Chapter 1093: My Accomplices Come from the Desolate Marsh Deadlands

Ao Feng, who had just started to leave, stopped dead and whipped around to look at Niu Youdao. Seeing his calm, composed expression, nothing like that of a man about to die, he said darkly, "Don't try that routine on me!"

Niu Youdao said, "Mr. Ao, I'm not joking with you. What bullshit about inspecting Misty Pavilion? We're nothing more than tools being used by the Nine Saints. No matter how hard I work myself to death for them, it's still no different from drinking poisoned wine to quench my thirst. Once the rectification is finished and we've outlived our usefulness, Misty Pavilion will have to recover the authority with which it governs all beneath Heaven for the Nine Saints. When that happens, do you think people like us, who once lorded it over Misty Pavilion, will still have any road to survival? The Nine Saints won't care whether we live or die. We'll die miserably.

"I know perfectly well what my end will look like. I can practically imagine how I'll die. By then, Misty Pavilion will have been more or less rectified, while people like us will still be ignorant, still continuing to investigate and make trouble, with no idea when the Nine Saints intend to stop. The Nine Saints won't warn us beforehand. Then one day, suddenly, they'll stop, and Misty Pavilion will abruptly find some excuse to arrest us.

"In one stroke, every inspector like us will be wiped out clean. In one stroke, all beneath Heaven will be cowed. In one stroke, Misty Pavilion will recover its authority and continue serving the Nine Saints. And us? Who will care whether we live or die?

"When the birds are gone, the fine bow is put away. When the cunning hare is dead, the hunting hound is cooked. Mr. Ao, tell me. Isn't that how I'm likely to end?"

Ao Feng's expression grew grave as he considered those words. He had never thought about any of this before, but now that Niu Youdao laid it out, the more he considered it, the more likely it seemed.

The reason was simple. The Nine Saints were not destroying Misty Pavilion. They were rectifying it. Nor could they possibly cut off their own arms. There were too many unfathomable hearts beneath Heaven, too many disputes and entanglements. The Nine Saints could hardly handle every affair personally. In the end, Misty Pavilion would still be Misty Pavilion.

Niu Youdao chuckled. "Mr. Ao, you should understand now. I don't have long to live. Either way, I'm walking a dead road. Yet you tell me that at worst we'll all die together. That threat truly surprises me. Even if you don't expose me, I'm already on a path to death. What meaning is there in threatening me with that?"

Ao Feng slowly walked back to him. "What exactly are you trying to do?"

Niu Youdao said, "I hear the Wuliang Fruit tree is guarded by Crow Generals refined by Wu Chang. Have you seen the Crow Generals?"

Ao Feng ground his teeth. "I'm asking what you're trying to do!"

"Very simple. I'm trying to fight for a road to survival. No one willingly sits still and waits for death. If death is waiting either way, why not fight for that sliver of a chance? Mr. Ao, don't you want the Wuliang Fruit? So long as we obtain it, we can find somewhere to hide. Once our cultivation breaks through, we'll at least have a chance to fight for our lives!"

He was actually scheming after the Wuliang Fruit!

Ao Feng was shocked. "Have you gone mad?"

"I'm not mad! I have no choice!" Niu Youdao's voice suddenly rang with force, his expression seemingly agitated. He raised a hand and pointed directly at Ao Feng's nose. "And neither do you. If you want to throw your life away, I can oblige you at any time!"

Ao Feng's jaw tightened.

Niu Youdao's expression eased, and his tone softened with it. "Mr. Ao, your days can't be pleasant right now. I can imagine it. You betrayed Misty Pavilion. How could they possibly let you live comfortably afterward? So what now? Are you willing to spend the rest of your life swallowing humiliation and scraping by? Don't you want to gamble once?

"Think about the cold looks around you, the way everyone treats you as unwelcome. Can you swallow that anger for a lifetime? Haven't you ever thought of resisting? You must have. You simply never dared, because resistance was useless and you couldn't find an opportunity.

"But now things are different. I, Niu, am not afraid to die. I've already staked everything. I'm willing to put myself on the line first and coordinate with you from outside while you act from within. I'm willing to join hands with you and fight for a hope of survival. Even if we die, at least we can die cleanly and without regret. If the two of us work together, there may yet be a chance!"

Ao Feng's eyes flickered. He gave a slight nod and sneered. "I understand now. You deliberately made sure I couldn't leave Wuliang Garden so I'd have to go back and endure every day like a year. From the very beginning, this whole affair was a chain of traps you carefully designed around me, all for the sake of today. Isn't that right?"

Niu Youdao said, "Calling it a trap is going a little far. I'm not as impossibly farsighted as you imagine. I've simply done enough things of this sort to gain some experience. I knew more or less where matters would inevitably lead, so I took advantage of the flow.

"The key to this kind of thing still lies with you. A man without desire stands firm. If you had possessed no selfish desire, you would never have taken the bait. I could have done nothing to you, and you would never have sunk this deep. But once you took the bait, you brought it on yourself. There's no point crying that it hurts. You can't blame anyone else. You can only blame yourself.

"Mr. Ao, trading complaints back and forth is meaningless. You're an intelligent man. Things have already reached this point. Thinking about what might have been or what shouldn't have happened serves no purpose. We should look forward together. So long as we obtain the Wuliang Fruit, both of us will have a chance to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm!

"Mr. Ao, the Nascent Soul Realm. Don't you yearn for it? Think about what that would be like. Would you still need to stand guard inside Wuliang Garden, living every day like a year as nothing more than a watchdog? Just imagine it. How wonderful would that be? To live on without dying, the realm cultivators throughout the cultivation world dream of reaching!"

Ao Feng drew a deep breath. "You certainly dream beautifully. I think you're dreaming with your eyes open. Even if you obtain the Wuliang Fruit, so what? You still can't escape Sacred Realm. Afterward, the Nine Saints will hunt you without end. They'll dig three feet into the ground to drag you out. They'll mobilize every tracking method in the entire cultivation world to hunt you down.

"I guarantee that before you can use the Wuliang Fruit to break through to the Nascent Soul Realm, they'll already have unearthed you. Then you'll understand what regret means."

Niu Youdao said, "Are they really that terrifying? If the Nine Saints had that kind of ability, why are the Demon Foxes in the Desolate Marsh Deadlands still alive and well?"

"The Desolate Marsh Deadlands are the Desolate Marsh Deadlands. That place itself is what the Demon Foxes rely on to preserve their lives. Don't tell me you're hoping the Demon Foxes will take you in."

A strange smile suddenly appeared on Niu Youdao's face. "Mr. Ao, such an enormous stretch of fire erupted outside Wuliang Garden all at once. You don't really think I could have ignited all of it alone, do you?"

Ao Feng narrowed his eyes slightly. "You have accomplices? There are actually people inside Sacred Realm who dare do something like this with you?"

"Exactly! My accomplices come from the Desolate Marsh Deadlands. In other words, they're the Demon Foxes you just mentioned!"

Ao Feng was stunned. "Impossible! The Nine Saints have exhausted every method and still haven't managed to plant anyone inside the Demon Fox race. Demon Foxes don't trust humans."

Niu Youdao smiled. "There's an exception to everything. Just because the Nine Saints can't do it doesn't mean I can't. Think about it carefully. The Desolate Marsh Deadlands are enormous. How could I have happened to run into you so conveniently and set a trap around you? How did I know what became of Chao Jing? And what about all those other clues? Mr. Ao is an intelligent man. You should be able to work it out."

Ao Feng's eyes flickered rapidly. He sucked in a sharp breath. "The Demon Foxes have been acting as your eyes and ears?"

"That's Demon Fox territory. For the fox race, something like that is trivial."

Ao Feng demanded, "Why would the Demon Fox race help you? How long have you even been in Sacred Realm? How could you win their trust this quickly?"

"That's my business. There's no need to explain every detail to you. All you need to know is that once the affair succeeds, you can hide in the Desolate Marsh Deadlands at any time and quietly wait for the day you break through to the Nascent Soul Realm.

"Mr. Ao, you should understand. Since I dare charge ahead, I wouldn't charge straight down a road to death."

Ao Feng fell silent.

Niu Youdao pressed him. "Mr. Ao, the fire will soon be extinguished. The moment the blaze is under control, Wuliang Garden's people will immediately search the surrounding area. We don't have much time left to discuss this. You need to decide quickly."

Ao Feng's gaze flickered. "Aren't you afraid I'll expose everything you've told me and use it to atone for my crimes? A secret this large involving the Demon Fox race should be enough to spare my life."

Niu Youdao's eyes instantly brightened. He raised a hand, jabbed a finger once toward Ao Feng's nose, and said with absolute decisiveness, "I permit you to report me!

"Judge the situation for yourself as things proceed. If you want to keep doing this, keep doing it. If you want to expose me, you may expose me at any time. Truly. I mean every word. Even if you betray me, I won't blame you.

"Just as I told you before, whatever happens is something we brought upon ourselves. There is no one else to blame.

"The principle is simple. You're inside Wuliang Garden. I can't control what decision you make. But the fact that you dared violate the rules and loot others in the Desolate Marsh Deadlands is enough for me to know you're a man with ambitions. You definitely don't want to keep scraping by inside Wuliang Garden forever.

"So long as an opportunity exists, I trust you'll make the intelligent choice."

Ao Feng was plainly tempted, though still conflicted. "But the Wuliang Fruit is guarded too tightly. Wuliang Garden is full of experts. Crow Generals guard the fruit tree itself, and around the tree, people from the Nine Sacred Lands form another ring and take turns standing guard.

"You could put it this way: every slightest movement around that tree is watched at all times by countless pairs of eyes. There is simply no opportunity to act!"

Niu Youdao said, "I don't believe anything in this world is so flawless that it can never fail. If there's a problem, we solve the problem. I've already thought through and planned many things in advance. I wouldn't do something I had absolutely no confidence in. There is still an opportunity. We simply have to create it ourselves."

Ao Feng said, "Tell me your plan first. I'll see whether it's feasible."

"I can't explain everything in a few sentences. Time is limited right now. Let's use it to solve the largest problem currently in front of me."

"What? Tell me."

"I said it from the beginning. The Crow Generals."

"The Crow Generals are indeed a major problem. They stay right beside the fruit tree and never move. Anyone who approaches alarms them, and once they're alarmed, every guard in Wuliang Garden pays attention. I have no way to deal with those Crow Generals either. What do you expect me to do?"

"I have my own method. First tell me how many Crow Generals guard the tree."

"Not many. Three. They guard three separate sides of the fruit tree."

"Have you seen what they look like after transforming into human form?"

"Yes. Many times. The moment anyone approaches the fruit tree, the Crow Generals immediately transform and become vigilant. People approach the tree several times every day to count the fruit. Every single time someone comes near, the Crow Generals immediately assume human form and stand on guard.

"I've counted the fruit myself, so I've seen them many times."

[End of Chapter 1093]