Chapter 185: Can one be invincible under heaven just by collecting the Nine Cauldrons Diagram?

"You are bandits, and then you took a fancy to the wealth of Deep City, lurking here to plunder it." Chu Danqing summarized the statement of the Xuanwu Sect Master.

"Yes." The Xuanwu Sect Master nodded fiercely.

Just as he finished responding, Da Bao came over and slapped him twice, *pa-pa*.

"Do you think I'm a three-year-old child?" Chu Danqing said speechlessly: "I haven't looked at your Xuanwu Sect's account books yet, but having a mine at home is basically equivalent to having money at home."

"Even if you are just white gloves, most of the profits are turned over to those above."

"But the leftover scraps are still more profitable than plundering."

It wasn't as if Chu Danqing didn't know how profitable a monopoly was.

"I still have half an hour; I suggest you tell the truth." Chu Danqing checked the countdown for the side quest; there was one hour left.

If the other party wouldn't say it, he didn't have much interest in continuing to ask.

He wouldn't cut it close to the time limit; it was easy for complications to arise.

"Young Master Chu truly has a discerning eye." The Xuanwu Sect Master gave a sheepish smile: "We did indeed have that idea before, but later, as we earned more, we extinguished the plan to plunder."

Chu Danqing rubbed his forehead; he didn't even need to think to know that wasn't the truth.

"Forget it, I won't force it if you don't say." Seeing this, Chu Danqing did not continue to press.

This was completely treating him like a fool to be deceived.

If the lie were a bit more realistic, Chu Danqing might have been able to believe it; if that failed, he could have mixed in some truth.

But the other party was being as fake as could be; he didn't even need Da Bao to use intuition to help him distinguish it—Chu Danqing could hear it himself.

Subsequently, a Ghost Grudge Infant dragged an atlas and sprinted over just like that.

When the Xuanwu Sect Master and Abbot Bai Yuan saw this atlas, their expressions changed abruptly.

This change was seen by Chu Danqing, who reached out to take the atlas, a smile appearing on his face.

"You two know what this is, right?" Chu Danqing shook the atlas.

This atlas was precisely one of the Nine Cauldrons Diagrams, the Suanni Scroll.

【Suanni Scroll · Incense】

【Type: Equipment · Atlas】

【Quality: Excellent】

【Durability: 100/100】

【Smoke Sacrifice Perpetuity (Passive): Buff status duration +30 seconds】

【Rootless Desire (Passive): Mana recovery efficiency -30%】

【Equipment Requirement: None】

It formed a dragon son resembling a lion through prayer and incantations.

Chu Danqing just took one look and had no intention of equipping it.

One of the two passives was chicken ribs, and the other was simply a fatal blow.

He would have to be crazy to choose to equip it.

"It is an ancient object gifted by a pilgrim," Abbot Bai Yuan said coldly.

"Don't be in such a hurry." Chu Danqing revealed a smile; the other party was indeed anxious. Previously, Abbot Bai Yuan had let Chu Danqing ask whatever he wanted without saying a word.

Now, taking the initiative to speak meant he was anxious.

"I'll tell you, it is one scroll of the Nine Cauldrons Diagram, named Suanni," Chu Danqing said.

The two felt stormy waves in their hearts at this moment; they truly hadn't expected that Chu Danqing would also know.

"Young Master Chu is indeed learned and talented, and then?" The Xuanwu Sect Master feigned calmness.

"Tell me everything you know, and I will give you a quick end," Chu Danqing said honestly.

Abbot Bai Yuan was so angered by Chu Danqing's words that he laughed: "Then why should I tell you?"

"It's simple for me to let you go, but what about those who died because of you?" Chu Danqing asked calmly in return.

Once these words came out, Abbot Bai Yuan's laughter was choked off directly.

It caused him to fall into silence involuntarily.

"When you were doing evil, you must have been prepared for death and the dissipation of your Dao."

"So you should abandon your fantasies; there is no way out now." Chu Danqing had long been prepared for the day he might die in a trial.

Especially the possibility of dying because of meddling in other people's business.

"This Suanni Scroll belongs to our master; his ancestors were once the personal guards of the Great Shuo Grand Ancestor."

"Later, we learned from our master that if one could obtain the remaining eight scrolls of the Nine Cauldrons Diagram, one could be invincible under heaven."

"According to the clues left by our master, we came to Deep City to search for the remaining scrolls, but so far we haven't had a single harvest." The Xuanwu Sect Master loosened his tongue.

"Then what are you training private soldiers for?" Chu Danqing continued to ask.

"Plunder." The Xuanwu Sect Master told the truth this time: "Jia Simou has been hoarding wealth for many years; even though most of it was offered to the Empress Dowager, what remained was still a mountain of gold."

"Once we collect all the Nine Cauldrons Diagrams and obtain this gold and silver, we can raise a banner and overthrow this Great Shuo."

"In recent years, the Demon Empress has been ruling from behind the curtain, and the Emperor is weak and incompetent."

"It would be better for my martial brother and me to enjoy this vast landscape than to let such people sit on it."

Chu Danqing listened and realized these two brothers had such great ambitions.

It was just that their luck wasn't very good; until now, they only had one Suanni Scroll.

In fact, Chu Danqing was also indebted to the Paradise; if it weren't for the side quest, Chu Danqing's progress in finding the Nine Cauldrons Diagrams would probably be about the same as these two brothers.

"Then if you really succeed, which one of you will be the Emperor?" Chu Danqing asked, deliberately trying to stir up trouble.

Abbot Bai Yuan glanced coldly at Chu Danqing and then said: "Speak less of words that sow discord. My martial brother and I have grown up together since childhood; such petty tricks are beneath the status of Young Master Chu."

They weren't fools; their plans had already foundered at the very beginning, and now, no matter what Chu Danqing said, it was impossible for them to have internal strife.

"Alright, then let's continue talking about the Suanni Scroll." Seeing this, Chu Danqing wasn't embarrassed and continued to ask: "What is the origin of the Nine Cauldrons Diagram?"

"Young Master Chu, do you know why I want to tell you this?" A brilliant smile appeared on the Xuanwu Sect Master's face: "Because whether one doesn't know or knows everything, one won't be conflicted."

"But if you only know half, and are stuck in the middle, Young Master Chu, you must have experienced this feeling, right?"

Chu Danqing's face darkened; he immediately understood why the other party had suddenly loosened his tongue—it was because there was no way out for them, and they wanted to disgust Chu Danqing before they died.

"Oh, right." The Xuanwu Sect Master said in a tone as if he had just remembered: "Don't ever let the imperial court know that you have the Nine Cauldrons Diagram in your hands."

"This is an important object for the Great Shuo Grand Ancestor to reshape the universe."

"Once it is known, heh heh." The Xuanwu Sect Master said meaningfully.

Chu Danqing listened, but he didn't take it to heart.

There was a significant possibility that what the other party said was the truth, but it was also said deliberately.

The goal was naturally to sow discord between Chu Danqing and Ma Yunfeng and the others.

"Thanks for the reminder." Chu Danqing responded: "But you said it too late."

There was a very high probability that Ma Yunfeng already knew that Chu Danqing had the Nine Cauldrons Diagram; he had taken things from the scene several times, so how could he have hidden it?

While Chen Jiunan and the others might not know about the Nine Cauldrons Diagram, how could Ma Yunfeng, as the current Prime Minister, not know?

Combined with the fact that they only told half the truth earlier, Chu Danqing had a high probability of going to investigate, after all, he was carrying several Nine Cauldrons Diagrams.

But once he did that, it meant stepping on a red line, and he would inevitably clash with Ma Yunfeng.

They had seen Ma Yunfeng's loyalty to Great Shuo with their own eyes; how could he allow Chu Danqing to collect the Nine Cauldrons Diagrams and threaten Great Shuo?

Even if this kind of thing was ethereal.

When the Xuanwu Sect Master and Abbot Bai Yuan heard this, their eyes were full of complexity.

They had been white gloves for Jia Simou until now and hadn't had a single clue; how long had Chu Danqing been in Deep City, and he had already surpassed their years of effort.

"Alright, time is up; it's time to hit the road." After Chu Danqing finished speaking, Da Bao ended the two with a claw.

The two died with lingering resentment, their eyes still staring blankly, looking quite like they had died with their eyes wide open.

Chu Danqing didn't care at all.

It wasn't as if they were ghosts; it wasn't as if he hadn't seen them before. The Ghost Grudge Mother and Ghost Grudge Infant were proper ghosts, and they stayed by his side every day.

He was even less afraid of them becoming zombies; the Son of Heaven was a proper immortal spirit.

【Task completed, you obtained: Paradise Points × 10000, Attribute Points +4】

With the people dead and the task completed, Chu Danqing put the Suanni Scroll · Incense into his storage space.

Then he took out a shovel from his storage space, and they worked together to dig a pit, preparing to bury them for peace.

This time, with five fewer Huang Jinlishi, he could only dig with himself, Da Bao, and the three Beast-Faced Armored Warriors.

As for Yue Lan Wu Ying, the Son of Heaven, and the others, they were naturally responsible for protection.

If you let the bodyguards do the work, then who would protect Chu Danqing?

Although it was a bit inverted, it didn't matter; Chu Danqing didn't care.

As for the Ghost Grudge Infant, it was still searching the Bai Yuan Temple.

The Ghost Grudge Infant had a small frame, fast movement speed, could use spells, and could even fly, which was very convenient.

While Chu Danqing was digging the pit, three Ghost Grudge Infants dragged over a twisted female corpse that was barely clothed.

Looking at that appearance, they were going to throw it into the pit.

Chu Danqing immediately stopped them: "No need to bury this corpse; keep it and take it back."

Chu Danqing took a look and took out a similar piece of women's clothing from his storage space.

He stored quite a few of these daily necessities in his storage space, from clothing to food to various tools; although they didn't have attribute panels, they could be used from time to time.

"Change her into it." Chu Danqing sighed; a perfectly good life had just been lost like that.

Most of the time, Chu Danqing was still more inclined toward the idea that when people die, their debts are cleared.

Unless they really did something that angered both heaven and man.

The three Ghost Grudge Infants scrambled to change Li Yutang's daughter into the clothes, and Chu Danqing took out a straw mat to wrap her in, letting the Ghost Grudge Infants carry her to the war chariot.

After processing this side, he would take her back to Li Yutang.

"Pah, they deserved to die." Chu Danqing looked at the corpses of the Xuanwu Sect Master and Abbot Bai Yuan and cursed directly.

If you want money, just want money; why go as far as killing the hostages? Looking at the marks on the corpse, she had been tortured quite a bit before she died.

"Little Chu, someone is coming." Da Bao put down the shovel and reminded him.

When Chu Danqing heard this, he felt strange in his heart.

Who would come here for no reason?

Before Chu Danqing could send a Ghost Grudge Infant to check the situation, he heard a loud noise.

Chu Danqing threw the shovel aside and saw from afar a cannonball smashing toward his location.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 186 =====