Chapter 226: The Holy Servant's Story (Part 1)

Zhou Sichen released the silver Celestial Mechanism Bird, then sat down in place and closed his eyes.

The Celestial Mechanism Bird's expression instantly became much more lively; after lightly nodding to Tang Wulin in the air, it flew out the window and headed toward the address Tang Wulin had given.

Tang Wulin and Gongyang Mo took out paper, wrote down what they had seen and heard in the underground market, and then Gongyang Mo went out to deliver the letter.

Before Gongyang Mo returned, Zhou Sichen opened his eyes, his face full of heaviness.

Tang Wulin hurriedly asked, "How is it?"

Zhou Sichen frowned and said, "I controlled the Celestial Mechanism Bird to the place you mentioned; the courtyard was empty, but I could sense a faint smell of blood through the bird. After waiting a while, a person in white clothes walked in through the gate, knocked on the door of a room in the courtyard—three long knocks followed by one short—and the door opened, and the white-clothed person was ushered inside. I didn't dare let the Celestial Mechanism Bird follow inside, so I could only peek from the beams."

"That's enough."

Tang Wulin breathed a sigh of relief; at least he had gathered information the black-clothed person hadn't told him, so it wasn't a complete loss.

Tang Wulin ordered:

"Keep watching the branch; when that white-clothed person who just went inside comes out of the room, you switch places with me."

"Okay."

Zhou Sichen nodded seriously, then closed his eyes again.

After a short wait, Gongyang Mo returned. Tang Wulin told him the information Zhou Sichen had just gathered and also shared his own next plan; Gongyang Mo frowned slightly.

"Do you want my help?"

Tang Wulin shook his head.

"No need, senior; just wait for my good news."

At that moment, Zhou Sichen opened his eyes and said:

"The white-clothed person who just went in has come out; he's now on the street, already some distance from the Holy Spirit Sect's branch. Boss, should we switch positions now?"

After seeing the white-clothed person walk out of the room, he didn't rush to inform Tang Wulin, but instead followed a bit longer before speaking.

Who knows if there are any lookouts outside the branch; the Celestial Mechanism Bird is small and looks little different from an ordinary bird, so it went unnoticed, but for someone as big as Tang Wulin to suddenly appear on the beams would surely give him away.

Tang Wulin reached out his hand.

"Please help me."

"All right, safe travels."

At the instant Zhou Sichen grasped his hand, Tang Wulin felt a sudden distortion before his eyes, and then found himself in a narrow alley.

Not far away, a white-clothed person was walking forward.

Tang Wulin silently approached his back and grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't move, come with me."

The white-clothed person instinctively twisted his body, realizing he couldn't break free, and asked in a trembling voice, "May I ask who you are, sir? What do you want with me?"

"Never mind the details, just come with me."

Tang Wulin thus escorted the white-clothed person toward Shrek's base.

He judged that this white-clothed person, like the previous black-clothed one, had only four-ring cultivation; once Tang Wulin got that close, there was no chance of even a ripple of resistance.

Ten minutes later, Tang Wulin brought the white-clothed person into Shrek's base, closed the door, and the Blue Silver Emperor emerged from his hand, tightly binding the white-clothed person and throwing him to the ground.

Upon closer inspection, the white-clothed person appeared to be only about seventeen or eighteen years old—not particularly old—and achieving four-ring cultivation at that age is already impressive; even participating in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament would be more than enough for him.

But Tang Wulin felt heavy-hearted thinking that the person might have rapidly increased his cultivation by harming others, and his tone grew somewhat irritable.

"I ask, you answer—did you hear me clearly?"

"Yes, yes!" the white-clothed person trembled all over, fear showing in his eyes.

"What is your name?"

"Li Wu."

"What were you doing just now inside that house?"

"Yes, yes, discussing business."

Tang Wulin's eyes narrowed as a brilliant golden spear suddenly shot onto the floor beside Li Wu, emitting a dazzling light.

"Don't lie to my face; I can tell."

"Eh!"

Li Wu couldn't help but let out a startled cry.

Gongyang Mo sighed helplessly at the side.

"Junior, you can interrogate him, but don't damage the base—poking a hole in the floor will cost the academy money."

"Got it."

Hearing their conversation, Li Wu trembled even more violently.

hearing their exchange, does his life matter less than the floor? Tang Wulin asked again, "What were you doing inside that house?"

"... I went to see my parents."

"Oh?"

That was another answer that sounded fake at first listen, yet strangely, Tang Wulin saw no sign of deceit on his face.

Seeing Tang Wulin didn't believe him, Li Wu hurriedly said, "I'm telling the truth! I really went to see my parents; I was forced into joining them against my will, sir!"

"..."

After realizing the guy wasn't lying, Tang Wulin's expression eased a bit, he pulled over a chair and sat down, saying:

"Please explain properly—what exactly do you know, and how are you connected to that house?"

"Yes."

Li Wu had already been scared witless; upon hearing Tang Wulin's order, he immediately began recounting his experience.

As it turned out, his high cultivation wasn't due to harming many people, but like other soul engineers of the Ri Yue Di Guo, he had boosted it by taking pills; although it greatly affects the future, it does greatly increase early training speed, and he doesn't really oppose it.

Recently, his cultivation reached rank forty, and he went to the Ri Yue Di Guo's soul beast gathering grounds to hunt for soul rings, where he encountered a group of black-clothed persons.

At first there was nothing; although he felt that the black-clothed people gave off a somewhat gloomy atmosphere, the two sides got along fairly well.

But when he used a soul skill to obtain the soul ring he wanted, everything changed.

Those black-clothed people seemed to suddenly fix their gaze on him, asking if he wanted to join an organization called the Holy Spirit Sect, which could help him quickly increase his cultivation.

Although Li Wu wished his cultivation were higher, the name Holy Spirit Sect sounded nothing like a normal organization to him; it seemed more like a crazy cult, so he refused.

At that time those black-clothed people did not do anything extreme; they merely exchanged a glance, then revealed a meaningful smile, telling him he would surely change his mind, and then left.

Li Wu was then at a loss, faintly feeling something was off, but he successfully obtained his fourth soul skill, and being excited, he quickly put the matter behind him and hurried toward home.

The reason he was so eager to raise his rank was that his family was not well-off, and he wanted to rely on his own efforts to let his parents live a decent life.

But he never imagined that when he returned home, the first thing he would see would be blood covering the ground and the corpses of his parents.

(End of chapter)