Chapter 1009: No Idea Which Bastard Has Me Running Back and Forth

"Chao Shenghuai has disappeared?" Emissary Lu, the man leading the group, frowned. "When did this happen?"

The newcomer reported, "Yesterday. I went to another inside source to ask about Tu Yuanpei and learned that Myriad Beasts Sect is searching everywhere for Chao Shenghuai. The moment I heard Chao Shenghuai had disappeared, I knew it concerned the assignment that brought us here, so I immediately asked what happened. He said Chao Shenghuai was drinking at an inn in Myriad Forms City yesterday when an attendant suddenly called him away. After that, he never appeared again. Once the matter blew up, the Myriad Beasts Sect disciples who had gone with him investigated and discovered that someone had already made arrangements inside the inn. Chao Shenghuai very likely met with foul play..."

He then recounted everything he had learned from beginning to end, adding that despite mobilizing a great many people, Myriad Beasts Sect had yet to find any trace of Chao Shenghuai.

Emissary Lu's brow furrowed deeply. He paced back and forth before slowly saying, "He could have disappeared earlier. He could have disappeared later. Instead, he disappears the day before we arrive. Could there be something strange about this?"

They had come under orders from Ding Wei, the official currently presiding over Misty Pavilion.

Huang Ban had witnessed the quarrel between Chao Jing and Taishu Shancheng and afterward reported the matter. Ding Wei had found the news rather interesting. Niu Youdao and the Chao grandfather and grandson had been doing so much behind the scenes, yet Misty Pavilion had known nothing about it.

The Sacred Venerable was already dissatisfied with Misty Pavilion, and Ding Wei was the one presiding over it at present, so he could hardly ignore the matter. Moreover, because of the peculiar connection between Niu Youdao and Luo Fangfei, Ding Wei himself had become interested in Niu Youdao. He therefore sent men to investigate Chao Shenghuai, hoping to uncover the inside story and see whether they could trace any clues leading back to Luo Fangfei.

His men had arrived, only to find that the very person they were supposed to investigate had disappeared.

At that, the group exchanged looks. One of them asked, "Emissary, do you suspect someone leaked word of our mission?"

Emissary Lu turned back. "Otherwise, why would the timing be this convenient?"

Another man said, "The moment we received Mr. Ding's orders, we set out directly. We didn't stop for even a moment along the way. We stayed in the air the entire time and had no contact with anyone else."

Emissary Lu waved a hand. "I'm not saying the leak came from us. Even if we had leaked word, this development couldn't possibly have gotten so far ahead of us. If information truly was leaked, the problem may well be with someone around Mr. Ding himself. But Mr. Ding shouldn't have been publicizing what he intended to do either. And the timing still doesn't fit. This happened yesterday. Even if someone around Mr. Ding leaked word that we were coming, could anyone have arrived so far ahead of us? Besides, Chao Shenghuai's disappearance doesn't look improvised. Whoever did it should have spent time preparing beforehand. Otherwise, how could they have struck with such precision and acted without a sound right under Myriad Beasts Sect's nose?"

He turned back to the newcomer. "When was Tu Yuanpei discovered missing?"

"The exact time is unclear, but someone still saw Tu Yuanpei last night. By the latter half of the night, he was gone. Tu Yuanpei wasn't one of the people sent out to search for Chao Shenghuai, nor did he request leave from the sect. By rights, he couldn't simply fail to return without permission. People from his master's line are looking for him as well, but they haven't found any trace."

Stroking the stubble on his chin, Emissary Lu muttered, "Mr. Ding wants Chao Shenghuai, and Chao Shenghuai disappears. We want to contact Tu Yuanpei, and Tu Yuanpei disappears. Chao Shenghuai is one thing, but Tu Yuanpei is one of ours in Misty Pavilion. Why would he disappear? Why, of all people, was it Tu Yuanpei who disappeared?"

After thinking for a while, he looked around at the others. "Tu Yuanpei's other identity was secret. Even we only learned of it recently because of this assignment. Gentlemen, something is very wrong here."

One man asked, "Now that Chao Shenghuai is gone, how are we supposed to carry out Mr. Ding's assignment? Why don't we simply reveal ourselves and go directly to Xi Haitang, Sect Leader of Myriad Beasts Sect? Have him mobilize the sect's full strength to cooperate with us. I doubt he'd dare refuse."

Emissary Lu said, "It's not that simple. Acting rashly could bring trouble down on our own heads. Don't alert the snake by beating the grass. Send word to Mr. Ding first and wait for his decision."

...

Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie had been waiting for Niu Youdao for nearly two days, yet there was still no sign of him.

Both were extremely anxious. Niu Youdao had told them to wait, but he had been gone for so long that they had no idea whether something had happened to him.

And then there was what they had done earlier. Should they leave or stay? Should they return to Misty Pavilion, betray Niu Youdao, and try to redeem themselves through merit? Their conflicting thoughts tormented them.

If they stayed here, they feared Misty Pavilion might notice people were missing and track them down.

And if Elder Niu really had met with disaster, how long were the two of them supposed to sit here like fools and wait?

Why had Elder Niu done what he did? There were too many things they simply could not understand. The shadow of fear had hovered over them the entire time.

Fortunately, Niu Youdao did not delay much longer. Had more time passed, there was no telling what choice the two might have made. At the sound of movement, both looked up. A figure dropped from the sky with a whoosh, passing through the canopy and landing on the ground. It was Niu Youdao.

"Elder!" Both men let out heavy sighs of relief and hurried forward to salute him.

Niu Youdao nodded, swept his gaze around the area, and asked, "Everything cleaned up?"

They both nodded. Qin Guan said, "Completely. We didn't leave any traces behind."

Ke Dingjie asked, "Elder, you were gone for so long. What happened with that black fox?"

The trip had indeed taken quite a while, mainly because so much time had been lost in the chase and the journey there and back. Niu Youdao replied, "The black fox was dealt with long ago. I ran into a few other matters along the way and was delayed."

He could hardly tell them that he had spent a long time chasing the black fox. That would be difficult to explain. Demon Foxes could dive into the swamp, and unless he intended to reveal that he himself could move beneath the mire, there was no good way to account for such a prolonged pursuit.

Hearing that the witness had successfully been silenced, the two men were rid of their greatest fear and truly felt an enormous weight lift from their hearts.

"Elder, what do we do now? Should we go meet up with the others from our group?" Qin Guan asked.

Niu Youdao paced a few steps and looked around. "While I was gone, nothing unusual happened here?"

"Nothing at all," Qin Guan said. "We didn't see so much as a person's shadow."

"There's plenty of time before we need to reach the agreed rendezvous point, so there's no hurry. I've been running back and forth so much that I'm a little tired. We'll rest here for three days first."

Three days? Did he really need to rest that long? Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie looked at each other.

What they did not know was that Niu Youdao had consumed a considerable amount of spiritual power during the long journey there and back. More importantly, Yin Ji had injured him, and the injury was not light. If he had not been worried something might change with these two, he would never have hurried back so quickly. Now that the situation was stable, he needed time to heal and could not conveniently continue traveling while wounded.

Besides, before separating from the larger group, they had left themselves a full ten days to half a month to reach the rendezvous point marked on the map. There truly was no reason to rush.

Niu Youdao sat down cross-legged and began healing and restoring himself.

Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie stood guard. Now that Niu Youdao had returned, their wavering hearts could only follow his lead for the time being.

Night fell. This time, they did not light a campfire.

At dawn, Niu Youdao paused his healing and asked for the information the two men had copied down about Misty Pavilion's relevant personnel. He went through it again, then kept the papers on his person.

After relaxing briefly, he resumed healing.

Toward evening, Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie brought over food. While they were filling their stomachs, Qin Guan could not help testing him with a question. "Elder, you were gone for so long before. Weren't you afraid the two of us would run off and betray you?"

Even if they had not asked, Niu Youdao would eventually have found an opportunity to warn them and steady their nerves. Since Qin Guan had raised the subject himself, the timing was perfect. Niu Youdao asked in return, "How did I leave Sacred Realm before?"

The two exchanged a look. Qin Guan said, "Pavilion Master Luo Fangfei of Fangfei Pavilion escorted you out?"

"Does anything in this world happen for no reason?" Niu Youdao asked. "Betray me? Do you really think you can betray me? Believe it or not, the moment you open your mouths, someone over at Misty Pavilion will immediately make sure you're silenced."

The two men were secretly alarmed. They understood what he was implying: Niu Youdao had people inside Misty Pavilion.

The warning worked. Their wavering hearts finally tipped to one side. Having been warned, they no longer dared make any rash move.

...

At Misty Pavilion on Tiandu Peak, Ding Wei stood by the railing atop a lofty pavilion where wind and clouds swept past, the vast world spread before him. He held a secret letter in one hand. After reading it, he sneered again and again.

His deputy asked from nearby, "What do we do?"

"Gone! The man I wanted investigated is gone! Even the spy Misty Pavilion planted inside Myriad Beasts Sect has disappeared. Interesting. This is getting more and more interesting." Ding Wei was still sneering.

"Sir, do you suspect someone inside Misty Pavilion leaked the news?"

"Chao Jing and Taishu Shancheng fell out inside Sacred Realm. They had no way to send word out themselves unless someone inside Sacred Realm helped pass a message. Chao Shenghuai could have disappeared at any other time, yet he disappears now. Don't you find that strange? If someone inside Misty Pavilion didn't leak the news, then who else could it have been?"

His deputy pondered for a moment. "Misty Pavilion is made up jointly of people from all nine sides. Its personnel are complicated. This won't be easy to investigate."

Ding Wei sighed. "Whether it's easy to investigate is secondary. The problem is that someone has thrown a scalding-hot problem into my hands. The Sacred Venerable already intends to straighten out the people below. If this comes to light as well, what will the Sacred Venerable think? Yet I don't know the intentions of whoever is behind it, and I'm the one presiding over Misty Pavilion. Do I dare conceal it and not report it?"

His deputy shook his head. "It is troublesome."

"We still have to investigate. Use every resource we have to examine every person connected to this matter, one by one. Do everything possible to uncover the truth."

"Yes!" the deputy answered.

Ding Wei turned and walked away. "Prepare a flying mount. I'm going back to Sacred Realm."

His deputy hurried after him. "Sir, you only just came back from Sacred Realm, and now you're returning?"

"This isn't something that should be passed back and forth on paper. Too many hands seeing it would be inappropriate. I need to go back personally and report it to my master face-to-face." Ding Wei sounded irritated. "No idea which bastard has me running back and forth like this."

...

Three days later, Niu Youdao had more or less recovered. The three of them set out again. As before, Niu Youdao still refused to let Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie attack any Demon Foxes. They traveled without haste, looking less like people undergoing a tempering exercise and more like tourists out sightseeing.

Qin Guan and Ke Dingjie discovered that Elder Niu seemed to be in particularly leisurely spirits. Whenever he spotted unfamiliar flowers, plants, insects, or the like along the way, he would stop and examine them carefully.

The next rendezvous point was far away. Traveling at their unhurried pace, they did not arrive until five or six days later. It was a large tract of woodland clearly marked on the map, which was precisely why the place had been chosen for the meeting.

After arriving, the three waited another two days before the larger group finally appeared.

[End of Chapter 1009]