Chapter 298: Chapter 129: To Go or to Stay? The Moon Worship Sect’s Greatest Conspiracy Revealed, Cyan Yang Ancient City in Grave Danger

Cao Feng looked at Chu Fan, his voice laced with concern. "Fan, aren’t you coming with us?"

But Chu Fan shook his head and said calmly, "Master Cao, you go on ahead. I must stay behind."

"Why?!" Li Qingxue couldn’t help but exclaim, her usually cool eyes filled with worry.

She knew Chu Fan was the Ghost-faced Man, and she knew he had been wreaking havoc on the Moon Worship Sect for some time now.

But at this point, getting further entangled with the Moon Worship Sect was far too risky, and there was nothing to be gained from it.

Chu Fan smiled, a calm confidence in his expression that belied his age. "I have to wait here for the Demon Suppression Bureau."

"When they arrive, someone needs to be here to meet them and tell them what’s happened."

"Don’t worry. I’m just an ordinary disciple of the Seven Stars Gang. I might have made a small name for myself recently due to my talent, but the Moon Worship Sect is after the ’key’ and you, the core members. They won’t raise a fuss over a nobody like me."

"In fact, staying behind is the safest thing for me to do."

He looked at Cao Feng and Li Qingxue. "Once the Demon Suppression Bureau arrives and foils the Moon Worship Sect’s plot, I’ll send word to you at the first opportunity."

"At that point, it won’t matter whether you decide to stay in the Qing Province Prefecture to rebuild the Seven Stars Gang or return to Cyan Yang Ancient City."

Everyone looked at him, their hearts a whirlwind of complex emotions.

How could they not know? Chu Fan staying behind would be nothing like the easy, safe task he made it out to be.

He was shouldering the greatest risk alone, preserving the last glimmer of hope for the Seven Stars Gang. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Everyone in the assembly hall knew he was the infamous "Ghost-faced Man."

How could this "Ghost-faced Man," who had driven the Moon Worship Sect to utter exasperation, possibly lay low?

Once they had all left Cyan Yang Ancient City for the Qing Province Prefecture, he would undoubtedly make a huge scene to draw the Moon Worship Sect’s attention.

Silence fell over the assembly hall once more, broken only by the wind whistling through the window, carrying with it the heavy tension of a gathering storm.

Cao Feng gazed deeply at Chu Fan, as if trying to commit the young disciple’s face to memory.

Finally, he clapped Chu Fan firmly on the shoulder, a thousand unspoken words contained in that single gesture.

Li Qingxue stared at Chu Fan, her lips parting as if she had a great deal to say. In the end, however, she said nothing, simply turning to leave.

...

Back in his humble quarters, Chu Fan did not immediately sit cross-legged to cultivate as he usually did.

Zhao Tianxing sat to one side, silent, his mood equally grim.

Chu Fan’s gaze shifted to the small snake curled up in a shadowy corner, its body radiating a faint Cyan Light.

"Sister Bai, there’s something I don’t understand."

Chu Fan’s voice broke the room’s silence.

Cyan Snake Xiaobai lifted her head, her amber, slitted pupils regarding him with a hint of confusion.

"The Moon Worship Sect has placed wards on several of Cyan Yang Ancient City’s gates, specifically to trap and kill members of the Demon Race. Their target is your sister."

Chu Fan continued slowly, "But why not just climb over the city walls to escape? They’re high, but they’re not an impassable abyss."

At his words, Xiaobai’s head swayed slightly. She spoke in a human voice, tinged with resignation, "I can’t climb them. I’ve never trained in any of the human Light Body Skills. My Demonic Power is focused on combat and concealment."

"You’ve seen my Illusion Skill. I can only switch between my true form as a giant python, this body of a Little Cyan Snake, and a human shape. I can’t turn into a wall-crawling gecko or a sky-soaring bird."

A flicker of curiosity about the Divine Techniques of the Demon Race crossed Chu Fan’s eyes, but this clearly wasn’t the time to delve deeper.

He smiled. "You can’t, but I can. If I carry you, we can scale those walls with ease."

A look of pleasant surprise flashed in Xiaobai’s eyes, only to be replaced by even greater confusion. "Wait... why would I leave? I risked sneaking into this city to find my sister. Now that all trace of her is gone, how can I just run away?"

Chu Fan took a few steps closer and lowered his voice, his eyes glinting with a dangerous yet enticing light. "Because I want to take you along to pull off something big."

"Pull off something big?" Xiaobai’s slitted pupils lit up, her interest thoroughly piqued.

In the few days she had been following Chu Fan, the Elixirs and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures he had shared with her were greater in quality and quantity than everything she had come across in the past ten years of her hard, nomadic life.

The Demon Race was weak, and its members rarely dared to enter human cities. It was even rarer to find someone as audacious as Chu Fan, who specifically targeted the Moon Worship Sect’s soft underbelly, killing their people and plundering their resources.

Zhao Tianxing, who had been listening from the side, also had his eyes light up, a wild look on his face!

This wasn’t the first or second time he and Chu Fan had done something like this!

"Last night, Shen Shikang, Lin Luoxue, and their cronies were eliminated."

Chu Fan’s voice deepened. "Right now, Seven Stars Castle is leaderless..."

Before he could finish, Xiaobai eagerly cut in, "Seven Stars Castle? I’m afraid everyone at Seven Stars Castle has already scattered to the winds!"

"The scandalous news that they were using their own disciples in a Blood Sacrifice for the Moon Worship Sect has already spread. Everyone in the castle is terrified. It was only because Shen Shikang and the others were forcibly keeping them in line that they hadn’t already broken apart."

"Now that the ringleaders are dead, their remaining die-hard followers were probably scared out of their wits and fled in the middle of the night. What other disciple would stick around?"

"Right now, Seven Stars Castle is probably just an empty fortress!"

"Exactly!" Zhao Tianxing nodded emphatically.

"Not necessarily empty." Chu Fan shook his head, his eyes sharp. "The Moon Worship Sect arrived in Cyan Yang City with great fanfare to find this so-called ’key,’ but I’ve been watching for days and haven’t seen any large-scale strongholds for them within the city."

"Perhaps they have one, but it’s impossible that all of the Moon Worship Sect’s forces are located inside Cyan Yang City."

"And Seven Stars Castle secretly pledged its allegiance to the Moon Worship Sect long ago... I suspect it’s become one of their major nests."

"The Moon Worship Sect wants to use the people from Seven Stars Castle as fodder for the Blood Sacrifice. They certainly wouldn’t let those disciples just walk away..."

"What?!" Xiaobai’s scales practically bristled, and a chill shot from the tip of her tail to the top of her head.

"Are... are you insane? You want to launch a direct assault on the Moon Worship Sect’s main headquarters?"

"I’m not a fool." Chu Fan analyzed calmly, "I know my own limits. I would never throw an egg against a rock."