Chapter 779: Precisely So You Can Go Back and Explain Yourself

Early the next morning, after Wei's manpower had been redeployed, everyone began moving out to start a new day of searching.

Niu Youdao and the others dragged their feet, plainly reluctant to leave the protection of Wei's forces.

"Niu Youdao, my master asked me to remind you of something. There's no point following us. If you annoy us, then when we run into one of your enemies, if the people below us can't keep their mouths shut and your whereabouts happen to leak, don't blame us."

The warning also carried a threat.

Yao Xianding had sent a disciple over to offer that piece of advice.

It was not an excessive warning.

The fact that Wei's side still had the patience to speak properly with Niu Youdao at all was already more than could reasonably be expected.

Of course, that was also related to Niu Youdao's own deterrent power.

He had opened a slaughter in Tiangu, and the Heavenly Sword Talismans in his hand were not ornaments.

Add Wu Zhaoxing standing beside him, and if Wei pushed matters too far and a fight truly broke out, it would have to pay a certain price as well.

That was the basis on which Wei was willing to speak politely.

In short, Wei's three major sects did not want Niu Youdao following them and drawing too many hostile factions toward their group. If anything changed, the trouble could become severe.

Niu Youdao and the others watched Wei's cultivators leave, their reluctant looks drawing ridicule from more than a few people on Wei's side.

From those reactions, Wu Zhaoxing and the others could tell exactly what those people were thinking.

They looked at Niu Youdao as though he were a dog wagging its tail and begging for mercy.

Yun Ji asked him, "You've grown used to summoning wind and rain in Nanzhou. Now you've entered this place and fallen this far. That difference doesn't feel very pleasant, does it?"

Niu Youdao replied calmly, "You think I care about that?"

Yun Ji said, "You truly don't care at all?"

Niu Youdao smiled faintly. "How can swallows and sparrows know the aspirations of a great swan?"

His eyes were fixed on the direction He Xinru had taken.

The reason he had remained behind under the eyes of everyone mocking him was precisely to confirm He Xinru's route and save himself trouble at the beginning of the pursuit.

Once all of Wei's people had left, Niu Youdao made no immediate move to follow them.

Instead, he led the other three back into the valley where the central command of Wei's three major sects had spent the night.

He carefully examined every trace left behind in the valley, hoping to find something he could use.

In the end, he found no useful clue.

That did not matter.

Niu Youdao had intended to wait in the first place.

Following immediately would have been inappropriate.

Roughly four hours later, he finally led the others out of the valley and headed in the direction He Xinru had disappeared.

For Wu Zhaoxing and the others, the evidence proved that Niu Youdao truly did have his own people among Wei's forces.

Before long, they began seeing trail markers similar to those Xu Fuhua had left and followed them onward.

Around noon, they caught up to He Xinru.

Just as He Xinru had said, there were five people in his group.

When the two sides met, one of He Xinru's fellow disciples spoke with no politeness at all.

"Niu Youdao, why are you following us? I advise you not to treat Wei's warning as wind passing your ears. Otherwise, you'll only humiliate yourself!"

He Xinru was not a disciple of any of Wei's three major sects.

Among the disciples sent here by those three sects, Xiaoyue Pavilion had failed to plant a single person.

That his fellow disciple dared speak to Niu Youdao in such a tone was naturally because everything he had seen and heard recently had emboldened him.

He had already begun looking down on Niu Youdao from above.

Niu Youdao ignored him.

He only observed He Xinru's reaction.

He Xinru seemed to struggle inwardly for a moment, but in the end he gave a slight nod.

Having received the all-clear signal and confirmed there were no other Wei cultivators nearby, Niu Youdao stood calmly with both hands resting on his sword.

"Quickly. Do it."

The instant those words fell, the men opposite immediately went on high alert.

There was fear in their expressions as well.

After all, Wu Zhaoxing was standing on this side.

But the sudden change came from within their own group.

Cold light flashed from He Xinru's hand.

Blood sprayed.

Two screams rang out.

His sudden ambush dropped two men with a single sword stroke.

He immediately flashed backward.

The remaining fellow disciples spun around in shock to face him.

Now that they knew which man was one of their own, Wu Zhaoxing, Yun Ji, and Yun Huan moved at once.

All three attacked simultaneously.

From the first move, every strike was a killing move.

They showed no mercy.

The ambushed men were thrown into panic.

As Niu Youdao had said, they had to move quickly.

The longer the fight lasted, the greater the chance the disturbance would draw unnecessary trouble.

Winds from the fighting swept over Niu Youdao, making his clothes snap violently.

He did not move.

Expressionless, he stood leaning on his sword and watched coldly as though the matter had nothing to do with him, while at the same time scanning the surroundings for any abnormal movement.

Just as he often said, he did not like fighting and killing.

If someone else could act for him, he would not casually take action himself.

If a problem could be solved with words, he would not use his hands.

If it could be solved with his head, he would not use his hands either.

Sometimes he could not even be bothered to use his mouth.

He had always believed fighting and killing were too dangerous.

Being able to fight did not mean much.

Years of roaming the jianghu had taught him that even the finest horse stumbled eventually.

Who knew when one might encounter someone pretending to be a pig while hiding the strength of a tiger?

Someone like himself, for example.

Booming sounds erupted.

The fight had begun abruptly, and it ended just as quickly.

With a man like Wu Zhaoxing taking action, the outcome was never much in doubt.

Once the short, decisive battle ended, every one of He Xinru's fellow disciples lay in pools of blood.

Only He Xinru remained standing, his complexion rather poor.

"Keep watch around us."

Niu Youdao lifted one hand from the hilt of his sword and gave the order in a tranquil voice.

He had watched several people fall without so much as blinking.

It was as though the dead were no more than weeds.

At least on the surface, not the slightest change of expression could be seen.

Wu Zhaoxing and the Yun mother and son exchanged glances.

They understood.

Niu Youdao was telling them to withdraw so that he and He Xinru could speak privately.

The three scattered and took up positions around the area to stand guard.

He Xinru's gaze moved back and forth across the corpses of his fellow disciples.

Then he looked up and found Niu Youdao staring coldly at him.

He sensed the ruthless hardness hidden beneath the other man's calm exterior, and a chill rose in his heart.

Even so, he walked over.

Niu Youdao merely stared at him without speaking.

He Xinru's lips moved several times.

He swallowed dryly, then finally asked, "Why did they have to die? Now that they're dead, I've exposed myself. How am I supposed to explain this when I go back?"

Niu Youdao finally spoke.

"Precisely so you can go back and explain yourself, they had to die. Go back now and report that you encountered the overseas cultivators, who robbed and ambushed your group."

He Xinru did not understand. "At least tell me why. Otherwise, if people question me and I don't know how to answer, it'll be easy to expose the lie."

The matter was too important.

Niu Youdao would not and could not tell him the truth.

If anything went wrong here, Xu Fuhua's side could be implicated as well.

That could ruin Niu Youdao's entire plan.

He had only just met He Xinru.

He knew nothing at all about what kind of man he truly was.

Even after observing him calmly, he could not confirm it.

So Niu Youdao only needed to pressure him into carrying out the task.

He did not need He Xinru to know too much.

Knowing more would contribute nothing to the plan.

Niu Youdao shook his head.

"It isn't that complicated, and you don't need to think about it so deeply. I won't ask you to do anything complicated either."

"Just put the blame on the overseas cultivators."

"If people ask about details you don't know, say you don't know. Push everything onto them."

"It's very simple."

"Surely you don't need me to teach you how to handle something this minor."

After Niu Youdao spoke that plainly, He Xinru saw there was no point continuing to ask even though he badly wanted to understand what was truly happening.

He silently nodded.

Niu Youdao gave him several more instructions about how they would make contact afterward, then added, "It wouldn't look right for you to return completely unharmed. Dress yourself up a little. Give me your sword."

He extended a hand.

He Xinru roughly understood what he meant.

He reversed his grip and passed over the hilt.

Niu Youdao swept the sword out.

He Xinru closed his eyes.

He felt the top of his head loosen, while the scabbard in his hand gave a tremor.

There was no pain.

When he opened his eyes again, his sword had already returned to its sheath.

His hair drifted down around him.

He raised a hand and touched his head.

Only then did he realize Niu Youdao had merely cut apart his topknot.

He released a quiet breath.

For a moment, he had thought he was about to suffer some flesh wound.

"That should be enough."

Niu Youdao calmly nodded toward him in dismissal.

"You've worked hard. You may go."

He Xinru pointed toward the corpses on the ground. "After I make my report, they may come back to investigate. I should arrange the scene a little."

"You have more important things to do," Niu Youdao said. "Don't waste your effort on something this small. Someone else will handle it."

With his hair hanging loose, He Xinru nodded.

He cupped his hands in farewell and quickly flashed away.

Niu Youdao turned and beckoned.

Wu Zhaoxing and the others returned.

Once again, Yun Huan drew the menial work of cleaning up the scene.

What sworn brotherhood?

Was this how one treated a sworn brother, making him handle errands like a servant?

Yun Huan grumbled inwardly.

Yet ever since Niu Youdao began dealing with his mother, Yun Huan had stopped mentioning their sworn-brother relationship entirely.

The generations were getting far too tangled.

It made his head hurt.

After arranging the scene to fit the story, Niu Youdao and the others immediately withdrew to hide at a distance.

Wu Zhaoxing and the Yun mother and son still could not understand what he was doing.

Earlier he had made Xu Fuhua kill his fellow disciples.

Now he had done almost exactly the same thing again.

On both occasions, after the killings Niu Youdao had told them to move away.

They had never heard what he discussed with his hidden contacts afterward.

If they had, they would certainly have been able to infer what he was trying to accomplish.

At present, their strongest suspicion was that Niu Youdao wanted to provoke internal conflict among the various powers, muddy the water, and then fish in troubled currents.

They asked.

Niu Youdao refused to reveal the truth.

Further questions were useless, so they stopped asking.

At the beginning, Niu Youdao had explained some matters to them clearly.

But as events progressed and he succeeded in steadying their hearts, he gradually returned to his old habit of not exposing his hidden cards casually.

He kept the pace of the entire situation firmly under his own control and did not want outsiders interfering easily.

Different people saw the same matter differently.

One person thought one method best, another favored a different one.

Who was clever and who was foolish could become impossible to settle.

The more foolish a person was, the more likely he was to believe himself intelligent.

Niu Youdao saw no need to compare anyone's intellect.

He did not want to waste energy persuading people or arguing every point.

Arguments could easily open cracks between them.

So long as he could control something himself, he preferred to control it himself.

In terms of pacing, he knew when to advance and when to retreat.

He managed it well.

Even when he refused to explain himself, Wu Zhaoxing and the others found it difficult to resent him.

They hid for another full day.

Then the group reappeared.

Just as they had followed Xu Fuhua before, they now began following the trail markers He Xinru had left behind.

[End of Chapter 779]