306 Returning Good for Evil?

Ye Shixiao hesitated for a moment with a dark expression. In the end, he took a few steps back and looked at Lin Ran. “Shopkeeper Huo, just go with them. Don’t worry, he’s my disciple. With me around, no one will wrong you!”

“I was already planning to leave with them!” Lin Ran thought to himself, but he didn’t really say it out loud. He just nodded gratefully.

Lin Ran could roughly guess what Ye Shixiao was thinking. Ye Jin was about to follow Lin Ran to the Heavenly Saint Dynasty, and he had never treated Lin Ran nicely before.

In order to let Lin Ran take good care of his daughter, Ye Shixiao seized every opportunity to express his goodwill. Regardless of whether he helped Lin Ran in the end, at least his intention was good.

At this moment, Sun Ge had already walked over. Just as he was about to speak with a straight face, he suddenly thought of something and stretched out his right hand. He said, “In order to avoid unnecessary conflict, please hand over your saber.”

“I don’t have a saber. There’s a broken sword in here.”

Lin Ran patted the wooden box on his back and said, “You’ve seen it before. If you don’t believe me, you can ask your Shifu.”

Sun Ge turned to look at Ye Shixiao. Perhaps it was because time was tight or because he was afraid that Ye Shixiao would flare up again, he did not make things difficult for Lin Ran. He only waved his hand to instruct his subordinates to leave quickly.

Then, the two men in black put away their sabers and grabbed Lin Ran’s arms from both sides. The other men in black still held their sabers and surrounded Lin Ran.

Seeing this, Ye Jin panicked. “Shopkeeper Huo! You can’t go with them! Leave quickly.”

“It’s fine. Wait for me at home.”

Lin Ran smiled. These people were no match for him, but the current situation made him unable to attack.

Firstly, he did not kill Guyue Dao. Once he ran away, it would be equivalent to admitting he had done it.

Secondly, Lin Ran had already hidden the Black Shadow Saber in Mount Xianyong. He didn’t think there would be any hard evidence against him.

At most, he would just have to waste some time playing with these people. Why did he have to run away to be accused of something he didn’t do?

As he thought this, Lin Ran had already arrived outside the door with the men in black. Almost at the same time, he heard a rumbling sound coming from the direction of the city gate. Even the ground under his feet was trembling!

“It’s the person who went out of the city to pick up Senior Guyue.”

Sun Ge came out to explain. After saying that, he suddenly looked at Lin Ran questioningly. “Did you really not kill Senior Guyue?”

Lin Ran sneered. “Even if my cultivation is much higher than yours, I can’t possibly kill a seventh level Grandmaster without anyone knowing, right?”

Sun Ge narrowed his eyes at Lin Ran. “After you and Senior Guyue left, there was a very strong internal energy fluctuation outside the city.”

“Yes, we engaged in a small skirmish.”

Lin Ran admitted honestly. Before Sun Ge could speak, Lin Ran continued, “But I didn’t kill him. Since you can sense the internal energy fluctuation, you should know that it was just a harmless skirmish.”

Sun Ge didn’t say anything. He just raised his chin at his subordinate and walked to the front with his hand on the hilt.

Seeing this, Lin Ran didn’t mind. Just as he was about to follow, Sun Ge suddenly turned around and whispered in a voice that only the two of them could hear, “I believe you didn’t kill Senior Guyue, but the others might not think so.”

Lin Ran was slightly stunned. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Nothing. Just take it as a reminder.”

Sun Ge looked at Lin Ran strangely and rubbed the hilt of his saber with his thumb. “I promised my Shifu that I wouldn’t let anyone make things difficult for you. I’ll keep my word.”

Lin Ran nodded dubiously. Sun Ge continued, “In short, without me around, don’t say a word. Otherwise, if anything happens, even I won’t be able to protect you. Do you understand?”

“…Got it.”

Lin Ran nodded again, but the suspicion on his face deepened.

If Sun Ge threatened him with words like “don’t play tricks” or “follow me obediently”, although Lin Ran didn’t care, he could at least understand. However, Sun Ge seemed to want to help him, which made him confused.

Logically speaking, the two of them did not have much of a relationship. Sun Ge was already magnanimous enough not to use his position to take revenge on him. Why would he help Lin Ran?

“Could it be because of Ye Shixiao?”

Lin Ran guessed, but he knew that it was impossible.

From what happened just now, he could tell that Sun Ge was someone with principles. Therefore, being threatened by Ye Shixiao, he didn’t back down and persuaded Ye Shixiao to stay out of this matter.

This kind of person usually looked cynical, but he actually knew very well what he wanted. It was impossible for him to change his mind about Lin Ran just because of Ye Shixiao’s words.

At this moment, Lin Ran could feel that Sun Ge really wanted to protect him and catch the real murderer—if Guyue Dao was really dead.

There seemed to be a contradiction between “Protecting Lin Ran” and “Catching the killer”, but it actually made sense.

Lin Ran instantly understood what Sun Ge was thinking. Even if Sun Ge was ordered to arrest the killer, he didn’t think Lin Ran was the killer. He didn’t know who the real killer was, but he knew that it was someone else who killed Guyue Dao!

Actually, Lin Ran was overthinking this time. The reason why Sun Ge was uncertain was that he had yet to see Guyue Dao’s corpse with his own eyes. He was only told that Guyue Dao was dead and was asked to bring the killer back to the government office. However, from the bottom of his heart, he did not believe that Guyue Dao would be killed.

At the moment.

After Lin Ran “guessed” Sun Ge’s thoughts, his impression of this person changed drastically.

Although the two of them stood on different sides, Lin Ran still admired Sun Ge’s principled personality.