However, he keenly noticed that Zhao Yu’s pupils didn’t subconsciously shift to the right as he spoke.

The man’s rapid breaths caused his broken ribs to tremble rhythmically. As his Adam’s apple bobbed, the pulse in his carotid artery was as steady as a pendulum. His blood flow had quickened slightly from agitation.

To Xu Yunfan, these subtle reactions wove together into an undeniable physiological tapestry.

Every word was sincere, straight from the heart.

"..."

Xu Yunfan was stunned for a moment before he shook his head and laughed in disbelief, a look of absurdity flashing in his eyes.

He had assumed there was some profound motive behind it all, but he never imagined the reason would be so laughable.

Xu Yunfan’s fingers tightened slightly. Zhao Yu’s face instantly turned beet red, and the terror in his eyes grew even more pronounced.

He started to offer another explanation, but then he saw a cold glint flash in Xu Yunfan’s eyes. With a gentle twist of his wrist, a sharp CRACK echoed out. Zhao Yu’s neck snapped to the side at a grotesque angle, the life in his eyes instantly freezing over.

Xu Yunfan released his hand, letting Zhao Yu’s corpse slump limply to the ground.

He was about to leave the dim side room when he suddenly stopped, his brow furrowed.

A mediocre character like Zhao Yu, someone even the Inner Sect Disciples of the Sword Pavilion would normally ignore, had managed to incite a True Disciple to stir up trouble. The whole thing was obviously suspicious.

"With your pitiful level of Daoist Cultivation, you think you’re fit to stir up the Sword Pavilion?"

He looked at Zhao Yu’s silent form on the floor. A strange feeling washed over him. This was all too peculiar.

’How could a good-for-nothing like Zhao Yu possibly persuade a True Inheritor from the Sword Pavilion?’

’Let alone get someone as proud and arrogant as Jiang Jingguo to willingly stick his neck out for him.’

"No... he didn’t stand up for him. It must be that Jiang Jingguo, with his naturally paranoid disposition, was lured to Changfeng Tavern. Then Chen Hong of the Taoist Sect conveniently brought me right in... But how could they have known I would go out for a walk... It must have been a speculative move, and I just happened to step right into their trap... They just completely miscalculated my strength, and I killed a whole group of them with one arrow."

Xu Yunfan muttered to himself, his gaze slowly sweeping across the side room.

The room was simply furnished. Apart from a wooden table and a few chairs, there was only an inconspicuous incense burner in the corner, from which a wisp of greenish smoke lazily drifted upward.

The scent was faint, almost unnoticeable, yet it made the Pure Yang True Qi within his body stir restlessly.

He had a sudden realization. The burner must contain some kind of Confusing Incense, something designed to muddle the mind.

Recalling Jiang Jingguo’s unnatural frenzy and his strange final act of destroying his own heart meridian, it all made sense.

"What a brilliant scheme, using a borrowed blade to kill."

Xu Yunfan sneered. The Linn Character Technique flickered in his Sea of Consciousness, suppressing the faint stirrings within him.

Xu Yunfan snorted coldly, averting his gaze from the incense burner without a second look.

He strode quickly over the threshold, and the night wind rushed to meet him, thick with the stench of blood.

Just as he was about to leap toward the main house where Chen Hong was hiding, he froze. A slender figure stood in the center of the courtyard, hands clasped behind his back. The brilliant moonlight poured down like liquid silver, outlining his form in a faint, pure glow.

"The Absorption of Heaven and Earth’s Essence Qi Technique from the Golden Locking Jade Twelve Formulas?"

Xu Yunfan raised an eyebrow. As the man absorbed the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, the Spiritual Qi in the courtyard grew noticeably denser, causing Xu Yunfan’s own Pure Yang True Qi to circulate faster involuntarily.

The pure glow was like smoke and mist, sometimes forming into a roaming dragon that coiled around Bi Sheng, other times condensing into the phantom of a Jade Lock hovering three inches above his head.

This was the Anomaly that occurred when one cultivated the *Golden Locking Jade Twelve Formulas*—a secret technique of the Daoist Sect Leader’s lineage—to an advanced Realm, drawing the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi into one’s body.

Each wisp of light moved in a bizarre Celestial Cycle, appearing all the more profound under the moonlight.

The night wind died down. Even the chirping of insects in the courtyard fell silent. The only sound was the faint, melodious ringing of the circulating light, like the chime of striking gold and jade.

Hearing him, Bi Sheng retracted his distant gaze. The corners of his mouth held a faint, ambiguous smile, and the moonlight cast shifting shadows across his gaunt features.

"You’re not entirely dull, I see."

His fingers kneaded something within his sleeve. The soft friction produced a clear, crisp sound, as if he were rolling moonlight between his fingertips and condensing it into a Pill.

"The fact that you could figure that much out means your master didn’t waste all those Purple Gold Bone Forging Pills on you."

Speaking of Elixirs, Bi Sheng couldn’t suppress a look of resentment.

Heavens above, in the past few centuries of the Taoist Sect, only Xu Yunfan had been so extravagantly supplied. His daily resource consumption was equivalent to the value of an entire peak. How could others not be jealous?

Xu Yunfan’s knuckles unconsciously traced the dragon patterns on his Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and his voice came out sounding a little strange.

"Martial Uncle, you knew about this all along?"

"Only by about half the time it takes to drink a cup of tea."

Bi Sheng’s robes suddenly billowed without a wind. The True Qi from his Golden Locking Jade Twelve Formulas circulated ceaselessly around him.

His gaze toward the main house turned cold, but his voice remained placid.

"Qingwei Mountain’s Thirty-Six Peaks are home to over a hundred thousand disciples. From the menial workers in the Outer Sect gathering herbs to the True Inheritors of each peak, who among them hasn’t clawed their way up through immense effort and exhaustion?"

The pure light from the Jade Lock flickered, casting the vertical line between his brows into sharp relief, making it seem as if carved by a knife.

"Shen Wuya has been Vice Sect Leader for nearly a century, and even he makes mistakes in judgment. To say nothing of those..."

He trailed off, cutting his sentence short.

He suddenly sighed. "The Taoist Sect is just too big, after all. With hundreds of thousands of members, it’s no surprise that all sorts of ambitions fester. Your master, Vice Sect Leader Shen Wuya, all the Peak Masters and Elders... over the years, the factions have become a tangled web. Pull on one thread and the whole thing moves. It’s not surprising that a few damnable bastards have managed to slip in."

Xu Yunfan nodded slightly in understanding.

"Martial Uncle, how about I go kill someone, and then we can sit down and chat?" 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

As long as Chen Hong was alive, the thought would weigh on his mind. He wouldn’t be able to eat or sleep, and his whole body would feel out of sorts.

Bi Sheng chuckled and shook his head. "There’s no hurry. He’s just a clown. We’ll leave him as bait for a bigger fish. If you kill him now, all our leads will go cold."

At these words, Xu Yunfan had a thought and calmed his urgency. If they let Chen Hong live, they could use him to follow the trail to the source.

With his mind clear, Xu Yunfan cupped his hands. "Martial Uncle’s instruction is wise."

Bi Sheng smiled faintly. "Young man, don’t be so rash. You still have much to learn."

Xu Yunfan’s knuckles unconsciously traced the Dragon Scale Pattern on his Red Fire Dragon-Swallowing Mace as he fell into deep thought.

’Memories of his past life as a tech drone flashed before his eyes: the late nights hunched over drafting tables, the proposals repeatedly shot down by clients, and the never-ending calculations of structural stress data.’

’Back then, he’d been like a craftsman, head down, silently grinding away at his components. He even made excuses to skip department team-building activities.’

’Two lifetimes, and I’ve managed to inherit my reclusive habits in full.’

He gave a self-deprecating tug at the corner of his mouth.

’His current life of martial arts training was even worse. Aside from the required sect formalities, he spent most of his time grinding the numbers on his Skill Level panel.’

’He thought of Jiang Jingguo’s bizarre suicide and Martial Uncle Bi Sheng’s pointed warning: "Don’t let others use you as their weapon."’