to take them down. And you absolutely must not investigate privately without permission."
"Who is it? Is their identity so sensitive?" Wang Lan asked.
"The Martial God. Yu Changdong!"