Chapter 178: The Secret of Guan Yushan

"It wasn't easy to analyze Guan Yushan with any real objectivity while Xinyue was present; there were always some taboos." Luo Qi said, sounding somewhat irritable. His mental state hadn't been great these past few days, as he had been busy overcoming his own problems, so he hadn't thought these matters through in detail. "Now that they're both gone, we should properly sort things out. Brother, how much more do you know about Guan Yushan's basic situation?"

Du Zhengyi looked at Luo Qi, who was standing by the window; the sunset's afterglow shone on his profile, leaving his face half-lit and half-shadowed. He furrowed his brows slightly, his expression unexpectedly resembling Du Zhengyi's.

Du Zhengyi didn't know what to make of it; Luo Qi was subconsciously imitating him. Even if he were a War Machine, he was still human after all, and he understood the emotional factors involved. The usual vexation coiled around him, making him somewhat distracted.

Receiving no answer, Luo Qi continued to mutter to himself in thought, "Guan Yushan investigated a case of a Mage being murdered, and he discovered something that eventually led to him being murdered as well. That is the sequence of events. He discovered information about the Lotus Burner, but he must have discovered that information from Da Hei's temple side. Yet, there is always something about this that makes me uncomfortable—for instance, why were they place names instead of people's names? Why wasn't there a list? Why was there no list? Why play this guessing game? Xizhou? Ganzhou? Why would a Great Mage like Guan Yushan live in such a dull place and be neighbors with a shrew?"

Luo Qi suddenly turned his head; he looked at Du Zhengyi and realized that Du Zhengyi was looking at him as if he had just had an epiphany.

"Brother, does the place we are standing on right now have a true name?" Luo Qi blinked in surprise. He was a geography idiot and a history idiot, and he couldn't make sense of these things at all. If this place had also once been a settlement for ancient Mages, then it would also have a true name.

Sure enough...

"Shuozhou." Du Zhengyi answered in a low voice.

Luo Qi didn't dare claim he had found any clues, but he had a vague premonition that he was on the right track. "The places we have been to are all sites of ancient cities, aren't they?"

Ancient cities—when Mages still had their own city-states, these places had all once been prosperous.

In that instant, Du Zhengyi recalled something. It wasn't something he knew as an excellent graduate, nor was it something he knew only as a Battle Mage of the Qionglin; it was his third identity, one of the secrets kept by the Gushan Guard.

He shouldn't have thought of this at all. There were many reasons why he wasn't as eager as Luo Qi to push things forward; he was essentially just a warrior, and his duty lay in executing combat missions. Therefore, as long as things could be delayed, he hoped to leave them for after Pei Shu returned, to be solved by a Qionglin that had returned to normal operations. This was why he was almost never proactive about the whole affair; if the Lotus Burner hadn't suddenly gone insane, he would never have touched the mystery Guan Yushan left behind. No one had expected the Lotus Burner to suddenly become as aggressive as a mad dog.

He raised his eyes and once again found Luo Qi observing him as if evaluating him. Luo Qi didn't have eyes blazing with curiosity, but whenever he wasn't paying attention, Luo Qi was quietly observing him, lost in thought.

"What?" he asked guardedly.

Luo Qi immediately dodged again, "Nothing, nothing at all."

Du Zhengyi was full of suspicion, but he could be certain that Luo Qi hadn't used his Yajian to probe his brain—he hadn't even tried once. His silence was received by Luo Qi, and this time Luo Qi said, "I know you must know something, you just don't want to say it."

Du Zhengyi felt a bit awkward. Luo Qi saw it and offered him a way out, saying loudly and childishly, "Forget it if you won't say!"

But he didn't let him off that easily; his cunning eyes stared at Du Zhengyi and he added, "I know Guan Yushan lived here, it must have been to guard something."

Du Zhengyi tried his best not to let his facial expression react, but he knew he had failed again from the bright smile on Luo Qi's face. Du Zhengyi looked at Luo Qi with annoyance; he knew they were too familiar with each other. Although they hadn't known each other long enough to be old friends, several brushes with death and their refusal to abandon one another had rapidly closed the distance between them. A bond forged in life and death was the most ancient form of Magic, and he was finding it increasingly difficult to hide anything from Luo Qi; Luo Qi was extremely adept at reading him. If there were a course called 'Du Zhengyi', Luo Qi would eventually become the class representative.

"There must be some secret here too." Luo Qi said, which was particularly annoying. "Brother, you don't have to tell me anything. You will definitely choose loyalty, but I can guess for myself. Everything I know is what I've guessed; I haven't violated your principle of loyalty in the slightest."

Du Zhengyi could no longer remain silent. He couldn't help but say, "Guan Yushan was indeed guarding something, but I assure you, it is completely different from what you think. Moreover, with Guan Yushan's death, Gushan suffered a huge loss, and the thing Guan Yushan was guarding no longer exists. Do not dwell on this matter anymore."

"Oh." Luo Qi nodded submissively, but unexpectedly followed up by saying, "I understand. Because Guan Yushan died, Gushan's loss forced Pei Shu to go into seclusion; he is trying to find a way to make up for this huge loss, right?"

Du Zhengyi froze, staring at this little brat Luo Qi with annoyance, while simultaneously keeping his mouth tightly shut.

Luo Qi flashed his little white teeth at him and said, "They weren't just punishing Guan Yushan for marrying a human woman, and they weren't just trying to get rid of Guan Yushan, the man who discovered their secret. They had simply discovered that Guan Yushan was a Mage more important than his actual status suggested. Killing Guan Yushan was their first step; once this chess piece was moved, Pei Shu would leave the Qionglin, the Qionglin's politics would fall into a mess, and they would have won themselves several months of precious time."

Du Zhengyi made up his mind to ignore Luo Qi, but Luo Qi pushed another pawn forward, "Can I ask one last question? The thing Guan Yushan was guarding no longer exists—was it destroyed?"

His eyes didn't blink once, focused intently on Du Zhengyi, as he softly uttered the true final question, "Or is it that the thing Guan Yushan was guarding has actually fallen into their hands?"

Du Zhengyi believed he hadn't revealed anything, but that wretched little brat let out a long, knowing "Oh~~", which was as detestable as could be.

That little brat said, "So it has already fallen into their hands."

Du Zhengyi didn't speak; Luo Qi had guessed correctly. What was even worse was that he didn't know how many days were left until Luo Qi guessed even more things; Luo Qi was simply, damn it, a hammer in one hand and a shovel in the other, knocking here and digging there.