Taking the Blame Again

After hearing his father’s question, the first thing Shen Rulin thought of was that Lin Ran’s analysis along the way was always wrong. Almost every time he finished speaking, he would be slapped in the face by what unfolded.

However, Lin Ran’s analysis made sense. Otherwise, Shen Rulin wouldn’t have been fooled by him.

At first, Shen Rulin felt that Lin Ran was just unlucky. It was not until his father asked him that he thought of another possibility—Lin Ran did it on purpose. The analysis was made up by Lin Ran to fool him.

Lin Ran wasted so much time walking around the mountain not because he couldn’t find the way, but because he wanted to stall for time so that Shen Qingquan would be worried and go into the mountain to look for his son.

They returned halfway because Lin Ran had already activated the mechanism. He felt that Shen Qingquan was definitely going to die, so he brought Shen Rulin back to the stone room and lured Shen Rulin to the canyon from another cave entrance to prevent him from wandering around the mountain and discovering Shen Qingquan’s corpse!

As soon as this thought appeared, a layer of cold sweat broke out on Shen Rulin’s back.

Although he didn’t know what grudge Lin Ran had with his father, and there was no evidence to support this deduction, as soon as this thought appeared, he had a strong feeling that he had probably guessed the truth!

After taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, Shen Rulin told his father his analysis bit by bit.

Shen Qingquan listened quietly and did not interrupt. From time to time, he would nod in response. Only when Shen Rulin finished did he ask, “Is your guess based on any evidence?”

“No.”

Shen Rulin shook his head honestly. “But since Lin Ran is His Majesty’s trusted aide, he must be far more capable than ordinary people. If he doesn’t want me to find any evidence, it’ll be very difficult for me to find out, but…”

“But what?”

Shen Rulin reached out to touch the stone wall at the side. “Compared to Uncle Tu, who is your sworn brother, I still think it’s more likely for Lin Ran to do this. Father, do you really have no grudge against Lin Ran?”

“Absolutely not. We’ve only met twice.”

Shen Qingquan replied firmly without hesitation, “The first time was the day the Sacred Abyss Sword was stolen. Although I ordered you to capture him that day, I was just following orders. There is no reason for him to hate me because of this.”

Shen Rulin nodded in agreement. Then, he changed the topic and asked, “By the way, Father, you said that if we can’t find Lin Ran, we’ll all die here… Who told you this?”

“Yin Hui told me.”

Shen Qingquan replied bluntly, but Shen Rulin frowned.

Yin Hui was one of the four white horses bestowed by the late emperor to Shen Qingquan and was the most intelligent among the four. However, Shen Rulin still couldn’t imagine how a horse could “tell” such complicated information to his father.

As if sensing Shen Rulin’s confusion, before he could ask, Shen Qingquan took the initiative to say, “After I hid in the hole, the cave completely closed. It didn’t open again after a long time.”

“I couldn’t get out. I could only walk furhter into the hole. Fortunately, although the hole is narrow, it’s barely enough for me to pass through.”

Shen Qingquan took a deep breath and continued, “I walked through the hole for about a hundred feet and arrived at another cave. It’s not as spacious as the last one. I chose a direction and didn’t walk far before I saw Yin Hui and Yun Xun.”

“After that, I vaguely heard a voice shouting for Lin Ran. Just as I was looking for the source of the voice, I accidentally discovered another hole and heard the sound of Qing Xue’s hooves. The hole was not long. After I passed through it, I arrived here.”

Shen Qingquan’s voice was as deep as usual, but when he mentioned Yin Hui and Yun Xun, his expression was clearly a little unnatural.

Shen Rulin saw these subtle changes, but he did not ask further.

Worried that his father would remember something sad, Shen Rulin quickly changed the topic and asked, “Just because you heard someone called Lin Ran, can you conclude that he’s the key to solving the problem?”

“It’s just a thought.”

Shen Qingquan shook his head, but his eyes were filled with certainty. “But after hearing what happened on your side, I’m basically certain that Lin Ran is the key to solving the problem here!”

…

In Sword Grave, on the stone platform in the pool.

“Achoo!”

Lin Ran suddenly sneezed loudly, causing an echo in the sealed tomb.

Lin Ran rubbed his nose. “But I have an ominous feeling.”

Huo Qiyun’s expression turned serious. “Is the thing that made the sound coming?”

“No, there’s nothing unusual within a thousand feet.”

Lin Ran shook his head and said firmly. Ever since he heard the sound just now, he had immediately extended his divine sense to cover an area of thousands of feet.

Within a thousand feet, even if it was just an insect flapping its wings, Lin Ran could feel it clearly. Of course, this feeling was not good because there were billions of black insects in the black water pool where the stone platform was. When they flapped their wings together, Lin Ran felt that his brain was about to explode.

After a moment of silence, Huo Qiyun said, “We can’t stay here forever. Why don’t you go out first…”

“No!”

Lin Ran refused without hesitation. “I asked you to come, so I must bring you back!”

“Let me finish.”

Huo Qiyun smiled bitterly and said helplessly, “What I mean is that you have to bring Xiao Huai out first before coming back to save me. Otherwise, if anything happens, it’ll be very difficult for Xiao Huai to protect her.”

“…Alright.”

Lin Ran hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement. Xiao Huai was unconscious now. If anything happened, it would indeed be difficult for him to take care of both of them alone.

Since he had made up his mind, Lin Ran was about to send Xiao Huai out when he realized that Huo Qiyun was still holding Xiao Huai’s hand tightly.

“What do you mean?”

Lin Ran didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he asked, “Are you unwilling to let her go, or are you afraid that I won’t come back to save you?”

“Something’s wrong.”

Huo Qiyun’s expression was extremely ugly. “I can’t open my hand.”historical