Chapter 1142: A Familiar Name

"I've been there five or six times, after all, it's so close!" Cao Yanhua said. "But I basically only go to handle sect errands!"

"'Basically only'?" He Lingchuan grasped the key point. "When was the last time? For private or public reasons?"

"Probably more than half a year ago?" Cao Yanhua thought for a moment. "I was commissioned by Sect Master Li."

Sect Master Li nodded: "Yes, half a year ago I asked Elder Cao to go to Giant Deer Port to pick someone up."

He Lingchuan pondered: "In the sect, besides the Sect Master and Elder Cao, is there anyone else qualified to go up the mountain to inspect the Bright Lamp?"

"There is also an Elder Wu."

Seeing that no one was speaking, Elder Cao said anxiously: "It really wasn't me. Commander Jin's tribute was stolen without a trace; how could I possibly manage that!"

Jin Bai exchanged a look with He Lingchuan and nodded to Sect Master Li. Thus, Sect Master Li asked Elder Cao to return to his residence first and sent disciples to accompany him.

Although it was done politely, it was equivalent to detention. Elder Cao was now an important suspect; if he ran away, the Carefree Sect would be in big trouble.

Cao Yanhua couldn't say anything either, so he could only sigh and withdraw on his own.

Once his figure disappeared from view, He Lingchuan asked Sect Master Li: "How is Elder Cao's popularity in the sect?"

"Very good." Sect Master Li said. "He is deeply loved by everyone."

"This matter is of great importance, so let's skip the polite talk." He Lingchuan smiled. He had never seen many people who could be loved by everyone at the same time, and Elder Cao looked even less like it. "He has rivals in the sect, right?"

Sect Master Li walked a few steps before saying: "Elder Cao is straightforward and outspoken; it's inevitable that he offends people with his words. But everyone in the sect knows he has no ill intentions."

Jin Bai was displeased: "Sect Master Li, we are investigating a case!"

Wanting to be a "nice guy" shouldn't be done at this time.

Sect Master Li shook his head: "There really aren't any."

He Lingchuan immediately said: "When the tribute was stolen, weren't there disciples who could testify for Elder Cao? I want to see them."

Sect Master Li naturally had no objections.

About an hour later, six or seven disciples of the Carefree Sect stood before Jin Bai and He Lingchuan.

Jin Bai glanced at He Lingchuan, who whispered to Sect Master Li:

"Sect Master, I have something to ask."

Having said that, he pointed outside the door.

Sect Master Li glanced at the few disciples and walked out with him, very naturally.

Opposite was Bai Mao Peak.

In this season, the foot of the mountain was lush and green, while the mountainside was still covered in white snow, a magnificent sight.

The mountain was right there, almost no different from one hundred and sixty years ago.

However, things remained, but people had changed.

He Lingchuan sighed inwardly and then asked Sect Master Li: "May I ask, since when has the Carefree Sect provided the Bright Lamp to the Mou Nation?"

Sect Master Li was a bit surprised, so He Lingchuan added: "It's been a long time, perhaps many people know the inside story."

"More than a hundred years ago, I suppose." Sect Master Li thought for a moment. "To be precise, it was more than one hundred and twenty years ago."

"Your sect has such a long history?" The Carefree Sect actually had a history of more than a hundred years; He Lingchuan was slightly surprised. "Sorry, I mean, this is a rare longevity on the Glittering Gold Plain."

Kingdoms on the Glittering Gold Plain usually change like a revolving lantern. It's not fresh news for the sky to change every five or ten years.

"That is indeed the case." Sect Master Li smiled. "Actually, on the Glittering Gold Plain, although the Carefree Sect's territory is not large, its strength is stronger than most kingdoms. Our Daoist lineage here has never been interrupted, and the surrounding population is constantly pouring in."

There are always exceptions to everything; there are a few on the Glittering Gold Plain that can still manage to get by, and the Carefree Sect is one of them.

"After the Mou Nation was founded, it gave us great help, so the Carefree Sect offers the Bright Lamp every few years."

He Lingchuan pondered: "How did you establish a relationship with the Mou Nation? The distance between it and you is a bit far."

It takes seven days to sail from the Yangshan Archipelago to Giant Deer Port; if starting from the Mou Nation, it is naturally even further.

"It was the Mou Nation that found us, hoping to obtain the Bright Lamp produced by our sect."

Sect Master Li's words were not fully spoken, but He Lingchuan understood the subtext immediately.

The Mou Nation couldn't just take this Bright Lamp for nothing, so there must have been some secret conditional exchanges between the two sides. What he could think of directly was that the Mou Nation provided financial or human support to the Carefree Sect; after all, among the countries and forces on the Glittering Gold Plain, which one doesn't lack money?

It's no wonder the Carefree Sect can still live quite comfortably on the Glittering Gold Plain; it turns out it has the support of the Mou Nation and even the Spirit Mountain.

From this point of view, the Bright Lamp is indeed important to the Mou Nation.

If it weren't for the fact that the two sides are indeed too far apart, the Mou Nation might have swallowed the Carefree Sect in one bite; this Daoist sect could never be as carefree as it is today.

Sect Master Li continued: "The founder of our Carefree Sect, Wang Gesheng, signed a series of treaties with the Mou Nation..."

Hearing a familiar name, He Lingchuan couldn't help but be startled: "Wait, what is the founder's great name?"

"The founder's honorable name is Wang Gesheng. Has Mr. He perhaps heard of it?"

"I have heard of it, I have heard of it." He Lingchuan laughed. "This Founder Wang is from the Giant Deer Nation, right?"

"Exactly!" Sect Master Li nodded. "People today don't know that more than one hundred and sixty years ago, that piece of land in the Bo Nation was the Giant Deer Nation."

Could there be such a coincidence? He Lingchuan pressed his forehead. So the Carefree Sect was founded by the young Wang Gesheng from Giant Deer Port? Not only had he stayed in his family's inn, but he had also inquired about the bear demon from him.

Of course, that was in the Panlong world.

But this also shows that the Great Fang Hu's restoration of history is true and credible.

True, credible...

Sect Master Li saw him distracted and couldn't help but ask: "Mr. He?"

"Oh, I was just about to ask, your sect has held the Bright Lamp for so long, don't outsiders know about it, and don't they come to steal it?"

"The Bright Lamp has special efficacy, and not every cultivator can use it." Sect Master Li smiled. "To put it bluntly, ordinary cultivators won't encounter a heart demon backlash in their entire lives."

"That is true." The spider demon sisters had said that the most common use of the Bright Lamp was to make a Heart Lamp to drive away heart demons. But in the existing external environment, most cultivators couldn't reach such a profound realm.

Not to mention others, He Lingchuan had practiced diligently for these years and had not yet discovered any heart demon invading himself.

"If you can't reach that realm, the Bright Lamp isn't of much use." Sect Master Li added, "Of course, the situation of the Bo King's Second Prince is an exception."

"Even if others know that our sect produces the Bright Lamp, they may not be interested; of course, the Glittering Gold Plain has been in turmoil for years, and fewer and fewer people know this secret. To this day, I'm afraid there aren't many."

The inheritance of secrets is most afraid of turmoil. How many pasts and secrets have been buried in such a large plain? He Lingchuan hesitated for a moment and asked again: "I want to know the fate of the Giant Deer Nation."

Whether it was the Panlong world or Shao Jian's notes, they wouldn't hint at the future of the Giant Deer Nation.

"Giant Deer Nation?" Sect Master Li was a bit surprised. This Mr. He was actually interested in old things from the paper pile? But he still said, "Its history is not long, and the national destiny lasted exactly twenty-five years."

"Only twenty-five years?" He Lingchuan said as if to himself, "The founding monarch of the Giant Deer Nation worked hard to govern; I originally thought the national longevity would be longer."

The Giant Deer Nation he saw in the Panlong world had only been founded for seven years and was flourishing.

He didn't expect that such good days could only last for another eighteen years.

But He Lingchuan thought again, that was already the 19th year of the Panlong calendar; thirteen years later, Panlong City would also be destroyed. *Sigh*, still before the demise of the Giant Deer Nation.

This Mr. He knew that the Giant Deer Monarch was capable, but didn't know the history of the Giant Deer Nation? Probably a story he saw in some idle book? Sect Master Li said: "Once Ran Min died, the successor was incompetent, and the Giant Deer Nation was annexed by the Dong Min Nation in less than five years."

"What does it matter how much atmosphere the Giant Deer Nation had back then? It was just a reflection in the mirror. On the Glittering Gold Plain, birth and death are the destiny; whether it is a country or an individual, it is hard to escape." He also gazed at the distant mountains with a sigh. "For thousands of years, only these mountains and rivers remain the same."

He Lingchuan looked at Bai Mao Mountain.

This mountain and river change owners every few days, but if you look closely, it seems that it hasn't had a master for nearly a thousand years.

Of course, the Carefree Sect seems to have jumped out of the realm for the time being, unaffected by destiny. But He Lingchuan knows that a major factor behind this is the support of strong power.

The Carefree Sect can stand here for a hundred years without falling, and it has its own skills. But if there were no secret protection from the Mou Nation, there would always be a few rounds of wind and rain that it couldn't withstand on its own, right? "By the way, it is said that this place was once called Dragon Head Mountain, the place where the Black Dragon fell."

"Yes, there is such a legend." Sect Master Li nodded. "That was a long time ago. People today only know Bai Mao Mountain and have never heard the name Dragon Head."

"Since it is the place where the dragon fell, there should have been many strange phenomena, right?"

"That was also a long time ago." Sect Master Li said. "Actually, I have heard another saying: the real place where the dragon fell is not here, but in the Upside-Down Sea in the northeast of the Glittering Gold Plain. But it is named Dragon Head Mountain here, probably because there was once a phantom of a Black Dragon rising, which was spectacular. Over time, everyone attached themselves to it."

This conflicts with the legend in Shao Jian's notes. Which one is true?

Perhaps neither is true.

After the two finished talking, they went back to find Jin Bai.

Jin Bai, Dong Rui, and others had also talked to the witness disciples one by one. Seeing the two come over, they said: "Asked them, they all said that Elder Cao was in the sect during those few days and did not go out. Also, Elder Wu and Elder Cao have a bad relationship and often scold each other."

He Lingchuan specifically sent Sect Master Li away so that the disciples could speak freely.

Sect Master Li touched his nose awkwardly. As the Sect Master, it was not easy for him to say some things, but since the Shadow Tooth Guards asked, he found someone to call Elder Wu over.

Elder Wu's testimony was also a flat denial, and there were also eyewitnesses.

They were busy until dark, and they didn't find any flaws in the two elders, but they heard gossip about Elder Wu from two disciples.

This elder had always had a problem with being lustful. But this had nothing to do with the current investigation.

Tonight, He Lingchuan and others rested at the Carefree Sect.

During the dinner break, Jin Bai pulled He Lingchuan aside, a bit discouraged: "Nothing gained."

Thanks to friends like *Ai Zuomeng de Hua*, *You Zhuo*, *Li Ci Dian Liu*, *Yu Ge Wei Wu*, *Xian Xia de Ke Ke* for their rewards, *gongshou*~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1143 =====