Chapter 34

In the living room, the atmosphere became increasingly heavy. Su Fan sat at the very end, not making a sound, but thinking quietly.

When he heard the news of Zhou Buyu's death, he was also very shocked and surprised. No wonder his master wanted him to return quickly.

Zhou Buyu was not just any inner sect disciple; Zhou Buyu's status was even higher than some inner sect elders.

Many times, he had already participated in the affairs of the Huashan Sect.

So his death was truly shocking, especially since the Huashan Sect, like many sects, only had one Sect Leader successor. This was not a fantasy world where some sects had many true disciples who could inherit the Sect Leader position.

This was just a low-martial world; each sect at most cultivated one or two Sect Leader successors, and the Huashan Sect only had one per generation.

They dared not cultivate too many; one reason was insufficient resources, and the other was the fear of internal friction.

So Zhou Buyu's sudden death meant the Sect Leader successor was gone in an instant. This also disrupted the Huashan Sect's future deployment. If things went poorly, there would be no one to succeed, which was the most terrifying thing.

Being a Sect Leader of a sect was not that easy.

At the same time, regarding Zhou Buyu's death, Su Fan's first thought was that it was a conspiracy. As a successor to the sect, one rarely descended the mountain, especially when their strength was insufficient.

Even if they descended the mountain, they would carefully hide their identity.

Based on his understanding of Ning Qingyu, he would definitely be doubly careful, but Zhou Buyu was still killed.

His first thought was that there was a traitor within their own sect who had leaked the news.

"Could it be that the Sword Sect did it?"

It was no wonder Su Fan thought this way; after all, Su Fan could never forget the later Sword-Qi Conflict. Perhaps this time, Zhou Buyu's death was the fuse.

And the Sword Sect was not without motive. First of all, Zhou Buyu was a Qi Sect disciple; if he did not die, it would be very difficult for people from the Sword Sect to have a chance to become Sect Leader.

Did the Sword Sect not want to become the Sect Leader lineage?

Of course they wanted to. Becoming the Sect Leader meant obtaining more benefits.

Betraying fellow disciples for the sake of benefits was not impossible; politics were dirty and extremely dark.

As long as they paid a little bit, they could eliminate one person and then have a chance to rise to the top. Su Fan felt that if it were him, he would also have this idea.

Moreover, they did not need to make a move themselves; using a borrowed knife to kill was also very hard to trace back to them.

Of course, whether this was the case, Su Fan dared not be certain. After all, he was not in the sect on a daily basis, and he did not know who was loyal and who was treacherous within the sect.

"Buyu's death has two suspicious points. First, he descended the mountain secretly; not many people knew he descended the mountain, only some people in our inner sect knew."

"And I also repeatedly warned him when he descended the mountain, and everyone knows his personality—he is low-key. Being ambushed and killed by the Demonic Cult is a problem."

"Sect Leader, do you mean there is a traitor in our sect?"

Once these words were spoken, the atmosphere of the entire living room instantly became strange and extremely stiff. The elders of the Sword Sect and Qi Sect immediately stared at each other.

Especially some elders of the Qi Sect, who looked at the Sword Sect with suspicion, because if there was a traitor, the greatest possibility was the Sword Sect.

So at this moment, the elders of the Sword Sect were all anxious.

"Sect Leader, this matter was definitely not done by our Sword Sect!"

Sword Sect elder Meng Qinglin hurriedly said.

"Senior Brother Meng, I did not say this was the Sword Sect." Ning Qingyu shook his head. He also did not believe the Sword Sect would do such a thing. Once it was truly investigated, the blow to the Huashan Sect would be very great.

It was very likely to cause the greatest conflict between the Sword Sect and the Qi Sect.

This kind of responsibility was something no one dared to bear.

But to say there was no suspicion was definitely impossible.

"Sect Leader..."

"Junior Brothers, wait for me to finish speaking. I know, and I also believe in all of you Senior Brothers. After all, Buyu was also watched by all of you as he grew up, and you all agreed to him becoming the Sect Leader successor."

Ning Qingyu's words left everyone with nothing to say, and they could only remain silent.

Seeing this, Ning Qingyu continued: "Just now was the first question. The second is, Poison Demon Shangren is, after all, an expert who has been famous for a long time, although he is a demon of the Demonic Cult."

"But they rarely bully the weak, especially those with higher cultivation; they are even more arrogant, so they would not make a move against a junior, even if Buyu was the Sect Leader successor."

"Unless Buyu provoked the other party, but given Buyu's personality, it is impossible for him to actively provoke this Poison Demon."

Ning Qingyu's words once again made everyone's expressions shift.

Indeed, they also agreed with the Sect Leader's words. The higher the cultivation of a person, the more arrogant they were, especially those from the Demonic Cult. Although their temperaments were strange, they rarely saw true experts make a move against juniors.

And often, some hypocrites of the righteous path would instead bully the weak.

Of course, it was not absolute.

"But, Sect Leader, Buyu did indeed die under the Poison Fiend Palm."

Business Elder Fang Qingshan immediately said.

"That's right, Sect Leader. Buyu died under the Poison Fiend Palm; how do you explain this? The Jianghu knows that the Poison Fiend Palm is the signature technique of that old ghost, the Poison Demon."

Xiong Qingyuan could not help but say a sentence.

Regarding the Poison Demon, Xiong Qingyuan was quite familiar. Ten years ago, he had fought with the other party, and in the end, he lost by one move. If it weren't for the Sect Leader arriving in time, he probably would have died under the other party's palm.

He was quite familiar with the other party's signature technique.

"This is a fact, but although the Poison Fiend Palm is the Poison Demon's signature technique, he is not the only one who knows the Poison Fiend Palm."

"Then, Sect Leader, do you mean the Poison Demon's disciple? That's not right. With Buyu's strength, even if the Poison Demon's disciple is first-class, it would not be that easy to kill him."

"No, the Poison Demon has no disciples." Ning Qingyu shook his head. Regarding the experts of the Demonic Cult, the Huashan Sect had detailed intelligence on every situation.

And the demons of the Demonic Cult were all selfish and self-interested; they rarely took disciples, and even if they did, they all had various ulterior motives. Wanting them to teach their true signature skills was absolutely impossible.

"Then this..."

Everyone was confused.

They did not know what the Sect Leader meant.

Seeing this, Ning Qingyu prepared to say something, but suddenly thought of something, frowned, and then suddenly stopped. What he originally wanted to say, he did not say again.

Instead, he said: "Buyu's death, revenge must definitely be taken. I said we need to discuss at length; the most important thing right now is the Sect Leader successor of the Huashan Sect. This is the most urgent matter at the moment."

He was now over sixty years old; this age was not small. He originally planned to wait for Buyu to break through to first-class, then he would retire as Sect Leader and let Zhou Buyu take over the Huashan Sect. However, it just so happened that at this time, Zhou Buyu died, disrupting all his deployments.

"Do you have any thoughts?"

Ning Qingyu's words made everyone quiet. Before, wanting to avenge Zhou Buyu was a kind of angry spirit of being united against a common enemy.

But now, the Sect Leader successor represented benefits. Everyone looked at each other one after another.

They definitely had their own plans in their hearts.

"Forget it, everyone go back and consider this matter first, and then we will discuss it together."

Seeing this, Ning Qingyu rubbed his eyebrows and said: "Senior Brother Zhou, Senior Brother Xiong, and Bufan, stay behind."