Chapter 83: Found It!

Checking the card, Chen Mu found it was a memory card.

"Not bad luck."

He had assumed that with the assassin dead, the trail to the person behind it would be cut off.

With the memory card, it was different.

He could read the memories and find out who had ordered the hit!

Heartened, Chen Mu used the card.

The next moment, the corner of his mouth twitched.

"A full-time assassin of the Black Dragon Society?"

The person who had killed him was actually a professional assassin!

The "Black Dragon Society" was a dedicated assassin organization, established several hundred years ago.

These kinds of professional assassins only handled killing.

They had no idea who their employers were.

Through the memory read, what Chen Mu "saw" of this assassin named Qian Qi was nothing but carrying out assassination missions or bitter cultivation, with the occasional visit to a brothel.

The memory card only held memories from within the last three years of the person's life.

What Qian Qi had been doing three years ago, or what he had done, was completely unknown.

Trying to trace the mastermind through Qian Qi was completely impossible.

Because there simply were no leads…

"Wait!"

Suddenly, Chen Mu's body jolted. In his mind he replayed a segment of Qian Qi's memory—a person Qian Qi had glimpsed by chance when leaving a cave, the Black Dragon Society's outpost in Nanyun Prefecture, after collecting cultivation resources.

That person was standing in a corner, talking intimately with the Black Dragon Society's person in charge in Nanyun, Tang Bi.

What the other party had said, Qian Qi hadn't heard, and hadn't paid it any mind.

But that person's face made Chen Mu's heartbeat quicken slightly.

Gao Zhengyang!

The person Qian Qi had glimpsed by chance, talking with Tang Bi, was actually Gao Zhengyang!

The Gao Zhengyang who had secretly joined the Longevity Cult behind the Gao family's back, had Chen Mu search for twelve boys born at noon on the summer solstice, aged six to nine, and had ultimately died at Chen Mu's hands!

"How could Gao Zhengyang appear at the Black Dragon Society's outpost? And be on intimate terms with the Black Dragon Society's person in charge, Tang Bi."

"Is Gao Zhengyang also an assassin? A part-time one. Or…"

Chen Mu exhaled, his eyes lighting up.

Gao Zhengyang had already defected to the Longevity Cult, and the Gao family was hardly short on money—he had no need to moonlight as an assassin.

In this matter, Gao Zhengyang was not the problem.

The problem was Tang Bi!

Tang Bi's identity was the real catch!

"As the Black Dragon Society's person in charge in Nanyun Prefecture, is it possible that Tang Bi has also defected to the Longevity Cult?"

In Qian Qi's memories, Tang Bi was already over ninety!

The wrinkles on his face were obvious, and his body carried a strange scent.

Although he wasn't terribly aged and his aura was still forceful, it was all propped up by his Innate Realm cultivation.

At least in Qian Qi's memories, Tang Bi was very old, completely propped up by force.

Despite being an Innate expert, he gave others the impression he had only a few years left, because Tang Bi had suffered great injuries, and his internal wounds flared up from time to time.

"The people of the Longevity Cult have always hidden deep—no one from the Zhenwu Division has been able to find them."

"If the Black Dragon Society is helping them, that would explain it."

"Tang Bi, wanting to live longer, secretly joined the Longevity Cult—that's how he came to know Gao Zhengyang!"

"An outsider like Gao Zhengyang was able to enter the Black Dragon Society's outpost."

Chen Mu thought it over, his eyes growing brighter and brighter.

Taken apart, this didn't feel like much, but when all the conditions were put together, they could piece together one thing.

Tang Bi was also a member of the Longevity Cult!

Thinking of this.

Chen Mu took a deep breath, then quickly dug a pit and buried Qian Qi.

He shoveled the soil back, pressed down a stone, and brushed away every trace.

Chen Mu tapped the ground with his toe and returned to the city.

Entering the outer city, he did not go home, but continued to flash all the way toward the inner city.

Arriving at Zhenwu Division headquarters, he put on a human-skin mask, walked through the main gate, went inside, and found Zhao Fuzhou meditating and recuperating.

"Coming by in the middle of the night—have you found something?" Zhao Fuzhou ended his cultivation, came to the outer hall, and looked at Chen Mu with a light smile.

"Brother Zhao, I may have found where the Longevity Cult's people are."

Chen Mu said in a serious tone.

"Oh?" Zhao Fuzhou's eyes lit up. "Tell me the details."

"The Black Dragon Society!"

Chen Mu said in a low voice, "The Black Dragon Society's person in charge in Nanyun, Tang Bi—I found that he is very likely also a member of the Longevity Cult! It is precisely because of Tang Bi's help that the people of the Longevity Cult cannot be found."

"Right, this is only what I've ferreted out—there is no evidence." Chen Mu added a sentence.

The images in the memory card could not serve as evidence.

And the Black Dragon Society's power made it impossible to intimidate anyone either.

At the very least, they couldn't just barge in like the Iron Spear Sect did.

Zhao Fuzhou listened, his brow furrowing slightly, and fell silent.

After a long while, he asked, "How confident are you?"

"Ninety percent!"

Chen Mu said seriously, "Tang Bi and Gao Zhengyang know each other — their relationship runs deep. Gao Zhengyang isn't short on money; he doesn't need to moonlight as an assassin. But the man showed up at the Black Dragon Society's stronghold in Nanyun Prefecture. If he weren't on very close terms with Tang Bi, how could he have managed that?"

"You know the Black Dragon Society's stronghold in Nanyun too?" Zhao Fuzhou asked.

"…Yes." Chen Mu nodded. "The Black Dragon Society's stronghold in Nanyun is in a mountain valley about thirty li northeast of Ning County's county seat. That valley is shrouded in fog year-round and harbors plenty of venomous bugs, so almost no one sets foot in it. The locals call it Dead Man's Valley. For decades now, anyone who went in never came back out."

"Very good."

Zhao Fuzhou nodded. "I'll handle the investigation. If the Longevity Cult people are really hiding at the Black Dragon Society's stronghold, none of them will escape — Tang Bi included!"

"…" Chen Mu opened his mouth, then closed it again.

The Longevity Cult people had to be hiding somewhere.

But the Black Dragon Society's stronghold was no pleasant place.

Most likely, it was a private residence Tang Bi had found, harboring Longevity Cult followers.

As for how to track them down — Zhao Fuzhou had plenty of experience, so Chen Mu wouldn't butt in.

He'd just wait for news!

……

This wait lasted three whole days.

On the evening of the third day, Chen Mu saw He Ningshuang arrive to deliver a summons.

"My lord wishes to see you."

He Ningshuang dropped the line and turned to leave.

Chen Mu immediately followed.

Neither spoke a word the whole way.

Arriving at the Zhenwu Division headquarters, he found a large force already assembled inside.

Zhao Fuzhou stood before everyone and spoke in a clear voice.

"From here on, every detail of the operation must be kept strictly confidential!"

"We move out before dawn. No one is allowed to fall behind or leave the formation!"

"The specific plan will be given once we reach the destination. In short — follow orders on everything!"

"Understood!!" Over a hundred voices answered in unison.

Zhao Fuzhou nodded, dropped a line — "Rest where you are." — and headed inside. As he turned, he glanced at Chen Mu.

Seeing this, Chen Mu stepped out from the corner and entered the hall without a flicker of expression.

Seeing this, Chen Mu came out from the corner and entered the great hall without a flicker of expression.

Zhao Fuzhou spoke first. "Tang Bi did indeed join the Longevity Cult. Those people are in Dead Man's Valley."

……They really were hiding over there!

Chen Mu thought to himself.

"This operation aims to wipe out the Longevity Cult's stronghold in Nanyun, along with quite a few Black Dragon Society members. It's a tough fight — the Zhenwu Division is short on hands. I'd like to ask for your help…"

Zhao Fuzhou looked at Chen Mu and said seriously, "You haven't formally joined the Zhenwu Division yet, so you may refuse…"

Zhao Fuzhou looked at Chen Mu and said in a serious tone, "You haven't formally entered the Martial Guard Office yet, so you may refuse…"

"I can do it!"