Chapter 265: My Ranking Went Up by One

The fact that Shopkeeper Pan could say that meant he had approved of Niu Youdao's method from the beginning. That was why he had helped keep it secret.

His senior brother patted him on the shoulder. "I understand. No need to explain."

Shopkeeper Pan sighed again. "Something we couldn't do, he handled almost casually... So young, yet already capable of methods like this. No wonder he managed to establish himself in the two commanderies!"

His senior brother nodded. "We've spent this entire journey eating wind and sleeping under the open sky, hiding our tracks while making sure we could reinforce him at any moment. It's worn us out badly. When the long road kept going and the situation he predicted never appeared, everyone started complaining. In the end, the facts proved his judgment was right. Everything that's happened before our eyes shows he really does have ability, and that even the unexpected situations remained within his control."

"That's not a bad thing. It's a good thing. I only hope he can keep it up. This concerns the future of Liuxian Sect and the fate of every disciple in it. If the matter succeeds, Junior Brother Quan won't have sacrificed himself for nothing!"

Of the two Golden Core Realm cultivators killed by the tall, thin man in the desert, one had been a Liuxian Sect disciple.

Shopkeeper Pan nodded silently, then exhaled. "Senior Brother, let's go see him. He's still waiting for our news."

The two left the shop and headed straight for the Heavenly Lake Inn. When they knocked on Niu Youdao's door, they discovered that neither Niu Youdao nor Black Peony was there.

Duan Hu received them and explained that Niu Youdao had gone to eat and drink with Linghu Qiu. He asked them to wait. Shopkeeper Zuo of Fuyun Sect and one of his fellow disciples had already arrived and were waiting inside.

The two sides looked at one another and smiled. Certain things needed no explanation. Meeting here at a time like this obviously meant Fuyun Sect had obtained results as well. Duan Hu invited both sides to have tea. They waited that way for a little over an hour before Niu Youdao and Black Peony finally returned.

"Master Dao!"

Everyone stood together and greeted him politely. Their manner was noticeably more respectful than before. Some things spoke louder than anything else. Once a man displayed genuine ability, he naturally earned the respect that came with it.

Black Peony moved a chair behind Niu Youdao. He gestured for everyone to sit, then seated himself naturally as well. By now, he had long grown accustomed to Black Peony attending to him.

"Did you get results?" Niu Youdao asked.

"We did," Shopkeeper Pan and Shopkeeper Zuo answered in unison.

Both paused, glanced at one another, then each extended a hand. "You first, you first..."

"No hurry. One at a time." Niu Youdao pointed at Shopkeeper Pan. "Start with the one who impersonated you."

The two men then reported their findings in turn. The man who had impersonated Shopkeeper Pan was named Ye Sanlang. The one interrogated by Fuyun Sect was named Shan Changcheng. Together with the two dead men, all four had served under Zhuo Chao. Nominally, all of them were independent cultivators. In truth, they belonged to the cultivation world's notorious assassin organization, Xiaoyue Pavilion. Neither prisoner knew why Niu Youdao had been targeted. They had simply obeyed Zhuo Chao's orders.

As for who had given Zhuo Chao his orders, the organization's rules meant Zhuo Chao would never have told them, and they would never have asked. So they did not know.

They knew even less about how many people Xiaoyue Pavilion possessed or any other internal details. The organization would never allow them access to information of that kind.

What they did know was that Zhuo Chao had six men under him. Counting Zhuo Chao himself, the cell consisted of seven people. Of those seven, only these five had fallen into Niu Youdao's net.

Normally, even the subordinates did not know where one another were hidden, or even one another's real names. They addressed one another only by code names. Each maintained a single line of contact with Zhuo Chao and rarely met at all. They might see one another only when a mission required it. Once the task ended, each person quietly disappeared again. This time had been the same. Zhuo Chao had summoned them, and only then had they gathered.

Combined with the details of the operation itself, that was essentially everything the two prisoners had confessed. Their accounts matched on the major points.

After listening, Niu Youdao remained silent for a long time before slowly saying, "So in other words, neither of them knows much about Xiaoyue Pavilion's internal workings. They practically know nothing at all."

Shopkeeper Pan said, "That's only reasonable. Xiaoyue Pavilion operates across the various states and handles work that can't be brought into the light. They must have a great deal of manpower. Without strict secrecy, information would leak far too easily."

"If every member knew Xiaoyue Pavilion's internal affairs inside and out, this assassin organization could never have remained so mysterious."

Niu Youdao nodded quietly, then asked, "Seven people, but only five fell into our hands. They don't know what the other two were doing?"

Shopkeeper Zuo said, "They said everyone had separate assignments. Under the organization's rules, each person completes only his own task and isn't allowed to ask about anyone else's. They don't even know whether the other two came to Boundless Pavilion."

Shopkeeper Pan nodded to confirm it. Niu Youdao fell silent again. He had wanted to ask whether the mission had involved Linghu Qiu—for example, whether Linghu Qiu being lured away beforehand had been part of their plan. Now it appeared there was no way to verify that answer.

Thinking about it now, Zhuo Chao's death seemed rather unfortunate. As the leader of these men, Zhuo Chao should have known considerably more.

What Niu Youdao most wanted to know was the identity of the so-called "older female cousin" Shao Liuer had mentioned in Chen Guishuo's intelligence, the same woman Shao Pingbo called "Sister Zhao."

In fact, even before Chen Guishuo had sent that report, Niu Youdao had already asked Shang Chaozong's side to secretly investigate Shao Pingbo's family connections. Once Chen Guishuo's intelligence arrived, naturally the investigation became even more thorough. Yet nothing useful had turned up. What they found was almost exactly what Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting had already known.

Shao Dengyun had served under Prince Ning, Shang Jianbo, in his younger years. There was no possibility Shang Jianbo would have failed to understand the family circumstances of an important subordinate like Shao Dengyun.

Shao Dengyun's own brothers and sisters had all died in the wars long ago. His first wife seemed to have had an elder sister, but she too was said to have died many years ago. No one had ever heard of Shao Pingbo having any other maternal cousins. If one insisted on identifying a possible connection from what was known, the only possibility would be Madam Ruan's side.

But Madam Ruan's entire clan appeared to have been exterminated. With Madam Ruan and her sons dead as well, the Ruan family had been wiped out almost completely. Logically, even if someone from the Ruan side did remain, there was no reason they would help Shao Pingbo.

If the Ruan family truly possessed such a powerful connection, how would Shao Pingbo ever have dared move against Madam Ruan in the first place? Years of warfare had broken far too many trails. The hope of uncovering the truth now was vanishingly small. But at the time, Niu Youdao had had no choice. Zhuo Chao's strength had simply been too frightening. If Niu Youdao had not seized the opening and acted decisively, no one could have guaranteed what might happen.

After another long silence, he slowly said, "Do this. Go back and keep interrogating them, slowly if necessary. Don't limit yourselves to this mission. Ask about previous assignments they've carried out, whether they ever noticed anything unusual, things like that. There's no harm in learning as much as we can."

"All right!" both sides agreed.

Everyone took their leave. Once the outsiders had gone and only his own people remained, Niu Youdao paced the room with his brow tightly furrowed. Again and again, he murmured the same words under his breath.

"Xiaoyue Pavilion... Xiaoyue Pavilion..."

He had heard of Xiaoyue Pavilion before. The Shangqing Record of Gleanings contained descriptions of it. He even suspected that he might already have crossed hands with Xiaoyue Pavilion's people back at Duyun Mountain. What he had not expected was for an organization this secretive to actually step forward on Shao Pingbo's behalf. Still, this did confirm his earlier suspicion.

There was indeed some mysterious force helping Shao Pingbo while refusing to openly stand behind him. That was exactly why Niu Youdao had found it so mysterious. Now he seemed to have found the answer. The nature of Xiaoyue Pavilion itself meant it would never expose itself lightly.

He could imagine that simply because Song Shu and Chen Guishuo had seen this so-called "older female cousin," Xiaoyue Pavilion's usual way of doing things would almost certainly call for silencing both men.

The fact that neither had been touched yet was probably only because Shao Pingbo still trusted them. The instant either man behaved abnormally, death would almost certainly follow. Running into an organization like this gave Niu Youdao a headache. He understood that a structure of this kind was fundamentally different from an ordinary sect. With a sect, once you caught one member, the trail could often lead back to everyone else.

With an assassin organization like this, even if you crushed one entire branch, it was still only the loss of that branch. It was extremely difficult to implicate the whole organization or strike every part of it. Unless absolutely necessary, he had no desire to make an enemy of a vast force hidden in the shadows.

Black Peony looked equally worried. "Master Dao, Xiaoyue Pavilion is terrifying. Now that we've provoked them, I'm afraid we're in serious trouble."

Niu Youdao stopped beside her, standing half turned away. "You're overthinking it. I don't believe Xiaoyue Pavilion itself wants to deal with me."

"If Xiaoyue Pavilion had truly decided to act, we wouldn't have made it this far. Linghu Qiu couldn't protect me either."

"And Shao Pingbo has no ability to command the whole of Xiaoyue Pavilion. If he did, given how badly he wants me dead, I'd have spent all this time fleeing for my life instead of hiding peacefully in the two commanderies and cultivating."

"Then what were these Xiaoyue Pavilion people doing?" Black Peony asked in confusion.

Niu Youdao did not answer. The whole affair was shrouded in uncertainty. He could not see through it either, so there was no explanation he could give.

It did not look like Xiaoyue Pavilion as a whole wanted him dead. Perhaps this had been the personal decision of that "older female cousin."

Yet he found it hard to imagine that an organization like Xiaoyue Pavilion could truly know nothing about a move of this scale. And if the organization did know, why had it not stopped her?

Logically, unless someone offended its upper ranks, threatened the organization, or encroached on its interests, an assassin organization like this had no such thing as a personal feud. Ultimately, he simply knew too little about Xiaoyue Pavilion.

Perhaps only Shao Pingbo, that "older female cousin," and Xiaoyue Pavilion itself knew the real truth.

There was one thing, however, that he understood very clearly. If Xiaoyue Pavilion truly decided to come after him, there would be nowhere for him to hide.

Once he had thought that through, Niu Youdao gave a cold laugh. "If they come, they come. I'll take whatever they send!"

Qingshan Commandery. Construction of the Outer City beyond the commandery capital was already proceeding in full force.

Inside the Commandery Governor's residence, Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting were leaning over a map in the Hall of Martial Valor, discussing something, when a personal guard called from outside, "Your Highness!"

The two looked up. Bai Yao stood in the doorway. The Hall of Martial Valor was an important place for planning military affairs. No one was allowed to enter without permission. From the look of things, the guards clearly had not managed to stop Bai Yao. Shang Chaozong waved a hand and dismissed the personal guard. Bai Yao walked inside.

Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting quickly went to meet him and cupped their hands. "Does the cultivator need something?"

Bai Yao said expressionlessly, "The Golden Core Ranking has changed."

Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting looked at each other. Neither understood what he meant. What did changes to the Golden Core Ranking have to do with them? Had he barged into a hall used for military planning merely to report that?

Lan Ruoting asked, "Could it be that your own ranking changed?"

Bai Yao said blandly, "It did. My ranking went up by one."

He had forced his way into the Hall of Martial Valor for this? Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting were speechless. Surely this man was not so shallow.

Even so, both smiled and cupped their hands. "Congratulations, congratulations!"

Bai Yao said, "There's nothing to congratulate. I did nothing at all, and my ranking went up by one."

[End of Chapter 265]