Chapter 242:
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"Li Gongde?"
"Qiao Shui?"
The two n in the compartnt glanced at each other.
In Li Gongde’s eyes, the "Qiao Shui" in front of him was the one who had broken into his private residence that night and killed Dao Xu. They had a slight connection between them.
However, the current appearance of Qiao Shui was miserable, covered in injuries, worse than the night he was let go by Li Gongde.
If that night he passed out due to excessive blood loss, then the Qiao Shui standing in front of him today, with a pale face and a broken body, was clearly on the brink of death… If Qiao Shui hadn’t been able to move, think, and speak normally, Li Gongde would have thought he was already dead.
Qiao Mu quickly looked away and focused on the armchair where Li Gongde was sitting.
On the mahogany table next to the chair, there was a clear water globe floating above it.
The surface of the water globe reflected an image, which was the execution ground at the market square of Great Qin Prefecture.
Qiao Shui even saw himself in the reflection on the water balloon, standing on the execution ground just after cutting his own throat.
He looked at Li Gongde doubtfully, feeling more and more that this person’s behavior was strange, and said:
"Are you also a cultivator?"
Li Gongde was surprised when he saw Qiao Shui staring at the water ball, and quickly explained:
"No, this was left by King Qin as a gesture of goodwill."
He pointed to the image of the marketplace on the water ball, and said:
"Qiao Shui, by now you must understand what those who use martial arts like King Qin are truly about. They are no longer just martial artists."
"Especially the leader, King Qin," Li Gongde said.
"The Great Dao Sect is planning to groom King Qin to be their public representative. He is no longer just a martial artist; after special modifications, he can even use a few types of magical talismans."
"Including the disciplined martial artist, the ‘Etching Bone Li Fire Talisman’ fueled by Qi and blood, and the ‘Art of Water Mirror’ in front of him."
Li Gongde saw that Qiao Shui was clearly at death’s door, seemingly wanting to satisfy his curiosity before dying, he sighed deeply in his heart and without much concealnt, he revealed the truth.
"Are you really Li Gongde?" Qiao Shui frowned.
His original body lost a leg on the execution ground because of Li Gongde… Although he had a much higher tolerance for pain than ordinary people, pain was still very real.
"The you at Caishikou is fake, and the you sitting here, are you real or fake?" He looked slightly cold, evidently being cautious of Li Gongde.
But now, his body was already at its last breath, despite his cold deanor and a faint hint of a murderous aura, he posed no real threat, not even being able to draw his sword.
In Li Gongde’s eyes, this threatening appearance was like that of a dying tiger showing its fangs and claws, failing to intimidate him, only stirring up his emotions.
"Don’t worry, Qiao Shui my friend, you are about to die, why would I lie to a dead man?" Li Gongde sympathized.
Qiao Shui: ?
"In fact, all of this was King Qin’s idea," Li Gongde raised his hands in surrender to show he ant no harm.
"He used
as bait to lure a Qiao family mber into the Great Qin City, and caught them all in one fell swoop."
"But as Li Gongde was a wealthy person in Zhong Province and quite prominent in the whole Jiu Province, he couldn’t just kill soone without consequences."
"So he found soone who looked similar to
in size, used a magical spell to disguise, and transford into my appearance."
"To show sincerity and transparency, King Qin imprisoned
in this mansion while also leaving
a symbolic token of the Art of Water Mirror, allowing
to catch a glimpse of the current situation."
Qiao Mu whispered to himself: If King Qin truly saw you as a significant figure, he wouldn’t have considered you as bait.
However, he didn’t argue back.
At this mont, he belatedly realized sothing: Li Gongde also saw Qiao Mu cutting off his own leg through the Art of Water Mirror. And the body pretending to be "Qiao Shui" was barely hanging on due to trespassing in King Qin’s Mansion.
Perhaps there was a hint of guilt in Li Gongde’s heart, so in front of the dying "Qiao Shui," he seed to let down his guard and revealed so forbidden secrets.
"So, even a dying person can still deceive others?" Qiao Mu realized this suddenly.
Li Gongde and King Qin sched to deceive him into taking on a dead body… whether intentional or not, Qiao Mu had been preparing for five years to confront this situation.
It was impossible for him not to feel any anger towards Li Gongde or have any guard up.
So, with a sudden idea, he calmly started acting in front of Li Gongde, ready to gather information before his impending death.
"Cough, cough…" Qiao Shui’s face turned paper white, he coughed up a large amount of blood, with even a few pieces of internal organs in it, and his body almost falling to the ground.
Quick to react, Li Gongde promptly helped him up and seated him on another chair.
"Why are you helping ?" Qiao Shui glared, blowing his mustache.
"I, Qiao Shui, barged into King Qin’s Mansion, and now have one foot in the grave."
"My elder brother Qiao Gui caused chaos at the courthouse and lost a leg."
"And now I realize this was all a scam you conspired with King Qin… cough." He kept coughing up blood, spraying it everywhere like it was cheap.
"Li Gongde!" Qiao Shui widened his eyes, reached out and grabbed Li Gongde’s wrist, leaving a bloody mark on it.
"As you wish, I am close to death. Before I die, I have one wish…"
Li Gongde looked serious and asked, "What is your last wish?"
My dying wish is to give Qiao Mu 50 KFC als… Qiao Mu struggled to speak, his breath weak, but he kept his eyes wide open and said hoarsely:
"Even in death, I want to die with clarity, as a ghost who understands!"
"Li Gongde! Tell , was our deaths in vain, did you conspire with King Qin to deceive ?"
"What is the truth about the man with the sticks at the market, Li Gongde?"
Being truly sincere with hidden intentions is like a suicide move, but Qiao Shui, with the added power of "last wish" and "dying wish," is a super finishing move.
"Friend Qiao Shui, don’t get too worked up," said Li Gongde as he wiped his sweat, feeling a bit impatient.
"I didn’t lie to you. I really don’t know who this ‘Li Gongde’ at the market is. Maybe King Qin set up an innocent person…"
He shrugged his shoulders, feeling sowhat helpless.
"Is that so?" Qiao Mu frowned.
"But you, Li Gongde, also behave strangely. As a wealthy person from Zhong Province, you often donate money, provide porridge to help refugees, do good deeds, and people call you a great person."
"Now you’re telling
that all of this has nothing to do with you, that you are a completely innocent victim, and all the dirty work was done by King Qin? You were just forced to do it?"
This question seed to leave Li Gongde speechless for a mont, making him silent.
But it wasn’t long before he pointed to the scene in the water mirror where Qiao Mu, who had lost a leg, was fighting fiercely with King Qin, with a deep aning in his words:
"My usual good deeds have a reason behind them," said Li Gongde.
"Because… I don’t want to be a good person," said Li Gongde deeply.
"In today’s world, the fate of being a good person, like a Qiao family mber, will be entangled by moral righteousness and won’t last long."
"Doing good deeds may not always lead to good outcos. Instead, it may attract danger by exposing one’s kind intentions."
"Revealing kindness is like exposing a weakness."
Qiao Shui was even more puzzled in his heart, not wanting to be a good person, yet still doing good deeds and charity actively?
Li Gongde seed to sense Qiao Shui’s deep confusion and continued to explain.
"My dear Qiao Shui."
"You just ntioned that I frequently give to charity, and the people see
as a great philanthropist, but when you first heard of my reputation as a philanthropist, did you truly believe I was a genuinely good person both inside and out, a rare saint in this world?"
"Do you secretly think…that I, Li Gongde, might be a hypocritical rich man, possibly having a guilty conscience from past wrongdoings, so I adhere to the belief in accumulating rits and seek a good reputation, hence building this facade for myself?"
Qiao Shui was at a loss for words.
"I’m not saying that your thoughts are wrong," Li Gongde said.
"Many people think this way because in this world, there are indeed many wealthy people who are unkind, but pretend to be generous and kind-hearted."
"As for , Li Gongde… Don’t look at
like that, Qiao Shui, I am not a truly good person either."
"They say that kindness doesn’t wield power, and righteousness doesn’t accumulate wealth. For , Li Gongde, to beco the second richest person in Imperial Capital, my hands must have been dirty a long ti ago."
Li Gongde said lightly,
"The common people think I’m a good person, while those more discerning see
as a fake kind-hearted wealthy man… And what I need is precisely this kind of image."
"People hear rumors about my good deeds, which is actually a weakness of mine exposed to the public. With this weakness, whether it’s the Great Yan Imperial Court, Immortal Gate, or King Qin, they all think I, Li Gongde, are just so-so and easy to deal with, considering it as a way to show my vulnerability to enemies."
The first layer of persona is a kind person nad Li, and the second layer is a wealthy person with a good reputation but pretending.
"Without these two layers of disguise, could I, Li Gongde, have survived in a world surrounded by wolves and still be wealthy now?" Li Gongde chuckled.
Li Gongde is a very skillful actor.
On the outside, he appears to be doing good deeds, but in reality, he is truly doing good deeds and successfully deceiving people into thinking he is a typical hypocritical wealthy man.
"Are you tarnishing your own reputation?" Qiao Shui asked, frowning.
Li Gongde didn’t deny it, nodding in response.
"The world is like a big dyeing vat, if one doesn’t tarnish themselves, are they supposed to remain untouched by the mud?"
"Indeed, there are people in this world who remain untainted by the world, like the three hundred old soldiers who erged from the Hundred-mile Desert, or the Qiao family mbers who bravely sacrificed themselves. However, you are indeed a rare few among a rare few, hardly seen throughout the entire Jiu Province." Li Gongde said seriously.
"I, Li Gongde, admire such people, but I myself will not beco one."
"Those who remain untainted by the world, don’t live long."
"I may be stained, rising from the dirt, my hands tainted with filth, but I can still do so good in this dirty world, helping the struggling people have slightly better days."
"But I cannot sacrifice myself like a mber of the Qiao family or like one of the three hundred white-headed soldiers, to fight and die in order to save the people."
In front of the dying Qiao Shui, Li Gongde showed great honesty.
From his words, it is easy to see his respect for the elderly soldier in the lonely city and the Qiao family mber, which may also be one of the reasons why he released Qiao Mu in the first place.
But when they first t in private, Li Gongde didn’t reveal his true feelings at all, he only opened up to the dying Qiao Shui.
"I don’t want fa, just doing good deeds is enough for . As long as I do good things with a clear conscience, that’s all that matters."
Speaking of this, Li Gongde looked again at Qiao Mu in the water mirror with mixed feelings on the execution ground.
"Although I, Li Gongde, have good intentions, my first thought was to protect my own life and fortune."
"Qiao family mber can challenge strangers like Li Gongde and King Qin, showing great righteousness that I cannot match."
Li Gongde didn’t want to be seen as a good person because good people might be threatened with a spear.
In his eyes, the Qiao brothers were brave heroes who knew the risks but still faced danger to confront King Qin’s traps.
"Don’t get ahead of yourself," Qiao Mu said decisively.
"We didn’t co here for you," the two brothers stated firmly.
He stopped pretending and revealed his true intentions.
"All I seek is to settle a score with King Qin. I ca here to take revenge for myself, nothing more."
"King Qin has you captured. Your fate is in his hands. Even if Martial Saint were alive and tried to save you, it might not be possible."
"I ca here not to save you, but to take a life."
If King Qin wanted to kill Li Gongde, with his cunning ways, Li Gongde’s fate would be sealed long before any rescue attempt.
Just like the innocent chubby guy whose na we don’t know, he was cut into a stick by King Qin even before Qiao Mu entered the city, and made into a tool for the surprise attack called "Etching Bone Li Fire Talisman
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