Chapter Fifty: A Dilemma

  Lin Fan thought for a moment and said: "But the disciples of Blood Shadow Sect and the members of Tian Jiang Gate are mixed together, isn't it a bit awkward? Especially since they're both men."

  "Let them guess." Ximen Shuai didn't want to take this detour either.

  Lin Feng nodded: "Reminding you again, once I'm surrounded, I can run very fast."

  "I've seen how quickly you abandon your allies who shed blood for the alliance." Ximen Commander thought back to the battle against Nan Gong Wu Hen, where Lin Fan vanished without a trace.

  Lin Fan ignored Ximen's sarcastic tone and said, "Then go prepare."

  "How about you?"

  ... Lin Fan drew out a bamboo sword from behind his back.

  Ximen Shuai couldn't help but say, "You have a ready-made way, I'll go and come right back."

  ……

  Ximen Shuai transformed, using a cloth strip to wrap his hair up and tie it to his face, with only a pair of gleaming eyes exposed. No, they were a pair of unhappy eyes. Yu Ming changed into his own Taoist robe, wearing a short brown garment, with bamboo sandals on his feet, having a few hints of the style of a low-ranking Blood Shadow Sect disciple.

  "Lend me the Seven Broken Flags." Lin Fan stretched out his hand.

  "What's up?"

  "The messenger has no flag, it's too fake."

  Ximen Commander didn't say another word, took out a piece of cloth from the Qiankun Seal, cut it into a triangular flag, threaded it onto a wooden stick, and finally wrote a command character on it.

  Isn't it too crude? Lin Fan didn't have any other good options, so he took the command flag and held it in his hand, which was quite something. However, a Blood Shadow Sect disciple and a Tianjiang Gate disciple who never got along were together, which was really discordant.

  "Report! Scouts have discovered a Blood Shadow Sect disciple and a Tianjiang Gate disciple together."

  "Ah? Gu Ping, the leader of Xueying Sect, has always been ambitious. Joining forces with Tianjiang Gate must have an ulterior motive. Appearing so openly and honestly is definitely a way to put pressure on us. Come... prepare, I will personally go to Xueying Sect."

  Lin Fan and Ximen Commander completely underestimated the impact, generally speaking, evil sects rarely visit each other, especially with public affairs messengers, there is only one possibility, Tianjiangmen and Xuemingzong may have secretly formed an alliance, now they are sending a message to the leader of a certain evil sect, two people together, to put pressure on him.

  Lin Fan and Ximen Jue traveled unimpeded, passing through places where only nearby door faction scouts followed them from a distance, not approaching to ask questions or intercepting them. The two easily arrived near the Emerald Valley.

  Between the two desolate mountains, there was a beautiful place with fresh flowers and flowing water, where butterflies danced and bees flew. It was a rare haven in this vast and barren land. No wonder the thousand-year-old fox spirit wanted to leave the Zitian Gate and live here in peace. The two of them flew over the edge of the green valley and saw a woman in white playing the zither. In the valley, several purple-robed female disciples were either pruning branches or fetching water. Only one purple-robed female disciple stood with her hands behind her back, quietly watching everyone work. When Lin Fan and the other person passed by, she looked at them for a while.

  Lin Fan and Ximen Jue fell behind the mountain, Lin Fan casually tore off a corner of Ximen Jue's clothes and said: "Blood!"

  "What's wrong?"

  "Useful."

  "Don't you have?"

  "It requires two people's blood."

  Xi Men Xiao couldn't help but bite his index finger, dripping blood onto the cloth strip. Lin Fan's left hand dipped his index finger in the blood and drew a talisman, then shouted: "Quickly!" The talisman fluttered with the wind, flying towards the direction of the Emerald Valley.

  Heavenly Eye Talisman!

  Lin Fan closed his eyes, and he could see everything that Tianyan saw. Ximen Commander's small belly chicken intestines: "Isn't it the blood of two people?"

  "Since one person's blood is enough, why would you need two people's blood?" Lin Fan retorted.

  "Why use mine?"

  "I'm afraid of pain!" Lin frowned tightly. Because of this expression, Xi Men Shuai didn't ask any further questions to disturb Lin, and felt displeased in his heart.

  Lin Fan saw what? He saw a room in the corner of the Emerald Valley, where a man was tied to a wooden bed with his mouth gagged. A purple-robed disciple scratched open his chest with his fingernail, reached into his body, and pulled out his heart. After that, he didn't care about the man's death, and hastily sent the heart to a small hut next door, where it was put into a pot of boiling water for stewing.

  Looking again at the thousand-year-old fox playing the zither in the grass pavilion, her white clothes fluttering, her hair soft and smooth, moving with the wind, she has a few points of freshness and elegance like an immortal fairy. Lin Fan sighed inwardly, this person really can't be judged by appearance. The Heaven's Eye Talisman fell on the eaves of the house, Lin Fan was not in a hurry, carefully observing all around, discovering that several purple-robed disciples' cultivation was extremely low, with no great difference from miscellaneous servants. And that hundred-eyed demon king's personally transmitted disciple, calm and composed, neither angry nor joyful, seemed to have some accomplishments.

  "Zǐyè jiě, tāngjiàng áo hǎo le." A female disciple reported.

  The leading disciple named Ziyue nodded: "Send it over, deal with the corpse, the master's family doesn't like to smell blood. Then you go to the general altar again and inform them that the living people have been used up, let them tie some more people."

  The apprentice said: "People from the headquarters say that everyone in the nearby mine has been caught or run away."

  "That's their business." Zi Ye said: "If the host family needs it, they have to get it."

  "Yes!"

  Soon, a small bowl of soup was placed on the stone table beside the thousand-year-old fox spirit. The thousand-year-old fox spirit nodded and savored it carefully, as if tasting tea. Lin's stomach convulsed, and he immediately broke off the Heavenly Eye Symbol, fearing that he would vomit. Xi Men Shuai asked suspiciously: "What's wrong?"

  Lin Fan shook his head: "Zhong Kui, Niu Tou, Ma Mian are detestable in appearance, but they are good people. This fox spirit is like a fairy, but..."

  Ximen Qing understood and asked, "Lin Fu, suppose your mother is seriously ill and needs a live person's heart as medicine. Are you willing to kill someone to get the heart? If not, then you are unfilial. If so, then you are inhumane."

  "Hmph!" Lin Fan said, "Like burying a son to raise his mother, it's absurd and laughable. A person has broken through the bottom line of humanity, yet still upholds the way of filial piety." Burying a son to raise his mother refers to a person who, because their mother couldn't bear to eat, gave food to her grandson. This person thought that raising children would necessarily affect their mother, so they decided to bury the child. Then, while digging a hole, they dug up gold, achieving two goals at once, and their reputation for filial piety spread throughout the land.

  Lin Fan and Zong Zhu discussed this kind of thing, thinking that although these people are models of social morality, they are not necessarily good people. San San Zhen Ren somewhat disagreed with Lin Fan's view, but did not change Lin Fan's mind. San San Zhen Ren very much agreed with Lin Fan's sentence: First be a person, then be a son. If you don't understand being a person, how can you be a son? This Gu Yu buried his son, and got a good name for himself, isn't that putting his mother in an unjust position?

  "Then you just watched your mother die?"

  At that time, San San Zhen Ren asked Lin Fan a question similar to the one Ximen Shuai had asked, leaving Lin Fan stunned. Lin Fan didn't have an answer as he didn't know his mother's thoughts on the matter. San San Zhen Ren had actually asked Zhang Lao at the time: "If killing 100 ordinary people could save you, would you kill or not?" Lin Fan thought about it for a whole night and the next day, Zhang Lao found out and told Lin Fan: "You want to kill one person to save me, which would fulfill your sense of justice but tarnish my name. Would Yan Wang record this life on my account or yours? Since it's all for saving me, why not ask about my thoughts? Do I want to live more or am I unwilling to bear the weight of this human life?"

  So Lin Fan replied: "I will ask my mother."

  "Haha!" Xi Men chuckled and shook his head: "Lin Feng, Lin Feng, you're really young. You've been motherless since childhood, so it's natural that you'd make this choice."

  "How about you?" Lin Fan retorted.