Chapter 1162: A Lead Found

Niu Youdao said indifferently, "Even without this, Ding Wei would have settled accounts with me sooner or later. I never intended to make things this direct at first, but who knew Lü Wushuang would suddenly show up? I had no choice."

Sha Rulai nodded slightly. He understood what Niu Youdao meant.

Luring Xuan Yao into attacking him had originally been part of the arrangement to make his false death look perfectly natural. Dragging the matter of Wuliang Garden's inside traitor into it was meant to bring disaster down on Xuan Yao. Once the Wuliang Fruit became involved, if the investigation eventually reached Xuan Yao, how could Ding Wei escape being implicated?

Naturally, Sha Rulai did not know he was thinking too much.

This was merely a reasonable explanation Niu Youdao had given him.

How could Sha Rulai know that Niu Youdao's reason for involving Wuliang Garden had been to steal the Wuliang Fruits, and that using Xuan Yao's vendetta had simply been the means by which Niu Youdao could leave cleanly afterward?

At first, Niu Youdao had not intended to make the matter so complicated either. The affair was too important, and excessive complexity made it easy for events to exceed his control.

Who could have known Lü Wushuang would suddenly appear and force him into a corner?

He had been left with no choice but to adapt on the spot: better a fellow Daoist die than this poor Daoist. That was how the matter had become more complicated.

Once he had been driven that far, however, from Niu Youdao's position, the way events developed might not necessarily be a bad thing.

Another point was that he had originally intended to shake loose a few clues about Xuan Yao's assassination attempt and let the investigators discover them.

After Lü Wushuang became involved, there was no longer any need.

"You really do hold grudges," Sha Rulai said after thinking it through, casting Niu Youdao a sidelong glance. "Even after dying, you refuse to let them off."

Niu Youdao said, "I'm helpless too."

Sha Rulai did not continue arguing with him. He returned to the real purpose of the meeting. "You can't show yourself anymore. What do you intend to do next?"

Niu Youdao said, "Send me out."

Sha Rulai was startled. "Are you insane? You cannot show your face now. If your whereabouts are exposed, the consequences will be unthinkable!"

"I have to leave!" Niu Youdao said. "News of my death cannot be concealed forever. Once the Nine Saints finish dealing with Xuan Yao and the others, it will no longer be any kind of secret. Sooner or later the news will reach the outside world."

"The moment my forces outside learn I'm dead, they'll begin falling apart. Only if I go out personally can I stabilize the situation."

Sha Rulai grew angry. "Stabilize what? You cannot show yourself. Stay here honestly and hide in the Desolate Marsh Deadlands. No one can know you're still alive!"

"Mr. Sha, it's easy for you and me to hide," Niu Youdao replied. "But can we simply stop here?"

"If the situation I've spent years building collapses just like that, what use will I still be to you?"

Sha Rulai said, "You'll still be useful. At the very least, the Fox Clan is on my side now."

"You're thinking too much." Niu Youdao said. "You can't stop me. If you refuse to help, then I'll simply find another way out. A mere entrance and exit can't stop me. At worst, it will be troublesome."

"Even without you, I can still get out."

"I could have faked my death and never contacted you again. I'm only speaking to you because I don't want to create unnecessary complications."

Sha Rulai drew a deep breath. Even his daughter had been kidnapped by this man before. He had no reason to doubt that Niu Youdao possessed the ability to find another way.

He yielded. "If you absolutely must preserve the situation outside, you can use the old contact channels. I'll continue helping you maintain communication with the outside world."

Niu Youdao said, "Then people outside would still know I'm alive. How is that any different from me going out?"

"The key problem is this: if I don't go out, those trusted men under me are useless for holding the whole situation together. They're capable of carrying out tasks, but they cannot preside over the greater situation."

"They also cannot tell everyone else that I'm still alive. Even if they did, they couldn't prove it. They would never be able to stabilize all the forces I have outside."

"The relationships I've spent years cultivating among the various sides must be personally managed by me."

"Messages moving back and forth from here take too many twists and too much time. A great many matters cannot be controlled quickly enough. I have to go out."

"Mr. Sha, this is my own life. I cherish it even more than you do. I won't casually throw it away. Don't worry. I know what I need to do. Nothing will happen."

Sha Rulai's expression shifted repeatedly.

The heart of the problem was that he could not stop the man.

As Niu Youdao had said, even if Sha Rulai refused to help, he would certainly think of some other way to leave.

"I'll look at the situation and arrange something later," Sha Rulai finally said, which amounted to agreement.

"No need to look at the situation." Niu Youdao said, "As you just said, since the Nine Saints have ordered Ding Wei to investigate my assassination, the matter involving Xuan Yao cannot remain hidden for long. The whole affair has drawn the Nine Saints' attention. That makes this the best opportunity for me to leave smoothly."

Sha Rulai clenched his teeth. "You are completely uncontrollable. Sooner or later you're going to get me killed!"

Now that Sha Rulai had agreed, Niu Youdao did not press the matter further. Instead, he asked, "You haven't passed me outside news in a long time. What's the situation out there now?"

Sha Rulai said, "You were dead. Your death alarmed all Nine Saints and brought them out in person. Until I saw you and confirmed whether you were alive or dead, how could I dare continue passing messages to you?"

"There haven't been any major changes outside for the moment. Most of the change is on the battlefield. In Wei, Xiping Pass has fallen into Jin's hands..."

He gave Niu Youdao a rough account of the fall of Xiping Pass. Given Sha Rulai's current position, it was inconvenient for him to inquire too deeply into Misty Pavilion's information, so he did not yet know that Chen Changgong's betrayal involved the two Noble Consorts.

Even so, the moment Niu Youdao heard the report, his brows rose. "What a pity!"

Sha Rulai did not understand. "What's a pity?"

"That fellow Shao Pingbo lay low for years," Niu Youdao said. "If he was finally going to emerge, there was no way he would do only one or two things and then crawl back into his shell."

"All the strange incidents appearing on both sides of this war are, eight or nine times out of ten, connected to Shao Pingbo. That bastard is used to personally handling anything important. When Xiping Pass fell, there is a very good chance he was somewhere nearby."

"A pity I wasn't there. I might not have been able to ensure he couldn't escape, but I certainly could have made him pay a price."

"It's too late to talk about it now. Ah!"

Sha Rulai almost found it funny.

This fellow had died once already and still refused to let go of an ordinary mortal. He truly had locked horns with Shao Pingbo.

Was that really necessary?

At the end of the day, secular affairs were controlled by the cultivation world. As long as the cultivation world was settled, how difficult could it be to deal with one mere Shao Pingbo?

No matter how many times Niu Youdao mentioned the man, Sha Rulai never truly took Shao Pingbo seriously.

...

Inside the Central Hall of Wentian City, Huang Ban entered with heavy steps, visibly uneasy.

Ding Wei was leaning over a case file and sorting through the investigation. He noticed someone approach, but when no report came for some time, he raised his head slightly. Seeing Huang Ban, he said, "Speak."

A grave look settled over Huang Ban's face. "Sir, with the full cooperation of all Nine Sacred Lands, we've found suspicious targets connected to the five flying mounts used by the assassins."

Rather than respond immediately, Ding Wei studied Huang Ban's expression and seemed to notice something. Slowly, he asked, "They're connected to Dayuan Sacred Land?"

Huang Ban hesitated, seemingly unsure how to begin.

Ding Wei glanced toward the doorway and drew a deep breath. "There are no outsiders here. What is there you cannot say to me? The Sacred Venerable gave the order personally. If anything happens, the Sacred Venerable will naturally bear it."

Huang Ban braced himself. "Sir... it seems people on our own side are involved."

Ding Wei was startled.

For Huang Ban to say "our own side" in front of him could only mean Ding Wei's own people.

Ding Wei slowly rose. His voice lowered. "Have you confirmed it?"

"At present, we've only discovered grounds for suspicion. We haven't made the final confirmation yet. I wanted to ask Sir whether we should continue and confirm it before making a decision."

Ding Wei went still for a moment, then slowly exhaled. His tone grew heavy. "Explain the situation first."

"At first I never imagined it would be connected to us. I began by investigating the other sides..." Huang Ban then explained the specific course of the investigation.

Once Ding Wei personally took over the case and asked the Demon Fox Bureau about what had happened at the scene, he immediately locked onto the five flying mounts used by the assassins.

Unlike Hong Yunfa's death, which had occurred inexplicably and left no clear line to pursue, this case had something concrete.

Inside the Sacred Realm, both messenger Goldenwings and large flying mounts were subject to strict control.

Large flying mounts in particular were enormous. Their movement into and out of the Sacred Realm was far too conspicuous to hide. As a result, the total number of large flying mounts inside the Sacred Realm was recorded with absolute clarity. Not one could simply vanish from the count.

Naturally, the investigation focused tightly on that line.

With all Nine Sacred Lands cooperating fully, the whereabouts of every large flying mount during the period of the incident were checked one by one.

Whether anyone elsewhere had concealed something was still unknown.

But after every other trail had been accounted for, Huang Ban was horrified to discover that several mounts on their own side could not be clearly explained.

It was exactly as Sha Rulai had predicted.

If someone else had investigated, Ding Wei's faction would naturally have covered for itself and supplied a reasonable explanation.

But once Ding Wei himself began investigating, the matter changed.

When one investigated one's own faction, how could one fail to know the hidden corners and obscure arrangements within it? If Ding Wei's own people did not deliberately cover things up from themselves, problems naturally came to light.

That was roughly how the investigation had progressed.

After listening, Ding Wei's breathing grew heavy.

He remained silent for a long time before asking in a low voice, "Check our side. Who was absent during that period?"

Huang Ban hesitated again. "Sir, there is something I don't know whether I should say."

Ding Wei raised his brows. His voice turned cold. "If you don't want to say it, then keep hiding it from me."

Huang Ban was alarmed and hurriedly cupped his hands. "Xuan Yao... Xuan Yao was absent during the incident. He said he'd gone to the post at Yanyu Tower. I asked about it before. Everyone at Yanyu Tower, from top to bottom, can indeed testify that he was there."

"But I keep feeling there is something wrong. I don't know whether I'm simply imagining too much."

It was still the same principle.

Their own people understood their own people best.

The reply from Yanyu Tower might deceive outsiders, but something that felt wrong was far more difficult to hide from insiders.

"Xuan Yao?" Ding Wei swept Huang Ban with a cold look and fell silent again.

After a while, he slowly asked, "Large flying mounts don't fly themselves. Someone had to control them. Have you identified the people who handled them?"

"We've identified five people..." Huang Ban answered weakly.

Ding Wei's voice sank. "I want to see them. Arrange a suitable place."

Huang Ban's Adam's apple moved. He tried asking, "Sir, do we really continue investigating?"

Anger flashed across Ding Wei's face. He suppressed his voice. "At the very least, I need to understand what happened, don't I? Go arrange it immediately."

"Do not let word leak yet. Remember this especially: Xuan Yao must not know."

"Yes!" Huang Ban accepted the order and withdrew.

The following night, deep within a mountain forest under a bright moon, Ding Wei stood alone with his hands behind his back.

After he had waited for some time, Huang Ban arrived with five visibly uneasy Misty Pavilion personnel.

The five came up behind Ding Wei and bowed respectfully.

Ding Wei kept his back to them and said nothing.

That silence only made the five even more nervous. The pressure hanging over them grew heavier and heavier.

Then Ding Wei finally spoke.

"I want to know where those five flying mounts went, and who ordered you to use them."

"I will ask only once."

"I want the truth. Do not give me evasions."

The outcome was not difficult to imagine.

Faced with outsiders, the five might have clenched their teeth and refused to say anything.

But faced with Ding Wei himself, if even Ding Wei would not protect them, no one else would.

Now that Ding Wei had personally come looking for them, none dared keep hiding the truth.

The five gave up Xuan Yao.

They did not know what Xuan Yao had done.

All they had done was handle the five flying mounts and turn them over to him.

[End of Chapter 1162]