Chapter 374

."

Just at this time, there was a sound of leaping outside the forest again, and it was extremely fast and heavy. Seeing Pei Ye had just pressed his sword and turned his head when the person appeared. It was Sui Zaihua.

"As soon as I came out, I notified Master Sui first." Wudong explained to the youth and turned his head. "Unfortunately, I didn't catch up."

Sui Zaihua looked around: "What's going on?"

"The Sword Belly Mountain was sealed." Wudong briefly described it. "... There are only a few of us outside now. We just repelled 【Great Si Shan】, but we said before that the Huan Si Lou still has three high-level members—the Play Master, the Shadow, and 【Cao】."

"Xiao Tingshu has been confirmed."

"Hmm?"

Sui Zaihua took out a play mask: "Found by Yuanwu Peak, the 'Cao' mask. There are still many things that can be searched, but the Crane Inspector here seems to be in more of a hurry."

Wudong frowned and took it. Seeing Pei Ye also turned his head to look. It was indeed the flowing and bright color unique to the Huan Si Lou play mask, and there were obvious traces of having been worn.

"Xiao Tingshu actually joined the Huan Si Lou..." Seeing Pei Ye frowned tightly.

"Because here are all the traces of Bai Tianqu and the Huan Si Lou colluding." Sui Zaihua continued. "Ji Changyun is naturally arrogant, so he really didn't show up again. If Ming Qitian hadn't asked for the sword here, or if Kongdong had some disaster, perhaps he would never appear before Kongdong disciples until he died."

Sui Zaihua smiled at the youth: "His most dazzling thing is still sword technique; everything else is a delay."

"The method of sensing swords in the Sword Belly Mountain is also what Bai Tianqu is obsessed with." Wudong tapped the sword scabbard lightly with his fingers. "If this senior entrusted it, it would not be surprising that Xiao Tingshu would do his best."

"." Seeing Pei Ye glanced at the old man. He hadn't said the reason yet.

Sui Zaihua looked at Wudong: "Great Si Shan?"

"In his position, he naturally plans his politics." Sui Zaihua smiled and pulled the topic back. "Therefore, Xiao Tingshu showing hostility to his teacher so excessively, even to the point of tearing his face, is not because he hates him, but simply because he doesn't want Ji Changyun to approach Kongdong and approach the Sword Belly Mountain."

"Xiao Tingshu's hostility toward him is great, absolutely not fake. I don't know what the situation was when Bai Tianqu was in power, but after Xiao Tingshu was in power, an interesting thing happened." Sui Zaihua paused and swept across the two. "In the Kongdong mountain formation, his True Qi pattern was removed."

"You can only see sword technique in your eyes."

"There is one more thing that can be corroborated." Wudong straightened his waist and added. "In the ambush on Seeing Pei Ye just now, Ji Changyun did not appear."

"Do you remember that on the way here, we reviewed the past of the Sect Master's lineage of this generation." Wudong leaned on the tree behind him. The arrival of Zhanxin Liuli and Sui Zaihua made his body relax. "Ji Changyun and Xiao Tingshu were very distant. It was almost the senior brother who raised this closing disciple."

Wudong narrowed his eyes. Sui Zaihua looked at him. The two were quiet for a moment. Suddenly Wudong turned to look at the thoughtful youth beside him: "Hey, how does our Young Hero Pei see this matter?"

After the Kongdong mountain formation was activated, it relied on True Qi to enter and exit. Xiao Tingshu doing this kind of thing was indeed, as the old man said, almost excluding Ji Changyun from the sect.

"Not bad." Wudong nodded and smiled at Sui Zaihua. "You see, I said that although he has little knowledge, he is very smart and has a sense of proportion."

"I also verified one point on this trip." The sky was gradually dawning in the east. Sui Zaihua looked at Seeing Pei Ye and handed him some wound medicine. This adult didn't seem to have the habit of leaning on others, always simple, clean, and upright. "Ji Changyun being excluded from the sect even exceeded our expectations."

But Sui Zaihua accepted this conclusion very easily. He gently stroked the sword hilt: "Then in Kongdong, there are only two people with higher status than Xiao Tingshu."

"."

"So it is more in line with our inference." Wudong flipped the play mask twice. "Xiao Tingshu did not contact the Huan Si Lou as a representative of Kongdong. There was a person with higher status who made this decision. And then, just as he allowed the Huan Si Lou to invade Kongdong, the Play Master also gave a high position in the Huan Si Lou to Xiao Tingshu—this is the cornerstone of cooperation."

"Ah?"

"I think it's not quite right." Seeing Pei Ye frowned tightly. "The relationship between master and apprentice shouldn't be like this even if it's tense. Xiao Tingshu doesn't look like such a narrow-minded person. In terms of name and reality, the damage of this behavior to Kongdong is too great."

Sui Zaihua also smiled slightly and moved his eyes over.

Wudong hooked the corner of his mouth: "We were just talking—this Great Si Shan couldn't have betrayed Kongdong."

Seeing Pei Ye opened his eyes wide. This was indeed the case. If Ji Changyun stood on the side of the Huan Si Lou, then with his and the Great Si Shan's joint efforts, he would have died and lost the bead just now.

Sui Zaihua was silent for a while, looking at the distant mountain peak, and whispered: "But there are still several doubts in this situation."

"First, where is the Play Master?" Sui Zaihua's gaze fell on the two. "In Bowang, Qu Zhu played the Play Master and made a move, so what is 【Sima】 himself doing, and why does his whereabouts need to be covered up?"

"Second, although Bai Tianqu's temperament is extreme, he actually loves the disciples in the sect far more than Ji Changyun. In the past, the Wu Lin said he was protective of his shortcomings. When Xiao Tingshu made a mistake, he also protected him strongly. Would such a person really harm his fellow disciples for the sake of the 'Sword Collection'?"

"Third..."

"Third, Xiao Tingshu's decisiveness is too strange." Wudong took over. "This is also the weirdness permeating the whole thing. I think Seeing Pei Ye was equally surprised when facing the Great Si Shan just now."

Seeing Pei Ye was stunned: ". Yes."

"Kongdong is one of the thirty-three sword sects of the Dao-Opening Society and holds the Great Tang Golden Book. No matter how you look at it, the future is bright enough." Wudong said. "It is understandable to have some cooperation with the Huan Si Lou for the sake of the Sword Collection, but since the imperial court is looking over, they should cut off the tail and draw a clear line. How can they go all the way to the dark with the Huan Si Lou?"

"I'm afraid only Xiao Tingshu knows this reason."

"Not bad."

"Let's stop here." Sui Zaihua was quiet for a moment, looking back at the way he came. "I will go find Ji Changyun myself and ask him to take charge of Kongdong now."

"There is one more thing, send a letter to Shaolong." Wudong reminded. "The enemy is inside Kongdong, and the layout is very large. You can send someone."

"Isn't the soul bird there? You can just transmit it to the Immortal Platform."

Wudong smiled: "【Flowing Wind】 has other tasks."

Sui Zaihua nodded and didn't ask any more, just looked at Wudong and paused for a moment: "Then, farewell."

Wudong also looked at him quietly: "Farewell, Master Sui."

Sui Zaihua leaped up, coming and going like a startled swan, his long sword on his body. Wherever he passed, the trees separated for him one after another.

The sky was getting whiter.

Seeing Pei Ye watched his figure disappear from his field of vision and turned back. Wudong was pulling out a piece of letter paper, padding it on his blood-stained knees, and began to write.

In the pale moon of the early morning, the old man's legs were crossed and stretched, which was clearly a very casual posture, but Seeing Pei Ye saw a kind of rare solemnity from that cautious and slow writing.

". What are you writing?"

"An unproven inference." Wudong lowered his head. ". Sent to someone you can't think of."

"." Seeing Pei Ye sat down again, hesitated for a moment, and whispered, "Master, regarding the 'Shadow', what do you think?"

The youth looked at him with shining eyes. They had talked a lot just now, but this figure that the youth had always kept in his heart seemed to have faded away.

"Do you think he is in Kongdong?"

"Of course. This formation came from his hand. At such a critical moment, there is no reason for him not to be."

"Yes. But he will never show his face with his own face." Wudong looked at the youth. "Or rather, he no longer has his own face, right?"

". Do you think a person can repair a broken arm within a few days?"

"For a master of the way of tools, it is easy to achieve a degree that outsiders cannot see." Wudong paused for a moment with his pen tip on the paper, turned his eyes and said seriously, "Qu Zhu must be active. Just continue to investigate according to your rhythm. Now you have uncovered the veil of 【Great Si Shan】, which is very good. You can go back and organize it a little. Perhaps many things will naturally surface."

"Go back?"

"Yes." Wudong looked at him. "The 'Hidden Sword Pavilion' hasn't been checked carefully, has it? Also, if the other party couldn't get the 'Soul-Taking Bead' from you, where would they turn?"

Seeing Pei Ye's heart and lungs shrank fiercely.

Zhang Jingbi was still in the Law Enforcement Hall.

"We have already transferred the peak masters of each peak over, but it may still not be safe." Wudong said hoarsely. "You have to go and defend."

"Alright." Seeing Pei Ye frowned and thought, gripping the sword hilt tightly. "Then, what about you?"

"I..." Wudong tapped the pen holder lightly. "Seeing Pei Ye, tell me in detail about what happened in 【Illuminating the Nether】 again."

Seeing Pei Ye was stunned: ". Alright."

He adjusted his sitting posture and began to tell the old man in detail about the quiet valley of cold wind and clear moon in 【Illuminating the Nether】. He also re-experienced the story that spanned thirty years. When he finished speaking, the cold moon had faded, and the white sun was clearly hanging in the east.

Wudong just put down his pen, closed his eyes, and remained silent for a long time.

"Do you know," he opened his eyes and sighed in a low, hoarse voice, "from the first time you sent a letter to inform me of these things, I have constantly had questions... Unfortunately, none of them can be answered by these past events themselves."

"."

"Pulling knife silk, pulling knife silk..." The old man took a deep breath, his gray-white eyes staring straight at the slowly jumping cold sun. "Why can he also use it to outline 【Pulling Silk】?"

Seeing Pei Ye subconsciously lowered his head to look at the strangely beautiful sword in the old man's hand: "Who are you talking about?"

The atmosphere was quiet for a moment. Wudong did not answer his question. In fact, Seeing Pei Ye's mind was not too much on this. He kept thinking about what Qu Zhu would be doing. Some inexplicable weirdness had already begun to fill his heart.

—Since Qu Zhu was in Kongdong, why didn't he come to help the Great Si Shan in the ambush in the Hidden Sword Pavilion just now?

Even going further back, why didn't Qu Zhu appear when taking the soul of Zhang Jingbi?

He would rather let Jiang and Xi make a move, letting them fail as soon as they were discovered by him.

In this mountain gate, what other important things were there?

Suddenly, a whisper like a dream came from the old man's ear: "What if they are one person."

Seeing Pei Ye was shocked and stared at the old man.

Wudong just looked at the sky without moving, his whole person like a stiff corpse, his gray-white eyes condensed into two pieces of amber.

After a long time, he slowly relaxed, as if falling into the quiet of dusk.

"Since entering the Immortal Platform, I have solved thousands of cases in decades, and I have never encountered such a strange case." Wudong said softly. "It made me feel for the first time that my ability is insufficient... and I cannot control it."

"."

"But fortunately, there is Master Sui." Wudong sighed.

"Master Sui?"

"Yes. I have known him for a long time, about ten or more years. In the past few days, we have also worked together..." Wudong looked at the sky quietly, and suddenly lowered his head to pick up his pen again. "I trust him."

"."

"You go." Wudong said. "There is no time to lose."

"Then what about you?" Seeing Pei Ye still didn't get an answer.

"Of course I also have things I need to investigate." Wudong lowered his head and wrote rapidly, his face once again condensed into that kind of sharp coldness. "Farewell, Young Hero Pei."

Seeing Pei Ye didn't get any disclosure, but at this moment he suddenly felt that what the old man was going to do was much more dangerous. He hesitated and said, "I'll give you Zhanxin Liuli."

Wudong was stunned, looked at him for a moment, smiled, and shook his head: "Absolutely not."

"Go." He waved his hand.

Seeing Pei Ye saluted and turned to leave, but when he leaped up and stood behind the treetop, a voice suddenly came from behind again.

"Seeing Pei Ye."

The youth turned his head.

Wudong was still sitting on the broken rock under the tree, his gray hair disheveled, and the old blood on his clothes had begun to settle into mottled spots.

"I'm going to take a gamble, child. I'm leaving because I'm not helping you anymore."

"."

"Next, you might have a very difficult and painful time, and you might even die in this vortex. No one can guarantee anything." Wudong looked at him quietly and whispered. "But if we win, we win completely."

". What is called winning completely?"

"I have decided." Wudong did not answer, just grinned a terrifying smile and lowered his head again. "Farewell."

(End of chapter)