Chapter 706: Ornamental Pillar

"Hmm..."

Hearing Tang Zhao say this, Che Lin's brows furrowed even more.

Trouble, it was trouble.

But it was trouble that had a traceable path and could not be shirked.

"Although the Demon Sect might be killing two birds with one stone, wanting to make gains on both the Douya Tianmo and the Wind-Catching Sword fronts, looking at it now, the one they truly put effort into was the Wind-Catching Sword side."

"This line has been laid in ambush for a long time. They spread the name of the Wind-Catching Sword early on, yet only pretended to be a rudder master. They even had to provide cover layer by layer. For example, they actually hired a Sword Guest to impersonate the Wind-Catching Sword, and then sacrificed him without hesitation..."

What Tang Zhao was talking about was the first Sword Guest he had finished off, the one who shouted, "You should repent!"

That Sword Guest was indeed a proper Sword Guest, and one whose Sword Intent was related to "wind." That is to say, he was capable of impersonating the Wind-Catching Sword.

In fact, he did just that; even when fleeing for his life, he traveled by riding the wind, which shows his Sword Intent must have originally been like that.

Of course, in the end, he also died very cleanly.

Although it was because he encountered Tang Zhao—even a Sword Hero cannot escape a single sword strike, let alone a mere Sword Guest—the moment he shouted about the Moon God descending, it was less like calling out to the Moon God for help and more like a final declaration before death.

In that instant, if one ignored his stance, he could be considered as viewing death as returning home.

Actually, this is normal; although Demon Sect people are shameless and despicable, there are truly those among them who do not fear death.

Those who believe in the Moon God to the point of obsession, who firmly believe they are the righteous path and do not feel like pests being exterminated at all, but rather feel they are dying for their faith, have quite a flair for meeting death with generosity.

Therefore, that person dying so cleanly did not seem strange to any of them at the time.

But if one thinks a step deeper, what if he had long anticipated the outcome, or rather, had come specifically to die?

Sacrificing him to create a blind spot with no evidence, letting the Wind-Catching Sword completely disappear, would make the real Wind-Catching Sword completely safe.

This is very effective, only the cost is high.

To have a proper Sword Guest willingly die as a substitute.

Looking at that pious intensity of his, he must have been a true Demon Sect believer, not a scapegoat found at the last minute.

This at least shows that what the Wind-Catching Sword seeks is truly great. Great enough that a Sword Guest of his own sect must die for him, that a Tianmo must make way for him, and framing a Town Guardian is even more of a convenient matter.

Can the level of this conspiracy be low?

At the very least, it involves a province; at its largest, it likely involves the safety of the world.

However, he died too cleanly, so there was no way to extract an answer directly from his mouth. But it is not as if everything is fine just because he died; knowing the Demon Sect has this scheme, if one cannot get to the bottom of it, there will likely be endless future troubles. Even Tang Zhao could not say, "Anyway, this isn't my Yunzhou business, you Youzhou people go figure it out yourselves." He knew the principle of "when the lips are gone, the teeth are cold."

Of course, no one would blame Tang Zhao for acting too fast just now or not leaving a live captive: in the same realm of Sword Hero, can one expect to easily capture an opponent alive? If there is a chance to kill, one must naturally kill first, then investigate slowly.

Now, the clue most worth tracking is actually still Che Lin.

It is still for that reason: for such a big conspiracy, why deal with Che Lin first?

If it was because he was in the way of the Demon Cave here, that was completely unnecessary. If not for Tang Zhao, Che Lin would not have been able to play any role here; one Douya Tianmo cooperating with a Demon Sect Sword Guest would be enough to make him suffer, and adding one Chi Qianli would be the same. Going to great lengths to beat the grass and startle the snake beforehand is not necessarily better than directly luring him into the Demon Cave to surround and kill him.

Look at Chi Qianli, who is about the same as him, and he had no issues at all.

If it was for the subsequent convenience of the Wind-Catching Sword to operate in Kuan Cheng—then the Wind-Catching Sword's goal is huge, surely he wouldn't be circling around Kuan Cheng's tiny plot of land later? Does he want to expand into Youzhou? Or even rush out of Youzhou and head toward the Imperial Court?

At that time, what would it have to do with Che Lin?

Although Tang Zhao once felt Che Lin was a bit like Xing Ji back then, they have too many differences; not to mention temperament, just speaking of status—as fellow Town Guardians, the difference in their standing is vast. Xing Ji himself said his specialty was "having a big backer," always being a confidant of the Gaoyuan Marquis; calling him a "close minister" is not an exaggeration. Being a Town Guardian was just a transition. In his twenties, he was one step away from being a Sword Hero; even if he made a mistake, he could be protected and continue to be heavily used. As a young generation among Sword Heroes, he was recognized early on as future high-level leadership.

Che Lin is far inferior; in the position of Town Guardian, he is merely holding the fort. Che Lin's ideal is to muddle through until retirement as a Patrol Inspector with lots of money, few tasks, and prestige, and even that requires him to run around making connections; he might not even manage to get that.

That is to say, Che Lin does not even have the qualifications to be an undercover introducer or a stepping stone. When the Wind-Catching Sword passes by him, he actually doesn't even need to give him a glance.

Then, why on earth did the Wind-Catching Sword, a Sword Hero, have to arrange a hand for Che Lin in his busy schedule?

It can only be that ornamental pillar.

What was recorded on the ornamental pillar, or perhaps what could have been recorded.

After all, the commendation of the ornamental pillar is subjective, but the record of the ornamental pillar is objective. Che Lin is still considered honest; he only uses objective merits to subjectively commend himself. So, the ornamental pillar might have recorded something even he himself did not know. That thing brought him a great disaster.

Che Lin sighed and said, "If I had known it would come to this, why did I do it in the first place?"

Now that he thinks about it carefully, he feels that a sword that objectively and truthfully records the facts of the Waijie is particularly dangerous.

Especially since he is also a person in the officialdom.

Sometimes, some things should be turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to, but when he stands there, it makes people distrust him. Who doesn't have secrets? Where would you, a human-shaped camera, not be disliked?

This was already being targeted by a Tianmo; counter-killing is still manageable, but if one were targeted by "one's own people" in the future, that would be called disappearing without a sound.

But now it is too late to regret; the Sword Image cannot be changed—it is not that it cannot be changed, once one reaches Sword Immortal, one can change it. Every Sword Immortal has one chance to recast their Sword Image, which is why every Sword Immortal's Sword Image is so lofty and grand, as if they had been aiming to become immortals and sages since birth.

But that also requires him to be able to become a Sword Immortal. Besides, if he is already a Sword Immortal, what does it matter whether he changes it or not?

Che Lin said somewhat helplessly, "My heart is in chaos now, I fear I don't have the patience to look at it without missing a thing. How about this, I release it and you two help me look? But please help me keep it secret."

Chi Qianli said, "Brother, you are truly bold. You can let people look at this too?"

Having fought side by side once, he only spoke so clearly because he considered Che Lin one of his own—although a Sword Image is not as secretive as Sword Intent, it is not something for outsiders to study up and down. If the other party harbors evil intentions, you will always be a step behind them in future fights.

Che Lin released his Sword Image without hesitation, and it stood on the ground like a wooden stake. If they hadn't already known it was an ornamental pillar, they would have really thought it was a foundation pile driven in from somewhere. He said, "Now I cannot worry about that. I am afraid I have been blinded and ruined a major matter. And I can only ask the two of you to help me look. Other than you two, I actually cannot trust anyone else."

Chi Qianli was startled, then suddenly realized: the ornamental pillar does indeed sound extraordinary, but his Sword Image is mainly for auxiliary cultivation, the battlefield is not always useful, and it looks so "atypical." If they hadn't known the inside story, how many people could have discovered how it operates on their own?

Knowing the inside story means being one of their own, right?

Only one's own people know, so how did the Tianmo know? And how could it target it?

This in itself explains the problem.

Chi Qianli shook his head and said, "It seems I have to screen my brothers when I go back."

Tang Zhao suddenly raised his eyebrows at this moment and said, "Perhaps that is true!"

Che Lin asked curiously, "What have you thought of?"

Tang Zhao said, "I have thought of some things. But this cannot be spoken of blindly; wait until I find evidence before saying more."

This was said halfway, with the most crucial part hidden and not spoken, which was very annoying. Even Chi Qianli couldn't help but curl his lip; if this were in a public case storytelling book, if he didn't speak today, he definitely wouldn't be able to speak tomorrow. It was just that he relied on having the strongest strength, so even if he swallowed the key clue, he wouldn't encounter a plot-mandated death.

Che Lin said, "Then you just take a look—I am still counting on you to point out the way through the maze."

Tang Zhao knew what he meant. He came before the ornamental pillar and first released a light screen to cover the situation inside, ensuring the information would not leak, before saying, "You enlarge the Sword Image."

Che Lin waved his hand, and that ornamental pillar suddenly expanded, in an instant growing to the height of a towering tree. Although it was still wood, one could see the reliefs on the pillar head—a heaven-facing roarer above and a Sumero base below—and the inscriptions carved one by one on the pillar shaft were clearly visible.

Those characters were each the size of a kidney bean, and though they were in a neat, official script, they were vigorous and powerful, possessing the posture of dripping ink and an irresistible sharpness.

Only then did it have five-tenths the aura of an ornamental pillar.

Tang Zhao looked up to observe it, sighing in admiration to himself, and then began to look from the bottom up.

Che Lin said, "Tang Commander, you might as well look from the top down. My recent battle records are all recorded from the top; the ones below are all from the past."

Tang Zhao said, "I want to look from the beginning. As for the top, I will trouble Town Guardian Che and Town Guardian Chi to look at those. I will look upwards, you two look downwards, and if we look from both sides, the efficiency will be higher."

Che Lin said, "That works too, but you could look from the middle." He pointed to a certain height, "These are all my battle records after becoming a Sword Guest. Those below..."

He hesitated for a moment and said, "Below are the old affairs of my life from childhood."

Chi Qianli was somewhat surprised and said, "From how small?"

Che Lin was somewhat embarrassed and said, "From when I was just born..."

Chi Qianli exclaimed, "That's impressive..."

A Sword Image will automatically record a Sword Guest's previous experiences, even starting from when they were just born. Aside from being somewhat amusing, it mostly indicates that the Sword Guest and the sword are deeply integrated and highly compatible. Although everyone must successfully match with a sword to become a Sword Guest, the relationships actually vary in depth. If one were to use interpersonal relationships as an analogy, some swords and Sword Guests are merely partners with similar interests, some are even just drinking buddies, while others are soulmates.

Innate compatibility, acquired effort, and a boundless future.

Tang Zhao was also quite interested and said, "If you were to commend the things from your childhood, could they also provide a blessing?"

Che Lin was even more embarrassed and said, "As long as I can bring myself to do it... even the fact that I didn't wet the bed when I was a child could count as a merit. It's just that I haven't reached that point yet, so I always start commending from after I became a Sword Guest. I don't care about the merits from before I was a Sword Guest."

Tang Zhao was scanning it; he was a person who read and did research, so he read text very quickly. With the increase in his cultivation, he was increasingly able to read ten lines at a glance, or even a hundred. He had already read quite a bit when he suddenly said, "Actually, you should look back at them more often."

Che Lin let out an "Ah?" and suddenly felt something was not quite right.

Tang Zhao, however, suddenly changed the subject and said, "When you previously said you wanted me to provide guidance, you naturally didn't just mean the matters at hand, but also matters of the future, right? Do you still remember me telling you to think about the ancient meaning of the ornamental pillar?"

"The ornamental pillar was originally made of wood, also known as the 'Huan' pillar or the 'Slander' wood. It was originally a wooden board for a monarch to allow the common people to offer remonstrances for self-reflection. At first, it was just a piece of wood three feet high where anyone could directly write down the monarch's faults. The monarch would not take offense, but instead humbly accept the advice and use it to warn and encourage himself; only then could he lead the country and the people on the correct path. I don't know when it started, but the 'Slander' wood became taller and taller, and more and more magnificent, until it was beyond the reach of the common people, who could no longer speak directly. The ornamental pillar long ago lost its original purpose and turned into the ornamental pillar of today, used only for commendations and awards."

"Town Guardian Che, we do not consider ourselves monarchs, but in doing things as a person, it is inevitable to make mistakes. Even a wise man may have a thousand worries and still lose one, not to mention that you and I hold a little bit of power in our hands, and we are both just Mortals. If you only record your own merits and repeatedly savor them, you will inevitably feel more and more that your achievements are outstanding, becoming even more adrift and oblivious. How then can you distinguish the wrong path? Why not restore the ornamental pillar to a 'Huan' pillar? Record both merits and faults; use the merits to encourage yourself and the faults to warn yourself. If you then add that blessing to your own body, would that not be more in line with the vow you made back then?"