Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain

Chapter 58: Zi Lin’s death

As the veteran of the third dynasty, Sheng Yi Fei had a mature appearance of a middle-aged man despite having lived for almost a century.

His innate talents weren’t remarkable, only attaining the Sky Reaching realm relying on pure luck and stagnating at the first layer of the Sky Reaching realm for a very long time.

One of the reasons was the lack of a suitable cultivation method.

However, his son had given him a suitable cultivation method of the lower Barren grade just a few days ago, the 《Eclipse Golden Toad Body》.

He accepted the cultivation method, thrilled and delighted as he listened to Sheng Yi’s explanation.

Sheng Yi had explained how he had gotten this book in the remnant, and that he wanted the duke to use it as he wished.

Of course, Sheng Yi Fei would’ve never been contended with staying in the first layer of the Sky Reaching realm.

And so, he began cultivating secretly, obscuring the fact that he had gotten a cultivation method of the lower Barren grade from even chamberlain Wan.

Today, the world finally realised that Sheng Yi Fei had broken through to the second layer of the Sky Reaching realm!

The great ancestors of the Xue clan, the Wang clan, and the Liu clan were visibly shocked, staring straight at the duke that they had surrounded.

Sheng Yi Fei was currently standing on top of his Manifestations transformation, the Three-legged Golden Toad, looking down on the battlefield.

The people that had come from the duke’s residence were heavily injured on the battlefield, assailed by the twenty-odd Manifestation realm experts of the four great clans that surrounded them.

The people of the four great clans were similarly in a mess, retrained by the suicide attacks of the Blood Spirits’ parishioners that charged out.

The Blood Spirits’ members were self-destructing hysterically, with the four blood paladins long dead, there were only a hundred or so people left on their side.

On the other hand, there were countless of random people that had appeared, aiding them in killing the members of the Blood Spirits.

The people that had been searching for them in the capital had gathered here, joining the fray to massacre the Blood Spirits.

In the corner, Sheng Yi was currently holding Zi Lin in his embrace as he avoided the incoming attacks.

He had vehemently unleashed his full strength earlier, slaughtering an expert of the Manifestation realm.

Sheng Yi Fei glanced at Sheng Yi’s figure from above in worry, then at the great ancestors, bellowing in fury, “All of you are courting death!”

He commandeered his Manifestation transformation the moment he finished speaking, descending from the skies as it pounced at the three great ancestors.

The Xue clan’s great ancestor unleashed his Manifestation transformation, the ‘Snow Flower Wolf’, facing Sheng Yi Fei’s attack head-on after a howl to the skies.

The silhouette of the Wang clan’s great ancestor flashed as he retreated a hundred meters backwards, releasing his Manifestation transformation, the ‘Thunderclap Eagle’. It descended from the skies, attacking Sheng Yi Fei.

The figure of the Liu clan’s great ancestor flickered as well, flying upwards to levitate in the sky using the ability of the Sky Reaching realm. Unleashing his Manifestation transformation, the ‘Flame Demon Ape King’ placed its palms together and created a gigantic fireball, tossing it towards the duke.

Faced with three attacks from different directions, Sheng Yi Fei’s gaze became solemn.

Putting strength into his feet, he circulated his spiritual powers as he commanded for his Manifestation realm to jump up in the sky, creating a barrier with his spiritual power to block the attack of the Liu clan’s great ancestor.

And then, the golden toad plunged onto the ground as the golden strips on its body shone, forming a hemisphere barrier that blocked the attack of the Wang clan’s ancestor.

In between his advancement and retreat, Sheng Yi Fei launched three consecutive attacks, attacking the three of them at once.

Powerless, the three great ancestors glanced at each other as an idea formed in their minds.

They had no choice but to take him seriously.

They had to divide and conquer both Sheng Yi Fei, who had ascended to the second layer of the Sky Reaching realm and Sheng Yi, who had a serendipitous encounter in the remnant.

The air surrounding the battlefield was tense.

Tang Can brandished his hidden weapons from the side, madly massacring the people of the Blood Spirits without giving them the opportunity to reach his side and self-destruct.

Then, Tang Can set his sights on Zi Lin.

Quite a number of the people present were targeting Zi Lin.

There were members of the four great clans and people that desired the Dragon God Crystals, gradually surrounding Zi Lin and Sheng Yi.

A man with reddened eyes pointed his weapon at Sheng Yi and Zi Lin, roaring, “Hand over that woman!”

“It’s her! She’s the demon of the Blood Spirits! She’s the true culprit behind the tragedy that took a hundred thousand human lives!”

“Hand her over, kill her! Or you will die alongside her!”

“Kill her! Kill her! Don’t let her go!”

Sheng Yi looked at the people before him with a hint of despair, dragging his words as he shouted, “Zi Lin is not from the Blood Spirits! Please believe me! The real culprit behind the Blood Spirits is Murong Lin!

All of you must believe me! This matter has nothing to do with Zi Lin!”

But in actuality, he knew that his struggle was pointless.

It didn’t take long for the two Manifestation realm experts guarding his side to die, killed under the bombardment of attacks.

The people that surrounded them were filled with greed and scorn, staring at them with eyes full of unconcealed resentment and jealousy that formed invisible blades carved into their flesh.

At this moment, faint sounds of a disturbance could be heard from afar.

But it quickly quietened down not long after.

Sheng Yi looked anxiously at the source of the commotion.

While the Eight Guards of the Xiao Academy were tricked into leaving the city by Murong Liu, he had arranged for the covert squad he had secretly organised to hopefully rush over in time.

He had instructed Luo Pao Pao to create this squad after he had transmigrated back in time and recruited the three people to his side. Considering Luo Pao Pao’s innate skill and demeanour fitting for his status as a peerless general in the future, he believed that this squad could help alleviate the current predicament they were in.

But he was destined for failure.

He could hear the thunderous sounds of a blast coming from afar as a scorching heat enveloped the surroundings.

Sheng Yi’s face was deathly pale, that was the ‘Vortex Fire Mine’ that he had taught Luo Pao Pao to create, a weapon capable of annihilating a group of enemies. It was a technology that didn’t exist in this time period, only appearing five years in the future.

Seeing the extent of this explosion, he could deduce that all of the ‘Vortex Fire Mines’ in the squad’s possession had detonated.

“How could it be?” Sheng Yi stared at the faraway explosion, muttering to himself.

Someone among the crowd that had surrounded him mocked, “Sheng Yi, you can’t be waiting for that team to come to save you, are you?

We had prepared experts there waiting for them since the start! But I never expected them to self-destruct like that!”

Sheng Yi’s expression distorted in agony.

Why!

Why did it still come to this?

He hugged Zi Lin tightly, he hated her, and he hated himself for being so weak.

“If I had another year, no, half a year! I could’ve changed everything!” he thought to himself.

Following his reincarnation, he began cultivating early, utilising a large portion of his past life’s memory to steal the greatest treasures that could be found in Yan, secretly created a military squad and planned for everything in advance.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t escape the tragedy of his family’s annihilation.

Behind him, quite a number of people had already charged into the duke’s residence, beginning their massacre and annihilation.

According to the words of the four great clans, this was a mission to eliminate any members of the Blood Spirits.

But how could Sheng Yi not understand what was going on?

The Blood Spirits were controlled by one person, Murong Lin!

Murong Lin!

You deserve to die!

Hatred and resentment filled Sheng Yi’s chest, and yet, he couldn’t find an outlet to vent.

Zi Lin, who was still in his embrace, was pale from hysteria, not knowing what to do.

She finally understood the severity of her mistake, and how this mistake had brought immense agony to the man that she loved.

She was full of hatred!

She hated that woman for tempting her into refining the Dragon God Crystal.

She hated herself for the moment of stupidity and greed that led to this tragedy.

She was afraid!

She feared for the annihilation of duke Sheng’s residence.

She feared that Sheng Yi would hate her for this.

And as she laid in Sheng Yi’s embrace, she stared at the people that were glaring at her in resentment and greed without any courage to resist them.

She was, after all, just a herb-gatherer.

“Brother Yi.” Zi Lin murmured.

Sheng Yi lowered his head to look at her ghastly face.

“I’m sorry, brother Yi.” Zi Lin apologised.

She slowly got up from Sheng Yi’s arms, standing before him with eyes full of penitence and love.

“Really, I’m sorry.”

She leaned towards Sheng Yi’s face delicately, kissing him lightly before turning around and running into the crowd, shouting,

“I am the demon of the Blood Spirit! I have no association with duke Sheng’s residence! I have no association with Sheng Yi!”

And just as she finished speaking, she was swiftly killed by the stab of a knife.

Her body fell slowly onto the ground, with traces of longing and remorse towards Sheng Yi still on her face.

And even before her body could hit the ground, the people greedy for the Dragon God’s bloodline had butchered her corpse instantaneously, lusting to refine the Dragon God’s bloodline in her body.

Sheng Yi didn’t even have any time to react before all he could see was Zi Lin’s corpse falling into the crowd, shredded into pieces almost instantly.

His complexion was deathly pale, then red, then deathly pale again.

He roared, “No!”

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